An evening pause: A nice sequence from the British series that brutally but with great humor described the reality of what goes on in high political circles. This clip comes from the follow-up to the original series, Yes, Minister.
Hat tip Phill Oltmann.
Sorry for the late arrival of this evening’s pause. It didn’t post when it should, and I only just realized it.
An evening pause: Performed live in 1957 on Cole’s television show. The music was composed by Kurt Weill, with lyrics by Maxwell Anderson.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
Weatherman Karl Bohnak, now a non-person.
Persecution is now cool! Karl Bohnak, who had been a weatherman for the Michigan television station WLUC for 33 years, was fired last week because he refused to get the COVID vaccine shot as now mandated by the station.
Bohnak announced his firing in an essay on his Facebook page [requires Facebook login]. I have posted the full text at the end of this essay, also posted here, to illustrate the rational, thoughtful nature of his decision. You might disagree with him, and think he should get vaccinated, but he outlines in clear detail his valid reasons for not doing so.
His essay also raises the very valid constitutional and ethically reasons for resisting the mandate of this company.
The abrogation of our liberty and freedom under the guise of a pandemic is very disturbing to me. Hopefully, whether you lean right or left, you are concerned about what has occurred the last year-and-a-half. I just wanted to go about my business, “live and let live”, and keep my mouth shut. But this act by the federal government through corporate America has brought me to a crossroads. Our way of life, our freedom and liberty, is collapsing before our eyes.
Sadly, Bohnak is not alone in this. Thousands of people across America are willingly losing their jobs because they will not submit to this dictatorial and entirely unconstitutional vaccine mandate. As the left has loudly proclaimed for decades, these Americans are declaring, “Our bodies, our choice!”
From the beginning, the data said that the lethality of COVID would merely be a variation of the flu. » Read more
An evening pause: Performed live in 1963.
Hat tip to Phil Berardelli, author of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime.
An evening pause: Performed live on television, c1966. The sound on this video has been remastered using the studio recording, in a manner that really enhances the live performance in every way. (The original is available, but the sound was not great, and was partly drowned out by the audience.)
Hat tip Dan Steele.
An evening pause: Performed and aired live on television in June 12, 1962. Andrews is known for her singing, while Burnett is known for her comedy. In truth, their talent in both areas was special.
Hat tip to Phil Berardelli, author of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime.
An evening pause: Another selection from the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, from 1974.
Hat tip Tom Biggar.
An evening pause: From one of television’s best comedy shows. Note the number of people from this show who became very big movie stars.
Hat tip Cotour.
An evening pause: Forgive the television artifacts in the video. Recorded live in 1982.
Hat tip Roland.
An evening pause: Silent Night is followed by Robert Clary singing a French carol. All three were actors from the 1960s television comedy series, Hogan’s Heroes, with Klemperer playing the Nazi prison commander, Banner the foolish guard (“I know nothing!!!”), and Clary the French prisoner.
I don’t know exactly when this aired, but it was likely in the late 1960s. It signals the good will fundamental to western civilization. The Germans had only two decades earlier put the world through a horrible war. Still, Americans were glad to hear two Germans immigrants sing this gentle song in their native language, despite the evils that nation had subjected the world to so recently.
The war was over. We are all fallible humans. Time to forgive, and move on.
Hat tip Phill Oltmann.
An evening pause: This will not mean anything to my younger readers, but this song and commercial seared itself into the brains of everyone who went to the movies or watched television in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. The first version, shown here, was produced by Disney for the United Fruit Company.
I can think of no reason not to sear this song into some new generations.
Hat tip David Nudelman.
Where NOT to get your facts about SpaceX’s history: HBO today announced that it is going to create a six-part “scripted” drama series describing the history of Elon Musk and SpaceX.
In terms of story, the small-screen narrative will follow Musk as he develops the first SpaceX rocket and launches it into orbit with a handpicked team of engineers on a remote island in the Pacific. His dream of humanity colonizing the universe takes one step closer to reality with the first (and successful) manned Falcon 9/Crew Dragon mission on May 30, 2020. The participating NASA astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, have since returned to Earth from the International Space Station.
From my experience writing non-fiction screenplays for cable television when I was still in the movie business, I can guarantee that this drama will have very little connection to reality, and is more likely to get numerous basic facts wrong. It will thus accomplish nothing but to misinform anyone who watches it.
An evening pause: About two years ago I said to Diane that I’d never seen any of The Simpsons animated TV show. Neither had she. Since then we have watched all the available episodes on DVD, covering most of the first twenty seasons.
What first impressed us about the show was how actually normal and family-oriented it was, in the beginning. It was not the “edgy” ugly portrayal of America its reputation had implied.
Over time that theme was more and more lost, though whenever the writers went back to those roots the show shined. Even so, what was most impressive was how the show managed somehow to remain fresh, for most of that time period. Except for a period around season nine, the satire and jokes remained solid for almost all of the first twenty years.
Since the last ten years have not been put on DVD, we won’t likely see them. No matter. Twenty years of The Simpsons was great, but it was more than enough.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman, who used numerous musical quotes from the series to find many great evening pauses.
Capitalism in space: A new reality show, dubbed Space Hero, will have audiences watch contestants compete to be a passenger on a private capsule, likely SpaceX’s Dragon, and fly to ISS for ten days.
The selected group of contestants will undergo extensive training and face challenges testing their physical, mental and emotional strength, qualities that are essential for an astronaut in space. I hear the idea is for the culmination of the competition to be in a an episode broadcast live around the world where viewers from different countries can vote for the contestant they want to see going to space. The show will then chronicle the winner’s takeoff; their stay at the ISS for 10 days alongside professional astronauts traveling at 17,000 mph, orbiting the Earth 16 times a day; and end with their return to Earth. The Space Hero company is currently in discussions with NASA for a potential partnership on STEM initiatives onboard the ISS.
The trip of the Space Hero winner is expected be on a SpaceX Dragon rocket though a launch provider is yet to be officially selected. Space Hero, billed as the first space media company, is working with Axiom Space, manufacturer of the world’s first privately funded commercial space station — a module for the ISS where the private astronauts can stay — and full-service human spaceflight mission provider.
The project seems more viable and realistic than previous such attempts, aided by the fact that tickets can now be purchased on a private and operational manned capsule.
An evening pause: A very silly but quite entertaining cross-breed between the opening theme to Gilligan’s Island and Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
An evening pause: I am willing to bet that practically no one among my readers has actually ever seen this sung.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
An evening pause: From the 1954 Colgate Comedy Hour Christmas Special with Abbott & Costello.
Hat tip Tom Biggar.
An evening pause: Stay with it, because after the music Liberace and Sammy Davis do some comedy and a dance number that is pure light-hearted entertainment, the kind of thing that was normal on television in the 1960s, and now seems so difficult for modern performers to achieve.
Hat tip Tom Biggar.
An evening pause: Don’t ask me, I’ve never seen the show, but the guitar work here is fun to watch.
Hat tip Cotour.
An evening pause: More Americana for this Independence Day week. From 1960s television, The Andy Griffith Show.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: One of the silliest shows ever produced by television. These cameos however provide a nice survey of 1960s television and culture. How many do you know? And can you name the actor playing Santa?
Hat tip Max Hunt.
