Category: Videos

Saturday Matinee – Chameleon Climbs Water, Chameleon Attacks iPhone & Other Stuff

[via]

Chameleon frightened by a technological thingie.

Where do we go from here? I’m not gonna post Boy George, and the Utoobage offering of a band called “The Chameleons” held little interest for me. Oh wait. I got it.

The Lounge Lizards, 1988, “The Voice of Chunk.”  This experimental group never quite hit, but they had a point. Some might axe me, “Bunk, do you really like this crap?” and my emphatic response is, “No, but at least they tried.”

This is the stuff that I like. Keith Ferguson formed The Tail Gators after he left The Fabulous Thunderbirds, so there’s the lizard link. Big guitars. Yep.

I like this stuff, too, maybe even better:

The Persuasions are an awesome a capella group. Vid from 1971, about the time that they signed their first recording contract, courtesy Frank Zappa.

Have a great weekend folks, and we’ll continue the summer sleigh-ride tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Those Engines Are Entirely Awesome + Train Kept A-Rollin’

Train engines. Awesome. I mean really awesome. REALLY AWESOME.

Okay, I don’t like posting videos that aren’t videos, but Johnny Burnette‘s version from 1956 is worth it.

Yardbirds‘ version from 1968 is cool.

Aerosmith‘s version from 1974 is embarrassing in retrovision.

Tiny Bradshaw‘s original from 1951 is still the best, and it just dawned on me that we’ve posted about this song before.

And with that we’re out of here. Have a great weekend, folks, and be back here for more fun tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee redux – Manual Silo Demolition, Kenny Wayne Shepherd & Joe Cocker

I was distracted yesterday by stuff in meatworld, so this Edition of The Saturday Matinee is a tad late. I promise that it’ll happen again.

This is a jawdropper. They wanted to demolish a masonry silo, yet save the roof  “for the kids.” Rather than using explosives, they used sledgehammers. Watch the whole thing for the commentary, or jump to about 09:00 for the awesome.
[Short cutesy version found here.]

Kenny Wayne Shepherd, with some interesting sidemen. Soylent Green has the scoop. [Caution – some of his posts are NSFK & NSFW, which is unfortunate IMO. He’s got good stuff otherwise.]

Joe Cocker‘s cover of the Lovin’ Spoonful‘s 1966 hit “Summer In The City” is a good ‘un, and fitting, too. It’s so hot here the dog melted.

To our fans (especially the one that runs all night in the bedroom): Please don’t burn up your motor and quit on us until the temperatures cool off a bit. As for the rest of you, see you back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Socialism 101, Cheetahbot, Dweezil plays Frank & Frank plays Duane

Communism 101. I laughed, but I cried, because I laughed, because it sums up what’s been going down for a long time. Note that the girl goes Galt.  [via]

CheetahBot is awesome. Now get it to make a U turn, and the time-space continuum will dismantle itself in shame.

Dweezil plays his dad’s classic “Peaches En Regalia.”

Zappa’s cover of the Allman Brother’s classic “Whipping Post” was classic. And with that we’re done for this  classic episode. Have a great weekend, folks.

Saturday Matinee – Not For The Squeamish.


When a giant tortoise attacks. Warning – Not for the squeamish.


Building demolition time lapse. Warning – Not for the squeamish.


Routine traffic stop goes bad. Warning – not for the squeamish.


Cup stacking otter. Warning – Not for the squeamish. [via Jonco.]


Great compilation of pranks from around the world.
WARNING – DEFINITELY NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH.

Eventually we’ll get around to posting vids just for The Squeamish, but until then, have a great weekend folks. See you back here tomorrow, assuming you’re not squeamish.

Saturday Matinee – Vince Taylor, Shakin’ All Over, The Specials & Rufus Thomas

Guess Who? It’s not Who you think it is. Vince Taylor & The Playboys.

Science declares 4 seconds of shaking removes 70% of the water off a wet dog, and 20% lands on you. Do aquatic mammals, like whales, orcas, dolphins & porpoises, shake off air? NEW STUDY! [Your tax dollars at work. Found here.]

The Specials revived ska in the 70s, and did the dog.

Rufus Thomas knew how to walk the dog decades ago, until his demise in 2001.

Due to some unfortunate happenings in the private sector, we’re going to cut this episode short. Have a great weekend, folks. Be back here tomorrow for more slices of the stupid pie. =)

Saturday Matinee – Vietnamese Coffee, One Small Plate For Man, Virtual Choir 3.0 & Buster Keaton

“How To Make Vietnamese Coffee.” (Hint: Step 1. Go to Vietnam.)

Neil Armstrong’s “That’s one small step for man…” could be translated “Un petit pas pour l’homme,” and the title of the film is “Un petit plat pour l’homme” can be  translated as “One Small Dish For Man”

3rd year animation project (assigned subject “Kitchen”) from Charron/Onectin via email. Very cool.

Eric Whitacre‘s Virtual Choir 3 is awesome and kinda creepy at the same time.

His call for the Virtual Choir 3.0, which included a purpose-built website to make video collection easier and more uniform, set a new record. It included 3476 videos from 76 different nations, including one from Vanuatu. That is the video you see above.

[Found here.]

Buster Keaton’s 1926 comedy The General is based on a real event. In April 1862 a group of Union volunteers hijacked a Confederate train in Georgia and led the rebels on an 88-mile, six-hour chase through the state, tearing up tracks and cutting telegraph lines as they went and releasing cars behind them to slow their pursuers. The conspirators ran out of fuel just short of Chattanooga, their goal, but the Union awarded a Medal of Honor to most of them for the exploit.
…
“I was more proud of that picture than any I ever made,” Keaton said in 1963. “Because I took an actual happening out of the … history books, and I told the story in detail, too.”

[Found here.]

That’s probably enough stuff to keep you out of trouble for a while. Have a great weekend, folks, and hope tomorrow is cooler.

Saturday Matinee – Playing For Change, Rolling Stones, Steppenwolf & Meatloaf

The Stones‘ “Gimme Shelter” by multinational conglomeration Playing For Change, created by American producer Mark Johnson, is very cool. (Watch for Taj Mahal.)

I find it odd that they would choose that particular song, as it’s forever linked to a free rock festival in 1969 that ended up in tragedy at Altamont Speedway, California, much of it due to the actions of the hired “police” – Sonny Barger & The Hell’s Angels.

The event is best known for having been marred by considerable violence, including one homicide and three accidental deaths: two caused by a hit-and-run car accident and one by drowning in an irrigation canal. Four births were reported during the event. Scores were injured, numerous cars were stolen and then abandoned, and there was extensive property damage.

From the same year, Steppenwolf had a hit with the greatest biker song ever – “Born To Be Wild.” Okay, where do we go from here? Oh wait. I know.

That’s for José from Spain who tutored me on cryptanalysis, and recently discovered the wonderworld of Meat Loaf.

Have a great weekend folks, and be back here tomorrow for Day 3 of our 6th Glorious Year of pure awesomenecessity.

On Milton Friedman’s 100th Birthday

Milton Friedman was honored by President George W. Bush on his 90th birthday in 2002 in Washington D.C.

One of Milton Friedman‘s best known examples of Free Market Economics came from Leonard E. Read who wrote a famous article published in 1958 entitled, “I, Pencil.” (Download the .pdf here.)

The basic concept is so full of common sense that it amazes me that it’s not required reading for every student, every civilian and every government politico of every country on the face of the earth. Get government out of the way of the free market, and the free market will take care of everything else.

It’s that simple.

Friedman’s timeless presentation of “I, Pencil” is well worth the 10 minutes it takes to view. Proven throughout history, practical common sense transcends politics, and it always has and always will, except when bureaucratic forces prevent it from doing so.

[Don’ t miss Dr. Thomas Sowell’s tribute here. “I was still a Marxist after taking Professor Friedman’s class. Working as an economist in the government converted me.”]

Update: We’ve posted about Milton Friedman previously. Here’s a link to the archive.

Saturday Matinee – Computing Cams, 3D Sketch & Jacquelyn Adams

Simple mechanics: Cams!

Cool. More images  here.


While looking for a decent live version of “Welcome to The Machine” I found this. Jacquelyn Adams‘ tribute to Pink Floyd [“Dr. Jacquelyn, Mr. Hyde,”  Horn Day, 10 February 2012, York University, Toronto, Ontario] and it begins with that song.

Given the atrocities of yesterday, we might as well leave the number of vids posted at three, and the selections are in no way a commentary. Hug your kids and loved ones, pray for the victims, and we’ll be back here tomorrow.