"Its the music video from Village of the Damned!"

At a party last night, some of my friends and I were playing a "top this"! game using YouTube videos. I innocently suggested "Ton Amour A Change Ma Vie" by the Quebec group Les Classels. My friends thought this an amusing example of "vintage wackiness":



"Oh my God, he's glowing. That's so creepy!"
"Stick Twirl! Stick Twirl!"

It's like "His Girl Friday" but with more flatulence

On today's episode of Alice Wrigley, Gal Reporter...

It's the most wonderful time of the year...in Iceland

It's a couple of days late, but here is "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"...sung by the Icelandair Stewardess Choir. In Icelandic!



(I got a CD in the mail today and my mother said "Is it the Chinese version of My Boyfriend's Back?" This should top that. :) )

Faster than a speeding Presbyterian....

Here's a page which explains the religious affiliations of various superheroes.

In the spirit of Christmas, I have to say: "That's my Dancing Mumble Penguin! Mine! Mine!" :)

"The first rule of Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club..." :)

15

>

Go, Speed Racer, Go!

I see they are making a movie based on the Speed Racer cartoon:

The female Iain Gregory?

A brave YouTube is seeing whether he can listen to Jingle with Jillian, the new Christmas EP by WWF diva Jillian Hall, without having his head explode:



For what it's worth, there is speculation that Jillian Hall can actually sing and is deliberately singing badly. You could listen to her singing Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree and decide for yourself...



At least, unlike Iain Gregory, she's allowed to sing on her own records.

My favourite Elvis Christmas song

"Drunks, thieves and potty mouths need not apply"

Well, I know what temporary labour company won't be filling this job posting!

Hat tip: Colby Cosh.

Today, on a very special episode of General Hospital...

The boys from MST3K clobber two early 1960s snippets from General Hospital...

Christmas, already?

In honour of the season, here's a couple of medleys of Christmas hits by the YouTube medley boffin, keonepax...

"Mr. B, you're hot!"

Hmm. I can either post some of my favourite quotes from Mystery Science Theatre 3000, or I can get to work. What to do...

"I don't understand the Holy Spirit. Is it a bird?" (I Accuse My Parents)
"And then my mom told Roosevelt 'What about some kind of Lend-Lease Program?" (ditto)
"First burned, and then disintegrated" (The Amazing Colossal Man)
"What sin could a man commit in a single lifetime..." (ditto)
"Jed! Jeedddd!" (The Leech Woman)
"Allow me to reference my earlier codicil that your weapons are inoperative..." (Prince of Space)
Krankor: "Heh heh heh Hehhhh..." (ditto)
"I've got a river of life flowing out of meeee...." (The Rebel Set)
Santa reminisces about his time in 'Nam (Santa Claus Conquers the Martians)
"That's the Jeopardy theme played in a minor key" (ditto)
"Bay of Pigs" "That's what they say when I go swimming" (Red Zone Cuba...which is special to me as it's the first episode I ever found while channel surfing with my parents' satellite dish)
(singing) "They laughed when I Accused My Parents, then I killed them. Let's see if they are laughing now..."

From Invasion of the Neptune Men. "Stock Footage? Try stock mileage!"
"I didn't know that Estes was a major defense contractor."
"...in fact, it *is* The Magnificent Ambersons!"
"Paul is a dead man...miss him, miss him!"

I could use a Russian linesman just about now, or a "Wembley Tor"

Of course, as long as I am discussing the 1966 World Cup Final, I should note that there is a heated YouTube debate whether Geoff Hurst's second goal, England's third goal, should have counted.

This angle would imply yes it was:



Mighty England, the Pathe newsreel about the game, shows an inconclusive angle, in my opinion:



This angle, however, from closer to the goal line, would imply that the Germans had something to complain about:



I would call it a goal, based on how it bounced out. But, it's a tough call. The ITV footage towards the end of this highlight package--especially the slow-mo parts, is probably the clearest pro-goal footage:

"Some people are on the pitch. They think it's all over. It is now!"

For my English readers, here are Kenneth Wolstenholme and Hugh Johns talking about announcing the 1966 World Cup Final on TV. Wolstenholme's call of the last England goal is probably the most famous snippet of English TV sports ever. (England's equivalent of "Henderson has scored for Canada1")

From Reigate....in Mozambique!

...Colin "Bomber" Harris!



Actually, YouTube bills this fellow as "Invisible Wrestler Misutero"

Hat Tip: Wrestlecrap

Don't break my heart, er...Shakin' All Over!

I didn't know that line dancing and the Charleston were popular dances when Shakin' All Over was a hit in 1965.



I should ask my parents. Maybe they would know.... :)

"I'm going to kick your butt Saturday night at the PNE Agrodome!"

Wrestling fans who remember the BCTV broadcasts of All-Star Wrestling might be interested in these post threads at Kayfabe Memories about Vancouver's main wrestling promotion of the 1970s and 1980s. I vaguely remember Gene Kiniski and host Ron Morrier (the sponsor was Fred Asher Clothes for Men)...but I think that I was more interested in the Tarzan and monster movies showed at the same time on Saturday on US TV stations.

There's a handful of videos of this All-Star Wrestling on YouTube. Check out this footage, from the later era when Ed Karl was host, of a young "Ricky Rudd" wrestling. You'd know him better as Ravishing Rick Rude of WWF fame!



Not that I have ever paid any attention to wrestling, of course.... :) (When I was in college, my parents and I did not have cable TV, so the best option on Saturday afternoon was the WWF broadcasts on local television.)

"It worked just like we ran the play in practice, coach!"

Hat Tip: Tuesday Morning Quarterback.

Science marches on!

AP: Twins, 8, invent wedgie-proof underpants.

Hole in the Ground

No big reason for this clip...it's just that my job reminds me of the song this morning...

J.P. Patches

A TV profile of one of my faves during childhood...J.P. Patches:

"Elmo is hulking up!"

An amine show in Toronto hosts a wrestling card that features guest wrestler....Tickle Me Elmo?!? Funny!



Hat tip: Wrestlecrap.

Three Rows Over

I see that someone has put my favourite Bobby Curtola song on YouTube. Woo Hoo! as Homer Simpson would say...

Wuh, wuh, wuh, wuh, wuh, wuh?

April Stevens...vamp! :)

Women, Keep Your Virtue!

Be careful in the "minefield of caddishness"!

Another funny Harry Enfield sketch...

Hotel Torgo, the Broadway musical

One of my readers passes along that Hotel Torgo, the Canadian film school students' documentary about the immortal film Manos: The Hands of Fate, will be soon released on DVD.

Sounds like it might be fun. On my "to buy" list....

L is for Labour

I've been leaked one of the Tory ads from the forthcoming election! :)



(This Harry Enfield sketch was spotted by Tim Blair

A good week to just roll over in bed and go back to sleep

It's not the best week for conservatives in Canada. First, Ted Byfield's house burns down. Now, the Western Standard, home of The Shotgun where I also blog, is suspending publication.

*sigh*

...vast tracts of Land!

A wonderful trailer, which I just discovered yesterday:

Scopitone Party

Here's a 1964 infomercial of sorts, I guess. Singer Betty Claire sings a cute song, in French, about the Scopitone music video player: Scopitone Party. That big boxy video player that you'll see is a Scopitone.



Boogalooing bikini girls and swimming pool not included. :)

I also dance just as good as I walk. Unfortunately.

Here's Archie Bell and the Drells from Houston Texas!

1. Lie Down 2. Close eyes 3. Repeat

A 1953 article from Mechanix Illustrated offers helpful hints on How To Sleep.

Turkish Superman

It must be fun to be a film maker in Turkey. Shortly after Superman: The Movie was released, there was a Turkish version: Supermen Donuyor ("Supermen Donuyor" or "Superman Returns") complete with swiped opening theme.

Here are some highlights:



I don't know any Turkish, but this other small clip from the movie shows that the Turkish Clark Kent is probably a mild-mannered reporter in this movie too!



...and the Turkish Lois Lane is as dim as her American counterpart too. :)

Turkish Star Wars!

I can't believe that I haven't posted this yet!

This is a scene from "Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam", one of those Turkish films that borrow "stock mileage" from Hollywood films to make their own movies. In this case, Star Wars! That's why the film also has been named "Turkish Star Wars".

This is one part that always makes me smile--our hero training to fight the "Darth Vader" figure in this film.



Yes, that is the theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark that the filmmakers swiped!

I'm ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille

Here I am, hard at work on the computer..

The Turkish Adam Sandler

The Turkish movie industry likes to do blatant ripoffs of Hollywood films. This Turkish version of Star Trek, Turist Ömer Uzay Yolunda, looks to be fun in a cheesy way.



...that is, until the hero of the film, Omer the Tourist shows up. I watched the full version of Turist Omer..., with English subtitles, on Google video and I have to say that perhaps Turkish humour is lost on me. The Star Trek actors were fun, but Omer the Tourist struck me as a Turkish version of Adam Sandler. Perhaps they needed Omer to bring in viewers. I don't know...

I've posted (alas, without subtitles) the Omer-free opening part of the film.

Johnny Remember Me

Here's another British hit that never made it across the Atlantic: Johnny Remember Me by John Leyton:



It might sound like a "death disc" type song, like Teen Angel or Leader of the Pack, but if you listen carefully to the lyrics, it's not. [The producer made a couple little changes to the lyrics so the BBC would play it.)

Twist? Bien sur!

Yes, French chanteuse Dalida could try to teach me the twist, but I fear that I would look like the fellow in this "Lecon de Twist" video from 1961...

The worst car ever!

I see that a Time Magazine writer has compiled a list of the 50 Worst Cars of All Time. I am surprised that the Chrysler Simca didn't make the list.

When I was about to graduate from high school, I came home from school to learn that my father had bought me a present. "I bought you a car," he said. I raced to the back yard of the house to see a 20 year old Chrysler Simca 1000, a rusty blue-coloured box of a car. (I am pretty sure it was a mid-60s model, which would have made it around 20 years old.) It looked completely unhip...but it was a car.

Here's a comment from the auto expert from the above link on this car:

Not a performance car, it made do with 12-inch wheels, drum brakes, worm and roller steering, transverse leaf front suspension and swing axles at the rear. Early Simca 1000s were not known for directional stability, although this was cured as we shall later see.

(While looking for information on the car on the internet this morning, I learned that the French had seen this car as chic and hip when my *dad* was a teenager. Check out this set of ads and publicity shots. Here is a different set of magazine ads about the car.)

"I bought it from an auto wrecker yard for $50," my dad said. Yes, my late dad was sometimes as dumb as a bag of hammers, but he had no excuse as he was a professional auto mechanic for many years.

We went for a drive, my father driving down the deserted street. At 40 MPH, the car started to vibrate, backfire and belch smoke. Looking around the car, I noticed that the floor was rusty in the front passenger side, where my feet rested on black plastic mat. I pulled up the mat to find that there was a vacant space about 24 inches square. I watched through the hole as the road sped by under where my feet would have been. "Hmm. Guess I'll have to fix that," my dad said.

"Well, if the brakes ever fail, we can stop the car just like the Flintstones stop theirs," I replied.

Well, it was a car, so I started studying my drivers education booklet. Then, a couple of weeks later, I noticed that the car was gone.

"I took it back to the wrecker and he gave me back my $50!" my dad said. He had been working on the car that afternoon, and had taken it for a quick spin to test his work.

"I was driving down the street," he added, "and the engine fell out of the car."

My son, the music store

The late Pavarotti, singing Ave Maria

"Are you sure it's the most bedunged?" "Yes, my lord."

You can pick up interesting details when you read first-hand accounts of history.

Here a Byzantine lord, shortly before the Fourth Crusade, advises how to dispose of Andronicus, who has just been deposed as the emperor of Byzantium:

"....I have at home a camel which is the foulest beast and the most bedunged and ugliest in the world. Now we will take Andronicus, and we will strip him stark naked, and we will bind him to the camel's back in such fashion that his face shall be against its rump, and we will lead him from one end of the city even unto the other...."

Andronicus was beaten to death by Constantinople's inhabitants as the camel carried him through the city.

Who says history is boring? Not I, certainly. :)

The Rapture

It looks like Christian movie day at Rick's Miscellany!

This is The Rapture, a 1941 Christian film by C.O. Baptista Films

Here's the first half...



...and the second half...



It's understandably old-fashioned, but I think it's a good explanation of the theological concept of "the Rapture".

Check out the footage of the crashing trains!

If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?

Thanks to the film making talents of Ron Ormond and minister Estus W. Pirkle, we have what looks like the community theater version of the Soviet takeover of America!

It's the 1971 film If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? And, thanks to a kind soul on Google video, it's the complete movie!



If it loads slowly for you, click here to go to the Google Video site showing the movie.

Advisory to my parents: It's worse than Bubba Ho-Tep! :)

"Please Do Not Reveal The Ending!"

Here are the trailers for my fave Christian movie, A Thief In The Night, and two of that film's sequels...



Please keep in mind that I like a little cheese with my movies. (And these movies were good evangelistic tools, back in the day.)

It was only a dream...OR WAS IT? :)

Amusing commercial

My mother would like this funny B.C. Lions commercial...

Ah-nuld spoofed

Der Arnold gets the Rifftrax treatment of Predator, supplied by MST3K's Mike Nelson:

Craig Ferguson

My mom will be pleased to know that Craig Ferguson, whom we are going to watch perform later this year, does stay after his shows to sign autographs and such, as this YouTube video shows:



I hope that he does this after the show that we attend. Otherwise, my mother jokes, "He's getting a book in the back of the head!" :)

Note to security guys: Mom is kidding.

You can find *anything* on YouTube

...such as this explanation of The Book of Mormon sung to the theme from Gilligan's Island! :)

Meet the Flinstones

April Winchell, whose neat website has been redesigned, has found a really slowed down piano version of the Theme from The Flintstones!

Neil Sedaka, thespian

Here's a clip of Neil Sedaka acting in the 1968 film The Playgirl Killers. What I found surprising about this clip is that someone at the Little Green Footballs blog has linked to it!

"We're really really really really white!"

Here's one of the strangest, and best, MST3K shorts ever: "Mr. B Natural"

Part 1:



and Part 2:

Mmmm, Ultimate Double Whopper (drooling noise)

I don't know about you, but I think the Simpsons TV ads for Burger King are very funny...



This is my favorite one:

My mom had this record!

It's The Bristol Stomp by the Dovells!



UPDATE: Mom says she *did* the Bristol Stomp. Of course, she was only two years old.

Not Roy Orbison

Quebecois singer Gilles Brown had a cover version of Only the Lonely called C'est toi Que J'aime...

Pas de Larmes

This is a video of Frank Alamo singing his French cover of The Cascades song Shy Girl, "Pas de Larmes". Keep an eye out for the lady in this video, who looks like she is about to slug the singer! :)

Oompa Loompa, Doopety Doo

Mike Nelson, of MST 3K fame, and Neil Patrick Harris make fun of the original Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory in this RiffTrax sample...

Help, we're trapped in this video and we can't get out!

(I kid about the staging of this pretty song--Mes mains sur tes hanches by Salvatore Adamo...)

"Henderson has scored for Canada!"

Here's a video of the most famous hockey goal ever....



Now, my Mom can watch it over and over again...

The Screamin' Meemies From Planet X

The late Merv Griffin was not only a game show genius and talk show host..he did novelty songs too as Track 17 here--The Screamin' Meemies From Planet X--shows.

The Screamin' Meemies From Planet X--sounds like a movie that my stepfather might watch on Scream. :)

They use their guitars to stop pucks too

One thing of passing interest about this clip of the Quebec group Les Megatones doing Guitare Limbo...



...is that, supposedly, one of the members of the group in the video--Michel Roy--is the father of Patrick Roy the famous NHL goaltender!

(P.S. What's the deal with music video producers of the 1960s wanting helicopters in their videos? That's two I've spotted now!)

Well, I feel like crabgrass today, but this is nice

I am a Canna What Flower Are You?

Jonathan Bell

Minister Jonathan Bell means well, I am sure, but this old Godstuff clip shows that he needs to try decaf. He's so intense!

Just like Shreddies, er, Just Like Eddie

An older, and no longer platinum-coiffed, Heinz Burt lip-syncs to his biggest hit, Just Like Eddie:



That's Ritchie Blackmore as the lead guitarist on that song.

Aftre reading this post, my grandfather would have taken my computer and thrown it off the roof of his house

Turn Me Loose, by Fabian...



(You'll notice that the doohickey that centers the 45 is upside down. :) )

Super Mario Bros. in five minutes

I remember Super Mario Bros. I also remember that my mother got so good at the game that she would be many worlds ahead of me as we played. She would volunteer to earn me some extra men, so that I could keep on playing. :)

Chainsaw Ted

"You might be a redneck..." Indeed!

Bryan Williams, known as "Chainsaw Ted" for his ability to do motor impressions, appears on the Johnny Carson show...

I Will

Billy Fury performing his version of I Will on British TV in 1964...



See if you can spot the girl, close to the start of video, who is standing only a couple of feet from Fury as he lipsyncs his song but spends her time checking her hair in an off screen mirror.

(I've always though that Fury's version of I Will is far better than Dean Martin's....)

What a dis!

James Lileks amusingly expresses his dislike of the northern B.C. city of Prince Rupert is his Bleat today.

Action replay from the last time I played touch football

No this isn't an instant replay from a B.C. Lions game. It's someone taking advantage of a flaw in one of my old video game faves, Tecmo Bowl, to score a crazy touchdown.

Good thing I never showed my mother how to play it. I would have always lost.

It said "Your Pet May Be An Extra-Terrestrial"...

The news that the Weekly World News is shutting down reminds me of the Weird Al song Midnight Star:



What is Ed Anger going to do? :)

Be prepared!

In honour of the World Jamboree celebrating the 100th anniversary of Scouting this weekend, here's Tom Lehrer's Be Prepared:

Three little maids from the 'hood are we, booty filled to the birm with girlish glee...

A YouTube wag has wed footage from a Gilbert and Sullivan play a rendition of Baby Got Back by Sir Mixalot. Is it me, or does the singer sound like Robert Goulet? :)

Hello camera man, we're the band in this video and we're over here. Hello...Helllooo!

The French band Les Chats Sauvages is almost an afterthought in this video promoting their French cover version of the Four Seasons song Sherry. Watch this scopitone and you will see what I mean!

Post for my mother

Big Girls Don't Cry...



Walk Like A Man...

Neato...

My blog will go over 50,000 page views some time today... :)

"Bill, you can't hurt Jessie! Neither of us can!" "I don't want to..." Crow T. Robot: "...but I have to. This is a soap opera after all."

Mom might like this post. The gang from Mystery Science Theater 3000 starts an episode by making fun of an early 1960s episode of General Hospital!

Their spoof starts 5 1/2 minutes into this video...



and continues in this video:





"You wiped your feet on the doormat of my heart!"

These gumboots are made for walkin'

The audio is 1960s singer Eileen doing "Ces Bottes Sont Faites Pour Marcher", her French cover version of These Boots Are Made For Walking.

Sorry, I don't know who the young lady with the boots is. :)

Today, we're singing with Heino! Today, we're singing with Heino....

Heino, a German singer with blond hair and ever-present sunglasses, must be seen to be believed. Here he is on his TV show Sing mit Heino.



He's Mitch Miller with a side order of Bratwurst. :)

There goes my planned series of posts on South Park :)

Mingle² - Thanks to Mingle2

A neat trick!

Here is a video of Gitte, singing a song called "Come Back" from 1960s German television. Once I got past the dancers in the video doing what looks like The Bird Dance, I realized that they were moving in front of and around the singer while remaining in silhouette. I wonder how they did that!

I said a nah, nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah...

One would think at first that this Scopitone cover version of Land of A Thousand Dances was pretty cheesy...



...until you watched the World Wrestling Federation version of the same song, which I remember from my childhood!

I can imagine the producer of this saying to himself, "What this music video needs is more helicopters!"

This Scopitone video of Gelou singing "Ils Croient a leurs danses", a French hit from 1962 has the surreal "We're making a Scoptone!" touch. See if you can spot what wouldn't makie it on MTV today. :)

"Who's that banging on the piano?" "I dunno."

It's Leader of the Laundromat by the Detergents. (Actually, this features Ron Dante in the first of his many studio band hits.)

Just Like Romeo and Juliet

This is a neat video of The Reflections performing (Just Like) Romeo and Juliet, but can you make any sense of the dance that the main go-go dancer is doing? It looks almost like a dance that you would see in A Charlie Brown Christmas...

How not to build a house

One Buster Keaton short that I really enjoy is One Week, in which Buster tries to build a prefabricated house, and fails, amusingly.

It looks like something that...oh, I'm going to be good and not finish the thought. :)

Part 1 of 3



Part 2 of 3



Part 3 of 3:

Safety Last, indeed!

One of the most famous comedy segments in silent movies comes from the 1923 Harold Lloyd film Safety Last. In this part of the film, Harold climbs the side of a tall building and dangles from a clock:

Part 1 of 2



and Part 2 of 2:

"A ballerina deals with the problems of urban life"

A nice little Portuguese silent short:

Oh I wish I was back in old Canada...

Here's a delayed tribute to Canada Day. The Canada Song by the gang at MST3K!

Would you look like a dork in order to have a full head of hair?

Modern Mechanix has a 1924 ad for a hair growing hat. (No this wasn't a hairy hat, it is a hat for growing hair on your head as you wear it.)

Flying Saucer lands at Graceland

Lee Hartsfeld, one of my fave bloggers, has a copy of Dear Elvis by Audrey which, like Flying Saucer, is a "break-in" novelty record. Fun!

The Homer Simpson re-mix

The Spanish version of Homer Simpson, Homero Simpson, has inspired La Marcha de Homero by DJ Iguana

...and remember, my friends, future events such as these will affect you in the future!

The colourized trailer from Plan 9 From Outer Space...

Next, on America Has Talent....

Farmer Cecil Dill shows how he can make music with his hands in a 1933 Universal newsreel:



It's a good thing that Joseph Pujol, "Le Petomane", was mostly retired by the time that sound newsreels came to exist. :)

Not that there's anything wrong with that

A handy video guide for men about how to hug other men:

You Done Stomped on My Heart!

My parents might get a kick out of this Lee Hartsfeld post about the New Vinton County Frogwhompers. Lee's also posted MP3 files so you can listen to the bluegrass group's funny songs.

"Canada's Prince of Wails"

On YouTube, someone has attached a slide show to one of Bobby Curtola's minor hits. Hopefully, some YouTuber will post Fortune Teller, Three Rows Over, or another of Curtola's better-known songs...



[He's one of the few prominent people that you may meet who was born in Port Arthur, Ontario, before it was absorbed into Thunder Bay.]

In such matters, I'm a marathoner, not a sprinter

Americans will no doubt be glad to hear that earlier today Joey Chestnut set a new record for munching hot dogs while winning the annual Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest. Joey Chestnut ate 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes, narrowly beating Japanese non-gourmand Takeru Kobayashi (who has been cleaning up in the Nathan's scarf-fest, and other competitive eating contests in recent years).

Here's the contest, as it was broadcast live on ESPN!



And the exciting (?!?) finish:



[I'm just amazed that the ESPN colour commentators can treat this so seriously, while even managing to mention Paris Hilton. Did she practice inhaling hot dogs in the stir?]

[My personal best is 5 1/2 in 15 minutes. Back to training! :) ]

This reminds me of an interesting book that I read earlier this year Eat This Book, by Ryan Nerz, which is all about the world of competitive eating. Believe it or not, there are all sorts of events for competitive eating, where "gurgitators" eat everything from onions to cheesecake to test themselves against each other and the stopwatch.

Mr. Nerz's book is great fun to read, if a little dismaying. Aside from all the odd characters and their stunts (such as eating their way out of a phone booth full of popcorn, he reveals that there is an overseeing body for the "sport", the International Federation of Competitive Eating or IFOCE. Their website has videos of competitions and tables of records.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the scarf-meisters often have obscure technical details in mind. There's the "Belt of Fat Theory", which tries to explain why skinny fellows (such as Mr. Kobayashi) can out-eat stouter types. (The answer seems to be that the stomach muscles and diaphragm can stretch more when they are not encased in fat.)

Since, er, not keeping one's food in is a constant worry, there are handy euphemisms for that sort of thing on the IFOCE trail.

There's "a Roman incident."

There's "a reversal of fortune".

And, my personal favorite, "urges contrary to swallowing".

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday...

The cute little song that Hulk Hogan sings in this Japanese TV commercial might stick in your head. Sorry!

"There's no Hulkamaniacs here!"

This promo shows why Hulk Hogan could give Olivier a run for his money. :)

Only in Japan

I wonder if this photo means that Hello Kitty is a TV wrestler.

What would be Hello Kitty's submission hold? The "Hug of Death"?

:)

The importance of this is illustrated in the behavior of many of our young people who go in for “petting” or “necking”....

"....The importance of this is illustrated in the behavior of many of our young people who go in for “petting” or “necking” largely for the reason that they do not dance and have nothing better to do. Surely they would rather dance if they knew how. But the pain and distress of being a wall-flower is such that they stay away from the dance, and from the many social activities of which dancing is naturally a part. So it is not dancing but the lack of dancing in many cases that is morally disadvantageous. Ask some of these youngsters who do not dance just what they do on such occasions? And as for the older people who do not dance? They, too, feel inadequate, and they commonly resort to drink as a means of escape and to blunt their sense of social inferiority. Poverty of resources will easily lead to unwholesome diversions...."

...from a 1934 article in Physical Culture magazine by way of that fun blog Modern Mechanix: "Try Dancing for that Inferiority Complex"

By Arthur Murray!

Mmmmm...chicken fried bacon [drooling noise]

Hat tip: my friend Wade.

Neil Sedaka is in this video too?

Neil Sedaka, if you look carefully, changes into six different outfits in this Scopitone video of "Calendar Girl"! Good thing this was obviously filmed in multiple takes, or he would have given Gypsy Rose Lee a run for her money. :)

Well, my Christmas shopping is done...

Wombat coats only $22...assuming that you have a time machine. :)

Bathing Beauties

Internet humorist James Lileks examines a series of promo pictures of bathing suit models starting with some Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties.

Fais Le Locomotion!

I like the Sylvie Vartan cover version of The Locomotion almost as much as the original. :)

Halfway to ukelele stardom

This video cover version of Halfway To Paradise is pleasant, in a twee sort of way...



...but I do wonder if he has been taking singing lessons from old Rudy Vallee records :)

Culture Notes

Peeking at the internet, I am surprised to learn that the lyrics for You Need Feet, the urbane and sophisticated Bernard Bresslaw song, are hard to find .

So, here is the song's chorus. :)

You need feet to stand up straight with
You need feet to kick your friends
You need feet to keep your socks on
...and stop your legs from fraying at the end!

You need feet to walk to Scunthorpe
Or to dance the Hootchy-Koo
Yes, the whole world needs feet for something
--And I need feet to run away from you!

"Yes folks, feet are not to be sniffed at!"

Amazingly, it seems that the Beach Boys may have done a partial cover of the song.

But does he know how to do the SNCF Twist?

My mom will like my blog better than this fellow's blog. Alas, he'll probably get more hits than I do, just because he used to be President of France. :)

Hat tip: Rondi Adamson

Neighborhood Nuclear Superiority

I had never realized that I needed "Neighborhood Nuclear Superiority" until I saw this clip from Michael Nesmith's Elephant Parts:



I'm thinking that this would be kind of handy at my job. :)

Odometer flip!

This is post number 1500 on this blog! :)

I'm Henry VIII, I am!

No, you're not wasting time, you are learning about English history by listening to a Herman's Hermits song!

He sings like I do!

Here's a Rick's Miscellany Battle of the Bands. The subject: The Lennon and McCartney song From A Window.

Our first entrant is Jonas, who sings about as well as I do. :)



Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas had the British and Canadian hit with From A Window, which is the second of the two songs in this live performance on US TV:

Things Go Better with Freddie and the Dreamers

First a commercial starring Freddie and The Dreamers...



...and then a live performance of I'm Telling You Now on the Ed Sullivan show. Check out the syncopated dancing by the guitarists. They could have been Rockettes! (I'm laughing with them...as I have two copies of the 45 of this song :))

A groovy kind of post

Here's a YouTube file of the super-fab '60s song A Groovy Kind of Love.



The lead singer of this song is Eric Stewart, who sang lead for the group after Wayne Fontana left for a solo career. I note this because many of the video's photos include Wayne Fontana who, although he performs the song now on oldies shows, is not featured here.

You may see The Fontana-less Mindbenders do a live performance of the song on a 1960s British TV show here..

Why does this Public Service Announcement remind me of work? :)

"That's got to be one of the first female bass guitarists in rock"

Tell Me When by The Applejacks

A post for Meekophiles

Have I The Right, by The Honeycombs

Soeur Sourire--the disco remix!

I didn't think that Dominique by Soeur Sourire--The Singing Nun--needed a disco remix, but there you go!

And now, a word from our sponsor! :)

They paid a lot of money for this post :)

New from K-Tel :)

Who doth inhabit the primary position...

On YouTube, two Elizabethan-styled actors perform a funny Shakespearian version of "Who's On First", perhaps assuming that the Bard of Avon at one time hosted three shows a day at Minsky's for some extra ducats...



Here's some more details from the original post on YouTube:

An Elizabethan twist on Abbot and Costello's famous vaudeville routine. Performed by STNJ actors David Foubert and Jay Leibowitz on New Year's Eve of 2006 in Morristown, NJ. Written by Jay Leibowitz and Jason King Jones. www.jayleibowitz.com

Update: Welcome! Hopefully, you may find some other interesting posts on the rest of my weblog. Please check it out, if you wish.

Foiled by another President Fred

I wonder who will be the first person to blog about possible presidential candidate Fred Thompson who mentions this episode of The Goon Show.

Screaming girl rushes the stage!

In this old TV footage of Quebecois singer Tony Roman, there's a surprise shortly after the 2 minute mark. As he is ending his cover of Sha La La, one of his fevered girl fans jumps him!



I suspect she was a plant. Yet, look at how he was able to keep on singing after he was attacked!

Chad Allan was better. Not cuter, but better :)

It's funny that there don't seem to be any Johnny Kidd and the Pirates videos on YouTube, but there is a cover of Shakin' All Over...by Chinese pop singer Josephine Siao Fong Fong!



If only there were video of Chad Allan & The Expressions/Guess Who? performing the song. Perhaps if we asked Randy Bachman nicely...

Today, on "Public Domain Theatre..."

A two part educational film from the early 1950s, Drug Addiction, by the fine folks at Encyclopedia Britannica.

Part one



and Part two

The no-name Sean Connery

My mother will be pleased to to learn that the MST3K version of Operation Double 007 is on YouTube! It stars Neil Connery (Sean's brother) and a features a lot of Italian actors, actresses, extras, etc. Great fun!

Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:



Part 4:



Part 5:



Part 6:



Part 7:



Part 8:



Part 9:



Part 10 (the last part):

More powerful than a locomotive. Twice as powerful if it's a ViaRail train.

I'm working my way through the Adventures of Superman on DVD.



I'm enjoying the shows. Last night I watched a season 2 episode in which George Reeves also portrayed a crook who was impersonating Superman. He seemed to have a lot of fun doing that part.

One thing that I have to ask though...why did no one notice that Clark Kent and Superman were never in the same place at the same time? I wonder if there was ever some attempt, in the comic books at least, to "explain" that.

I need a Rifftrax soundtrack for my life, let alone a DVD. :)

One of Colby's friends has discovered Rifftrax, the new project by MST3K alumni.

After the break, we'll be making Pot Noodles

Watch as Craig Ferguson makes hamburgers topped with mashed potatoes on the Rachel Ray show...

No, my boss is the "second meanest man in the world"

Patches Pals will be glad to know that part of the highlight tape for J.P. Patches, famed Seattle TV kids show host is on YouTube! Watch for Bob Newman, who played the dozens of other parts on the show!



Get my mother to tell you about the day that she called Seattle long distance to have my birthday read out on the show. (Boy, the ICU2TV had amazing reception!)

No, wiseacres! That was when I was a little boy! :)

What's French for "Splish Splash"?

...and then there was Cesar & ses Romains, the Quebec band of the 1960s who performed in Roman togas!

J'aime pas le Rock!

No wonder French comedian Jean Yanne is so unhappy in this video. He's trying to have a quiet drink and everyone in his bar is doing the Twist!

"It's the voodoo, I tells you..."

Some kind soul has posted all of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of The Horror of Party Beach in 11 parts. Woo Hoo!

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



Part 4



Part 5



Part 6



Part 7



Part 8



Part 9



Part 10



Part 11 (The last part)

"We just took your libido and starched and pressed it."

One of my fave MST3k shorts: Body Care and Grooming!

MST 3K 2.0

Some of the guys behind Mystery Science Theater 3000 are involved in a new venture: The Film Crew!

How to interview

It would seem that interviews are *much* better when you can make up the questions after you have the answers! If only I had know this during my Report days! :)

Weird Al Yankovic shows us how!

When he "interviews" Madonna...



Michael Stipe...



Paul McCartney...



Eminem... (Weird Al must have had fun with this one as Eminem messed up his plans to do a video spoof of one his songs)



Mick Jagger...



Paula Abdul...



Tom Petty...



Mariah Carey...



Billy Joel...



Ozzy Osbourne...



and George Harrison...

Rick's mother gives them a 78, because their songs have a good beat and are easy to dance to

My mother has seen The Zimmers on TV and thinks this band of swinging senior citizens is kind of fun...

Spotnicks are go!

This is actually an adaptation of a Russian folk song about the Cossacks. I recall that there are different versions of similar instrumentals called "Meadowlands". A Vancouver rock band, whose name escapes me at the moment, released a 45 RPM version of Meadowlands in the 1960s.

I would say, however, that The Spotnicks' version is the best.

Do The Pony!

Now that you have learned how to do the Kangaroo...it's Pony Time!

My mom says that she used to do all these dances when she was a teenager...

Galloping Gertie

Government bureaucrats are always on the job. Always.

After doing some research for work at the library, I was flipping through some old bound volumes of Time. I found some extra information on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse in a Nov. 18, 1940 Time story.

Not wanting to be haunted by the ghost of Henry Luce, I shall quote lightly from the story. The morning of the collapse, the undulations of the bridge were "no worse than usual"...but no worse than usual meant that the bridge was swaying seriously and that drivers and pedestrians got seasick as they went across the bridge "The bridge was throbbing as if it were alive". However, the problem was serious enough that scientists at the nearby University of Washington were doing wind tunnel studies in a futile effort to fix the bridge.

On the morning of the collapse, a U of W prof set up a camera that would wind up taking some of the famous movie footage that you may have seen. Also...

Soon after him came 25 year-old college student Winfield Brown who paid his 10 cent pedestrian fee and walked across for the thrill.

Today, the bridge would be shut down, but back then they collected tolls as usual! Amazing. It's a good thing that the toll collector went off the job later that day: "Sure the bridge is out, but if you hit the gap at about 90 MPH, you may be able to jump it. 25 cents please."

I'm not a fan of safety Nazis, but I draw the line at collecting tolls for a bridge that is about to collapse. I'm fussy that way, I guess.

Everyone's Gone to The Moon, and not in a Jackie Gleason sense, either

Well, Sam Harris has certainly changed in many ways since he was on Star Search, lo these many years ago.



Everyone's Gone To The Moon could only have been a hit in the 1960s. The lyrics are odd (to put it mildly), but the original is a very pretty song.

Who's tripping down the streets of the city...

After buying a used copy of the 45, I have to ask myself, which is better...

Windy, as performed by The Association...



Or the cover version of Windy, as performed by Drew Carey and Craig Ferguson on The Drew Carey Show!

Hold Tight

Those who have seen the new movie Grindhouse may be interested to know that there is a YouTube video of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich performing Hold Tight on British television. Due probably to budget constraints, the video features the group singing the song amidst playground equipment and does not include speeding death cars.

Is it a stockbroker? Is it a quantity surveyor? Is it a church warden? No! It's Bicycle Repair Man!

It's comforting to know that whenever bicycles are "threatened by International Communism" that Bicycle Repair Man will be there to save the day!

When robots play guitars

The Scopitones video of The Tornados performing their instrumental Robot while costumed in robot outfits is pretty surreal. If you think that the video is horrible, you can cheer a little when the French riot police show up at the end.

The fastest talking man on YouTube, at any rate

This fellow claims to be the fastest talking man in the world. He's pretty fast.

Do the Kangaroo!

It was a dance craze in Quebec--The Kangaroo!

Dolphins, Telepathy and Underwater Birthing? I think I have one of their LPs.

I'm sure that the author of this book is a nice person. However, when I saw the tome in the window of a New Agey bookstore close to my work, I thought to myself "That sounds like the name of a band that might have opened for The Strawberry Alarm Clock in the 1960s."

;)

The Singing Men From Glad

Les Classels, a Quebec group, started their career by dressing all in white and dyeing their hair the same colour! It sounds silly, but Ton Amour A Change Ma Vie, for one, is actually a pretty song.

The Croatian Elvis Presley

Rock music was, it would seem, somewhat tolerated in communist Yugoslavia. A Karlo Metikos, using the name Matt Collins, did a cover version of Peggy Sue, which in 1964 became Yugoslavia's first rock record.

I think that he sung it in Croatian, which would raise eyebrows in Lubbock Texas! You can hear the song in the background of this YouTube video at just after the 6 minute mark.

Tech Tags: Karlo+Metikos Matt+Collins Peggy+Sue

231% of your daily cholesterol needs

I must be hungry this morning, as I am reading this Internet wag's description of Swanson's Hungry Man Breakfast, which he dubs The Breakfast From Hell.

Good thing I have McDonald's coupons. :)

From A Window

I've been looking on YouTube, but the only video of the song From A Window that I can find is by this fellow.

Shatner in the Sky with Diamonds!

This amusing cartoon video accompanies William Shatner's definitive version of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

Tech Tags: William+Shatner+Lucy+In+the+Sky+With+Diamonds+video William+Shatner+Lucy+In+the+Sky+With+Diamonds

Done!

Oh my goodness, I know somebody who posts videos on YouTube. Follow the link to find videos starring a former colleague of mine and his cat.

They aren't are surreal as the videos done by French singer Sheila, say, but they will no doubt amuse you.

Au+H2O=1964

Inspired by my purchase of a $5 replica Barry Goldwater campaign button at a flea market, I went searching on YouTube. It's surprising to see Canadian Raymond Massey endorse Barry Goldwater on the grounds that he will end the Vietnam War. I guess that this would have happened after Goldwater blew up all the fields with little girls picking daisies in them.

I do have one question for YouTube, though. Why would a search for "Barry Goldwater" bring up the Dr. Strangelove trailer?

Tech Tags: Barry+Goldwater+ TV+ad Daisy+Girl+ad Daisy+Girl+TV+ad Dr.+Strangelove+trailer

Add ye powederrd cheesse to the boxx of Krafft Dinnyer nooddles...

I've spotted an online transcript of a cookbook (pamphlet, really) of English medieval recipes: A Book of Cookrye, published in 1591.

A sample recipe:

To bake Chickins.
Season them with cloves, mace, sinamon ginger, and some pepper, so put them into your coffin, and put therto corance dates Prunes, and sweet Butter, or els Marow, and when they be halfe baked, put in some sirup of vergious, and some sugar, shake them togither and set them into the oven again..

Hmm, sirup of vergious...won't be able to ask the neighbours for a cup of that.

Thanks to the Medieval/Renaissance Food Homepage.

Technorati:
medieval+cooking