Traceur Santa!

A Santa has to use stunts and crazy jumps to get his sack of presents back when it is taken by accident.


Santa Ninja - For more funny videos, click here

Mmmm. Musical Fruitcake

I've been enjoying Musical Fruitcake, a dormant site that collected really bad Christmas songs.

One that I like is Mom and Daddy, Please Don't Steal For Me This Christmas, which I immediately e-mailed to my parents. Enjoy!

Yeah yeah yeah yeah!

I Want a Beatle for Christmas!



(Well, not me, but rather Patty Surbey and the Candian VIPs. from 1964 :) )

Rodney McCray

Rodney McCray was probably my favourite Vancouver Canadians baseball player during the team's Triple A days. Here's why.



"After finally making the majors with the White Sox in 1990, McCray was sent back down to the AAA Vancouver Canadians of the Pacific Coast League the following year. On May 27, 1991, at Civic Stadium (now PGE Park) in Portland, Oregon, McCray chased after a fly ball hit by Portland's Chip Hale; unable to make the catch, he ran right through a plywood fence in right field. McCray was not seriously hurt, but became an instant celebrity as the play was shown repeatedly on newscasts across the country; a video clip of the play is now part of a blooper reel looped at the Baseball Hall of Fame...."

Rodney! Rodney! Rodney!

I remember seeing that clip on the CBC National news broadcast the day after it happened.

Not Ray Charles

Here's the song Some Other Guy...and it's *not* by Ray Charles despite what it sounds like:



Listen to it quickly, before that video is off YouTube
Here's a little bit of background about the Richie Barett song...

Floats like a butterfly, stings like a packing crate

A quick clip of Mokujin Ken, beloved as wrestler "Ken the Box"



Call Don King! :)

Brother, can you spare $1.5 million?

Ric Dolphin passes on an update about my old boss Ted Byfield. It's too bad that his daughter has died, but God is evidently helping the Byfields in some ways, which I am happy to see.

Watch out, he's got a box cutter! :)

A video highlight of the immortal wrestling career of...Ken the box! :)

Rick wants a typewriter solo during the bridge

Now I realize that I should have learned to play the typewriter in addition to being able to write on it...



[Oh Yeah, Uh Huh, by Australian rocker Col Joye...]

Rick wants to have a typewriter solo during the bridge

Mugus of the world, unite

I must be moving up in the blogging world, as I have received my first "mugu" e-mail from an African scam artist!

Thanks to Steve Graham's book, I know what to do, though... :)

One...more...time!

Now that the video of Jesus is A Friend of Mine by Sonseed has hit a million plays on YouTube, I'll bet that people all over Brooklyn are looking for the group's only LP to sell on eBay. "The bidding starts at one thousand dollars..." :)

"He was sadly deprived of his final wish, which was to be run over by a beer truck on the way to the liquor store to buy booze for a date."

I think we have a candidate for best newspaper obituary ever!

The Door To Heaven

Another neat C.O. Baptista christian film from the 1940s: The Door to Heaven:



The intro part and additional music at the start is by the weisenheimer YouTuber who posted this...but I do owe him thanks for putting it online.

Wooly!!!!, Noooooo!!!! :)

My friends will understand why I bought this movie two minutes after seeing this clip. :)



"When contaminated gas from an ancient mine create the formation of a giant mutant sheep, a Wild West tourist town becomes a chaotic nightmare. The 8-foot monstrosity wreaks havoc, spewing flammable orange gas and dancing with the town freaks! Captured by the corrupt, racist mayor, this hellbeast soon becomes a town attraction. Over-the-top, campy, and utterly hilarious, GODMONSTER OF INDIAN FLATS would make John Waters very happy."

With bonuses uncluding the music video "You Cannot Fart Around With Love", which I think my friend Wade will enjoy. Regrettably, it is not the love theme of Godmonster of Indian Flats, which would just be too cool. It comes from another film:

More interesting than the Tory efforts to make Harper look like Dwight Eisenhower, at any rate

(This Harry Enfield sketch was spotted by Tim Blair

Not my pastor's favourites... :)

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? :)

The 1941 version of The Rapture

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



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!

Lawn mower versus sheep, best of three falls

I think that comedian Stan Freberg would be aware, judging by his 1960s TV commercial for Jacobsen Lawn Mowers, that some people have toyed with the idea of using a sheep to mow their lawn.



Many years later, however, it would take Cecil Adams, genius columnist, to try to seriously answer the question "Could sheep replace the lawn mower?".

I'm Counting On You...

Here's Johnny O'Keefe, Australian pop star of the 1960's, with "I'm Counting On You", one of my very favourite songs.



He is miming to the record on an Australian TV show.

Help...Help...I'm being repressed!

Now that National Review Online reports that there is a national campaign for that *other* Palin, there's a groundswell for Michael Palin for President, this clip is more appropriate than ever....



You know, I think I was in an "anarcho-syndicalist collective" in my university days... :)

Elmo "hulks up"

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



Hat tip: Wrestlecrap.

Today on a very special General Hospital....

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

You wiped your feet on the doormat of my heart...

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!"

Today, we are singing with Heino! Today, we are 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. :)

Tonight...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. :)

Faire Le Lcomotion

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

Neighbourhood 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. :)

Who doth inhabit first

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

How to interview, by Wierd Al Yankovic

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...

Best cover of Windy ever!

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!

Faire Le Kangourou

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

Over 200% of your daily cholesterol needs

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

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

Vote Socialist Turtle on October 14

Here's a link to the page on Upton's Universe where you can find mini-comics about a favourite comic character during my university days: Socialist Turtle by Vancouver cartoonist Colin Upton.

(I have a copy of his re-introduction in the January 1990 Discorder magazine which I am thinking of tacking by my desk at work, thus further befuddling my co-workers.)

Artist Upton recalls that the strip was "Mysteriously popular with kids." But Socialist Turtle is such a cuddly-looking agitator!

Tech Tags: Colin+Upton Socialist+Turtle

It's very subtle, but I think they are implying that Jesus is their friend

Jesus is My Friend, by Sonseed



Hat tip: My friend Wade, who likes good music, so I can't imagine why he sent me this link.

No wait, yes I can. :)

Thanks, Mom! :)

The Joe Meek master reel-to-reel tapes that I mentioned in an earlier post have sold for 170,000 pounds. (Not pounds of..., but Pounds sterling. Although, perhaps Joe himself would have been tempted by 170,000 pounds of sausage. "He was very fond of sausage..." :)

The great "Paul is Dead" single?

Terry Knight, best known as the manager for Grand Funk Railroad, recorded the song "Saint Paul" in 1969 that may have started the great wave of "Paul McCartney is Dead" rumours of the late 1960s.

Here's the song, spliced to footage of a Beatles performance of Hey Jude (which the writer of Saint Paul liberally cribs from!):




(I'm more familiar with the cover version by Shane, which was a monster hit in New Zealand.)

If this interests you, I suggest that you read the fascinating book I Am The Walrus, which examines the history of the rumour.

(The late Mr. Knight, when asked whether he knew that the song had contributed to the rumour, is reported to have smiled and said "Yes, I'd heard that...")

Mom, start your Christmas shopping for me early

If an auction listing at eBay is to be believed , someone is selling the master reel to reel tapes of famed U.K. record producer Joe Meek.

No bids yet, but the bidding is expected to start at $231,000 U.S..

Unless You Care

A lip-synch performance on Shindig, by Terry Black.



(Not only is Unless You Care a good song...Terry Black was from North Vancouver!)

The cartoon bunny version of Rocky

Yo Adrian! :)

Everybody do the Twist in the snow!

I still say that Belles! Belles! Belles! by Claude Francois is still the best Scopitone ever, even if only in a "What the...?!?!" sense. :)

Dumb head!

This is The Sharades cover version of Dumb Head. I'd love to know what that electronic thing is taking the place of the piano/organ. Any ideas?



[I feel like a dumb head sometimes...and I am not even a lady having problems with her dates like in the song. :) )

This is the US original by Ginny Arnell:



[I like the duh-duh-duh-duh's better in the original :) ]

Telstar

Probably Joe Meek's finest production:

D.B. Cooper

A U.S. lawyer is convinced that he knows the real identity of famed hijacker D.B. Cooper as well as the Vancouver bank where the loot is allegedly stashed in a safety deposit box.

Oh Mia Angelina!

Peppino Di Capri in the 1963 German teenager movie "Denn die Musik und die Liebe in Tirol"



Listen for the amazing electric guitar sound without amps! Neat song, though.

It's the big one Elizabeth! I'm a -comin'!

Three days off in a row. Whatever shall I do?
(This would be my first three day weekend in, oh, two years.)

Ferry Cross the Mersey

Wish that this movie was on TV some time so that I could watch it....

Alton Brown on drums

I'm pretty sure this isn't Alton Brown, of Food Network fame, sitting in on drums, but... :)



[This is The Applejacks, who had the hit with Tell Me When]

Look out!

This 1960s video footage of Italian singer Clem Sacco contains many accidents waiting to happen! See if you agree...

Urp!

Yesterday was the 4th of July, which means the annual Nathan's Famous hot Dog eating contest on Coney Island.

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



And the exciting (?!?) overtime finish:



I'm just amazed that this gets broadcast, let alone has colour commentary.

I'm also wondering if the intepreter in ths shortened clip is really asking, in Japanese, "So, are you loopy, or what?" :)



This reminds me of an interesting book, 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".

Video footage of me

;)

(cue All-Star Wrestling theme)

In tonight's bout, a US soldier "from Parts Unknown, Weight Unkown" takes on a sheep who might be smarter than he is... :)

Sheep versus lawn mower, the battle of the titans

I think that comedian Stan Freberg would be aware, judging by his 1960s TV commercial for Jacobsen Lawn Mowers, that some people have toyed with the idea of using a sheep to mow their lawn.



Many years later, however, it would take Cecil Adams, genius columnist, to try to seriously answer the question "Could sheep replace the lawn mower?".

Confusing, non?

Today's French-language Scopitone video is evidently sponsored by Confuse-A-Cat Limited! :)

Everybody did Beatles covers in the 1960s

Even Dr. Strangelove?!?

I'm Counting On You

It's a good day for finding things on YouTube. Here's Johnny O'Keefe, Australian pop star of the 1960's, with "I'm Counting On You", one of my very favourite songs.



He is miming to the record on an Australian TV show.

She did the chicken in the middle of the floor

At last, Boom Boom Baby by Billy "Crash" Craddock, is on YouTube. Cool!

Although Craddock did the first version of "I Want That", the faster B-side version of that song by Johnny Kidd, is better, in my opinion. You could say that "I Want That" to be on YouTube soon, so I could compare the two versions for you. :)

C'est ma chanson

Petula Clark's french cover version of her own hit "This is My Song"



Look for the dancer mimicking Charlie Chaplin (who wrote This Is My Song for his film A Countess From Hong Kong) and the lovesick accompanist!

"Wolverines!"

Officials at MGM are seriously considering a remake of Red Dawn.

[Rick passes out in a swoon]

A posted column on Mark Steyn's website.

Mr. Steyn, and a demand for "accurate news and information"

Since Mark Steyn has been brought before the B.C. and Canadian human rights tribunals, I have read the demands of those who wanted the government to punish Mr. Steyn for his opinions expressed in Maclean's. The complainants continue to demand that Maclean's not only guarantee their right of reply, but that the B.C. or Canadian Human Rights Commission also give them editorial control over that section of the magazine that will publish their response.

Maclean's has declined to give in on the matter. The complainants' request to dictate what Maclean's will publish remains key to their demands, as in a "compromise" a few weeks ago, they offered to drop their human rights complaints if only Maclean's would print what they wanted. Maclean's, evidently fearing setting a precedent that a compulsory "right of reply" would be seen as a "reasonable" settlement or punishment in future cases such as this, continues to stand its ground. So, a provincial and federal government body may soon dictate what will be published in a magazine.

All along, I have been thinking that I have seen a similar demand for "accurate news and information" by government order. Something similar being the infamous Alberta "Accurate News and Information Act", the "Press Gag Bill" passed by the Aberhart Socreds in 1937 to stop press criticism of the government.

If I read the Supreme Court of Canada's decision to set aside the legislation correctly, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal--which starts its hearings on Mr. Steyn's writings on June 2--is wasting its time, as questions relating to provincial government regulation of press content have been ruled "ultra vires"--beyond the power of a provincial government (let alone an informal provincial body, such as a human rights council) to rule on.

If nothing else, I hope that what happened then may provide Mr. Steyn and his friends with a useful moral precedent, as we look at some of the details of what happened then and how I think they may relate to what is happening now.

Mr. Steyn and his allies will no doubt be pleased to know that even the Canadian Human Rights Commission recognizes the decision to set aside the "Press Gag" legislation as the first case to give freedom of speech a "measure of constitutional protection.". The ongoing relevance of the case to freedom of speech has led the Alberta government to set up a useful website on the case for history teachers, where I found many of the documents that I will be quoting.

The first thing that stands out to me in the Act is the extensive outline of how a Social Credit Party official could require a newspaper to print, verbatim, what the government demanded ("...such statement shall be given the same prominence as to position, type and space as the statement corrected thereby..."). Other provisos included a requirement that a newspaper name all its anonymous sources upon demand. Punishments included fines and gave the government power to suspend publication of a newspaper, or to ban a particular person from writing for the newspaper.

Early in 1938, five out of six Supreme Court justices ruled that such powers were "ultra vires" to a provincial government, in addition to being contrary to British traditions of freedom of speech. Wouldn't it logically follow, in a precedent setting sense, that a body subservient to a provincial government, such as the B.C.Human Rights Council, can't have the power to compel Maclean's to publish a "corrective" statement with "..the same prominence as to position, type and space as the statement corrected thereby..."?

I wonder if Mr. Steyn's lawyers will be telling the B.C. Human Rights officials, "The remedy asked for by the complainants has already been ruled 'ultra-vires' in a similar case and we expect that if you order such relief that the courts will override your decision." Of course, I can imagine a Human Rights adjudicator doing the bureaucratic equivalent of rearing up and crying out "Pay no attention to the legal precedent behind the curtain! I am Oz!". But, such a direct precedent should prove telling. The operative word here being "should".

Mr. Steyn's friends may note that, at the time, outrage against the "Press Control Bill" was so widespread that an October 2, 1937 Edmonton Journal story quoted Elmer E. Roper, editor of The People's Weekly "and long prominent in labour and C.C.F. ranks here", speaking against the legislation. They may ask why the left is so silent now.

William Aberhart, then premier of Alberta and a guiding force behind the legislation, made an argument for the legislation that would sound familiar to modern ears in some ways. Press abuses, he argued in a June 5, 1937 radio speech over the CBC, demanded to be treated with "rigid discipline", as it would be that fall when the Accurate News and Information Act was passed:

(Aberhart begins his argument)

....But life today is complex. It is no longer merely individualistic or paternal. People have combined into a state, and the individualistic law of the liberty of the jungle no longer can be maintained in its entirety. The state refuses to allow the Britisher to inflict inhuman cruelty upon his wife, his children or even his domestic animals. Civil liberty therefore is a freedom limited by laws established for the welfare of the community generally or of the state as a whole, rather than of the individual.

I conclude therefore that modern liberty lies in the freedom of the individual from selfish control, duress, fear or exploitation inflicted by another or others. If an autocrat, or a plutocrat, or a large corporation controls, directs or regiments the actions of any individual or number of individuals without their consent, these latter have to that extent lost their liberty in the true sense of the word…

After some thought I am inclined to agree with Walter Lippman, who a decade ago wrote that the crisis of democracy is a crisis in journalism.

It seems to me that in the decade which has passed, this crisis of democracy has been followed by decadence instead of recovery, and it is feared that the so-called free Press is rapidly dying, and its freedom with it.

I am wondering if we should not do everything in our power to revive it and restore its freedom.

If anything is to be done to restore the press to its proper place in the public consciousness, we must consider wherein its weaknesses lie, and prescribe some form of rigid discipline that will enable these weaknesses to be removed…

…I propose to summarize [the weakness of the modern press] under four headings:

1. Commercial
It is claimed that newspaper standards are too often determined by a preponderant desire for circulation, which is so basic to large advertising returns.

2. Patronage
Most newspapers today are subservient to local political machines, and therefore colour their news items in accordance with the propaganda of the political party supporting them. The policies of the paper are therefore intended for the welfare of the party, and not for the welfare of the community.

3. News and Moral Values
Dean Ackerman declares that news values of many papers are often superficial and trivial. Headlines frequently do not correctly reveal the facts nor the tenor of the article. A great majority of the reporters are quite inaccurate when reporting interviews, and it is not an uncommon thing to find that news and photographs even are falsified.

4.Social and Educational
Too many of our citizens have learned by experience that the newspaper violates the individual right of privacy.

Newspapers unhesitatingly make heroes of criminals by glowing accounts of wrongdoing, vice and the sordid details of lust and violence…

This discussion is hardly complete without the further consideration of some means which might accomplish such a result but my time is up. Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen.....

(Aberhart concludes)

I can hear a similar argument being made today. The public needs to be "protected" from the evil press owned by "a large corporation", who insist on individual rights at the expense of the "welfare of the community generally". The press needs to be "corrected", so it is more "accurate".

Mr. Aberhart arguments could perhaps have been made, in more modern terminology, by Mr. Steyn's opponents. Instead of being protected from tawdry accounts of lust and crime, for example, the modern public instead needs to be protected from "racism" and "Islamophobia."

Students of Alberta history, by the way, will recall that Aberhart's friends were not paragons of journalistic virtue. In a "government-sponsored" pamphlet, nine of Aberhart's political opponents were dubbed "Banker's Toadies". The authors of the pamphlet wrote "Exterminate them!". Not having the power to pass an "Accurate News and Information Act", these victims sued for libel instead, proceeding to a court which had rules to protect the rights of both sides in the case, when deciding whether the pamphlet had been a appropriate use of free speech.

Summing up, Mr. Steyn, being a fan of older forms of American music, may no doubt understand what I mean when I note, in the words of the big band tune, "It seems I've heard this song before."

We may have difficulty appealing, as the Supreme Court of Canada did when striking down the Accurate News and Information Act, to the notion that, as people who inherited "British" notions of freedom of the press, citizens should not have to tolerate government restrictions on press freedom.

We can however, point to what happened to the "Press Gag Bill", and note that protecting freedom of speech from mischief-minded governments and their minions has always been a Canadian value. I wish Mr. Steyn well in doing so.

Help! Help! I'm being repressed!

In honour of May Day, a video post...



You know, I think I was in an "anarcho-syndicalist collective" in my university days... :)

Being a smark, I already knew the Clintons were jabronis

Perhaps the Democrats should save time and just let Obama and Clinton just duke it out. What do you think? :)



With this buildup, I want to see a hardcore, TLC, lumberjack-strap, exploding barbed wire match at the Democratic National Convention! :)

Well, McCain could always counter with "Reagan 3:16 says I'm going to kick your butt!" :)

0.3 per cent?!?

Created by OnePlusYou

"Plan 9 deals with the re-animation of the dead..."

Joe Queenan explains what goes into the making of a truly bad movie, one that is transcendently awful.

Advice, please

The late WFB offers some advice to Christians in politics in this 1995 Christianity Today interview

Words fail

William F. Buckley has died.

Why Should the Devil Have all the Good Music?

In honour of Larry Norman, who died yesterday, a post of one of his songs: Why Should the Devil have all the Good Music?

This "battle of the sexes" is apparently no contest

American writer Todd Gallagher's recently published book, Andy Roddick Beat Me With A Frying Pan, answers the kind of sports questions that you might talk about over a cold beverage, questions such as "Could a morbidly obese goalie shut out an NHL team?" or "Would sumo wrestlers make good NFL linemen?". Mr. Gallagher and his team of helpers conducted experiments that tried to answer such questions, and he amusingly documents the results in his book.

One of Mr. Gallagher's questions, however, is quite politically incorrect to ask. It does, however, point to some reasons why Canada's national women's hockey team may never play as well as our national men's hockey team, a question that I suspect that even Don Cherry might be afraid to touch.

One of the questions explored in the book is "How big is the gap between male and female athletes?" Mr. Gallagher argues that a top-level male athlete and a top level female athlete are definitely better than the couch-potato of either sex. Certainly there are lots of valid reasons to admire female athletes.

That said, he argues that there is anecdotal and statistical evidence that the gap in performance between male and female athletes may not be due to "sexism". Efforts to allay sexual discrimination in sports may never totally eliminate this difference.

He writes:

"The truth of the matter is that the gap between pro female athletes and their male counterparts is wider than the general public understands and considerably more severe than the sports media has ever presented. Not surprisingly, the gap is largest in sports where size, strength and speed are essential. Somewhat more surprisingly, there's also a significant gap separating men and women in the games that are almost exclusively skill based."

He then goes on to develop his argument for most of the chapter. He then finds an example that may be of particular interest to Shotgun readers.

He notes that the U.S. women's hockey team has played boy's high school teams, in games where checking was not allowed, and lost. He then adds:

"These outcomes aren't aberrations; the women's Canadian national team, which won the Olympic gold medal in 2006, regularly plays and loses to Midget AAA men's teams (sixteen to eighteen year olds)."

I wonder if Canadian sports reporters ever take notice of this. I doubt it. I also doubt that any reporters who may have covered these games asked "Why can't championship-level female hockey players defeat younger male hockey players who should be less skilled than they are?"

I doubt that even Don Cherry is that brave.

More Cowbell!

I think my friend Joanna would like MORE COWBELL for her birthday:

Your home for Super Tuesday results!

"The results are exactly as I predicted, except that the Silly Party won!"

Matinee at the Bijou

According to this neat blog, efforts are being made to return Matinee at the Bijou, one of my favourite PBS TV shows when I was a kid, to television. I'd certainly pay a dime to see that. Or 25 cents, if you threw in popcorn. :)

Ce n'est pas Gene Pitney!

The Baronets again, with "L'amour, ça fait pleurer", the Quebec cover version of It Hurts to be in Love. Incroyable!

Look out, he's got a non-kosher object!

Part of the pilot for Makkat Medina, the Israeli pro wrestling show! Although it's in Hebrew, I trust that you will be able to figure out that the "rabbi" character is the heel!

The Bizarroworld Elvis Presley

This is German comedian/singer Bill Ramsey's version of Bossa Nova Baby. I think it loses something in translation....

Does she come with the slot cars?

French chanteuse Dalida singing the very pretty Je n'ai jamais pu t'oublier from 1964

Rene Angelil, teen idol!

I didn't know that Rene Angelil, Mr. Celine Dion, was a teen idol back in the day, but there you have it...



He's apparently the one on the left...

Superman returns...to Istanbul?

Oh my gosh, someone has posted the Turkish knockoff version of Superman, "Supermen Donuyur", on YouTube. The entire movie...with English subtitles!

Here is the first part...