Jim Henson's "The Frog Prince" was a made for tv movie that Nickelodeon would play every once in awhile when I was little. I was always excited when it would randomly be on. It's got that wicked muppet sense of humor to it (Aunt Taminella always cracks me up), and some really sweet little songs.
The "Sir Robin the Brave" song (2:45) pops into my head every now and then. This show was also the first ever appearance of Sweetums.
Whilst driving home from work today, I managed to catch a segment about the upcoming Presidential elections in Colombia on NPR. The elections are four days away, and most reputable polling agencies are saying that Juan Manual Santos, the US-backed former Minister of National Defense and will likely win by a great margin. However, the former Mayor of the capital city Bogota, a descendant of Lithuanian immigrants, is really rising in popularity.
His name is AntanasMockus, a former collegiate dean and mathematician/philosopher. He is pictured above in his "supercitizen" costume, which he wore while mayor to encourage a more aware and civically engaged populous. As mayor, he also hired over 400 mimes to mock people who committed traffic violations, "because he believed Colombians were more afraid of being ridiculed than fined." He also, as the NPR article mentions, is most notorious for mooning a lecture hall full of rowdy inattentive students during his tenure at the National University. It did get them to shut up....
Even though he's best known for his zany behaviors and gimmicky political initiatives, he actually made a huge difference in the cultural and public life in Bogota. Under his mayorship: -Water usage dropped 40% -Clean drinking water became universally available (as opposed to just 79% of households in 1993) -Homicides dropped 70% -Traffic fatalities dropped over 50%
Etcetera. He is also a living example of a successful, dynamic leader with Parkinson's Disease. I think it would be really cool to see him become president. He seems to have found just the right mix of weird showmanship and political savvy. Also- Awesome Beard.
Just when I stopped having nightmares about "BigDog", the anthropomorphic robot from hell, I find out that some brainy jerks in California have managed to make an even more horrible ambulatory monster. "LittleDog" is much smaller than it's creepy predecessor (20 cm high vs. 2.5 feet high), which makes it, somehow, a hundred times more scary. Plus, it's been specifically trained to efficiently plow through rough terrain and obstacles; "The specifications for the project required that the robot should achieve a speed of at least 7.2 cm/s and climb over obstacles up to 10.7cm (for humans, this would correspond to obstacles of 50% body height which are traversed at slow walking speed)." Ugh!
The worst parts are at 0:20 and 0:39, they could basically be scenes from a sci-fi/horror movie about evil robots. I have a really hard time watching this without covering my eyes and yelling about how much I hate it. They should have named the thing Creepzilla instead.
Ok, I'm not sure if I mentioned this already, but Paul and I recently got in to watching Mad Men, and we love it. It's a really beautifully made show.
The other day we watched the season 2 episode "Maidenform", which was a comparatively low-key, but good episode. Everybody got their own little vignettes. I was so pissed about Duck and his dog though, seriously!
This episode pitched the "Two sides of a woman - Marilyn or Jackie" campaign to a bra company.
Appealing to the idea that every woman has her own unique style, and there's no reason to even purchase a product that takes the "one-size-fits-all" approach in their merchandise. Afterall, you are a unique, special flower.
It's impressive to see how seamlessly this marketing strategy has transitioned to the 21st century:
One of the best bands I discovered in college was Tally Hall, a michigan-born band full to the brim with awesomeness. I originally found them through their amazing 'Banana Man' video:
From there, I found their whole first album "Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum." Their music spans a bunch of different genres; folk, rap, calypso, and straight up rock and roll. It's hard to pin them down to one descriptor, but they self-describe as "wonky rock."
I've seen them twice in Northampton. They put on a really fun show. The first time I got to meet Ross (Gray Tie/Drummer), who got incredibly awkward when I told him they were one of my favorite bands, and Joe (Red Tie/ Guitar), who I got incredibly awkward in front of when he tried to have a normal conversation with me. The second time, they played the best cover of "Freebird" I've ever ever heard.
More recently, the band made a series of really surreal and awesome "Internet Shows", which showed off their ability to be funny, in addition to musically fantastical. I wish I could embed the video, but I can't. Here's a link to my favorite one...you should really click it!
They're getting ready to release their sophomore album, 'Good and Evil' this year and I'm really excited. Can't wait.
Another favorite from the good old days of Sesame Street. Apparently, the doll house in this clip was built by Jim Henson for his daughters. The song is also a good example of how cats often are the worst, and ruin everything.
I managed to catch last week's truly excellent episode of Saturday Night Live, starring the lovely Betty White. To see the genuine enthusiasm that everybody had to see her hosting made me really happy for her. She's a real classy lady. I've watched SNL off and on since forever, and I can honestly say that it was the all-around funniest episode they'd had in a long time. So good job tv!
I have to say though that I was pretty annoyed with the musical guest, Jay-z. I love 99 Problems. Ghetto Anthem was the first rap song I really liked, but it lured me in by borrowing from a musical I loved, and I admit I never listened to carefully to the words back then. For the first time, I noticed that the rapper compares himself to "Che Guevara with bling on" in his song "PSA", which is really really stupid and inaccurate on dozens of levels.
Then, in the second act, he back with his new song "Young Forever." I know he ripped the hook fromAlphaville, but I can't help but associate the song with Rod Stewart's "Forever Young." They're pretty darn similar.
The Rod Stewart Song was one of the big songs of my childhood. I would always be really excited when it came on the radio. Something about the thumping beats and the theatrical synth part really appealed to me, and still does in a nostalgic way.
I just find it sad that Rod Stewart took this theme and sang a song about wishing for all the best things in the world for your child, and Jay-Z took this it and rapped about himself, and the same old rapper tropes; being better than you, drugs, booze, ladies and cars. He talks about how he'll be young forever through his own legacy.
It's a comparison of pure selfless wishes to pure selfish braggart bull. Then at the end of it all, he dedicated the song to Betty White. Yeah, I'm sure that she really appreciates the dedication of a song about how you are going to be famous forever.
