"Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. ... You can't expect to wield supreme power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you! ... I mean, if I went 'round saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!"
Here's the clip from that film described as "Another film completely different from some of the other films which aren't quite the same as this one is."
Below is a Brickfilm remake of the Camelot scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail by Spite Your Face Productions(in LEGO).
Surf rock guitarist Dick Dale was born Richard Anthony Monsour on May 4, 1937, to a Lebanese father and a Polish mother in Boston, Massachusetts. Dale and his family moved to Orange County, California in 1954. It was there that he learned to surf and became interested in music.He soon learned to play the drums, the ukulele, the trumpet and finally the guitar. Among his early musical influences was his uncle, an oud player performing belly dance music. Much of his early music shows a Middle Eastern influence and he is often credited as one of the first electric guitarists to employ non-Western scales in his playing.
Dale, an amateur surfer, wanted his music to reflect the sounds he heard in his mind while surfing.Being left-handed, he was initially forced to play a right-handed guitar, much like Jimi Hendrix would do a few years later. However, he did so without restringing the instrument, leading him to effectively play the guitar upside-down.
Dick Dale's desire to create a certain sound would lead him to push the limits of his equipment: "Leo Fender kept giving Dale amps and Dale kept blowing them up! Till one night Leo and his right hand man Freddy T. (Freddy Tavares) went down to the Rendezvous Ballroom on the Balboa Peninsula in Balboa, California and stood in the middle of Four Thousand screaming dancing Dick Dale fans and said to Freddy, I now know what Dick Dale is trying to tell me. Back to the drawing board. A special 85 watt output transformer was made that peaked 100 watts when Dale would pump up the volume of his amp, this transformer would create the sounds along with Dale's style of playing, the kind of sounds that Dale dreamed of. But they now needed a speaker that would handle the power and not burn up from the volume that would come from Dale's guitar. Leo, Freddy and Dale went to the James B. Lansing speaker company, and they explained that they wanted a fifteen inch speaker built to their specifications. That speaker would soon be known as the 15" JBL -D130 speaker. It made the complete package for Dale to play through and was named the Single Showman Amp. When Dale plugged his Fender Stratocaster guitar into the new Showman Amp and speaker cabinet, Dale became the first creature on earth to jump from the volume scale of a modest quiet guitar player on a scale of 4 to blasting up through the volume scale to TEN! That is when Dale became the "Father of Heavy Metal" as quoted from Guitar Player Magazine. Dale broke through the electronic barrier limitations of that era!" [quoted from the official Dick Dale Web site.]
Surf rock became nationally popular in the United States briefly, but then British Invasion began to overtake the American charts in 1964. Dale continued performing live, but was soon set back by rectal cancer. He recovered, and retired from music for a time. In 1979, he almost lost a leg after being injured while swimming; a pollution-related infection made the mild injury much worse. As a result, Dale became an environmental activist and soon began performing again. Dick Dale is also an accomplished Horseman, Exotic Animal Trainer, Surfer, Martial Arts Expert, Archer, and Pilot.
Betty is the cleaner a the local courthouse. On the bus ride to work one day, she grows tired of all the liberties her fellow citizens take. She falls asleep and dreams about what she'd do if she were the judge. Among her decrees: a thoughtless smoker learns about second-hand smoke the hard way, and an obnoxious celebrity impersonator is rewarded by having his ears blasted with imitations of Tarzan and the Shadow.
Ann-Margret Olsson celebrates her 68th birthday today. The actress, singer and dancer was born in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden - a "small town of lumberjacks and farmers high up near the Arctic Circle".She became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1949.
Ann-Margret met Elvis Presley on the MGM soundstage when the two filmed Viva Las Vegas (1964). They began a one-year affair that received considerable attention from the gossip columnists.Comparisons of Ann-Margret as the "female Elvis" were not confined to the publicity agencies. The two of them were truly similar in many ways--both were quiet and shy offstage and electric onstage, treasured their families and believed strongly in God, loved speed and motorcycles, could be defiant of danger, and could be self-destructive at times.
In 1963, Ann-Margret guest-starred in a popular episode of the animated TV series The Flintstones, voicing Ann-Margrock, an animated version of herself.
Throughout the 1970s, Ann-Margret balanced her live musical performances with a string of dramatic film roles that played against her glamorous image.Then came the musical Tommy in 1975, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Below is a clip from Tommy in which a drunken Ann-Margret is seen rolling around in Champagne suds, baked beans, and chocolate syrup gushing from her television set.
Here goes another rant from Bob: "General Motors is at it again. A report came out today that says General Motors spent 2.8 million dollars in order to lobby the government for more money. We already gave these people billions in the freaking bailouts. Then they take 3 million of that money and use it to ask us for more money. are you freaking kidding me?! This is like your father going bankrupt. Then taking his credit card down to the store buying a 500 dollar suit in order to go to the bank and ask for a freaking loan!Ask yourself. Why didn't GM use that 3 million to pay some of the workers they've been laying off for the last couple of months? Why didn't GM take that 3 million and invest it back into their ailing company? Do you know why GM is failing right now? NOT because of the bad economy. Because they suck! Because their management is a freaking joke!And I know what you're saying, but Bob they're an "American company". We have to help out the "American company". Thats all propaganda this "American company" nonsense. You know where GM gets a lot of their freaking parts? Mexico and Germany! You know where a lot of GM cars are assembled? Mexico and Canada! So don't give me this American company nonsense. You know what my definition of an American Company is? A company that hires American workers. Toyota has an American Company in this country and they are successful. They hire American workers. We should have taken the bailout money we gave to GM and given it to Toyota. Maybe they could haver opened up another plant and hired the workers that GM is going to have to fire in the next couple of months!But, No. We have to help GM. Do you know that the government is giving people 5000 dollars towards the purchase of a GM car? If you have an old car you can drive it into a GM dealer and THE GOVERNMENT will give you 5000 dollars towards a new GM car. Are you freaking kidding me?! Why?!! When did the government get into the freaking car business?!!!The government is also backing GM warranties. If you buy a GM car and GM goes out of business the government will honor that warranty. are you kidding me?! HOW!!! How are they going to do this? Is there a auto repair shop underneath the White House that nobody told me about? Is Barack Obama going to come out in a pair of overalls and a wrench and start fixing cars? No!! I'll tell you how the government is going to honor those warranties if GM goes out of business. they're going to take YOUR freaking tax dollars and start paying auto repair shops all over the freaking country to fix those freaking freaking cars!! That's how they're going to do it!" (click Bob's icon for full video rant)
Hopefully, I shall get back on track with my normal bogging routine soon.In the mean time, here's a little multimedia Tea Party project from my associate N.C. (not to be confused with M.C., with whom I attended a Connecticut Tea Party on Wednesday.).
I will preface the video with N.C.'s original intro (excuse the spelling and grammatical errors, for that is not his forte) :
If you watched foxnews last night you would think a patriotic revolution had started in an attempt to save what is left of this republic.
If you watched CNN, except for one delusional report from some idiot woman who seemed to miss the whole point, you would not know there were any protests at all.
And if you watched MSNBC for some strange reason, especially that dude rachel maddow, you would think there was a klan rally happening. She thinks calling obama a marzists is racist! Really! I swear, I actually sat through her and that other dildo's show to see the real spin they accuse fox of and somehow being patriotic is racist but portraying the idiot bush as hitler and attacking white people and dangling your penis in public are admirable ways to protest. Critical Theory at it's finest....
Anyway, I decided to cast of the shackles of corporate media censorship and record audio, video and images from the local "tea party" (sorry rachel, teabagging is something you will never appreciate). I expose these racist extremists in all their white ignorant glory (please ignore the minorities in the crowd or it won't seem racist enough).
I used EVERY single picture I took. I have audio of a democrat speaking. Their were more libertarians, constitutionalists and independants than republicans from what I could gather, but the RACIST PATRIOT NAZI's did not fail to disgust me with their flags and lack of violence.
See for your self: "I went undercover to catch the nazi obama haters in action. Waiting for them to do something white and stupid and boy I didn't have to wait long. They failed to burn or flip over any cars, no blood and not one arrest! Lame protest posers! "~N.C. (aka NoiseCollector)
I know my posting has been light of late, but I've been preoccupied. It may continue to be slow for a bit longer, as I'm heading "down South" to take care of some matters.I hope to get back on track soon, but for now please enjoy these cartoons.
Life oft-times imitates art. I'm really surprised that nobody else has brought this film up yet, for the subject matter is timely and relevant.
Americathonis a 1979 comedy based on a play by Firesign Theatre alumni Phil Proctor and Peter Bergman, and features narration by George Carlin. The premise of the film, set in a then distant future, is as follows; The United States of America is in crisis. The oil shortage has grown to epic proportions, leading to people living in their cars and bicycling to work. Cigarettes and meat have been outlawed, gold coins are needed to operate common household appliances, and the Western White House (located in a luxury apartment in California) has been forced by economic necessity to operate round-the-clock tours for vacationing Chinese citizens. The economy is deep trouble; President Chet Roosevelt (John Ritter) has borrowed four billion dollars from Native American tennis shoe manufacturer Sam Birdwater, and he's foreclosing on the loan. When a media expert, Eric McMerkhin (Peter Riegert), is summoned for advice (since despite all hardships, Americans refuse to give up their televisions), he suggests a telethon. It's a great idea, except the President's assistant Vincent Vanderhoff (Fred Willard) is in cahoots with the United Heb-Rab Republic, a sinister coalition of Israeli and Arab nationals who want to snap up America if the debt can't be paid. He ensures that the show is stocked with endless ventriloquists and insists on Monty Rushmore (Harvey Korman), a washed-up, drug-addicted television personality as host. The star of the popular sitcom "Both Mother and Father," he is sure to self-destruct over the grueling 30-day-and-night telethon schedule. Despite terrorist attacks and the kidnapping of President Roosevelt, the patriotic spirit prevails and American citizens dig deep and pledge their gold to the cause.
Since the storyline was set 20 years into the future, several satirical forecasts were made. Surprisingly, several of them came true:
The People's Republic of China embracing capitalism and becoming a global economic superpower.
Cliques of Native Americans becoming wealthy (although in reality much of their wealth would come from the gaming industry, mostly from tribal casinos).
Vietnam becoming a major tourist attraction among Asia's wealthy and powerful.
The creation of a "Western White House" (however it would serve as a vacation home).
Blues-rock guitarist, and legend Eric Clapton celebrates his 64th birthday today. Eric Patrick Clapton was born in Ripley, Surrey, England, on March 30, 1945. His real father was a Canadian pilot but he didn't find that out until he was 53. He was brought up by his grandmother because his mother couldn't look after him - in fact, he thought that his grandmother was actually his real mother, and that his mother was his sister (that's gotta fuck you up).
Although Clapton has varied his musical style throughout his career, it has always remained grounded in the blues. Yet, in spite of this focus, he is credited as an innovator in a wide variety of genres. These include blues-rock (with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and the Yardbirds) and psychedelic rock (with Cream).
Clapton played the guitar solo on George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" creating a precedent. No other outside musician had ever had such a privilege.Incidentally, both George Harrison and Clapton were respectively married to model Pattie Boyd. Eric wrote the songs "Layla" and "Wonderful Tonight" about her. She and Clapton eventually married, nine years after he recorded "Layla".
Eric Clapton is the only artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times: as a member of The Yardbirds (1992); as a member of Cream (1993); and as a solo performer (2000).
Oh here comes the change. Our President hires a chief tax collector who is either a tax cheat or someone who can't figure out the tax code he has to enforce. Meanwhile, hundreds of executives at AIG get multi million dollar bonus direct from the tax payers. It looks like free enterprise as we know it is dead. Failed companies get richer, successful companies get poorer and the poor and middle class keep losing jobs and there savings. G-d Bless You Capitalism, you'll be missed!~Jackie Mason
On 1966's Way Out West, legendary entertainer Mae Westrocks and rolls to an especially selected repertoire of the latest rock'n'roll hits (The Beatles, The Guess Who and Percy Sledge among others.), backed by the dynamic young group Somebody's Chyldren (creating energetic, raw garage rock raveups).
Her voice is torrid. Her beat is sensational. Her rhythm is like no other rhythm in the business. When she sings these emotional lyrics, they take on deep and feelingful meaning.(from the album's liner notes) I discovered this gem over at WFMU's Beware of the Blog - a must-visit for music fans.
The album is quite campy, and perhaps a bit cheesy, but not so much as Burt Ward's 1966 single
Boy Wonder I Love You, a children's record released at the height of Batmania. It features Burt reading "fan letters" over the musical backing of...The Mothers of Invention. Frank Zappa even wrote and arranged the song, as well as conducting what would come to be known as The Boy Wonder Sessions.
But wait! There's more.
I've saved the best for last. In 1966, a toy company in Newark, New Jersey released a children's record called Batman and Robin to cash in on the popular t.v. series. The music on the LP was credited to "The Sensational Guitars of Dan and Dale," but in fact the band was one of the greatest uncredited session combos of all time, including the core of Sun Ra's Arkestra and Al Kooper's Blues Project. All the tracks were based on public domain items like Chopin's Polonaise Op. 53, the horn theme from Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony and the love theme from Romeo and Juliet, and generic rock riffs.
Actress Barbara Feldon (born Barbara Hall) was born on March 12, 1932.
Feldon was cast as "Agent 99" in the spy comedy series Get Smart. Barbara had a successful career as a model and commercial star before being spotted by Buck Henry, who wrote the part of 99 specifically for her. Feldon signed on to do the pilot and just three more episodes, but after liking the pilot, she committed to starring in the series.
This commercial for Top Brass Dandruff prevention was what people recalled of her early days in acting. Though the commercial is only about a minute long, it may have been the inspiration for her character when writers Mel Brooks and Buck Henry were creating 99.
Texas Playboy, and western swing legend Bob Wills was born 104 years ago today. "Bob's own personality was a musical instrument. It was the hook, the thing that put a smile on any listener's face. It was Bob's magnetic stage presence, with his constant Cheshire grin and rhythmic regal bearing, that brought the most basic element out of the music. It may have had roots in blues, jazz, and working man's folk music, but it was always happy. A sense of joy could even be found in sad songs like Wills classics, 'Yearning,' 'Bubbles In My Beer,' and 'Lily Dale.' It had to be happy, it was for dancing!"~Ray Benson
(click photos for sample)
Although he passed on May 13, 1975, Wills' musical legacy has endured. His style influenced performers Buck Owens and Merle Haggard and helped to spawn a style of music now known as the Bakersfield Sound (Bakersfield, California was one of Wills' regular stops in his heyday).
In addition to being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1968, Bob Wills was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Early Influence category along with the Texas Playboys in 1999, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.
Gilmour, born in Cambridge, England,was approached in December 1967 by drummer Nick Mason, who asked if he would be interested in joining Pink Floyd , which he did in January 1968 (Jeff Beck was considered but found too expensive.). Contrary to popular belief, he did not replace Syd Barrett as a member of Pink Floyd.He was used to fill in for Syd Barrett's guitar parts when the front man was unable to take a consistent part in Floyd's live performances.
David Gilmour is best known for his lead guitar work. Gilmour's solo style is often characterised by blues-influenced phrasing, expressive note bends and sustain.
Apart from music, Gilmour is also an experienced pilot and aviation enthusiast. Under the aegis of his company, Intrepid Aviation, he had amassed an impressive collection of historical aircraft.
After 1983's The Final Cut, bandmembers went their separate ways till 1987, when Gilmour attempted to revive the band with Nick Mason. A bitter legal dispute with Roger Waters (who left the band in 1985) ensued, but Gilmour and Mason achieved the legal right to release an album as Pink Floyd (Waters, however, gained the rights to some traditional Pink Floyd imagery, including almost all of The Wall). All of the members of Pink Floyd have released solo albums which have met with varying degrees of commercial and critical success.
Music legend Johnny Cash was born February 26, 1932, in Kingsland, Arkansas.
J.R. Cash (his given the name because his parents could not agree on a name, only on initials.) was the son of poor cotton farmers, and one of seven children.His family's economic and personal struggles during the Depression inspired many of his songs, especially those about other people facing similar difficulties. Cash's early memories were dominated by gospel music and radio. Taught by his mother and a childhood friend, Johnny began playing guitar and writing songs as a young boy. He made his first single, "Hey Porter", for Sun Records in 1955. In 1958 he moved to Columbia Records. He had long periods of drug abuse during the 1960s, but later that decade he successfully fought his addiction with the help of singer June Carter Cash, whom he married in 1968. In 1975 wrote his autobiography, "Man In Black", which is now out of print. In the late 1980s he moved from Columbia Records to Mercury, then in the next decade moved again to American Recordings.
Amongst his biggest hit records were "I Walk the Line", "Ring of Fire" and "A Boy Named Sue".
Cash disliked being defined as a "country" artist, feeling that his music wasn't really genre-defined and noting that he often stood well outside of the Nashville mainstream (particularly towards the end of his career). Technically, his music contains elements of rock 'n' roll, folk music, bluegrass, blues and gospel as well as country-style music. Johnny Cash is the only person besides Hank Williams to have been inducted into the Songwriters, Country Music, and Rock And Roll Halls of Fame.(Elvis Presley, Hank Williams and Johnny are the only three musicians to have been inducted both to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame.) From 1969 to 1971, Cash starred in his own television show, The Johnny Cash Show, on the ABC network. The Statler Brothers opened up for him in every episode; the Carter Family and rockabilly legend Carl Perkins were also part of the regular show entourage. However, Cash also enjoyed booking more contemporary performers as guests; such notables included Neil Young, Louis Armstrong, James Taylor, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton (then leading Derek and the Dominoes), and Bob Dylan.
Johnny Cash died of complications from diabetes, after several years of ill health, on September 12, 2003, only a few months after the death of his beloved wife.
