When Harpo played his harp

Groucho's my favorite Marx brother, as you know, but that's nothing against Harpo. I just happen to prefer say-funny to do-funny, and Harpo did funny as well as any before or since. And if others could get bigger laughs, none of them could play like Harpo could.

Here he is in Horsefeathers, performing the movie's theme "Everyone Says I Love You." (Elsewhere in the film he whistles it to a horse.)



Fourteen years later, if memory serves, he performed Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody in A Night in Casablanca. MeTubers will remember this melody as sung by Daffy and lip-synched by Jar Jar back in the day.



Finally, here's a tribute to his talents, sung by Jonathan Richman over footage from Monkey Business.

Everything is satisfactual

An awful lot has been written about the Disney movie Song of the South; Wikipedia has a very thorough take on it here. Since I've never seen it, I can only offer you this warm clip of its Oscar winning song and get out of the way.



NOTE: I was unable to resist reading the spoilers for what happens in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I wish now that I hadn't. I strongly urge you not to seek out the answers. The Internet giveth, but the Internet taketh away.

Viddy well, O my brothers

Today, for no reason other than, I thought I'd put together a little Clockwork Orange fest. We'll start with the trailer to the film, which sure would've piqued my curiosity back in 1971 if I was a little older than, oh, ten months.



Now here's a very well done mashup with the soundtrack to the trailer of Reservoir Dogs.



But this is my favorite. Two girls who name themselves after the friends in Ghost World do a little lip-synching to "I Want To Marry A Lighthouse Keeper," one of the songs on the soundtrack. Oh to be that young again.

Definition of "earworm"

Earworm (EER-wurm)(deriv. from German ohrwurm)

1. Slang. A song or advertising jingle that sticks in one's head, particularly an annoying one.

2.

We all gotta start somewhere

For years I thought Harrison Ford's movie debut was in the 1966 movie Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round with James Coburn.



But I just made the discovery that he had a nonspeaking part in a movie that came out three years earlier. And not just any movie, but the Steve McQueen classic The Great Escape. And not just any nonspeaking part, but the part of a Nazi youth.



Nazi youths. I hate those guys.

A-huntin' we will go *BLAM!*

One good thing about 100 best lists is that they can introduce you to things you'd never heard of before. That happened to me back in the day when Entertainment Weekly, I think it was, had a 100 best movies list that included two Preston Sturges films in the top 20. I watched and appreciated Sullivan's Travels, but it was The Palm Beach Story that I really enjoyed. Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert are the divorcing couple who are meant to stay together, and oh what adventures they have as they figure that out.

Such as this one.



The Ale & Quail Club is a group of boozers that take Claudette under her wing on a train trip, somewhat to her chagrin. Some of the humor is a little dated, as you'll see, but there's an energy here that never gets old.

Hufu

Shhhhhhh. There's a Daily Show clip still on YouTube after seven months plus, and it's got what may be the funniest line an interviewed person ever gave on the show.



Samantha Bee's looking into the creation of hufu, a tofu substance supposedly designed to taste like human flesh. When she asks marketing expert Mark Levit to come up with a winning slogan, he pauses for twenty seconds before delivering, in all seriousness, six words that bring the house down.

Stewart/Colbert: Too Sexy for YouTube

Back when I posted the "I'm Too Sexy" mashups, I mentioned that there was a great one for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, but that Viacom had directed YouTube to take it down. Well, they're still throwing their hissy fit, but the clip is out there, and I just had to bring it here.

So I'm going to depart from YouTube for the first time in this blog and post this wonderful, wonderful look at the two greatest minds on network TV, and that includes Katie Couric. Enjoy it while you can.




I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see this again. Come on, Viacom, drop the posturing and get back to making us all happy, would you please?

Hozanna

I'm a regular reader of Crooks and Liars, an unapologetically liberal/progressive blog that documents current events and does it pretty damn well. Besides the fact that it's updated constantly (always a treat when you're websurfing), they have a different music video clip every day, usually with thoughtful commentary of some sort.

Today they featured Tanita Tikarum and asked the question, "Can you think of any songs you positively knew would be a hit if they just got some radio exposure– but that never did?"

This is the song that vaulted to my mind.



I have very few pictures on my walls, and a signed photo of Astrid Williamson is one of them. Not only is she drop-dead gorgeous, she's got great songwriting skills and a wonderful voice that would make grown men and women weep if only they could hear her. If you can find a copy of Boy For You, her debut album, no price is too high.

Filth Flarn Filth

The first time I saw Eddie Murphy doing Bill Cosby was on the video for the best of Eddie Murphy on SNL. I had to stop it, rewind it, and watch it again before I could go on with the rest of the tape.

Years later, I saw how Eddie's imitation goes when he doesn't have to worry about censorship.



If you just listen and don't watch, you genuinely won't know that you're not listening to Bill Cosby. Or Richard Pryor, for that matter.

And just for the hell of it, here's somebody under 21 lip-synching it.

Japan's Got Talent

Here's a damned clever bit of human artwork from a Japanese TV show.



So many things to like about this - the Red Sox jersey, the shadow figure copping a quick feel 38 seconds from the end, backmasked Roy Orbison, to name but a few. I wonder if you can make a good living doing this.

Terry Gilliam + Acid - Joy = This

I've found the most disturbing animation since the Crack Master cartoon on Sesame Street. It's from Fantastic Planet, a French/Czech film made in 1973, directed by Rene Laloux. Leonard Maltin called it "static," "aloof," and "worthwhile." Leonard's funny that way.

There are a number of clips of this on YouTube (apparently, it's in the public domain), but I'll introduce you the way I was introduced - with this particular trailer.

Meet the Beat Alls

I've only seen one Powerpuff Girls episode (I was in a laundromat at the time). Thank God it was this one, crammed to the gills with Beatle references. Any show that can be this smartly written cannot possibly be all bad.

Guest Starring

Christopher Guest has been brilliant for longer than I've been alive. Of late he's been doing his mockumentaries and doing them well. He'll always be immortal for This Is Spinal Tap. Even in the '70s, when nobody knew his name, there wasn't any stopping him.

These clips come from the off-Broadway National Lampoon stage show "Lemmings," where a heavily bearded John Belushi and a long-haired Chevy Chase performed live from New York two years before Saturday Night Live. Here, Guest does (and does in) Bob Dylan and James Taylor.




Trivia time: When Chevy was at his old school, he drummed with Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, who went on to be Steely Dan.

The other "Dick in a Box" video

Who doesn't know the SNL sketch with Justin Timberlake by this point? (Although it's always fun to see it again, so be my guest.) But here's another one from the evening news that's almost as funny...



Hey - I never claimed I was mature.

The next great comedy

Now that Knocked Up has won the hearts and minds of all fine moviegoers, I'm looking forward to seeing The Ten, a film from the makers of Wet Hot American Summer. It's got ten vignettes, one for each commandment being broken.

This is the unrated trailer for it. And yes, the fact that it's unrated makes it very much not safe for work. The absolute best thing about it is the way the names are announced at the end.

The Fourth of July

I'm about as far from jingoistic as you can get. In high school I got spoken to more than once for not saluting the flag. And there's a lot of problems I have with the country and the way it's run. Nevertheless, it does mean something to me to be an American.

Take, for instance, my reaction to this clip.



Rick Monday, playing for the Chicago Cubs at the time, literally risked his life to keep these protesters from burning the flag, after which the crowd spontaneously began singing "God Bless America." I'll bet money he still gets letters about that to this day. Good. It just makes me feel so positive when he comes swooping in at the last second like that.

Oh, and just to show I have other ways of showing appreciation for the country, here's the classic anthem from Team America: World Police.

Perry Como Is Still Alive!

I do a little research for this site, looking for clips to show, and when I find one I like I write it down so's I won't forget it. But every now and then I find a clip that I cannot wait to post, and that's exactly what happened today.

This is Eugene Levy in his SCTV days, doing his impression of Perry Como.



You don't have to be familiar with Como's work to find this hilarious, but since it wouldn't hoit, here he is medleying with the Carpenters.

Bowie and friend

David Bowie's had a great career, but it can be argued that he's at his greatest when he's collaborating with somebody. It could be a good guitarist, like Mick Ronson, or a good producer, like Brian Eno, or a good singer, like Bing Crosby.

Here are a couple of concerts where he teamed up with another singer, and the results are great.

"Queen Bitch" comes from Hunky Dory, where Bowie notes, "Some V.U. white light returned with thanks." Lou Reed returned the favor in 1997 at this show in Madison Square Garden.



And here's David, in full-on Ziggy regalia, duetting with Marianne Faithfull, who's disguised as a nun. Thank God for the '70s.

The Best of MeTube

One year and 356 posts ago, I began sharing my favorite clips off of YouTube to you, my virtual audience. Today I'm going to share my favorite favorites of the past year. (Sadly, nobody submitted their favorites, so the mix CD prize will just have to go to me.) Sure, they're reruns, but it's summertime and time for reruns anyway.

In reverse order, tenth favorite to favorite favorite, here they are:

#10. The Temptations performing "For Once In My Life."



#9. The Moody Rudy toy.



#8. The Billy Nayer Show.



#7. "You'll Come One Day."

You'll Come One Day | Viral | SPIKE.com

#6. The Ball Buster Toy.



#5. Miami Bugs.



#4. The Hungarian sausage commercial.



#3. "Sister Ray" on Lawrence Welk.



#2. The GI Joe PSA parody with "The Motorcycle Song."



#1. Vader Sessions.



Let's hope there are some equally good clips to come for year two.

Groucho and Jacko

Jack Benny and Groucho Marx are two of my favorite comedians of all time. They first knew each other from the vaudeville circuit; Groucho (then known as Julius Marx) would get Benny (then known as violinist Benjamin Kublesky) laughing so hard they'd have to hold up the show and wait for him to calm down.

Four decades or so later, they were performing together on TV.



Jack's doing everything he can to win some money, including wearing a disguise that fools absolutely no one. His look of despondence at Groucho's final question is so wonderful - almost as wonderful as Groucho's look of glee as he asks that question. And you'll note that Groucho can still get Jack to break character with almost no effort.

Paging Rube Goldberg

Rube Goldberg, for those not in the know, was a Pulitzer Prizewinning cartoonist who is today best known for his cartoons showing convoluted ways to perform simple tasks like opening doors or wiping a mouth with a napkin. To this day people still design contraptions that do this. Then they film them. And that's where we come in.

You may well have already seen this Honda ad, which took 600 takes or so to get right. It's not that it was so complicated, but Garrison Keillor kept screwing up the last line. (Kidding.)



Have you seen this one? A guy in an office spent the whole night putting this together.



There's more of these clips - I just picked the relatively short ones...

No Barney for us!

Ah, 1970's educational television. Nostalgia or no, I can't help thinking how much better it is than the tripe that gets put out nowadays. By now you all know how fond I am of Sesame Street and Electric Company, but there were others out there as well. Here are a few samples (with nary a Wiggle in sight).

There was Mulligan's Stew, which spent half an hour on eating properly...



The Letter People, introducing us to 26 good friends (there's plenty to choose from on YouTube, but I decided to go with that hippie Mr. H and his Horrible Hair)...



Zoom, with a bunch of Boston kids having far more fun that YOU ever do...



And of course, 3-2-1 Contact, which taught us all about science and gave us the original Bloodhound Gang.

Don't call me Shirley, either

I love the fact that somebody took the time to put this clip together...

When the seminal comedy Airplane! came out in 1980, many people recognized it as a spoof of Airport and other such disaster movies. What they may not have known is how closely it resembled one movie in particular - Zero Hour!, which came out in 1957. The ZAZ team bought the rights to that movie and used way more of the screenplay than you might think.

How much more? See for yourself. (And after all these years, the "get a hold of yourself *slap*" scene still cracks me up.)

RemDawg gets down

One of the bummer things about major league baseball and NESN is that they're very vigilant about getting Red Sox clips taken down from YouTube. This means that I can't keep current the post where Denis Leary visits the announcer's booth and goes off on Mel Gibson (though you can see it here), and I didn't even try posting the clip where Manny Ramirez gives his teammate Julian Tavarez a head rub (have a look at that here). But the following clip has been around for a couple months, so I'm going to guess it'll stay here for a while.

Jerry Remy played second base for the Red Sox in the late '70s and early '80s, and has turned a very deep knowledge of the game into a fine career as the color commentator for Sox games on the New England Sports Network. He's got a thick Bahstin accent ("Tigizz" for "Tigers" is a favorite), and at least twice a month he and Don Orsillo, the play by play man, go on laughing jags that are always, always funny.

Here's Jerry, unafraid to look ridiculous, getting even the semi-bland Tom Caron to lose his breath from laughter.

Short Attention Span Theatre 3

Yes! It's time once again to cram as many fun clips as possible into one minute, give or take! This time around, that consists of...

another classic commercial from the folks at Red Stripe...



arguably the best line in Dr. Strangelove...



one of those Smokey the Bear PSAs that used to scare the shit out of me...



an unexpected opinion from a very attractive movie critic...



a super-slomo raspberry...



Admiral Ackbar performing an excerpt from The Vagina Monologues...



and an acknowledgment of existence from Jeff Spicoli.

Sunday funnies

This is kind of fun. It's a dynamic presentation of four of the duller comic strip characters out there, teaming up to become a super fighting force. As far as I'm concerned, any chance to see Mark Trail in action is totally worth the while. Hope you agree...

The Lady and the Tramp

The AFI released the results of their 100 Best American Films poll this week. Citizen Kane's still #1, of course, and there wasn't too much movement in the top 10 from the last poll, ten or so years ago. But below that, a lot of films took huge leaps. Dr. Zhivago fell off the charts from #39; Nashville jumped on to #59. Raging Bull rose 20 spots to #4; The Searchers went from #96 to #12. I find those reflections on shifting tastes way more interesting that what does or doesn't make the lest.

One of the biggest leaps was City Lights, Charlie Chaplin's masterpiece, moving from #76 to #11. This has one of the most moving endings of any movie ever; I've watched it any number of times, and the room always gets really dusty in the last two minutes.

A loose recap: Chaplin, as the Tramp, falls in love with a blind flower girl, who thinks he's a rich benefactor. He promises to get her money so she can have an operation that will allow her to regain her sight, which he manages to do (you really have to see the film to find out how). He tells her he's going away on a trip, then gets put in jail for months.

After he's released, this is what happens.

Animated handectomy

The comic strip "Maakies" by Tony Millionaire doesn't make it into too many family newspapers, what with its jokes about suicide, STDs, and drinking beyond excess. It's worth finding the alternative weeklies that carry it, or the beautifully designed books about it - amidst all the horrid circumstances there's some wonderful artwork, and there's a sense of the way comics looked in the 1920s about it that's pretty compelling. Though you kind of forget that when you get punchlines like, "Say Tommy, when you masturbate, what do you do with the cum?" (If you're intrigued and want more, go here.)

There were some animated shorts made of the strip that semi-bowdlerize it, and lose a lot of their punch in the process. But this one has a line that's so unexpected it kills me (it's when the guy's rowing the boat).

And the living is easy

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, gang! Sure, the days start getting shorter, but it's time for heat waves, hot dogs, tasty waves and a cool buzz.

To get you in the mood for something bracing and refreshing for the upcoming heat, here's a superslow-motion shot of a guy getting a water balloon to the face.

Brian

Two days after James Paul McCartney came into the world, Brian Douglas Wilson touched down. I'm in the school that thinks Paul was a supremely talented craftsman and Brian was an out and out genius.

Brian's candle burned at both ends, and nowadays he occasionally appears in concerts that one critic said seem "like a musical adaptation of Flowers for Algernon." But I want to focus on his lovely light.



Here he and the Beach Boys perform the Four Freshmen song "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring," which Brian arranged after hearing it on the radio. He could pick out the four voices and copy that arrangement, all by ear. And he was deaf in one ear. Tell me that's not amazing.

Incidentally, the song was written by Bobby Troup, who also wrote "Route 66" and appeared on the TV show Emergency! with his wife, Julie London. And how appropriate to post this on the last day of spring. But above all, happy birthday, Brian.

Ain't No Sunshine Times Two

Bill Withers's song "Ain't No Sunshine" has been called a perfect song, and I'm guessing there are few musicians who would disagree. It's been covered a lot, by everyone from Michael Jackson to Kenny Rogers. Here are two of those covers. I like to think of them as "the wrong way" and "the right way."

First, here's Sting, with an oooo-aren't-we-jazzmasters version that couldn't be more earnest if it went to camp. The 'stache ain't helping matters, either.



From the first seconds of Freddie King's clip, you know that this is something different, and not just because of how he wears his guitar strap. This goes right for the gut, and it nails it. I don't even miss the "I know, I know, I know" part. This, my friends, is how to cover a song.

Sir Paul's 65th

Finally, Paul McCartney's old enough to collect Social Security. Which I'm sure not even an expensive divorce has rendered necessary, but it must be nice to have that to fall back on...

As you can imagine, there are hundreds of thousands of clips I could put here, but I went with something simple - a video to the Wings song "Heart of the Country." Basically, if "Rocky Raccoon" was a little more candy-ass, it would sound like this.

But I've got to say, I like it - that wordless scat break, flawlessly mirrored by the acoustic, gets me every time. And it's nice to see him romping with Linda, the punchline for the incredibly cruel riddle "What do you call a dog with wings?", and feel the cozy domestic love.



By the way, he's not the only genius bass player to be born in June '42, as we will soon see...

A third-rate burglary attempt

I realized, just twelve or so hours ago, that today marks the 35th anniversary of the burglary of Watergate. I think the subsequent events were arguably America's finest hour - they proved that a system set up nearly two hundred years prior worked, and they showed what happens when people don't stop asking questions. One way or another, those people, and those questions, have to be answered.

So let's take a look at Walter Cronkite devoting a good five minutes of the evening news to the event. Marvel at the candidates being given longer than 10 seconds to talk. Chuckle at Uncle Walter's reference to frogs. Also note the "gasoline company saves the environment" ad.



Oh, and here's a very brief dramatization of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein getting the story that would make their careers, as seen in All the President's Men.

I don't know art, but I know what I like

I went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, not to look at the Cezanne (though that was nice too), but to see the Edward Hopper exhibit. He's one of my favorite painters; his use of real and artificial light blows me away, and the way he can make two people so close to each other so remote from each other is something I really envy. He's great with moments; it's like his paintings aren't short stories, but the best sentences in those short stories.

Here's an eight and a half minute slide show of some of his best work, set to Benny Goodman's "Sing Sing Sing" (go, Krupa!), with a poem at the end. High culture - the MeTube way.



But that's not enough - I've also turned up another slide show (excuse the redundancies) set to the Velvet Underground...



...and a third, to the strains of Lucinda Williams.



Don't ask me to choose the best. Please.

Goodbye, Bob

Pets who don't want to be spayed or neutered are celebrating today as Bob Barker makes his final appearance on The Price Is Right. He's been hosting it almost as long as I've been alive, and it's going to be hard to imagine the landscape without him. Kind of like Queen Elizabeth II, if you think about it.

There are tons of Price is Right clips on YouTube (I've already featured one here), so I thought today I'd show a couple of Family Guy salutes.

Don't mess with the fat kid

For the Phairest

I saw Liz Phair in concert once. She was the opening act for Alanis Morissette, and a majority of the audience was high school girls. Liz put on a great 40 minute set. "This next one is kind of X-rated," she said at one point, and launched into "Flower," from her debut album Exile in Guyville. It was remarkable; the shock of her words came out in waves, washing over the crowd over and over again, overwhelming not with noise but with meaning. I wonder how many people's lives were altered that night.

This is a time-lapse video of an amaryllis growing to bloom. On the one hand, maybe a touch too literal, but on the other, just as hypnotic as the song itself.

When the camera gets turned around

Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, probably best known for his lead performance in Brick (great movie, by the way), was accosted by a couple of paparazzi, and responded in a way that most people could only dream of - he takes out his own video camera and shoots back. Then he goes and engages the two of them in conversation, completely against their will. It's fascinating to watch him peeling away the evil shell and get close to humanity. (Bad language warning.)



This is a clip that's stayed with me long after my initial viewing; I'd be interested to hear what you think.

Be desireless. Be excellent. Be gone.

There's an indie romantic comedy made around the turn of the century called The Tao of Steve. It's about a philosophy student turned fat kindergarten teacher who has incredible success with the ladies. He explains how to a younger guy, but over the course of the movie he finds his ethos are pretty shallow when he wants to land the one he really loves.

It's got some great dialogue and a winning performance by Donal Logue as Dex, and I totally recommend it. I can't help but wonder, though, how many people walked out thinking, "Boy, he learned his lesson," and how many walked out thinking, "Man, I gotta learn those rules."

Anyway, watch the trailer and then put it on your Netflix list. Be ye guy or be ye girl, you'll not be sorry you saw it.

Penguins are so sensitive

The Penguin Cafe Orchestra are usually found in the new age section of the music store, but that's more out of default than anything else. They're not quite new age, classical, folk, jazz, you name it - but you know you like it. I definitely recommend their greatest hits CD, Preludes, Airs & Yodels, for good thinking music.

This, I thought, would be a good way to start a Sunday. It's "Music for a Found Harmonium," which you may recognize from Napoleon Dynamite (it's played on an acoustic after the big dance scene).

A wild and crazily talented guy

We all know Steve Martin's funny, and that he's an ace banjo player. But did you know he was also into magic? Here he is in his youth (brown hair!), when he was a writer for the Smothers Brothers.



And in later years as the Great Flydini.



On top of that, as Roy Blount Jr. so perfectly put it, he can dance like a son of a bitch. You've got to watch this duet with Gregory Hines to "Fit as a Fiddle and Ready for Love."

Free To Be... You And Me

You know, I was juuuuust a little too young to see the Emmy-winning TV special based on the album, put together by Marlo Thomas in her post-That Girl, pre-Mrs. Phil Donahue years. So it doesn't resonate that as strongly with me as it does with others.

I do remember checking the book out of the library, where the only bit that stood out was this one, voiced by Thomas and Mel Brooks. Even then, I was big into dialogue.



If this sends you into paroxysms of "OH MY GOD," there's all kinds of clips from the special on YouTube, including The Thing With Two Heads star Rosey Grier singing "It's Okay To Cry."

Are you not entertained, dude?

American Gladiators was a syndicated show in the early '90s that pitted your average Jo(e) Q. Hardbody against massive musclefolk, with bulging bloodvessels that made their arms look like Vermont roadmaps, in games of athletic prowess not seen since teachers started patrolling the schoolgrounds better at recess. Put ancient Rome in Spandex and hairspray and you'll get the idea.

This is from the first season, which was Malibu's only season on the show. What a shame. Please note his remarkable vocal resemblance to Steve-O from Jackass.

Weird Al

I was in elementary school in the early to mid eighties, so Weird Al Yankovic came along at just the right time for me. I'll admit to owning In 3-D on vinyl. But I can honestly say I never expected him to last into the next millennium. That's what he likes about those high school nerds - he gets older, and they stay the same age. Yes they do.

So here he is in his debut network TV performance on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show.



And here he is "interviewing" Keith Richards, which I think would be funny even without the trick editing - Keith is so quintessentially Keith.

MeTube Extra: I'm Published!

Nothing big, I hasten to note, but still just as fun as when Maxim printed my letter to the editor ten years ago (I noted that Slap Shot, their choice for #1 guy movie, was written by a woman).

I found a clip on YouTube of Dave Roberts stealing second base. This is a big deal for two reasons:

1) It happened in the bottom of the ninth, in the 2004 American League Championship Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. He was then singled home, and the Sox went on to win the game, the series, and the world championship. It's arguably the most important stolen base in history.

2) This footage was taken from the stands by a fan. It's a bit shaky and totally silent - as a commenter noted, it's like the Zapruder film, only with a happy ending. And it's really neat to see it from a completely new angle.

I forwarded the clip to Bill Simmons, the Sports Guy, and a few days later he posted it in his new column, along with my one sentence description. It's at number 7, if you want to read it here.

Of course, if you just want to see the magic moment, feast your eyes directly below.

How awesome is Jack Black?

There's a big division out there as to whether Jack Black is a waste of skin or genius incarnate. I fall closer to the latter camp.

Here are a couple of early incarnations. First, his appearance in a 1982 video game ad.



And here he is with John Cusack and Todd Louiso, his costars and coworkers in the High Fidelity record shop. This clip comes not from the movie or DVD extras, but from the movie's website; it's the three of them naming their top five songs to make love to.



I'm thinking Jack deviates a bit from the script at the end, which may account for it being the best part.

Disney Plus Avenue Q Equals Hijinx Aplenty

Here's another golden mashup, combining the song "The Internet Is For Porn" from the musical Avenue Q with some very well chosen clips from various Disney cartoons.



Incidentally, a big hello to all you folks who found this page by Googling "Disney" and "porn." Look around! It's fun!

I don't want to talk about it

Ticket to Ride Times Two

A little trivia about the Beatles song "Ticket to Ride":

*It's more Lennon than McCartney, but Paul was the one who came up with the lopsided drum pattern

*John would later claim that this was the first heavy metal record.

*It went to #1 in May of '65, replacing "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" and being replaced by "Help Me Rhonda."

Here are a couple of diametrically opposed covers; one's by Aleksey Igudesman and Richard Hyung-Ki Joo, from their show "A Little Nightmare Music" (thanks, Zach)...



...and one's by the seminal punk group Husker Du. You've got to wait a good six and a half minutes before the song starts, and I'll understand if you can't wait that long, but I love seeing and listening to Bob, Grant & Greg in their prime.



And what the hell - howzabout a rare vid of the Fabulous Foursome to top it off.

CONTEST! WIN A MIX CD! NO JOKE!

Believe it or not (and why wouldn't you), I've been doing this blog for eleven months now. That's 330 some-odd days and at least 500 video clips. I've had a ball with it and hope you have too. And I thought, wouldn't it be nice to give something back to my loyal viewers?

So I'm putting a little contest together. Send me a note naming your three favorite clips that I've posted here, and at the end of the month one random participant will be selected to receive a mix CD from me. I've got around 1200 CDs and eclectic enough taste that I can make something satisfactory for you, I dare say.

So send your lists of three to myfavoritemetube@gmail.com. At the end of the month I'll post the top finishers and announce the winner, who'll get a note asking for some favorite songs to give me an idea of what they like, and a CD will follow. No cost to you. Cost of CD & mailing to me. Even our friends in foreign lands can participate.

Hopefully, your reaction to the notification of your winning will be something like this.

Sweet. S-W-E-E-T. Sweet.

It's National Spelling Bee time again, and I thought it would be fun to revisit some old favorite moments from NSBs past. Forgive me if you've seen these before, but hell, I've never posted them.

Here's a kid who decides this is the perfect time to break out his imitation of Napoleon Dynamite.



Here's one who blacks out, then gets up and nails the word.



And here's the 1997 winner realizing she's about to be the 1997 winner.



Tune in tomorrow for an even more special announcement than the one that started this month...

Happy happy houses, happy hey

Back in my college days, I was a regular at the local art house cinema, which showed animation festivals several times a year. One year they had this one, called "The Billy Nayer Show" in the program.



I was the one laughing through the length of the closing credits. I don't know if it was the randomness of the lyrics, or the last few lines' revelation, but this just killed me.

Also, the style of animation's pretty cool.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

Last year, when Gerald Ford died, he was 93 years old. Which means he was three years older than John F. Kennedy would be today.

There was no question whatsoever what should mark this occasion - the sweet and wholesome and perhaps most famous version of "Happy Birthday" ever sung.

We secretly replaced this ad with INSANITY!

Folger's commercials have been pretty good quality over the years - they put the phrase "we secretly replaced" into the lexicon, and the brought us the Swedish pitchwoman supreme, Mrs. Olson, who talked about Folger's being "monten gron, de riches', mos' aromatic kind uff coffee." (Actually, she was from Stanton, Iowa. Read more about her here.)

Even in their early ads, they showed vision - watch this one with an eye out for its film noiriness. (And how about that turnstile!)



But you know what happens. You get older, you try something different to stay on top. And what the Folger's people tried...

You know what, I don't think any description I could give could do this justice. Just watch it and thank the deity of your choice that nobody involved is you.

Show Dote'n' Show Be Doh

Last night I had what's known in the business as "some enchanted evening," involving Pirates 2, rum and Coke, and Footloose. At the end of the evening, I got in the car to drive home, turned on the radio, and within a minute got to hear this classic from the Five Satins.



It's always been one of my favorite slow songs ever, and it was such a treat to have it come on just then. It even refers to "that night in May." I don't know how Mr. and Mrs. Tom W. Bread in the audience here felt about it, but judging by Mrs. Bread's dreamy expression, it worked its magic on her very nicely.

Kudos once more to YouTube for making clips like this available to over-the-moon guys like me.

One for the graduates

This weekend marks graduation weekend for a lot of colleges and universities, so I thought it would be fun to play a portion of Seth McFarland's address at Harvard last year. Seth, of course, is the creator of Family Guy, and he gave much of his speech in character - or, really, characters. This is the Stewie portion of the program, given between the Peter and the Quagmire portions.

Best. Stunt. Ever.

It's been a long time since I let one short clip stand on its own, and I suppose I could have posted a few other Bollywood moments I found to go along with this. But really, this deserves a place in the sun.

It's a stunt from an unknown Indian film, and I one hundred percent guarantee it will leave you with your mouth open.

Happy Birthday Bob Dylan

In '66, Bob Dylan released Blonde on Blonde, one of the greatest double albums ever made. And speaking of '66, that's how old he is today.

There's a few imitations of Bob on YouTube, from the somewhat bizarre (and completely senseless if you've never heard of Andy's Gang)...



...to this surprisingly valid sendup - you'll never hear "Home on the Range" the same way again.



But to really pay respect to Bob you've got to go right to the source. So here's his video for "Series of Dreams," from the first Bootleg Series box set. It captures him through the decades as best as a video can, with visuals almost as riveting and compelling as the song.

Here's to the crazy ones

I'm going to be spending the next few days visiting my folks, which means no new posts until Thursday. And when I return, I'll be moving away from Star Wars for a while. This'll be the last one for the month.

It's not that I've run out - there's the "Copacabana"/"Star Wars Cantina" song, the Brokeback Mountain parodies, the Donny and Marie Show take (I dare you to track that one down), Admiral Ackbar watching Sonny at the tollbooth in The Godfather and saying, "It's a trap!", and thousands more. It's just that the 30th anniversary proper is on Friday the 25th, and several days off takes away from the steam of the leadup. I've also got a lot of non-Lucasian clips I'm rarin' to post. Plus, as old juror number 8 says in Twelve Angry Men, "I think the point is made."

So I'm going to close with this, a mashup of the soundtrack to Apple's award winning "Think Different" ad and shots from all the Star Wars films. I think it's a nice way to go out. Hope you enjoyed...

George Lucas in Love

I couldn't not post this...



Back in the pre-YouTube days, people were paying money to order this nine-minute masterpiece off of Amazon. It moves Shakespeare in Love to the 20th century, and it gives a wholly believeable look at how Lucas (and Martin Hynes deserves some kind of medal in the part) wrote what he knew.

Yub Nub

The Ewok song at the end of Return of the Jedi was replaced in the rerelease by some warmed-over Yanni wannabe. This made no sense to me, on account of the original song's catchiness and sense of triumph. Now it's "We just defeated the Evil Empire and freed a galaxy - let's listen to some Earthfart Tranquility!"

Anyway, here's a couple clips of the song. First, one sung by a drunk lady on the bus. The old lady sitting next to her is semi-priceless.



Now for something a little more polished. Complete with English lyrics if you want to sing along. Too bad that facial hair is probably fake.

Brought to you by the letter R and the number 2

Star Wars had to make an appearance on Sesame Street, didn't it? If there were two things that kids loved more in 1977, I can't imagine what they are. So here are everyone's favorite droids, talking about Artoo's newfound love.



Thirty years later, Artoo mailboxes sprung up around the country. So it looks like there was a happy ending after all. (Insert cruddy laugh here.)

Feel the Force at your local PTA meeting

Christopher Knight wanted a seat on the Rockingham County school board. He wanted to get his message out to as many people as he could. It was time to advertise.

Here's what he came up with.



Sadly, he didn't win. Even more sadly, he didn't think of calling himself Christopher "Jedi" Knight.

Banjo. Accordion. Just Accept It.

There's an old joke: "What's the definition of perfect pitch? When you throw a banjo in a dumpster and it lands right on the accordion."

Aw, hell, they're not that bad. And as if you couldn't guess, I've got the proof right here.

First, John Williams's main theme, seen over half a million times on YouTube already...



...and now a medley of multiple themes, seen less than two thousand times.



Now why is that? Is the banjo that much cheerier than the accordion? Is the theme that much better known? Is the clip that much shorter? Well, at any rate, good on them.

Oh, wait, one more joke: what's the difference between a (banjo)(accordion) player driving down the road and a frog driving down the road? There's a slight chance that the frog might be going to a gig. Thank you! I'll be here all week!

Trooper Clerks

Once more into the breach, dear friends...

Kevin Smith has so much Star Wars worship in his movies that he had to get a shout-out this month, but rather than take the obvious approach of showing clips from his films, I thought I'd show a tribute he wishes he could have done.

Here we have a shot-for-shot remake of the Clerks trailer, with everyone wearing stormtrooper gear. It's quite well done, really.

Happy Mother's Day

Let's take a brief respite from the Star Wars shenanigans (how many of you just thought "Oh, thank God," I wonder?) to pay tribute this second Sunday in May to our moms.

I'll start with a brief clip of some unknown crashing What's My Line? the night Milton Berle was the mystery guest...



...and close with Anderson Cooper interviewing his own mother, Gloria Vanderbilt.



She's sharp as a tack, isn't she? I couldn't believe how much this reminded me of the Mike Nichols / Elaine May routine I posted here last month. It's uncanny.

Goodjedis

Here's a lengthy mashup of Star Wars and Goodfellas.



The guy who made this has the Scorsese rhythms down perfectly. It's great when "Jump Into the Fire" by Nilsson shows up with these images. Frankly, this may be the first of these mashups that made me want to watch the source material more than the SW films.

Return of the Jedi: Yea or Nay?

Return of the Jedi is commonly seen as the weakest of the original Star Wars trilogy - "just a bunch of Muppets," as Dante puts it in Clerks. But let's not forget that that doesn't make it indefensible.

This is an interesting clip from a 1983 episode of Nightline, where Ted Koppel moderates a discussion between John Simon and Siskel & Ebert.



Simon has some valid points, but he's such a joyless reprobate that he makes it hard for us to wallow in the displeasure with him. Likewise, Siskel & Ebert are so good at communicating the sheer fun of the film that it's easy to root them on.

A Little Lando Love

Billy Dee Williams has appeared in more than a few good movies - the original Brian's Song, Lady Sings the Blues, and Batman among them - but we'll always remember him as Lando Calrissian, the modern-day Judas Iscariot who got the chance to redeem himself and made the most of it. (And can I just say that his may be the best made-up name in the saga? Opposing viewpoints welcome...)

How do we reward him? By making a clip of a blatantly phony Lando lip-synching "Let's Get It On." But then, if it wasn't so phony, it wouldn't be so funny.



Just remember - if the Falcon's a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'.

Hello Dantooine! Hello Dantooine!

You have no idea how many YouTube videos there are where someone does something with a Darth Vader mask on. From hitting a drive-thru to salsa dancing to reenacting the Numa Numa dance, there's something for everyone. But for this post I'll just focus on what happens when a Vader wannabe is also a musical prodigy.

Here's a Vader playing violin in Vancouver, with one of the friendliest "You're welcomes" you'll ever hear.



Then we have one bulling his way through "Blackbird" by the Beatles.



Best of all, a Guinness lovin' Darth puffing the pipes.

Greedo Does NOT Shoot First

Movie Theater Memory #1: I attended opening night of the revamped Star Wars in '97. When Han faced off against Greedo, we all waited for his sneaky shooting under the table - only to see Greedo take a shot at him first, somehow missing despite being two feet away and BEING A FRIGGING BOUNTY HUNTER. I can tell you that there were no boos - just confusion. Greedo wasn't the only one who didn't see this coming and didn't like it.

Movie Theater Memory #2: I'm watching Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back in a sparsely populated theater. It contained the line "Making a Jay and Silent Bob movie is about as stupid as having Greedo shoot first." And I, completely involuntarily, jumped up and went, "YEAH!" Everybody turned around. Embarrassed the hell out of myself.

Anyway, here's the way it once was...



...the way it became after Lucas did his dirty work...



...and the way it would be in a perfect world.

Luke... Leia... Shoil?

One aspect of Star Wars that's passed into legend is the sheer volume of people who auditioned for parts. Among those turned down were Kurt Russell, William Katt, Amy Irving, and Karen Allen. Even Billy Dee Williams didn't pass his original test, for the part of Han Solo.

Here are a couple auditioners who did make the grade, both working with Harrison Ford: Mark Hamill...



...and Carrie Fisher.



Here's one who didn't: Cindy Williams, pre-Laverne & Shirley.



Finally, here's a funny look at other auditions, with Kevin Spacey yet again breaking out his killer Christopher Walken.

Mesa say "Hoo hoo!"

I once wrote a review for a book that said it was selling faster than a pile of "I Hate Jar Jar" bumper stickers. Three years later I wrote another one that modified it to "I Still Hate Jar Jar" bumper stickers. Everybody still got it.

There was never a more hated character in the Star Wars saga than Jar Jar Binks. I was about to say "more divisive," but I don't know of anyone who liked him. He was called everything from imbecilic to a racist caricature, and was pushed deep into the background for the following films.

But I now have one good thing to say about him: If he didn't exist, neither would this video.



This is "Daffy's Rhapsody," voiced by the brilliant Mel Blanc. Even with your eyes closed it's a fantastic piece, and while I'd understand if you want to keep your eyes closed as this plays, this one time you would be missing out.

From the cutting room floor

If you've read the Star Wars novels, you'll know there are a number of scenes that were in the story that didn't make it onto the big screen. But that's not to say they weren't filmed...

When George Lucas was putting together the rerelease of Star Wars, he added a few of these, but not all of them. Here's a few of the things that got cut out of the picture.



That attractive woman who says Luke got too much sun is Koo Stark, who was an extra in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Imagine being involved in two of the biggest cult films of the '70s.

Spidey!

I was considering marking the anniversary of the Kent State shootings today, but not even learning that Chrissie Hynde was one of the protestors could make it a non-gloomy post.

Besides, something else is going on today that's making everything awesome - Spiderman 3 has arrived at a theater near me. They say this one cost a quarter of a billion dollars to make. You have to wonder why - particularly when there are so many good examples of how quality Spidey can be made with much less.

For instance, here he is on Family Guy...



...on Electric Company (with Morgan Freeman as the cop)...



...as portrayed by Jack Black...



...and Sound of Music kid-grown-up Nicholas Hammond on the '70s TV version (LOVE that theme music).



And if all these clips took too long, here's the first movie in five (or so) seconds.

Stunts, porn and whistle tips, Star Wars style

One of the commenters on YouTube marveled how amazing it was that Star Wars will cut to anything. And it's true - given six and a half hours of footage (more if you throw in the prequels), you can make any soundtrack match the visuals, if you just choose the right ones.

To illustrate, here are two trailer soundtracks with SW visuals; one for Jackass Number Two...



...and one for Boogie Nights.



And because I can't hold off on posting this for one more day, here's my favorite, which'll only make sense if you're familiar with the story of Bubb Rubb and Li'l Sis.

And many more...

Remember yesterday, when I said I wouldn't be doing Star Wars-related entries every single day on account of other occasions? Well, today's one of those occasions. Bear with me, all you people who have no reason to get excited about May 2.

What's so special about May 2? Well, aside from the fact that it only comes once a year, it's also my friend Paul in NJ's birthday. We met in college and have been friends for about half my life now; it's thanks to him that I know half the cool bands I know. From Questions of the Day ("if you could construct a supergroup, who would be in it?") to dating advice ("let her know that your stud name is Rrrrrick"), he's offered me everything a good friend should, and I'll always be glad we met.

Paul once told me his favorite two songs will always be his favorite two songs, for sentiment as much as quality. There weren't many good versions of number 1 ("Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" by Paul McCartney) on YouTube, so here's a passable number 2. Many happy returns, big guy.

A boy, a girl, and a universe

Thirty years ago this month, Star Wars was released, and the movies were never the same.

In honor of this anniversary (the pearl anniversary, in case you’re wondering), I’m going to be dedicating this month to Star Wars posts. They won’t take the entire month (though God knows they could), as I’ve got a few other occasions I want to note, but the vast majority will relate to Luke, D. Viddy, even Jar Jar. I’ve been planning this for months, picking and choosing some of my favorites, and unlike at least one character in every movie, I have a very good feeling about this.

We’ll start with the very first teaser trailer. Note that neither John Williams nor the special effects gang had gotten their mitts on this yet.