The most committed baby conversation ever recorded

I love how focused and engaged these two babies are in their communication with each other.

It's called "Twin baby boys have a conversation - part 2."

One of my favorite quick moments in is minute 1:56 when words just won't suffice, and so a quick kiss to the freezer is the only thing to do, then back to the animated argument. Or dialogue.

It's really wonderful.

What is Voina?

Good question.

Voina is a group of Russian artists who engage in street action art.

The Independent describes it best in their article: "Artists Who Crossed The Line."

• An art group that stages orgies, throws cats at cashiers and has Banksy as a fan has enraged the Russian authorities
• By Shaun Walker

Voina throwing cats in supermarkets

Voina overturning police cars

Voina drawing penis on bridge in St. Petersburg

I suppose what Voina is, is a movement in contemporary art which is relatively new to Russia despite being widespread in the West and is regarded by critics as one of the most valuable contemporary art movements.

Apparently, it's got people talking.  Even Banksy is fan.  And they have people paying attention, which means,  I like them even better.

If you ask them what their goals are you get this bizarrely complex and lofty definition:

Goals and objectives of  the Art-Group Vojna in the period 2008-2010.

1. Rebirth of heroical behavioral ideals of an artist-intellectual, in a manner of Russian libertarian decemberism. Creation of image of artist as romantic hero, who prevail over the evil. Creation of lively romantic models in today`s soulless commercial conceptual art.
2. Rebirth of lively expressive art, which is sincere and honest and provoking observers` deep emotional experience. Actualization  of monumental expressive genres, where large scale harmonizes with totally rich in content orientation, in contrast to outdated hypertrophy of forms, which deovid of sense.
3. Creation of innovative topical art-language, which is producing for pure art, but not for a money. It is mean language, which is adequate for today’s cultural and socio-political context, which is can show actual of the new epoch, which have no analogues in the past. Creation of Russian national actual art, without outmodedness and provinciality, and which provokes admiration of intellectuals all over the world.
4. Rebirth of Russian laughing culture, traditions of absurdity and sarcasm in context of high art, that is Rebirth of lively merriment in the art-spaces. Creation of political street-art in Russia in the best traditions of skomorokh and carnival middle-age art.
5. Conceptual destruction of glamour timeserving and conformist Russian art-market, which is reproducing outdated forms of art, artificially falsifying processes of pricing of art-market and creating financial pyramid from devalued art-junk.
6. Creating of real left front of art in Russia in traditions of futurism of 1920 years, which is radically shift all ideological poles by the facts of its being. Rebirth of political protest art all over the world.
7.  War with “werewolfes in straps” for the freedom of contemporary art. War with socio-political obscurantism and ultra-right reaction for the triumph of nano-modernization in Russia. Subversion and destruction of outdated repressive-patriarchal socio-political symbols and ideologies. Art-war against all global world for total triumph of justice in Art-Area.

Right. Bla, bla, bla.

It's all rather long winded and boring.

But, you know, it's like on American Idol:  If you have to explain why you sang something the way you did, then it's a dud performance.

I kind of think that holds true for all art:  If you have to explain it, it's dead art.

So, that's what they do wrong.

But, here's what they do right:  They continue to challenge us to think outside the box and define what we believe in.

And that's good.

Keep Going: You Got Nothing To Lose

A New York resident struggles for seeking the meaning of life with complete strangers on the NYC transit system.

A long clip, but entirely worth it.

Celebrating Work of Children's Book Illustrator Pauline Baynes

I always kept my favorite books from my childhood.  Including all my original paperbacks and hardcovers featuring those illustrated by Pauline Baynes.

For weblink featuring more of her book covers, click here...

Pauline Baynes's illustrations were just so wonderful and creative.  Her simple black and white images fired up the imagination and were the perfect counterpoint to all the great writing for children by C. S. Lewis and J. R. Tolkien.

I saved every one of her books to read to my own children who also fell under her same creative spell.

I realize that publishers have by now probably replaced most of her original work with more contemporary images, but why bother changing greatness?  

Her work was astonishingly creative and bold, considering what a prudish society we live in.  Much of her imagery should have had Puritans in a tizzy, drawing all those Druid-friendly characters whisking young girls into a wooded dell in such a beguiling, appealing way -- I'd have thought many of those images of little horned men holding hands with children would ruffle feathers, but thankfully, not.

Map of "Middle-Earth"

Pauline Baynes
(1922-2008)

She really was the Queen of Narnia, if you ask me.

Here's another link to a nice write up about her from Brian Sibley's lovely blog, aptly titled:

PAULINE BAYNES:

QUEEN OF NARNIA AND MIDDLE-EARTH

Enjoy!

Oddly Compelling Retro Computer Game: First-Person Tetris

Oddly impossible to stop playing First Person Tetris

However, since I have many, many things to catch up on around here, I'll let you waste time here instead of me.

-- Enjoy!

Knock-Knock...

Little Kid Tells The Best Knock Knock Jokes

I don't mean to dis the dad, here, but it would be so much funnier without his talking very much.   Maybe just keep the father's facial expressions.   (The kid's able to hold the stage without, you, Dude!)

Everything I Do Gonh Be Funky From Now On

Tell me about it.

Liz Taylor: An appreciation: Movie Star, Goddess and Inspiration

I am sure that there's nothing I can say here which hasn't already been said elsewhere about the recent loss of film legend and screen goddess, Liz Taylor.

However, she was an inspiration so I must throw in my own two cents to share how much I, too, adored her beauty, spirit and style.

I think what I loved the most about Taylor was the sense that she always seemed to be 100% really living her life.  I adored her for this.  It wasn't just her otherworldly beauty, it was her joy in being alive.

She wore what she wanted to wear, not what they said she should.  She always loved who she wanted to love.  And, Lord knows, she always said what she wanted to say.  She was a goddess.

And, yes, she was astonishingly beautiful, but it was her honesty, wit and her outrageousness which I respected most.  She loved being alive.

Look at this beautiful child.  

Of course she became a screen goddess, because she's amazing.

She was the real deal and, nope, there'll never be another Elizabeth Taylor.

Then there was her great love.  Richard Burton. 

I know they say there were other loves in her life, but I refuse to believe anyone else came close to the passion these two shared for each other.  

Not possible.  They were amazing together.

Elizabeth Taylor: 

Outrageous, elegant, occasionally vulgar, extremely beautiful and all 100% authentic.  

I'm so going to miss her, even those crazy, rambling speeches she made in her later years.  I adored those moments, too, because they always seemed entirely real and the result of not letting others micro-manage her every word.  (Even when they probably should have.  But, oh, well!  Who cares?  "That's Entertainment," right?)

God, Elizabeth Taylor was FANTASTIC.   

Just, look how much fun she was.  How authentic these images are.  

She  truly lived her life according to her rules.

This cannot be saluted enough.

Ah, well, rest in peace, Liz.  Stay away from all that KFC fried chicken and that crazy MJ up there, will you?  

Just go seek out your beloved Richard and Rock Hudson and Tennessee Williams and all the other fun ones who appreciated your eternal beauty inside and out.

Here's a nice recent write up from Slate.com

The Bawdy and the Beautiful 

 Elizabeth Taylor's delightful vulgarity.

By Simon Doonan

South Coast Repertory's 'The Weir' Both Spellbinds and Enchants

South Coast Repertory's superb revival of "The Weir" is a frothy concoction of both ghost stories and unexpectedly tender tales, each as engaging as they are chilling. And as is true of any eerie yarn contains an unexpected twist that sneaks up on you without warning, a twist leaving a haunting memory in place of the spooky tales preceding it.

Such is the stuff of which Conor McPherson's wonderful award-winning play is made, all of it taking place on one forlorn night in a small-town pub in the Irish countryside. 

On this particularly moody night, when the wind is lashing at the shutters and whistling at a darkened window, a few local characters meander their way into this colorful pub to warm up over a pint and perhaps even share a joke or some lively conversation with a familiar face.  As each of the play's colorful characters enter the stage, we discover that there's a very thin line between what can be seen and that which can never really fully be comprehended.

The audience is first introduced to the charming, cantankerous Jack, played with delicious theatrical flair by SCR stage veteran Richard Doyle.  Later we also meet the strong but silent bartender Brendan, portrayed by Tony Ward in lovely understated performance.  We also are introduced to a few more colorful characters such as Jim, played by Daniel Reichert, who does an inspirational job of mining comedic moments as well as eloquently sharing just the right amount of quiet desperation. 

However, "The Weir" really picks up emotional steam when we are finally introduced to the subject of much conjecture and conversation, the confident Finbar, played with bold theatrical timing and nuance by Irish native James Lancaster.  Lancaster's work is assured yet nuanced, expertly sharing just so many layers at a time.  His performance in "The Weir" seems as if it were written for him.  A terrific casting choice by Ms. DeNaut, as Lancaster's work as Finbar is truly inspired.

And then there is the introduction of the lovely but mysterious Valerie, played by Kirsten Potter with a lovely, haunting intensity which does manage to pretty much steal the show.  However, I suppose you have to thank playwright McPherson for that one.  He's penned quite a tale in "The Weir," and Potter is more than up to the task.  She has some of the most moving monologues of the night, and she rises to the occasion by employing a refreshing economy in her work, all the more powerful once we come to understand the secret she's been holding inside.  Potter's work will linger in your memory long after leaving the theater.

There is not a false note among any of the cast and once again SCR demonstrates just how elegant true ensemble work can be.

"The Weir" illustrates our universal need to share and reveal ourselves, even in our most uncomfortable stories, among our fellow friends.  It is easy to understand why it won the Lawrence Olivier BBC Award as the Best New Play of 1997–98 given how beautifully the writing stands up to the test of time.

McPherson masterfully illustrates the creative ways we may assign mysterious forces to the events which haunt us long after they are over.  However, these same tales, when exposed to the cold light of day, often appear more bleak and ordinary than when told fireside, when the wind is upon us and there's still time for one more "short one."  

The play, expertly directed by Warner Shook, also benefits from Thomas Buderwitz's terrific set. The pub's design is both appropriately loveworn, charming and bleak, creating a space that well-suited for locals to feel comfortable letting down their guard, relaxing the way the Irish do:  Sharing stories with each other. Sometimes for sport, sometimes for fun and sometimes to just get the ghosts out.

The lovely set design also assists the already superbly talented cast bring to light an essential truth about places like these pubs, that it is often in just such common places where we can finally relax and discover some uncomfortable truths. 

"The Weir" is a brilliant work illustrating human lessons to be sure, but in the case of  this play, truths only gleaned after sharing a frothy pint and a chilly ghost story or two.

Running time 1 hour, 50 minutes (no intermission)  

• “The Weir,” South Coast Repertory,
• 655 Town Center Drive,
• Costa Mesa, Ca.
• Tuesdays-Fridays, 7:45 p.m.
• Saturdays-Sundays.  2 and 7:45 p.m. 
• Thru April 3, 2011.
• (714) 708-5555 or www.scr.org 

Drunken Slurring Dwarf sings 'Cutie Patootie'

Hard to top the title, huh, 'cause they call her "Cutie.  Cutie Patootie."


-- Of course they do!


 They say she's a little southern girl but she's not snooty.







Here are what I think the lyrics are to this:


"Cutie Patootie" Lyrics by Eden Wood:

"They call me cutie cutie patootie rockin out the pageant stage and shakin my bootey cutie cutie patootie I'm a little southern girl but no I'm not snooty, you see my face in magazines papers and the tv screens, 


CNN GMA got my own facebook page pretty hair pretty eyes glitzy dress grand prize books dolls tv deals Donald trump keep it real......


.... cause I'm a cutie cutie patootie eden wood the showgirl appearing in movies sweetie sweetie pateetie lovin the attention but no I'm not needy, 


thank you shirly temple for pavin the way I got my start in pageants but I'm here to stay they say that little pageant girls are flyin by night, 


but it seems like oprah winfrys doin alright :-) cause I'm a cutie cutie patootie a squeezey squeezey bon cheesey a smoochie smooch you on gucci a snuggles 'n' guggles 


Yeah!"


First of all, gosh, where to start?  


What's "Squeezey bon Cheezey?" It sounds like a character from a Sid and Marty Krofft show.  


And "Guggles?  What are "Guggles?" I'm very confused by this.


And her ditty also suggests that Oprah was a "pageant girl?"  Maybe that's true, I don't know.  But, Really?  Wow.


But, uh, most of all, this kid's real name is really "Eden Wood?"  Come on.  Really???  Here's a link to someone who has a problem with this.

Two Dogs Dining. And so it is.

Andy Kaufman Reincarnated In Bollywood

I suppose my blog here is just an excuse for yet another Andy Kaufman tribute inspired after viewing this unique (and rather sexually peculiar) clip from Bollywood.


I suppose all great minds think alike.

Happy weekend.

Enjoy!



At this point: If you just click on them all now and they all start playing at once, you'll see they all speak pretty much the same language.





God, I just miss Andy Kaufman so so much.

This is, apparently, "The Pee Pee Song"

So let me see if I've gotten this straight:

Japan is covered in tsunami sludge and sending out radioactive rain across the Pacific.

The UN just voted unanimously to create a "no fly" zone over Libya.

Republicans vetoed funding NPR and consider it a waste of money, but we'll always have the "The Pee Pee Song?"

Good.  Just checking.




What are they singing?  "I Ain't Gonna Pee Pee My Bed Tonight."

More fun with freaked out babies

As a follow up to my former "freaked-out baby" post, I offer this:

The Ministry Of Love: Eurythmics + Orwell + 1984 = Timeless Images

I don't know why this clip's been on my mind right now, but I woke up recently with vivid images from the film, 1984, based on Orwell's novel, playing in my head.  


I haven't even seen it for some 20 years, so why it's surfaced now in my memory makes no sense, really.  


Well, I did just find a pile of used CDs by the Eurythmics at GoodWill, with the exception of this brilliant film soundtrack,  so, maybe that's why?  I used to have a cassette tape of it, too, back in the days when people had cassette tapes.  But, those tapes are gone now.  


Now I have YouTube.

Perhaps it's on my mind due to discussions with my 14 year old who only just read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 for school this week.

I really don't know why this is stuck in my head.  There could be so many reasons why.

Why do people dream?

Thanks to YouTube, a mere plaything of Big Brother, I can now Google up my dreams and memories to share with other mere strangers who may also stumble across this humble blog while seeking the memory of a dream of a film of a book, as well.

Chasing The Tail of My Own Fear of Snakes

I realize that having issues with snakes is quite commonplace, however my issues are complicated by my memories of how people reacted to those snakes after having let us play happily so near to them.

While living in the deep south we kids, apparently, were encouraged to swim in and play around some beautiful, yet swampy and entirely snake-infested waters.  Why that is, is still a mystery to me now that I am a parent, myself.  However at the time we were thrilled to be allowed to play in the wild and all did so, happily, without any harm that I can remember.

Occasionally, though, the inappropriateness of choosing a swamp as a playground would strike to our caretakers as problematic, who would then suddenly rectify the situation by becoming quite hysterical and slaughtering the snakes using any manner of tools handy.  They would cut the heads off of snakes with shovels and hoes, even guns.  The violence of these sudden slaughters were shocking, confusing and quite terrifying.

One of my earliest memories is a vivid image of my grandfather standing in his maroon silk robe at the end of his fishing pier shooting at close range at the same peaceful Cotton Mouths we'd been told to swim next to the day before in Slidel, La.  The lack of sense of it all bewildered me.

Once, in New Orleans, our neighbor leaped over our back fence and began to chop off the heads of tiny "ground rattlers" with a hoe, too.  He was Latino and I didn't understand what he was saying, but my mother told me I had been picking up the babies with my hands and were playing with them.

I suppose these images have left me with some frightening images of snakes as both killers and victims.

That having been said, it's the people in this clip below that creep me out the most.

Charles Grodin's Acting Tips

Great video clip about acting and the value of doing real scenes verses taking imaginary showers.

Charles Grodin on Acting - watch more funny videos

Great Mashup: (Adele Vs Gnarls Barkley)

Works so well I can't remember the originals.

Anti-Abortion Demonstrators Stumped By Having To Think

 --  So, if abortion shouldn't be legal, then what should happen to women who have abortions?
 -- I dunno.  What do you mean?

-- I mean, if they're illegal, then what should the punishment be for the women getting abortions?
-- I don't know...I...

-- Should they go to jail?
-- I dunno.  I hadn't thought about that.  No comment?  I guess I would just...pray for her?

Couple of Weekend Tunes from Underworld and Holy Ghost

Found a few new musical tunes to obsess about thanks to both Nerve.com and KCRW's  MORNING BECOMES ECLECTIC.


This first is called "Bird 1" from the group Underground, and there's even a cool video.



My second ear candy offering is "Do It Again," from the band Holy Ghost.   If you're a LCD Soundsystem or a !!! fan, then you may like them.

I don't know if I like this kind of music better on a Friday than on other days, but it sure is the kind of music I like to drive to.

Or, perhaps I'm just looking for new sounds to help ease the pain of our losing LCD Soundsystem forever once they plow through their last, final, tragic set in NYC next month.  (Sniff, sniff!)



I don't know about you, but I actually hate Fridays if there isn't something fun to listen to while approaching those two wide-open days looming ahead.

But, these keep me moving forward.

Happy Friday.

Banana Boy Sounds Like Both Lady Gaga and Madonna

He's actually a pretty great little singer for a boy belting into a ripe banana in his kitchen, but what really strikes me is how similar his cover sounds to the Madonna song "Express Yourself."

Different key, different words...but fairly similar tune.

Am I the only one to notice the similarity? Or is it just a quirk revealed by the talents of Banana Boy who, clearly, is Ready To Rock.

Worth visiting

"Naked Therapy:" Prank, or Just Your Average Transference Addict?

Transference and countertransference during psychotherapy

In a therapy context, transference refers to redirection of a patient's feelings for a significant person to the therapist. Transference is often manifested as an erotic attraction towards a therapist, but can be seen in many other forms such as rage, hatred, mistrust, parentification, extreme dependence, or even placing the therapist in a god-like or guru status.

Hm...

That's one way to boost the mental health industry during these times of economic duress.

Three young girls write Lil Wayne a letter: Enough with the degradation

These girls are my heroes.  (Actually,  their parents are, too)

This is what strong, loving girls do, they stand up for what they believe is an injustice.

I'm willing to bet you may be hearing a lot more about this groundbreaking video.
-- I hope we do.

We raised our girls on Sesame Street, Blues Clues, Little Bill, Reading Rainbow, Noggin and PBS.

We read to them  Little Bear and Dr. Seuss and hundreds of other books all confirming the message that each and every child is created equal and deserves equal love.

But, then they get a little bit older - and that radio goes on.

And they sure hear otherwise.

These three girls are my rockstars.  



Here's what their own statement says:

"Letter to Lil Wayne" is a direct statement of justice from Watoto From The Nile. Growing tired and fed up with the constant degredation of Black women inside of Hip Hop music, they voice thier views and opinions on this melodic track.

Adagio with Nick Cave and PJ Harvey

I find this unsettlingly perfect.

This clip was titled "Nick Cave and PJ Harvey / Henry Lee, Directed by Rocky Schenck."

But, is it really?

Actually, it's a silent movie of Cave and Harvey set to Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor.

But, like I said, I find it all works perfectly. Somehow.

Explosive Art: Orelha Negra - M.I.R.I.A.M. X Vhils

Cool.



Alexandre Farto aka Vhils in collaboration with Orelha Negra.

Portuguese graffiti/street artist Alexandre Farto, gained prominence when his work of a face carved into a wall appeared alongside a picture by street artist Banksy at the Cans Festival in London in 2008

New amazing work by Portuguese Artist Vhils. Vhils started off by peeling paper off billboards and street advertisements to create amazing images on the street. Then he evolved his craft to to chipping away at concrete, and experimenting using acids . But now Vhils has a new level by using explosives…

alexandrefarto.com

Best Kid Cover a Real "Grown-Up" Person's Song (Own Side Now)

I almost never do this. I never post kid songs.

But, I had to post this clip of "Rowan" singing a cover of a Caitlin Rose tune in the kitchen.

She's got tiny, kid-sized lungs, but manages to take her time with each and every line. Never rushes the melody and somehow connects each shift in thought to her breath.

But the best part is her comfort level delivering such an emotionally rich song. Frankly, this is astonishing, really.

That's some pretty great music from just a little kid.

Good job, mom and dad.

Watch:

Lotus Flower by Radiohead: Blissful Tune. Parody Magnet.

Great tune, however I might have shot it, say, all in silhouette.



...Mostly because the way this one's shot happens to make it something of a ripe parody magnet.

See below:

Yorke hearts ABBA


Yorke no-hearts fish


Still, great new tune by Radiohead!