Steampunk steam train races. What's not to like?

This tickled my funny-bone.  Watch it in full-screen mode for the most amusing results.

Peter

This is a strange fusion, but very interesting

Take a troupe of acrobats and gymnastic dancers.

Mix with a classical music string quartet.

Shake well, and what do you get?  You get Opus, starring Circa and the Debussy String Quartet.

Yaron Lifschitz's legendary Australian perfomance troupe, Circa, has joined up with the Debussy String Quartet to set acrobatics to Shostakovich and, in the process, they've refined away all the circus's Big Top crudities. Opus is cut-glass, caviar circus. It's black tie and ballgown circus. And it's an astonishing thing to watch: graceful, bombastic. Profound.

Even the simple collision of art forms is thought-provoking. Why is one high and the other low? What makes a musician virtuosic and a circus performer freakish?

Here acrobatics looks as disciplined as ballet: all arched feet and hyperextension. Circus becomes poised and noble. Not unruly. Not cocksure.

Violinists start to seem sexy and fierce. Why does no one ever run away to join a string quartet, I wonder?

There's more at the link.  Readable, thought-provoking, and definitely stretching boundaries.

Peter

It's been 55 years since 'The Day The Music Died'

I missed an anniversary yesterday.  On February 3rd, 1959, a light aircraft crashed in Iowa killing musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. Richardson and the pilot, Roger Peterson.  The date became known in music legend as 'The Day The Music Died'.

Don McLean immortalized the event in his song 'American Pie'.  Here's the full version, set to a music video specially created for it in 1989.

I sometimes wonder whether pop and rock music would have evolved differently if they'd lived, and been able to influence it through the 1960's and 1970's.  Would the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and their ilk have made such an impact without the vacuum left by the death of these young men?

Peter

Fishy films???

I had to laugh at a collection of somewhat modified film names and posters produced by the Fishfinger Creative Agency.  Here are a few examples.

There are many more at the link.  Funny, and definitely creative!





Peter

"The Duel at Blood Creek"

I came across this short movie on YouTube.  It's a great send-up of the whole dueling sub-culture of centuries past, and I thought you'd enjoy it as much as I did.  Watch it in full-screen mode for the best effect.

Talk about a holocaust of understanding . . .

Peter

Marko's second book is out today

Many of you know of Marko Kloos, fellow blogger and long-time acquaintance, who self-published his first book last year.  It was a smashing success, so much so that 49North, Amazon's SF imprint, signed him to a two-book deal.

In the intervening months, he finished the manuscript for the second book in the series, and also re-worked his first book with the help of one of 49North's editors.  It's been republished along with his second book, both still very reasonably priced.  Click on the images below to go to their book pages on Amazon.com.

His first book's cover now looks like this:

His latest book, and sequel to 'Terms Of Enlistment', is 'Lines Of Departure'.

I've already bought my copy.

Marko, like me, is a veteran of military service, and his background shows in his writing.  He does a great job, IMHO.  There'll be a third book in this series, and he's hinted that more may follow the initial trilogy if the inspiration is there and reader demand justifies it.

Congratulations, Marko!  I hope I can emulate your success when my next book comes out (which, all being well, will happen next week.)

Peter

Fifty years of Britain's greatest war movie

The Battle of Rorke's Drift was fought on January 22nd/23rd, 1879, immediately following the Battle of Isandlwana, Britain's worst-ever colonial defeat against a Black tribe in Africa.  The disaster of Isandlwana rocked the Empire, and the British authorities grasped at the relatively minor fight at Rorke's Drift and the furious fight put up by its defenders as a countervailing episode of heroism.  Eleven Victoria Cross medals (Britain's highest award for gallantry in action) were awarded for the encounter there, the most ever awarded for a single battle in British history.

Fifty years ago, a film was made about the battle.  'Zulu' was an instant hit all over the world, and has achieved cinematic immortality among war movie buffs.  Some say it's Britain's greatest war film.  As the Telegraph points out:

Zulu is very much of its time. Thematically, you could say it’s roughly a Western, only with British soldiers for cowboys and Zulus for Indians. Baker and Endfield acknowledged as much: because many of the 700 Zulus hired as extras for the film had never been to a cinema before, the two men set up a projector in order for them to watch a Western starring Gene Autry. After that, the Zulus understood their precise role – to make lots of noise and fall over when shot. (They were reportedly paid for their work in cattle.)

Baker and Endfield could just as easily have put on 55 Days at Peking, which was released in 1963 and dramatises the siege of the foreign legations’ compounds in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion. Or The Alamo (1960), with its siege and gripping finale. Khartoum, another imperial era epic, was released a couple of years later in 1966.

Zulu, however, is a superior film to them all – which is why so many of us watch it every Christmas at home. Indeed, its extraordinary impact was highlighted this week by a museum curator, Bill Cainan, in Brecon. There, at the regimental museum of the Royal Welsh, the mementos of the battle are on display, including 10 of the 11 Victoria Crosses won at Rorke’s Drift. Mr Cainan is trying to prevent the museum’s closure.

He says: “Zulu is both a blessing and a curse. If it wasn’t for the film, it would be another forgotten foreign war.” But, he admits: “It’s a curse because most people seem to think it’s a documentary, which of course it isn’t.”

Thank goodness for that. Zulu is a story of real-life heroism seen through the lenses of Victorian propaganda and Hollywood epic cinema. It may not be truthful – but, my God, the result is thrilling.

There's more at the link.

If you're one of the few who hasn't seen the film, it's available in its entirety on YouTube (thanks to a copyright slip-up in the 1990's, when certain editions were published free of restrictions).  Even if you have seen it, you may not know much about how it was made:  so I'll embed this vignette here.

The film wasn't shot on location at Rorke's Drift, but about 90 miles away, because permission couldn't be obtained to mess up the battlefield - an historic monument - in order to film there.  I've visited the actual battlefield several times, and also that of Isandlwana, a few miles away.  They're peaceful now, with nothing much to disturb the silence . . . but there's a lot of blood in that soil.  The Zulus (who lost many more warriors killed in both fights than they slew English soldiers) regard both places as haunted.  Their sangomas say that the ghosts of the slain can still be seen there on the anniversaries of the battles, and that 'those with ears to hear' can still hear battle cries and the screams of the wounded and dying.  I wouldn't be at all surprised.

In closing, I'll just note that the Zulu's expertise with assegai (stabbing spear) and shield has remained as strong as ever - at least, among the rural tribes.  During South Africa's long internecine conflict that led to the end of apartheid and the advent of democracy in 1994, I had occasion to observe Zulus carving up their opponents on several occasions.  The only way to stop them, today as in 1879, is fast, accurate shooting with an effective firearm before they get within stabbing range.  Once they're 'up close and personal', your chances of survival are . . . shall we say, less than optimal.  The sibilant, hissing shout of "N'gidla!" ("I eat!" or "I have eaten!") as the Zulu warrior twists his assegai blade in the stomach of his victim (a favorite target) and pulls it out, bringing the intestines with it with a sickening, sucking, slurping noise . . . I'm here to tell you, it's a ghastly, fearsome sight and sound.

Peter

Satire with a Middle Eastern flavor

I recently came across The Pan-Arabia Enquirer, which describes itself as 'Spreading the hummous of satire over the flatbread of news'.  They note:

As the Middle East’s premier source of SATIRE (much like The Onion, The Daily Mash and Emirates 24/7), The Pan-Arabia Enquirer is not intented, in any way whatsoever, to be taken as factual. It’s just here to amuse and any similarities in names (well, except for Ahmadinejad) are purely coincidental.

I think they're on to something.  I laughed out loud when I saw their cheeky response to the controversial stadium design in Qatar (which we discussed here a couple of months ago).  Their headline to this picture read:  'Lead developer of Qatar island project on run after new photos taken from space released'.

Look above the main cluster of lights of the city.  If you ask me, that's a perfect response to orthodox Gulf morals offended by the stadium design!  Take a look at their Web site for more satirical perspectives on Middle East news.



Peter

Matthew Bracken's e-books are free today and tomorrow

If you don't already have copies, Matthew Bracken's 'Enemies' trilogy is free for today only on Amazon.com.  Click the links to go to the books' pages there.

Enemies Foreign and Domestic

Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista

Foreign Enemies And Traitors

Two more of his books will be free downloads tomorrow only:

Castigo Cay

The Bracken Anthology

Thanks, Mr. Bracken.  Your generosity is appreciated.

Peter

Outstanding!

This British advertisement for Schwartz Flavor Shots is all sorts of fun.  The introduction tells us:

What does flavour look like? How does it sound? These are the questions that inspired herb and spice experts, Schwartz, to create what they describe as a ‘Sonic flavourscape'.

Several tons of black peppercorns, cardamom, turmeric, paprika, cumin seeds, ginger, chilli and coriander were rigged to explode in perfect sync with a bespoke musical composition. Each explosion represents an individual piano note or chord, which when filmed at high speed, creates a surreal three dimensional sound scape.

Here's the video.  Watch it in full-screen mode for the best effect.

And here's how it was made.

I find that simply amazing, both visually and creatively. Congratulations to everyone involved in making it.

Peter

Looking for that special way to express yourself?

Here's what the compiler claims are 'The 100 Greatest Movie Insults of All Time'.  Warning - the language and idiom are sometimes not safe for work.

I must think about incorporating some of those into future novels . . .





Peter

Never mind vitamins - take Medicinal Compound!

I've been amused by the brouhaha over this week's report that vitamin and mineral supplements are unnecessary.  I don't know who's right or wrong about that;  but with dietary imbalances being what they are, Miss D. and I pop a simple multivitamin each day to take care of anything we lack.  We don't indulge in mega-overdoses or carefully tailored, balanced supplements, but we see no harm in ensuring that if we don't eat enough of the right things, we still get reasonably balanced nutrition.  For the same reason, a couple of jars of multivitamin tablets are part of our emergency supplies.  If we ever have to live on rice and beans for an extended period, we're going to need all the help we can get!

Nevertheless, I remind the medical profession that the solution was discovered as early as the 1870's.  It was re-popularized in 1968, when The Scaffold brought us 'Lily The Pink'.

So much for multivitamins . . .



Peter

A timeless comedy classic

I laughed like a drain the first time I heard 'Ti Kwan Leep'.  I recently came across this full version of The Frantics' original Canadian radio skit (not the abbreviated version broadcast in the USA on the Dr. Demento show), and laughed all over again.  Enjoy!

There's also the 'Boot To The Head' song, which followed this skit on the album of the same name.





Peter

Africa, Mandela, life, and music

Writing about the forthcoming funeral ceremonies for Nelson Mandela, I wrote last Saturday:

As the sparks fly upward into the star-speckled sky the praise singers will intone Mandela's glory, composing songs that will be handed down for generations to come.  As the coals redden the sangomas and inyangas will sprinkle them with muti, waving leafy branches through the smoke, inviting - imploring - importuning the ancestral spirits to welcome into their midst a Great One, the Father Of The Nation.  There will already be those offering sacrifice to Mandela's spirit, asking his aid.

I can almost taste the salt of their tears, and smell the smoke of their fires, and hear their chants, and feel the vibrations in my body as they beat their drums and stamp their feet in the dance.  I won't be there in body, but I'll be there in spirit . . . because these people, the ordinary people of Africa, beyond politics or ideology, were near and dear to my heart, and a part of it will always be theirs.  I'll mourn their loss with them.  It's something I can't explain.  Only those who understand tribal Africa will understand what I'm saying here.  It's too deep for words.

I'm very conscious of a massive sense of communal, spiritual anticipation in southern Africa right now.  People are preparing to bid farewell to a Great One, someone in the mold of Shaka or Cetshwayo, both great Zulu kings.  The 'ordinary people' of Africa, the rural tribal societies, don't care about Nelson Mandela's political, social or economic views.  Debates over Communism or terrorism are irrelevant to them.  They just know that the 'Father Of The Nation', one to whom they have all looked up as a father figure since as long as they can remember, is no longer there.  There is an emptiness in that place in the land.  Who will fill his place?  Who will be a father to them now?  Who will be their wise ruler and counselor?  Johnny Clegg expressed it well just the other day.

As I said on Saturday, this is not something anyone will understand unless he or she has been a part of tribal Africa, and has it in their blood.  Africa's like a disease that way.  Once it's got hold of you, it never lets go, even if you live thousands of miles from it.  Lawdog and I have discussed this in the past, and we both understand it very well.  We didn't have to explain it to each other - it was beyond words - but we couldn't explain it to someone who hadn't shared our experiences.  It's a weird feeling.

This sense of loss, of emptiness, of awaiting, will be expressed in music above all else.  Africa is a land, a continent, of rhythm and music above all else.  Life is lived to the rhythm of the seasons, and that rhythm is incorporated into the spirituality and anthropology and society of Africa in a unique way.  Foreign music is not so much enjoyed as assimilated, made a part of the African musical tradition, absorbed and renewed and played in a new way, enriching both the tradition from which it came and the African tradition that has now made it a part of itself.

I'd like to illustrate by taking just one small slice of Africa's music.  Kwela was a musical form inspired by pre-World-War-Two Western jazz music.  It layered it on top of African tribal rhythms, and adopted the trumpet and the penny-whistle as the best expression of it.  Hugh Masekela is a very well-known African trumpet player who came out of a South African township and tribal background to rise to the heights of Western jazz music.  You'll find a lot of his music on YouTube, if you don't already know it.  Here's 'Stimela' - 'Coal Train'.

As for the penny-whistle, Spokes Mashiyane was the unquestioned 'King of Kwela', acknowledged as such by every South African musician since his untimely early death.  Again, you'll find much of his work on YouTube.  Here's one of his fusions of Western jazz and township rhythms called 'Chobolo'.

When Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu formed the band Juluka in 1969, they inherited this Kwela/jazz fusion and layered it with rock and pop influences to form, in their turn, something new.  Their music became immensely popular in South Africa, and eventually throughout the world.  From their 1982 album 'Scatterlings', here's their tribute to their musical heritage, 'Kwela Man'.

Juluka broke up later that decade, and Clegg formed Savuka as a successor group.  He tours to this day with a band that varies in makeup, but remains true to the African rhythms that shaped and formed him and his music.  You'll find a lot of it on YouTube.  Here they are in Portland, Oregon in 2011, with a live performance of 'Great Heart'.  Note the fusion of African rhythms, jazz, rock and folk music.  I find it fascinating.

It's those musical roots that informed and engendered 'Asimbonanga', that I embedded in my memorial post for Mr. Mandela last Thursday.

Another South African mega-group that formed in the 1980's was Mango Groove.  They embraced the jazz heritage already influencing African music, and emphasized and reinforced it - to such an extent that they've performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival.  Again, there's a lot of their music on YouTube.  Here's perhaps their greatest hit, 'Special Star', which opens with a very specific tribute to Kwela music and Spokes Mashiyane.  Note the 'gumboot dancers'.

That rich fusion of music and musicians will be gearing itself for this week's ceremonies.  Will we get another 'Biko' or 'Asimbonanga' out of it?  Frankly, I'll be surprised if we don't . . .

Peter

The Japanese submarine episode . . .

. . . of The Carol Burnett Show is definitely politically incorrect, but it's still funny.  In the light of how much people enjoyed the couple of clips I put up earlier this week, I'll give you more of them from time to time - so here's the first.

I wonder what that did to diplomatic relations between the US and Japan when it first aired?





Peter

An auction I'd love to attend

It seems that Julien's Auctions in Beverley Hills, California, is holding an auction of Lord Of The Rings memorabilia on Thursday, December 5th.  It includes items from the film series that have never before been offered, such as Merry's prosthetic ears:

Arwen's boots:

and Bilbo Baggins' sword, Sting, that he later gave to Frodo:

You can see the full online catalog here (the images above were taken from its .PDF download and reduced in size to fit this blog).  Unfortunately, I can't afford even small fractions of what the auctioneers estimate the lots will sell for;  but I'd settle for the opportunity just to see them on display.  Readers in the area can do so today and tomorrow at the auction premises.  I wish I lived close enough to take a run out there . . .

Peter

Dwarf trainers and Siamese elephants???

A comment by reader Mike C. on my previous post had me rolling in the aisles as he mentioned this Carol Burnett Show skit that I'd never seen before.  It's the first time I've seen the entire cast reduced to hysterical laughter!

Peter

Another comedy blast from the past

I wonder how many of my readers remember The Carol Burnett Show from the 1970's?  It was one of the very first TV shows that were brought to South Africa, and I can remember laughing my head off at some of the sketches.  Here's one that I remember well.

Peter

You want more? You got more!

It seems most of you enjoyed the sketch with Dean Martin and Peter Sellers.  That being the case, here's another, this one including Dom DeLuise and Nipsy Russell as well.  Peter Sellers does his best 'gay' impression.

They don't make 'em like they used to . . .

Peter

Time for a vintage laugh or two

I'm not sure how many of my readers remember Peter Sellers or Dean Martin;  it seems most youngsters today either haven't heard of them, or regard them as old fuddy-duddies.  Nevertheless, those of us of an older generation laughed our asses off at them.  Here are both of them together in an excerpt from the old Dean Martin Show.

Ah, memories . . .



Peter