Ken Cosgrove shows Harry Crane the future of television
From a behind-the-scenes photography set at Rolling Stone. This photo by James Minchin III. (thx, Greg)
via itsnotforyou
“Please call Stella” - English 6 from Speech Accent Archive
On this fascinating site, people from all over the world read the following in their native accent:
Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the store: Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob. We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids. She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.
I like that in this recording (read by a lady I’m calling Donna Stagliatuglio) they just leave in the misreading and stutter, as if that contributes to the dialect.
Working with music
Just what the title says. I’m simply training myself to be able to work while music plays, which I’ve never before been able to do.
For always, I’ve been one of those fidgety fuckers who requires total silence, even from the dog, in order to concentrate to where I can get any meaningful work done, and then just for long enough stretches between getting up to see if there’s any new cake in the fridge. Maybe a banana nut. That’s a good muffin.
Here’s how I account for my shortcoming: I am naturally a musical person. (Most of us are, of course. I’m not saying I’m special.) Which means I hear music in most of what’s around me. To my detriment, I can’t really hear music, even bad stuff, without unconsciously twitching to it. In public, it usually happens in my sphincter, if you’re looking for it next time we hang out.
There’s rhythm in what I write and what I say, as well there should be. Good writing has music in it. Plus I spend a great deal of time editing video, which absolutely requires musicality, by definition. So attempting to combat this natural rhythmic flow with external music makes producing anything extremely, extremely difficult. Poor me.
But this justification simply will not do. This requirement of an aural vacuum in which to do work, it just doesn’t scale. I have work to do, and lots of it, and I have music to listen to, lots of it. Work is good for me. And music is even better.
So they must coexist.
As I wrote this, Randy Crawford’s “Street Life”. Then a glass of water. Then “Start Choppin’” by Dinosaur Jr. and then a piece of toast and Bill Evans’ “Funkallero”. That’s a good muffin.
Office Depot Laser Lens Cleaner - “Track 1: Swept Away”
I bought this CD at Office Depot because bad shit happens to good computers and my laptop’s disc drive started refusing its install disc a couple years ago.
So while the disc gently sweeps my lens, I’m treated to delightful music and the tightly wound bun of a lady I might like to know.
And you know what? Do you know what? It works precisely as well on your brain. Give it a try.
The fibre tones can effectively remove dirt, dust and oil from your mind. Your mind is filthy, bro. Give it a laser cleaning.
Plus, additional friends!
Like Bernadette Peters. Steve Lawrence. Michael J. Fox. Yakoff Smirnoff. Jay Thomas. Martin Van Buren. Shoeless Joe Jackson. Tom Waits. Jaromir Jagr. Erin Moran. Nelson Mandela. Orson Welles. Jerry Lewis. Avery Schreiber. Boog Powell. Madonna. Bernie Goetz & the Bernie Goetz Dancers. Vic Tayback. And Tony Shaloub.
James Caan. Telly Savalas. Burl Ives. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Before the Wheelchair. L.C. Greenwood. Rip Taylor. Anson Williams. Kool & The Gang. Albert Camus. Father Guido Sarducci. Ed Marinaro. Funk from Funk & Wagnall. Wagnall. Larry Bird. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. C3PO. Ghandi. And Mel Tillis.
Dylan McDermott. Harry Reasoner. The Beatles. Mary Lou Retton. Michael York. H.G. Wells. Festus. Edgar Bergen. Arnold Palmer. Twiki. Joyce DeWitt. Eric Bogosian. Charro. George McGovern. Danny Wuerffel. Jeff Conaway. Sir Edmund Hillary. Gays. The Louisiana Purchase. And Tonto.
Alan King. Tina Yothers…
The Captain and Tennille. Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Foster Brooks. Jefferson Davis. Ken Burns and the Ken Burns Effect. The Waitresses. Eli Whitney and His Miraculous Cotton Gin. The Unknown Comic. Dorian Gray. Rich Little. May West. Lunchables. Colonel Mustard. And Elmo.
Ted Danson. Rodan. Bruce Wayne. The Unbearable Lightness of Being. John Larroquette. Melba Toast. Rickey Henderson. The Baja Boys. Ted Turner. Fred Flintstone. Alan Funt. Satan. Elizabeth Montgomery. Long Duc Dong. Kelsey Grammar. And Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Phil Collins. Elliot Ness. Dora the Explorer…
Kai Ryssdal, Sammy Davis, Jr., Jon Cryer, Mark Hamill, Paul Lynde, Lonnie Anderson, Scott Baio, Shields and Yarnell, Eric Estrada, Julius “Dr. J.” Erving, Charro again, Modesky, Martin and Wood, David Copperfield, Solomon Grundy, Kansas, Ronald Reagan, Bill Brasky, Harry Belefonte, A brand new COLOR TV, Soupy Sales, Nipsey Russell. And Liu Kang.
Glenn Campbell, Evel Knievel, Cal Worthington and his dog Spot, Ivar, Tex Winter, Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Nellie Bly, O.J. Simpson, Bo Derek, Mario Lopez, Crystal Carrington, That cute black kid, Florence Henderson, Willie Tyler and Lester, Elmore Leonard or is it Leonard Elmore, Lynn Swan, Pete Cashmore, a young Susan Sarandon, a hot Kathleen Turner, a burnt out Shelly Winters, Burt Reynolds, Annie Oakley. And Gil Gerrard.
Tammy Wynette. Cindy Williams. Heathcliff Huxtable and Kenny (Bud). Christy McNichol. Robin Hood Prince of Men. Burl Ives. Merl Bives. Blurf Pives and Mr. Shantypanty. Alice from the Brady Bunch with Her Hair Down. Sam the Butcher with a Hard-on. Hamlet Prince of Thieves and his Pal Nugat. The Korean War. Wayne Newton. Andre the Giant (deceased). Jean-Paul Belmondo. Jean-Jacque Blieubeaublieux. And Gordon from Sesame Street with a Hard-on.
Jack Black. Mike White. Jim Brown. Timmy Purple. Wilson Phillips and the Fat One. Mackenzie Phillips and Baggage. A squirrel. Lady Diana. David Duke and the Racial Tension. Tenzin Gyatso (né Peter Fonda). Daryl Hannah and her Tree Band. D.A.R.Y.L. the Robot Boy Who Could Play Pole Position Real Good. Jon Landis. Martin Landau. Knots Landing. Knott’s Berry Farm. Berry Gordy. Marion Berry and the Marionberries with Special Appearance By Crack. Tiffany Brissette. Edie McClurg. Clurg McBlurg. And Burl Ives.
The 80s Asshole Trilogy Trilogy
Because I enjoy this thread so much, I want to play. Zabka is an easy one (maybe the easiest) but he warrants inclusion.
I’ll see your Atherton and raise you a Gleason:
And holy hell, Die Hard had both of them! Exponentially, that’s like 188 times the asshole quotient.
William Atherton 80’s Asshole Trilogy
“Rollerball” (1975) - Executive Party (music by André Previn)
If the 2018 is anywhere near as sexed-up with freaky synths and evening wear as Norman Jewison and André Previn have made it out to be, I’m going.
And please appreciate that someone has married this track to the subsequent bizarre scene, to intoxicating effect.
Mr. Galinsky and colleagues began by asking subjects to either describe an experience in which they had lots of power or a time when they felt utterly powerless. Then the psychologists asked the subjects to draw the letter E on their foreheads. Those primed with feelings of power were much more likely to draw the letter backwards, at least when seen by another person. Mr. Galinsky argues that this effect is triggered by the myopia of power, which makes it much harder to imagine the world from the perspective of someone else. We draw the letter backwards because we don’t care about the viewpoint of others.
This, from Jonah Lehrer at the WSJ, is just plain fascinating. It’s about power and its near inescapable potential to corrupt.
According to the article, transparency helps. Full disclosure: I just farted!
via @rands
“Louie” Season 1 Episode 8, the Pot Smoking Scene
with Josh Hamilton as Jeff the Neighbor and Audrey Gelber as his wife, Piss Shit Fart.
You should know that this scene is better than most scenes in most television shows. You should know that, and if you don’t then ‘Louie’ will be soon cancelled and you will not have cared.
