Monday, October 19, 2009

And Now for Something Completely Different

Following the long tradition which I have only just now created, and given that it is the end of the term here at the Palmer Davenport campus, I have decided that this last post of the term shall be dedicated to a series of fun and interesting video clips rather than to a discrete educational topic. It has, in reality, been a long and difficult term for those of us here, so as we get set for break- and as those at Palmer West and Palmer Florida do not- here are a collection of completely unrelated, funny, or novel clips from youtube. They are of no educational import whatsoever, but are just some serious fun. When I return to this blog in a couple of weeks, I’ll be back to posting on education, scholarship and research, but for today, enjoy!

1. This first clip is from the late and lamented comedy show “Whose Line is It? The show often featured a skit where the comedic improvisers had to riff on some outlandish occupation, and in this one they skewer chiropractic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFeHC3q8PHw

2. This second clip features one of the most incredible musical engineering machines I have ever seen. I thought it was real, but recently learned it is a computer animation. Nonetheless, it still inspires awe in me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjBDfZZQz54

3. This clip is entitled “little girl catches big fish.” Boy, does she ever. Who doesn’t love a little girl catching a big fish, especially when she just picks it up out of the water?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLxxm9neHEc

4. And who doesn’t love crazy basketball shots. These guys are masters at this game, and no one has ever shown these are not real. This is their “summer camp” version. You will see why, and I am guessing at the camp they are seen as kings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaX4njk5noA&feature=related

5. I have an interest in extreme musical instruments. I figure you should as well. Here is something you have never seen before, a subcontrabass flute; in fact, this is the world’s largest flute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9Nz0UGuQyc

6. And here is a contrabass saxophone. I’ve actually seen one played in concert, by the jazz musician Anthony Braxton, and all I can say is it sounds like an elephant. In heat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXBeu7o9uUM&feature=related

7. As long as our current theme is music, I also find appealing people who find new ways to play their instrument. Working in a traditional medium, the guitarist Stanley Jordan uses two-hand tapping to create interlocking counterpoint, as he does here on the jazz standard “Autumn Leaves.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baDM3_6w8-E

8. And here is another guitarist, with a different method of doing two-hand tapping, here to create percussion counterpoint. This is Preston Reed, performing “Rainmaker.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPoeOBEs4uQ

9. No amount of humor can ever get enough of Monty Python. I consider this clip the funniest clip the Pythons ever did, and it features John Cleese as the Minister of Silly Walks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqhlQfXUk7w

10. Hey, it’s my blog, so we get a Buffy clip; this time, of outtakes. Watch carefully for the one where Charisma Carpenter forgets she is supposed to be in character as Cordelia Chase and actually introduces herself as… herself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO7YFRerU40&feature=related

And that's all folks. For now. PCCD, enjoy the break. PCCW and PCCF, enjoy the work. Soon enough, it'll be your turn again. Best wishes to all of you!

1 comment:

BAM said...

Very nice, Dana; enjoy your break!