Favorite Tweet on Twitter during the Egyptian Revolution

1. shusune RT @XerxesWolf: If Mubarak was smart he would’ve gotten the Black Eyed Peas to clear out Tahrir Square weeks ago. 1 day ago via TweetDeck
2. OchotonidKnight RT @XerxesWolf: If Mubarak was smart he would’ve gotten the Black Eyed Peas to clear out Tahrir Square weeks ago. 1 day ago via TweetDeck
3. ericseals RT @bengarvin: Ha! RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 2 days ago via TweetDeck
4. ItsDrenthe RT @XerxesWolf: If Mubarak was smart he would’ve gotten the Black Eyed Peas to clear out Tahrir Square weeks ago. 2 days ago via TweetDeck
5. XerxesWolf If Mubarak was smart he would’ve gotten the Black Eyed Peas to clear out Tahrir Square weeks ago. 2 days ago via TweetDeck
6. destincox All Mubarak had to do was have the Black Eyed Peas come play Tahrir Square and all of Egypt would have hated the idea of democracy. 2 days ago via Twitter for Mac
7. korivarner RT @rasqual: Spotted: “If Mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago.” #BEP #Egypt #Instapundit 2 days ago via web
8. JimmGee RT @jaceanderson: “If Mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago.” /not mine, but funny 2 days ago via web
9. DJgruvemonkey RT @jaceanderson: “If Mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago.” /not mine, but funny 2 days ago via web
10. rasqual Spotted: “If Mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago.” #BEP #Egypt #Instapundit 2 days ago via web
11. camhoff RT @jaceanderson: “If Mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago.” /not mine, but funny 2 days ago via web
12. MrsBehavinMaven RT @jaceanderson: “If Mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago.” /not mine, but funny 2 days ago via web
13. AngsCopywriting RT @jaceanderson: “If Mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago.” /not mine, but funny 2 days ago via TweetDeck
14. jaceanderson “If Mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago.” /not mine, but funny 2 days ago via web
15. coffeemadman RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 2 days ago via ÜberTwitter
16. DagnyTagart Watching CNBC.Little market reaction to Mubarak‘s speech.Tahrir Square crowd restless,maybe he’ll bring on Black Eyed Peas to clear them out 3 days ago via web
17. ricktgold If #Mubarak REALLY wanted to clear Tahrir Square, he’d deploy the Black Eyed Peas to break up the crowds. @bep #egypt 3 days ago via TweetDeck
18. nilicule @mpoppel at least we know Mubarak can clear out Tahrir Square with just a single Black Eyed Peas performance 3 days ago via Twitter for Mac
19. matthewfebles RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 3 days ago via ÜberTwitter
20. HMachenaud RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 3 days ago via ÜberTwitter
21. yobigc RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 3 days ago via ÜberTwitter
22. beautdirtyrich RT @ClintonV: “If Mubarak was smart, he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago.” — Adam Serwer on the Super Bowl show 3 days ago via web
23. lotechnz RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 3 days ago via ÜberTwitter
24. alexpitts87 RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 3 days ago via ÜberTwitter
25. hawaii2DCdee RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 3 days ago via ÜberTwitter
26. JohnnyK RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 3 days ago via ÜberTwitter
27. LaurenNMckenzie RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 3 days ago via ÜberTwitter
28. meitweet RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 3 days ago via ÜberTwitter
29. pujalords RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 3 days ago via ÜberTwitter
30. hafiz_rashid RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 3 days ago via ÜberTwitter
31. BusyD lmao RT @SerrahCo: “if mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the black eyed peas to empty out Tahrir square two weeks ago” 4 days ago via Echofon
32. ArnaudDendooven RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 4 days ago via ÜberTwitter
33. redouanemekerri RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 4 days ago via ÜberTwitter
34. dianelebel RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 4 days ago via ÜberTwitter
35. barbarabarbara RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 4 days ago via ÜberTwitter
36. Jensdotcom RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 4 days ago via ÜberTwitter
37. ozfarman RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 4 days ago via ÜberTwitter
38. SulaymanF RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 4 days ago via ÜberTwitter
39. RafiqAllie RT @ClintonV: “If Mubarak was smart, he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago.” — Adam Serwer on the Super Bowl show 4 days ago via web
40. D_Dooley RT @ClintonV: “If Mubarak was smart, he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago.” — Adam Serwer on the Super Bowl show 4 days ago via web
41. ClintonV “If Mubarak was smart, he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago.” — Adam Serwer on the Super Bowl show 4 days ago via web
42. billyblackguard RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 4 days ago via ÜberTwitter
43. ironyoftragedy RT @awesomeguyelson: If Mubarak was smart, he would have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago. #Egypt 4 days ago via web
44. cybjorg If Mubarak was smart, he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out #Tahrir Square two weeks ago. #Egypt #Jan25 4 days ago via Twitter for Mac
45. KelFocker I reckon President Mubarak should have the Black Eyed Peas play live in Tahrir Square if he wants the protesters to clear out. 4 days ago via web
46. awesomeguyelson If Mubarak was smart, he would have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago. #Egypt 4 days ago via web
47. Snaggles8 If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 4 days ago via Tweet Button
48. anrahman RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 5 days ago via ÜberTwitter
49. AhmadouSami99 RT @TrAntidote: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago. TP @AdamSerwer via @someecards 5 days ago via Tweet Button
50. TrAntidote If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago. TP @AdamSerwer via @someecards 5 days ago via Tweet Button
51. katrynad If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago. TP @AdamSerwer http://t.co/IQbGLcX 5 days ago via Tweet Button
52. gronky_gronky RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 5 days ago via ÜberTwitter
53. ntyork RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 5 days ago via ÜberTwitter
54. newmanmn RT @ChristianNorton: “If Mubarak was smart, he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago.” LOL http://chzb.gr/g25cNp 5 days ago via web
55. ChristianNorton “If Mubarak was smart, he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago.” LOL http://chzb.gr/g25cNp 5 days ago via web
56. felipenerdcore RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 5 days ago via ÜberTwitter
57. pow3rvator RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 5 days ago via ÜberTwitter
58. NetzBlogR Bei Facebook gelesen: “Wäre Mubarak schlau, hätte er die Black Eyed Peas geholt und den Tahrir-Platz von denen räumen lassen.” 5 days ago via Seesmic Desktop
59. TheGhostHost If #Mubarak was smart, he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out #Tahrir square two weeks ago. 5 days ago via T-Mobile Sidekick
60. haidy_95 RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 5 days ago via ÜberTwitter
61. rowanzajkowski RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 5 days ago via ÜberTwitter
62. Tjeroen RT @AdamSerwer: If mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 5 days ago via ÜberTwitter
63. blc1984 “If Mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square weeks ago” 5 days ago via web
64. hockeybroads Heard in Tim Horton’s Line-up: If Mubarak was smart he’d have gotten the Black Eyed Peas to empty out Tahrir Square two weeks ago 5 days ago via web

 

Super Bowl B.C. — Before Commercialism : 1 pm kickoffs, college marching bands, Black and Decker drill commercials, and helmet car parades!

I found these classics posted on Youtube.  I watched my first Super Bowl, Super Bowl X, on TV in January 1976–Steelers-Cowboys on astroturf (!) in the Orange Bowl, with Lynn Swann’s famous acrobatic, made for slow-motion catch, and a 21-17 final that actually hid a safety in the tally (the previous year the Steelers led 2-0 at halftime on a safety!).  It is hard to believe that the Super Bowl could have been like this when you consider the commercial industry and de facto national American holiday it has become today.  Hope you enjoy!

Check out the Man-in-the-Street interviews towards the beginning and the Black and Decker ads (a real drill to the head)

The Football Helmet Car parade, complete with majorettes kicking their long boots up, is classic (were the Bradys and Partridges at this game too?)

The incomparable Curt Gowdy (can’t believe I didn’t appreciate his broadcasting when I was growing up)…and check out how long it takes to get to the ads and how long they last!

Different times…different times!

 

“Those Were the Days” (if All in the Family were to be set in 2011): Have a Nice Day!

Boy the way Steve Miller played

Tunes that made the hit parade

Dudes like us we had it made

Those were the days…

And you knew where you were then

Pads was pads, women womyn

Mister we could use the Man

Like Gerry Ford again…

Man, we loved the welfare state

For leaded gas in line we did wait

Gee that old Pacer sure ran great

Those were the days…

by RAH 1/12/2011

 

“Why give me an Oscar? – I am Oskar!” The Amazing Oskar Fischinger, An Optical Poem (1937) (Franz Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2)

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/index.jsp?cid=255306

An Optical Poem

Mainstream audiences in 1937 must have been astonished to see An Optical Poem, an abstract animated film by German-born avant-garde artist Oskar Fischinger (1900-1967). The short is eight solid minutes of precision geometric movement in bright, primary Technicolor, with shapes moving beautifully through three-dimensional space to the music of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. A modern audience may be unimpressed by such sights in an age of endless computer-generated, digital imagery; this film is a hand-crafted, analog mood piece that takes the viewer along on an abstract journey that can inspire any number of interpretations. In his book Optical Poetry: The Life and Work of Oskar Fischinger, William Moritz takes a stab at it, writing that “the keen sensation of depth becomes a conceptual part of the action, with the circles that rotate around each other revealed as cosmic figures that could be either microscopic cells or stellar configurations.”  An Optical Poem was produced for that most mainstream of studios, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1936 MGM did not have an in-house animation department; the steady slate of traditional character cartoons on their release schedule were supplied by the independent Harmon-Ising studio and their Happy Harmonies series of one-shot animated shorts. The contract that Fischinger signed similarly called for him to deliver a completed negative, and he was to bear all of the production costs out of his agreed upon fee, which was only $11,000. MGM did provide the services of their in-house orchestra, and Fischinger recorded a new rendition of Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2″ with them. The visuals of An Optical Poem grew out of a short sequence at the end of Fischinger’s earlier, independently-produced Composition in Blue (1935), in which a group of circles rise from the background and, in depth, head toward the viewer. Such effects would form the basis for the entirety of the new film. Fischinger built elaborate scaffolding in his studio from which he could suspend various geometric cutouts from extra-fine fishing line. According to Moritz, he also used “…lights hung from various vantage points to create strong shadows that would emphasize depth. The geometric figures in the film – circles, triangles, and rectangles – were cut from paper and painted in specific hues, then attached to a fish line that could be tied to one of the overhead cross beams. With a painted background behind, each of the paper figures would be moved a millimeter before another film-frame could be shot, then moved a millimeter, etc.” This sort of stop-motion animation work is slow enough, but consider that Fischinger was not moving rigid metal model joints, but lightweight pieces suspended by thin lines and thus prone to sway – he had to make sure each piece was steady before making his exposure. The artist used a broomstick with a feather attached at the end as a “steadier.” Moritz further pointed out that “as in most of Oskar’s films, complex choreography often required a dozen figures to move simultaneously, some in the same direction, but others at a different angle or direction, so each exposure was slow and had to be carefully monitored.” The phrase “carefully monitored” is quite an understatement – a miscalculation could ruin a shot and lead to the scrapping of many hours of work. The dazzling short was sent out into the MGM distribution system as a “prestige” item, playing with A-budget features or, as Moritz noted, “for prestige audiences, such as the first-class ocean-liner passengers.” It is a shame that MGM didn’t feel the average moviegoer would respond to Fischinger’s artistic creation. The film received good notices from columnists such as Louella Parsons and Ed Sullivan, who wrote that An Optical Poem was sure to get an Academy Award nomination (it did not). In response to this last item, Fischinger reportedly said, “Why give me an Oscar? – I am Oskar!” Oskar Fischinger’s contract with MGM contained an option for the studio to commission the animator for more films, but a financial dispute put a quick end to any such notion. Citing high overhead costs, the studio said that An Optical Poem did not earn a profit at the box-office. Given the low budget that Fischinger was paid to begin with, the lack of profit participation meant that the artist made no money whatsoever from the film. Moritz wrote that Fischinger went to the studio and confronted an accountant, who “…threatened to smash Oskar with a typewriter that he raised above his head. Oskar began to defend himself, and he was arrested and jailed on ‘assault and battery’ charges.” The artist was exonerated, but certainly the incident did little to help him get more mainstream assignments in Hollywood. The same year that MGM released An Optical Poem, the studio created their own in-house animation unit headed by Fred Quimby, the type of executive that had absolutely no interest in abstraction in his cartoons. Within a few years, Tom & Jerry were the resident cartoon stars at MGM, and their shorts would often become the Oscar®-winners for the year. Following his MGM experience, Fischinger briefly acted as an uncredited consultant on Disney’s Fantasia (1940), and he went on to produce five more independent shorts, from 1941 to 1952. He became increasingly frustrated with filmmaking, though, and turned to oil painting in his later years. Producer: Oskar Fischinger Director: Oskar Fischinger Music: Paul Marquardt (orchestrator); Franz Liszt (from “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2″) C-8m. by John M. Miller

 

And now for something completely different: Semaphore Signals

Wreckless Eric (1977)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_semaphore

Monty Python’s Flying Circus:  The Semaphore Version of Wuthering Heights (1970)

 

Cry-Key!!! Enough to Tear You Up

[Lacrimosa from Mozart's Requiem]

New Research on the Science of (women’s emotional) Tears (and their impact on men):  Fascinating!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/science/07tears.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/06/AR2011010606630.html

 

Moral Terpitude: University of Maryland Football Passes on a Leach, Gets an Edsall

Hell, I don’t want to appear too Cavalier–once interstate rivalries meant something–but I can only smile at University of Maryland dumping a Fridge, passing on a Leach, only to get an Edsall from UConn Used cars…anyway, to all the Hoos down in Hooville, a good night!

 

Apropos of Nothing…but I really mean it, maaaaaaaaaan…

Sex Pistols “Anarchy in the UK”

but I don’t know why?

Sex Pistols “God Save the Queen”