Parrots, the Universe and Everything

Almost 90 minutes. One man on stage. No props. No fancy slideshow or snazzy film. No music. Just talking to the audience, and a bit of reading from one of his books. Can't think of very many people who could pull that off.



The talk is about his travels while writing Last Chance to See, which he expresses great affection for. "The runt of the litter," he calls it.

Spain

The inimitable Mr Al Jarreau. 8 minutes and 25 seconds of magic.



Via Harini's Facebook news feed.

The Sixth Sense device

Gonna need me a spaceship to beat this one.

Biggest drawing in the world
by erikbjgn

Update: Sheesh. Hoaxed. Thanks Priyanka.

Defense overtures

Lawdy, lawdy, lawdy.

Competition for "If you come today" at last!



"[Israeli arms maker] Rafael produced a sitar-heavy twist on Rick Astley's love letter to Satan, "Together Forever," complete with a new chorus." (Wired's Danger Room blog.)

Lily the Pink

Ah, the memories.



How many songs do you know that use the word "efficacious" without missing a beat?

[Via Ratna Rajaiah's Facebook feed]

Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work

Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work

The appeal the BBC refused to broadcast

The Disasters Emergency Committee's appeal for Gaza. Please circulate as widely as possible We grieve with our Palestinian friends, and thank our Jewish friends, both inside and outside Israel, who have supported this call for aid. May good hearts on both sides prevail and come together to end sixty years of injustice, cruelty and hatred.

Via Indra Sinha

Typecasting

From CollegeHumor.

Join in the chorus

[Courtesy Ashwan]

Stuffed

Calvin & Hobbes - Robot Chicken - From metacafe via Massah Vij on Facebook.

The winner!

Better than the Virgil or Custom Time gags, we thought. What say ye?

p.s. More links here.

Not for kids

This story in the Guardian (no mentions yet in the Indian media) gives the lie to claims about child labour being banned. An extract:

Child workers, some as young as 10, have been found working in a textile factory in conditions close to slavery to produce clothes that appear destined for Gap Kids, one of the most successful arms of the high street giant.

Speaking to The Observer, the children described long hours of unwaged work, as well as threats and beatings.

Gap said it was unaware that clothing intended for the Christmas market had been improperly subcontracted to a sweatshop using child labour. It announced it had withdrawn the garments involved while it investigated breaches of the ethical code imposed by it three years ago.

The discovery of the children working in filthy conditions in the Shahpur Jat area of Delhi has renewed concerns about the outsourcing by large retail chains of their garment production to India, recognised by the United Nations as the world's capital for child labour.

Link courtesy Shefali Srinivas on Facebook. Shefali also point to this video, and notes that it was posted months ago.


Gap Unveils New 'For Kids By Kids' Clothing Line

So much for GAP's being unaware.

Please see also this CRY press release, which says that India has the largest number of child labourers in the world.

One remembers the dancing baby

[via email from Monisha]

R.I.P. Luciano Pavarotti

Nessun Dorma

Extract from the lyrics:

ll nome suo nessun sapra
E noi dovrem, ahime! Morir! Morir!
Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle!
Tramontate, stelle! All‚alba vincero!
Vincero! Vincero!

Translated:
Nobody will discover his name
And we shall have to die, alas! Die!

Depart, o night! Set, you stars!
Set, you stars! At dawn I shall win!
I shall win! I shall win!

Thank you for the music, Maestro.

I love to singa

For all our pals who do. And can.

[From Jugal.]

The Impotence of Proofreading - by Taylor Mali

Hilarious. And a great learning for the perfomance poets among ye. Even though I do think he hams it a bit too much at one of two points.

Via Annie.

What do you when you get a brand new iPhone? - 2

You—argh—blend it.



(You folks on the feed-readers will have to come on over to see the video. Sorry.)

And here's the bit that makes us go *toc toc* "These Americans are crazy!" The blended iPhone, which would have cost US$500 brand new, is up for sale on ebay. That's not all. The top bid, as of this posting, stands at US$ 1,058.33.

The Perfect Day

This ad ran in 1997. I remember my then creative director sticking his head into my room, a DVD in hand, saying "You have to hear this." It was the disc that came with the latest D&AD Annual, and my PC was the only one with the software to play it (yes, yes, so very last century).

I loved it then for the fusion element—it brings together such an amazing range of musicians—and its simple brilliance as an ad; it's entertaining, and it delivers its message ("Whatever your musical taste, it is catered to by BBC Radio and Television") in no uncertain terms. Of course, the length (it's a full four minutes) wasn't a problem since the advertiser was running it on its own media. Heh.

The complete story from the YouTube page:

In 1997, the song "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed was featured by the BBC in a lengthy corporate advertisement of its own music coverage. The trailer was shown on BBC channels and in cinemas and won both awards and praise from commentators. This version was eventually released as a charity single in November of that year for Children In Need. The charity version features a host of well-known singers and performers, with Reed himself opening and closing the song, and was the UK's number one single for two weeks, selling over a million copies.

Right then. Here's your homework. Name all the singers and musicians.




Bonus videos

Lou Reed singing Perfect Day


Lou Reed singing Perfect Day with Luciano Pavarotti

Billy Collins (encore)

The good folk of JWT-NY mailed to say they had put up another poem in their series of Billy Collins Animated Poetry. So here it is.

The Country