Videos

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Featured Video: Deaf-Owned KFC In Egypt

October 22, 2010 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

This cool video shows the inner workings of a KFC restaurant in Cairo which is run almost entirely by a hearing-impaired staff. Deaf customers sign their orders and hearing customers point to their choices on a counter-top menu.

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Featured Video: Costumed Cat Eating Banana

October 20, 2010 in Videos | Permalink

Yes, it’s come to this. (Thanks Reddit.)

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“This Video Console Will Be Channeled Into The Store Of Her choice”

October 19, 2010 in Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

This two-minute clip taken from the 1967 short documentary “1999 A.D.” reliably predicts the future of Internet shopping–yet still manages to be antiquated in a wildly sexist way. The movie was produced by Philco-Ford, which was a pioneering battery, radio and TV manufacturer.

 

Featured Video: The First Apple Store (1967)

October 15, 2010 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

The Beatles in 1964, three years before they became shopkeepers.

The Beatles and Steve Jobs famously feuded over the Apple name, and the Fab Four even had an Apple store–the Apple Boutique–while Jobs was still in grade school. British Pathé was on hand for the groovy opening on Baker Street in London. George and John dropped by to mug for cameras and greet shoppers, who were adorned in everything from furs to monocles. Psychedelic fashions and inflatable furniture were for sale, and writer Kenneth Tynan was among the notables to show up. Watch it here.

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Featured Video: Dianne Rochenski Loves Rats

October 13, 2010 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

A New York Daily News article about Manhattan mom Dianne Rochenski, who loves pet rats, notes that the rodents “eat almost anything and can grow to up to a foot.” Sounds ideal. But keeping dead rats in the apartment for a month sounds iffyat best to me. (Thanks to Dangerous Minds.)

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Feaured Video: “I Met The Walrus” (1969/2007)

October 10, 2010 in Politics, Videos | Permalink

Jerry Levitan was a 14-year-old Toronto kid in 1969 who sneaked past hotel security and managed to interview John Lennon with a reel-to reel tape recorder. At the time, John and Yoko were using beds and bags to agitate for peace and understanding, while parrying with U.S. immigration officials who wanted the Beatle to stay out of the country. In 2007, Levitan produced “I Met the Walrus,” an animated five-minute movie that uses the audio from the interview. Lennon would have turned 70 this past Saturday.

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Featured Video: “Terminal Bar” (2003)

October 7, 2010 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Stefan Nadelman’s short 2003 documentary, “Terminal Bar,” covers a decade in the life an erstwhile midtown Manhattan dive bar. The director’s father, Sheldon, was a bartender at the dump from 1972-1982; he was also a shutterbug who took thousands of black-and-white photos of the colorful patrons. It’s a catalog of urban grit like few others. (The bar was located where the New York Times swank headquarters now stand.) The entire film is only available for purchase, but above is a representative three-minute clip.

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Featured Video: Bruce Lee Playing Ping Pong

October 5, 2010 in Sports, Videos | Permalink

Videos of Bruce Lee playing ping pong (really well) with nunchucks surface occasionally, but they’re always amazing to watch. How exactly did he do it?

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Featured Video: “Are You The Favorite Person Of Anybody?” (2005)

October 2, 2010 in Videos | Permalink

Miranda July and Miguel Arteta made this poignant 4-minute film while July was editing her feature, Me and You and Everyone We Know. John C. Reilly and Mike White assist. July is the first person to approach Reilly in the movie.

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Featured Video: Synchronized Fake Slow Motion

September 27, 2010 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

As soon as I posted an excerpt from New York magazine’s Nick Denton profile, Reddit pointed me back to the nymag.com site for this music video that has a group of Japanese men proceeding around Tokyo in synchronized fake slow motion. The performance is by singing group World Order, which is the brainchild of former martial artist Genki Sudo, who is also an actor, dancer and choreographer. If you know Japanese, visit his official website.

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Featured Video: Drug Dealing Parrot Arrested

September 24, 2010 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

“Run, run, or the cat will get you!” is what a parrot named Lorenzo was taught to squawk by his boss, who happens to be a Colombian drug lord. Police “arrested” the feathered lookout a couple days ago. A story about Lorenzo’s life of crime on The Week. (Thanks to Dangerous Minds.)

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Excerpted: “A Remarkable Life Continues At Age 100,” Los Angeles Times (2010)

September 23, 2010 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

A September 12, 2010 article in the Los Angeles Times profiles the remarkable Richard J. Bing, a 100-year-old retired California physician and classical music composer who escaped Hitler and knew Lindbergh. An excerpt from the piece by Steve Lopez is followed by a short film about Bing that premiered at Sundance this year. (Thanks to Newmark’s Door.)

“He said he’d retired at 93, as if that were normal. He said that he’d written hundreds of classical music compositions before medical school, that he slipped ‘out the back door’ to Switzerland when Hitler moved into power in Germany and that Charles Lindbergh had persuaded him to move to the U.S. in the 1930s to do heart-related research that might help Lindbergh’s ailing sister.

I Googled Bing’s name and it was all true. I had a Renaissance man on the line, his breathing labored but his mind sharp.

‘You should take a look at my video on YouTube,’ Dr. Bing suggested, and so I did, enjoying a short documentary on an amazing life that included a stint as education director at Huntington Hospital (Bing is still technically on the faculty at Caltech).

Twice last week, I went to Bing’s home, where he lives with a caretaker who comes running when Bing rings a call bell that plays the start of Beethoven’s Fifth. Bing, who made great contributions in heart research, has a failing heart, of all things, as well as skin cancer.

Bing said he’s grown mellower and more tolerant with age, which makes you wonder how he handled utility companies at 70 and 90. He said he most values his extended family of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. By day, he sits in an easy chair surrounded by great books and photos of loved ones, and he powers up his computer to write for medical journals.

‘Life, it’s in you,’ said Bing as his cat, Louis, climbed on top of the piano to catch the warm light coming through from the garden. ‘It’s a composite of all your organ systems telling you you won’t die,’ even as hard evidence to the contrary gathers darkly.

In one of the more poignant moments of the documentary, Bing says: ‘The time goes like a river with great speed, and all of a sudden you find yourself 100 years old. It seems to me that only a few years ago I was middle-aged, and only a few years ago was a child.'”

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Featured Video: Dog Confused By Escalator

September 22, 2010 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Cats, with all their sophistication, can play the piano and shit, but dogs are stupid and wonderful and get confused by escalators. (Thanks to Reddit.)

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Featured Video: “The First And Only Practical Robot From SynPet” (1989)

September 20, 2010 in Misc., Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Robert Popper outdoes himself again with this commercial for a walking, talking robot named Newton who resembles a creepy, intrusive washing machine. These lonely, hapless families are thrilled to have Newton in their homes, but in due time he will turn on them and murder them all in their sleep.

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1 Recent Film I Liked Now On Home Video: Videocracy

September 20, 2010 in Film, Politics, Science/Tech, Videos | Permalink

The puppets and puppeteers located at Italy’s insane nexus of tawdry television and political power get the wry treatment they deserve in Erik Gardini’s suitably strange 2009 documentary, Videocracy. While most filmmakers would have kept the focus on Italian President and TV magnate Silvio Berlusconi–who’s part Rupert Murdoch, part Joe Francis, but worse than both–Gardini spends plenty of time leering at the overlords and underdogs who strive for money and fame in the wet dream that is the nation’s idiot box.

Considering that Italian TV is mostly filled with regular people who will do anything for a shot at fame, it’s not surprising that Gardini’s “stars” are a motley crew. One is a mechanic who aspires to be a cross between Jean Claude Van Damme and Ricky Martin. Another is powerful talent scout Lele Mora, an idolmaker and Mussolini fan who can create a star overnight owing to his close friendship with the President. Mora’s erstwhile protege, Fabrizio Corona, is a sour-faced paparazzo who takes embarrassing photos of celebs. After a stint in prison for dubious business practices, Corona emerges as a star himself, replete with a T-shirt line and a full datebook of personal appearances. Amusingly enough, none of the women who jiggle in underwear and less for ratings are profiled. That’s fitting since the first rule for female models on Italian television is that they’re not allowed to talk.

Berlusconi, who owns ninety percent of the country’s TV holdings, has used the medium to gain political power, building his appeal by broadcasting self-aggrandizing propaganda and by giving the masses all the titillation they desire. But he’s obviously not the film’s only raging ego. Gardini uses simple devices–color schemes, odd camera angles, slo-mo–to lend the film an eerie impressionistic feel, one that applies a sickening gloss to these desperate faces. As the sleazeball Corona says: “Having a super powerful personality pays off in this country ruled by television.”•

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Featured Video: “Dinner With Henry” (1979)

September 17, 2010 in Books, Videos | Permalink

Henry Miller: "I may die with a pen in my hands, but I would rather die with my arms folded and a seraphic smile."

Richard Young directed this 30-minute documentary in which infamous author Henry Miller shares a meal and conversation with actress Brenda Venus. The pair discuss taxes, the Nobel Prize, wine, the American worker, writers Blaise Cendrars and Marcel Proust and the beer drinking habits of various ethnic groups. Miller was 88 at the time the film was made and died the following year. The movie looks like crap, but it’s still worth watching. See it here.

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Featured Video: “Japanese Binocular Soccer”

September 15, 2010 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

If you force soccer players to wear binoculars, it is very difficult for them to see the ball that is right at their feet. But why would you do such a thing? Because you are Japan and you do whatever crazy thing you like. (Thanks to Reddit.)

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Featured Video: “Bruce Lee’s Adventures In Oakland”

September 13, 2010 in Sports, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums is trying to reclaim some of his city’s history, hoping to gain landmark status for Bruce Lee’s famous Oakland martial arts studio, which has been an auto dealership for the last 25 years. The studio was long ago the site of hand-to-hand combat between a 24-year-old Lee and fellow Bay Area instructor Wong Jack Man, who was enraged that Lee accepted Caucasian students. It was the moment that Lee began to become famous. The following is excerpt from a Bay Citizen article about the encounter. (Thanks to boing boing.)

“It’s a Toyota dealership now. But 45 years ago, 4175 Broadway was the site of a kung fu showdown that changed martial arts forever. Bruce Lee, a 24 year-old dropout from the University of Washington had recently landed in North Oakland, where he opened a martial arts studio not far from Oakland Technical High School. The school quickly attracted students. It also made enemies. The Bay Area’s martial arts establishment vilified Lee for accepting non-Chinese pupils.

The beef came to blows when Wong Jack Man crossed the bay from San Francisco to fight in a pre-arranged match with Lee’s livelihood at stake. If Lee lost the bout, he’d have to close the studio. Depending on whose account you believe, Lee either won the fight, or it ended in a draw. But it was because of his experiences during this duel that Lee later developed the fighting style that would make him a worldwide legend, the style of no style.”

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Featured Video: “Busta LeGros” (2004)

September 9, 2010 in Misc., Videos | Permalink

I don’t know how to describe this video by Chicago-based sculptor Joseph Siegenthaler, except to say that it’s mesmerizing and incredibly human despite its oddness–or perhaps because of it. (Thanks to Boing Boing.)

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Featured Video: Cruise Ship Interior During Storm

September 7, 2010 in Videos | Permalink

Thanks to Dangerous Minds for pointing out this video of the mayhem that occurs in the interior of a cruise ship during a terrible storm. I could have done without the Rod Stewart accompaniement, but it’s still amazing footage.

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Classic DVD: The Holy Mountain (1973)

September 5, 2010 in Film, Videos | Permalink

The 1970 Western El Topo is probably Alejandro Jodorowsky’s best-known film, the familiar genre lending it an accessibility despite its whacked-out story and psychedelic imagery. But that movie’s follow-up, Holy Mountain, even more twisted and surreal, is easily the Chilean director’s best work. A savage and wantonly sacrilegious indictment of organized religion (among other things), Jodorowsky provides an almost nonstop series of insane visuals, contorting and distorting nearly every iconic religious image with his cracked fun-house mirror.

In a disgusting parallel to the Christ story, a thin, bearded figure known as the Thief (Horácio Salinas) is reincarnated after lying covered in flies and his own urine. Almost immediately a band of profiteers gets him soused, pours plaster on him and makes replicas of his form to sell to the masses. The Thief falls under the sway of the Alchemist (Jodorowsky), who impresses the reborn man by converting his feces into gold. The Alchemist then enlists the Thief in some sort of fuzzy plan to attain power and immortality. What happens as the film unfolds is so unique, so odd and so otherworldly it’s hard to describe. But there are naked blond twins who get their heads shaved bald, a frog-centric reenactment of Spain conquering Mexico and the so-called savior eating a replica of his own head that’s made of bread. And that doesn’t even begin to explain the parade of oddness. That it doesn’t all make sense hardly matters.

Jodorowsky uses his every visual gift he possesses to not only skewer religion but also consumerism, government and, ultimately, the medium of film itself. Jodorowsky wanted to blow up all false, misleading images, cinematic ones as much as religious ones, and encourage people to focus on reality instead of fantasy. But when he’s just spent two hours blowing minds and popping eyes, such lectures seem like false prophecy.•

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Canadian Sous Chef Has Kitchen Accident

September 4, 2010 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

A Canadian PSA in which a sous chef is horribly burned in a kitchen accident. Terrifying and needless.

 


Featured Video: Iranian Washes Lion On Sidewalk

September 2, 2010 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Yeah, we probably don’t want Iran having nukes. Thank you to Reddit.

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Featured Video: Color Film Footage From 1922

September 1, 2010 in Science/Tech, Videos | Permalink

Eastman Kodak tested Kodachrome in 1922, thirteen years before the company began to manufacture and sell the color reversal film. So we have the anachronistic, hypnotic sight of bright film footage of flappers and other Jazz Age Americans, who are usually known to us in an assortment of grays. Thanks to kottke.org for pointing out this amazing video.

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Featured Video: Bulldog Watching Family Guy

August 30, 2010 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Many of you have repeatedly begged me to post a video of myself on the site, and I’ve resisted–until now, that is. This is footage of me watching Family Guy this past Sunday. When I watch the tube, I like to get really comfortable and bare my dog-like genitals. (Thanks to Cynical C for posting this video.)

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