Lady Gaga Telephone by Pomplamoose

Another great little cover from the talented Pomplamoose.

It's fair cheered me up anyway!

Owl City - Fireflies

Beautifully constructed little video: one of those where you notice another little detail each time you watch it. Nice upbeat little song too.

"Typography" by Ronnie Bruce

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

This excellent little video from Vimeo features the words of the poet Taylor Mali. Don't you find it irritating the way some people have a regular "upstroke" at the end of their sentences, or finish every sentence with "Know what I'm saying?"

You do? Well this video is right up your street!

Single Ladies - Beyonce

This is an interesting cover version of Beyonce's song "Single Ladies" performed by Indie rockers Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte who form the group Pomplamoose. Not quite as sexy as the original version, but catchy in its own way. If you want to find more from Pomplamoose check out their YouTube Channel.

There's a bit more info about the group here too, and especially here. Apparently, they are in the top 100 most subscribed to musicians on YouTube. Their cover of Beyonce's song above has had over 2.5 million hits, and they have been able to give up their day jobs because they make enough money from their music.

Well I've just come across them, so there!

The Credit Crisis Visualised

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

This brilliant little Vimeo video explains the origins of the credit crisis with great lucidity.

The rest, as they say, is history...

The Ascent of Money Part 1

Many thanks for my friend JumpinJack on Flickr for pointing me in the direction of the Channel 4 series The Ascent of Money. This first programme traces the history of money from ancient times to the bond market. It is made more interesting for me because I've visited several of the places in the film including Venice, Florence and the east end of Glasgow. I've not visited sub-prime USA, but maybe that is no great loss!

Well worth setting aside 45 minutes of your time to watch this and start to get some idea how banks have become so powerful: how we have reached the situation where the directors of the Royal Bank of Scotland, into which taxpayers have paid millions, are now trying to blackmail the same taxpayers into allowing them to be paid their obscene bonuses.

Fiona Apple - Across The Universe

I always wondered what this Beatles song meant: I suspect they were "chemically altered" when they wrote it! Having watched this little video of Ms Apple's excellent cover version, I am none the wiser, but greatly entertained nevertheless!

We're Number 37!

Another YouTube video about the American Healthcare Debate. I suppose the NHS in the UK "could do better", but we do get our system for around half the percentage of GDP that the Americans do.

The French pay 11% of GDP for their highly regarded set-up compared to 8% in Britain.

You Know It Makes Sense

As you know, I don't often find the time to blog these days but the debate about health care reform that rages in the US and simmers in the UK has finally overcome my natural lethargy. This brilliant little animated video spells out in terms that are difficult to argue with why the United States should provide universal health care that is funded by taxation and not by greedy, self-serving insurance companies. When you stand at the top of the Empire State Building in NYC some of the most lavish buildings you can see are owned by insurance companies, which should be telling us something!

These companies and their right-wing supporters have a lot to lose if Obama is successful: hence the vitriol and scare-mongering that is coming forth just now. America makes a big thing of its Christian values, but many US citizens apparently don't see that failing to provide large chunks of the population with health care is inconsistent with this.

On this side of the Atlantic, I am pleased to see that the debate is showing up major fault lines in Cameron's façade of the new "caring, sharing" Conservative Party. The Tories' commitment to the British NHS has been shown to be a total sham, but I don't know if this will be enough, in itself, to lose them the next election, unfortunately! Labour's increasing attempts to part-privatise the NHS in recent years have been shameful, and a genuine commitment to a publicly funded system, free of the need to pander to the demands of shareholders in private companies, might allow voters in the next election to chose a party that appreciates the true values upon which the NHS is based.

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

Another Vimeo video: this time with an astronomical theme. The galactic centre of the Milky Way captured with a modified Canon EOS 5D.

Pretty awe-inspiring, huh?

Beards on a Boat

This video is from the World Beard and Moustache Championships (I kid you not) which was held at Anchorage, Alaska on May 23rd.

Maybe I should enter for the one in Trondheim, Norway in 2 years time?

DEADLINE post-it stop motion

I love this little stop motion video. If you want to know how it was made, there is a video of that as well.

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

This is an incredible little video from Vimeo of some totally crazy guys wingsuit base jumping in Norway. I couldn't even stand at the edge of these cliffs, far less throw myself off them like these maniacs.

It takes all kinds to make a World, I suppose...

More on the Graffiti Theme

Papergirl #3 from Papergirl on Vimeo.
This group, rather than spray painting or puting up posters, chooses to cycle round and give their art work away.

Interesting concept...

C215

When we were in Venice recently we came across four brilliant pieces of graffiti with a mysterious logo attached to each one. I uploaded the images to Flickr in the following order: 1, 2, 3, 4. Almost as soon as I uploaded the last picture my Flickr contact Simon Crubellier from London recognised the pictures as the work of a stencil graffiti artist called C215. Simon added the tag c215 to the picture and within minutes C215 had asked me to add the pictures to his group on Flicker devoted to his art.

The video shows C215 giving London the same treatment: simply amazing!

Yet another example of how wonderful the Internet can be...

I'm On A Boat (ft. T-Pain) - Clean

Hilarious take off of certain music videos----you know the sort of thing.

Beautifully done!

Little Red Riding Hood For The Electronic Age

Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.

Another brilliant little Vimeo Video.

Squirrel Attack!

I find this quite funny, but certain aspects of my sense of humour are quite puerile.

You have been warned...

Bathtub IV

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I periodically post videos hosted on the site Vimeo. Here is another brilliant little film created by a guy called Keith Loutit.

George Carlin - Saving the Planet

I really like stand-up comedy. I've already seen Jack Dee and Omid Djalili live. Later this month Wosog and I are going to see Ed Byrne in concert, and later this year the hilarious Eddie Izzard.

We don't tend to see many American stand-up comedians on the TV in the UK, so I'm not so familiar with them. However I have come across numerous quotations from George Carlin, who, sadly, died last year. The video above I think shows Carlin's intelligence and his ability to "cut through the crap" that we encounter in our day to day life and especially in our exposure to the media. You may not like the way George says things, but you will find it hard to argue against him! Unfortunately, as I say, George died in 2008: I would love to have heard his comments on the global financial crisis!

Here are a few more words from the great man:

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."

"The very existence of flamethrowers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves, 'You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.'"

"Just when I discovered the meaning of life, they changed it."

"By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth."

Well said, George, well said...