"Go Off or Die Off." A compilation and compendium of supplementary material uncovered during the research and analysis process in creating my companion blog... Renaissance Village Idiot. In other words, a pile of cool junk that is mostly flagrant re-blogging... except for the bits that crawl from the darkest projections of my personal Plato's Cave, regurgitated here for your nightmarish pleasure. Consider it An eclectic Collection of Oddities and Wisdom you Need to Know before the End of Days.
There has been some amazing footage taken by drones these last few years. Here are few of my favourites.
First, let's visit Newfoundland, and drone around an iceberg. Yes: these things just break off and float down the ocean, ending up offshore everywhere. This planet is amaze-balls.
Let's go from cold to colder: drone footage of Antarctica.
And for more than casual sightseeing, drones are good for... extreme sightseeing...? Footage from inside a fireworks show gives a pretty spectacular perspective.
And finally, no drone compilation would be complete without a viewing of OK GO's ingenious video.
I've picked a guitar up once or twice in my time, but have never taken the time to actually learn the thing. As a drummer, wherein "hit stuff make noise" is the starting point, the scales and finger-positions and strumming techniques all seem like a lot of book-work.
Favourite guitar-player jokes:
Q: How long does it take to tune a 12-string guitar? A: Nobody knows.
Q: What do you throw a drowning guitar player? A: His amp.
Alright. The evolution of the guitar solo:
But I do like the levity. Here's cat-meets-guitar.
And here's a pretty clever prank.
And back to some serious notes: Dr. David Grimes at Oxford discusses the physics of playing a guitar solo. (if you're interested in reading Dr. Grimes' paper, it can be found at the PLOS ONE site.)
Not to leave out the Bass Guitar, here are some of my favourite bass guitar jokes:
Q: Why couldn't the bassist get through the front door? A: He couldn't find the key and didn't know when to come in.
Q: What do you call someone who hangs around musicians? A: The bass player.
Q: What are the three most difficult years in a bass player's life? A: Second grade.
Seriously though: here is an amazing video of the 100 "greatest" bass lines, played in a single melody.
And don't worry, I also know lots of great "drummer" jokes.
I was fascinated by hobos (one of many fascinations) in my distant youth. Growing up in a small town, a resource-based community, in the latter-half of the 20th century, the legendary escape of "running away to join the circus" was always almost a "real" option. Stories of the Great Depression, mass migrations of young people in search of work, of "riding the rails", were still part of everyday chit-chat.
I think I always realized the difference between hobos and tramps, and bums -- ideological cousins somehow, but each different in their own way. Hobos travel to find work; tramps work when they have to; and bums don't work at all. [wikipedia]
In this first video, John Hodgman presents a (fake) PBS American Experience documentary episode.
In the second video, narrated by someone with exactly the right voice for this, the National Hobo Conference in Britt, Iowa, is described.
And finally, the VICE documentary about the decline and fall of the hobo: "Death of the American Hobo".
Moon River, written for Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's is a beautiful song. Composed by Henry Mancini, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, this is a demo version taped by Mancini and Mercer.
For the full story about the making of Moon River, visit the BBC website.
