"Rolling Scene Scrape" is a documentary on skateboarding in Calgary, circa '86. The skating's not that amazing, but as a time portal to an era only slightly before my teen years, it's fantastic. (If only I was that cool back then...)
Nice to see I'm not the only person who thinks of parkour as being real-life platform gaming. [via LocalStain]
The scene: The affluent, hilly and eco-conscious streets of North Vancouver. In the shadow of one of the world's finest ski/snowboard hills, on the same streets that gave rise to the world champion downhill longboard teams of Rayne and Landyachtz, there's another breed of insane thrill-seekers on the loose. Every city in North America has hordes of homeless people filling shopping carts with discarded empties, scraping up enough for a slice of pizza and a day's worth of booze or drugs five cents at a time--but it becomes a little bit different when they can reach speeds of 70+ km/h bombing hills on those carts. The NFB's Murray Siple tells the story:
(Incedentally, this is the first I've seen of the NFB's new post-YouTube site... well done, lads!)
edit: If the embed isn't working for you, the full length film is here.
And brake'd, and lit up, and axled and wheeled... sounds like a good start to a blues song, right? *makes mental note*
But what really happened is a fresh infusion of parts to give the ol' T project a little jumpstart. I started off trading some artwork to Roddychops, head honcho of Vintage Rods--the site logo, the official site flyer here, and a "Roddychop's Customs" logo for his personal builds in exchange for a nice F100 brake setup and some dropped steering arms. Then I found out he's an even bigger fan of the art department at the Royal Canadian Mint, and traded a few of their handy wallet-sized portraits of Robert Borden and the Queen for a frame, a dropped tube axle and some headlights... the result is this:
I can't decide offhand whether Fred J. Eaglesmith is the best country singer in Canada, or just somewhere in the top three[*], but he's definitely the best stage banter artist. Here he is, demonstrating why on an unreleased tune called "Tryin' to Buy Alcohol in Abilene."
[*] The other two: Stompin' Tom Connors and Corb Lund.
British comic genius Eddie Izzard's "Death Star Cafeteria" bit, now with stop-motion Lego animation. (vaguely NSFW, swearing)
[via Whatever]
It takes two (three?) things to do what the guy in the Messerschmidt microcar does here: balls made of steel--and brains made of, well, steel. Or anything else that isn't nerve tissue.
Tip o' the hat to Melvin C. Thudpucker for this one.
Well, I'm off to the land of poutine and Leonard Cohen for a week. This isn't the standard "I apologize in advance for neglecting my blog" post because I pretty much do that anyway, so expect me to actually have something interesting to say and/or share when I get back, if not sooner.
Unless the Language Cops drag moi away for le murdeur vicieux de langue francais, in which case send baguettes, Camus and a t-shirt that says "I didn't mean that about Levesque".
To celebrate, here's Flight of the Conchords explaining in musical fashion what to do with un anana you find in la supermarche.
Did I say "iPod"? I meant "portable 40-record jukebox". Excellent documentary on what were apparently the late Beatle's 40 fave 45s.
[via Smashing Telly]
Tonight's feature presentation: Arch Hall Jr. in "The Choppers". Crazy beatnik slang? In like flint, Daddy-O. Juvenile delinquents stealing car parts? Oh yeah. Enough shots of a Nailhead-powered T-Bucket that it ought to have gotten co-star credit? Koolsville...
and the crowning touch, a song called "Monkey in a Hatband?" Burn rubber, baby!
[via the H.A.M.B.]
Tonight's feature presentation: a twofer of Tom Waits, 70's style.
"The Piano Has Been Drinking" on "Fernwood 2night"
"Eggs and Sausage" on "The Mike Douglas Show"
[both via Bedazzled!]
Carlos Santana joins Buddy Guy onstage at the Montreaux Jazz Festival.
More blues in 6/4 at MeFi.
Zack Kim plays the Simpsons theme.
Two guitars not enough for you? Okay, then, double it with the Aranjuez Guitar Quartet:
Also, in lieu of intelligent commentary on last night's Rush gig, I direct you to the estimable Sir Mark de Zaugg, with only the additional comment that the sound managed to suck in an entirely different way where Melvin and I were seated. Yay for the acoustical properties of western novelty-shaped hockey arenas! The show itself, though? Frickin' sweet, man. I wish they'd have gone as deep into the '70s stuff as they did on the Vapour Trails tour, but the swing era tribute Neil ended his drum solo with and the South Park and Bob & Doug Mackenzie cameos went a long way towards making up for it.
An hour-and-a-bit long documentary on one of the true giants of the twentieth century, jazz guitar virtuoso and inventor Les Paul.
Top Gear's James May races a Ford SportKa against... are you ready for it? A pigeon.
"Art Ford's Jazz Party", circa sometime in the '50s.
Found on Chime.tv, which is most definitely the new hotness of Internet video sites.
