The Fallen of World War II

I'm back from a long sojourn and a week's recovery. Gotta make up for lost time. First, a little history lesson. Because it's that day.

NYC, 1981

Is this a trailer? A short? An extract? Not sure, but it's really well done.

BBC Documentary - My Lai

Harrowing but informative documentary on one of the worst incidents of the Vietnam war.

Lars Andersen - A New Level Of Archery

I have many talented friends. Some ridiculously so. Many are hard working, which makes them prodigiously successful. They are inspiring. Then there is this guy. I posted about him before, but this is his newest video. Unreal.

Joseph Kilna MacKenzie - Sgt. MacKenzie

It's Remembrance Day, and this is always the song that comes to mind for me. Haunting stuff, and this is actually a repost, but the one I posted four years ago was just a crappy audio link that's since been chopped, so here's one with some war footage to go with it.

Mound Builders of Ancient America

Giants!

The world's fastest archery

Legolas who?

The Cinematic Orchestra - Entr'acte

Watch and listen to this brilliant soundtrack to the 1924 short silent film by René Clair.

I, Pet Goat II

Let's end with this one today. Simply amazing symbolism. Tomorrow, music.

Miss America Pageant circa 1920s

Oh how times have changed.

Master of Lightning

Now I bet you're wondering, who's Nikola Tesla? Here, check this out. He's pretty damn cool. 

 

Alex Jones vs Justin Bieber

This is a repost from over a year ago, but I just felt like it was worth another look/listen. Again not a big Alex Jones fan but this is an awesome edit by Fergus Breen.

The Cinematic Orchestra - Manhatta

This is actually a soundtrack for the 1921 short silent film by Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand. Gotta say they did a fantastic job. Watch the whole thing, it's worth the eleven minutes. 

NOTE: For some stupid reason the film company has taken this video down. Hopefully it'll be back up shortly, I'll repost it when it is.

The Antikythera Mechanism

Just another useless piece of junk from more than 2000 years ago. You know, when people were uncivilized brutes. They couldn't possibly have known anything about complex mathematics, or mechanics, or astronomy, or... 

A new angle on history

This is an extraordinary picture of an extraordinary moment in history. Can you recognize it? The full story is here if you get stumped. Try not to cheat by looking at the tags... 

Amazing World War II photography

This shot is unbelievable. Check out more here.

Joe Medicine Crow's war story

Another pretty amazing war story about an exceptional character, taken from Ken Burns' epic documentary "The War". Sometimes traces of humanity can be found even in the worst situations.

Disneyland in 1957

Just some nostalgic footage from when the park was not even two years old.

The history of the Amen Break

Now for a little music history. This is the story of the "Amen Break", probably the most prolific sample used in the last 30 years. Even in music it's hard to find things that are truly original.

A modern history of Iran

Since it seems we're all too keen to just waltz into Iran because they're "dangerous", I think it's important to understand why Iran might not be so willing to deal with the United States face-to-face. There is always more than meets the eye. Check out this rant I posted a month ago for more on this subject.