Celtic/Hip-hop Mashup

The secret link between Celtic music and hip-hop. Just a couple of weeks late for St. Patrick's Day!

Posted By: Paul - Sun Apr 05, 2009 - Comments (2)
Category: Music, Europe

The Chapman Brothers

Posted By: Paul - Fri Feb 06, 2009 - Comments (2)
Category: Art, Horror, Europe

Gilligan’s No Exit

Today we feature a guest post from that miraculous writer of the fantastical, the great Don Webb.

Take it away, Don!

Many of my generation have discovered (sometimes with the help of a certain herb) that the opening sequence of Wizard of Oz matches up with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Co-incidence or happenstance? Who can say? Was Pink Floyd under the "influence" of Frank Baum?

Another strange co-incidence has come to light. The lyrics of Gilligan's Island perfectly match up with Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven."



Happenstance? Then riddle me this -- why does Gilligan's Island have exactly the same theme as Jean Paul Sarte's NO EXIT?

Consider:

Each one of the characters represents one of the 7 deadly sins:

- Ginger represents LUST - she wears skimpy outfits, is obsessed with her looks, and is a borderline nymphomaniac.

- Mary Ann represents ENVY - she is jealous of Ginger's beauty.

- The Professor represents PRIDE - he is an annoying know-it-all.

- Mr. Howell represents GREED - no explanation needed.

- Mrs. Howell represents SLOTH - she has never lifted a finger to help with their escape plans.

- The Skipper represents two sins: GLUTTONY - again, no explanation needed and ANGER - he violently hits Gilligan on each show.

- This leaves Gilligan. Gilligan is the person who put them there. He prevents them from leaving by foiling all of their escape plots. Also, it is HIS island. Therefore, Gilligan is SATAN.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Feb 03, 2009 - Comments (19)
Category: Drugs, Literature, Music, Synchronicity and Coincidence, Television, Reader Recommendation, 1960s, 1970s, Europe

Paris Motorcycle Run

It might not be the King's Highway, but this looks every bit as dangerous.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jan 27, 2009 - Comments (6)
Category: Europe, Motorcycles

Follies of the Mad Men #53

Animal abuse: not a guaranteed winning strategy for your advertisement.

Also: isn't BMW supposed to be a classy car, not the goofball's favorite?


Hamster Crash Commercial - MyVideo

Posted By: Paul - Thu Jan 22, 2009 - Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Business, Advertising, Europe, Cars

The Camisards

A group of fanatical religious terrorists, holed up in their mountain redoubts and battling an occupying government. Surely this description must apply to some modern-day group and situation, such as in Afghanistan, or perhaps Africa...? And the terrorists will in all likelihood be Islamic, right?

Well, not all the time.

Consider the French Protestant dissenters known as the Camisards.

I learned about this historical incident from reading Robert Louis Stevenson's Travels with a Donkey. (You can find the entire text of the book here.) Stevenson traveled through the region once ruled by the Camisards, and evoked the romance of their rebellion.

There, a hundred and eighty years ago, was the chivalrous Roland, "Count and Lord Roland, generalissimo of the Protestants in France," grave, silent, imperious, pock-marked ex-dragoon, whom a lady followed in his wanderings out of love. There was Cavalier, a baker's apprentice with a genius for war, elected brigadier of Camisards at seventeen, to die at fifty-five the English governor of Jersey. There again was Castanet, a partisan in a voluminous peruke and with a taste for divinity. Strange generals who moved apart to take counsel with the God of Hosts, and fled or offered battle, set sentinels or slept in an unguarded camp, as the Spirit whispered to their hearts! And to follow these and other leaders was the rank file of prophets and disciples, bold, patient, hardy to run upon the mountains, cheering their rough life with psalms, eager to fight, eager to pray, listening devoutly to the oracles of brainsick children, and mystically putting a grain of wheat among the pewter balls with which they charged their muskets.

Pretty weird, huh? And right in Europe, not all that long ago.

The last sentence from Stevenson is particularly intriguing, since it conjures up comparisons to the Mai-Mai rebels in the Congo today, who believe that certain magical charms protect them against bullets; that their own bullets are invulnerable to counter charms; and that ritual cannibalism of their enemies is still a grand idea.

Once Europe had its own Mai-Mai's. Perhaps someday Africa will be rid of theirs.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Jan 22, 2009 - Comments (10)
Category: Cannibalism, Death, Frauds, Cons and Scams, History, Historical Figure, Magic and Illusions and Sleight of Hand, Paranormal, Religion, War, Weapons, Foreign Customs, Africa, Europe, Eighteenth Century

Finnish Railways Ad

I think this might be an advertisement for improvements in Finland's Railway System.

On the other hand, it could be the trailer for a new Tolkien-style fantasy involving petrified swamp cherubs, the skinnier younger brother of Colonel Sanders, stone giants that become the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and the Joker's Mother.


Finnish Railways - New age of trains from Misko Iho on Vimeo.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 26, 2008 - Comments (2)
Category: PSA’s, Foreign Customs, Fantasy, Transportation, Europe

Cow Festival in Switzerland

Each year the cows of Switzerland get to wear pretty hats.

Read all about the tradition here, then watch a few seconds of video.


Cow Festival in Mels from jillnachtman on Vimeo.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Dec 14, 2008 - Comments (0)
Category: Fashion, Holidays, Parades and Festivals, Foreign Customs, Cows, Europe

Feruza Jumaniyozova

Fire-breathing, snakes, bongos and beautiful women. It just doesn't get any better than in this video of Uzbekistan singer Feruza Jumaniyozova.

NOTE: if you click on her link, her music begins playing loudly automatically, perhaps not in line with a work environment.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 11, 2008 - Comments (6)
Category: Animals, Sex Symbols, Foreign Customs, Dance, Asia, Europe

The Comedian Harmonists

The Comedian Harmonists were a German vocal group of the 1920s and 1930s. The vast majority of their songs were performed in their native language. But in the clip below, they tackle an English-language song phonetically, producing a language that does not resemble any on Earth.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 09, 2008 - Comments (3)
Category: Music, Foreign Customs, 1920s, 1930s, Europe