Distraction 186: Pirate Radio aka The Boat That Rocked

This trailer kind of sucks because it makes it sound as though the movie is about some American dude saving rock n roll in the UK, and it's not.   That said, this movie is wonderful! 


Depending on where you are in the world, it's either called "Pirate Radio" or "The Boat That Rocked."   Rhys Darby steals the show and is second only to the soundtrack.

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Distraction 185: Wuthering Heights

I'm currently reading "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte, that lady painted up there.  I'm about 1/3 of the way into it & this is my favorite passage so far:

"He took a seat opposite Catherine, who kept her gaze fixed on him as if she feared he would vanish were she to remove it.  He did not raise his to her often:  a quick glance now and then sufficed; but it flashed back, each time more confidently, the undisguised delight he drank from hers.  They were too much absorbed in their mutual joy to suffer embarrassment."

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Distraction 180: The World's First Tickling Spa

Make your reservations now!  The world's first tickling spa is now open in Spain.  I'm not sure if it's meant to relax or torture.

As I was imagining what the place must be like, Tex Avery's "Shhhh!" popped into mind; about a poor jittery man just trying to relax, despite the crazy folk in the room next door.  It's based off of "The Laughing Record #1," originally from Okeh records, but can also be found on the cd "Only in America" from Arf! Arf! Productions.

Distraction 179: Panique au Village

Panique au Village (A Town Called Panic) is a GREAT and very silly stop-motion animation film currently available streaming via Netflix.  




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Distraction 178: Sulic & Hauser

It's not often that the terms "bad ass" and "celloists" are used together in the same sentence, but Sulic & Hauser are some BAD ASS CELLOISTS!!!






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Distraction 177: Green With Envy Trailer [HD]

Ooooh, can't wait!  Can't wait!  Can't wait!






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Distraction 176: Fair Today

"Pardon me... Have you seen my little boy?"

All of the puns and the timing make it hard to believe that Tex Avery wasn't involved somehow.  This cartoon is so similar to Avery's "House of Tomorrow" and "Car of Tomorrow."  Walter Lantz is great too though.

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Distraction 175: Oldest Art in Americas

The first teaser I saw about this said something like "The oldest art in America has been found in Florida" to which I was wondering "which America; north, south, both?!"


Leave it to National Geographic to properly specify it by simply adding an 's'; the above image is the oldest art in Americas found to date.


Read more here.




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Distraction 174: Stefon

Do you know who Stefon is?
Saturday Night Live - Weekend Update - Stefon - Video - NBC.com


A bunch of silly websites have popped up where you can create your own Stefon club promo.  Here are a couple:
Stefon Mad Libs
The Stefonator!






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Distraction 171: Breakfast at Tiffany's

I've read the book and heard the song, but have yet to see the movie!  Below are some of my favorite lines from the book.

"Oh, you get used to anything," I said, annoyed with myself, for actually I was proud of the place.

"I don't.  I'll never get used to anything.  Anybody that does, they might as well be dead."

"It may be normal, darling; but I'd rather be natural."

"Never love a wild thing, Mr. Bell," Holly advised him.  "That was Doc's mistake.  He was always lugging home wild things...  But you can't give your heart to a wild thing:  the more you do, the stronger they get.  Until they're strong enough to run into the woods.  Or fly into a tree.  Then a taller tree.  Then the sky.  That's how you'll end up, Mr. Bell.  If you let yourself love a wild thing.  You'll end up looking at the sky...  Good luck:  and believe me dearest Doc-  it's better to look at the sky than live there.  Such an empty place; so vague.  Just a country where thunder goes and things disappear."

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Distraction 169: Chris Isaak - "Wicked Game"

Eee-yow!  Still one of the sexiest songs/videos ever.




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Distraction 168: Chewing Gum Art

Ben Wilson paints gobs of bubble gum stuck to sidewalks in the UK.  Check out a small gallery of his work here.

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Distraction 167: Asobi Seksu - "Trails"

I stumbled on Asobi Seksu a few years ago while putting together a list of songs with titles featuring the days of the week.  I couldn't think of a "Thursday" so on a whim searched for it on iTunes.  Sure enough, there it was.  




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Distraction 163: Kobe Levi's Wearable Sculptures

Kobe Levi designs creative heels that even I would wear!

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Distraction 161: Volcanic Lightning Storm

Pictures: Chile Volcano Plume Explodes With Lightning

"Illuminated and electrified by lightning, a roiling ash and gas plume rises over Chile's Puyehue volcano (map) Sunday.

There may be as many as three distinct types of volcanic lightning, volcanic seismologist Steve McNutt told National Geographic News in 2010.

Large, spectacular "natural fireworks" sometimes accompany eruptions, along with an intermediate type, which shoots up from a volcano's vents and reaches lengths of about 1.8 miles (3 kilometers), and finally bolts that can be as short as about three feet (one meter) long and last just a few milliseconds."

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Distraction 157: Stump - "Charlton Heston"

23 years later and it's still one of the strangest, most wonderful songs ever.


"Lights!  Camel!  Action!"




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Distraction 156: Walt Whitman

"This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body." 

- Walt Whitman, 1819-1892

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Distraction 154: Gil Scott-Heron - "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"

Rest in peace Gil Scott-Heron.

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Distraction 153: Egypt!

Egypt has been in the news a lot lately.  Sure, there's all that talk of revolution, but some cool archaeological junk is going on as well.

Egyptian Pyramids Found by Infra-red Satellite Images

Pyramid-Exploring Robot Reveals Hidden Hieroglyphs

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Distraction 152: Goober & the Peas - "Hot Women (Cold Beer)"

Good times.  :)






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