I’ve heard this joke many times before on audio, but never seen it on video. Here it goes. The Moose Joke apparently from 1965.
Animated New Yorker Cartoons: A Funny Twist on Einstein’s Relativity
The New Yorker has rolled out a series of animated cartoons, which puts in motion its famous cartoons. They can be watched as video podcasts or as streamed videos. You should definitely head over to The New Yorker web site to view the larger collection. But, if you want a little taste, take a look below:
YouTube Gets Smart: The Launch of New University Channels
Updated: See full collection of University Video Collections on YouTube.
I heard rumors something like this was coming, and now it’s here. YouTube has struck deals with major universities, creating dedicated channels from which schools can distribute their media content. Not surprisingly UC Berkeley, always at the digital forefront, has taken the lead and launched an ambitious channel with over 300 hours of videotaped courses and events. You can check out their channel here. The other major university to sign on is USC (University of Southern California).
Back in March, we lamented the sheer dearth of cultural content on YouTube. (Listen to our radio interview here and also see our related blog post.) Since its inception, the now Google-owned video service has been awash with home-brewed videos of guitar riffs, dormroom lip sync sessions, and pet tricks. Meanwhile, videos of greater cultural substance have been harder to come by (and that’s why we’ve tried to flag the good ones for you. See here, here & here.) YouTube’s new university initiative begins to remedy that problem. It shows a perhaps burgeoning commitment to higher-minded media. But let’s not get too carried away. When you go to YouTube, it’s not clear how users will find/navigate to these channels. If you look under Categories, “education” is not an option (although I think it used to be). Perhaps YouTube has plans to tweak its navigation. Or is this just a case of letting a tree fall in the woods? Let’s stay optimistic and we’ll check back soon.
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The Grey Video: Mixing The Beatles with Jay‑Z
In 2004, Danger Mouse released The Grey Album which layered the rapper Jay-Z’s The Black Album on top of The Beatles’ White Album. Black and white makes grey.
Now, on YouTube, you can find The Grey Video, which experimentally brings Danger Mouse’s concept to video. The video, created by two Swiss directors, meshes clips from The Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night with footage of Jay‑Z performing. Watch it below, and get more info on The Grey Album here. Also check our collection of MP3 Music Blogs.
Martin Scorsese on The Rolling Stones, Then George Harrison
Martin Scorsese is on a rock ‘n roll tear.
In 2006, he released No Direction Home, an acclaimed documentary on Bob Dylan (long after he filmed his first rockumentary, The Last Waltz in 1978). Next April, he’s set to release another documentary on The Rolling Stones, tentatively called Shine a Light. (Watch the already released trailer below.) And now he has just agreed to direct a film about George Harrison. The movie, being made with the support of Harrison’s family, will cover his time with the Beatles, his music and film career thereafter, and Harrison’s spiritual engagement with Eastern religion. Reportedly, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr may also contribute to the making of the film. It won’t be out for a few good years. In the meantime, check out our recent piece, The Beatles: Podcasts from Yesterday.
Classic Films on Google Video
Here’s a little something for the film buffs out there: TheListUniverse has posted a collection of ten classic films from the 1920s, 30s and 40s that you can watch on Google Video. Just click and watch. On the list, you’ll find Fritz Lang’s M, the 1922 German silent film Nosferatu, The Gold Rush with Charlie Chaplin, The General with Buster Keaton, and three films by the great Frank Capra — It Happened One Night (with Clark Gable), It’s a Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (both with Jimmy Stewart). Being one of our favorites, we have posted “Mr. Smith” below.
Note: For more great films, please see our collection of Free Movies Online, which features more than 120 films, many of them classics.
The War: New Ken Burns’ Documentary Starts Sunday
Mark this on your calendar. Ken Burns, who has produced some of America’s most acclaimed historical documentaries, will air his latest film starting Sunday night on PBS. The War is a seven-part, 15-hour documentary that “tells the story of the Second World War through the personal accounts of a handful of men and women from four quintessentially American towns. The series explores the most intimate human dimensions of the greatest cataclysm in history — a worldwide catastrophe that touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America — and demonstrates that in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives.”
You can get more information on the documentary from the PBS web site and this accompanying “Viewer’s Guide (PDF).” You may also want to watch this series of video outtakes from the film, plus (see below) the trailer that previews Burn’s ambitious project.
Bob Dylan Video Goodness
Mark October 1 on your calendar. That’s when Bob Dylan will release a new box set of his “greatest songs.” Now, cut over to the website designed to market the album, and you’ll find a couple notable pieces of video. First up, you can watch the video that accompanies Mark Ronson’s remixing of “Most Likely You Will Go Your Way (& I’ll Go Mine).” (Watch it on the website here or on YouTube here.) It’s apparently the first time Dylan has allowed a remix of any of his songs, and the song has been getting some airplay this week.
And then there is this video concept. Back in 1967, D. A. Pennebaker released Don’t Look Back, a well-known documentary that covered Dylan’s first tour of England in 1965. The opening segment of the film has Dylan standing in an alley, flipping through cards inscribed with lyrics from Subterranean Homesick Blues. (Also the beat poet Allen Ginsberg looms in the background. We’ve included the original video below.) Now, I’m mentioning this because the aforementioned website lets you re-work this video segment. Click here and you can re-write the cards that Dylan flips through, and then watch your edited version. It’s another form of re-mixing, I guess.
Lastly, I want to direct your attention to the trove of videos that Google put together back when Google Video was a real living, breathing thing. Created to coincide with the release of Dylan’s last studio album, Modern Times (2006), this collection lets you watch 11 videos in total, ranging from unreleased footage from D. A. Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back, to Dylan’s appearance on The Johnny Cash Show, to his performance of “Dignity” on MTV’s Unplugged. Good stuff, to be sure.
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