Ceilings can be a trip...

Check out these incredible ceilings from around the world.  They are all stunning and beautiful, but the one that strains my belief is the green ceiling in the Royal Palace in Brussels.-- 1.6 million beetles!  Come on man!

Joe Cocker R.I.P.

God Dammit!

Key and Peele

Entertainment Weekly and lots of other publications have been touting the comedy team of Key and Peele, who have a program on Comedy Central.  I am just now going back and watching from season one forward.  Their show is a half an hour so it's perfect for times when you can't commit to something longer, or you just want something to watch before you hit the sack.  One of the guys, Jordan Peele, does a fabulous impression of President Obama.  In the episode I just finished watching, he does an Obama bit without his partner Keegan Key.  I swear it had me laffin' my ass off.  It is frickin' High-Larry-Us.  Check it out right here and see if you agree.  Oh, and start checking out their show.  These cats do outstanding work.

A wise take on music

“Aside from purely technical analysis, nothing can be said about music, except when it is bad; when it is good, one can only listen and be grateful.” — W.H. Auden

Skaters: Who's who...

I'm still enjoying repeated viewings of the Chet Faker video featuring three wonderful skaters.  I got to wondering who they were.  Here is what I found out:

So, just who are these amazing skaters? They are:

Candice Heiden, a well known Los Angeles roller girl who used to run the blog We RollerSkate(which is no longer viewable). She was also one of the skaters featured in Moby’s music video The Perfect Life (featuring vocals by Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips). A look at Heiden’s YouTube channel shows that she has made a few educational/instructional videos on roller skating as well.

April Corley, a professional roller skate performer who served as Roller Skate Choreographer Assistant during Madonna’s Confessions Tour, was one of the principle skate performers inMadonna’s “Sorry” music video and placed 2nd in World Class Pairs at the 1996 Artistic Roller Skating Nationals – Junior and Senior World Team Presentation.

Appelusa McGlynn, another professional roller skate performer, member of the Screen Actors Guild and an Artistic Roller Skating Coach at Northridge Skateland (1999-present) who has appeared as a skater in numerous commercials, television shows and films such as That 70’s Show, Glee and Gingerdead Man 3. She also coached for two distinct productions of Xanadu, one at Pepperdine University and one at The Met Theatre.

I kinda figured these ladies were not amateur light-weights.

New favorite video

I don't watch a ton of music videos but this one is my current favorite by miles.  Even though I'm an old codger, I find it to be erotic in a surprisingly refreshing way.  Enjoy.

Cassady letter - the plot thickens

It's no surprise that people are coming out of the woodwork to claim ownership of the Cassady letter mentioned in my previous post.  Lots of moola at stake, which brings out the greedy worst of all the players.  You can read about all this in today's SF Chronicle right here.  Be sure to check out the great photos on page two.  I love the picture of "the gang" outside Ferlinghetti's City Lights book store in October 1956.

Neal Cassady letter

Today's Chronicle has a front-page article on the famous "Joan Anderson Letter" written by Neal Cassady in San  Francisco to Jack Kerouac in New York.  The letter is said to have inspired Kerouac's approach to "On the Road."  The letter is to be auctioned off on December 17th with the bidding to start at around $300,000.  (Hold on while I check my checking account balance.)  The article is very interesting and you can read the whole thing right here.  Click bottom right corner of page 1 to move to page 2.  An interesting irony is that the "Joan Anderson Letter" was named for a woman Cassady describes in amorous detail, but who she is or was remains a mystery.  Note the link on page two to an interesting video from the Beat Museum regarding the letter.  The link is functional.