This is probably my favorite video ever. Some guy found it on a tape at the local Detroit PBS station, and it looks like a parody some PBS guys made back in the 80s to let off some steam. "Bob Vishiswa" is Tom Lamb a producer and on-air personality who retired in 2006. The brilliant Purvis Royal is Ted Talbert, a member of the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame known for his serious documentaries about "the struggles and successes of African Americans." I think this video shows that both men had a tremendous sense of humor.

Two things to note about this video:

1. "You can pistol whip a deer if you get close enough."

"Mmm. . hmmm." [the tame Belle Isle deer used to roam freely across the island]

2. I dress exactly like Bob Vishiswa. But I wish I had Purvis Royal's hat.


Happy hunting.

Previous Inspiration
 

This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

The Burley Boys from Jesse Brown on Vimeo.

I saw this video on BoingBoing last week (why yes, I do have a google alert set up for the term "feral children"). It answers the age-old question: what would happen if I turned off the television while my kids are zoned out in front of it? My favorite part comes right after the one kid yells, "KILL YOU!!!" It feels like sort of a contemporary homage to the Hubleys' Cockaboody, Moonbird, and Windy Day (but with 100 percent more Spongebob-inspired violence!).

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

I was trying to figure out over the weekend what new album I have listened to the most this year, and I'm pretty sure it's The Mountain by the Heartless Bastards. I do like the Matt & Kim record a lot (though it freaks me out to hear "Daylight" in that Bacardi commercial) and the new Dan Deacon was a cool surprise. My wife's clear favorite is the new Bishop Allen (she leaves it on the turntable permanently).

But there's something about the The Mountain that I keep coming back to. Obviously there's Erika Wennerstrom's voice, but I've loved that since I first heard All This Time. It has this life-hardened strength to it, like the voice of that woman from karaoke night at the union bar next to the the machine tool factory who gets up and sings a Stones song you thought you hated and you're transfixed by her and everything she must have seen in her life until the fat retarded kid who always sings "Yellow Submarine" gets up there next and ruins the spell (true story, sorry). But Wennerstrom is writing really strong, hard-rocking songs that stand on their own. I loved this one from the last record:

But The Mountain is different: more mature, more epic. Right now I guess I am partial to the heavy, rust belt quality of these songs that is pretty much the opposite of the other twee shit we've been listening to. I think the video at the top and this one (both from their show at Stubbs' earlier this year) show it better than I can explain:

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

I laughed harder at this than I have laughed at anything in a really long time:



I like how Willie's approach at 00:32 recalls both that scene in American Beauty where Chris Cooper kisses Kevin Spacey as well as the bathtub scene in The Shining. This is why God invented YouTube.

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

So despite the risk of getting flamed, I have to admit we've never really shown our kids anything by Disney. Juniper has seen parts of Wall-E and maybe the Jungle Book and probably a few Youtubed classic scenes here and there, but I've tried for the most part to avoid that whole universe. Then someone e-mailed me a link to this Youtube clip and all three of us sat entranced watching this clip the other day. Adorable baby Pegasi? Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony? Sexy Centaurs? How had I never seen this before? I went out an bought the Fantasia DVD and it's been a big hit.

We are in a really big Pegasus phase these days.

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

Someone sent me this video saying, "You'd better watch this, and pay attention at about 1:09 and 2:13." It's apparently a parody of T.I.'s "Whatever You Like" recorded in M.C. Serch's mom's basement. Then at 1:09, after talking about all the "wack" things he can do in Detroit because he's white, the Bloomfield-based rapper says, "I can be a stay-at-home dad." I was all, "Woah!"

That's pretty awesome.

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

A little more than a year ago I wrote this post about John and Faith Hubley's beautiful animated movies of conversations recorded among their children. During the past year, the Hubley's short "Cockaboody" has definitely become one of my daughter's favorites, and one of the best way for me to grab nine minutes when I really need it. She really loves---and identifies with---the voices of Emily and Georgia Hubley (the latter became the drummer for Yo La Tengo).

Three days ago, YouTube user Mcover1 posted another video that's very similar to Cockaboody, "Windy Day," that features Emily and Gerogia when they are a little older, and it's even more poignant and beautiful than Cockaboody, I think. We've been transfixed for days.

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.