Sometimes nothin' is a real cool hand

I love the internet.  This song, this movie, this composer (Lalo Schifrin) popped into my head this morning and here it all is, on YouTube.  Hot dang.  Back in the olden days you could look for weeks to get all this information and content and maybe not even be successful.  This scene is from one of my favorite "the main character is actually representative of Christ" works of art ever; the movie Cool Hand Luke, starring Paul Newman, who was nominated for an Oscar for this role.  George Kennedy was nominated and actually won the Oscar for supporting actor.  For more information on the film, click here. 

For the most famous soundbite from the film, click here.

Big smile

For some reason this picture put a big smile on my mug.  Maybe it's because it is such awesome evidence that America can change for the better.  Lookit these guys, supahstars, thrilled to be in each other's company and evidently respecting the hell outta each other.  God bless America.

The Dark Night of the Hummingbird

I came across this today while searching the depths of my external hard drive for something else.  I haven't seen a hummingbird yet this spring, but it's just a matter of days until their huge buzz starts startling.

The Dark Night of the Hummingbird

by Diane Ackerman

A lot of hummingbirds die in their sleep,
dreaming of nectar-sweet funnels they sipped.
Moth-light, they swiveled at succulent
blooms, all flash and ripple--like sunset,
but delicate, probing, excitable,
their wings a soft fury of iridescence,
their hearts beating like a tiny drumroll
fourteen hundred times a minute,
their W-shaped tongues, drawing nectar
down each groove, whispering: wheels within wheels.
By day, hovering hard, they fly nowhere
at speed, swilling energy. But to refuel,
they must eat, and to eat they must hover,
burning more air than a sprinting impala.

So, in the dark night of the hummingbird,
while lilies lather sweetly in the rain,
the hummingbird rests near collapse,
its quick pulse halved, its rugged breath shallow,
its W-shaped tongue, & bright as Cassiopeia,
now mumbling words like wistful and wan.
The world at once drug, anthem, bright lagoon,
where its heart knew all the Morse codes
for rapture, pales into a senseless twilight.
It can't store enough fuel to last the night
and hoist it from its well of dreams
to first light trembling on wet fuchsia,
nor break the hard promise life always keeps.
A lot of hummingbirds die in their sleep.

Columbine

It's the 10th anniversary of the Columbine shootings today, a tragedy that moved me to create several pieces of art-commentary over those years. Two of them can be seen below, more of them can be seen here: http://www.funism.com/art/youth_culture.html.

The bandwagon

Okay, this guy's work owns the blogosphere, but I just can't help posting it, it's that cool. Photoshopographer Peter Funch, via every other blog out there, click here to view more.

So broken

Perhaps you know the Leonard Cohen lyric from "Suzanne": "And you know that she's half crazy/ But that's why you want to be there".  If you're a guy who was ever attracted to a nutty girl: a) that lyric resonates with you, and b) you'll love Bjork in this really beautiful song:

Dunno Y I do . . .

. . . but I love this so much.  Via Swissmiss:

Dancing robots are so cool

This Beck video for "Hell yes" is a few years old by now, but it popped up in my head this afternoon and so I'm sharing it with you now.  Enjoy.