462. Coupling

461. You've Got a Friend in Me

Listen here, and reflect on how far computer animation has come since 1995.

460. The Baptism Scene from The Godfather

Maybe don't watch this scene unless you've seen the movie.

459. Rosie the Riveter

 

Shoot. I should have done this one on International Women's Day. Well, there's always next year.

458. You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)

I really don't know what to say about this one except: You know my name. (Look up the number.)

457. The Myth of Tantalus

The painting's nice, but it's only here as an illustration in case you forgot what Tantalus's deal was. In life, he chopped up his own son and served him to the gods. As punishment, he eternally stands in a pool of water with fruit hanging above his head, but when he reaches up to eat, the fruit recedes. When he reaches down, the water recedes.

456. The Library of Babel

A short story about a library that contains every possible book.

455. Still Life With Woodpecker

With apologies to Ellen, who will dislike this choice. The book does have some racist anti-redhead tendencies, but those shouldn't be taken too seriously.

454. Kind of Blue

Here's a song off the album.

453. The Matryoshka Doll

Another one of those things that's not as old as I thought it was. Matryoshka dolls seem to have been invented in the 1890s.

452. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

Read it here.

451. The Ant and the Grasshopper

Beware of winter before it comes.

450. In Event of Moon Disaster

The speech that Nixon was going to give in case Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were stranded on the surface of the moon. It always makes me cry.

449. Great Zimbabwe

Because I love ruins and Africa as a whole has been sorely underrepresented in this blog.

448. Whiskey in the Jar

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

447. Waltzing Matilda

The lyrics of Waltzing Matilda are actually rather morbid, but it's hard to tell because they're couched in late 19th century Australian slang.

From the Wikipedia article: "The song narrates the story of an itinerant worker, or 'swagman', making a drink of tea at a bush camp and capturing a sheep to eat. When the sheep's owner arrives with three police officers to arrest the worker for the theft, the worker commits suicide by drowning himself in the nearby watering hole and then goes on to haunt the site."

446. Ram's Head White Hollyhock and Little Hills

445. My Favorite Things (the jazz version)

This version is less evocative of Austrian nannies.

444. My Favorite Things (the original)

Julie Andrews has quite a voice. Also, now that I have some experience with Schnitzel with noodles, it's really making me want some.

443. Myst

Fun fact: "Mist" is German for "crap". I can only speculate on how that affected Myst's popularity in Germany.

442. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

Yes, that is a very young William Shatner being scared by a gremlin that looks like a man in a very cheap 1950s plastic mask.

441. JFK Jr. Salutes His Father

440. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

I loved the idea, but found the execution a little lacking. Still better than that scene in Ferris Bueller.

439. Mittwoch aus Licht

I love a good crazy idea. In this case, an opera including a movement in which four string quartets play their pieces from four separate helicopters. Also, the page for this opera has the strangest collection of images I've ever seen on a single Wikipedia page.

438. One Tin Soldier (the song)

Again, we're talking about the song, not these six toy soldiers. They're probably not even tin.

437. Raiders of the Lost Ark

436. The Moai Statues

435. Base Details

IF I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath,
I’d live with scarlet Majors at the Base,
And speed glum heroes up the line to death.
You’d see me with my puffy petulant face,
Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel,	5
Reading the Roll of Honour. ‘Poor young chap,’
I’d say—‘I used to know his father well;
Yes, we’ve lost heavily in this last scrap.’
And when the war is done and youth stone dead,
I’d toddle safely home and die—in bed.	10

The British really mastered the art of scathing war poetry.

434. The Great Escape (the movie)

The book is also excellent, by the way.

433. Theme from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

You definitely know the tune. Did you realize each of the three characters has his own version of the theme? Listen for one version on flute, one on ocarina, and one screamed.

432. The Legend of the Jackalope

The jackalope itself is a rather unimaginative idea, as mythical creatures go. What really sells it for me is the tongue-in-cheek spirit of the legend. It's something an Old West cowboy might tell to a hapless greenhorn for a laugh.