YouTube dumps Singing in the Rain

Drat! So I was on my laptop last night, checking in with the office before back-to-school night for my kids, and one of them (the kids, that is) asks to see "Make 'Em Laugh" -- from "Singing in the Rain," about which I blogged earlier this month. I flip over to YouTube, click on "Favorites," and notice -- many of my favorites have been removed! They've apparently been taken off of YouTube "due to terms of use violation."

Seriously -- is anyone who truly loves the movie going to skip buying it in favor of watching herky-jerky clips on YouTube? It was a fast, alternate way to watch this stuff, that couldn't possibly impact sales of one of the greatest musicals ever; in fact, watching stuff on Youtube with the kids is how I discovered that they like it to begin with -- Sound of Music, Marx Bros, Wizard of Oz, Singing in the Rain... all tried out first on YouTube.

Losing the ability to see if the kids like it first, before buying, is disappointing. I guess it's back to the library's poorly-stocked video section...

NASA Gives Up on Reusable Spacecraft

So NASA has decided to throw in the towel on reusable spaceships, apparently disheartened enough by some Space Shuttel failures to return to the old rocket-and-capsule model. Not sure what they're thinking, since the idea of having to build so much extra hardware and then ditch it seems odd to me. Why not, instead, fix the problems with the shuttles or build better shuttles?

More (courtesy Yahoo)

Cory Doctorow at USC

I saw Cory Doctorow today -- he was lecturing at the Annenberg School as part of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy. Fascinating guy, who is a great writer (www.craphound.com) and a great speaker! I have a shot of him autographing my copy of "Someone Come to Town, Someone Leaves Town" -- but I'm maintaining my photographic anonymity, so you're not going to see that one. I sat next to Angel City Blues, who composed her blog entry while we sat there.

Topics included urinary tract infections, railroad companies vs. oat bag manufacturers, and the reason so many alchemists died of mercury poisoning. (Also: technology and intellectual property rights.)

DIY Iron Man

Iron Man
Originally uploaded by Isaac B2.

Now this is geek dedication! I was at the Ventura County Fair yesterday and photographed a prize-winning entry featuring homemade superheroes! Click the pic to see the full Flickr set.

Honey, when you're done talking to your sister on the phone...

When you're done talking about the horrific dinner she had and the sex and surgery that were discussed at that dinner, please check out this video of a Norweigian band and their cover of Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart"; their percussion consists of common household appliances that they beat with blunt objects. It's awesome!

Click me!

[Thanks, BoingBoing!]

Freedom of Speech Tour

There are two kinds of artists left: those who endorse Pepsi and those who simply won’t.
Annie Lennox, singer

On the Mark and I saw Crosby Stills Nash & Young’s Freedom of Speech show at the Hollywood Bowl last night -- Terrific!! The show opened with “Flags of Freedom” and the concert continued for more than three hours including an intermission.

Set 1
Flags of Freedom
Wooden Ships
Long Time Gone
Military Madness
Wounded World
After The Garden
Living With War
The Restless Consumer
Shock and Awe
They Want It All
Feed The People
Immigration Man
Families

Set 2
Helplessly Hoping
Our House
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Milky Way Tonight
Guinnevere
Carry Me
Treetop Flyer
Roger And Out
Southbound Train
Old Man Trouble
Teach Your Children
Southern Cross
Find the Cost of Freedom
Let's Impeach the President (which was basically a sing along with the lyrics on the large screens; see lyrics below)
Ohio
For What it's Worth
Rocking in the Free World

Let's Impeach the President for Lying
Let's impeach the president for lying
And leading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door

He's the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
And bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to war

Let¹s impeach the president for spying
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephones

What if Al Qaeda blew up the levees
Would New Orleans have been safer that way
Sheltered by our government¹s protection
Or was someone just not home that day?

Let's impeach the president
For hijacking our religion and using it to get elected
Dividing our country into colors
And still leaving black people neglected

Thank god he¹s racking down on steroids
Since he sold his old baseball team
There's lot of people looking at big trouble
But of course the president is clean

Thank God