Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Metapost: We Now Sign Off For the Broadcast Year.

Due to a variety of circumstances (mostly illness-related), DesukoTube is forced to start its winter break a few days early. Thanks for reading in 2007, and we'll be back right after the New Year with some more great clips!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Bollywood Monday: Everybody Was Kung-Fu Dancing.

To the uninitiated, Bollywood films can look like a riotous bundle of color, cheesiness and reckless abandon. Of course, that is how the '70s look, too. Which is why this clip makes so little, and yet so very much, sense.

It's from the 1976 film "Adalat" and features a novelty song by Carl Douglas called "Dance the Kung Fu." Douglas was a one-hit wonder in that same year with the hugely popular "Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting." This song was the justly-forgotten follow-up, which apparently struck a nerve in India what it didn't the U.S., because it wound up in this movie. Talk about an insane cultural collision. Add on all the "Sabotage"-worthy hair/glasses/mustache combos on display here and you get the kind of magic that makes your head explode.



[via PCL LinkDump.]

Friday, December 14, 2007

Jukebox Friday: Swingin' '60s.

I've got some groovy '60s clips to share with you all!

First, who needs MTV when you've got "Hullabaloo"? Here's the Animals performing "It's My Life" on the show in 1965:


From the Rolling Stones' 1968 film "Rock 'n' Roll Circus," it's Marianne Faithfull crooning "Something Better":


Brigitte Bardot gets jazzy with "C'est Rigolo" for French television:


Keeping it in French, here's "Laisse Tomber les Filles" by France Gall:


Finally, it's the seriously rocking "Have I the Right?" by Joe Meek-produced group the Honeycombs, performing on "Pop Gear":

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Why They Strike.

The demands of striking Writers Guild of America members, presented in fairly simple terms:



Meanwhile, let us not forget the real victims here -- the moguls who are getting richer at a slightly slower rate than they'd like:

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

"A Beautiful Shooting Star Going Across the Sky."

Col. Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency helpfully explains how astronauts go to the bathroom in outer space. Buckle up your toilet seat belts, boys and girls, this can get a little messy:

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Dammit Toshiba, Where Was This in 1981 When I Needed It?

Man, if I had one of these as a kid, I would've gone crazy with it. Instead I just made due with holding a boombox up to the TV set.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Bollywood Monday: Aaja Nachle.

We've seen lots of old clips here for Bollywood Monday, so here's something new. It's "Aaja Nachle," which is still in theaters in India, and even a few here in the U.S. if you look hard enough. It also marks the return of megastar Madhuri Dixit to the big screen after a lengthy absense (by Bollywood standards). She plays a dance instructor in New York who returns home to her small Indian village to rebuild a beloved arts center.

Here's the trailer:


And the theme song: