Urban Kook
Bryan Hiott's Podcast Ravings On Art, Politics and Pop Culture
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Andy Warhol Being Laconic
More artists today should practice being laconic. Andy Warhol adopted this stategy and demonstrated a complete mastery of the media in this exchange about his work (Brillo Boxes made of wood and painted to resemble the consumer brand in supermarkets). He said little (yet spoke volumnes); …
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Real Acne Faith Healer
Having grown up in the South, where pompador-wearing, polyester-clad, evangelists are believed to be conduits of God's healing power, I couldn't help laughing at this "Real Acne Faith Healer," who actually seems to get it right. If you have acne, don't look to God for the cure...buy …
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In Ohio On Some Steps
A few months ago, while listening to Tartanpodcast by Mark Hunter, I heard a track called "In Ohio On Some Steps," by the indie band Limbeck.I had just driven across Ohio for the first time to visit two friends from Kenyon College. It rained most of the way. There was something abou …
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Best Political Commercial Ever
This political commercial on behalf of the Barak Obama campaign is a great critique of what's wrong (and has been wrong for a generation) with Democratic Presidential politics in this country - front loaded primaries, "an inevitable nominee" (think Mondale, Dukakis...now Hillary) and …
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Dark Ambient
I came across Dark Ambient this week - an excellent ambient music podcast by Jim Butler that he launched in December 2006 and recently got picked up by PodShow. I am a fan of this kind of music and subscribed to the feed. Dark Ambient doesn't adhere to any sort of regular publication sch …
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New York City Subway Saxaphone Player
One of the random things that makes New York City great, an abundance of musicians - many of them very good - who play on the subway platforms every day. Many times I take them for granted; but just as often I stop and listen...and contribute. I captured the sound with a Micromemo mp3 recorder at …
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JFK in Dallas
I recently took a trip to Dallas, Texas, a city I have studiously avoided all my life. There are many reasons why I was never interested in visiting Dallas. Here are a few: fear of big hair, lack of football knowledge, fundamentalist preachers and right-wing lunatics. But my wife has family in D …
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Rev. Vince Anderson - "Dear Lunatics"
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Maya Deren - Meshes of the Afternoon (Part II)
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Maya Deren - Meshes of the Afternoon (Part I)
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Numa Numa Revisited - Over 10,000,000 Views!!!
One day in 2005, Gary Brolsma was just goofing off at home with his video camera, when he decided to post his lip synch footage to "Numa Numa" on the website Newgrounds.com. His video became an instant hit and an internet sensation that has been viewed by over 10,000,000 people world …
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Star Wars Edition of Monty Python - Black Knight Scene
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Solstice
This is a "guitar solo" that I composed on an M-Audio Keystation 49e. I will repeat my disclaimer of having more time on my hands than musical ability. -- Urban Kook
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False Hope of Idealists
When confronted with a sort of blissful, unthinking idealism that assumes there will be easy solutions to the most ancient and complex cultural hostilities on the planet, I have a distinctly visceral impulse. Daniel Clowes captured such a moment perfectly in this frame from Twentieth Century E …
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Solstice (Guitar Solo)
This is a "guitar solo" that I composed on an M-Audio Keystation 49e. I will repeat my disclaimer of having more time on my hands than musical ability. -- Urban Kook
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Lullaby For Lawyers
"Lullaby for Lawyers" was written by Steve Newman and released on his 2005 album Old Country. Putting a lawyer in his place:"You seem to have more than the average share of intelligence for a man of your background," sneered the lawyer at a witness on the …
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Modern Cavemen
A group of guys in South Carolina gather around a bonfire on New Year's Eve, discussing a movie about the Ice Age and listening to the radio. Some of their children are seen and heard as they play in the vacinity. A solitary figure watches the events from a kitchen window. And, yes, in case your'r …
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Redneck Alarm Clock
If you ever had to wake your friend up with a string of firecrackers...you just might be a redneck. The title of this YouTube video is acutally "How To Wake Up Your Drunk Friend."
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Existential Wrestlemania XXV
On the card at Existential Wrestlemania XXV's "Symposium of Destruction" are Jean Paul "The Void" Sartre, "Absurd" Albert Camus, Fried "Richter Scale" Nietzsche and "Sordid" Soren Kierkegaard. This video was produced by the LCD Sketch Comedy Show at …
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William Eggleston in the Real World
I watched the Michael Almereyda film William Eggleston in the Real World last weekend. I had seen it at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City when it was first released in 2005. This documentary follows the legendary Memphis photographer during his shooting expeditions and "pri …
Urban Kook
