What interesting YouTube (etc.) clips/videos have you seen recently?

Timcito · August 2023

A few nights ago, I watched the TV production from 1975, The Naked Civil Servant, about the life of Quentin Crisp and starring the amazing John Hurt. I remember seeing a trailer of this at my girlfriend's house shortly before it was first aired. I was very interested in seeing it, although that never happened, and these were the days when if you didn't catch something when it was on, well, you didn't see it.

I never realized just how groundbreaking the production was at the time. In an interview some years later, Hurt recounted how many within the acting profession had warned him against taking the part, saying that it might connect him with homosexuality and harm his career. How times change! Interesting also that a straight actor was chosen to play a gay character. I wonder if today some would be offended by this on the grounds that the casting had favoured heteronormativity.

Anyway, I liked it - well, it did have John Hurt in it, after all! But what a story, and what an example of guts Crisp demonstrated in being so unashamedly gay in such an unsympathetic age.

Chalky · August 2023

I liked the documentary with Crisp himself. He was showing the cameraman around his tiny apartment and commented something like "Some advice to those who like me never dust. After two years the dust doesn't get any worse".

Hattigol · August 2023

Timcito said:

A few nights ago, I watched the TV production from 1975, The Naked Civil Servant, about the life of Quentin Crisp and starring the amazing John Hurt. I remember seeing a trailer of this at my girlfriend's house shortly before it was first aired. I was very interested in seeing it, although that never happened, and these were the days when if you didn't catch something when it was on, well, you didn't see it.

I never realized just how groundbreaking the production was at the time. In an interview some years later, Hurt recounted how many within the acting profession had warned him against taking the part, saying that it might connect him with homosexuality and harm his career. How times change! Interesting also that a straight actor was chosen to play a gay character. I wonder if today some would be offended by this on the grounds that the casting had favoured heteronormativity.

Anyway, I liked it - well, it did have John Hurt in it, after all! But what a story, and what an example of guts Crisp demonstrated in being so unashamedly gay in such an unsympathetic age.

In fairness, I'm not sure there were many, if any (?), openly gay actors back then.

Amazing how times change.

Timcito · August 2023

Chalky said:

I liked the documentary with Crisp himself. He was showing the cameraman around his tiny apartment and commented something like "Some advice to those who like me never dust. After two years the dust doesn't get any worse".

Yes, I think I remember some quote that he had never cleaned a single apartment in his life.

Timcito · August 2023

Hattigol said:
In fairness, I'm not sure there were many, if any (?), openly gay actors back then.

Amazing how times change.

I'm sure you're right, and it is amazing, as you say.

Curious that we did have gay performers that everyone knew were gay, but no one actually said so openly: Larry Grayson, John Inman, and Danny La Rue to name but three.

And from a young age, I never had anything against anyone being gay, yet I knew nobody that told me or anyone I knew that they were gay. Two of my friends from back then, one a close one, I'm sure were and are closet gays, or at least bisexual. They both eventually got married. I sometimes wonder how their marriages turned out.

RandallFlagg · August 2023

Heinz Beans made from US imported haricot beans, cooked in the tin, made in Wigan

Who knew?

hollywoodrox · August 2023

On those beans it says it takes 2 hours to complete the proces & they produce about 3 million a day

Chalky · August 2023

Timcito said:

Hattigol said:
In fairness, I'm not sure there were many, if any (?), openly gay actors back then.

Amazing how times change.

I'm sure you're right, and it is amazing, as you say.

Curious that we did have gay performers that everyone knew were gay, but no one actually said so openly: Larry Grayson, John Inman, and Danny La Rue to name but three.

And from a young age, I never had anything against anyone being gay, yet I knew nobody that told me or anyone I knew that they were gay. Two of my friends from back then, one a close one, I'm sure were and are closet gays, or at least bisexual. They both eventually got married. I sometimes wonder how their marriages turned out.

More accurately, no one said publicly. Plenty of gays in the entertainment world, many of them married and fathering children. Quite openly in the theatre and music business, relatively discrete in the TV and movie business.

Timcito · August 2023

Chalky said:
More accurately, no one said publicly. Plenty of gays in the entertainment world, many of them married and fathering children. Quite openly in the theatre and music business, relatively discrete in the TV and movie business.

On this subject, this is an interesting video: "The History of Gay Hollywood"

Emp_Fab · August 2023

Timcito said:

Hattigol said:
In fairness, I'm not sure there were many, if any (?), openly gay actors back then.

Amazing how times change.

I'm sure you're right, and it is amazing, as you say.

Curious that we did have gay performers that everyone knew were gay, but no one actually said so openly: Larry Grayson, John Inman, and Danny La Rue to name but three.

And from a young age, I never had anything against anyone being gay, yet I knew nobody that told me or anyone I knew that they were gay. Two of my friends from back then, one a close one, I'm sure were and are closet gays, or at least bisexual. They both eventually got married. I sometimes wonder how their marriages turned out.

To each other?

Philly_Q · August 2023

Timcito said:

Chalky said:

I liked the documentary with Crisp himself. He was showing the cameraman around his tiny apartment and commented something like "Some advice to those who like me never dust. After two years the dust doesn't get any worse".

Yes, I think I remember some quote that he had never cleaned a single apartment in his life.

That was the main thing I took away from the whole story, to be honest.

Timcito · August 2023

Emp_Fab said:

Timcito said:

Hattigol said:
In fairness, I'm not sure there were many, if any (?), openly gay actors back then.

Amazing how times change.

I'm sure you're right, and it is amazing, as you say.

Curious that we did have gay performers that everyone knew were gay, but no one actually said so openly: Larry Grayson, John Inman, and Danny La Rue to name but three.

And from a young age, I never had anything against anyone being gay, yet I knew nobody that told me or anyone I knew that they were gay. Two of my friends from back then, one a close one, I'm sure were and are closet gays, or at least bisexual. They both eventually got married. I sometimes wonder how their marriages turned out.

To each other?

Oh, you

Timcito · August 2023

Philly_Q said:

Timcito said:

Chalky said:

I liked the documentary with Crisp himself. He was showing the cameraman around his tiny apartment and commented something like "Some advice to those who like me never dust. After two years the dust doesn't get any worse".

Yes, I think I remember some quote that he had never cleaned a single apartment in his life.

That was the main thing I took away from the whole story, to be honest.

Well, there's no accounting for priorities.

Chalky · August 2023

Interview with Andy Fairweather Low

fretmeister · August 2023

I keep watching “The Hoof GP”, a Scottish hoof trimmer, working on farms looking after cows feet.

I find it fascinating and I now know a lot more about the construction and health of cow feet.

francer · August 2023

Not seen this personally yet, but it’s been highly recommended to me by a mate.
https://youtu.be/_DxLtuK3pD4

Timcito · August 2023

I've been revisiting some of the old comedians I knew from my childhood and teen years: Morecambe and Wise, Mike Yarwood, the Two Ronnies.

One thing that's quite striking about these acts in retrospect is just how smutty most of them were. This is surprising in that they hailed from my parents' generation, which was pre-'permissive,' relatively conservative, and preoccupied with family values.

Morecambe and Wise, in particular, seemed to rely heavily on references to sex, sexual deviance, and sexual body parts: "Eric, since it's Christmas, will you pull my cracker?"; "Ern's lost his Nanky-Poo"; Ern: "I've just been perusing my synopsis." Eric: "Well, a man needs a hobby," and on and on. Curious how some people found the new 'alternative' humour of the Pythons, Ben Elton, Not the 9 O'clock News, etc. offensive. In terms of sexual innuendo, the new acts were much milder.

roberty · August 2023

Someone I know made this about the Nakono SunPlaza venue in Tokyo, scheduled for demolition. The editing is next level, I was quite shocked at how good it is

https://youtu.be/1EvyG22xXsg

I like videos on music theory and this one on the whole tone scale popped up earlier

https://youtu.be/zqDKBKIguuo

It led me to this performance of Debussy's Voiles which is just stunning

https://youtu.be/1iUbZUBhbxE

Blueingreen · August 2023

Timcito said:

A few nights ago, I watched the TV production from 1975, The Naked Civil Servant, about the life of Quentin Crisp and starring the amazing John Hurt. I remember seeing a trailer of this at my girlfriend's house shortly before it was first aired. I was very interested in seeing it, although that never happened, and these were the days when if you didn't catch something when it was on, well, you didn't see it.

I never realized just how groundbreaking the production was at the time. In an interview some years later, Hurt recounted how many within the acting profession had warned him against taking the part, saying that it might connect him with homosexuality and harm his career. How times change! Interesting also that a straight actor was chosen to play a gay character. I wonder if today some would be offended by this on the grounds that the casting had favoured heteronormativity.

Anyway, I liked it - well, it did have John Hurt in it, after all! But what a story, and what an example of guts Crisp demonstrated in being so unashamedly gay in such an unsympathetic age.

It’s a long time since I’ve seen it but it was fascinating at the time. If you wanted more detail you could go back to the autobiography which was very well written. Of course Sting also wrote “An Englishman in New York, possibly his best post-Police song, about Crisp.

BahHumbug · August 2023

https://youtu.be/RhtiDYLbfF4

I’ll get my coat

boogieman · August 2023

Diana Bastet. A glorious watch.

https://youtu.be/6oOU9BWToC4?si=7oT-q-YmsdvhwNgO

Chalky · August 2023

Thunderbirds

RandallFlagg · August 2023

francer said:

Not seen this personally yet, but it’s been highly recommended to me by a mate.
https://youtu.be/_DxLtuK3pD4

They are like a Yorkshire Spinal Tap

Emp_Fab · October 2023

Mark Rober's amazing video on drone aircraft making medical deliveries...

stimpsonslostson · October 2023

I've been watching lots of drum videos.
I don't drum at all and am fascinated by the skill and inventiveness of these musicians.

Domino drumming to slipknot.

This guy is unreal

Timcito · October 2023

I've been watching some old clips of a few comedians, namely Mike Yarwood, Jack Dee, and Jimmy Carr.

I've lived in the US for the past 20 years, and I didn't even know who Jimmy Carr was until a month or so ago. Curious - the guy seems genuinely gifted at off-the-cuff repartee with the audience, and he also has quite an endearing mixture of innocence and pushing the limits in his stage persona.

One thing I did wonder, though. Is whether his act has had to be cleaned up for our more hypersensitive world of 2023. The most recent clip I've seen is 2013, and he was poking fun at gays, the disabled, women, pedophilia, national stereotypes, you name it. The only taboo he seemed to respect was that of race.

So, is he still popular, or has that brand of joking about risque subjects become unacceptable? If he had continued in the same vein today, I would imagine he would be including a whole bunch of trans jokes, but I can't see too many mainstream comedians doing that.

Philly_Q · October 2023

^^ @Timcito On the contrary, Jimmy Carr did a Netflix show last year called His Dark Material, where he set out to be as controversial and edgy as possible. Although having said that, he kept warning that he was about to say something that might offend, and a couple of times he even explained the rationale behind the jokes, that they weren't perhaps quite what they seemed on first impression.

As for trans jokes... another Netflix special, Ricky Gervais's SuperNature. Again though, he took pains to sort of explain himself... some people took offence, some didn't. Of course some news websites blew it up, as they did with the Carr story.

Philly_Q · October 2023

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What interesting YouTube (etc.) clips/videos have you seen recently?

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