Your Daily Awesome

via Channel 53

via WFMU

A conversation with Andy Warhol, contacted through a psychic with mediumistic abilities via webchat

link
Oliver Laric, previously on YDA

and Arial, which is extremely fishy. Sajak, meanwhile, gives us nothing.

via Your Monkey Called

via TSOYA
Previously on Your Daily Awesome (from my first week of blogging)

Sherman’s March is a wonderful documentary from 1986 that traces the creative and romantic path of filmmaker Ross McElwee as he attempts to make a movie about General Sherman’s march through Atlanta. But all these new flames and old flings keep showing up, and they mix with his own self-doubts about his project, and thankfully, he never stops rolling camera. Here are two women from the movie who represent very distinct and recognizable southern archetypes, even though McElwee tenderly depicts them as wholly unique:

This video is a little long (a whopping 18 minutes!), but I found it fascinating. Savage-Rumbaugh is a leading expert on bonobos, a Congolese ape that she has worked with for years. In this video, she demonstrates their understanding of the English language, plus their ability to use tools (they start fires with lighters and extinguish them with jugs of water), plus their capacity to, well, to play Pac Man.

via Nerdcore

Last year, I ran an idea by my editor for a short feature: I proposed listening to a single song (I hadn’t decided which yet) nonstop, for a good length of time—an entire waking day, for instance—and write about the experience. Keeping track of the thoughts that arose throughout the repetitious affair—frustrations, insights into the song, maddening lunacy, etc.—and shaping it into a little essay. My pitch might have been a little off, because it was met with middling enthusiasm, so I promptly forgot about it and moved on with life. But it turns out that Steve Delahoyde of the brilliant Coudal Partners had a very similar idea, and made a short film about it. He used his weekly drive from Iowa City to Chicago to submit himself to an endless loop of Abba’s “Dancing Queen.” The film’s really fun, and after watching it, I’m glad Delahoyde took the bullet and subjected himself to this instead of me. Watch the film here.

via Mental Floss

via WFMU

This week I had the great pleasure of seeing New York-via-Seattle artist Reggie Watts perform here in Portland. (I liked his show so much that I scrapped my plans for the following night and caught him twice.) A classically trained musician, a brilliant improv artist, a stand-up comedian (of sorts), and an astounding beatboxer and vocalist, Watts defies any easy categorization, and was truly unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. This clip of a fairly recent performance from Seattle hardly scratches the surface of his bizarre, hilarious beauty, but it gives a bit of an idea of his range. (Be sure to stick with the video at least until the 2:00 mark.)

via TSOYA

Your narrator there was Jim White, an incredible singer/songwriter from Pensacola

It’s Christmas in August, kids! The good folks at Metafliter dug up an ungodly amount of YouTube goodness from my favorite artist ever.*

Here’s one to get started, in which he sends a clear message to his rival, Memphis wrestling legend Jerry Lawler.

From the first episode of SNL
The greatest Elvis impersonation
Andy on the Dating Game
Latka as ultra-slick Vic Ferrari
Great segment from his 1979 TV special
The Has-Been Corner
The fourth wall comes tumbling down on live TV
He apologizes and finds Christ
This is billed as his interpretation of Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot, but I think some YouTube user just made that up
He meets David Boner
Congas on Carson
Helping Southern wrestling fans
“I’m from Hollywood.”
Serenading Memphis
Vs. Jerry Lawler on Letterman
Memphis tagteam
Tony Clifton on the Dinah Shore Show
Clifton meets the Muppets
Fantastic Entertainment Tonight-style segment about Tony Clifton
Together with Rodney
Interview with his ex, Elayne Boosler

*One day, just to even the scales, I’ll do a massive tribute to David Byrne, my other favorite artist.