Big Vid Weekend (More Just Added!)

Too busy at the mo to tap out something about Iraq's demonstration elections (but will soon). So instead, I've asked the kids in the AV Dept. to roll out some entertaining video offerings. Because, as the scrolls teach us, watching is better than writing.

First, Bob Odenkirk delivers a moving tribute to America's most patriotic country singer.

Next, for you Mark Mathis fans (a growing online community), here are a few more examples of his weather hysteria to tide you over till his Best Of DVD hits stores.

On the opposite end of the weather spectrum, the anti-Mathis if you will, is this poor guy. I think this is a put on, but compelling viewing all the same.

And for those who miss the days of cigarette TV ads, here are a few classics from that happy, innocent time, including my fave, the Benson & Hedges ad from 1967. Conceived by Wells, Rich and Green, this spot was the first to highlight the negative aspects of a product, a radical shift from the Rosser Reeves approach (and spot
Kenneth Mars in a cameo). Plus, the Bossa Nova track is smooth and lovely. Yes, I remember this ad well. Isn't it sad that one of my more pleasurable childhood memories is this cigarette commercial? Oh, Capitalism, you are a cruel nanny . . .

Perhaps more as the weekend progresses . . .

UMM -- Here's some Eisenhower campaign ads from 1952 (via Rosser Reeves). Scroll down to the Korean war spots & tell me that Kerry didn't borrow Ike's language. If only JFK II took it as far as Ike ultimately did:

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence--economic, political, even spiritual--is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted, only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

OH: This is . . . I don't know what. But you must watch it now.

WARP FACTOR LOVE: And here's a guy enamored of "Star Trek," and it seems himself.