Scarface School Play

"I got a fudging junky for a wife"

     -- Little Tony Montana

My sister showed me this video earlier today with the belief that this was an actual school play.  Turns out this video was made by director Marc Klasfeld and all the children are professional actors.  Despite the Scarface School Play not being as real as many thought it is still an entertaining video worth viewing multiple times.

To find out more about Marc Klasfeld and the Scarface School Play check out this interview and visit the website for his production company Rockhard Films.

Six Presidents want Wall Street Reform

Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion from Will Ferrell

A Day in the Life of a Miniature New York City

This is just remarkable.

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.

The Morning Benders "Excuses"

Yours Truly Presents: The Morning Benders "Excuses" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

This is a great video for a great song by a band that I just heard of.  "Excuses" is the first single off of The Morning Benders new album Big Echo.  Big Echo was produced by Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear.  In addition to the greatness of this video, The Morning Benders are giving away a free download of "Exuses" on their website.   

Big Echo is out on March 9th.

The Black Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen may have been an actor from a previous generation, and he may no longer be the definition of cool, but that should in no way ignore the fact that he was and still is cool.  From The Thomas Crown Affair to The Great Escape he made a lasting impression on American cinema, but sometimes actors are lucky enough to be more than actors.  People do not what to be their characters, but instead want to emulate the person.  Steve McQueen had this quality.

I remember wanting to be the Black Steve McQueen because I thought that would be cool, yet strangely that title has officially been taken.  Considering the President’s high level of coolness from attending college basketball games courtside and being photographed by Terry Richardson in addition to being the first Black President, one would think that he may be the new definition of cool, but he cannot be the Black Steve McQueen.  (Being President should be better than being cool.)  Jay-Z can also not be the Black Steve McQueen.  The new Black Steve McQueen is actually Steve McQueen and he is very cool.

He is a British film director and artist and he is quite good at both.  His latest film Hunger, which will be released by the Criterion Collection on February 16^th, depicts Bobby Sands’ hunger strike while in Northern Ireland’s Maze prison.  Sands went on strike because his fellow IRA members, himself included, were not being treated as political prisoners.  Additionally, he also has two exhibits on display at the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York through March 6^th.   His current project Queen and Country is a series of commemorative stamps for the British Postal Service that depict each of the British soldiers that were killed in the War in Iraq.  He has also won the coveted Turner Prize and the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Hunger.

Steve McQueen may no longer be a movie star, but he is still pretty cool.

Steve McQueen

I don't walk around with a label saying: "Oh, I'm an artist." I don't have a studio, and I don't know many artists. I just do what I do.

              Steve McQueen

That's cool.

X Factor vs Rage Against the Machine

In the UK having the top-charting single during the week leading up to Christmas is a very big deal.  The Beatles did it four times, the Spice Girls did it three times, and Queen did it twice.  Being top of the charts come Christmas is very big indeed in the UK and only the best recieve this accolade, yet over the last three years winners of Simon Cowell's show X Factor, essentialy a British American Idol, has provided the top single for this week.  To make matters even worse, the winners of X Factor have topped the charts by covering a song from Kelly Clarkson, and singling a song from The Prince Of Egypt Soundtrack.  This should not be the best Britain can do, and the Brothers Morter feel the same way.

To voice their outrage Jon and Tracy Morter launched a campaign on Facebook to select Rage Against the Machine's song "Killing in the Name" as the top song over the Christmas week.  When Rage heard about it they through their support behind the cause and even agreed to have a free concert if they won.

Well the results are in and "Killing in the Name" is the top song over the Christmas week with 502,000 downloads compared to X Factor winner Joe McElderry's inspirational cover of Miley Cyrus' "The Climb" with 450,000 downloads.

Here is the video of Rage performing live on BBC Radio 5

For more info on the historic upset go HERE.

Kill Your Inner Demon

Everybody going to a club will know this person.  Brought to you by Spike Jonze, Kanye West, & red confetti 

WE WERE ONCE A FAIRYTALE BY SPIKE JONZE & KANYE WEST
by teleTOC

'Avatar' is Released

This movie is finally in the theaters, and I never thought I'd be excited to see it.  It is not that I thought it would be bad or even hoped that it would be bad, I just did not want to get sucked into the hype.  I hate setting expectations without much information, and for quite a while Avatar consisted of more rumors than information.  I had to wait a bit longer before judging, and now after getting more information I really want to see this movie.  The story sounds good and the technology looks amazing.  It just looks like a really entertaining movie despite all the hype that surrounds it.  Enjoy the trailer.

'Alice in Wonderland' Trailer

Keith Olbermann's Health Care Special Comment

Everyone needs to see this.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Unparliamentary Language

Paul Gogarty, a member of Ireland's Green Party, does not feel that Ireland's Labour Party is taking the country in the right direction.  Thus he decided to let the Labour Party's Chief Whip know about his frustration during a session of the Dáil Éireann, that is what Ireland calls its parliament.  Paul Gogarty is very frustrated and sincere.

This video is NSFW and happened on C-SPAN.  What is the chance of that happening.

A Great Perspective on the Tiger Woods Affair

Saturday Night Live yesterday had a great skit to open the show that focused on how the news media continues to report about Tiger Woods' affairs, yet pays little to no attention to the marital indiscretions of our public officials, in particular Mark Sanford, John Ensign, and John Edwards.  What SNL is saying in this skit is correct, and at last someone is finally saying it.  The news media needs to care more about the affairs of those who decide to lead public lives, instead of those who elect to have private lives.  Being elected by the public, having your salary given to you by the public, and having your job being devoted to the public makes your life a public one, and thus it should be under more scrutiny than a private citizens' regardless of their celebrity.  When citizens participate in their democracy they should be interested to found out if public officials are engaging in bribery or misuse of the publics funds to see their mistresses.  However, we should not have an opinion on Tiger Woods, since ideally we would not care to know.

Phoenix Performing On The Streets of Paris

We all have La Blogotheque to thank for producing these three fantastic videos, and Pigeons and Planes for posting them.

Phoenix - 1901 - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Phoenix - Lizstomania / One time too many - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Phoenix - Long distance call - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Tim Burton's Short FIlm "Vincent"

For some reason Tim Burton has been fascinating me lately.  Check out this short narrated by Vincent Price.  I like it.

Grizzly Bear "Two Weeks" Music Video Battle Royal

Good morning.  As many of you who follow The Knightly News know, I am a big fan of Grizzly Bear.  I like their music, but additionally I feel they make superb music videos.  However, the fans of Grizzly Bear also make great Grizzly Bear music videos.  When it comes to "Two Weeks" I am having a hard time deciding which video I like the best.  Your feedback will be much appreciated.  The first video will be the official one, and the following two will be from the fans.  Let me know which ones you like the best.

Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks" Official Video

Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks from Suspicious Sounds on Vimeo.

Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks" by fan Gabe Askew

Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.

Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks" and The Red Balloon

Grizzly Bear / Two Weeks from Minimaxwell on Vimeo.