"...As water freezes in the upper atmosphere, small, flat, six-sided, ice crystals might be formed. As these crystals flutter to the ground, much time is spent with their faces flat, parallel to the ground. An observer may pass through the same plane as many of the falling ice crystals near sunrise or sunset. During this alignment, each crystal can act like a miniature lens, refracting sunlight into our view and creating phenomena like parhelia, the technical term for sundogs.
The above image was taken during early 2006 February near Helsinki, Finland with a quickly deployed cellular camera phone. Visible in the image center is the Sun, while two bright sundogs glow prominently from both the left and the right. Also visible is the 22 degree halo also created by sunlight reflecting off of atmospheric ice crystals."
"Orange Crate Art is a 1995 album by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks released on Warner Bros. Records, where Parks has been contracted since 1967.
Nearly 30 years after their legendary collaboration on the ill-fated Smile project, Wilson and Parks teamed up again for this Orange Crate Art, which in essence, is really a Van Dyke Parks album, full of his dense, complex songwriting and lush orchestrations, while featuring Brian Wilson on vocals. The album's title refers to the sun-drenched, idealized paintings that grace wooden fruit crates, and its theme is a nostalgic view of the history of California.
Given the history of its principals, the album came with high expectations, but upon release it received mixed critical reviews and had lackluster sales, failing even to chart. Nonetheless, Orange Crate Art still remains an interesting curio for most Wilson and Parks devotees."
The footage is from Brian Wilson - I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, a program The Disney Channel (of all channels) played during one of their free preview weekend deals. And guess who taped it?
Speaking of orange crate art, this site has five pages of examples you can see and buy.
Alanis Morissette was clearly dealing with some issues back in 1995. Like a woman possessed, she's practically throwing off sparks in this, her August 17, 1995, TV debut, on David Letterman. If she could have kept up the level of intensity she displays in this performance, she might still be vital. I love the arm and hair flailing. The drummer in the video is of course Taylor Hawkins, the drummer for Foo Fighters. He and the rest of the band are rockin' hard. Note how The World's Most Dangerous Band starts playing U2's "One" as the show goes to commercial.
Here's Francis Albert singing "Too Marvelous For Words" on a 1962 Judy Garland variety show. She has just walked off camera, and he is pretending to sing to her as the video begins. You've got to love the minimalist set designs of those old TV variety shows! Looks like a series of cement (or paper mache) columns are used for this one.
A couple of years ago, I videotaped (was it legal when we did that??) a 1962 Judy Garland variety show off of my local PBS station, KERA. It was during their pledge drive, and they were promoting and selling a colorized version of the special, which had been retitled Judy, Frank & Dean - Once in a Lifetime. I de-colorized and de-Judy Garlandized this, for you, and only you (well, and me).
I don't know what version of The Break-Up you saw, or if you've seen it at all, but based on the one I saw yesterday, I felt the promo picture you see was missing a certain presence, more of an omni-presence, really, that the film had.
