Saturday, April 5, 2008

You might have to be Armenian to find this as funny as I do!! Enjoy!

22 comments:

CJ said...

Yeah, funny I guess but more nostalgic for me, from the 60s when I palled around with some Armenians and Greeks for a while, who were always bursting into dance. I guess the comic duo are doing traditional Armenian? We did the Greek line dancing, usually to Zorba the Greek: like these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkHfKjwPHXo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjcsEmmCDKw&feature=related

CJ said...

Well, hang out at You Tube a while and you’ll find Armenian dance too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aEeD_slYqg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDdYAwsT5gw&feature=related

Anonymous said...

Laurel and Hardy dancing at Geeeez at 5:00 AM! Well this IS quaint. I never knew they were capable of such grace. Is the music part of the original sound track, or was it superimposed? It seems to fit their movements veery well––––or does it?

I guess the MUSIC is a native Armenian Folk Dance? But how L & H came to use it would make an interesting tale.

I have to admit I DON'T "get it."

~ Freethinke

PS: Did you get my test email via your husband's mailbox, Z? Being totally cut off like this is eerie. - FT

Anonymous said...

GOODBYE, CHARLTON HESTON

Obituary from the L:A Times:


Charlton Heston, 84; Oscar-winning actor played larger-than-life figures


The Oscar winner played Moses and Michelangelo, then later became a darling of conservatism.


By Robert W. Welkos and Susan King, Special to The Times


April 6, 2008


Charlton Heston, the Oscar-winning actor who achieved stardom playing larger-than-life figures including Moses, Michelangelo and Andrew Jackson and went on to become an unapologetic gun advocate and darling of conservative causes, has died. He was 84.


Heston died Saturday at his Beverly Hills home, said family spokesman Bill Powers. In 2002, he had been diagnosed with symptoms similar to those of Alzheimer's disease.


With a booming baritone voice, the tall, ruggedly handsome actor delivered his signature role as the prophet Moses in Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 Biblical extravaganza "The Ten Commandments," raising a rod over his head as God miraculously parts the Red Sea.


Heston won the Academy Award for best actor in another religious blockbuster in 1959's "Ben-Hur," racing four white horses at top speed in one of the cinema's legendary action sequences: the 15-minute chariot race in which his character, a proud and noble Jew, competes against his childhood Roman friend.


Heston stunned the entertainment world in August 2002 when he made a poignant and moving videotaped address announcing his illness.


Late in life, Heston's stature as a political firebrand overshadowed his acting. He became demonized by gun-control advocates and liberal Hollywood when he became president of the National Rifle Assn. in 1998.


Heston answered his critics in a now-famous pose that mimicked Moses' parting of the Red Sea. But instead of a rod, Heston raised a flintlock over his head and challenged his detractors to pry the rifle "from my cold, dead hands."


Like the chariot race and the bearded prophet Moses, Heston will be best remembered for several indelible cinematic moments: playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with Orson Welles in the oil fields in "Touch of Evil," his rant at the end of "Planet of the Apes" when he sees the destruction of the Statue of Liberty, his discovery that "Soylent Green is people!" in the sci-fi hit "Soylent Green" and the dead Spanish hero on his steed in "El Cid."


The New Yorker's film critic Pauline Kael, in her review of 1968's "Planet of the Apes," wrote: "All this wouldn't be so forceful or so funny if it weren't for the use of Charlton Heston in the [leading] role. With his perfect, lean-hipped, powerful body, Heston is a god-like hero; built for strength, he is an archetype of what makes Americans win. He represents American power -- and he has the profile of an eagle."


For decades, the 6-foot-2 Heston was a towering figure in the world of movies, television and the stage.


"He was the screen hero of the 1950s and 1960s, a proven stayer in epics, and a pleasing combination of piercing blue eyes and tanned beefcake," David Thomson wrote in his book "The New Biographical Dictionary of Film."


Heston also was blessed by working with legendary directors such as DeMille in "The Greatest Show on Earth" and again in "The Ten Commandments," Welles in "Touch of Evil," Sam Peckinpah in "Major Dundee," William Wyler in "The Big Country" and "Ben-Hur," George Stevens in "The Greatest Story Ever Told," Franklin Schaffner in "The War Lord" and "Planet of the Apes" and Anthony Mann in "El Cid."


"Four or five of those men would be on anybody's all-time great list," Heston said in a 1983 interview. "And if I picked up one scrap, one piece of business, from each of them, then today I would be a hell of a director."


John Charles Carter was born Oct. 4, 1923, in Evanston, Ill. His father, Russell Whitford Carter, moved the family to St. Helen, Mich., where Heston lived an almost idyllic boyhood, hunting and fishing.


He entered Northwestern University's School of Speech in 1941 on a scholarship from the drama club. While there, he fell in love with a young speech student named Lydia Clarke. They were married March 14, 1944, after he had enlisted in the Army Air Forces. Their union was one of the most durable in Hollywood, lasting 64 years in a town known for its highly publicized divorces, romances and remarriages.


Theatrical name choice


After the war, he went on countless auditions as a stage actor in New York. His professional name was a combination of his mother's maiden name, Charlton, and the last name of his stepfather, Chester Heston.


He made his Broadway debut opposite legendary stage actress Katharine Cornell in Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" as Proculeius, Caesar's aide-de-camp.


Heston found steady employment in the new medium of television. His big break occurred in 1949, when he appeared in the CBS live "Studio One" production of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar."


In 1949, he attracted the attention of veteran film producer Hal Wallis. Without an audition, Wallis signed Heston to an independent contract for five pictures with the option he could accept other roles


Posted by FreeThinke.

WomanHonorThyself said...

shux Z..it wont play..wahhhhhh! lol

Karen Townsend said...

Thank you for that bit of enjoyment! I watched Laurel and Hardy as a kid and I thought they were hilarious!

beakerkin said...

Interesting

CJ said...

Yes, FT, it is a puzzle how Laurel and Hardy came to be doing that dance -- on the set of an American Western yet. I found out it's a Greek dance called the Karagouna, authentic music and all. Armenians and Greeks hung out together at university when I was there so I guess it's all the same to them? But why are Laurel and Hardy doing this dance?????? I'm sure it's hilarious to someone in the know but it's a puzzle to me.

Z said...

cj...I'm sure it's another dance set to music that's not at all what they were really dancing to, don't you? Just happens to fit the beat and the pattern in the music?
I published it for fun..but perhaps my header was more right than even I thought!?
Regardless, I love it! The thought of Laurel & Hardy doing this at an Armenian picnic or wedding cracks me up!

Beak...where's your sense of humor!??

CJ said...

Z said: cj...I'm sure it's another dance set to music that's not at all what they were really dancing to, don't you? Just happens to fit the beat and the pattern in the music?

Naw, I was too dumb to figure that out, but it would make it funny of course. I wonder what the original music was then. The dance steps look SO "folk" dance.

Z said...

Well, cj, I'm not absolutely sure about that, but it seems to me you were right about that kind of dancing in a Wild West scene!...it could even be computer generated to fit the music.
Anyway, the juxtaposition killed me when I saw it and, laughing that hard, I had to share it....
thanks for the research on the name of the Karagouna...? Most line dancing like that's pretty fluid and I know certain steps/dances have names, but how you found that is a mystery!

CJ said...

I think I just doubleclicked on the You Tube symbol in the video box you posted and it took me to You Tube where the title of the music was given. It was clearly identified as a spoof, but nobody gave a clue about the original scene.

Some kind of square dance? That would be Western.

I know I get obsessed about stuff. I've watched dozens of folk dances at You Tube since you posted that.

CJ said...

Oh wow, I FOUND it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arajua9lxYA&feature=related

SO funny.

CJ said...

Funnier and funnier!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL3mHPmNKRE&feature=related

Z said...

OH, my GOSH, cj! That second one is HILARIOUS! I'm not too big on Hawaiian type music, so the first is not AS good for me, but OH, did I laugh at the second link!!!! Thanks for posting those.
See? it's just taking some dance and fitting it into the beat OR it's computerization that manages this. Whatever it is, I LOVE IT!
I still can't get past laughing about the Middle Eastern music but I guess that's because it's SO not Laurel & Hardy!!! Thanks very much for the contributions. xxx Z

CJ said...

Sigh, yeah I'm still here. Gotta get to the bottom of this topic of urgent major importance ya know. Anyway I checked again and found an expanded version of the "hawaiian" music, and it does seem to be the original music from the film -- probably a joke right there that's over my head. Anyway, if you want to check: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9oQ5Fuu6Z0

Z said...

cj..if it includes having to hear the Hawaiian music again, which rates right up there with bad mariachi music for me, I'll just take your word for it, if you don't mind!! But the info's great!

Anonymous said...

those of us who spend waaaaay too many hours watching tcm immediately recognized the clip from "way out west". our boys were barred from entering the saloon and commanded to dance, which they did and ended their number by entering the saloon doors. the music was a bouncy little number that didn't sound in the least armenian. they will also be dancing in time if you sing "God bless america" in an up-beat tempo

Anonymous said...

cinbea - the origianl music for the clip was a cute bouncy little tune with the vocal yodeled rather than sung.

Anonymous said...

cinbea - if you go to way out west - you tube, you can see the original. i was wrong. it is vocals and yodeling...and extremely funny. enjoy

Anonymous said...

I loved that clip. Whoever synched the music and film together did a terrific job.

I love the internet!

Z said...

cinbea! SO good to have you here! I'm glad you liked it and know so much about it...I figured you could about put any music to it, but the Armenian thing had me ROLLING!!

FarmerJohn....I know! If anybody's been waiting for a line dance to start at an Armenian wedding, pinky to pinky, tapping their feet and bending their knees a little, waiting for the music to hit JUST the right point where you start the steps, you'd be FALLING OVER yourself laughing at this!! OH, my GOSH, it's just perfectly done! (TRUST ME, I've been to enough of 'em!)