Comments on: sometimes humans are wonderful

sometimes humans are wonderful

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:57:39 -0800

By: darksasami

darksasami — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:10:29 -0800

Ok, I want the clapping machine, because I've been doing that for years. My favorite, though, is still pitch-bending it to become a dripping sink effect. (Mouth the syllable "wa".)

By: EmGeeJay

EmGeeJay — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:14:22 -0800

"I was in my backyard, entertaining a friend with my hands." The "wonderful" tag has been well and truly earned today, my friends.

By: tuck_nroll

tuck_nroll — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:22:05 -0800

just going by what he said I believe he's actually imitating a zillophone

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:40:17 -0800

Well, he sure ain't just whistling Dixie.

By: Mokusatsu

Mokusatsu — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:51:23 -0800

Oh the fun they could have with this over at 4Chan...

By: Joseph Gurl

Joseph Gurl — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:27:21 -0800

Oh the fun they could have with this over at 4Chan... Um, I believe the term the kids are using nowadays is lulz...

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:43:08 -0800

But who was this man? Why don't we know his name? I'm dismayed by the all too easy disregard of personal identity conveyed by these so-called "YouTube videos". We've all become nameless content creators, indeed, almost faceless creators except for those that need faces, or at least mouths, to make the video in the first place. Where is the back story? Where is the explanation for why a man might want to imitate a xylophone with his mouth? These details are lost to us. We enjoy the apparently frivolous product of what must have been many hours of practice on the part of this unusually talented soul, and then we forget about him. Perhaps mouth-xylophone doesn't seem important enough. Perhaps you have decided that an ability to imitate a xylophone with the mouth is not an ability that you must revere. But you might be wrong. The oddest talents, the most unusual preoccupations, are the ones that we must hold in highest reverence, because nobody knows what skills might be needed in the future. These YouTube videos of bizarre feats are like the seed-banks for a tomorrow where any potential human accomplishment might instruct us to survive some current reality. It's like the letter X. This letter almost never comes up in ordinary writing, but when it does it lends exceptional focus to a word. What would SEX be without X? Probably just SE. Along with workhouse letters like E, A, T, O, I, N we need letters that are rare, unusual, different, bizarre, strange, weird, or some other synonym. We need the exceptional to understand the ordinary. From now on, in my book, X will always stand for Xylophone.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:18:12 -0800

Fabulous comment twoleftfeet. Right up through the somewhat tongue-in-cheek ruminations on the 24th letter of our noble alphabet. Where is the back story? Where is the explanation for why a man might want to imitate a xylophone with his mouth? Wish it were available to us. Maybe it is, somewhere, we just haven't found it yet. But it's worth keeping in mind that many, many musicians of the past share his fate: we have fragments here, bits there... a few 78rpm sides from, say, a Geeshie Wiley or a Washington Phillips, and often we know little more about them than their names and the serial number of the record they made. A case like this one, a novelty performer who just happened to catch the ear of some newsreel photographer with some time and a roll of film to spare, hell, we know even less. But such are the random ways of media history. there just ain't a backstory for everything, and, who knows, maybe that7s not an altogether bad thing. We must consider ourselves fortunate to have just these pieces of driftwood that make it to our shore. Perhaps in the end we are all nameless content creators., and who the hell will care what our names were, anyway? Well, we all just do what we can. Some of us imitate xylophones.

By: Jofus

Jofus — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:31:59 -0800

This post automatically made me think of Bob Blackman for some reason.

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:33:12 -0800

I happen to know that the greatest entertainer of all time was not Michael Jackson but rather A. Robins, The Banana Man , who could pull large objects out of his pants while doing a quick-change from man to woman. If skills like that have been forgotten, there is no hope for simple musicians, or for content creators in general.

By: rageagainsttherobots

rageagainsttherobots — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:57:11 -0800

The voiceover that chimes in at the end makes it look like this is an excerpt from a fascinating infomercial.

By: seanmpuckett

seanmpuckett — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:00:37 -0800

About five years ago, I was in my back yard entertaining a friend with my hands. Of course you were.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:07:57 -0800

OK, OK, twoleftfeet, I get it. You're just jerking my chain. kinda suspected that all along, but figured I'd give you the benefit of the doubt...

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:21:02 -0800

I too want to know how the painting magically appears at 1:02 in the video.

By: The 10th Regiment of Foot

The 10th Regiment of Foot — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:37:24 -0800

I happen to know that the greatest entertainer of all time was not Michael Jackson but rather A. Robins, The Banana Man , who could pull large objects out of his pants while doing a quick-change from man to woman. It's amazing how long a single, great act can take you in Vaudy-ville.

By: condour75

condour75 — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:00:52 -0800

Maybe because of the post above this, I immediately thought of D-Day's William Tell rendition.

By: ob

ob — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:09:16 -0800

I must say this made me smile.

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:55:42 -0800

OK, OK, twoleftfeet, I get it. You're just jerking my chain. No, no, there was no chain jerking. I was trying to say that it's cool that people feel compelled to do things that are, for the most part, rather silly and pointless. Whenever somebody spends hours perfecting a craft, be it imitating a xylophone, making music, or pulling bananas out of ones pants (you gotta watch the Banana Man's act... go 4 minutes in) it's a good thing. The stories in the history books, or in the news, are about big things - wars, murders, life, death - but I'm saying that it's more interesting that during all of this people still get excited by little things - xylophones, bananas, etc. - that there's a basic appreciation for something that isn't immediately tied to survival. And I would never jerk your chain anyway, flapjax.

By: grubi

grubi — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:16:21 -0800

I think I'd like to see this here zilla-phone.

By: run"monty

run"monty — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:09:46 -0800

It's amazing how long a single, great act can take you in Vaudy-ville. There actually were two "The Banana Man". The original, Adolph Proper, died in 1950. Sam Levine took over after that. (I am no expert. I have wikipedia.) Two men, so many bananas. Or so the tagline would go.

By: naplesyellow

naplesyellow — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:12:07 -0800

He is handsome!! ......I wouldn't have minded him entertaining me with his hands!

By: The 10th Regiment of Foot

The 10th Regiment of Foot — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:22:51 -0800

There actually were two "The Banana Man". Who knew a single act could carry two people (besides all those old hacks that stole each other's bits left and right)?!?

By: luvcraft

luvcraft — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:32:59 -0800

cute. In middle school I discovered that I could do something similar by flicking my cheeks (not those cheeks!), and I still can! Perhaps I should post a video of it to the YouTubes and become the laughing stock of the internet for a few days. :)

By: straight

straight — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:32:19 -0800

When did people start talking like that? When and why did they stop? So awesome. The mouth thing is pretty good, but I'd be more impressed if he were building an orphanage with his bare hands while playing a sweet, sweet lullaby for the children with two mallets against his abs xylophone.

By: DU

DU — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:57:16 -0800

When did people start talking like that? When and why did they stop? So awesome. I was going to say the same thing. The "I'm being recorded" awkward nasality really sells this. Also, I love the description of the video: "A man who can imitate a xylophone with his bare hands demonstrates the machine that allows him to do it faster." I was expecting him to then pull out a xylophone...

By: LeLiLo

LeLiLo — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:51:06 -0800

sometimes humans are wonderful My remarkable musical friend (and occasional bandmate) Gene Nichols is wonderful. No particularly good videos of his ukulele orchestra exist online, but recently another member of our ensemble(s) pointed me to this series of videos where Gene — all the while dressed ridiculously as the mascot of the small university in Maine where he runs the music department — plays Baby Elephant Walk on his own odd xylophone (made of hubcaps), expresses his Feelings on his specially made bulb horn contraption, elegantly flies to the moon on the musical saw, and even interviews himself.

By: kinnakeet

kinnakeet — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:58:46 -0800

I'm not sure why, but this has caused me to giggle uncontrollably over and over again. Thank you, flapjax. You have made my Friday morning, and possibly my weekend as well.

By: chairface

chairface — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:39:00 -0800

I've seen this before, and not on youtube. I recall that voice over at the end. It might have been some PBS thing I saw decades ago but the memory is dim. Now it's going to bug me forever.