As a kid growing up in rural Michigan, we had a big ol' antenna with a rotor on it so that we could pick up TV. It was tall enough that we could get Detroit, Toledo, and best of all -- Canada. CBC Windsor had some really awesome programs that influenced my youth, like OWL TV, Mr. Dressup, Canadian Sesame Street and of course, The Nature of Things with David Suzuki.
Imagine my glee when the Film Board of Canada put 50 of their favorite shorts online! Hat tip to Spike for the info. Good ones include "The Hockey Sweater", "BlackFly", "The Big Snit" and "La Faim/Hunger", which was produced in 1974 on a tweening computer posessing only 8K of memory. EIGHT KAY.
One that didn't make the cut is the Logdriver's Waltz, which I found on Youtube, thank goodness. It turns out that my two favorites of all time, Logdriver's Waltz and Blackfly were both written by this guy named Wade Helmsworth, and performed by Helmsworth, along with Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Whee! If you watch no others, watch these two.
Layla? Logdriver and Blackfly are the ones I keep ranting about. Watch 'em!
Oh yes! I saw these on BoingBoing (you're not a reader? well, getchyerself over there now, Miss Nerd-Like-Me). Loved Blackfly (remind me to tell MY story of blackfly hell someday). My fave is The Cat Came Back. Duh.
(Pics of tattooed toes coming!)
Darn it, feed my YouTube addiction, why don't you ... (I spend way too much time on the damn site as it is).
These were both a ton of fun, and now I want to look for more of this guy's music. Thanks for the recommendation!
I was a fan of the Friendly Giant, too.