Today's Bonus Video Link

Last night, 60 Minutes did a flimsy (I thought) piece on ponzi schemes and financial hustles. The segment didn't have much substance but you might enjoy this brief exchange between Morley Safer and the great manipulator of cards and confidences, Ricky Jay. There may be a short commercial for a company that's working its own kinds of ponzi schemes…

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Today's Video Link

Hey, try this unless you're my next door neighbor. It's the Karaoke version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!

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Today's Video Link

Back in this post, I linked to a video of various stars visiting Sesame Street and performing the song, "Sing." For some reason, there's another version with different cuts of most of the same people. Hey, it's a good tune so let's look at this one, too…

Today's Video Link

I'm pretty much done with writing about the stage musical of Mary Poppins and I hope I didn't leave you with the impression that I found nothing to like about it. Here's a video of the best number in the show…which is also, by no coincidence, the best number in the movie. It's "Step in Time." Enjoy…

Today's Video Link

As noted, Dick Van Dyke made a one-time surprise appearance in the stage musical of Mary Poppins. Here's a report on that special moment…

Today's Video Link

You all saw this but I'm going to stick it up here anyway. It's the Betty White/Abe Vigoda commercial that ran during the Super Bowl. Funny bit…and of course, it's nice to see the two of them working. And walking. And breathing.

There's apparently an Internet campaign on to have Ms. White host Saturday Night Live. That would be great…and it would take something like a web crusade to make it happen since SNL ain't gonna let anyone on just because they're funny. But they do seem to allow one token host every season or three who doesn't meet any of their three qualifications to host: Starring in major motion picture for youth market, could pass for under 30 or is Alec Baldwin. I don't see why Betty White couldn't be one of those token hosts.

And hey, it's always great to see Abe. Plus, it saves us all the trouble of clicking on this link to make sure he's still alive…

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Today's Video Link

Here's a lady telling us the right way to make mashed potatoes.

I made mashed potatoes from scratch exactly once. I used to use an instant mix and the potatoes were decent enough. But one night, I had the craving for something better so I bought spuds, peeled 'em, cooked 'em, mashed 'em, creamed 'em…and went to an awful lot of trouble.The result I got was largely indistinguishable from the mix, or maybe a notch less tasty. Maybe I'll try it again some day now that an "expert" here has shown me the right way to do it.Though come to think of it, I'm not sure what she does that I didn't do except that I'd rather have dead squirrels in my mashed potatoes than chives…

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Today's Video Link

This is a clip from Keith Olbermann's show which might interest (and even please) those who don't like Keith Olbermann. I thought it was at least a semi-extraordinary moment in cable television.

One recent night on his show, Jon Stewart took Olbermann to task for certain remarks.That alone was unusual. Folks who deal in televised opinion programming almost never criticize those on their side of the aisle. Stewart is way too close to unique. I am amazed when his detractors say he never goes after Obama or other Democrats or Liberals.These folks are not watching his show.

And you almost never see the person who is criticized admit that the criticism is correct and accept responsibility for it. Sean Hannity admitted that Stewart was right recently when he pointed out that Hannity's show had passed news footage of one event after another but Hannity claimed it was a mistake. In the clip you're about to see, Olbermann simply admits that Stewart is right and that he's misbehaved.That also is generally unprecedented.

Jon Stewart is beginning to occupy an amazing role in TV punditry — a position halfway between the media criticism of David Gergen and the conscience watchdogging of Jiminy Cricket. Bill O'Reilly had Stewart on this week and tried very hard to achieve four things at the same time. One was, of course, to garner some ratings with the booking. Another was to satisfy the Fox viewers that he was slapping around the Misguided Liberal. Yet another was to show he was as witty as the Misguided Liberal. And the fourth thing was to win the approval of the Misguided Liberal. I'm not sure he didn't achieve all four objectives to some extent.

Anyway, here's the Countdown with Keith Olbermann segment, which includes the entire piece that Stewart did about him, followed by Olbermann's response. I would like to believe Olbermann was sincere because, in a medium where everyone seems to defend everything they do to the death, it's nice to see a gracious acceptance of criticism. And I do think Keith has toned it down a bit lately…which is impressive because these guys never tone it down…

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Today's Video Link

The video on this isn't great but it's watchable. It's a clip from the 1991 telecast of The Horror Hall of Fame, a syndicated awards show designed to honor grisly movies and all things macabre.This segment, which salutes and tells the story of EC Comics, features one of the last public appearances by EC (and MAD) publisher William M. Gaines, who passed away the following year. It nicely makes the point that Gaines, who was once pilloried as a purveyor of filth and depravity, lived long enough to see that work hailed as classic and beloved. And you also get a look at Joe Orlando, who drew some of that filth and depravity, and Al Feldstein, who edited and wrote it, and probably doesn't get enough credit for his work…

Today's Video Link

This is one of those things that…well, I can't explain why it's funny but it just is. Some things just are.This is the Nairobi Trio, an immortal creation of the late Ernie Kovacs. I always felt Mr. Kovacs received too much credit for his visual, pantomime gags and not enough for his brilliance as a plain, old-fashioned talking comedian. But his ape-faced chamber group deserves as much of a rave as anyone can heap upon it.

Allegedly, one of the persons in this scene is Ernie himself — reportedly the one in the middle.The one at the piano is supposed to be his spouse, the wonderful Edie Adams. And the performer on the left with the drumsticks is, they say, Jack Lemmon. I do not know if this is true. Apparently, Lemmon said on some talk show or somewhere that he'd played the part…but Kovacs repeated this routine a number of times and this is just the most-often-seen videotape of it. Assuming Mr. Lemmon did speak of performing in the Nairobi Trio, was he in it every time it was performed? Jack Lemmon was a busy man in Hollywood and Mr. Kovacs occasionally did shows from New York.

We may never know. We may just have to write it off as one of the great mysteries in life, including the Sphinx, the murder of the Black Dahlia, and why Will Ferrell has a career. And so, to the lilting strains of "Solfeggio," I give you the Nairobi Trio…

Today's Video Link

This is a tad outta-sync at the beginning and it runs eight and a half minutes but it's worth watching. It's from a 1999 episode of Hollywood Squares with your host, Tom Bergeron…

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Today's Video Link

Hey, it's been a while since I made you listen to the theme from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Here's a snappy little version played on a Sound Blaster 16 ISA Sound Card…

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Today's Video Link

Here's a Halloween clip from The Garfield Show, seen several times a day on the Cartoon Network. I am the Supervising Producer on this show and I have no idea what the title means since I do pretty much the same things I did on the old show where I was Co-Producer, which was the same thing I did on that show before I was a producer of any kind…

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Today's Political Rant

Did you see the Q-and-A that Barack Obama did the other day with House Republicans? Here's a link to a transcript and video and I recommend you experience one or the other. It was a remarkable discussion if only because of the sudden reappearance of the guy some of us voted to put in the White House. He stood his ground and at least tried to establish a healthier working relationship with the opposition party. I dunno if anything can make that happen but this was sure a noble effort.

He also demonstrated that though he may use a TelePrompter a lot, that's just to tidy up his sentence structures.The thinking was all there in an utterly ad-lib setting. Anyone think George W. Bush could have done that in a hall full of House Democrats? Or would ever have tried?

A lot of folks are noting a couple of exchanges where Obama, with great diplomacy, engaged certain reps on specific facts. I thought a key moment was when he told them that all the demonizing they were doing of his Administration was making bipartisanship impossible — for themselves…

I mean, the fact of the matter is is that many of you, if you voted with the administration on something, are politically vulnerable in your own base, in your own party. You've given yourselves very little room to work in a bipartisan fashion because what you've been telling your constituents is, "This guy's doing all kinds of crazy stuff that's going to destroy America."

He said it gentler in the State of the Union speech when he itemized a number of tax cuts that his Administration has made and then noted that Republicans, who claim to love tax cuts, weren't applauding them.They couldn't…because they were Democratic tax cuts. (I also think they weren't applauding because a lot of the cuts were for lower and middle-class folks. Republicans in general love all tax cuts but the ones in Congress only really like the ones for rich people.)

Once you tell your constituents that everything Obama does is evil, you can't meet him halfway on anything without appearing to be compromising with evil. You can't even support him when he does things you like. I think that's a lot of our problem right there.

Today's Video Link

As we all know, songwriter-singer Ross Bagdasarian had a monster hit when under the name David Seville, he recorded "The Chipmunk Song," the record that introduced Alvin, Simon and Theodore to the world.That was in late 1958. Some folks don't know that that wasn't the first record or even the second he did employing the "sped voice" trick.The first, released earlier in '58, was also a huge success. It was called "Witch Doctor" and it was a number one hit for a few weeks there. He quickly followed it with another tune with a sped-up voice called "Bird on My Head."That was not a hit.Then came the Chipmunks…and thereafter, Mr. Basdasarian-Seville pretty much did nothing else on vinyl but Chipmunks for the rest of his life.They re-released some of his earlier records but he was too busy with Alvin, Simon and Theodore to do other things.

Here he is on Ed Sullivan's show in '58 doing a lip-sync to "Witch Doctor." Performers usually sang live on Ed's show but obviously that wasn't possible with the sped-up voice in there. I always think it's funny when a performer lip-syncs on TV to a record that has a fade at the end.They never seem to know when to stop moving their lips and you often see them stop, then realize they should still be flapping their gums. Here, Sullivan's live orchestra chimes in with a finale note and you can see a little look of relief on Mr. Bagdasarian's face that, as rehearsed I'm sure, they came in at just the right moment to get him out of that predicament. I will not pretend I understand the visual imagery they cooked up for this presentation but I think they got that way out of sync.

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