Blue Monday

Watch the top video from 6:00.

I live two hundred yards or so from the New York Stock Exchange, and use the gym next door. Since last October, there have periodically been camera crews outside, recording the slow motion implosion of the financial sector. But this morning, a bright sunny day with a clear blue sky there was no indication at all of the catastrophic events that were occurring to the financial system. Despite the fact that by this evening, the NYSE was practically flood lit.

Bloomberg today ran a slightly melodramatic piece that said that this was one of those days where ‘you remember where you were when…’. Well, I was outside the stock market, when the securities business was becoming extinct, and you wouldn’t have been able to tell it from any other day.

Although the stock market crash of 29 was a far more rapid, severe and dramatic affair, the real drama played out over a decade as the inertia of the effects of capital markets spilled into what even Greenspan calls ‘the real economy’. If you look closely at the footage, over and over again, I suspect that the 1929 crash appeared far less dramatic than people suggest now, even if the effects were severe.

BTW, watching BofA’s hugely impressive CEO, Ken Lewis, it is great shame that this country’s politicians aren’t of the same calibre.

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Scootermania

Two brands have dominated the history of Scooters: Lambretta and Vespa.

The larger and more decorative Lambretta is often considered more desirable for vintage scooter enthusiasts, however, I have always preferred the minimalist simplicity of the snail-like Vespa from the early 60s, which seems to better capture the spirit of modernism rather than Mod.

This documentary traces the history of Viaggio and Innocenti scooters from post war Italy to mid 60s Britain. It has some particularly great period footage from the 50s.

8 comments gear, history

Von Braun the Nazi and Von Braun the Walt Disney Presenter

The fact that the US space program was kicked off by a Nazi who was let off because he was useful was made famous by Tom Lehrer. However the comparison between these two films rams the point home.

At top is color film from 1944 showing Von Braun as a Nazi, testing the V2.

And a Walt Disney space series from 1955, where Von Braun himself talks about space rockets.

1 comment history, ironic

After the Revolution – Georgia

Worth linking to, even if there is no embed, a 20 minute, bleak, prescient, profile of Georgia from 2004.

“After the dramatic ‘Rose Revolution’ that saw him to power, will Saakashvili be able to unify his country?

The hardest tasks still lie ahead. Vast swathes of the country are outside his control. Having claimed independence, they answer to no one. Everywhere you turn in South Ossetia are signs of Russian influence. The police and soldiers wear Russian uniforms, cars have Russian numberplates and the region even runs on Russian time. But technically South Ossetia is part of Georgia. Saakashvili is doing his best to win back their support but any invasion would surely be bloody.”

I seems like the Russian invasion of Georgia is the inevitable result of 2 variables: natural resources and union.
Russia feeling it needs to be aggressive against splinter states to prevent fragmentation of other self identifying enclaves; and protecting access to oil routes. From the US Civil War to Iraq this is a feature of most conflict.

Link

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Tank Man

A documentary about the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. A lot has changed since then and one can’t help but wonder if prosperity leads more easily to freedom than protest.

2 comments history, world

Television Under The Swastika

“Michael Kloft’s documentary on the history of Nazi television…As early as the ‘thirties, a bitter rivalry raged for the world’s first television broadcast. Nazi Germany wanted to beat the competition from Great Britain and the U.S. – at all costs.”

Spiegel TV has tracked down rare Nazi TV footage, complete with everything from bizarre cabaret acts to interviews with people like Albert Speer. Pop culture done by Nazis, the banality of showbiz evil.

25 comments history, ironic

A History of Texas (intro to “True Stories”)

The last real post on Your Daily Awesome:

“When I posted the clip from True Stories of David Byrne deadpanning his way through the history of Texas, I didn’t realize that it would be YDA’s last real post. But if pressed to choose a closing statement, I’d be hard-pressed to select something more appropriate to this blog’s sensibilities.”

1 comment history, ironic, society

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power

An exhaustive and information rich series of documentaries made in 1992 when oil prices were low enough for a level headed look at the history of oil. Based on a Pulitzer Prize winning book, of the available documentaries on the subject, this is the one to blow the dust off and insert into the virtual VCR.

Part 1, running time: 50 mins.

3 comments history, series

The Death of Yugoslavia

This is the first part of six in a documentary series about the Yugoslav War. Made in 1995, the year that Bosnian-Serb General Mladic’s troops marched 8,300 Bosnian men and teenage boys out of Srebrenica, and executed them, some burned alive and tortured. Armed UN Peace Keeping soldiers watched them pass.
Despite the demands that Serbia should turn over Mladic as a precursor for eventual entry into the European Union (token efforts at complying including a 1M euro reward, were made by the Serbian government), in 2008 the ratification process was started anyway, although nobody seems to know the status and Kosovo’s independence has flared up bestial Serbian nationalism again. The whole story is making a farce of the EU.
There has been some criticism about the accuracy of translation, however, this series would be in my list of top ten documentaries of all time, I cannot recommend it highly enough. It unravels the mechanism of the sordid path of human conflict, from nationalism to genocide, like no other film before or since. It is the film that was never made about the holocaust.

Wikipedia entry.

Running time: 50 mins.

6 comments history, world

Around the World in 80 Treasures

As with the fictional ‘around the world in 80 days’ this 5 month 10 part odyssey made in 2005, includes a variety of modes of transport, exotic locations food and cultures – all to find the world’s 80 principal treasures. The list, of course, is suitably maverick and non-cliche for it to be absolutely fascinating. Chosen by Dan Cruickshank who is a personal favorite architectural historian, this is a must for architecture fans.

1 comment architecture, history, world