Our happiness depends on you, Vaccine

Upon hearing about Dolly Parton’s million dollar donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Center teams working on the promising new Moderna covid vaccine, fans of Dolly and the vaccine got musical.

I couldn't resist trying it immediately, though I had to sing a bit more quietly than I typically would—for this tune in particular—because my family's all asleep right now. But you can see it scans, good enough for country at least! pic.twitter.com/joQL29e7Uk

— Ryan Cordell (@ryancordell) November 17, 2020

Beefaroni

The old Chef Boy-ar-dee ads filmed in Italy made a big impression on me as a kid. Like this one of kids running to eat beefaroni in Venice’s Piazza San Marco.

They were like little one-minute neo-realist musicals, indistinguishable in my mind from the movies on the Children’s Film Festival.

My favorite was the one with the jingle to the tune of Oranges and Lemons, but I can’t seem to find anything but a 1980s remake, which is extremely similar, but lacks the filmic grittiness of the original.

How to Lose an Election

A history of the concession speech in America.

From Radio Diaries.

Reading a Face 2

If you had to choose which candidate to vote for based solely on this pair of photographs, would you choose the terrified contestant in a compulsory North Korean beauty pageant, or the neighbor out walking her dog who’s tickled that you asked for a photo?

Photos courtesy of the Jaime Herrera Beutler and Carolyn Long campaigns.

Seattle Peace Chorus Get Out the Vote

Let America be America Again: words by Langston Hughes, music by Frederick N. West.

The Seattle Peace Chorus is a local institution, a very earnest group of old Seattle liberals/hippies who specialize in choral uplift, so when I heard they were giving a virtual Get Out the Vote concert I figured I could use some of that uplift. I was expecting a choir performing from each person’s remote location, but what they’ve created is a well-produced, collaborative patriotic pageant, complete with slide show history lessons, poetry readings, handbell choirs, dance, and unabashed performative inclusiveness. It is a corny and inspiring thing.

You can watch the whole concert here, or these highlights:

Audio Drama: Life Lines

Life Lines is an audio drama about an emergency services dispatcher. The 15-minute episodes, like her job, are relentlessly eventful and moving. I really love this show.

All four seasons can be heard on the BBC Radio 4 website.

Written by Al Smith.

A-WA: Hana Mash Hu Al Yaman

Just learned about the amazing Yemeni-Israeli sister act A-WA.

Hana Mash Hu Al Yaman means “This is Not Yemen“.

The Masque of the Red Death

Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death, read by Nate DiMeo for The Memory Palace.

Full text at Project Gutenberg.

Spot the Troll Quiz

I got 7 out of 8.

https://spotthetroll.org/

Talking Heads: Air