Musical Monday with Len Lye's Peanut Vendor

In 1933, New Zealander sculptor, animator, and puppeteer Len Lye made "The Peanut Vendor"/"Experimental Animation", a short film featuring a singing spider monkey puppet. It was something to show prospective investors as he tried to raise money to produce a feature-length puppet/stop-motion animation film.

Lye's efforts were in vain, and his puppet movie was never made... but a little bit of his dream survives to this day, for us to smile and marvel at.

The version embedded below is perhaps the highest quality and most complete one that's available for easy viewing. I've seen some commentators describe it as "creepy". Personally. I think it's rather cute.

But why don't you check it out and judge for yourself. Let me know if you, too, find it creepy... or if it perhaps filled a spider monkey-shaped void in your life that didn't even know was there until today.

But wait! There's more music with Len Lye's monkey!

One of the joys of this digital age we live in is that all sorts of fun, weird stuff is available in obscure corners of even the most well-known sites. Take for example this funky video where someone took Lye's spider monkey puppet film and replaced the soundtrack with that of the Beatles warming up (or just goofing off) during a recording session.

Bones Coffee's Bluesberry

It's Sunday. It's dark and I'm wearing sunglasses. I may or may not be on a mission from God, but it's time for another coffee review.

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: BLUESBERRY
Like most Bones Coffee flavored blends, this one starts with their high-quality, medium-roast Arabica beans, which means they're already off to a good start with a smooth and inherently sweet foundation. It's also worth noting that this another one of their blends that's packaged with a movie pun (like "Army of Dark Chocolate" and "From Dusk Till Donuts", just to name a couple), just to name a few). The package art isn't as amusing as some of the others, but it's up to the company's established standards and on point.

The unpacked Bluesberry grounds smelled strongly of blueberry, and that same wonderful smell rose from the mug as I poured the coffee. Unlike some Bones Coffee offerings, it wasn't strong as the coffee brewed, however.

The blueberry flavor was also not as strong as I drank the coffee. When I drank the Bluesberry blend black, the blueberry flavor was barely present; the taste was as if the coffee had been sweetened with a bit of blueberry juice, but nowhere what I expected based on the aroma when I poured it.

When I drink it with Unsweetened Almond Milk added, the blueberry taste is washed out and the drink tastes like a standard quality medium-roast with almond milk added. It is perhaps a little sweet, but the blueberry flavor is gone.

When I drink it with sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer added, the blueberry taste bursts forcefully into the foreground. Here, the coffee flavor is almost drowned out between the creamer and the blueberry flavor. It doesn't become overwhelming or cloying... it just becomes the dominant flavor.

Bluesberry is another one of those Bones blends where the flavors tend to grow stronger as the coffee cools. Whether it's black or cut with the Unsweetened Almond Milk, the blueberry flavor grows stronger in the Bluesberry blend as it cools to room temperature. It doesn't become overwhelming, it just grows more obvious. Curiously, when the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer is mixed in, the flavors seem to rebalance themselves a bit, with the taste of coffee becoming evident again as the drink cools to room temperature. I thought that perhaps I hadn't started with sampling the Bluesberry with creamer added while it was properly hot, so I tried it that way again when I brewed my second pot. The result was the same. Why? Beats me... but then I'm just a daft Humanities sort of guy with very little understanding of all that sciency and chemistry stuff.

When consumed iced--whether black, or with Unsweetened Almond Milk or sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer added--the blueberry flavor is strong, but not so strong that you can't taste the coffee as well. As such, this is a sweet coffee drink that works extremely well iced. It's something to keep in mind for when summer rolls around... and it's 106 miles to Chicago, you've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, and it's dark. 

A reminder...

 ... that there are fools about on this Apirl 1, trying to be funny!

It's 4/1 and a Fantastic Friday

 Here's a little off-color fun featuring the First Family of the Marvel Comics Universe, courtesy of Frank Cho.

At the Eiffel Tower

On March 31, 1889, Gustave Eiffel led the first tour group up the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It was supposed to be a temporary structure (built in part to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution), but it proved to be both valuable as a tourist attraction and a place to put broadcast antennas, so the City of Paris decided to let it stand past the original demolition date of 1909.

 

The Eiffel Tower has now stood for 133 years, longer than many structures that were supposed to be permanent. You can read about the construction and history of the tower by clicking here... or you can just enjoy the pictures.

Art and Poetry

We're adding a little class to the joint with art and poetry...

'The Session' is worth attending

The Session (2012)
Starring: Alice Bristow and Niloo Ravaei
Director: Emelie Claxton

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A girl (Bristow) undergoes hypno-therapy with disturbing results.

 
"The Session" is another student film I came across while trawling through YouTube for things to watch and write about in this space. It was made primarily to show its creator's competency with three-point lighting--which she demonstrates that she had--but it is also a very interesting, very creepy silent film that's well worth the few minutes of your time it takes to watch. I hope she got a good grade for it!

I admit that I don't know what to make of the patient's mindscape... but she probably has many more therapy sessions in her future.



Note: The creator of this film graduated from film school in 2015, and she has gone onto be a working director-for-hire. You can visit her website by clicking here.

Felix Goes to War!

Felix Turns the Tide (aka "The Inventor") (1922)
Director: Otto Messmer
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

When the rats and cats go to war, Felix does his patriotic duty, joins the military, and faces the enemy on the front lines.

"Felix Turns the Tide" is a fast-moving cartoon from the silent era as Felix the Cat was reaching the height of popularity. It starts out violently whacky (with rats and cats blowing each other smithereens on a WWI-type battle field) and ends up in the area of the completely insane as Felix brings in some highly unusual reinforcements for the cats. The craziness is bookended by some cute and amusing scenes, as Felix saying goodbye to his friends on the home-front and then as he returns from the war. 

If you enjoy the early Felix the Cat cartoons, I am certain you will love this one. In addition to being firmly set in that crazy world where intelligent, tool-using cats live and work along side humans, it's one of those relatively rare tales where Felix is a straight-up hero in every way. (Just beware--after watching this, you may find yourself thinking twice before you eat sausages again

The version embedded below (for your convenience, easy viewing, and a guaranteed seven minutes of fun weirdness and cartoon violence) was retitled for distribution to television stations in Australia.

(This is the second Monday in a row where we've posted something with a war theme. We didn't really plan this, but maybe we need to start Military Mondays, to go along with Wonder Woman Wednesdays and Firearms Fridays?)

Bones Coffee: Jamaican Me Crazy

Bones Coffee Company continues to entertain me with fabulous flavors. Here's my take on the latest I've sampled from them!

Bob Marley is wondering why he's here...

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: JAMAICAN ME CRAZY
As with most of Bones Coffee's flavored offerings, the starting point for Jamaican Me Crazy is a medium roast. Although Army of Dark Chocolate showed they are perfectly capable of turning a dark roast into something magical, starting with the mellower, sweeter coffee as a foundation makes it easier to layer flavors on top of the bite of the coffee.

With Jamaican Me Crazy, Bones delivered another aromatic blend that, although not giving off quite as strong a scent as some other blends, gave a preview of what was to come as it brewed. This is a coffee that has a very strong flavor of spiced rum, with an emphasis on the spice. In fact, I was even reminded a bit of Chai as I drank this blend. 

Whether I consumed Jamaican Me Crazy black or with Unsweetened Almond Milk or sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream added, the spices were the dominant flavor in this blend, lingering in your mouth and mixing delightfully with the taste of rum and coffee. This was a blend that I could drink without needing to add anything, and which remained steady in its flavors even as I added the almond milk and creamer. In fact, the spicy nature of the drink seemed to be enhanced with the added liquids.

At room temperature, the flavors were pretty much as they were when the blend was hot. In fact, I think I may prefer this blend after its cooled. (I will have to try a few more mugfuls to know for sure, but I only had a 4-oz sample pack to write this article from.)

Interestingly, when this blend is consumed iced, the coffee flavor all but disappears. A saltiness that mixes nicely with the spice flavor emerges strongly, but the coffee taste is pushed to the background. The salty taste is something I've found happens with a number of Bones blends if you drink them iced, but it seems especially powerful with the Jamaican Me Crazy blend. It also tended to linger on your lips and toungue more than with most, to the point where it almost becomes too much if you don't drink the coffee slowly. Adding Unsweetened Almond Milk or sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer did nothing to cut down on the saltiness, and it barely reduced the spicy flavor--it just make the last vestiges coffee disappear.

I was curious what other people thought, given the flavor shifts when the blend goes through when iced. To my surprise, it appears that everyone appears to be drinking something completely different than what I did, as they talked about the caramel and vanilla flavors. Some of them talked about the caramel and vanilla, others seemed to think it was sweet. While I could perhaps taste a little vanilla in there, I don't know where they got the caramel from... and sweet? Where? When? Of course, those reviews reflect what Bones Coffee themselves say about Jamaican Me Crazy on their website (caramel, , so maybe I got a bad batch? Or maybe I was supposed to drink it after smoking a join or two to unlock hidden flavor profiles? (Heck, maybe that makes this the perfect coffee to drink as you celebrate 4/20 Day next month...)

While I can't explain why my mugs of Jamaican Me Crazy apparently tasted so differently from what everyone has consumed, I think if you liked the Coconut Rum and Highlands Grog blends, you'll enjoy this, too. And then you can let me know if you tasted caramel or not....

Important announcement from Slaughter Valley

The citizens are dancing in the streets in response to the news.

 
There are changes coming to Slaughter Valley (where the Shades of Gray offices are located). We want to make sure all our readers and visitors are made aware, because we don't want our friends to run afoul of the authorities.