Muppets - The Jabberwocky

The classic Lewis Carroll poem from Alice in Wonderland, reenacted by Muppets.

The Babel Fish

Excerpt from the brilliantly low-budget 1981 BBC series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, describing the Babel Fish.

How do YOU read erotica?

College students reading portions of the erotic novel "Forbidden Pleasure", by Lora Leigh.

Semaphore Version of Wuthering Heights

Classic sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Vincent Price - The Raven

Vincent Price reading the legendary poem by Edgar Allen Poe.

Christopher Walken - The Three Little Pigs

Christopher Walken reads the classic children's story on Zoo.

Linton Kwesi Johnson - "Inglan Is A Bitch"

Poetry from the Old Grey Whistle Test, 1980.

The Shock Doctrine

Brilliant short film based on the book by Naomi Klein. It is a study on how politicians and corporations have repeatedly seized on experiences of wide-spread shock to manipulate whole societies into submission.

The Gospel of Supply Side Jesus

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Al Franken reads his essay The Gospel of Supply Side Jesus, an excerpt from his book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.

Al Gore - The Assault on Reason

Highlights from Al Gore's speech about the corruption of the corporate media and neo-conservative politics.

*Sigh* This was supposed to be our president.

Steve C. & Sekou the Misfit - "America Calls"

Steve Connell & Sekou the Misfit on Def Poetry Jam, hosted by Mos Def.

The Impotence of Proofreading

A short and funny lecture by Taylor Mali at the Bowery Poetry Club.

Crispin Glover - "What It Is ..."

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Clip of Crispin reading his poem "What It Is and How It Is Done". This is from Atomic TV, a cable access show out of Baltimore, MD.

Communist Manifesto as Told in Cartoons

This is something I haven't seen before... An "homage to the latent subversiveness in cartoons" edited to a reading of the Communist Manifesto.

Charles Bukowski - "Born Into This"

Def Poetry - KRS One & Doug E. Fresh

Kurt Vonnegut - "Breakfast of Champions"

To honor the passing of author Kurt Vonnegut, the 92nd Street Y has posted an audio recording of the first public reading of his classic novel "Breakfast of Champions". It was recorded on May 4th, 1970, three years before the book was published. You can download the podcast or listen right on the site. The clip is just under 12 minutes long. This is a wonderful treat. Don't miss it.

UPDATE: PBS is hosting video of an interview Kurt Vonnegut did with David Brancaccio on NOW, in 2005. It's a fabulous and funny conversation about politics, religion, war and history. Vonnegut at his best. Definitely worth watching.

R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut

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Kurt Vonnegut, one of America's greatest authors, passed away yesterday, at the age of 84.

Above is a link to an interview he did with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, on September 13th, 2005, shortly after the Katrina disaster. At the end of the interview he references a list of "Liberal Crap I Never Want to Hear Again".

Vonnegut was a brilliant writer and an amazing character. The world is less interesting without him.

ETA - Here is an updated link to the Daily Show interview.

Green Eggs and Ham

Original Dr. Seuss cartoon of "Green Eggs and Ham".

The refrains from the chorus alone, in this original animation, take the classic story to a whole new level of strangeness. But, for some reason, I have always enjoyed Jesse Jackson's version from Saturday Night Live so much more.

Sorry for the low quality video, but it's all that's available. Can't stand it? Try listening to the audio file. [Warning: Link leads directly to mp3 file.]

Allen Ginsberg

These two clips were filmed during his tour in 1995.

"Hum Bom"


"Don't Smoke"