YouTube Digger

David Berkowitz (”Son of Sam”, but his real name was Richard David Falco) killed six women and wounded countless others. He also killed countless animals just for the heck of it and comitted arsonist. He terrorized New York City — wouldn’t that make him a terrorist?

He’s still alive, and still just as dangerous as in the mid-seventies, when he went on his infamous crime spree. Only now, instead of showing his psychosis through acts of violence, he is trying to ingratiate and seduce others into caring for him because he’s been supposedly “Born Again”.

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Our month-long look at insanity continues with a peek at one of the most insane people who ever lived and died — David Berkowitz, better known as Son of Sam. He is one of the most infamous serial killers of the 20th century.

He also heard voices and experienced religious mania, which is are symptoms of psychosis. Although most mentally ill people are not a harm to others, Berkowitz was a major exception. It is important to note that his first symptoms of being a psychopathic killer was killing his mother’s pet parakeet. Animal abuse is always the first sign, which is is why that madness needs to be taken more seriously as it is.

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The fun continues here at YouTube Digger as we continue looking at YouTube clips devoted to various aspects of madness. Today, we’ll take a look at mercury poisoning. Hey, you can’t blame all forms of madness on genetics (such as you can with some forms of mental illness that induces psychosis.)

Mercury (or quicksilver) used to be a comon element in many industries, but now it’s being phased out due to risks of mercury poisoning. Even dental fillings are starting to come in other materials other than the usual quasi-reliable mercury fillings. However, mercury is now being blamed for everything from autism to bad plot lines in soap operas.

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In the first part of our look at YouTube’s look at Rasputin (the Mad Monk of Russia — not to be confused with the horrible Eddie Murphy character Rasputina), we focused mainly on how this charismatic and crazy character was portrayed in the movies. But what we do we know about the real guy? Quite a bit. People apparently loved to write about him when they met him. Rasputin was a guy you either loved or hated. There wasn’t any middle ground with him.

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Our month-long look at madness continues with a symptom of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, drug abuse and pyschosis, mania. The presense of mania does not necessarily mean that your loved one is insane. They just are not able to properly perceive reality. Also, takng a new perscription medication like an antidepressant may cause mania in some people (which means the cure is pretty simple). Mania is manageable. Anyone who has mania is not a lost cause.

Mania happens in different degrees in everyone who gets it. Some people just talk really fast, don’t seem too aware of what’s going on and have insomnia, yet they feel great. Other people see Satan popping out from behind the refrigerator and instructs them on who they should kill. However, many people who have hallucinations still have the sense of mind to realize that something is not right.

The following YouTube clips are descriptions of what people do when they are in the grips of mania.

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On this date in 1962, Steve “The Crocodile Hunter” Irwin was born — no doubt in little tan shorts. I have no idea how he got the nickname “Crocodile Hunter” as he didn’t actually kill the crocs he found. I guess “Crocodile Finder” didn’t have that much of a ring to it and “Mad Aussie” had already been taken.

In case you’ve been off the planet for the last couple of years, Steve Irwin was killed in a freak accident involving a startled stingray while filming a nature documentary. At least he died instantly and doing something he loved.

Anyway, he was a lovely man who, according to many people who’ve interviewed him, could verify that he really said “Crickey!” a lot. The world is a less interesting place without him. Although there are many mad Australian naturalists on television these days, none of them quite have the charm that Steve Irwin did. And none of them could pull off wearing the outfit.

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Paganism is not an organised religion by any means. For example, you get options as to what days a particular holiday falls on. In Paganism, there are (at least) eight holy days (nicknamed ’sabbats’) and today is one of them. Of course, you could’ve also celebrated it yesterday or the day before. I prefer today because I can combine it with Groundhog Day.

The Sabbat is called Imbolc — but that depends on which Pagan you talk to. It’s also known by other names like Imbolg, Oimelc, Bride’s Day or Candlemass. This is around the time that lambs are begin popping out of the ewes, which used to be a big deal in ancient times.
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Yesterday, for another blog, I did a little book review of Life And How To Survive It by John Cleese and Robin Skynner (no relation to famous behaviorist BF Skinner). So, just out curiosity, I went to YouTube and stuck in the words “skinner” or “skynner” in the search feature and looked to see what came up.

This is always fun to do, especially if you are desperate to kill time in an entertaining way. Just stick any random word or word combination into the search feature at YouTube and see what weird and wacky stuff comes up.
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The last week of the year always brings about glum recollections of all the wonderful folk who have passed away in the previous year. Hey, I’m guilty of this, too. It really puts a damper on any holiday festivities. Wouldn’t it be great that if, in the holidays of 2009, we managed to toast the Grim Reaper’s choices for the year? Sure, we’d all claim to miss the dead (because of the old taboo of speaking ill of the dead) but deep inside, we’d be all a-glow with warmth and cheer.

For more mortal fun, check out The Death List.

Topping the list is runaway winner of Maggots Should Eat Out His Eyes award goes to the dictator of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe. Do you think they’ll play this song at his death and dismemberment?

Next up, just for all of those in the UK, a special choice — Sir Jeffrey Archer. For those in America who aren’t aware of who Jeffrey Archer is, consider yourself lucky. He’s a total Berk. (Look it up). One of the celebritites I met when I lived in England was the guy who was the star witness in the perjury trial who put this bastard away for an unmercifully brief amount of time. I couldn’t actually bring it in myself to put a Jeffrey Archer clip on, so I have something much better — a segment from Room 101 with Kathy Burke and host Paul Merton from 2000:

Last time on YouTube Digger, we looked at three of the notable females who passed away in the past year. As you’ve probably guessed from the title of this post, we are now going to look at three men who shuffled off this mortal coil in this past year. No offence to the spirits of all of the other men who’ve passed away in 2008 who I don’t mention. I just have enough room in the post for three. So there.

First up is Ellas Otha Bates, better known as Bo Diddley, who passed away on June 2 of this year. He was one of the most influential personas in pop music, so much so that he was nicknamed “The Originator”. Thankfully, unlike a lot of black musicians of the early twentieth century, Bo Diddley did receive the recognition he deserved. I always loved the square guitar.

Next up was a guy who I thought would live forever — Paul Newman. Although best known for being a movie actor (that’s always good for the career), he also managed to give a lot of money to charity through his unique food line and his daughter’s food line, Newman’s Organics. I never did understand his fascination for car racing, but then again, I’m not a guy. It’s hard to narrow down a celebrity’s life in just one YouTube clip, but perhaps this bit from “Cool Hand Luke” is as good as any. Paul Newman sings “Plastic Jesus”. I do not know who played the banjo:

And now, the death that I will never get over, that of legendary comic, truthteller and linguist, George Carlin. He had a real way of playing with words and getting into their true meanings that I will always admire. That, and no one else in the world could swear as humorously as he did. Not everything he did was funny, but most of it gave me a good laugh, even years later when I knew the punchline of the joke. As I was starting narrowing down this list to three, I at first completely forgot that George had died — because part of me still hopes that he’s alive. Here he is in a post put up by a fellow comedian, Boy Howdy. Appropriately, this bit is about death, done a couple of years ago:

2008 saw the sun set on a lot of beloved celebrities and entertainers. For this post, we’ll just concentrate on some of the notable and influential women celebrities who have have taken their last bow. We’ll give space to the male dead celebrities in a future post. Granted, this post will be done with more of an American slant, (since it’s written by an American) so no offence is intended if a favorite deceased celebrity from your country is omitted.

I’ve narrowed the list down to three ladies, otherwise we’ll be crying into our drinks all year. I’m not spending the rest of my life doing this post (although I could think of worse fates).
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Seven years ago the worst terrorist attack to ever take place on American soil happened in my back yard.  I watched firsthand the horrific scene that most only saw as surreal images on a television screen and that day is one that I will never be able to erase from my memory.  Today the Digger takes a look back at that day in history with a special collection of video clips that signify both the pain and the healing that our country is still experiencing seven years later.

Please understand that the video clips in today’s post may contain graphic images that are not suitable for all viewers.

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In 1984, Bob Geldof was so moved by a television feature on the plight of hungry children in Ethiopia that he decided he must do something about it.  He brought the cause of world hunger to the forefront of everyone’s minds using the power of celebrity, and Band Aid - a supergroup made up of British and Irish music stars - created and recorded "Do They Know Its Christmas?" in time for a holiday release.

It would of course be number one on the charts.

Here’s a little insider information from Bob Geldof’s web site:

The recording studio gave Band Aid 24 hours free to record and mix the record on 25 November 1984. The recording took place between 11am and 7pm and was filmed to release as the pop video. The first track to be put down was drums by Phil Collins including the memorable opening ‘African Drum’ beat. Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet was the first to record his vocal while a section sung by Status Quo was deemed unusable and replaced with the Paul Weller/Sting/Glen Gregory section. Paul Young has admitted since in a documentary that he knew his opening lines were written for David Bowie who was not able to make the recording but made a contribution to the B-side. Boy George arrived last at 6pm after Geldof woke him up by phone to have have him flown over from New York on Concorde to record his solo part.

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Once upon a time, a group of popular singers and musicians of the day joined forces to record a song and video for the purpose of raising awareness and money for the plight of starving people in Africa.  USA for Africa and "We Are the World" would soon become one of the most memorable musical moments in history with such famous acts as Michael Jackson and Diana Ross lending their voices and faces to the cause of the day.

The stars appearing in the USA For Africa "We Are the World" song and video, in order of appearance, are:

• Lionel Richie
• Stevie Wonder
• Paul Simon
• Kenny Rogers
• James Ingram
• Tina Turner
• Billy Joel
• Michael Jackson
• Diana Ross
• Dionne Warwick
• Willie Nelson
• Al Jarreau
• Kenny Loggins
• Steve Perry
• Daryl Hall
• Huey Lewis
• Cyndi Lauper
• Kim Carnes
• Bob Dylan
• Ray Charles
• Quincy Jones (Director)

I love Saturday Night Live, but there is nothing like the classic Saturday Night Live days with Christopher Walken, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphey, and more.

In this hilarious clip, Steve Martin gets down King Tut style with his “King Tut� song. The beauty of Steve Martin’s comedy is it doesn’t have to be outrageous to be funny. He can have fun with whatever he’s doing and you can’t help but laugh because he’s just plain funny when he’s having a good time.

This video is no different as he sings and dances – Nile style – along with a full entourage of Egyptian musicians and groupies.

If the Steve Martin dressed up as Tut can’t make you laugh, then I have no idea what will.

YouTube, video, King Tut, Saturday Night Live, Steve Martin, Christopher Walken, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphey, Nile, Egypt, singing, dancing, costumes, music, comedy