The West is in a hell of a mess, facing the worst unemployment crisis in nearly 80 years. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is warning America and Europe that they risk “an explosion of social unrest.” Well, duh! From the Telegraph:

“The labour market is in dire straits. The Great Recession has left behind a waste land of unemployment,” said Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF’s chief, at an Oslo jobs summit with the International Labour Federation (ILO).

He said a double-dip recession remains unlikely but stressed that the world has not yet escaped a deeper social crisis. He called it a grave error to think the West was safe again after teetering so close to the abyss last year. “We are not safe,” he said.

A joint IMF-ILO report said 30m jobs had been lost since the crisis, three quarters in richer economies. Global unemployment has reached 210m. “The Great Recession has left gaping wounds. High and long-lasting unemployment represents a risk to the stability of existing democracies,” it said.

The study cited evidence that victims of recession in their early twenties suffer lifetime damage and lose faith in public institutions. A new twist is an apparent decline in the “employment intensity of growth” as rebounding output requires fewer extra workers. As such, it may be hard to re-absorb those laid off even if recovery gathers pace. The world must create 45m jobs a year for the next decade just to tread water.

Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s chief economist, said the percentage of workers laid off for long stints has been rising with each downturn for decades but the figures have surged this time.

“Long-term unemployment is alarmingly high: in the US, half the unemployed have been out of work for over six months, something we have not seen since the Great Depression,” he said.

 

 
IMF fears ‘social explosion’ from world jobs crisis (Telegraph)

 
This Friday, September 17th, John Schienfeld’s terrific new documentary, Who is Harry Nilsson? (And Why is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?) opens in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Sunset 5 for week (and maybe longer). The reviews have been stellar—and in my opinion, justly deserved—for this heartfelt and moving tribute to the great singer-songwriter.

With Brian Wilson, Jimmy Webb, Van Dyke Parks, Yoko Ono, Paul Williams, Mickey Dolenz, The Smothers Brothers, and Pythons Terry Gilliam and Eric Idle,
 

 
Above, a BBC In Concert appearance from from Harry Nilsson. Nilsson famously hated performing live and on television, but this 30 minute performance is remarkable, indeed. More from the For the Love of Harry blog:

Harry Nilsson’s finest hour on film. Taped for England’s BBC in 1971, this simple and effective set of performances has everything one could ask for when seeing the rarely seen Nilsson live - solo piano & acoustic renditions, tasteful effects, plenty of close ups, unreleased music and even live overdubbing (both audio & video). Special thanks to our friend Patrick from Germany who supplied us with this excellent - now complete - 34 minute video. This live studio performance finds Harry delivering slower, more moving renditions of some of his best work up to 1971. His somber reading of “Life Line” is simply heartbreaking. Harry performs as a live trio with himself on “Walk Right Back” and “Coconut,” where he uses lip syncing gorillas for visuals. The Citizen Kane rafters clip ending is priceless. Harry introduces two videos from The Point! (“Think About Your Troubles” and “Are You Sleeping”). There just isn’t a better, more visually pleasing representation of Harry Nilsson at work. Download the .avi video file HERE. If you want MP3s of the show (minus the two Point! audio/video files), you can get them HERE.

Songs: Mr. Richland’s Favorite Song/One, Gotta Get Up, Walk Right Back/Cathy’s Clown/Let The Good Times Roll. Life Line; Joy, Without Her. Coconut. 1941

You can watch my interview with director John Schienfeld, here.

 
I’ve always hated “Sweet Home Alabama”, so this extraordinarily weird video pleases me to no end.

Update: “Motorcycle Bill”. More wacky goodness from the double wide Diva.
 

 
“Subterranean Homesick Blues” and Don’t Look Back . Google Bob Dylan. He used to be a protest singer.

 
This is stunning.

Shot using a Nokia camera outfitted with a microscope attachment called the Cellscope, we follow Dot, a 9mm stop motion animated girl, as she races through a super miniature world.

 

 
At Little Green Footballs, Charles Johnson has come up with a brilliant question that needs to be posed—often and loudly—to Christine O’Donnell by anyone who gets close enough to her to ask it, preferably on camera. Christine, baby, you say you wouldn’t lie to Hitler’s face, so how are you gonna answer this???

Since O’Donnell is absolutely opposed to lying under any circumstances, someone should ask her how often she masturbates.

Geeeenius! I nominate Howard Stern’s crew for the job!

O’Donnell wouldn’t lie to Nazis (LIttle Green Footballs)

 
Women in search of crop circles in Wiltshire, England make an amazing discovery, a rare find, a crop circle!  This results in a collective spiritual epiphany. The video was broadcast on Norwegian television as documented evidence of the existence of crop circles. The film makers had no idea that the ‘crop circle’ was created by Quite Interesting Ltd. as part of a promotional campaign for a BBC TV show called ‘Q.I.’. The poor gullible ladies in the video must have been deeply disappointed to discover their magical find was, in actuality, an advertisement.

“I feel a pain in my head.”

 
Did Glenn Beck really say what I think he said? Dude just wished death on 75% of his own fuckin’ viewers!

Christine O’Donnell’s supporters and staff do not approve of citizen journalists filming the “Citizen Politician”

Is it me or does this confrontation totally remind you of a rat staring contest?
 

 
Following on from my post, Nothing is rare: George Kuchar’s 1966 underground masterpiece, ‘Hold Me While I’m Naked,’ here’s another take on the same territory with Danny Plotnik’s ode to the joys of obsessive collecting back in the days of analog.

“When I was your age…”

Thank you Syd Garron!