AV Geeks 16mm Lunch 6-16-2025

Sorry everybody. I'm Skip Alzheimer. Welcome to the AV Geeks Lunchtime streaming show where I'm always apologizing for something. Uh no. Um yeah, I'm trying to coordinate some calendar stuff and so um because this is a silent film then I missed uh there is no music winding down or recap things that I listen for and look forward to um when I uh do these uh I'm multitasking and so that's what's going on. Hope everybody had a good weekend. Um, I had a pretty epic weekend. Uh, Friday I participated in the Clownathon with the Found Footage Festival guys and uh, which was their 12-hour uh, films and video. Well, mostly video about clowns. And I contributed and uh, I got to say I think I I blew them away. I definitely uh had them going like, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe it." So, that was pretty great. And some of you I saw in the um comments over there, so I appreciate you coming over. I'm sure you were going to go over there anyways. And then immediately went from that to uh dressing up as a shark uh to introduce Shrek at the science museum. Uh my explanation was that I had misordered I'd ordered the wrong costume, but the uh I will confide in you that I really did not want to spend $90 on a Shrek costume that I was probably only going to wear once, whereas $30 on a shark costume, which I will wear a lot. Uh there is a lot of wonderful opportunities to dress as a shark. And so that's what I did. And the highlight to my evening was this four-year-old girl coming up to me and laughing at me and going, "You bought the wrong costume." I was like, "Yes." So good. Because if I just dressed as Shrek and people would be like, "Oh, hi." Yeah, it's great. But the fact that I made it into this thing, it was great. All right. So, today uh not not films about fathers because I've kind of run out for the moment. I'm always looking, but right now I uh run out. Um so, um no offense to fathers out there, but uh but these are song uh films about songs or song birds. So, uh, here's our country song brought to us by the fine folks at Cornet Films. Sing along if you know. Enjoy. [Music] Twilight [Music] through the night [Music] still there [Music] for the land of [Music] our country song and our class, a part of the school chorus. We began preparing for this program a few weeks ago in our classroom by learning the words of the Star Spangled Banner. Oh, say can you see By the dawn early so proudly we hi [Music] last stripes and thy stars through to fight. Yes, we were learning the words, but it was hard. The words were difficult. Were [Music] I'm afraid not many understood what the words meant. We couldn't ever learn to sing our country's song well if we didn't understand it, could we? So, we decided to find out. It was going to take us many days, but we all thought it was worthwhile to really understand our country song. Jimmy was going to find out how our country song was written. And that meant he had to go to the library and read as much as he could to be able to tell us about it. [Music] Carol was studying the music so she could play it for our class. [Music] while others of us were working making models and making posters. Before long, our room was filled with our work telling about our country's song and why we show respect for it. We had learned a great deal. We learned that the Star Spangled Banner is an old song written during a battle. Of course, the Star Spangled Banner is our flag. But in those days, the flag looked like this. It had 15 stripes and 15 stars. And in those days, there were fewer states in our country than there are now. Of course, since the very beginning, when our country had only 13 states, we have had songs. One of the earliest songs our countrymen loved and sang was, Listen, [Music] the music and the step with the girls Our country had another song, too. Have you ever heard it? Listen to the melody. Do you know what it is called? Hail Colia. The music was written for George Washington, our first president. It was written as a march for his inauguration and words were written for it soon after. Our early countrymen loved the song and we still sing it today because it is associated with our first president. So even before the Star Spangle Banner was written, our country had songs that were loved and sung. Our model of the fort helped us understand the story of how the Star Spangle Banner was written. Let's imagine the story. It was during the war of 1812. Our country was at war with the British. Fort Mckenry stood on the shore of Chesapeake Bay protecting the American city of Baltimore. In the harbor lay British warships. The British planned to attack the fort and conquer the city. The attack was to be made at night. On one of the British ships, an American was being held. As night fell, Francis Scott Keyi began a long and anxious wait. The battle was begun. Who would win? Would the fort fall and the city be lost. By the light of the exploding bombs and the rockets, he could just make out the stars and stripes of our flag still flying over the fort. Before [Music] morning, the fighting ended. All was quiet and dark. But who had won? What flag flew over the fort? As the dawn began to break, the words of a poem began to form in Francis Scott Keyy's mind. Oh, say, can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Can you see our flag? He is asking. Is it still flying? The beauty of the flag and what it stands for were very important to him. man whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight. All the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming. Then he thought again of the night and the battle. And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there or gave light enough for us to see that our flag was still flying. And then he asked again, "Oh, say does that star spangled banner yet weigh or the land of the free and the home of the brave?" In 1931, the Star Spangle Banner was made our national anthem by act of Congress. And to us today, the song stands for our country, just as our flag does. When we sing it or hear it played, we stand to show our respect for our country. We know that while our fig has grown and changed, our song has come to mean our country to all of us. [Music] [Music] and of the [Music] praise. I'm sorry I walked away. Um, anyways, uh, this next film is about, uh, birds. Birds. Yours for a song. Enjoy. Is home and shelter for the perky house. Friend whole stump with a hole in it purposely placed in the yard is also home and shelter for a pet. [Music] Every season of the year brings new exciting experiences to the Connecticut home of Bob and Lydia Gastell which they've named Evergreen Sanctuary. a place for birds to drop into with safety and live and raise their families. Over a period of years, Bob and Lydia have created this remark of security for thousands of planes. All this just by providing shelter, water, and food for the birds while developing their hilltop home and garden. Pole boxes attract nesting bluebirds and tree swallows, while feeders attract many other birds. Bob Gastell, an industrial draftsman, designs his own feeders, drinking fountains, and nesting a workshop in spare time to be properly placed later in the yard. [Music] Nearly every part of Evergreen Sanctuary is near dense cover. The birds can always find safety there. Chipping sparrows are among our tiniest birds. They winter from Virginia to Florida and move north in April to raise a family or two. Insect eating redeyed vio arrive north in May after a winter as far away as South America. One can hear their robin-like song late into the summer. [Music] And here at the nest is America's bestliked lawn and garden bird, the robin. While the Baltimore orol, a bird of the high elm trees, usually weaves its hanging nest near the end of a branch. [Music] This baby flicker is on the lookout for a meal. [Music] Escape streets are a quick, safe retreat for any bird at sight of a pursuer. Nearby, a graceful catb bird of the mockingb bird family comes to the drinking fountain for the pause that refreshes. And a robin quickly follows for a cooling dip. It's thrilling to see the birds at close quarters, to watch their actions and behavior as when the toi and cardinal feel thirsty at the same time. [Music] A few mocking birds, those minstrels from the land of magnolia and moonlight have moved to Connecticut to live. And they're called mocking birds because they can imitate most anything from the squeak of a rusty hinge to a cat's mew. [Music] A male purple finch watches and waits. One of our most welcome native sparrows is the white throat with its soft tinkling whistle. The goldfinch this time for a bat. Well, birds aren't the only entertaining little friends that a sanctuary can give you. Chippy Chipmunk grew tame enough to take food from Lydia Gustelle's hand. The nesting season is always enjoyable. Not infrequently a baby bird outgrows its nest and falls out or is pushed out. This little robin is well cared for. [Music] a red syrup cup feeder which he made hoping it would attract hummingbird. One of Bob Gastel's most remarkable inventions. Making and assembling these feeders in his cellar workshop occupies many winter evenings. [Music] The red syrup cups are filled with diluted honey and hung where the customers can find them. In no time at all, a cat bird arrives for a drink. [Music] A male orol is also attracted to the hummingbird feeder. There are birds around you no matter where you are. In California, Indiana, Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, or Connecticut. And what pleasure. What fun to attract these birds and see them close up. All you need to attract birds to your yard or garden is to furnish food, water, and shelter, and time for the birds to hear about you. [Music] And our friend Chippy likes the hummingbird feeder, too. [Music] Chippy also likes the portable feed box when it's left on the ground. Sunflower seeds are his particular favorites. [Music] The feed box Bob made has several compartments for different varieties of seeds, berries, sew it, and other foods that appeal to birds of many kinds. Lydia puts them in the various feeders, so there's plenty of food for all and no need for overcrowding. The sapsuck, the rare woodpecker, as you may hope to see at an attractive bird sanctuary. One reason why evergreen is so popular with birds is the care the gestels have taken to find out just what foods all the different species prefer and to supply the right foods at the right season through the entire year, not just in winter. A dash of old rose as a male purple finch comes in again for a good look. Beef sew it is tempting to the male downey woodpecker with a scarlet head patch. Beef sew it is cold weather food attractive to chickades, nuthatches, and several other winter birds. In summer, its place is taken by natural foods such as insects. The male cowbird comes to the garden for his food. This time it's a female downey on the sew it stick. She lacks the red headdress her mate wears. [Music] Nuts broken up and put in an old coconut shell that's hung on a limb or a wire attract a nuthatch. [Music] Then again, peanut butter placed in one of Bob's special feeders serves many kinds of birds. [Music] My, how the cat birds love peanut butter. [Music] One of the amazing things in a bird sanctuary is the chance it gives to watch the arrival and departure of the birds as they move north and south with the seasons. Each week in spring, there is a steady rise both in number and variety of birds. The peak comes in May. Sometimes a dozen new species each day. Warblers, hummingbirds, gross beaks, late fly catchers, and thrushes arrived then from the winter resorts thousands of miles away in the South American plains and jungles. [Music] What? Baby flicker back of its doorway. Still on the waiting list. [Music] The friendly bluebirds aren't nearly as easy to attract to our gardens as most of our other native birds because they prefer open fields and pastures to trees and shrubbery. However, the Gastels have succeeded in attracting springtime bluebirds by offering fresh berries picked in the fall and kept in their freezer, awaiting the return of these birds that wear the sky on their backs. [Music] Among the plants that afford shelter for the birds is the viburnum, which flowers in the spring, adding beauty to the garden. It provides fruit berries in late summer, attracting a variety of birds in search of food. The high bush cranberry with its colorful fruit is an added attraction, [Music] and so is the dogwood. [Music] In early fall, some fruit bearing plants are a welcome sight to migrating birds. Here, the mountain ash supplies fruit to a hungry roving band of cedar wax wings on their way south. [Music] Yes, birds and plants are inseparable companions. To survive and grow, the baby chipping sparrow, like other young birds, eats its own weight of food every day. [Music] The blue jay is an all year resident in many parts of the country. [Music] Many purple finches spend the winter at Evergreen Sanctuary. The female purple finch is brown and heavily striped. The male purple finch for the first two years of his life resembles the female in color, then changes to a deep rose red. Pine siscans cannot be dependent upon to visit any place regularly. They may be abundant in a given area in one year and then not show up there again for three or four years. They wander about in an irregular way. That's why it's thrilling to find them settling down on theaters for a few days or a few weeks. [Music] Even less predictable than the ciscans are the beautiful evening gross peaks. Some winters, vast flocks of these birds come down into our northern states. They readily visit bird feeding stations to the delight of people who have never seen one of them before. [Music] Well, at last, after waiting so patiently or impatiently, the baby flicker gets a welcome reward from its hearts. Wherever your yard or garden may be, you'll have many birds around if shelter, water, and food are provided. [Music] Young robins in the nest are sheltered from harm. And the hummingbird's nest, even more wonderfully protected by its small size and camouflage, can be closely watched when adequate shelter is provided. [Music] Water to drink is a vital necessity for this male cardinal and all other birds. Yes, the hummingbirds do like the hummingbird feeder. In fact, they love it. [Music] Food in the form of sugar syrup or diluted honey in this red cup will bring these tiny jeweled birds to your garden. [Music] Only when the sun catches the feathers of the male rubythroatated hummingbird at the right angle do they flash red. Each month brings new visitors and sees old ones departing as the mysterious command of the migratory impulse moves them north or south with a swing of the sun. [Music] But summer brings the most colorful birds, including the glittering ruby throatated hummingbird, the most shining little star of Oh, I'm here. Um, yeah, I apologize for those gaps. Um, it's a it's been a busy Monday. uh doing laundry, looking at the calendar, trying to schedule some things. So, I'm sorry. I'm my attention was divided and uh the uh so but that that brought me back. And this film is going to keep me around because this film is uh from the National Archives and uh was made in 1956. It was made in Indonesia and it kind of it's this drama but it was also made by the uh United States Information Service. Uh so there is definitely a propaganda aspect to it and um but it's visually it's beautiful and it is filled with Gamalon music. I love Gamalon music. So, if you don't like Gamalon music, um you probably will hate this. But it's interesting because it's kind of this like look at the culture and um anyways, so here is a house, a wife, a singing bird. Enjoy. Before [Music] [Music] the end of every day, for every man there should come a little time of quiet, lest the noise of each day's battles carry over into night. In this quiet, those who have fully known and truly loved the earth can hear its speak. Its voice may have the strong male ring of courage and say that the shape of man's life is in his own hands. Its voice may also whisper dryly that man walks on earth by sufference and the way is not always straight. [Music] tea and [Music] well just the birthday friend about the same as usual. When I was a kid, I used to sing all I had to do was grow up, then I'd be happy, be my own boss. Well, I'm my own boss. All right. But not happy. Yeah, you might say that. [Music] coffee. I want money to buy things like a motor bike. Maybe motor bike. Why not? Remember M used to come in here. I saw him today. He got a job. He has a motorbike and a fine shirt, yellow sir with palm trees on it. Ah, you all talk about things. Things can't make you happy. You have to have something different inside. Something to change the way you are now for something else. I remember one night in Cha 8 years ago. We were fighting then fighting hard. The important thing is we were all working for the same thing to get free and stay free. We are free but inside we are different. [Music] We don't know where we're going any longer. Or maybe this just I don't know where I'm going or what I want. Maybe not, son. But right now, will you take me to Chawas? Chawas? Yes, of course. [Music] This is the story of a youth who was a farmer while he was still a child and a soldier before he became a man. Now his very But except the road leading home and his weary mind says that road may be already closed. Not for many years has the evening song of earth reached as far as his heart. Back there you are speaking spawnfully of things my son. But some things are very important. If they are good things and you work hard for them, they can help to make you happy. It's how you get them that counts. Maybe, maybe. Listen, my son. When I was very young, there once used to be a saying, to be happy, a man should have a house, a wife, a horse, a knife, and a singing bird. I have had all those things and one way or another they all help me to be happy. I think it's not that simple for me. No, once a man has eaten the fruit of frustration, a simple answer has no savor for him. Just a little further, son. Go into that lane. Stop and take some food with me. We should talk some more. Well, [Music] [Music] two more. [Music] [Music] A good knife. Yes, it's been a long time since I used it, but I keep it sharp. Keep it, son. Keep it. It might bring you luck. Uh, wait. [Music] Just in the next village along that road lives an old friend of mine. He's working with some wood cutters on the new road. He will give you work. Go now, my son. Return your BA to the owner and go there tomorrow morning, will you? Why? I mean, why do you give the knife to me? Why do you care what I do? What is your name, boy? Amen. Amen. We need young men. Old men dream dreams but young men make them come true. [Music] My dream is that my countries my dear country's heart is here near to the earth. If we put down our roots here we will stay strong. Our country is different from other countries. We are many islands. Thousands of islands. This is our beauty and our strength. For an island is a living thing. Our shores pulse with tides. Our islands dream with sea light. We live and move and grow. But we must grow strong in our islands. Quick to move as the world moves, but firm anchored to the very bed of the sea. It's a task for young men with seeking eyes like yours. I mean, sometimes words one does not quite understand have more power than ordinary words. Besides, it was a good knife, and the strange old man had been kind. [Music] In any case, the next morning found Amin at the entrance to the road back to childhood when all things were clean in shape and simple to understand and a steadfast spirit was taken quite for granted. [Music] [Music] at would take many strokes of the heavy knife and many loads of wood before Amin could earn such a horse for himself. But the process had begun. [Music] So his battered spirit grew in strength as Java for morning grows in golden light when all of yesterday is forgiven and for sworn. And it is possible to believe that this morning at last begins a day of good fortune. And every fifth day, market day, when a man can restore himself with his fellow man, can talk and trade as farmers do, and perhaps laugh as children do. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Wherever in the world and whenever in time men have left the lone hunt to come together for comfort or safety, they have evolved a test of skill or strength to say this man cast a longer shadow than those around him. Such a test is pinch, a duel of sorts with rules as strict as those which govern a sonet or a minuette. For Amin, it was one stage in a journey back to a simpler life and an earlier time. [Music] [Music] Six months. From the day he stood to one side and watched a tree go down, armen enter the old forest with his own crew. It had come to pass as the old man promised. He had put down his roots in the good Indonesian earth, and he had flourished once more. He was linked to the tough, resourceful village boys and fanciful wise old men. [Music] The crops had ripened and the village was at peace. The people in it worked hard and lived in quiet. Amin had walked willingly back into the welcoming warmth of this simplicity. If ever a voice warned him that walking backward it is easier to stumble, he did not hear it. Now it was time for another step to visit the lura the village head. A man with a lively local reputation for wisdom and conservatism. Oh, good morning. Come in. Come in, Mr. Sukimand. Yes. This is my friend Amin. I told you about him. Yes. Yes. Well, young man, speak up. How can I help you? You are new here. Yes, I live before at Pulong. I would like to live here. There is a piece of land at the edge of the tomb and an old house. I think I have enough money now to buy a house for myself. Yes, I know the place. He went to live in the city. Foolish of you. I think we can work it out. How big a family do you have? I'm not married yet. But maybe when I have a house. Yes, you can find a wife. It shouldn't be too difficult. We'll arrange something. Uh I have to talk to some people from the city shortly. But you wait. We'll go over to the house as soon as they have left. All right. All right. Yes. Yes. All right. They people always something new. We have kept Mojo a good village by keeping to the old ways. I don't care what other villages plan to do. We are going to keep Mojo the way it is. We have always and they can have their [Music] they are now. Good morning sir. Good morning. Good morning sir. This is my colleague from Jakarta. How do you do? How do you do sir? John. Oh, what a long time since I've seen you. Not since, doctor. He was my commander. Where have you been all this time? Mostly in Jakarta. I'm working with public health now. Not bad. I've come to see Mrs. Kimmon about the problem. Problem? There is no problem. I explained it to you. We have been good village with no trouble from anything or anyone and now you want to come in and change things and upset all people. No sir, we don't want that. It's just that we think you have been very lucky so far and there's no reason to think you'll continue to be. This village is very healthy for this part of the country. But there is malaria here and all around here. Well, gentlemen, sit down. Sit down. Thank you very much. [Music] You see sir, we are trying to wipe malaria out of Indonesia completely. But the mosquitoes are very strong and clever in their way. They've learned to resist the insecticides we used before. Now we have new ones much more powerful. But before they develop a strain which will resist these two, we must wipe out all malaria from everywhere in the islands. It means every village must cooperate. Spraying white dust on the walls, covering the water jars, clearing the ponds. I have seen it all in other villages. And there are still mosquitoes in those villages. All this spring for nothing. Look, we are not trying to eliminate mosquitoes. We are trying to eliminate malaria. Believe me, sir, it is an emergency. Yes, we'll have to go now. Thank you for talking to us. We'll come back later if you may. Of course. Of course. Glad to see you. I won't change my mind, but I'm always glad to see you, young man. Thank you sir. [Music] Malaria control about which all this conflicts world is basically simple primarily to spray the walls of all the structures in a fixed area with a solution of insecticides. Malaria is not only a debilitating disease which can rob a man of half of his physical power but it is a killer. It is a killer which can be stopped through the battle against this ancient tropical enemy which is being waged by Indonesian people from North Matra to the far islands of the east. The weapons have been contributed by the people of America through ICA. Insecticides, vehicles, scientific instruments, malaria control experts. Some tactical advice also comes from the United Nations. The total success of the battle depends on the total cooperation of every village. [Music] You really think the ruler is wrong, don't you? wanting to keep things all the way they were. Of course, it's wrong. You can't keep things unchanged. Not anymore. I'm not so sure. For a long time after you last saw me, I tried to go along with the new kinds of life. I went to the city and tried to work in a factory, but I'm not well. I do not have the skill to do anything but work in the field or the forest. From the day I decided to come back to what I knew when I was a boy, things have gone better for me. I think we country people just need to work together for something we believe in. Then we are all right. I mean, friend, you missed the point. I don't complain about the old ways unless we let them build walls around us. But there are good things in the new ways. In the last 5 years, while you and a lot of others like you have been wandering around trying to find a place in life, this has become an important country. Now our generation has the job of keeping our country healthy and prosperous and peaceful at home so that what it says and does about will be listened to and respected. Big ideas, John. Maybe, but think about it. Ammy knew that the struggle between Johan and the Lura was important to them, but he could not quite see that it affected him. He had so much to think about, a house and a garden to cultivate and broadening horizon. [Music] The knife, the horse, the house, all of these from the old Haji's incantation were already his. [Music] And as for a wife, as the lura said on an earlier occasion, that shouldn't be too difficult. [Music] Amin had nearly his whole dream and a captive audience to hear him talk about it. There was not a cloud on his horizon, not a flaw in his blissful logic. But there was malaria here. Yes, I mean the luras had said it could not happen here. But it could. It had. And to Marina. What now? Amin. What prize the old ways of isolation from today and the world outside? One thought alone will not go away. This need not have happened because Johan is your friend. He did not say I told you so. He promised to send a doctor from his own staff. Because God is merciful to foolish man. He will not take away this small vulnerable being on whom you have focused your whole will. If he does, I mean [Music] [Music] [Music] Marina, listen. Try to hear me from wherever you have gone to. Come back, Molina. We are going to be married and we'll have a wonderful life. Someday I alone the field all the way down to the lake. We'll work together and prosper. We'll see many far away places together. Malina. [Music] You've never seen the ocean. We must see it together. [Music] There is so much ahead of us. Molina, [Music] come back to me. Molina, come back. [Applause] Marina. Marina. It takes courage for an old man to admit he is wrong and gallantry and good sense the lura had them all. He requested Johan to come back to the village with his team and go to work. And so as the old tales say they were married from the moment Amin signed his name they were married by law but a thousand years of honored usage sanctify what followed [Music] the tossing of cir leaves to say which of them will rule. through the house, [Music] the breaking of the egg, the washing of feet, the weighing. They are both his children now. Neither weighs heavier upon him than the other. [Music] The sharing of fruit. All of this to say that from this day forward their paths go along together. Bless this house, oh God. Bring strength to its walls. health, happiness, and good fortune to its children. [Music] [Music] The sight of the old man sent Armen back to a night yet nearly forgotten in which he started in bewilderment. the journey which brought him here. [Music] A singing bird, such a bird as farmers listen to in the quiet of evening to know by its call what kind of a day tomorrow may be. [Music] For those who have fully known and truly loved the earth can hear it speak with the ring of courage or the whisper of despair or the clear sweet call out of men's highest hopes. [Music] All right. So, that meandered a little bit, but uh it was kind of cool. Like nice footage and uh the malaria public health subplot uh was of course uh great. Um and you know, like I said, I love me some Gamalon music. Um and so thanks for joining us today. I very much appreciate you watching your eyeballs. Uh if you like what you saw or at least like the idea of what what we do cuz you know maybe today was not your most favorite episode. Um hit the thumbs up, hit the like button. You can also uh subscribe. You can also watch other uh films that we have online at uh the YouTube channel. That will bring in some a little bit of ad revenue. Uh you can also um what else? Uh donate via the super uh thanks button in the chat. Uh you can also go to patreon.com/abgeeks or uh kofi.com/abgeeks. That's coffee.com uh abeks. Or just, you know, come back tomorrow. Uh, forgive me for my um not being as attentive to the stream as I should have been. I will be better tomorrow. Everybody take care. It's raining here and which means it's going to be incredibly muggy uh in an hour. So, good times everybody. Take care. Love you. Bye.