I need something light and The Kiffness provides it
Spending all day reading and writing about America’s current condition can be wearying, but something lovely fell into my lap.
I’d known about the band/performer known as The Kiffness because of a great video that took the viral Wellerman sea chanty and turned it into something magnificent, with people from all over contributing their musical talents:
For whatever reason, though, I never followed up on that by looking at the other offerings from The Kiffness. I should have. It’s amazing what he does. My two favorites are this recent one, which beautifully accompanies a cat having an existential crisis:
And this one, with a sergeant keeping his troops moving:
It turns out I’m not the only one who’s impressed. This video has had 57 million views:
I’m always overwhelmed and envious when I see people speak in the language of music. I’m completely monolingual. I can’t speak any of the world’s other verbal languages, and I don’t speak music either. All I can do is admire those who do.
Also, this kind of thing reminds me that, while the internet has exposed us to a world of awful events and awful people, it also brings joy, laughter, and beauty into our lives.
Speaking of technology, the image at the head of this post is AI-generated, which is both impressive and scary. Still, AI has some problems. This is the version I rejected even though, coincidentally, the woman looks a bit like me: