One more (for now). This is a great performance by Sinead O'Connor of a song I had never heard before, Lagan Love.

That's a great Hamlet! Directed by Gregory Doran, based on his 2008 production. Theater directing is the one interpretive art that I feel I get, because it's made up of choices I can experience (particularly when the play is a familiar one, so I can compare the choices to those of other productions). In this Hamlet, time and time again lines mean something different than I'd ever heard them mean before, and not giving the impression that Doran and his cast were trying to be clever, but making me feel "Oh that's what Shakespeare meant!" That I can't think of a specific example shows me it's time to rewatch this. Thanks for bringing it up, Jim.

Especially the last minute or so: Malagueña - Gaby Moreno

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Thanks everyone — and keep them coming, keep digging, keep raising the bar higher and higher, looking for rarer and rarer examples of rare performances. I have a few more that I'll post soon.

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A performance of a kind, and her only truly televised interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1zw...aXNwZWN0b3I g

I’ve watched that interview too many times, Cam. She passed away soon after.

Here's a extremely great performance of Summertime by Janis Joplin.

Well, I'll give a nod to Heath Ledger. I thought he was fantastic in Brokeback Mountain, which should have won best picture (on a night when Hollywood was patting their backs on being so inclusive, Crash being the winner...) And then the only superhero movie I ever liked, because of him (swear to God, Nolan should thank the stars for him). So, for me, it is not the best performance (tho it is), but the best poetic moment. It is funny and painful. Whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stranger.

Here's one for you -- Dan Vasc is a Brazilian singer, classically-trained, but whose main genre is heavy metal. His cover of Amazing Grace is an incredible performance -- the things he does with his voice across multiple register changes are really impressive, and as a longtime chorister I am in awe (/envious) of his breath control. https://youtube.com/watch?v=89g9yMGFGlM

(For lots of needy details about how he's vocalizing, here's a great reaction/breakdown video by a vocal coach: https://youtube.com/watch?v=bFG6LZM3EDA)

His Adeste Fidelis is also a thing of joy. More Christmas carols should be sung this way! https://youtube.com/watch?v=EyrqmLfh-Qs

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These are all so enjoyable to experience. Thank you.

A film scene that at the time gave me an epiphanic jolt was “The Choice” scene in Sophie’s Choice. What makes this scene so great upon repeated viewings is not the noir-tinged, wide-angle camera work that portrays the utter banality of evil that was so eviscerating, nor was it the flawless acting of Streep, but rather the acting of the child, Sophie's daughter, in her arms. It is incomprehensible to me how a child that age can so perfectly embody the character they are playing. The displaced scream that is shown on Sophie’s face but heard as the child’s scream is cinematic magic. I am forever grateful for having seen it.

Here it is.

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