Video Perfection

After falling asleep on the couch last night I awoke to the video for "Beautiful Lie" by Shakira and Beyonce. Although not a bad video technically, and definetly a great video for the eye candy, in my barely awake state it flared connections that led me to thinking of this blog. I wrote this in my head about 2 this morning, let's see how it translates.
I no longer purposley watch videos for the most part as I believe it has really passed its prime. Back when we were watching MTV everyday after school there was a social relevance to it. That was our medium. It was created for us, and was singularly ours. But now, there's a reason MTV only plays about 4 hours of actual videos everyday: It's all been done.
This leads me to the point of this post. In 1985, 6 years before he would win a Best Director Oscar for 'Silence Of The Lambs', Jonathan Demme directed the video for New Order's song 'Perfect Kiss'. Never widely played, and only actually played a handful of times on MTV, the video stands today as the pinnacle of what a video could be. Both NYU and UCLA show it in their Video Production classes. For New Order fans, it is all that is great about the band. We see in thier faces even as they are creating this incredible piece of music live with no retakes, the sadness that underlies everything that they create. Born from the ashes of Joy Division after lead singer Ian Curtis's suicide due to near terminal epilepsy, New order set out to not stand in the shadow of their former band. Yet in so doing,they couldn't overcome it. Bernard Sumner, guitarist for Joy Division stepped into the lead singer spotlight, becoming renowned as the most unwilling frontman in music. Peter Hook, the bassist for both bands continued to wear his bass low and play it at punk rock speeds no matter the song. Stephen Morris took on the sampling keyboards, eschewing the drums, during the age of machine rock, while his wife Gillian played melody keyboards. They were, and still are in my opinion, nearly perfect in their musical meshing. The most unlikely creation of a band, with the most unassuming members, have become one of the most succesful bands of all time. Even today they are still playing, recording, and touring yearly, with only Gillian staying home to look after kids and business matters now. Indeed, as my second favorite group, I could have picked ANY of their songs to put on my Finetune 'Wander Well' list. The song I chose is 'Who's Joe', the first song off their most recent album, "Waiting For The Sirens Call". A song that is just the lead in to the album, and recieved no air play. If you can pick a song like that to best represent what you love about a band on a list of favorites, that is a band with some meat on its bones.
Like New Order, or thier music, or not, the video speaks for itself.

Vince Young Is Doomed

Although well documented among gamers, it is less well known among most simple sports fans of the 'Madden Curse'. That is almost every player featured on that years Madden NFL game has recieved a season or even career ending injury right after the games release. It is true, it is strange, and although I can't think of any examples to give you, it is well documented throughout the net, and some even gamble on who will be on the cover that year, what injury the player will recieve, and how long they will be out. I personally know people that will eschew picking that certain sports superstar in fantasy drafts. So, as I believe there have been vague rumblings on this blog about a contributor or two being Vince Young fans, I thought I would let you know of Vince's terrible fate.
Here's the word straight from the fat man himself:

"You've heard the rumors and read the betting odds (IGN called LT even and Vince Young 3-2 favorites), but nothing was made official until John Madden's radio show on KCBS when the man behind the biggest sports franchise in gaming officially named Titans QB Vince Young as the Madden NFL 08 cover athlete."Vince Young is going to be on the cover…why, is that not out yet…did I just let something out of the bag?" Madden said on his show this morning as the hosts asked him about the rumors.
Madden was also asked about the cover curse saying that he's never heard from a player on the cover complaining about the curse, adding: "We had one version where I was on the cover, so I was thinking if you admit there is something to it, then it's going to get you if you're on the cover, so I had to pooh-pooh it."

John, looking at you, I can't help but think there are few things on this earth you haven't pooh-poohed at least once.

The questions I really want to ask.

I recently got a response from an eAcrimony match that read something like "Sorry I didn't really answer your questions, I guess I'm just sick of all these prefab eHarmony questions."

"Not a problem" I responded. I was lying, of course. Seriously, those were underhand pitches compared to some of the questions I've asked. Why do I ask hard questions you may query? Because when I get matched up with party girls or girls who I just don't seem to click with, I send hard questions to shoo them away. I send these kind of questions, or pick random prefab questions, because I can't ask the questions I really want to ask. Here is a random sampling of the questions I really want to ask, but tact prevents me from sending.

* Why aren't you more interesting?

* What possessed you to type your entire profile in CAPITAL LETTERS, LIKE YOU'RE SHOUTING, "THE LAST BOOK I READ WAS HARRY POTTER."

* Why don't you have an upper lip?

* We all make spelling mistakes, but how did you manage to misspell "Texas" in addition to a third of your profile? I mean seriously, did you not think it a good idea to proofread?

* Do you honestly think that anyone will respond to you if you don't post any pictures? It's been three weeks, girl. Find a friend with a camera phone.

* Why on earth would you post pictures of you with your friends when your friends are all better looking than you? It makes me want to get to know you just so I can meet your friends.

* Why would you post pictures of you at some resort or national park where the location comprises 98% of the picture and you are the speck in the middle? I want to see what you look like. If I wanted to see the Grand Canyon, I'd go buy a postcard.

* Why are all your answers and open communication completely incongruent with what you have in your introductory profile? Those are supposed to represent who you are, not what you want others to think you are like.

* Why would you answer the question "Why did you join eHarmony" with "because my friends made me"? If you're not looking for a lasting relationship, you are seriously wasting everybody's time.

And, the one I've wanted to ask most often,

* Would you be really offended if I truthfully answered why I closed the match? I mean, would "because I find you unbelievably boring and/or unattractive" be such a bad answer? Wouldn't you appreciate the truth?

As you can tell, I'm feeling pretty cynical right now.

Haloid

Although not representative of Halo play at all, this video is indicitive of the incredible user created media that is being released more and more from within the gaming community. This video speaks volumes to me about what we will be watching in the future, both from private citizens and the entertainment industry as they slowly merge. There is goodness out there Gentleman, and soon we will reap its rewards.

Edit: This is the original video, much larger and clearer then the bastardized 'digity' YouTube copy.

Edit Edit: While editing to add the last edit I deleted the video itself. Sorry, I suck.

Edit Edit Edit [from Swany]: I fixed the video. I am awsome.. ;-)

Well said ...

I happened to be perusing the net today and stumbled upon an interview with Battlestar Galactica's Ronald Moore. It was a good interview and can be found here. What I really liked though was this quote which made me want to set up a lunch between Moore and the creators of Lost. Now I have not seen the last two episodes of Lost, but I seriously doubt that they have changed their mindset to be one like Moore's. Here are his thoughts:

But the tease only works to a certain point. Ultimately, if you take the story all the way to the end, you do need to give the audience some answers to some of these things. Maybe not everything. There's probably some elements that we will leave mysterious even after the show is over. But I think you have to at least ground the audience in some reality for some of these things that have happened. Even if the explanation is a supernatural one, you want to give them some explanation and feel a payoff for the time and effort they've put into the show up to that point.

The reason I have not seen the last two episodes of Lost is because I don't feel like I am going to get that payoff.

Some more Spidey stuff to get you in the mood...

A little over two more weeks till Spiderman 3 comes out. I saw a link on Pop Candy to this video by Snow Patrol who contributed a song to the soundtrack. It's not technically brilliant, but it's awesome nonetheless. Really makes me want to be a kid again:

As Wander's mom once told me, "If they make fun of you again, and ask you if you know karate, just give them a good karate kick to the nuts!"

My wife came home today and asked me a somewhat perplexing question about the tragedy at Virginia Tech yesterday--when is the backlash going to start? Out of all the new information that was disclosed today about who the shooter was--being a loner, seriously depressed and deranged, on the brink of a psychotic break perhaps--what some have focused on was his race.

For an Asian here in the United States, I guess it's only natural to think this way. I hate to admit it, but the thought had crossed my mind, as well. Living in the minority in this country, we can't help but think this way. Life is a constant struggle to measure up to the majority. When we don't, it plays as an example of how we're inferior and perhaps lower-class citizens. And when a minority commits the ultimate act of murder, well, break out the torches and prepare the nooses 'cause it's time for a lynching. When the Japanese invaded at Pearl Harbor, Americans (who happened to be of Japanese descent) were rounded up and placed in internment camps. The acts of a radical group of Middle Eastern terrorists on 9/11 brought a wave of racism that many in this country still struggle with.

Timothy McVeigh kills 168 people in Oklahoma, and the country pointed to his extremist beliefs. At Columbine, it was the proliferation of media violence and suggestive music that was to blame. Charles Whitman and his killing spree from atop the University of Texas tower? Child abuse. Granted, these were acts committed by isolated people not affiliated at all with any larger entity that would pose any continuing threat, but I use them to illustrate the point that we didn't question their racial backgrounds in the aftermath. No one is going to go out and say that Caucasians are dangerous. And I'd hope the American people won't make an issue about Cho Seung-hui's Asian or Korean ethnicity either.

The guy was clearly not psychologically sound based on what little the community knew about him, and perhaps his racial background played a role in pushing him further into an isolated world within himself instead of fully interacting with those around him. I've often felt that sense of isolation at times just from being a minority in this country, and I find myself a bit intrigued by how he fell into this hole of despair. I share some similarities to him, being the first generation of an immigrant family to grow up here in the States and being a bit of a quiet loner (although not quite to his extent). I even noticed that I have the same birthday as him. Yes, it was tough being a kid with immigrant parents who spoke with accents and did things differently than what we saw other "American" families do. It's hard enough to fit in with the peer pressures of childhood and adolescence, and harder still with parents that were trying to fit in themselves. What makes me different? Perhaps I wasn't genetically fated to have the extreme psychiatric issues he may have had. I don't know. What I do know, though, is that I grew up with a close group of friends that never made race an issue. I was raised in perhaps one of the more racist areas of the country, and at times I think it was just by the pure grace of God that I met friends like the Kool-Aid Gang of this blog.

So when my wife asks me if there's going to be a backlash, I really hope that there isn't. There's certainly other minorities in this country dealing with the same issues as this guy who perhaps are sitting on that tipping point between a decent life and a tragic one. If we can learn anything from history or even this horrific event, it's that racism only fuels more disaster.

Why you don't want to be late paying rent...

Is it just me, or does Will Ferrell have a slight resemblence to Scratch?

[Click on the picture to get to the video]

Channeling your inner Norris...

OK, guys. Yet another version of the Kool-Aid Gang banner. It's perhaps a bit too reminiscent of that movie Sidekicks, but I kind of like it. I even managed to get Scratch out of the Phantom Zone, brought Willie out from the background, and blew up George a bit.

I'm back in black, too. I think the sidebar needs a revamp. Suggestions?

In case you ever wondered what Star Wars would have been like with The Hoff...

Now that's some comic book movie casting I wasn't expecting...

When I heard that they were going to make a new Incredible Hulk movie that would have no continuity or relation to Ang Lee's version with Eric Bana, I wasn't all that enthused. But Edward Norton as the Hulk? They've got my attention now.

I thought Eric Bana was pretty good in The Hulk, but I don't think the CGI was quite up to par. A shame, really, since it was an extremely well done film otherwise.

Anywho, Ed Norton and the Hulk? I think I just heard Firecracker George "WOOHOO!" somewhere in Texas. Imagine if Ang Lee was helming this one--I think his head would have exploded.

That was Sofa King Great!

Very rarely do I watch Saturday Night Live anymore, especially since you can get most of the funny stuff online the following day. Something struck me differently this last week, and I decided to record it on my dvr. I usually stop watching after the first 30 minutes or so because the skits don't seem to be as funny later in the show, but when it is recorded it is a different story.

I happened to watch this last week and suprisingly enjoyed the whole thing. My favorite skit though was one that didn't strike me as funny at all at first. But then I realized that it was Sofa King Great.

To put a nice little bow on this wonderful post you should head over to their website and check out some of the videos. Sofa King is a good one, Shia and Maya was funny when Maya flips out and Shia almost loses it, and then you should dig into the depths and watch Laser Cats 2.

Nothing like a good puppet show...

I debated as to whether or not to post this video, but then I said, "Eh. We're all adults here. It's all in good fun." It's rather NSFW, and makes "D@ck In a Box" rather tame in comparison. Kind of reminds me of that gear-shift cozy that Firecracker George knitted back in high school.

Yes, a truly romantic song that would make any woman absolutely melt with desire for you.

(My apologies to Wild Willie's wife--it just occurred to me that he will now be wooing you with this catchy tune):

Do YOU know what to do with monsters?

What Are you Gonna Do To The Monster - Click Here for more great videos and pictures!

For when your personal bouquet isn't quite as appreciated by others...

Playing with fire can be dangerous, and if farts are flammable, do you really want to be lighting matches while you're doing your business?

This stuff must really work, because the website where it is sold says it's already sold out!

Say "goodbye" to the courtesy flush. Just two drops of Ritual's Nature Calls Toilet Deodorizer in your toilet water, prior to your morning constitutional, obliterates all odor. This truly revolutionary, plant-extract-derived solution doesn't just cover up your funky fumes, it eradicates them with extreme prejudice.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

OK, I've been a bit stressed out lately, meaning I find ways to really waste my time. This includes cleaning the lint out of the cracks of my cell phone, watching late night showings of B-movies on TBS, and playing around with the appearance of this blog. The format may radically change over the next week or so unless I find some other way to calm down and relax.

Question: Which background color do you guys prefer, the new white or the old black? And what do you think of the new title banner? Too big? Too busy?

For Firecracker George

I watch this video and it's like I'm with you.

Sighting #9

On a recent trip to Austin, I happened to stumble upon this little guy on the corner of 5th and Congress.

Official uniform of the Kool-Aid Gang?

Forget those high-fallutin' designer jeans that cost upwards of $200+. We need man jeans! This picture speaks for itself:

3 More Weeks!

Who else is getting super excited? I know I am.