Macy's Parade Gets Rick Roll'd

Exactly how it sounds.

Tune of the Day #22

Björk, Mark Bell, Sjón & Lars von Trier - New World


From Selmasongs, a collection of re-produced songs from the movie Dancer in the Dark. Even if you don't like Björk, it's hard not to like this expansive, definitively European orchestral trip hop tune. Freaking awesome finale.

Note: the posted track has all kinds of errors in it, both tagging and encoding. For better quality, try this ogg file instead (you'll need a plugin to play this in most commercial audio programs, like iTunes or Windows Media Player).

Tune of the Day #21

Wynton Marsalis Septet - Local Announcements


From Live at the Village Vanguard. (The single disc, not the 7-disc set. Although presumably it's on both.)

Because We Can Never Get Enough...

....we are reading about the life story of...
COBRA COMMANDER

A Nice Trip Down Memory Lane...

....for those of us who were kids in the 80s and early 90s. Classic GI Joe vehicles, and why they're stupid.

Tune of the Day #20

Wilco - Hell is Chrome

From A Ghost is Born.

Thank you... Sarah Palin.

These ads, they're crazy. The PAC says their only spending millions upon millions of dollars putting them out to raise more money to put more ads out.
Note: "You've gotta raise money. Ask Barack Obama: he raised a billion dollars to BUY the presidency."

Best staircase ever

I want to go to Columbia just for this.

Big walrus

I don't know what to say to this.

Edit: Also, this.

Tune of the Day #19

Richard Cheese - Down with the Sickness


This Disturbed cover is probably the best thing Lounge Against the Machine ever put on tape. (Yes, this is the track from Dawn of the Dead).

Tune of the Day #18

Ralph Vaughan Williams' Youth and Love (from the Songs of Travel)

Bryn Terfel sings, Malcolm Martineau plays. This has been my song of the month. Absolutely stunning.

Tune of the Day #17

Smashing Pumpkins - The Beginning is the End is the Beginning


This is the song that totally made the first trailer for Watchmen. It's an alternate B-side version of that song from the Batman & Robin soundtrack, The End is the Beginning is the End.

Stop or I will shoot

Here's a helpful language guide: "Somali-useful phrases". They might come in handy if you end up sailing the Gulf of Aden.

Tune of the Day #16

The Postal Service - Be Still My Heart


A Postal Service B side. Also possibly the best song they ever recorded. You can find it on the "We Will Become Silhouettes" single. But don't take my word for it: Pitchfork gushes, "[Be Still My Heart] sounds more or less like a Death Cab demo with a few anxious clicking noises added to it." What are you waiting for?

Tune of the Day #15

Soul Coughing - Screenwriter's Blues


Just a great song.

Tune of the Day #14

Calexico - Black Heart


Awesome song from "Feast of Wire". I am still upset about missing this band a few weeks ago.

Lullaby of Cain

Don't mean to step on the Tune of the Day posts, but I just freakin' love this this song. So haunting, so beautiful. Wish I had written it...

Tune of the Day #13

People Under the Stairs - Acid Raindrops


My new favorite, PUTS is an awesome retro sounding hip hop group from LA. They just released a new album called Fun DMC that you can buy for $6.99 on Amazon.com (MP3). This song is from an earlier album, Original Sound Track (O.S.T.)

Tune of the Day #12

Lulu-vise by Knutsen & Ludvigsen

Performed by Erik Halvorsen with Sondre Lerche and his band, "The Lulu Song" is a fun little Norwegian kid's song that I like. It's the hidden track on the album "Duper Sessions". Translation here.

Tune of the Day #11

Brahm's Ein deutches Requiem, I. Selig sind, die da Leid tragen


Simon Rattle conducts the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in this fantastic recording of the German Requiem. I had a hard time deciding which movement to post, because they are all so incredible. I was leaning toward IV for its unparalleled choral fugue, or II for its sheer drama, but the first movement ("Blessed are those who mourn") won out for its simple beauty and excellent introduction of the dramatic musical language used throughout the work.

Tune of the Day #10

Of Montreal - Montreal


I saw this band in Dallas last night, and it was a blast. Two and a half hours of completely over-the-top super-surreal, ambiguously sexual psychedelic performance art with a bizarre disco funk sound track. So today I've decided to post their namesake track from their debut album Cherry Peel, recorded more than a decade ago when they were just another part of the Elephant 6 collective trying to sound like the Beatles.

Tune of the Day #9

Rozhdestvensky/Tariverdiev - Gde-to daleko


My choice today is a Russian pop song from World War 2, performed by Dmitri Hvorostovsky on his live DVD "Songs from the Russian War Years" as well as the album "Where are you, my brothers?", which you can buy on Amie St for like a buck. The title translates roughly to "Somewhere far away", but I don't speak Russian and can't find a full translation anywhere else, so you'll have to take my word for it that every song on that album is really, really depressing (there are translations provided in the amazing concert DVD, all of you should watch it immediately).

Runner up: "The last battle", from the same album.

Tune of the Day #8

Tom Waits - The Hokey Pokey


This NSFW live recording will forever change the way you think about the Hokey Pokey. If you're curious, most of the words to this unique interpretation come from another Tom Waits song, "Pasties and a G String".

Tune of the Day #7

Massive Attack - Silent Spring


Today's TOTD is a trip hop B-side. I like it.

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

I'm finally coming to terms with how awesome this webcomic is.

Tune of the Day #6

Arnold Schoenberg, Op. 1, No. 1: "Dank"


Tove Loenskov accompanies baritone Lars Thodberg Bertelsen in Schoenberg's first published piece, a Brahmsian epic lied that just kinda rocks. If you like it, check out No. 2, "Abschied".

Get Your War On - New World Order

This is the first episode of GYWO that I've actually laughed at.

Tune of the Day #5

Wir sind Helden - Gekommen um zu bleiben

I haven't really heard anything else by this band (German for "We are heroes") that didn't suck, but this tune ("Came to stay"), which hit #24 on the German charts in 2004, is pretty fun.

Key quote: "Ist dieser Fleck erst in der Hose, ist er nicht mehr rauszureiben."

Song of the Day #4

E lucevan le stelle


This is Franco Corelli singing under Franco Ferraris with the Philharmonia Orchestra the aria that begins the final act of Puccini's masterpiece Tosca. In this aria we hear the condemned painter Cavaradossi writing one final letter to singer Floria Tosca, his love, basically saying "I don't want to die". The important thing to note is that Franco Corelli can do things with his voice we mortals can hardly comprehend.

Song of the Day #3

The Mountain Goats - No Children


John Darnielle ends every show with this tune from the album Tallahassee.

Dumb joke

Sorry.

Shiba Inu Puppy Cam

Here you go. (Thanks to HighFB)

Film School

The next time you watch a film, notice if there are lobsters in it.

COMPRESSED SONG COMICS "WOULDN'T IT BE NICE" BY THE BEACH BOYS

The Beach Boys... well, it seems the Beach Boys wish they were older, living together, and sleeping with each other.
They describe such a scenario as "nice"!
Other scenarios they describe as "nice" include all five Beach Boys waking up together, spending the day together, and then holding each other close. They also wish their kisses were neverending, as that would be nice, and they wish they were all married, because if they were married, they'd be happy. "Wouldn't [that] be nice?", they ask each other in the chorus, largely rhetorically.
(more)

New Favorite Pasttime

Google Trends. this morning, the number one search was definitely "what weapon is synonymous with samurai warriors"
CRAZY!!!

Facebook status update

A friend of mine who formerly attended UGA compiled the following list of remarkable Facebook statuses from her deep south friends on hearing Obama won:

1) "i need to lock the door so that the terrorists don't get me"

2) thinks the world has never seen a blind following like Obama has since the likes of Hitler. be afraid america cuz here comes the USSA.

3) Palin is still hott...

4) is not proud of america right now but is damn proud to be from Georgia! At least we didnt help put that idiot in office!

5) will be glad to stop hearing uneducated political comments and urges anyone who has nothing but negative things to say to feel free to leave the US.

6) is no worries Texas will succeed from the nation.

7) is really?! ok buckle up, America.

8) is its ok im from Texas were going to secede from the Nation then take over America to expand the Republican Empire of Texas 08.

9) is remembering that at the end of the day, it is still God's plan.

10) wishes people knew what they really just elected... Romney 2012.

11) yknow what the awesome thing about this is? Another four more years of people shitting their pants cause they didn't get their way.

12) is PALIN 12!!

13) is in Arkansas with a black man just elected. oh i hope i don't get lynched!


14)This is ridiculous. Packing my bags for the DR.

15) thinks Jesus is coming back soon since Obama won the election

16) IS moving to mexico and is going to build a tree house like in the swiss family robinson. Whos with me?

17) Learn about real socialism.

18) is praying for our country...

19) is DEAL WITH IT AND SUCK MY DICK.

20) don't worry about the terrorists...just shine that big ol' rock on your finger...it'll blind them! well, maybe not, they may try to figure out a way to redistribute it to the poor.........

(Thanks to Ro)

A few results from last nite...

to offset your overwhelming joy:
al franken lost minnesota, while ted stevens (convicted felon) held his seat.
california, in a vibrant display of contradiction, voted for an amendment banning same sex marriage and against a law saying that minors should have to notify their parents before getting an abortion. effectively pissing off everyone.
way to go california. what the crap?

Help me Wolf Blitzer, You're my Only Hope...

Wolf Blitzer took CNN to it's nerdcore max: interview via hologram.
not even joking.
And that's not the only techno-show off of the night: Ann Curry reads exit polls in a VR room.
thank God they finish this video by dispelling the illusion and showing that she's just standing in a green room... that green screening was so good, it was like she was a real person in a real room... almost.

Did anyone else catch McCain's concession speech?

If so, do you know what his exit music was? Because it was fantastic.

Update: It was the theme from Crimson Tide, a Hans Zimmer tune called ... "Mutiny". Listen away.

I'm a...

Uh... ...PC?

Song of Tuesday

They Might Be Giants - I'm All You Can Think About

Local Hero Of The Day

Here

Song of Thursday

You're welcome.

Benjamin Franklin Quote of The Day

"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

Swimming with tigers!

I'm jealous.

Last Clear Chance

MST3K clip of the day.

Worst best man ever

Wow.... this is awesome/terrible.

750,000 Jobs? Music and Piracy.

Just came across this this morning. I'm in the music business, and I'm constantly irritated by the endless crap debates about piracy, and the toll it brings on "the industry." Truth be told, it DOES take a toll, and there ARE real issues presented by the fact that many people now expect to get music for free or next to free. But what really grates my cheese is the constant focus by industry execs on how to get people to stop consuming music in the way that they (the people) want to do it, and consume in the limited ways the industry execs would like them too. Lessig's famous view is that what people are going to do (at least in regards to technology) is mostly dependent on what the technology permits them to do, not what the laws are. Sadly, I doubt most music industry execs have ever cracked a Lessig book...

The bottom line is that a lot of people bitch about piracy and decling revenue trends instead of getting off their fat butts and coming up with new business ideas. (I'm proud that my own indie music company is always focused first and foremost on new and proactive approaches to music monetization). I have a lot more radical copyright ideas that probably don't jive with the majority of the music business...and I'm not going to get into that here....on to the point of the post!

In the "war on piracy" a central weapon is sympathy the entertainment industry can drum up not only for the poor starving artists and songwriters but also for the workers who in the entertainment industry who are being hurt financially as music industry revenues decline. In lobbying efforts, two numbers are frequently tossed around: that music piracy cost the US some 750,000 jobs and took some $200-250 billion out of the US economy. Those are not small numbers at all.

Ars Technica investigated, trying to trace the sources of both of those numbers. As one might expect (yes, I'm going to spoil a bit of the article) neither of them have solid basis. In particular, the 750,000 number, as best anyone can tell, seems to have come from a 1986 statement by the then Commerce Secretary. It has since persisted, zombie-like, to this day, with politicians, pundits, and industry types all using each other as sources in a ridiculous circular argument on how internet downloading of music is destroying the American way of life.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending piracy, but we all need to address that and other issues with clear headed, rational arguments, open minds, and creativity, NOT with Eisenhower-era relics frantically clutching on to cushy jobs, inflated egos, and absolute control over the music enviornment....all of which are slipping away, although the latter may be one of the most under-explored elements in the entire anti-major label arguments.

Ok, that's enough from me...

Here's the Ars Technica article. Enjoy!

It's A Hard Working Life

Just slaving away on a Thursday afternoon...

John Cleese on Sarah Palin

It isn't funny, but it is John Cleese.

Mature political discourse!

Yay!

Christopher Buckley Resigns from the National Review

Apparently that's what you have to do when you endorse a Democrat. Here's his editorial on the shenanigans.

May I Share This Singular Comedian?

Bo Burnham promoting his debut album. Apparently, the dude fell like mana from heaven?
New Math
and Bo Yo
Dude's got mad skills.

H. Jon Benjamin is amazing

Howto: Palin-ing!

Interview Palin!

Handy website.

Great PAC

O's for Obama!

Lessig in WSJ

Lessig in the Wall Street Journal. Adapted from his new book Remix. The article title was not his idea apparently. Good reading though.

good quotes:

"In 1906, for example, perhaps America's then most famous musician, John Phillip Sousa, warned Congress about the inevitable loss that the spread of these "infernal machines" -- the record player -- would cause. As he described it:

"When I was a boy...in front of every house in the summer evenings you would find young people together singing the songs of the day or the old songs. Today you hear these infernal machines going night and day. We will not have a vocal chord left. The vocal chords will be eliminated by a process of evolution, as was the tail of man when he came from the ape."

A professional fearful that new technology would destroy the amateur. "The tide of amateurism cannot but recede," he predicted. A recession that he believed would only weaken culture."

"We need to restore a copyright law that leaves "amateur creativity" free from regulation. Before the 20th century, this culture flourished. The 21st century could see its return. Digital technologies have democratized the ability to create and re-create the culture around us. Where the creativity is an amateur remix, the law should leave it alone. It should deregulate amateur remix."

xkcd Inspires Real Feature

Google just implemented one of Randall Munroe's jokes in real life.

The Legend of Zelda

Yeah!

That's Some Good Eatin'

King Richard II's Recipe Book

Need A New Car?

I've wanted this for years.....

Gmail "Mail Goggles" Prevent Drunk Email

I love Google Labs.

New Andrew Bird Track

"Oh No". (Thanks to MisterCox)

Vonnegut quote of the day

"This, too, was the title of a book by Trout, The Gutless Wonder. It was about a robot who had bad breath, who became popular after his halitosis was cured. But what made the story remarkable, since it was written in 1932, was that it predicted the widespread use of burning jellied gasoline on human beings. It was dropped on them from airplanes. Robots did the dropping. They had no conscience, and no circuits which would allow them to imagine what happens to people on the ground. Trout's leading robot looked like a human being, and could talk and dance and so on, and go out with girls. And nobody held it against him that he dropped jellied gasoline on people. But they found his halitosis unforgivable. But then he cleared that up, and he was welcomed to the human race."
(Slaughterhouse Five)

Dunning-Kruger effect

"The Dunning-Kruger effect is an example of cognitive bias in which people who are worst at a task show the most illusory superiority, rating their own ability as above average."

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin

For the VP debate parody.
Key quote: "I believe marriage is meant to be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers."

New Preview Album Up!

New preview album up here It'll go on the SLM page when I get a chance. It's not strictly a preview of the upcoming new studio tracks - different songs for one thing - but it's the first new set of songness that has come out of my corner of the internet in several months. Start the ticker tape parade!

And Arrested Development Quote of The Day

From Lucille regarding to her Mexican housekeeper:

"Oh, please, they didn't sneak into this country to be your friends!!"

New Tracks On The Way

Soon soon soon...studio has been consuming us...but soon!

Craigslist needs a new job listing category

"Criminal accomplices"

Amazing photo search tool

This site instantly displays an assortment of pictures based on color input from you. Just try it out.

Ron English

Old billboard art. That is, guerrilla billboard art.

Windows 98

Don't you miss its great features, like user friendly password circumvention?

The neuropsychology of politics

Key quote:
"When someone in the audience pointed out that the researchers themselves appeared to be highly partisan observers, Amodio barked, "Big deal!" He explained that scientists do tend to be liberal, but that's on account of their predilection for the truth and tolerance for uncertainty. (They're also more creative than most other people, he added, which reinforces their bias to the left.)"

Christian Nymphos

The only site I have come across that lists "Biblical Studies" immediately below "Anal Sex". "WARNING: Some of the sexual acts we mention on our blog could cause physical damage to you or your spouse."

Porn for the Aleister Crowley set

If you know what I mean, you'll know not to watch it. Also, it's a music video for a song by Flying Lotus directed by Eric Wareheim with animation by Devin Flynn (whose usual work makes this look pretty normal).

Eugene Mirman Blogs the Conventions

This is pretty old now, but still hilarious.

MST3K Quote of the Day

"....and his coffin will be made entirely of coconuts..."

Superpoop

Not as good as Married to the Sea (The Champagne of Webcomics), but this one was great if only for being the first good Obama joke I've heard.

MST3K Quote of the Day

I'm going to try to post a new MST3K quote every day. A $50 gift certificate to "Stanley's Sprockets" to anyone who can identify it.

"Santa's laughter mocks the poor."

We'll see how long I keep this up.

BONUS QUOTE: Since the above was tweeted yestereve...here's another:

"Oh man, I know he's French, but HER???"

Very informative article

Way, way, way more than you ever wanted to know about laser guns. That is, the sci-fi type and their real-world practicality.

Slashdot post of the day

Highlights from all of the people who accuse them of working for various corporations and political parties. OK, if you find this funny, you've probably already read it on their site.

But.


Still.

I just like thinking what pushed them over the edge and made them post this today.

Current's animation is great

Today I bring you "Internet porn and you", but if you missed "Uncle Sam & 9/11", you should see it, too.

Advertisement of the year

1947

Jesus is My Friend

by Sonseed. Thanks to Semaj.

Awesome webcam

Watch it for Science.

I admit, every now and then fail is amazing

Like this.
And this.
Edit: And this.
Edit: Eschewing taste, this, too.

For fans of The Protector

This girl. Wow.

Sorry to get a little political

But this is too perfect.

The Rainbow Connection

An undeniable conspiracy. Thanks to Semaj Nosnibor.

do a j

watch this thing.

movie blog

found this great movie blog this morn that spends most of its time on bad horror... which i am TOTALLY all about.
the clever anecdotes strewn throughout the reviews almost make up for using phrases like, "LOL!" and "I felt like Cathy from the sunday comics."
the truth is, damage like that can be irrevocable. but it's a damn good anecdote.
here's her movie poster collection.
here's the aforementioned anecdote reviewing Food of the Gods.

At least God's in control

1.87 people die every second. Wrap your mind around that.

(redirected from comments on the Wired.com article for the LHC here)

Saving the Cougar Ace

Possibly the coolest job ever.

The makings of the best true crime story ever.

When the most mundane part was when the dog ate the weapon, you're looking at real entertainment value.

This is for you, Viper

There seems to be a bit of a cooking theme on this blog lately.

I have very strict requirements for my running mate, Mr Rove

I got all the qualifications you need right here.

Edit: Fixed broken link.

Socotra Island

Want to buy me a ticket?

FactCheck.org

Shouldn't this be illegal? Maybe I should just stop paying attention.

Reuters knows how to sell a story

Title only.