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Love those Conchords. Love that French.
It is only recently that I've gotten in to Flight of the Conchords. I blame this on not having HBO and not really being very hip. Regardless, I have finally found these two fellows and have found them to be brilliant.
In an article a little be related to the previous one on the 8th, I picked out the genius clip below. Admittedly, it is not Business Time or Motha Uckas which are also hilarious, but it is funny even to those who speak the most basic French. That's the point and it's scary to find that when asking for a croissant, I have found myself in a similar point of assing out. Just like when I'm at the ATM and wonder, "Gee, how about trying some Español for once?"
Anyways, this is funny on many levels. Enjoy.
The Joy of Sound
There has been many a time when I put up a post and realize that it's lacking something and that my explanation in words pales in comparison to actually hearing what it is that I'm writing about. For instance, there is just no way that you can transcribe the "genius" shared by two art students talking about how much their parents suck and no one understands them. Also a problem is how to expertly draft text to convey that pinched nasal quality of princessy girls walking around, while talking on their cellphones.
I have tried as much as I can to meet the needs of having only text and image at my disposal, yet while the image may excel, the text falls short. So, given that I built this whole thing (yes, WordPress is excellent and I recommend it to those who don't code, but I have to have geek pride in all of this, since I do this for a living) I had to build a system by which to upload sound clips. After spending a good chuck of today thinking about the best way to do this, getting bored, going for an ice cream, and then a baguette for tomorrow, and then wine, and then coming back, and then eating some food to counteract the wine, I hit upon a solution.
So, here I present my first audio track on the site. Advances pardons if this doesn't work perfectly everywhere as I'm still cleaning it up. It uses a Flash plugin to play, but otherwise, it's pretty straightforward. You can listen to my most favorite track from Radiohead's, "In Rainbows" and that's about it.
I just ordered a Zoom H2 recorder, so there will be more sound to follow in the future. Hopefully good sound, or at least amusing sound. I make no promises other than that there will be future sounds. I will not ever be building a video function for the site, since that's just craziness and there are so many sites out there that handle video needs so much better...
Indian Music Video Rampage
These are a bit old news, but they're incredibly silly, so I'm posting them. Basically some English speaker went and put what he thought they were saying in the videos as subtitles. Racially insensitive? You betcha. Funny nonetheless:
I'd say you could stop watching about halfway through. There are some funny bits after that point, but it gets a bit repetitive. Still, if you're reading this blog, then most likely you've got some time to kill. And in that case, I'd recommend checking out this one. The subtitles aren't as funny, but the video is really, really silly. Again, it gets a bit repetitive as well, so use your own judgment in when to stop.
The Novel Approach of Radiohead
For those who haven't heard, Radiohead, the musicians behind the soundtrack to a good deal of my life, have decided to release their new album in a, "pay what you please" manner. No "suggested donation" or "free, free, free", but what you like. So pleasant and ultimately, how British, huh?
More than likely this will pan out okay for them. One reason is that Radiohead fans are loyal. We love all that they do (even the recent albums) and they're one of the few groups we feel like paying for. Admittedly a great deal of people just steal the albums, but I actually own real copies of all their CDs.
Another reason this is a good deal is because their distribution costs are nearly non-existent. Just paying for some server storage and bandwidth is about all that they've got to deal with.
The last big reason that I think this will work is because buying the album is problematic. No, not getting at it on their site, but doing any kind of conversion from British Pounds on the Oanda currency conversion site. That thing is completely inundated which tells me that people are looking up how much to spend and thusly spend once they know. Maybe I'm just guessing with this, but it really seems possible.
I am going to buy this album for download. What price am I going to pay? $5 USD. Seems like nothing, but if you figure that most artists only get $1 from any album they sell while on a label, then this is a 500% increase in what the artist is making and honestly, I find this to be a pretty good cost for music. Maybe I'm just cheap, but it's the way I see it. It would be good if Radiohead released sales figures and statistics a month after they "release" it, as I am very interested to see how this all goes down.
On 10-10-07, I downloaded the album now and have been listening to it non-stop. I think it's one of the finer things the group has done since Kid A.
From their site.
A Salute to Elvis, a Little Late
Not surprising, there has been a lot of hoopla around Europe about Elvis's death anniversary, which I'm realizing now was last Wednesday. I'm sure that there was even more in the US because while The Beatles were the band, Elvis was the man.
I do have to admit that I like Elvis, but am probably more a Beatles person. Despite this, in a belated salute to Presley, I present a remix of one of my favorite songs, which I wouldn't have even have known existed if it weren't for Ocean's 11 using it in the soundtrack. Enjoy the rock and roll:
Robbie Williams: Dreamy yet Evil
For those in the US, there's this guy named Robbie Williams who has been on fire in Europe for years. His lovey ballads, sweet voice, and good looks have been charming the ladies across the pond to no end. I have no idea why he never caught on in the US, since the US likes pop music just like anyone else, but as is such, he has not. Okay, like whatever, no harm done.
Ah, but then there was this song of his called, "Feel" or something like that. It was über popular when it came out a couple of years ago and it seems that it has never really let up. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the song. It's not something I'd listen to that much personally, but it's okay. The problem is that it keeps following me everywhere I go, through different towns, and different countries in Europe. You remember that scene in that abysmal Spielberg film, Minority Report, where Tom Cruise walks around with his new eyes and he keeps getting identified everywhere? Well, it's something like that and when each radio recognizes me, it immediately switches to "Real Love" to try and woo me over to the side of The Williams.
Seeing as how this is either myself to blame or an evil conspiracy by The Williams, I would like to now apologize to Europe as a whole for this. I don't mean to keep having this song repeat everywhere I go and I promise, I'll soon leave your countries so that you can go back to listening to Take That, or Pussycat Dolls, or whatever. This was never my intention to cause anyone any harm and I'll be back in the US soon where The Williams can't reach me anymore and y'all will have back some new pop music.
No clue, but thank you Google Image Search.
I Now Worship Lily Allen
After reading a post on wwtdd.com about Lily Allen I am now in awe. Much like Brandon says, who writes at What Would Tyler Durden Do?, this girl just makes some flat out sense. Something that you just don't see these days. Naturally, it helps that she's English. They seem to have their crap together in general and if they've had any kind of strife in their life, they're so logical, it would burn Spock's ears.
Top it all off, I actually like her music as well. I don't really know what to call it. It's kinda poppy, but sorta edgy. Probably need to crank it in my 6-4 where my system be at. At least you can hear her accent when she sings. Not like those Milli Vanilli guys. They didn't sound German at all when they sang. So weird.
Your Age Catches Up With You
And here we are in a new year. We'll see how this one unfolds. Even numbered years are typically pretty good for me. Not that 2005 was a crapper. It had its up and downs, ending pretty much on an up, so no regrets really.
With the world getting another year older as we perceive our place in time and space, it can't help but remind me that in two weeks, I'll be another year older. Still in my twenties thankfully, but this is the last hurrah for the age starting with a 2. In 2007, it's gonna be a big 3-0, so you can understand that I'm predicting that year to be shite, a year in advance. Well, that's not entirely true, my life tends to get better the older I get.
My reflection on age is not only brought about by the shift in the calendar, but also because I was just put in my place by a band called Roses Are Red. I know little about them except that they did a tribute to the Smashing Pumpkins song, "Cherub Rock". Wait a minute, a tribute?!! What the whoreface is up with that?!! I remember when that album came out. I owned it! I did covers of it in my band in high school. I mean, it just came out in... oh, July of 1993. That is 12 1/2 years ago. Is this really old enough for a tribute? Seems like it's just old enough to be on Burger King commercials of something.
I guess a rebirth of the grunge era from the early 90's wouldn't be all that bad. There was some really cool, creative music that came out then. It was great and it sure would beat the 80's crap out now or the pop-wannabe tough rock of turdles like Avril Lavigne and Scott Stapp.
Okay, fine, I'll suck it up. Bring it on. Play the hell out of Nirvana. Just make sure to do it after Courtney Love sells her rights to the songs that she was somehow mistakenly awarded.

