It's like when you're a kid, the first time they tell you that the world is turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standing still... The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour. The entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour. And I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world.
Reading a newspaper, I saw a picture of birds on the electric wires. I cut out the photo and decided to make a song, using the exact location of the birds as notes (no Photoshop edit). I knew it wasn't the most original idea in the universe. I was just curious to hear what melody the birds were creating.
I sent the music to the photographer, Paulo Pinto, who I Googled on the internet. He told his editor, who told a reporter and the story ended up as an interview in the very same newspaper.
Here I've posted a short video made with the photo, the music and the score (composed by the birds).
I got curious and had a look at some of Jarbas Agnelli's other videos were. Clever advert marketing with music here:
This was a classic case of beginning reading twitter, then ending up going through half a dozen related tweets and people, and spotting this video recommended amongst them. Oddly enough, my guides (girl scouts) did some stop motion animation with plasticine only the other week, but this is really great.
Some of you might be familiar with the British illusionist Derren Brown, perhaps because I might have subjected you to youtube videos or articles. He has turned his hand to stunts from psychologically influencing a group of business people to take a toy gun and hold up a bank security van in a street on a whim, to a seance, where you forget he's telling you what utter tosh it is, because you too get wrapped up in the trick. He even went to America, where he was unknown, and tricked alien investigators, psychics, and religious groups. Its all fairly intellectual with a slant of humour, and he's easy on the eye to look at.
After discovering my boss was almost equally fanatical about the man, we have also subjected colleagues to the amusement of his blog (in a similar way to Team Supahero, it is blogged by a team of people including Brown). One of his more amusing posts of late was a video from his dressing room. A proud owner of the Iphone and an mac air, he also, as you will find, does a mean impression of Stewie from family guy while in the fridge...
Creative media agency Boone Oakley have their whole site as videos on youtube. To add to this rather inventive presentation, they also have quite a humourous presentation of their creative talent, even if I haven't a clue what "The One" show is. (In the UK, "The One Show" is a weekday television programme on live at 7pm, by the BBC covering topical issues!)
I do wonder if the site will survive or die to internet hype....
The 'Umbuster' DESIGNER: Sruli Recht PRICE: US $330
This is an umbrella with an 'ergonomically positioned knuckle duster handle configuration'. It has been listed as a class 5 weapon in the US, and owning one requires a weapons and/or gun license.
'The Unbreakable Umbrella' PRICE: US $179.95
The Unbreakable Umbrella comes in both the crook and straight knob handle varieties, and is legal all over the world. Although it is as strong as a steel pipe, it weighs only 775 g. Oh, and there's a video:
My brain-hand coordination has been awful today. Earlier on, I went to comment on Kate's Facebook status and meant to say, "It [Bat For Lashes' music] is truly fantasmo" and wound up typing "They are truly fantasmo." Because in my head, rather than the word 'music', there was a picture of eyelashes and there were obviously more than one . Then after hitting reply, I thought, "Wait... WHAT?" And then commented again saying I meant 'it is' instead of 'they are'. Then I almost commented a third time to say, "Oh but actually, the first sentence could be read as they (Bat For Lashes) are, so ignore my second comment because you probably don't realise what I'm talking about." But before I hit send, I remembered that Bat For Lashes is only Natasha Khan and there is no 'they', so just what kind of crack am I on?
Earlier on, I also said to my friend, "he's a slut" after she told me there was this skank continually hitting on her boyfriend. And she got slightly offended and I had no idea why till I realised my 'he' was actually missing a crucial 's' at the start.
And, talking to Meghan on AIM, I just, not 2 seconds ago, called Maximus "Maximum".
To console myself, I went on a search for typos that would make me look like the Grammar & Spelling Queen of the Internet.
Anyway, I'm glad Kate posted that Bat For Lashes update because it reminded me of this odd video I saw last year. I don't even known why it creeps me out but it kind of does every time I watch it - especially when those 'animals' come riding their bicycles out of nowhere, then start jumping around on their bikes and slinking back behind her. It's reminiscent of how giant robots and animatronic creatures freaked me out when I was a kid.
While surfing the FunnyOrDie videos, I came across a couple regarding gay marriage and the supposed problem with that - star studded casts in both videos fighting to SAVE the union between men and women. Awesome satire going on, and after the shit Miss California pulled at the pageant, I thought these were pretty appropriate.
So after seeing PJ & Duncan (a.k.a. Ant and Dec) on that previous video Pam posted, I started thinking about all the good and bad music tha emerged from the 90s (mostly bad). I thought I'd start a little project in which we all post the songs we grew up with in the 90s. These songs aren't the songs YOU personally listened to and loved, but the ones you heard when you turned on the radio, the ones you danced to at every party, the ones you knew the lyrics to even though you despised them, and most of all, the ones that remind you of all the trauma and fun you had as a kid and teenager in that era.
I'll start off with my playlist and in the comments, list the songs that also apply to you. Then, think about the songs I did not have in mine, but that also shaped your 90s experience, and put them in your playlist!
If any of the tracks don't work, it's because Mixpod killed them and not because I didn't test my playlist before posting it. I don't know why but there are certain musicians who don't seem to want their songs used in this manner, so only remixes and live versions of their songs can be found. When someone uploads the original, it gets deleted rather quickly. Not sure if I picked any such songs...
There are two versions of 'Missing' by Everything But The Girl in my playlist because if I had to pick ONE SONG of the 90s that encapsulates the decade for me, it would be 'Missing'. The first version is one of the remixes, and the second version is the original track. I'm rather annoyed because Mixpod does not seem to have the specific Todd Terry remix of the song that I'm after, as that's the one that was the most popular at my school.
Oh and in case "Close To You" by Fun Factory did not sufficiently blow you away, here is another version of the song, complete with extra rapping. It is a fine masterpiece of a music video if I do say so myself. I mean, those sweet 90s dance moves. How will you ever pick your jaw off the floor and recover from the amazement?
HELPFUL MIXPOD TIPS
1. To create a playlist, go to Mixpod.com. You will find that hundreds of options pop up after you key in the title of a song. Which oh which will you select? Well, I have found that the songs that are NOT uploaded to Youtube load faster (they usually have a picture of a blank silver CD next to them, as opposed to the Youtube music, which has different colourful images). Of course, not all the blank silver CD tracks load equally fast so you usually have to play a few to see which loads the best. The fastest ones have loading bars that zoom to the end quite quickly. If a song seems to pause every few seconds when you play it due to the slow loading speed, it is best to pick another one (unless it just so happens that your own internet connection is extremely slow, and thus, all songs load slowly as a result).
2. Sometimes, a track doesn't have any versions with the blank silver CD icon, and all the versions are slow-loading Youtube ones. It's up to you but personally, I just wind up chucking out the song coz if it's going to take forever to load when I play the Mixpod, I get frustrated.
3. When you are customising your Mixpod, go to "Settings" and nix the autoplay, because if all our Mixpods autoplayed, our blog would be in trouble.
LOVE,
NATALIE
P.S. Wow. I actually managed to use all 5 blog categories in one post!
I saw the words 'goatee' and 'save' in the same word and thought: uh oh, no good can come out of this. Scott Bonge does not disappoint.
"Tired of the constant struggle every morning trying to get your goatee to look perfect? Goateesaver revolutionizes the way you shave and trim your goatee. Goateesaver can be customized to your face in seconds, with three easy adjustments. Just slide it over your mouth and shave to get the perfect look that women will admire and men will respect." - Scott Bonge
After going out yesterday and seeing about seven or eight different girls in 'My Boyfriend Is A Vampire' shirts, or 'I <3 Edward', I felt the need to make fun of it again. I don't know how I originally loved Twilight so much, and now the very thought of it makes me criiiiinge! Enjoy and marvel in the Twilight bashing!
NATALIE "TV rots your brain and makes you infertile. True story."
MEGHAN "I don't know how to put this but I'm kind of a big deal."
BRYONY "Longbottom, if brains were gold, you'd be poorer than Weasley, and that's saying something."
KATE "The letters after my name are BSc. (Hons)... oh yeah, 1st class baby."
PAMMY "Gosh, I don't think that I've ever been stressed out. Why would I be? I've got practically no responsibilities, my job's a breeze and I've got a KILLER rack. Good morning."
