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MOVE YOUR FEET
Junior Senior
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| Apparently the technology has been made available to broadcast one's thoughts directly from the cerebral cortex to the Internet, because this video is a pretty accurate representation of what I see in my head each time I listen to the greatest dance song ever crafted by two Danish musicians named Junior Senior. Everything is there, from the fiery squirrel protagonist to the highly suggestive champagne bottle money shot to the pineapple/oyster/starfish dance squad. And all of it is transmitted in glorious 8-bit splendor. The clip does raise one question, though: What has made this squirrel so angry that he feels inclined to massage the two band members with hot chili oil instead of massage oil and eventually destroy Earth? Best guess: He can't dance and the infectious, maddeningly danceable melodies of the song have driven him nuts. Rimshot. |
| Review by Andrew Gnerre ~ 26|Jun|2008 |
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HISTORY OF THE PREDICTIVE TEXT SWEARING
Armstrong & Miller
There's hardly anything more British than ignoring convenience for the sake of propriety. Still, though the Brits may be prissy, at least they have the presence of mind to turn their prudishness into comedy.
In this clip from the BBCs Armstrong and Miller Show two members of the "Predictive Text Commission" discuss the reasoning behind the inability of cell phones to predict the entry of swear words in text messages, and the results are both hilarious and enlightening.
In the end, it turns out that mobile phones fail to suggest curse words in order to clean up the public's dirty language. This, of course seems absurd. But, when the pair leave the office to find a group of teenagers censoring themselves in the same style as prescribed by predictive texting, you really have to wonder – do I control my phone, or does it control me?
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| Review by Doug Schrashun ~ 02|Jun|2008 |
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PORK AND BEANS
Weezer
The song "Pork and Beans" is nothing special to speak of, representing Weezer's inability to produce anything memorable post-Pinkerton, and this video propels the band even more into the pop culture of today instead of the nostalgia of Generation X. With this song, Weezer has produced another extremely creative music video, like they did for "Buddy Holly", which superimposed their performance onto an episode of Happy Days. Here, the premise is viral videos, prominently featuring such YouTube greats as the "Numa Numa"guy, Kelly of "Shoes" fame, the dramatic chipmunk, Tay Zonday, the man in "Evolution of Dance," and the dudes who artistically perform the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment. It is a video from a YouTube fan's dream.
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| Review by Genna Cherichello ~ 27|May|2008 |
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PENGUINS
BBC
Since March of the Penguins, the appeal of the Arctic creatures has been unyielding. This mockumentary-like BBC commercial about flying penguins features Terry Jones as a psuedo-David Attenborough walking through a penguin congregation, introducing their special new ability. Though short, the commercial packs the punch and truly communicates the strength of the BBC network's ability to introduce its viewers to amazing things, even if those things are fake. I have no idea how the footage was made to look the way it does (the penguins do indeed appear to be flying), but I will believe that when pigs fly.
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| Review by Genna Cherichello ~ 27|May|2008 |
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DESDEMONA GUITAR SOLO
Remember what it was like to play slide before you knew who Derek Trucks was? Life was great, wasn't it? Way back in those days, I used to feel like I knew what I was doing with a guitar in my hand: Thanks for clearing all that up for me, Derek.
With the usual heavy nod to Duane Allman and a quote from John Coltrane (around 1:25), Trucks pieces together another jaw-dropping solo during one of the Allman Brothers' many enagagements at the Beacon Theater in New York City circa 2003.
Check out the outrageous display of musicianship and dexterity at 2:10 where Derek fills a two second break to grab his slide by tapping some octaves with his free hand.
I'd love to meet Derek some day, and I'd sure as hell love to shake his hand... But come to think of it, he'd probably be too busy fretting a guitar.
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| Review by Alex Wernquest ~ 22|May|2008 |
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JACO PASTORIUS - SOLO
In terms of an electric bassist, few come close to the master Jaco Pastorious. The way he revolutionized the sound of the fretless bass, with use of extended techniques, effects processors, and his complete technical master of the instrument, puts him in a class all to himself. This video showcases him in a solo improvised setting where he shines with a huge stage presence. He manipulates the bass into a rhythmic, chordal and melodic machine, where he can create a loop and then play melodies over it. The only thing I may bring into question is the blatant disrespect for his instrument. He ends the performance by jumping onto his bass and then balancing it on his hand. Anyone who really appreciates a well-crafted instrument would not do that to classic fender bass, but I suppose we can excuse him in light of his brilliant performance.
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| Review by Alan Bjorklund ~ 22|May|2008 |
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JAMES BROWN AT THE OLYMPIA
Anyone who was lucky enough to see this timeless band live was blessed in my opinion. Each member of the band had to be completely worn out after this show, or any other for that matter. The way the visual and musical energy radiates from the stage is magical. Horn lines so crisp you would think you were hearing the studio cut on the radio and bass and drums so funky that nobody on stage can stand in place. It's amazing to see the little sections that develop in a live show like this where the fade outs would usually take place on the record. Not to take focus away from James Brown's masterful vocals and band leading, but he is really just the icing on the cake. This video is absolutely drenched in funk.
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| Review by Alan Bjorklund ~ 19|May|2008 |
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STAR WARS VS. SAUL BASS
Finally just what the Internet needs: a clever video about Star Wars. Seriously though, this match up of Saul Bass* (graphic designer who did a lot of classic title sequences for Hitchcock, Scorsese & others) with the holy grail of Sci-fi is pretty fantastic. It also shows us how lucky we are that George Lucas went with something a little less dated for the actual credits.
I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that although it claims to be the credits for Star Wars: A New Hope it features Max Rebo, the band leader who rocks Jaba’s Palace in Return of the Jedi. Why not just add Jar-Jar Binks and call it a day? Still, funny stuff.
*No relation to Lance.
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| Review by Mike Trainor ~ 19|May|2008 |
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RODNEY MULLEN'S GREATEST TRICKS
Rodney Mullen represents the perfect marriage of athleticism and artistry with his ability to use the entire board and his entire body to create a ballet of freestyle skateboarding. The clip opens with a cute, mute profession of love to skateboarding, and then cuts to a series of unbelievable stunts on surfaces from staircases to picnic tables to handlebars. Mullen boards on surfaces where I would be frightened to walk. The highlight (aside from his on-the-move handstand) is his quick-stepping, precise grapevine on the board. My only complaint about the clip is the music, but that is another story of my love-hate relationship with punk rock.
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| Review by Genna Cherichello ~ 19|May|2008 |
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SO WHAT
First recorded on Kind of Blue, the Miles Davis composition "So What" is heard here in a quintet setting, with who I believe is Wynton Kelly, John Coltrane, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. Towards the end of the clip, three random trombone players appear on the scene, a bit out of place if you ask me, but I have a sense of humor, so I can roll with it. They only play backgrounds under Miles' second short solo. Coltrane sounds like he is playing way more harmony than anybody else in the band, which doesn't say much for Wynton Kelly on this recording. Paul Chambers sounds solid when improvising under a solo, but on the head out he has some questionable intonation in a very exposed bass melody. Miles sounds melodic and thoughtful, yet not revolutionary.
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| Review by Alan Bjorklund ~ 19|May|2008 |
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NAIMA
The classic John Coltrane ballad "Naima" is captured in the most typical, but best possible format here, featuring Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner and Jimmy Garrison. The melody alone is such a powerful statement, phrased perfectly by Coltrane, being forcefully propelled by the rhythm section. McCoy's solo gets into his language of chromatic pentatonics grouped in fourths, which he made famous, along with Chick Corea, in the 1960's. He drops bombs of perfects fifths in the bass register to anchor the tonality with Garrison while Trane enters on a plateau and floats on top of all the drama. Once reaching a peak of insane genius intensity, the band restates the theme, and takes the coda out, as gently as it began.
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| Review by Alan Bjorklund ~ 16|May|2008 |
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CANON IN D
Oh funtwo, not only are you a guitar virtuoso and YouTube pioneer who has received over 42 million views, but you are modest as well; never letting us see the face of the man (child?) who is ruthlessly and pointedly tearing apart "Canon in D" like a young Eddie van Halen with a Web cam. And after the ashes settle and the children come out of their bomb shelters, you thank us? Us?! All we have done is sat at our computers and soaked in the radiance of your gold guitar and blazing talent. You are an inspiration and beacon of possibility for thousands of rebellious classically trained guitarists who want to trade Johann Pachelbel for Jimmy Page. You, good sir, are viral video royalty.
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| Review by Andrew Gnerre ~ 01|May|2008 |
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GOLDEN GIRLS THEME
Fatal Farm
The often unexpected, mostly disturbing, and always hilarious remakes of now canceled TV opening credits are Fatal Farm's specialty. A self-proclaimed "production company or something," Fatal Farm consists of Jeffery Max and Zachary Johnson and their remake of the Golden Girls' theme song is the perfect introduction to their series of theme remakes. The clip starts innocently enough as a faceless protagonist shapes ginger bread likenesses of the four Golden Girls, but takes a sinister turn as the cookie-maker bites the heads off of his sugary creations one by one. What happens next is, as you predicted, unexpected, disturbing, and also hilarious.
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| Review by Catherine Wernquest ~ 01|May|2008 |
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SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT
Samuel Bayer
If you were around and compos mentis during this seminal moment in rock and roll history, you would remember Sam Bayer's music video. Hell, it would be permanently embedded into your brain after just one viewing, whether or not you had ever heard of a rainy two-bit burg called Olympia. This piece heralding the official anthem of grunge, was technically simple - a basketball hoop, bleachers, smoke machines, some hand-held spots and a big dirty canvas backdrop. Nothing insane from a technical pov. In reality, the finished product is carried by the primal energy of Kurt and co, a gang of minxy cheerleaders, a horde of moshing adolescents, oh - and let's not forget the appearance of The Everyman, a janitor who represents the straight world at large, caught up in teen spirit .......at least for 4 minutes 56 seconds.
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| Review by Mara Marich ~ 30|Apr|2008 |
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INTERNET PARTY
Those Aren't Muskets!
Ever wonder what would happen if the websites you checked everyday came to life and threw a party? The folks at Those Aren't Muskets! present the world of an internet party in which all the guests are physical embodiments of websites from Google to Cracked to Wikipedia and Ebay. And if you thought that getting poked online through Facebook was annoying, just imagine how annoying Facebook's all-knowing, constantly updating newsfeed would be if someone were standing next to you at a party telling you the updates as they happened. Not to mention that any video that ends with the Urban Dictionary partygoer stating, "That's a blumpkin, yo!" has got to be worth watching.
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| Review by Catherine Wernquest ~ 23|Apr|2008 |
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HEART SHAPED BOX
Anton Corbijn
Recorded by Nirvana in February 1993 in Minnesota, this grunge lullaby reached #1 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks, remaining at the top of the chart for three weeks.
Directed by Dutchman, Anton Corbijn, the video's vivid images look something like the scary medieval furniture section in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, tripped up with Wizard of Oz Technicolor®.
Watch out for the kid in a KKK hoodie stretching to reach for fetuses in a tree, a shot that checks all the politically incorrect boxes.
Juxtaposed against a sumptuous poppy field and a starlit room straight out of the Pottery Barn catalog, Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl waft through the ether, lost little feathers, all three.
'Heart-Shaped Box' won two MTV Video Music Awards in 1994, both for best alternative video, and for best art direction.
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| Review by Mara Marich ~ 23|Apr|2008 |
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GUINNESS SWIMBLACK
Jonathan Glazer
Which is faster - pouring the perfect pint of Guinness or the time it takes a local sports hero to swim his yearly lap from a buoy off the shore to a local pub to drink that perfectly poured pint? Swimblack was directed by Jonathan Glazer for the "Good things come to those who wait" ad-campaign developed for Guinness by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO. The campaign hoped to encourage bartenders to take the proper amount of time (119.5 seconds) to pour the perfect pint of Guinness for their customers. This commercial led to the creation of the award-winning Surfer commercial (also directed by Jonathan Glazer) for Guinness.
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| Review by Catherine Wernquest ~ 22|Apr|2008 |
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HUMAN TETRIS
Guillaume Reymond
Tetris is the fourth video created by the Game Over Project organized by French-Swiss designer Guillaume Reymond. To create the world's largest game of Tetris, 88 extras were used in 880 frames that were shot over the course of four hours in a theater during the "Les Urbaines" festival in Switzerland. Each human pixel is given the opportunity to choose where he or she wants to go in the next frame, giving the direction of the life-sized game a massive collaborative quality.
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| Review by Catherine Wernquest ~ 22|Apr|2008 |
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SLEDGEHAMMER
Stephen R. Johnson
With its use of stop-motion animation to create brilliantly stimulating images that give life to Gabriel's lyrics, Sledgehammer remains one of the most influential music videos ever made. During the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards, the video took home nine VMAs, a record which has yet to be broken by any other video. Not only was Sledgehammer a success for Peter Gabriel and director Stephen R. Johnson, but the scene in which two chickens dance to a flute solo was animated by Nick Park, who would go on to create the Wallace and Gromit series.
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| Review by Catherine Wernquest ~ 22|Apr|2008 |
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SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK BLUES
D. A. Pennebaker
Originally recorded as a promotional video for D. A. Pennebaker's film Don't Look Back, Subterranean Homesick Blues has become regarded as one of the first modern music videos. The promo was shot in an alley behind the Savoy Hotel in London during Dylan's 1965 tour of the United Kingdom. The two men walking in the background are poet Allen Ginsberg and singer/songwriter Bob Neuwirth, who helped Dylan write out all the cue cards along with fellow singer Donovan. Though the video is a simple concept, the cards contain many intentional puns and spelling mistakes such as "suckcess" - even if you've seen the video before, watch it again to catch any hidden jokes you may have missed before.
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| Review by Catherine Wernquest ~ 22|Apr|2008 |
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