I've covered DJ Earworm's spectacular mashups before, but I must inform you that he has a new song up on his site called "Together As One". Take a listen. It involves U2, The Beatles, Diana Ross, and Mariah Carey. In my opinion this is one of the only ways (besides the mute button) to make Mariah tolerable. That sums up the quality of this track.
Secondly, there is a super secret (or not) cache of youtube videos by what seems to be a small group of French bloggers called La Blogotheque. Their videos have low production values but tend toward the awesome. Filmed mostly in Paris, but sometimes elsewhere, they feature global indie bands big and small including REM, Of Montreal, Beirut, and the Shins. Unlike other music videos, these have an interesting twist - such as performing in public to unsuspecting French people, singing in an apartment bathroom, or shoving the entire Arcade Fire into an elevator. Why? On ne sait pas.
Here are two of my favorite Blogotheque videos. Cold War Kids singing "St. John" while being pushed on a cart through a factory, and Grizzly Bear singing "The Knife" a capella while strolling through Paris. The a capella version is as good or better than the album version.
Heady analysis here.
Also delightful was the recent subway grate animal made of trash bags. When trains pass underneath, hot air rushes up through the grates and hopefully you are not wearing a skirt. Artist Joshua Allen Harris captured this air to create this animal that inflates when a train passes by. Sweet!
These Chinese guys filled a huge line of bottles with different amounts of liquid so they make a different tone when struck. They attached a "mallet" to a remote-control car so when the car drives by it strikes the bottles. Tempo is controlled by spacing the bottles apart.
Naturally, as all electronics platforms play Doom, so do all Internet instruments play the Mario Theme.
The Internet (and the Chinese) win this round!
At the risk of veering into the political sphere, Illinois state representative Monique Davis recently directed heated words toward atheist activist Rob Sherman who wants a pretty strict separation of church and state. He was testifying regarding a large grant given by the state to a church. Taken from an editorial column of the Chicago Tribune:
Davis: I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you
want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln.
This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God, where people
believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread
is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous-- Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am? Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this
state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your
philosophy exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the
opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if you’ll go to [court]
to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed up! Get out
of that seat! Sherman: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and I’m sure that if this matter does go to court--- Davis: You have no right to be here! We believe in
something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what
this state was built upon.
Thanks to Austrian Gottfried Heinrich who took his battle to the courts, the European Union is now required to publish its list of banned items. Heinrich was denied boarding because he was carrying tennis rackets.
The court decision noted that tennis rackets are not banned items.
I used to love flying. Recently I did a lot of flying and had to go through security 6 times in 14 days. I hate flying now.
Last weekend 6 Maasai warriors ran the London Marathon. It was the first time outside the country for the Tanzanians and their first plane journey. They were running to raise money for water equipment in their village. The English volunteer group who works with them wrote them a guidebook to the strange ways of the British with advice such as "wear underwear", "don't steal unattended cattle", and "British people are friendly but don't always smile".
They ran carrying spears and shields and wearing their usual shoes - sandals made of truck tires.
Their chief wrote a wonderful diary of his trip with commentary on food and showers, press junkets, the weather, and his most pressing goal of watering his village.
Americans should not forget that news of 9/11 did reach the Maasai of Kenya. Even though they had difficulty comprehending the existence and then destruction of buildings so high they touched the clouds, they very generously donated 14 precious cattle to the American people.
So I've covered Improv Everywhere before, but this time they've really outdone themselves. One of the latest pranks is Best Game Ever. The group descended upon an unsuspecting Little League baseball game with "fans" bearing signs, painted chests, and cheers. Inning after inning they rolled out something new, whether mascots or "vendors" passing out peanuts, but the best parts were: they borrowed a Jumbotron from the local NBC team as well as one of their professional sports announcers to call the game and broadcast it on the big screen.
But the real coup was that they were able to get the Goodyear blimp to fly over the field with a special message for the teams! Afterward, the "fans" collected autographs, and the "reporters" interviewed the young stars. Not until the end of the game did anyone reveal that this was a prank.
Way to go guys - you gave a bunch of kids and their parents the best baseball game of their lives!
Sorry I couldn't embed the video - here's the youtubular link. I shall watch this whenever I am sad.
