Please Don't Be That Guy

Don’t Go Blaming The Kids Again

Andy — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:04:11 +0000

I’m having trouble deciding which version of the video for OK Go’s “This Too Shall Pass” I like better.

The original, live-action marching band version?

Or the insane Rube Goldberg version?

In the end, both of them are amazing, and both of them seem like they might have been equally difficult to pull off (admittedly for very different reasons). While I might quibble at times with the quality of OK Go’s music, these two videos (along with their “WTF“) just add to the esteem I hold them in for their innovative use of the medium. Plus, anyone who can pull off these types of amazing visuals in a single take deserves some serious credit in my book.

International House Of Peyote

Andy — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:47:01 +0000

Although experience tells me that only the truly fucked up willingly go to the International House of Pancakes (as an adult, I’ve been inside an IHOP exactly thrice, each visit more drunk than the previous one), I guess I’ve never given much thought to how messed up the establishment might itself might be all on its own. That is, until I stumbled across this brain-bending commercial from the 60’s, which plays out like an acid trip about a Waffle House for hippies:

Holy balls! That shit is Rooty-Tooty-Fresh-N’-Frightening.

[Via BB]

The Nutty Professor

Andy — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:12:47 +0000

Listen, Teach, I know what it’s like: your research grant request about the velocity of a unladen swallow was rejected, you were denied tenure and now you have to spend your days teaching bratty, uninterested nineteen year-olds who deign to treat your lecture hall like it’s a LAN party. I get it – being a mid-level associate professor-type at a state college can be a chore sometimes. Still, do you really want to be known as the asshole prof on campus who pulls batshit crazy stunts like this just to make procedural points of order?

Or maybe you just wanted to become an internet celebrity. If so, then congratulations – I’m sure your love-child with Tila Tequila will be adorable.

Behind Enemy Panty Lines

Andy — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:55:21 +0000

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m definitely partying with the UK women’s bobsled bobsleigh team. Heyo!

I thought that part of the reason that women wear thongs was to avoid visible panty lines? Who cares: fabric failure FTW!

Good (Turtle) Fences Make Good Neighbors

Andy — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:42:25 +0000

After what feels like far too long of a wait, the latest Auto-Tune The News is out and – even by the Gregory Brothers’ standards – it’s a doozie:

Sure, it doesn’t have Katie Couric singing a vocoder duet with T-Pain, but still, it’s pretty freaking epic.

Eviscerated

Andy — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:58:12 +0000

Even though I’m a big fan, I hardly ever get to watch Jon Stewart on The Daily Show these days – I’m relatively sure my television only receives children’s channels. But I did happen to catch his monologue about the how overly dramatic blog pundits are, and thought it was fabulous:

Kudos to him for sprinkling some shame in this regarding on the rabid blogging left, who are almost as crazy and foaming-at-the-mouth as the rabid blogging right (I say “almost” because at least they believe in evolution). A lot is made these days about how the political discourse in Washington has become beyond uncivil, and while I agree with that, I think that the people making that charge (whether it’s in the supposed “Heartland” or in cyberspace) should take a good look in the mirror first. After all, while reasonable people can disagree, unreasonable people can only scream at one another.

The British Heart Americans

Andy — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:21:28 +0000

I’m not generally sophisticated enough to watch the BBC, so I’m not much of an aficionado of their wildly popular automobile enthusiast programm(e?), “Top Gear”. But after catching co-host James May’s un-prompted public service announcement for the UK’s ministry of tourism, I might have to start tuning in:

Whoa, James! Easy. I mean, I find Bill Bryson as insufferable as the next guy, but I am not sure that I’d elevate him to public-menace status. Just go us easy on us Yanks, mate: we can’t all be as dignified and respectful as you Brits when we’re abroad, but we’re trying.

Get Thee Behind Me, Blonde Earworm!

Andy — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:49:39 +0000

For various reasons I’d rather not go into at the moment, I’ve had Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” stuck in my head for the better part of a week. I love (love, love, love?) pop music, especially hook-laden pop music, but there’s something about the particular vocal hook in this song that makes me feel like I’m subjecting myself to trepanation from the inside out. So this right here is my attempt at expelling this faux-Eurotrash earworm from my cranium forever:

Who knows if it’ll work. I’m half-afraid that once it gets out, some shit by Danity Kane or Taylor Swift will rush in to fill the vacuum.

Linksploitation: All-Killer-No-Filler Edition

Andy — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:14:48 +0000

All right, people: I’ve got lots of links to dump and not a lot of time, so if you’ll excuse my lack of a witty preamble, we can get right down to it:

Most difficult. Game of Pong. Ever.
Tip #1 that these Avatar L.A.R.P. parodists aren’t really from Wisconsin (aside from the fact that there is no actual “Hometree” in the state) is that there are no Sconnie accents. Tip #2 is that there’s an African American among them. Heyo!
Fuck Yeah, Subtitles, my favorite Tumblr of the moment (because of stuff like this).
The Japanese are awesome, part #3,458,112,984: this time because of how they simulate a tiger escape at the Tokyo zoo.
Consider the Spiderman series officially “reloaded”. *shudder*
Yet another reason that I’m glad I’m not a high school principal: being clowned by horny 17 year-old boys.
On the face of it, this implementation of Windows 3.1 entirely in JavaScript seems perfect. That is, until you realize that it never produces a blue-screen of death.
Code Organ sounds hot. It’s not. But it is pretty cool!
These Lady GaGa cookies sure make me hungry…for cocaine, AstroGlide and socialized medicine, that is. See what I did there? Ha ho!

Making A Great Impression

Andy — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:10:27 +0000

I’m not much of an impressionist. Pretty much the only character I can mimic with any sort of plausible similarity is Dick Van Dyke’s dreadfully bad cockney chimney-sweep from Mary Poppins. But people who can do impressions have my respect, especially if, like this guy, they’re able to get do so merely by uttering a single word.

It’s got me to wondering, though, just what my own one-word impression might be, were someone to be so bold bored as to attempt it. Maybe…..”no-talent-ass-clown”? That’s one word, right?