So this just came out! I <3 you Blitzen Trapper. I really want to see them in Idaho or Montana or wherever else they are touring with Wilco (who are amazing live) and I think that's just a Naomi double-bill of ultimate happysadness.
"Stranger in a Strange Land" - just some gorgeous Alaska scenery and loneliness.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Book People Unite
LeVar Burton is my hero (between TNG and Reading Rainbow he has the market cornered on things I love).
Love this.
Love this.
Ho Hey
This song gets a lot of radio play right now, and despite that I confess I still find it really charming (the folksy dirty rock mountainman vibe thing has always been my jam, so naturally I mildly resent its current popularity). I also love their name, it reminds me of toothpaste and Disneyland ("imagineers").
"Ho Hey" - The Lumineers - This video looks about exactly as you would expect (having heard the song first). But it pulls it off in a good way - the flicker of the lights is a nice touch. Not too heavy handed. The only surprising thing about this song is that the beards aren't bigger. Nice and warm and cheery.
Hit the comments with whatever song you find really overplayed right now, but you are still digging anyways.
Hope you all have a lovely warm weekend! (Warm in song/feeling/weather/whatever! I hope the sun comes out here. Fingers crossed.)
"Ho Hey" - The Lumineers - This video looks about exactly as you would expect (having heard the song first). But it pulls it off in a good way - the flicker of the lights is a nice touch. Not too heavy handed. The only surprising thing about this song is that the beards aren't bigger. Nice and warm and cheery.
Hit the comments with whatever song you find really overplayed right now, but you are still digging anyways.
Hope you all have a lovely warm weekend! (Warm in song/feeling/weather/whatever! I hope the sun comes out here. Fingers crossed.)
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
The restless heart, the Promised Land
Let's enjoy a brief retrospective of The Killers. They are so solid and under-appreciated - they don't get nearly enough radio time as I think they probably should.
Somebody Told Me - this is the first song I heard by them, and I loved it. The video is not super exciting, except that it has lights/silhouettes/screens, etc., and when that all flashes by it matches the pace of the song, I guess. The key point is that he makes preciously precise hand motions and dance steps. And look how wee and normal (normally dressed as well - no feathers yet) he looks at this point... not too much guyliner, not the scruff that makes an appearance later, and he certainly has a far fresher/less careworn look about him (he really cultivates well that at times). This first single and video are pretty generic, when you get down to it. But thankfully, it gets better!
Human - I am not a huge fan of this video, I think it's dull (come on, a white tiger, reallllly?) and it reminds me a little, because of the setting (and a little when he kneels down a bit too), of the far more ridiculous (but beloved) November Spawned a Monster.
But I do love his stupid feather coat. And the song is great and dancer-y (even if it sounds like denser).
Spaceman - I like this one because it such a nice random creepy desert rave carousel setting (which goes with the song), and I love that he kind of looks like a porcupine monster (from The Village maybe?). But I present no more additional thoughts on the matter other than my favorite truthy YT comment on the video:
All These Things That I Have Done - more dressup, a very luxuriant mustache, women, trailers, cowboys, a little person, a donkey... what more could you want? What? Well how about a more compelling video for such a great song? This is ok, it's vaguely interesting but not that exciting.
Read My Mind - I am of two minds on this video - I love the song, a lot, hard (it's been stuck in my head all day today). But I feel they try to just throw in everything cutesy they could think of here... it borders on the trying too hard. But it is saved by the kiss at 2:14, and the dancing with Elvis impersonators, and schoolkids, and the ending. Mainly that peck (which is a nice touch (for a married religious man) to throw in there, LOL).
A Dustland Fairytale - I love this. That is all.
And I will close with a favorite from Brandon Flowers' solo work. "Crossfire" - While I find the idea of pretty blonde ninja to be a little laughable, they really pull it off well. This is a fantastic video - I love that she keeps having to save him. So adorable. And they exchange nice, understanding looks, you can almost feel the love (well-worn, it's a routine saving him; but still tender as evidenced by the last frames). As one YT commenter puts it "sad puppy eyes... <3" EXACTLY.
I would watch the crap out of a movie of those two.
In sum: methinks he really likes to play dress up! And I am solidly behind that in a rocker, especially a hot one. Not all of the videos are winners, but in all of them you can see they always bring the theatrics - whether it's costumes or tigers or filming it B&W, there is stuff being tried. Very cinematic for the most part, lots going on, which I think is the key to the good music video - go big or go home! Try something! Dress weird, work on your dance moves and take some time applying that guyliner around your pretty eyes. It works.
He should win some kind of award for making faces and hand motions and lovely mainly in-place dancing. Perfection.
Somebody Told Me - this is the first song I heard by them, and I loved it. The video is not super exciting, except that it has lights/silhouettes/screens, etc., and when that all flashes by it matches the pace of the song, I guess. The key point is that he makes preciously precise hand motions and dance steps. And look how wee and normal (normally dressed as well - no feathers yet) he looks at this point... not too much guyliner, not the scruff that makes an appearance later, and he certainly has a far fresher/less careworn look about him (he really cultivates well that at times). This first single and video are pretty generic, when you get down to it. But thankfully, it gets better!
Mr. Brightside - Their most famous and memorable video, and well-deservedly so. This video has all your important components: super catchy delightful song with a clever pause for you to fill in the next word, men in lipstick, big hair, Eric Roberts with a smattering of glitter across his leathery orange face, her perfect white face, brothel setting, interesting and appropriately hilarious outfits, the vaguely faerie-tale apple, checkers (I have a thing for watching guys play chess, and this is pretty close), a tantrumy table flip (reminiscent of the epic one about 40 seconds into Hungry Like The Wolf), and the incredible hand motions (0:12, 0:27, 1:20, 1:43, 2:40, 3:35) and facial expressions (1:13, 1:40, 1:52,3:28, etc - he really has adorable worried schmoopyface down) of Brandon Flowers playing up the whole thing with admirable élan. Extra gold stars for his tongue at 1:27.
Human - I am not a huge fan of this video, I think it's dull (come on, a white tiger, reallllly?) and it reminds me a little, because of the setting (and a little when he kneels down a bit too), of the far more ridiculous (but beloved) November Spawned a Monster.
But I do love his stupid feather coat. And the song is great and dancer-y (even if it sounds like denser).
Spaceman - I like this one because it such a nice random creepy desert rave carousel setting (which goes with the song), and I love that he kind of looks like a porcupine monster (from The Village maybe?). But I present no more additional thoughts on the matter other than my favorite truthy YT comment on the video:
All These Things That I Have Done - more dressup, a very luxuriant mustache, women, trailers, cowboys, a little person, a donkey... what more could you want? What? Well how about a more compelling video for such a great song? This is ok, it's vaguely interesting but not that exciting.
Read My Mind - I am of two minds on this video - I love the song, a lot, hard (it's been stuck in my head all day today). But I feel they try to just throw in everything cutesy they could think of here... it borders on the trying too hard. But it is saved by the kiss at 2:14, and the dancing with Elvis impersonators, and schoolkids, and the ending. Mainly that peck (which is a nice touch (for a married religious man) to throw in there, LOL).
A Dustland Fairytale - I love this. That is all.
And I will close with a favorite from Brandon Flowers' solo work. "Crossfire" - While I find the idea of pretty blonde ninja to be a little laughable, they really pull it off well. This is a fantastic video - I love that she keeps having to save him. So adorable. And they exchange nice, understanding looks, you can almost feel the love (well-worn, it's a routine saving him; but still tender as evidenced by the last frames). As one YT commenter puts it "sad puppy eyes... <3" EXACTLY.
I would watch the crap out of a movie of those two.
In sum: methinks he really likes to play dress up! And I am solidly behind that in a rocker, especially a hot one. Not all of the videos are winners, but in all of them you can see they always bring the theatrics - whether it's costumes or tigers or filming it B&W, there is stuff being tried. Very cinematic for the most part, lots going on, which I think is the key to the good music video - go big or go home! Try something! Dress weird, work on your dance moves and take some time applying that guyliner around your pretty eyes. It works.
He should win some kind of award for making faces and hand motions and lovely mainly in-place dancing. Perfection.
Friday, April 6, 2012
MMORPGs and Matzah
I love The Guild which is the supercute Felicia Day's fantastic web series about a group of online gamerz and their adorable, bittersweet, hilarious (mis)adventures, and they have just put out the following amazing video on her promising new YT channel "Geek and Sundry" - "I'm the One That's Cool" - a nice anthem for anyone who ever felt left out.
***
And then, on a completely different note - it's Passover! Happy Passover! I still need to clean all the leavened stuff out of my house this morning real quick...
As you know from previous posts, I love a good cover/adaptation, especially for the Jewish holidays which have plenty of old traditional songs, but not always so many modern fun things, and I realllllly enjoy the adaptation here, I think it works out pretty well. Who knew that Cee Lo + Diddy = Passover?
"Dayenu, Coming Home" - The Fountainheads
A slightly less successful version would be this rather creepy puppet Passover Rhapsody. I had to include it because a) CREEPY PUPPETS and b) QUEEN.
***
ETA: METALLICA!!!! Excellent job, person that made this! I looooove (truly an EPIC) The Ten Commandments. It's a kickass movie. I hope we all agree that Yul Brynner is FIERCE as hell in this movie. Between him and all the bare chests and ladies swooning "Moses, Moses" it's a pretty fantastic experience. The clothes/jewelry/sets are all amazing.
Someone has set clips from it, to the perfect song - "Creeping Death" - Metallica - enjoy!
***
And then, on a completely different note - it's Passover! Happy Passover! I still need to clean all the leavened stuff out of my house this morning real quick...
As you know from previous posts, I love a good cover/adaptation, especially for the Jewish holidays which have plenty of old traditional songs, but not always so many modern fun things, and I realllllly enjoy the adaptation here, I think it works out pretty well. Who knew that Cee Lo + Diddy = Passover?
"Dayenu, Coming Home" - The Fountainheads
A slightly less successful version would be this rather creepy puppet Passover Rhapsody. I had to include it because a) CREEPY PUPPETS and b) QUEEN.
***
Someone has set clips from it, to the perfect song - "Creeping Death" - Metallica - enjoy!
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