Mercury Rising

This is pretty much the laziest way to blog, but geez, I've been busy lately!

A repurposing of Mark and I's conversation on Bloc Party's new album, Mercury.

Mark: whats up?
Whitney: I finally listened to intimacy
Mark: finally? why did you wait?
Whitney: because i had to wait until someone else bought it and sent it to me...
:x
Mark: ugh....see if you were speaking to me I could have sent you the link Thursday morning
2:27 PM Whitney: well
i wasn't
Mark: c'est la vie
so what do you think?
Whitney: exactement
i like it
Mark: how much have you listened to it?
2:28 PM Whitney: it's so funny because we've come to expect greatness and when they veer off the path, it's harder to deal with
Mark: b/c I felt like I like it at first, but its only grown on me
Whitney: just a few times
i have listened to signs like 100 times already, which is so weird, because usually i hate the slow songs at first
it just builds
2:29 PM Mark: I love that quote about expecting greatness
2:30 PM Whitney: thanks
it's true though!
Mark: yeah it really is true
I listened to AWITC last night, and Intimacy isn't really all that experimental
2:31 PM Whitney: yeah?
Mark: several songs are (Mercury, Ares) but I felt like Intimacy was a natural progression of the band from AWITC
Whitney: of course
Mark: I almost feel like they didn't go as electronic as they could have
2:32 PM opting more for the electronic feel that U2 and Snow Patrol have that plays well with rock in live settings
Whitney: the fucking hook in "One Month Off" sounds like Uniform
absolutely, i was expecting more electro
I don't think they wanted to alienate anyone
2:33 PM Mark: I agree, and so much of their success is due to Silent Alarm, they can't just abandon it
you know what shocks me more than anything? is how personal and sappy these lyrics are
Whitney: yeah? like what?
Mark: I was reading them last night as I listened to the sings and they aren't the steely double entendres that Bloc used to rock out
2:34 PM more than half the songs on the album are love songs, sappy love songs
Whitney: that's interesting
AWITC was a bit political, as well
I'm not sure about this one
2:35 PM (like Hunting for Witches)
Mark: Kele has called this his 'breakup' album in that he was going through a breakup when he wrote it
http://www.blocparty.net/halo.html
2:36 PM Those lyrics are just so...mundane
Whitney: hmmm
yeah
"Behind your eyes were stars
Infinite and serene"
riiiiiiiiiiiight
2:37 PM Mark: thats what I'm sayin!
I mean...you could put these lyrics in a JoJo song and nobody would notice
Whitney: hahahah
but!
in Kele's defense
2:38 PM when you're going through that kind of shit, your perspective is so skewed
you can't see the other side because you're going through it
Mark: oh so skewed!
Whitney: i couldn't write sappy lyrics if i tried, but i could when i was going through a breakup
Mark: very true
2:39 PM I read some things post breakup and was like, wow, this is awful
Whitney: hahahaha i know!
you just get so hopeless when you're in The Shit
Mark: I also get pleasure out of knowing that all these lyrics are about two gay men and prctically nobody knows it
2:40 PM Whitney: ahha
honestly

This Looks Appropriately Quirky

This movie looks awesome.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead Film Trailer

Groverfield

No one is completely sure why, but there have been a ton of viral Muppets (yes, Muppets)videos floating around the internet. They are all pretty enjoyable, and seem to be aimed at adults of the web generation, rather than six-year-olds. This one is especially spectacular, so I decided it deserved its own post.



Anyone know where these are coming from?

Chock Full of Random

{WARNING: This post is one of the more random, less fluid posts I've done in a while.}

I’ve slowly come to the realization that I’m kind of a weird person. And this time, I’m not saying it as in, “like, you guys, look at how offbeat I am OMG!” – I mean weird. This blog is such a random assemblage of shit that I like that I’m surprised people read it… not just read it, but actually like it. I had this epiphany because this week, I realized I was more excited for The Dark Knight to come out than to go camping at Lake McConaghey with my friends.

But! I am not alone – apparently there are other dorks out there that like offbeat stuff. And what’s better than offbeat stuff? Offbeat stuff in video form! It’s less read-y, kids!
Take this teaser for Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog – which, according to Wired, is “a direct-to-the-web musical from Joss Whedon, [which] tells the story of an evil wannabe villain who vlogs, bungles experiments and takes regular lessons from a voice coach to finesse his evil cackle.”. Joss Whedon, for those of you who don’t know, is the man behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and the really awesome “Jim gets ‘bitten’ by a bat” episode of The Office. So, for as random as it looks, it should be really good. Plus, it has Neil Patrick Harris in it. Who doesn’t like NPH???


Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

I saw the movie Wanted the other weekend, and I’m not going to get into a detailed synopsis of the movie, but I wanted everyone to know this: I definitely want to fuck that movie. Go see it.

I’m sure you’ve heard that Matthew McConaughey’s girlfriend had a kid. That kid is going to be the richest stoner on the planet. Seriously. But! What if there were three of them and a baby?!

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

This video isn’t particularly impressive, but I do love a good montage. Enjoy sports team mascots doing funny things.

Is it weird how many different teams have that grey bear as their mascot?! Was there a sale on grey bear costumes?

Alright, either I found my Halloween costume for next year, or I need this job:

Extinct, my ASS! from The Original Joe Fisher on Vimeo.

When you were a kid, did you ever make Ooblek? That stuff that turned hard when you squeezed it, but then ran through your fingers? Ever wondered what would happen if you put it on top of a subwoofer?

Oh. And this, (from Videogum) scared me one hundred times more than The Happening would have, had I actually cared enough to see it. Birds are crazy, man.

I don’t know if you spend your time as bored as I do, wasting away in front of a glowing computer screen, (though it could be worse; I could be – gasp – outdoors!) but I very often find myself searching for sites that can entertain me more than searching for information on medical instruments or chemical compounds. Here are a few that I like:

http://www.postcardsfromyomomma.com/
I sit here and try not to die laughing while reading these. Everyone has a mom, so don’t tell me you can’t relate. And everyone’s mom has, at one time or another, sent them a completely ridiculous and inane email. This is a collection of them.

http://www.fannypackantics.com/
This site is a bunch of pictures of tourists (mostly American), taken from around the world. Like this one:

Luckily, they’re not all like that one. I am still giggling about the fact that I had to save that to my work computer in order to reproduce it.

http://www.apostropheabuse.com/
This is a good site. It makes me feel better that there are other people out there that get unjustifiably enraged at the misuse of apostrophes. I always feel like Ross Gellar, screaming, “Y-O-U-R means YOUR. Y-O-U-‘-R-E means YOU ARE!” Ach.

Patrick Dempsey (also known as Dr. McDreamy on Grey’s Anatomy) has just gotten better with age. Check out this video of him when he was a wee one. I’m glad he’s grown up now. Sigh.


I wish that Veronica Mars was still on the air. (I know, I know, get on the bandwagon). It’s just so shitty to see such an amazing show with such bright actors get the boot. This is a candid video with Chris Lowell and Kristen Bell, and it is quite funny. I wish I could be this funny that fast.

Alright, I’ve got some music for you. The first song I’m going to post is something I just remembered and found on YouTube. When I was in Paris, I was in this little gift shop on the Seine, and was wandering around as my friend Carmen bought a scarf. This came on the radio, and every time I hear the original, I just sing to myself, “comme comme, comme un bandit, bandit”. You’ll see what I mean:

The best part is the “dance club” scene in the middle of the day.

This song is old, as is this remake of it, but there is something totally beautiful about this guy’s voice and guitar playing style.
Obadiah Parker – Hey Ya (Outkast cover)


This singer, Soko, is a young French singer (who sings in English). I doubt she’ll really take off here, but this song is sweet and not pushy.

I posted Annie’s newest single, “I Know Your Girlfriend Hates Me” a while back, but I am equally obsessed with this song, from her first album. It’s calm, but still manages to capture you with a great hook, and her engaging voice.

Annie - Heartbeat

And Now, A Bear Pole-Dancing

This was just too amazing not to put up as its own post. Happy Wednesday, everyone.

Weezy Blog

Is anyone else as sick of Lil Wayne as I am? I am just so burnt out on his strange, "yuh" noises and mentions of hard candy on a stick. Seriously. This was before his CD even came out -- now that it's out, I'm steeling my ears to hear an endless amount of Weezy before the year's out.

Yeah, I don't even know what I'm talking about -- the caffeine's got me today.

Anyways, I've got a shit ton of stuff today (the result of me collecting links and never blogging them), so sit back.

Here's a video, made to demonstrate how to "fist-bump" properly. The old dudes that are demonstrating are pretty funny, because they make no effort to ham it up for effect.



Wow. I just cannot believe how slow my mind is working. I barely have enough energy for the clever. Not the clever! Noo!

It's been a while since I've written about movies -- nothing comes through here, so most people have already seen the movies that take six months to get to me via Netflix. I just saw Teeth (finally), and thought it was totally ridiculous. It was good, in a long-exposition, cringey kind of way. The only qualm I have with it is that it wasn't sure whether or not it was a B-movie. It very easily, with the right treatment, could have been ridiculous, but it kind of straddled the line. Boys, I don't suggest you see it. There's something about the subject matter that I'm not sure you'd like. But! This movie looks really good -- it's a romantic comedy, yes, but it doesn't seem typical, or forced. And the good news is that it's out on DVD in August. Take a look:

"Why I'm Through with White Girls"



Alright, is it time to post songs yet??? Because this girl, Kate Earl, has a really amazing voice.



I try really hard to write about music that is more current, because nothing is more disheartening to me than a band that made a few amazing songs in like, 2005 but has since disbanded. You can still enjoy them, sure, but there's kind of a sad feeling. But! I am still totally crazy about this band, and this song, which came out in 2006 (I know, eons ago). I'm actually surprised that with the resurgence of 60's-style music, this didn't make more of a splash in the States.

The Pipettes - Pull Shapes


(Note -- this was written on Wednesday, but published on Thursday, because some nosy people came in and I had to stop writing)

John Mc -- what?!

Alright, I'm not one for spreading political propaganda, because I think everyone should be able to think what they want to think, and do what they want to do (some restrictions still apply for those who choose to be racist, or molestey, or just plain ole stupid), but this clip was too good not to post. People wonder why the public isn't watching the nightly news as much anymore -- this may be part of the answer:

There's A Ghost in Me

Happy Friday the 13th, folks! Does anyone still think this day is unlucky? Because it is a Friday, and Fridays are the best days of the week -- you know, with the promise of an amazing weekend and something to look forward to and all.

I've got a ton of time to blog today, because everyone seems to be out of the office. I found some stuff earlier, so hopefully they will keep you sated until you decide to go and black out the evening like I so often do.

Speaking of, my friends and I have decided to have a "sober Friday" -- we'll see how well it works out, because tonight it's me and my hardest-partying friends. We're going to go to the IMAX. What does life look like without beer goggles?! We shall soon find out.

I read the most amazing NYT article last night. It captured my attention because it was such a fantastical, amazing story about a massive New York apartment had been turned into a living riddle. I found myself wishing I could have something, anything like it. When I was younger, I used to yearn for houses with secret passageways, tucking myself into whatever hidden corner I could find and imagining I was discovering something like treasure, or a secret manuscript. Read the article, and look at the slideshow. I guarantee that you'll be wishing for this apartment too.


I know that many of you are big time horror fans, but I cannot handle scary movies. I know, you may counter with "but you like zombie movies!" (Krax), but that is a whole other thing, and if you are a long-time reader of my blog you would know that my like for zombie films stemmed from a series of frightening zombie dreams that I aimed to combat by "getting over my fear" of them by watching a ton of zombie movies. It didn't work. Anyways, if you are going to see The Happening this weekend, I won't be joining you, unless it is anything like this video:





Office fans, here's some news: apparently there is going to be some sort of Office spin off! This could potentially be great, because I am damn sick of seeing Deal or No Deal, and Moment of Truth on TV all the time.

Despite early speculation that at least one "Office" character will segue to the new show, that's unlikely at this point. Instead, the show could potentially be a "planted spinoff," in which characters are first introduced on "The Office" before moving on to the new series (think "Mork & Mindy," which morphed from one episode of "Happy Days"). It's just as possible that the show won't be a spinoff at all (which could impact who's involved with the show), but a wholly separate series in the same comedic vein as "The Office."

That show is so hilarious. Oh! Ok, I wanted to plant something here, just to see if I'm right. I think that on the next season of The Office, Pam is going to go to New York, and her replacement is going to be some good-looking girl that Jim is going to like. Maybe. I dunno. I'm actually pretty happy with Toby's replacement. The whole "Kevin is retarted" storyline was the funniest thing I had seen in ages.

For whatever reason, I've been coming across a ton of "newscaster bloopers" lately. Probably because they're live and all, but this one is awesome, just because of the way this guy segues from his "nonregional dialect" to swearing and saying stuff like, "I'm fuckin' dyin in this country ass fucked up town!" Kick ass.



Ok, I've posted enough random things today to be able to post music, right? This is my favorite part.

This band is in no way new, but I cannot get enough of them. Every time this song comes on my iPod, I can't help but wiggle around a little in my chair, or car, or wherever I happen to be. Just finding the song made me start to air-drum in my cubicle and then look around, embarassed.

Los Campesinos - Death to Los Campesinos!



This is a band that I missed seeing, along with Datarock, for free, because I am an idiot. I'm obsessed with this song. It's downbeat, yet upbeat at the same time. And! Another one of their albums just came out, so you can jump on them before everyone else does (if you already haven't!)

Ladytron - Ghost



This song is so incredibly delicious. It's going to be on all of my summer mixes. It's just so sweet, and innocent.

Annie - I Know Your Girlfriend Hates Me



And, of course, any song with the word "Paris" in it immediately gets my vote.

Ladyhawke - Paris is Burning



Alright kiddos, I promise I'll come more prepared next time. Have a great weekend!!!

I Know, I Know

It's been for-fucking-ever since I posted. I think I usually start my posts off with some sort of apology, but this one is long overdue. I've been neglecting my blogging duties lately, which is something that needs to stop. I literally have tons upon tons of things that I want to write about each day, and I save them for later, and then I just don't get around to them.

My job has become a soul-suck. It's the same thing I've been doing for the past year and a half, more or less, but I thought that after graduation, some magical power of responsibility and business prowess would be bestowed on me. No such luck. People still call me "the intern" and make me staple papers together. This is not a job for a college graduate.

I've also been looking for jobs recently. I use that phrase lightly, because I've been looking for, and finding, quite a few jobs -- the trick is actually applying for them. Such a pain.

Anyways, I'll stop being emo, because this isn't LiveJournal. It's Good Bloggie, dammit, and I hold myself up to a slightly higher esteem.

This first video was the catalyst that made me want to start blogging again -- this kid, Bo Burnham, is so fucking hilarious that he can't not be shared. I would love to have his sense of humor, and his awesome musical talents.




Honestly, watch it. Fucking hilarious.

There are some people that start websites out of the goodness of their hearts -- websites like "Stuff White People Like" (which, by the way, has become so popularly ironic that it is no longer ironic), and this site, The Animal Review. It is a site devoted to reviewing animals, based on how cool they are. Take this, on the Gerbil:

"Mr. Nibbler, Snuggly, Beebo, Paul Wolfowitz, Waffles, et cetera"
The Mongolian Gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus, lit. ‘You will regret purchasing this Mongolian Gerbil’) was introduced into the United States in 1954 for the purpose of scientific research. It quickly caught on as a household pet and these days its primary function is to teach young American children about the concept of death. Only heaven knows how many millions of Mongolian Gerbils rest in shallow shoebox graves in U.S. backyards.

In high school, I took this amazing class. It was called "The History of Rock and Roll", and it was a class where all of the random musicheads in my school (minus the band nerds, sorry band nerds) sat around and talked about music. Our textbook was literally a Rolling Stone coffee table book. We spent an entire day just talking about Bo Diddly, and his influence on music -- sadly, on Monday, he passed away. Did anyone else read about this??? Because I didn't hear anything about it until Wednesday, and only one one blog as a tiny blurb. I know he wasn't Elvis or anything, but the guy deserves a little bit of cred, right?

I don't know how many of you have boyfriends or girlfriends (in fact, I don't know how many of you are out there), but imagine if you spent all of your time within 15 feet of them. Every hour, or every day. That is exactly how one couple, who live in a "yurt" (which is a kind of permanent tent) live. They do yoga together, read together (one waits until the shower reader finishes before turning the page) and eat off of the same plate. Another couple, one of which writes for Slate, attempted to do the same. The video is below, and this is an excerpt from the Jezebel article about it:



I know that it's a little anti-climactic, but I have to run. I am going to Denver tonight for my friend Amy's birthday -- god damn gas prices. But! Rest assured, I have plenty more to write about.

Hang in there, dear reader.

Love Will Tear Us Apart

I haven't written in forever. I just cannot get back into the swing of things! I feel terrible, really, I do, but it's kind of a pain in the ass. My blog has gotten to the point of being like, "your hampster was cute 6 months ago, but now it's just smelly and bites your finger when you try to pick it up." I'm not looking for your sympathy, really, it's just that I want to make sure this thing is worth keeping up. Drop me a line on Facebook or something if you still read Good Bloggie. It would help. Seriously.

If you'll look to your right, on the top of the page, I have added Twitter updates. What is Twitter? It's like Facebook statuses on crack. You can basically track what I am doing at the times I update. Kind of creepy, I know. If I get like, stabbed or pushed in front of a bus, please use Twitter to find my stalker. Ah, too much Veronica Mars.

I guess Lindsay Lohan is working on a new album -- supposedly, the video below is her first single. I gotta say... I kind of don't mind it. It's kind of Kylie Minogue meets... a pack of Parliaments. Put away your pitchforks! Geez.



I joke all the time about how much I love cats, and how I'm probably going to end up as one of those crazy lady with a whole bunch of cats. Well, this lady really is a crazy old cat lady. She has -- wait for it -- 80 cats. 80! I don't even know how that's possible. Does she have some sort of Cruella Deville-type plan? I hope not. That would br gross -- a coat made from the fur of 80 unwashed cats. Blech.

Okay, I guess I kind of subscribe to the hipster aesthetic. I mean, I love me some indie music, and skinny jeans, but I just wouldn't exactly describe myself as a hipster because (aside from my racous partying and penchant for cheap beer) I'm kind of a fucking square. But! When I read this tongue in cheek description of what a hipster really is, I felt a little shame, because many of these things applied to me. So here you go, kids. "Signs you may be a hipster".

Here's a trailer for a movie that is being released in the summer months called Control. It looks like a really good movie about Ian Curtis, the lead singer of 80's post-punk band Joy Division -- it's about his life, and death at the age of 23 by suicide. I've got it in my Netflix queue; hopefully it won't be one of those obscure movies I watch with people who really only wanted to watch Old School or something.




Let's see, who am I listening to lately? Well, Mark recently got me re-hooked on M.I.A., who is awesome, and then there's Gileah and the Ghost Train -- the song is really amazing, but the video looks like someone went crazy in iMovie.



Oh, and The Ting Tings, who I discovered on an amazing Bloc Party mashup. I have listened to this song like, a million times. I love how it's just two people. Very catchy. And here's a link to the mashup.



Estelle is someone most of you should be hearing about sometime soon -- she's a british singer who worked with people like Kanye, John Legend, and Mark Ronson. Her album, from what I've heard of it, is really good. The single that you're going to hear will probably be "American Boy" with Kanye, but the other songs are so much better. Here's a sample:
Estelle - Wait a Minute (Just a Touch)

(You can follow the blog links within the window of the player, and download the mp3's, if you so desire.)

Fridizzle

TGIF, folks. This has been one looooong week. I'm not sure what it was, but Wednesday seemed to drag on longer than Monday and Tuesday put together. Here's an excerpt between Krax and I:

Me: i think i just looked at all of facebook
all of it
Matt:
hahah
oh really?
anything noteworthy?
me: ummmmm
i hate everyone?
Matt: ahhh
yeah, I'm in a shitty mood too
the world sucks
blah blah blah
me: blergh
it's wednesday
wednesdays are for tools
i'm skipping wednesdays from now on
it's officially Thursday eve
Matt: good plan

Yeah. So there you have it.

Here's a cute video that a guy made about all of his poor fashion choices. It's one of those videos that is really, really simple, but probably took forever to make and edit.







I've talked about Michel Gondry before, and how much I like his work (something that directly mirrors Stuff White People Like, and makes me sad), and this video is no exception. It's a drive from LA to NYC, in 4 minutes. Watch it on fullscreen, it's really cool.

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

Oh! Big news. I went ahead, bit the bullet, and bought Austin City Limits tickets. I’m so, so, so excited. There are a TON of amazing bands, ones that I didn’t see over the course of this year because I live in awesome Foco. I figured I could just sell the tickets if I wasn’t able to go, which hopefully isn’t the case.

Oh man… I know that most of you don’t like the stupid cat videos that I post on here, but I, for one, find them to be endlessly hilarious. This one is pretty unique… it’s a cat playing the theramin. Don’t know what that is? Watch the video!



I love the way he stands on his hind legs. Lulz!

So I know that MGMT is like, the biggest band in indie this week, and I’m kind of kicking myself in the ass for not posting anything on them earlier, so that my blog readers could reap the benefits of knowing about them before the inevitable blogging frenzy occurred. Unfortunately, I started listening to them a few weeks before I went to Europe for a month, and failed to write anything on it. Anyways, they’re really, really good, and if you’ve heard anything by the band, it’s probably “Time to Pretend”, which was the single of sorts. But, I wanted to include my two favorite songs, the first being “Electric Feel”, and the second being a recent favorite, called “Kids”.







Oh, I am supposed to get Lars and the Real Girl today in the mail, I’m super stoked.

This is a crazy video – a guy got stuck in an elevator for 41 hours before he was rescued. Could you imagine? I think it would be terrible. From Gawker:

In 1999, BusinessWeek production manager Nicholas White went outside to smoke a cigarette and, upon returning, got stuck in an elevator. For 41 hours. The story of his ordeal is woven through Nick Paumgarten's new New Yorker feature about elevators, and is, predictably, the most interesting part. It's amazing how much 41 hours in a small metal box altered White's life forever, for the worse. And—oh yes—there is (sped-up) security camera footage of him the entire time. It's mesmerizing, because you can imagine him slowly going insane, which is exactly what's happening.

Well, it looks like that’s all I’ve got for today. Have a good weekend and behave yourselves!

Never Gonna Give You...arrrghgh

Two days in a row? Wow. I guess I really am getting in the swing of things again. Well that, and my job bores me to tears, so I have ample time to troll the internet in search of little nibbles of awesome. Whatever those taste like, I’m in.

I’ve actually got a lot of stuff today, and less of my normal “hey you, listen to this, they’re really good, no seriously, here’s a video, and an mp3, and a link to their MySpace, and… oh. You don’t like them? Well fuck you then.”

I don’t know how many of you do it, but sitting and staring at the visualizer in iTunes or Media Player is just so awesome. Like when you really want to listen to something but you feel like you should be doing something else (like “working from home”, or homework, for those of you still in school). Well this guy has taken it a step further, by incorporating the actual lyrics of a Goldfrapp song into an extremely interesting solar visual.


Solar, with lyrics. from flight404 on Vimeo.

This is a video montage found on Gawker that compiles all of the perils of being a TV newscaster. I can’t embed the video, but the clickthrough is definitely worth it. Included: 90’s reporter gets her hair set on fire by a dirtbike rocketing out of a truck, news reporter gets bombed and knocked out by some sort of flying objects from a small engine plane. It's the small things that are the most awesome sometimes.

I’m not sure that I’ve praised “Stuff White People Like” on this blog – it was something that was all over the internet a while back, and is a really funny site. It’s all about, well, stuff. That white people like. And it’s all so, so true, from their explanation of outdoor gear to people’s love of Mos Def. But! That’s actually not even my main point – there’s another site, called "Not Hating, Just Saying" that is kind of the same thing, where they, well, hate on stuff. Like “Office One-Liners”:

And no I don’t think it is Friday yet, but let me check the calendar again.
And I agree it IS another day, but I think I’m making more than a dollar I hope.

I wonder if this is some elitist way of speaking. Office speak. I wonder if other workplaces have their own phrases?

Slaves: You oppressed or you oppressing?
Prison Labor: Is it Friday yet? Cause I’m supposed to get raped then.
Illegal immigrants: Another day another…cheaper labor.

Oh, wow. I can’t believe I put this so far down. This video pretty much takes every question you ever had about Lost and sums it up. I seriously don’t even feel like I need to watch it anymore, I have so many answers now.



Just kidding. Fuckin’ Lost. Oh, and if you’re looking to get your Lost fix in a completely auditory way (weird, I know), there’s a band that does a musical recap-interpretation of each episode. For the one on “Meet Kevin Johnson”, the beginning is just the band members singing, “Waaaaallllt! Waaaalt!”, which is all stupid Michael does in the series anyways. http://www.myspace.com/previouslyonlostmusic

If you tried to click on any of the videos on the YouTube front page on April 1, you would have found yourself in front of the music video for Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”. Well, apparently, the Mets decided to let their fans choose which song they would like played during the 7th inning stretch, complete with a “vote for your own” blank. Some blogger got ahold of it, put it on Digg, and thousands of inter-nerds voted to RickRoll the Mets. So, this entire season, while everyone is usually screaming along to “Sweet Caroline”, they’re gonna have to bop along to the deep-voiced crooning of the red-headed singer. Lulz.

Finally, I wanted to link a really, really good article, one that actually won a Pulitzer. Read the whole thing, you might learn something about yourself. Here’s an excerpt.

HE EMERGED FROM THE METRO AT THE L'ENFANT PLAZA STATION AND POSITIONED HIMSELF AGAINST A WALL BESIDE A TRASH BASKET. By most measures, he was nondescript: a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin. Placing the open case at his feet, he shrewdly threw in a few dollars and pocket change as seed money, swiveled it to face pedestrian traffic, and began to play. It was 7:51 a.m. on Friday, January 12, the middle of the morning rush hour. In the next 43
minutes, as the violinist performed six classical pieces, 1,097 people passed by. Almost all of them were on the way to work, which meant, for almost all of them, a government job. L'Enfant Plaza is at the nucleus of federal Washington, and these were mostly mid-level bureaucrats with those indeterminate, oddly fungible titles: policy analyst, project manager, budget officer, specialist, facilitator, consultant.

Each passerby had a quick choice to make, one familiar to commuters in any urban area where the occasional street performer is part of the cityscape: Do you stop and listen? Do you hurry past with a blend of guilt and irritation, aware of your cupidity but annoyed by the unbidden demand on your time and your wallet? Do you throw in a buck, just to be polite? Does your decision change if he's really bad? What if he's really good? Do you have time for beauty? Shouldn't you? What's the moral mathematics of the moment? On that Friday in January, those private questions would be answered in an unusually public way. No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. His performance was arranged by The Washington Post as an experiment in context, perception and priorities -- as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?

{{{LINK}}}

Two Step

Happy Tuesday, everyone. I've been allowed to start "working from home" on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which is every bit as awesome as it sounds like. I'm sitting here, listening to some electro on full blast, not working, but thinking about it. See, that's the key.

Anyways, I've actually got a shitload of stuff to write about, so take your hand off that mouse, buddy. You're gonna be here for a while.

In some happy, yet dismaying news, Calvin Harris is working on a new album. Why is this dismaying? He seems to have checked his laptop in his luggage, which was subsequently lost in British Airlines' new clusterfuck, Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport. It was the only copy he had, so if, say, it falls off of a conveyor belt and breaks while the operators are having tea, it's gone. Bad news.

I've been obsessively watching the show Dexter lately. I cannot seem to get away from it -- it's like a book I can't put down, except, you know, the lazy kind that projects itself on my computer screen. It's a show about a serial killer that kills people that have escaped the law. I guess CBS has started broadcasting it from the beginning, so start watching it, or torrent it, because you won't regret it.

I just went to see In Bruges with a friend at the Lyric the other week. It was pretty good. I hesitate to say "really good", because it had a really open-ended, erm, ending, which is totally fine sometimes, but not necessarily in this instance. I don't want to discourage anyone from seeing it though, because it was totally entertaining and unpredictable. Plus, I really think Colin Farell was at his best, playing a jumpy, angry Irishman that hated the town of Bruges. Speaking of random indie movies, I'm not really sure if I ever mentioned the movie Wristcutters, which I also saw at the Lyric. It was about a guy who killed himself after his girlfriend dumped him, only to find that she offed herself soon after he did. How did he know this? Well, he seems to be inhabiting a sort of half world, where everything sucks as much as it did during his time on earth, but is worse, because he can't seem to make himself feel anything. Pretty good movie, had Will Arnett in it, which pretty much makes anything awesome. But! There was a character featured in the movie, that was in this crazy-ass band, and I just found out that the band not only exists, but has played for and impressed quite a few audiences. They're called Gogol Bordello, and are this crazy, eastern European gypsy band that apparently put on the most insane live show ever. I'm going to post a video, and you're probably going to giggle to yourself while you're watching it, but as you're doing that, think of how amazing they would be live.




Human Giant are awesome. This video is fucking awesome. Why? The last line. Seriously. Watch it.



Do you wanna know what I did yesterday? Yeah, I YouTubed "cats on treadmills". Seriously, this is what my life has become. I am not ashamed.



I'm sure I've already raved enough about her, but I am so fucking crazy about Laura Marling. Her CD was pretty much all I listened to in Europe. I couldn't get enough of it. It's so earnest and beautiful. Seriously, listen to this and then try to tell me she's not amazing.

There's also a really amazing Mystery Jets remix by Shoes, which actually features Laura Marling. It's really upbeat and fun, and worth a listen and maybe a download.
{ZShare Link: Mystery Jets -- Young Love ft. Laura Marling}

Another artist that I'm really starting to like is a girl from England called Emmy the Great. She's got a really pared-down, folk thing about her, and I fell in love with this performance of her because they did it in the back of a taxicab in London. I love London.

And, actually, now that I look at him, I think the guy playing violin is in the band Noah and the Whale. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he is.




God damnit, getting super off topic here, but this Noah and the Whale video is super hilarious.




Anyways.

I guess before I left for Europe, I forgot to put up some of the bands I had been listening to. When I was in Los Angeles, my friend Hanna turned me on to two really amazing bands -- Chromeo and Kenna. Actually, Chromeo is just two guys, and Kenna is just one. But they're both amazing. I think Kenna will blow up pretty huge soon here, and Chromeo will do really well. I had Chromeo in an electro playlist I was preparing for this blog that never really came to fruition about 3 or 4 months ago. Oh well.

Here's Kenna first -- my favorite track of his is "Daylight", but it's not a single, so all that's available is a some fanvid. Eh. Good enough.




And this is Chromeo. Tight.





Anyways, I've got more bands to write about, but I'll save them for next time, because this has turned into an incredibly rambling post. So, like I said, Happy Tuesday!

Damn.

So my April Fool’s day joke didn’t quite pan out the way I thought it would. At first, I felt a surge of guilt upon posting it, thinking that people would read it and never come back. What I realized, however, was that people actually hadn’t been coming back for a while. I guess my long hiatus has taken its toll.

But hey! I’m back! Sorry about the pink blog! I know it’s totally ugly!

Anyways, let’s get down to the most important news item, more important than the apparent plotting of 3rd graders to kill their teacher (complete with duct tape, a steak knife, and a cleanup strategy!) -- New Kids on the Block are back. Seriously. Apparently as a way to gain interest in their “It’s Been 20 Years Since We Were Popular” anniversary CD, the group is reforming to do a myriad of performances (including the erm, prestigious stage on the Today Show). Is anyone else kind of excited to watch the now middle-aged members of their favorite childhood bands hop around like they've still got it? 'Cause I know I am!

Sure, I watch The Hills. In the dark. With my door closed, and the volume turned way down. I’m not proud of it, nor do I actually like any of the characters or storylines, but I still watch the damn thing anyways. The show is like a car wreck – you make a point to slow down and see what’s going on and then are totally disgusted by what you just saw. MTV is apparently trying to parlay the show’s success into another hit show over the pond, in London. However, the requirements are a bit different – the participants in the show are required to actually think.

“The show is looking for telegenic youngsters interested in topics like art, fashion, writing and literature.”

Literature -- does that mean Teen Vogue, or like, Dostoyevsky? And why is this a requirement for the English and not for us? Doesn’t that say something about American society as a whole?

The mainstream music scene is a picky bunch. I say “picky” even though it’s not necessarily the listeners, it’s the record companies who make the major decisions. So what happens when a “mainstream” band wants to go in a completely different direction? They make up a band and release an album without telling anyone it’s really them. Such is the case with Green Day, or should I say, the Foxboro Hot Tubs. They have released several tracks online since December, and will release a full album under Warner Brothers. Here’s one of the tracks. Take a listen and decide if you like their different sound. I personally think they sound really similar to the Arctic Monkeys.



Atmosphere have released a new video, their first single since 2005’s “You Can’t Believe How Much Fun We’re Having”. It’s being described as “rap rock”, which I think is hardly fair, since that phrase conjures up an image in my head of Fred Durst, or Kid Rock. Eugh. Here’s the video:



In my time in London, I got to really like this single from an artist called Duffy – it’s catchy and sixties enough to be a Winehouse track, without all of those distracting face sores.



So I guess that’s it for today. Thanks for, er, checking in. I promise you, Good Bloggie isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Goodbye, Bloggie

Good Bloggie has been in existence for about 2 years now, bringing its readers celebrity gossip, new music, movie trailers, and general commentary on its writer's life.

It is with a heavy heart that I write this: as of today, I have decided to stop updating Good Bloggie. It is far too time-consuming to write a blog that interests such a small faction of people. I enjoyed it while it lasted, but I have decided it is time for me to focus on more adult things, like finding a job.

I hope that Good Bloggie made you as happy as it made me. Thank you for all of your support.

Love,
Whitney

Europe!!!

Yes kids, it's true. I'm going to Europe for a month. Now, before you get all jealous and call me a "walking cliche", you must realize that it pains me to be away from Good Bloggie for so long.

I'll be gone from the 28th of February to the 24th of March... after that, who knows....

Take care of yourselves! Au revoir!

I Love the Internet

Sure, it's a small victory, and some sites get this many page views on one article alone, but I'm kind of proud of the fact that Good Bloggie is rapidly approaching 5,000 views. I feel like I should have a party, but I think it would only be me, binge-eating cake as pink streamers de-tape themselves from the walls.

My job has gotten kind of ridiculous lately. I'm finding it incredibly difficult to stay on task, and really, really dread going every day. I used to get really excited at the prospect of being able to blog in the mornings, but sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours kind of drags that out of you. After going to L.A. for a weekend, I'm really, really itching to get out of Colorado. But, the good thing is that I go to Europe in about a week and a half (gulp), so that is going to have to be my precursory adventure before my real-life adventure. To be honest, I'm incredibly nervous about going to Europe. I'm just afraid I'll get terribly homesick, or bored, or lost, or mugged or something. I'll do my best to blog from there, but I'm pretty sure internet access is going to come at a premium. To be totally honest, this is the kind of thing I would love to do. I could be completely content writing all day long. I guess if I had to pick something that I thought I was my best skill, that would be it. Then again, I tend to overthink my sentences. I actually write better (although sometimes less coherently) when I'm drunk. Great, another reason for me to keep drinking instead of stop.

Like I said, I went to L.A. this weekend for a little getaway. And get away we did -- the whole trip was awesome. California is like its own little country. However, I was really surprised by how normal people were. Granted, we didn't spend time in West Hollywood or anything, but even when I went to New York, I was taken by how rude people were. People in L.A. weren't always rude, just in a hurry. Plus, I ate like 4 cheeseburgers and then got back and heard that there was a huge beef recall, from a supplier that supplied to the places we ate at. So if I go crazy in 10 years from Mad Cow, it was nice knowing you. I seriously have tried to stop eating meat, and I cannot do it. I love meat. Meh.

This item is a little bit old (in internet time, anyways) because it kind of goes into the whole "what the hell are we going to do without writers" freakout the networks were having, but Fox apparently ordered a season of a popular Japanese game show for American audiences. The game sounds so ridiculous, and it pretty much is, but watching it on YouTube was actually really entertaining. The point of the game is to squish your body through differently shaped holes on a moving wall, and not get pushed into a pool of water. Even if it doesn't come to fruition, it's a pretty entertaining video to watch.



I'm totally behind on this, but I'll assume you guys are too, because knowing about this show would mean you regularly watch Nick Jr., which hopefully isn't right on your level. It's called Yo! Gabba Gabba and is actually pretty indie. I know, that sounds weird, but it's had Biz Markie, Elijah Wood, The Postmarks singing a song about baloons, and all sorts of other cool shit. But! This is by far my favorite thing from a kids' show in years:



I would fucking kill for a Timbaland remix of that song. So yummy! So yummy!

Say you're in a gang. You've got to have colors, right? Red, blue, black, or... purple. And say you're looking for something that's gonna tie you together, like a shared love for violence, or drugs, or rap music, or.... dance. I mean, it's not too far-fetched, right? I guess that's what these guys were thinking in this after-school special. The song's awesome, I think it might deserve the Pharrell treatment too.



Ahhaha.... so awesomely bad.

What happens if every urban legend were to suddenly come true? The horror!!!



Anyways, there you go. Whit Dizzle out.

Ew.

When you go under the knife as much as Good Bloggie has, something is bound to get messed up. It's like letting a 5th-year English student put your hot neighbor under anaestethia and expecting her to look hotter after a 9-hour surgery. That's pretty much how I feel about the way my stupid blog looks right now. I hate it, but I'm not good enough with html or xml to fix anything. I'm pissed. I just wanted to let everyone know how dissatisfied I am with the way everything looks, and that I'm going to try to fix it soon.

Here We Go Again...

Hi Kiddies – once again, let me apologize for making these posts so few and far between. Work has been hectic lately; yesterday I worked an 11 hour day. Sigh.

Anyways, I’ve got a gang of stuff to put up here, so let’s get started, shall we?

This is terribly old news, and may not even be news to some of you, but did you know that Journey got a new singer? And that he’s Filipino? And that he used to be homeless because his mother died when he was 11? And that he can rock your face off??? Check out this video – it’s so crazy to see him segue from his normal speaking voice into perfectly unaccented, Steve Perry-esque singing. He is seriously good, too.



I’ve been dorking out about Cloverfield for about a week now. Not only was it a pretty sick movie (the best part of my experience being when some random asian guy behind me leaned over to his girlfriend and oh-so-tenderly said, “GODZILLA!!!” in her ear), but it was also interesting because of all the little mysterious bits. Was that the monster dropping into the bay by Coney Island? Does the recording at the end really say, “It’s still alive” when played backward? The buzz on all the blogs this week (I love that phrase – it’s like I read all the blogs in the world. Which I do. Because I’m so… not nerdy at all) was that there’s a possibility for Cloverfield 2 – apparently, when they are all on the Brooklyn Bridge, there’s a quick shot of another guy filming the main characters. The possibilities are endless for something like that. However, whether or not it will come to fruition or not is in question – after being out for only a few weeks, the movie has dropped to number 9 at the box office. I guess the strong opening numbers were because of the awesome viral marketing, and not as much because of the actual plotline.

Lost started up again! J.J. Abrams seriously has me in his pocket. Actually, it seems that he’s got everyone else in there, too. Despite my naysaying because of its paltry second season, there were apparently 16 million viewers for the season premiere. This was in contrast to 18 million for the season two premiere, but it’s still a very solid number. I would just dork out here, too, because I spent a good hour yesterday on Lostpedia, but I won’t bore you if you’re not into it like I am.

Gnarls Barkley has a new track out (well, someone does, I’m not terribly sure it wasn’t leaked). Nothing can probably compare to the popularity of “Crazy” (if you’ll let me get a little nostalgic, that track was actually the second thing I posted on on this here Bloggie. Tear). But if you’re interested in checking it out, Hype Machine has a ton of them from last week. Lord I’m behind the times – click on this link .

I’m going to Los Angeles in a week and a half! Random, I know, especially when I’m supposed to be saving my money for Europe (gulp), but the price was way, way right. Less than 200 bucks to LAX – can you believe it?! Meatball and I are going to visit Mister Mathematics Kraxburgular, and my friend Hanna, who I have known since I was in 3rd grade. It’s going to be a blast – I’ve only been to California two times before, and mostly northern California at that.

Oh, this is a sweet video -- 200 people went to Grand Central Station and just froze where they were, in unison, for 5 minutes. It's crazy.



This is a skit some guys did about Google Earth -- where do people come up with these things?


Remember when I posted "Drunk History" with Michael Cera in it? Well here's another one, complete with Jack Black and Clark Duke. Surprisingly less funny, but still sweet.


And this is just the weirdest fucking thing I've ever seen.


Well, it looks like that's all I have for today. Oh, apparently I missed Fat Tuesday by an entire day because I was working until 8pm. Who does that?! I love being fat! I love Tuesdays! Damn!

Stop!

Before I go off on my little Aspen adventure, here's a picture that made me laugh. It's like, the nerdiest, most Whitney-relevant thing I have seen on the web all day.

Have a good weekend, kiddies!