Slow day at the office so to speak… so here are a few things I’ve rediscovered this week. None are really all that ‘new’ to me per se, but sometimes you sort of just forget about things for awhile, until someone mentions or pops up somewhere (iPod, internet). Such is the case here.
1) They Might Be Giants — I remember how fun and crazy this band was when I discovered them back in late grade school (like most people my age did via Tiny Toons’ Particle Man). It’s amazing to think that this band has consistently put out quality records for over 20 years and really have never wavered from much from their quirky, lovable sound. Their forthcoming second children’s album Here Come the 123’s looks to be more of the same. Check out this great video from their first self-titled album.
[youtube]VJQnZZ-Wmao[/youtube]
2) Blonde Redhead — Definitely not old, nor new to me but the past video reminded me of this video from Blonde Redhead’s “Top Ranking” from last year’s 23 album. They’re coming here to the DC next week so I might just have to go.
[youtube]bMH1yFQFj5I[/youtube]
3) Daft Hands — Recently I became aware of yet another fad in YouTube videos…this one involving hand dances set to Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.” The video is a highly coordinated series of hand motions spelling out the lyrics with hands and fingers (with the words drawn in sharpie). But the amazing thing is that if you search just a little, you will find more than a few imitation videos of other people coming up with their own versions, some even trying to outdo the original.
I have never quite understood this variety of ‘original content’ that surfaces on the site; in my mind it’s one thing to create your own short film or video or mash up etc. I get that…they’re often funny, sometimes painful, and most likely completely terrible. But when others create videos of themselves enacting the Crank Dat (Soulja Boy) dance or those old mash ups of that poor ‘Star Wars kid’ I do wonder what drives people to do that. I obviously feel old and out of touch so really I just want to feel young and hip again before they change whatever hip is.
Either way it’s not a new phenomenon by any means, but just interesting how one decent idea yields so many imitations. I suppose that with the ease of creating videos and music and sharing ideas (on crappy blogs like this one), anyone can have a voice, which ultimately inspires others to try it for themselves.
Anyway…enough rambling about the obvious…here’s the damn video.
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