Other People's Writing

(photo credit: from the Onion caption, "Evil Red Wings Owner Wario Lemieux Steals Stanley Cup")

It's Friday, I'm itching for the weekend, so let's just have a bunch of posts and videos and whatnot from others. Surely I can't be counted on to produce original material. What am I, a machine?

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Not a machine like, say, Florence & The Machine, my current favourite band (ok, well, really a solo act) of the moment. I am kicking myself for not attending their show in Toronto last week. My reaction to seeing that live show would've been similar to how this baby reacts to "Dog Days Are Over." Warning: this may be the most adorable thing you see today. Diabetes sufferers, have your epi-pen handy due to the overwhelming sweetness.

(Added hilarity: the YouTube commenters chewing the mother out for not properly fastening the child into the car seat. If God decides to use YouTube comments as his basis for deciding if humanity deserves another flood or something, we're all in big trouble.)



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The great Joe Posnanski is back with another fantastic post about his father, Bruce Springsteen's forgotten classic "The Promise" and the recent release of songs Springsteen recorded around the time of his Darkness At The Edge Of Town album. If you're a Boss fan, this is a must-read. If you're not a Boss fan, then a) what's the matter with you? and b) read it anyway.

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The Jersey Shore RPG. There are no words.

See more at CollegeHumor.

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In the spirit of Conan O'Brien returning to TV this week, here's a compilation of some of Conan's best sketches and routines from his old Late Show (and one from the Tonight Show). It's not a bad set but it's omitting any of the great Conan/Andy staring contests, or that segment where Tom Selleck mercy-killed his old mustache. I love how that sentence makes absolutely no sense out of context.

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A great movie review can be a joy to read, but perhaps just as joyous is a terrible movie review. Not a review of a terrible movie --- I mean a review that is in itself horrible. This is where 'This Is Not Helpful' site comes into play. They take the most asinine Amazon reviewer comments for various films/TV shows/books/music/etc. and repost them for the entire world to enjoy. For instance, these mini-reviews of UP and CRANK 2. I, for one, would also pay to see Jason Statham play a disciple. "Oi, is dis da blood of Christ?"




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I've had 'best music videos ever list' written down as a potential blog topic for a while now, but there's one major setback keeping me from writing it. I can do a 'best movies' list since I go to a lot of movies. I can do a 'best TV shows' list since I watch a lot of TV. I can't really do a best videos list, however, since I simply don't watch a lot of music videos. Unless I'm specifically pointed to them on the internet, what other vehicle exists for a person to sit down and actually take in a few music videos in a row? Certainly not MTV or Much or music stations that devote their programming day to actual programs. If I made such a list, it would be almost entirely comprised of videos from the 1990's since (surprise) that was the only time when I was frequently exposed to the medium.

What modern videos would be on this hypothetical list? The well-known stuff from major artists and video directors, naturally (i.e. Beyonce's Single Ladies video, OK Go's stuff, pretty much anything from Michel Gondry or Spike Jonze) but the real weakness would be an omission of great videos from lesser-known artists like, say, Oren Lavie. His video for the song "Her Morning Elegance" is jaw-droppingly awesome, but I'm only seeing this two-year-old video now based on pure chance. Lavie's video was a minor viral hit, but it's not like the old days when a keen video would be as or more effective as song in making someone a one-hit wonder. For example, how many people still remember Daft Punk as the "dog head video" guys?