From the minds who brought us the groundbreaking "You Ain't Bad"* and "Hard Knock Archaeology"* videos comes: Angry Chicken Prank Call! Striking fear in the hearts of innocent lab technicians everywhere!
*Viewable on the Updog&Indy Youtube Channel. Soon to be going viral on a computer near you!
While I watched the Superbowl on Canadian TV and didn't get to see any of the commercials, but there is this thing called the internet. Also, the makers of commercials don't care where you see it as long as you see it so the SB XLIV commercials are easy to find. There were a few pretty hilarious ones but my fave was this one with Alec Balwin for hulu. Other people will tell you it was the Betty White Snickers add that was the funniest (and it was pretty funny) but nope it was this one. Delightful!
But a very close second was of course this one with The Simpsons for Coke:
A (late) BD present for those of you who love muppets:
p.s. Is it me or is animal looking a little funky?
from the Onion (these guys are hilarious!).You may remember the Onion from past posts.
Bad Boy Fencing Star Implicated In Yet Another Daring Jewel Heist
p.s. This reminded me of the Scarlet Pimpernel. I got the 1934 movie for Christmas one year and loved the black and white goodness! It's public domain now so is available for free (legal) viewing or downloading here.
p.p.s. Thinking of the Scarlet Pimpernel reminded me of Daffy Duck as the Scarlet Pumpernickel. One of my faves!
Manfred Mann's "Blinded by the Light" (cause we talked about it yesterday). Weee!
What you actually heard:
[Chorus]
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
[repeat 2x more]
Madman drummers bummers,
Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder, feelin' kinda older,
I tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasin', sneezin' and wheezin,
the calliope crashed to the ground
The calliope crashed to the ground
But she was...
[Chorus - repeat 4x]
Some silicone sister with a manager mister told me I go what it takes
She said "I'll turn you on sonny to something strong,
play the song with the funky break"
And go-cart Mozart was checkin' out the weather chart to see if it was safe outside
And little Early-Pearly came by in his curly-wurly and asked me if I needed a ride
Asked me if I needed a ride
But she was...
[Chorus]
Blinded by the light
She got down but she never got tired
She's gonna make it through the night
She's gonna make it through the night
But mama, that's where the fun is
But mama, that's where the fun is
Mama always told me not to look into the eye's of the sun
But mama, that's where the fun is
Some brimstone baritone anticyclone rolling stone preacher from the east
Says, "Dethrone the dictaphone, hit it in it's funny bone,
that's where they expect it least"
And some new-mown chaperone was standin' in the corner,
watching the young girls dance
And some fresh-sown moonstone was messin' with his frozen zone, reminding him of romance
The calliope crashed to the ground
But she was...
[Chorus - repeat 9x]
Blinded by the light
Madman drummers bummers, Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder, feelin' kinda older,
I tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasin', sneezin' and wheezin,
the calliope crashed to the ground
Now Scott with a slingshot finially found a tender spot and throws his lover in the sand
And some bloodshot forget-me-not said daddy's within earshot save the buckshot, turn up the band
Some silicone sister with a manager mister told me I go what it takes
She said "I'll turn you on sonny to something strong"
The Clash's "Rock the Casbah" has always baffled me. In all honesty, I only learned the real lyrics just now.
What they actually said:
Now the king told the boogie men
You have to let that raga drop
The oil down the desert way
Has been shakin' to the top
The sheik he drove his Cadillac
He went a' cruisin' down the ville
The muezzin was a' standing
On the radiator grille
CHORUS
Sharif don't like it
Rockin the casbah
Rock the casbah
Sharif don't like it
Rockin the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
By order of the prophet
We ban that boogie sound
Degenerate the faithful
With that crazy Casbah sound
But the Bedouin they brought out
The electric kettle drum
The local guitar picker
Got his guitar picking thumb
As soon as the sherif
Had cleared the square
They began to wail
CHORUS
Now over at the temple
Oh! They really pack 'em in
The in crowd say it's cool
To dig this chanting thing
But as the wind changed direction
The temple band took five
The crowd caught a wiff
Of that crazy Casbah jive
CHORUS
The king called up his jet fighters
He said you better earn your pay
Drop your bombs between the minarets
Down the Casbah way
As soon as Sharif was
Chauffeured outta there
The jet pilots tuned to
The cockpit radio blare
As soon as Sharif was
Outta their hair
T
he jet pilots wailed
Chorus
Sharif don't like it
Rock the casbah
(He thinks it's not kosher)
Rock the casbah
Sharif don't like it
Rock the Casbah
(Fundamentally he can't take it.)
Rock the Casbah
Sharif don't like it
Rock the Casbah
(You know he really hates it.)
Rock the Casbah
CP sez "increase your wordiness":
Casbah - specifically the citadel of Algiers and the traditional quarter clustered around it. More generally, a kasbah is the walled citadel of many North African cities and towns.
Muezzin - a chosen person at a mosque who leads the call (adhan) to Friday service and the five daily prayers (salat) from one of the mosque's minarets.
Sharif - a traditional Arab tribal title given to those who serve as the protector of the tribe and all tribal assets. Can also refer specifically to a descendant of the prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima.
Bedouin - desert dwelling predominantly Arab ethnic group (previously nomadic but presently mostly settled).
sheikh - Arabic honorific term commonly applied to an elder of a tribe
rāga - refers to melodic modes used in Indian classical music
Spurred by a recent discussion of the incongruous nature of misheard lyrics, I had to share this video highlighting the hilarious reality of singing along with the often incomprehensible Eddie Vedder. I especially like the "I said I don't want a whale in a box or a bag". Fantastic.
FYI here are the real lyrics to Pearl Jam's "Yellow Ledbetter" (curiously, I can't really tell which lyrics make more sense):
Unsealed
On a porch a letter sat
Then you said I wanna leave it again
Once I saw him
On a beach of weathered sand
And on the sand I wanna leave it again
On a weekend wanna wish it all way
And they called and I said and I want what
I said and I call out again
And the reason oughta leave her calm I know
I said I know what I wear that a box or the bag
Oh yeah can you see them?
Out on the porch
Ah, but they don't wave
I see them
Round the front way, yeah
And I know and I know
I don't wanna stay
Make me cry
I see
I don't know there's something else
I wanna drum it all away
And I said
I said I don't know where there's a box or the bag
Oh yeah can you see them?
Out on the porch
Ah, but they don't wave
I see them
Round the front way, yeah
And I know and I know
I don't wanna stay
I don't wanna stay
I don't wanna stay
p.s. You may remember Pearl Jam from this post.
Sweet zombie Jeebus! Little cp better keep on her toes if she goes back to Argentina! The gnome sightings in Argentina are apparently part of a chupacabra-esque craze that came to its climax in 2007-2008. The story was reported by El Tribuno in Argentina, then The Sun in the UK, and then picked up by Fox News. There is of course the usual he said/she said back and forth that surrounds all urban legends, with skeptics saying reports of the extremely high percentage of locals that belive in or have seen the creature are unverified (which is true) or exaggerated (which is probable) and that the video or photographic evidence is faked (which is easily done). However, locals have apparenlty reported seeing gnomes (or duendes) for several decades already, but reports of sightings vastly increased in 2007 after some railway workers reported seeing one running around the tracks.
Argentinian teens shot this video of the infamous "creepy gnome", whch is the most well known evidence. And it struck again in Clodomira, province of Santiago del Estero, Argentina!
p.s. This post is in lieu of a We're Missing the Chile!:Epilogue post that may never come from little cp (hint hint). Be forewarned! I will continue to post creepy things like this about your beloved South America if my demands are not met!
A brilliant online mini-series by Joss Whedon about the musical misadventures of Dr.Horrible (played by Neil Patrick Harris) and his dreams to be inducted into the Evil League of Evil, thwart his nemesis the egomaniacal superhero Captain Hammer (played by Nathan Fillion), and find love at the laundromat. Hi-larious! Here's the official website. There is also a related promo comic book about Captain Hammer from Dark Horse Comics called Be Like Me! (it's free). The show was conceived and produced by Joss during the heat of the writer's strike and released briefly on the internet in July. Here's an excerpt from Joss' Master Plan letter of explanation:
A LETTER FROM JOSS WHEDON
Dear Friends,
At last the time has come to reveal to you our Master Plan. BEWARE! Those with weak hearts should log off lest they be terrified by the twisted genius of our schemes! Also pregnant women and the elderly should consider reading only certain sentences. Do not mix with other blogs. Do not operate heavy machinery while reading this blog. You must be this tall to read. ‘Kay?
It is time for us to change the face of Show Business as we know it. You know the old adage, “It’s Show Business – not Show Friends”? Well now it’s Show Friends. We did that. To Show Business. To show Show Business we mean business. (Also, there are now other businesses like it.)
And from the FAQ in the aforementioned letter:
1) Why, Joss? Why? Why now, why free, why us?
Once upon a time, all the writers in the forest got very mad with the Forest Kings and declared a work-stoppage. The forest creatures were all sad; the mushrooms did not dance, the elderberries gave no juice for the festival wines, and the Teamsters were kinda pissed. (They were very polite about it, though.) During this work-stoppage, many writers tried to form partnerships for outside funding to create new work that circumvented the Forest King system.
Frustrated with the lack of movement on that front, I finally decided to do something very ambitious, very exciting, very mid-life-crisisy. Aided only by everyone I had worked with, was related to or had ever met, I single-handedly created this unique little epic. A supervillain musical, of which, as we all know, there are far too few.
The idea was to make it on the fly, on the cheap – but to make it. To turn out a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment specifically for the internet. To show how much could be done with very little. To show the world there is another way. To give the public (and in particular you guys) something for all your support and patience. And to make a lot of silly jokes. Actually, that sentence probably should have come first.
Here's Act 1 Part 1:
Spurred by recent talk at D's bday party. Abbott and Costello's classic comedy sketch "Who's on first?" from the 1930's. Although they didn't invent the premise (according to Wikipedia the first appearance of it in the moving pictures was in the 1930 movie Cracked Nuts):
Here's a cartoon version of a musical take on the sketch originally (1st shown on TV anyway) done by SCTV:
Here's a take-off of a political version of the sketch that was first done by Johnny Carson about Ronald Reagan, now a viral video featuring now former president George W:
The "Who's on first?" routine has been featured and referenced on everything from the Muppets to Robot Chicken. Another variant plays on the bit's fame by taking the humorous element (the misunderstanding) and killing it, thereby making it funnier. This has been featured on such shows as Kids in the Hall and The Simpsons (Season 10 episode 15) both of which have the straight man ruining the bit by explaining it (Dave Foley and Principal Skinner respectively). It's like someone shouted "Communication people!" at them. HaHa!
The always enjoyable 30-Second Bunnies Theatre Troupe has given little cp the gift of Twilight Buns. Bunny/Edward lovers everywhere rejoice!
p.s. You may remember the Bunnies from this post or this one.
From the HISHE website because today's caption is "Did you guys see the size of that chicken?" (from the movie Young Guns) we bring you:
How Star Wars IV should have ended:
p.s. Happy birthday D! Other captions include: You call THIS archaeology?
Police dash cam of Meteor over Edmonton (Nov.20):
Did you know?
Meteors often burn up in the atmosphere, but if they survive the frictional heating and strike the Earth, they are called meteorites. The general feeling is that this meteor, since it was so big (like 10 tons) and relatively slow moving, could have been surviving meteorite fragments scattered across an 8x3km area in the Manitou Lake RM. A bounty of up to $10 a gram has been issued (but since much of the target area is cultivated fields those meteorite fragments will probably be the property of some lucky farmer).
From the Best of YouTube podcast, a literal interpretation of "Take On Me" video by a-ha. I loved the "Take On Me" video when I was little (I thought Morton Harket was dreamy). This is back in the day when MuchMusic showed music videos. Ah nostalgia.
Simpsons nerd notes: all the guys in "Non-Threatening Boys Magazine" are named Corey.
p.s. The video was made by this guy (he also literalized the "Head Over Heels" video by Tears for Fears). There's a couple other copycat ones (someone did Radiohead's "No Surprises" and another guy did U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"), but none of them are as good as the a-ha one.
I especially like the Romeo&Juliet one! This is why all of my suggestions for what people should do during movies would make crappy movies.
p.s. This video is from the college humour people. 
They're pretty funny (I like the metaphor free radio video).
That squirrel is a genius!
I saw the video and it put me in mind of this comic. Hilarious! It was so funny LP's vball team even used it as their logo. There is a different (more recent) version of Danger Squirrel here, but I like this one better. I'm pretty sure it's the same guy though, the comics at lonely fetus are pretty weird and usually quite dark but there are a few pretty funny gems in there.
Also, just to nerd it up a bit, here is some of the diagnostic features of the Sciurid skull. I believe the example used is the eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). The image is from the immensely useful Animal Diversity Website.
