New Year's Eve

Just took a quick break from thank you note-writing and video game-playing to share this wonderful New Year's ditty with you, courtesy of Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  For the full effect, you should click on the little snowflake below the progress bar at the bottom of the window--trust me!  Earlier this month, my best bud shared an elevator with Mr. Gordon-Levitt in the publishing house where she works.  She said he was very kind as she told him, knees shaking, that she loved him in Inception.  Which I think is simply lovely.

Here's hoping the new year brings us more charming musical collaborations between these two!

Listening to: Muppet Christmas Carol

My absolute, hands-down, favourite Christmas movie is A Muppet Family Christmas, which my mother taped off of live tv on Beta sometime in the 80s.  That Beta tape was then converted to a VHS, which we watched every year (vintage Toys 'R Us commercials and all) without fail until sometime recently when it was replaced by the DVD.  However, we realized this year that the DVD is sadly and heavily edited (something about having the rights to broadcast certain songs on tv but not release on video or DVD, which seems extremely silly), so I've been watching my second favourite Christmas film: Muppet Christmas Carol.  Watching it, I've been reminded of how wonderful the film's music is, with original songs by Paul Williams.  The soundtrack isn't available for download (though you can bet I've ordered the CD), so I've been listening via Youtube.  Here are the songs gathered in one place, for your Youtube listening ease:

"Scrooge"

"One More Sleep Till Christmas"

"It Feels Like Christmas" - possibly my very favourite Christmas song

"'Tis the Season" - the teeniest, happiest little song

"Bless Us All"

"Thankful Heart"

Our version includes the controversial "When Love is Gone," but I've left it off of this because it isn't precisely a Christmas song.  It is, however, quite good (and for the record, as a 7-year-old, the song never felt "too adult" for me).  Happy Christmas Eve to all!  Will you be humming "One More Sleep Till Christmas" all day?  I know I will.

Eames Love

Speaking of LA, have you seen this little film of Ice Cube talking about architecture in Los Angeles?  It's kind of fantastic.  He apparently studied architectural drafting before going into rap.  He speaks specifically about Charles and Ray Eames, and I love his observations.  "They was doing mash-ups before mash-ups even existed."

Check it out!  And for more of the Eameses, tune into PBS American Masters on the 19th of this month for a showing of the documentary Eames: The Architect and the Painter.  It looks utterly fantastic!

Thanks to Anna of Door Sixteen for bringing both of these lovely things to my attention!  She caught the doc at the IFC Center in New York and loved it, which makes me all the more excited to see it myself.

jersey shore gone wilde

I am posting this on the off-chance that you haven't yet seen or heard about it--two actors in the cast of The Importance of Being Earnest performing excerpts from Jersey Shore transcripts as if Oscar Wilde had written them.  It is, in short, absolutely brilliant.

Aside from the sheer hilarity of it, I discovered something interesting while watching these with a couple of friends last night.  My companions had both seen a fair amount of Jersey Shore, but were unfamiliar with Wilde.  Their reactions (in addition to manic laughter) were generally on how the British accent made certain quotes sound more or less ridiculous than the Jersey accent.  I was coming at it from the perspective of someone who has seen and read a great deal of Wilde but had never seen an episode of Jersey Shore, and my reaction was nearly always "Holy hell, that actually sounds like something Wilde would write."  Which my companions found extremely difficult to believe ("Seriously?  Oscar Wilde?  I thought he was, like, stuffier." and, pointing to the image of him on the video "THAT guy??").  I suggested they both check out some of this plays.

There are four videos in addition to this one.  Check them out here: second, third, fourth, fifth.

listening to (and watching)

Today there is only one, and that is the Beastie Boys.  The song is fantastic, the video is clever as hell, and man-oh-man is the cast ever star studded.  Listening to this was akin to going back through a photo album and discovering that the way I remember some things is slightly different from the way they actually were.  And that both ways are equally awesome.  If that makes sense.  (It's after 1 am on a Friday night and I am an asleep-by-11 girl, so it might not make sense.)

the boy amelie

If you love stories of people doing kind things, the movie Amelie, photos, travel, people...basically, if you are a human person with a beating heart, you need to watch these little films.  If they don't completely enchant you, then I seriously doubt you actually are a human person with a beating heart.

Todd Bieber (who is making me rethink my knee-jerk negative reaction to hearing the name "Bieber") found a film canister in New York's Prospect Park during one of the city's big blizzards this past winter.  Seeing as how he had recently made a vow to seek more adventure in his life, he decided to develop the photos and try to find their owner.  Also, seeing as how he is a videographer, he did so by making a short movie about it.  And then another.  And then, after the owner was found, a third and final film.  Because along the way he had made contact with hundreds of strangers, many of whom he met when his quest to reunite the film with its owner took him all the way to Europe.

Watch these videos.

via Pret a Voyager, who probably loves Amelie even more than I do and makes me wish I had the courage to up and move to Paris, too.

collaborative art on the web

I'm a little bit in love with hitRECord.org, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's production company, which is basically a giant, wonderful, collaborative art project machine.  When I say "machine," I don't mean something along the lines of James Frey's fiction factory, I mean something far more organic, where each component part is entirely independent, victim to no one's whims but their own.  I think of it like a gigantic craft drawer, filled to the brim with buttons and bits of ribbon, just waiting for someone to come along and stitch them all together into something larger.

They've produced large projects, like Morgan M. Morgensen's Date With Destiny, which showed at Sundance and incorporated the work of over 180 collaborators, but personally I prefer the smaller pieces.  Take, for example, this video:

hitRECord user Tori accidentally played a recording of David Hyde Pierce reading "Sonnet 29" over a piece of music, and was inspired to pull the two together.  She found two videos on hitRECord which would work with the text of the sonnet and edited them all together.  All told, the above minute and twenty-seven seconds of film involved 5 things: the sonnet, Pierce's recording of it, Lizziemackie's music, Claranovich's film of the girl, and thatpeterguy's film of the guy.  Pretty bits and bobs on their own, stitched together into something else entirely. 

It's an enormously clever use of the interconnectedness of the internet at its best.  I look forward to seeing the things they continue to produce.

funny things, cute things

If this is not the cutest thing you have seen today, I will eat my hat.

via Pajiba, my newest, guiltiest pleasure blog

Also, have you seen this genius video of Josh Groban singing Kanye West tweets?  If not, watch it now.  It's genius.

via dooce

last minutes with oden

I'm not going to lie, this short film, about a man saying goodbye to his beloved dog, will make you cry.  Especially if you've ever had to say goodbye to a pet of your own.  It all but slayed me, and I hate crying.  But you should watch it, because it's a beautiful film, and when you finish wiping your tears away, you will feel so good.

And then you'll go out and adopt a three-legged dog.

via Time

muppets for christmas

In the house I grew up in, nothing said "Christmas" like the muppets.  Thanks to Jimmy Fallon, not only do I know that's still true, I also know that they still make me laugh like a loon.  This little video has put me in the Christmas spirit more than anything else in days.

Also, sidenote: Jimmy Fallon was absolutely my least favourite member of the SNL cast in recent years, but I adore his post-SNL career.  He's freaking adorable.  That is all.

If you're subscribed to both my blogs, you're going to get this twice, cause it is getting cross-posted.  I love it that much.  Merry merry!

listening to, christmas edition: addendum

Of course this shows up on the web the day after I post about my favourite Christmas tunes.

Zooey Deschanel singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" with She & Him partner M. Ward and...Conan O'Brien?  Yes.  It was close, but this has edged the Glee "Baby, It's Cold Outside" from the top of my list.  Now if I could just find a place to download it so I can listen to it forever.

listening to, christmas edition

I am still listening to a ton of Piaf.  But this weekend, the urge to listen to Christmas music has hit me full-force, so I've been switching back and forth.  There's a lot of great Christmas music out there, so you get extra songs today.

"Baby, It's Cold Outside" performed by Chris Colfer and Darren Criss on Glee.  I've never enjoyed this song.  I have no idea why, perhaps because of how wordy it is.  That said, I adore this rendition.  I have been listening to it nonstop.

"The Christmas Waltz," sung by Frank Sinatra.  This is another one I've only recently come to love.  I've heard it before, but it's become my second favourite to listen to this year. 

"Hallelujah Chorus," from Handel's Messiah.  In all my years studying to be a soloist, I always went back to complex choral pieces as my favourite thing to sing, and the Hallelujah Chorus tops them all.  This video of a flashmob in a mall food court singing it makes me heart flutter.  I love how people who are clearly not involved in the planning, stand up and join in the song.

"Jingle Bells,"performed by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.  We had this exact recording on a giant Christmas CD box set my mom brought home when I was a kid, and the first time my grandmother heard it, she exclaimed "Why, it's Bing!" like he was a friend she hadn't heard from in years.  It's one of my most treasured memories.  Plus, I just love the casual back-and-forth of the performance.

"All I Want For Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey.  I am emphatically not a fan of pop-style Christmas songs.  But I adore this song, and if you don't, I don't think I want to know you.  It's just a solidly good, fun song.

So there you go!  I hope you're having a happy Christmas season, wherever you are!

this ain't your kid sister's recorder

Have you all seen this yet?  I hope you have not, and that I'm the one to bring this magnificent piece of viral video into your lives.  It's a guy playing an instrument he made out of PVC pipe.  Let's try that again.  A guy, playing an extremely large and complex musical instrument he constructed.  He plays a medley, and it is no Hot Crossed Buns on the recorder, dude.  Watch the whole thing (I'm looking at you, Mom), and if your jaw is not gaping open by the time he gets to the James Bond theme, then I don't think I want to know you anymore.

Edit: I guess the video's been blocked.  Whoops!  Well, for those of you who saw it, I hope it was awesome.

listening to

I have been in full-on Disney fan girl mode since seeing Tangled on Thanksgiving.  So that's where all of this is coming from.  Haven't seen it?  Do.  So much fun.

"I See the Light," from Tangled.  Sung by Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi (and he can SING!).  Sweet, romantic song currently on repeat.

"That's How You Know," from Enchanted.  I never get tired of this song.  Never, never ever.  Or any of the other songs from the film, come to think.  Yay Disney.

tatooine

I am rather a huge fan of the original Star Wars trilogy, and I love this short stop-motion retelling of all three movies.  Well, if all three movies were done in construction paper and incredibly adorable.  And heavily edited, of course, though the bit with Luke and Vadar's final fight at the end is EXACTLY how I remember it.  I think it must be the Emperor's great big happy grin.

via dooce

listening to

I have been embracing my inner nerd this week (and okay, let's face it, I basically wear my inner nerd on my lapel. Literally. I wore a triforce on my lapel today), and in light of that have been reveling in the Nerdcore stylings of MC Frontalot.

"First World Problem"

"Spoiler Alert"

Oh, but--spoiler alert--that second song actually does give away endings to a lot of books and movies and such.  So if you, say, haven't finished the Harry Potter saga and don't want to know the truth about Snape, then stay away.  All else aside, it's a killer song, though.  

Both songs are available for free download on Frontalot's website, along with a slew of other singles.  Full albums on the site, as well as on iTunes.

listening to

The drive from West Virginia back to my parents' house takes about 4 and a half hours, and for about 2 of those hours, I have no cell reception.  Sometimes I listen to podcasts, but I've found that the trips tends to develop a music theme despite me.  I'll listen to my library on shuffle until something hits me and I have to listen to it (and other things like it) the rest of the drive.  A couple months ago, it was Spamalot, and it's often Hans Zimmer's score from Sherlock Holmes.  My last trip back from home, it was Arcade Fire's new album "The Suburbs" (and Chrome users--you've seen this, right?).

I'm home this weekend, and in honor of the roller derby I'm going to tomorrow, I started my trip with the Whip It soundtrack, which is about as fantastic as the movie.

"Pot Kettle Black" - Tilly & the Wall

"Never My Love" - Har Mar Superstar (feat. Adam Green)

And then I drove into a monsoon, and my ipod switched over to Mumford and Sons, which I discovered on the advice of my music-savvy little brother and is pretty much the greatest thing.  And, as it turned out, was the perfect music to accompany monsoon-driving.

"The Cave"

"Little Lion Man" (Mom, you might not like the language in this one.)

And this concludes your super-long edition of listening to!

danny and annie

When I decided to start a second blog, I made myself a rule that I would not cross-post between the two blogs, aside from the occasional short summary.  I am breaking that rule with this post, but this little video is worth it.  It's the sweetest thing I have seen in a long time.  You will probably laugh, and you will probably cry, but in the end your heart will feel a little bigger.

Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

listening to

I have the house to myself this weekend, and I've been taking advantage of it.  Torturing my dog with a squeaky toy app, playing music way loud, etc.  Here's what's been playing.

This is Cee-Lo Green, the voice behind Gnarls Barkley.  I REALLY love this song (and its genius video), but seeing as how the title of it is "F**k You" (you know, minus the asterisks), and seeing as how my mother reads this blog, I decided to keep it clean.  And really, "What Part of Forever" is a great song, even if it is on the Eclipse soundtrack.  I'm tying not to hold that against it.

Speaking of movie soundracks...

Scott Pilgrim, man. SCOTT PILGRIM.  The music is kind of fantastic.  AND the actors actually sing the Sex Bob-omb songs, which is all-the-way fantastic.

Anyway, there ya go.  And proof (SAM) that I do so listen to stuff recorded in the past decade.

listening to

I have been a bad blogger, both here and at Snails and Whales.  I'm sorry!  I haven't done one of these in a while, have I?  I've been super into classic rock lately, which is reflected here.

"Have You Ever Seen The Rain" by Creedence Clearwater Revival.  Cannot get enough of this song!  It's the basis of my current favourite Genius mix.

"Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who.  I tend to cycle through Who songs, and this is the current fav.

"Woodstock" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.  I've downloaded a ton of CSNY lately, and this is a solidly awesome song.