Night creatures call and the dead start to walk in their masquerade

It's difficult to underestimate the imagination, work ethic, and seasonal appropriateness of this internet video. Dude loves his M.J., and why not; Thriller the album is a monumental work that retains relevance today. This vid pays a tribute to the complexity and brilliance of the original song while still being fascinatingly funny. Watch until the end... that's the best part.

[Thriller Acapella]

A Very Cute Overload Halloween

So I love Cute Overload. I don't care who knows. Its wit and intelligence deeply contrast with most Lolcat spewing internet kiddies. It's also just cute. A guy isn't supposed to like things like that? Maybe it has something to do with the two new cats that are inhabiting my apartment. Well, at least this inspires me to think up Halloween costumes for them. Enjoy this post, the funniest thing I've seen on the net in quite a while.

[Cute Overload]

Death and the Maiden

I read this recently and enjoyed it greatly, probably not in the least because it directly appeals to my literary side. The world can be understood through literature and its analysis informs and enriches more than other disciplines.

An ode to the striped fitted sheet

Fitted sheet with stripes
Up and down are so clear when
I make the bed drunk

((As an aside, I'm not drunk now, yet the poem's underlying truth remains.))

All Hail Nate H

I'd like to take this moment to publicly commend my friend, Nate. He was on Tuesday's Jeopardy episode, officially becoming the first famous person I know. I haven't spoken to Nate in a while, but I'm absolutely certain he's still an amazing guy. Makes me really kind of wish I graduated in '07. But oh well. We were on two quiz bowl teams. One in '03, which gloriously went to Indianapolis. And another in '05 which was basically a catastrophe. But they were both terribly nerdy and amazing.

Even though he lost by a small margin, it's only because he was fucked by the double whammy of a ballet category (everyone knows ballet categories are only for idiots) and a pretty simple final jeopardy. Even so, Nate, tonight I raise my glass to you.

(Nate's the dude in the glasses in the far left and yes, there's a reason I edited my face out of the photo and yes, there's a reason none of us have pants on and yes, it has nothing to do with our sexuality, in an explicit sense.)

Katy Perry is the Urban Outfitters version of Avril Lavigne

I like some Avril songs and the two Katy Perry songs I've heard are ok, but each is pop star packaged in a subculture's most commoditized form. It's entirely possible that Katy Perry listens to Spoon and that Avril was in the pit at Earth Crisis shows, but that influence has been sufficiently supressed by their A&Rs. Music executives clearly consider outlandish glasses and Minnie Mouse dresses essential for Katy Perry while Avril has been coached to enjoy lots of plaid and tall socks.

Katy Perry also exploits sexuality in a way that the Hot Topic version of Belinda Carlisle doesn't. It could just be that Avril's more adorable while Katy Perry has bigger boobs. But it's also conspicuous that the androgynous-fascist shaved heads, leather, and spikes of punk, while sexual, don't recall mainstream sexuality like American Apparel models do. Avril softens punk's perversions while a more innocuous sexuality pervades "I Kissed A Girl".

T.I. is today's Ric Ocasek

The mesmerizing efficiency of "Whatever You Like" has echoed in my head for a week now. After listening to it alot, I noticed many parallels between it and "Emotion In Motion," another song about providing for your woman (whether by popping bottles or just holding on all night).

In "Emotion In Motion"'s basic, nursury-esque beat (also like other T.I. songs) Ocasek favors succinct robot beats. The Cars, though occasionally vibrant, had a synthetic subtext that developed into cold, precise perfection. On his own, Ric vanquished rock tones, replacing its blood and sweat with a silicone circulation. The switch from guitar and rock to synth and precision is mostly propelled by the beat. And I love it.

(In 2003, I listened to "You Might Think" at least ten times as my roommate sat next to me in our 8'x20' room. After he mentioned, "So, you like that song a lot, don't you?", I brought out the headphones. My murder would have been entirely justified had I completed my fifteen remaining listens out loud.)

T.I.'s debut with "Rubberband Man" - wild as the Taliban- is much more euphoric and spontaneous than "What You Know," which is as methodical and catchy as "You Might Think," The hypnotic "Whatever You Like" has a snare and outro which could been sampled from a Cars song and is rhythmically cold while lyrically gentle. Years later, T.I. is converging on the same point that Ric Ocasek ended up on.

*"Live Your Life" is a pretty good song that doesn't bear any resemblance to the Cars. So this only really goes so far.

I'm obsessed with massive structures

Take that as you will, but I actually mean it in the literal sense.  Tallest, longest, most volume... I can't get enough of it on Wiki and elsewhere.  So I was amazed to see rocketboom's take on it.  A must-watch:

[rocketboom]

More sick Siouxsie covers