Hidden Youtube Gems - 10/14/2013

Yes, I'm still here just not posting anything.  Decided to post up some more Hidden Youtube Gems, videos/songs on Youtube that don't have many views.

Sonn Av Krusher - "Angel Dust 500"

I could tell you all about Sonn Av Krusher and their band members former groups.  But I think I'll just direct you to CLICK ON THIS POST from the vital blog for fans of local Atlanta music, http://beyondfailure.blogspot.com/.  This blog just happens to be run by the former drummer of Sonn Av Krusher and the epic Hal al Shedad.  This guy only has 279 views at the moment.

Emiliana Torrini - "Fingertips"

Now, this might be a cheat, but this particular video only has a little over 4,000 views.  I guess it's possible that some other video of this song has a ton of videos.  But I'll go with it as this is a sweet little song by the half-Italian, half-Icelandic songstress, Emiliana Torrini.  This particular song, Fingertips, comes from her 4th album, Love in the Time of Science. 

The Union Trade - "Everyday Including Holidays"

 

Here's a song from the San Francisco based band, The Union Trade.  They remind of Explosions in the Sky or This Will Destroy You.  This particular song comes off their first full-length album, Everyday Including.  This video is only at 8,000 views but I'm sure that my vote of approval will drive it well past 8,010 views.

It's been a while

I just happened to realize I hadn't done anything on this blog for a looooooooooooooong time! Well, shame on me. One thing I have been doing the last few months is listening to Spotify. And they've taught me how to embed a Spotify widget into my blog, so how about I do it.


This consists of all sorts of stuff that I listen to, from stuff you've heard of like Soundgarden to stuff you haven't heard of like Asbestoscape. So, hopefully this works.

Hidden Youtube Gems - 1/2/12

So, here's another edition of some songs you can find on Youtube that nobody seems to have been clued in to yet.  Again, I try to keep these guys under 1,000 views but I tend to cheat on that.

Milemarker - "Signal Froze"

Milemarker was an influential post-punk/emo/electronic band from Chapel Hill that had 6 great albums over 7 years.  Three of which were on my buddy Gavin's label, Stickfigure Records.  This song, Signal Froze, comes from their 2000 album, Frigid Forms Sell.  This video only has 173 views.  Which is about the amount of views my videos on Youtube get.  Which just goes to show that there is really something wrong with people.

Oppressed By The Line - "Sunset From The 16th Floor (Winterlight Remix)"

Oppressed by the Line is actually a one-man band consisting of musician Jon Thompson and his set of instruments.  This particular song, "Sunset From The 16th Floor (Winterlight Remix)", comes from his 3rd album, Kiku. (which is actually the Japanese verb for "to listen")  This particular video has 1443 views currently, but I'm sure that would increase greatly if more people would just pass it along.

For Love Not Lisa - "Softhand"

For Love Not Lisa is a mid-90s rock band that really didn't make a dent on the music scene other than a slot on The Crow Soundtrack. This song, Softhand, actually made a stronger impact on me. It was used on an episode of Snowboarder Magazine, as background music for a segment they did on heliboarding in Chile.  It's funny that I remember all that but forget what I ate for lunch yesterday.  Anyway, I outdid myself on this one as this video has a grand total of 7 views as I type this.  I'm pretty sure I can get this into double figures.

Mealticket - "Super-Positive"

Mealticket was 90s ska band from California.  This song, Super-Positive, comes from their 2nd album, 13 Apologies.  It can also be found on the fantastic compilation, Ska Down Her Way, which contains 17 songs of ska songs from part and whole female ska bands.  This video is at 273 views right now, but is such a happy tune, that it should definitely have more people listening to it.

Mogwai - "Time And A Half"

This one is probably cheating, as most Mogwai videos will have hundreds of thousands of views.  But this is the only version of this song on all of Youtube, which means it will probably be removed soon enough.  Mogwai is a Scottish post-rock (mostly) instrumental band that have had quite a career.  This particular song comes from their soundtrack for the film, Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, which is a documentary of sorts that follows soccer legend Zinedine Zidane throughout the 90 minutes of a single match with subtitled quotes by Zidane and background music by Mogwai.  This video stands at 163 views right now, but given Mogwai's popularity will undoubtedly surge.

I dream in TV shows

One of my favorite shows these days is called The League.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, The League is a show on the FX Network that follows the fortunes (and failings) of a group of 6 long-time friends in Chicago that participate in a fantasy football league.  They mix football regularly into their every-day lives.  Often it's football first, career and family a distant 2nd and 3rd. 

Anyway, last night I had a vivid dream about a scene from The League.  Since I've seen all the shows, I know this isn't an actual scene from the show, but it played out just like it.  So, I've decided to try and transcribe it here.

FADE IN:

               INT. KEVIN AND JENNY'S BEDROOM

               KEVIN and JENNY are in their bed having sex.

                                   JENNY

                      OH MY GOD! YES BABY!

               As JENNY screams, KEVIN has a triumphant look on his face.

               EXT. KEVIN AND JENNY'S HOUSE

                                   JENNY

                      Kevin, what the hell are you doing?!?

               EXT. GIBSON'S BAR

               PETE AND RUXIN are laughing.

                                   PETE

                      You did what?

               INT. GIBSON'S BAR

                                   KEVIN

                      (shamefully)

                      I did the Ickey Shuffle

                                   RUXIN

                      And why were you doing the Ickey

                      Shuffle?

                                   KEVIN

                      After Jenny had an orgasm, I guess I

                      got excited and decided to celebrate.

                                   PETE

                      So you did an endzone celebration

                      while you were having sex? And a

                      remarkably outdated one at that.

                                   KEVIN

                      Yes.

               ANDRE approaches with a glass of wine.

                                   ANDRE

                      What are we talking about?

                                   PETE

                      Kevin gave his wife an orgasm and

                      decided to do the Ickey Shuffle to

                      celebrate.

                                   RUXIN

                      Yeah, I'd throw a flag for

                      unsportsmanlike conduct for that.

                                   ANDRE

                      Well, I'm old school.  Just hand the

                      ball to the ref.  Act like you've been

                      there before and you plan to come

                      back.

                                   RUXIN

                      Well, that leaves Andre out.

                                   PETE

                      So, I've done the endzone celebration

                      during sex too.

                                   KEVIN

                      So, what's your sexual endzone

                      celebration.

                                   PETE

                      I pulled out a Sharpie and signed my

                      condom like TO.

               RUXIN, KEVIN and ANDRE gasp in disgust.

                                   ANDRE

                      Wait, where did you pull out the

                      Sharpie from?

               As PETE gives a sly grin, RUXIN, KEVIN and ANDRE turn and gag
               with dry heaves.

                                   KEVIN

                      That is disgusting Pete.

                                   PETE

                      WHAT!  She was from France, I thought

                      that's how they did it. Anyway, you

                      didn't seem to notice.

                                   KEVIN

                      What are you taking about? Wait, not my

                      Big Bertha?  Oh God.

                                   RUXIN

                      I did the props once, got out my cell

                      phone and made a call like Joe Horn.

                                   KEVIN

                      Who did you call?

                                   RUXIN

                      Andre's mom.

                                   ANDRE

                      Ok.  Haha.

                                   PETE

                      So, did she pick up?

                                   RUXIN

                      No, I just handed her the phone.

                                   ANDRE

                      Ok, that's not funny.

                                   RUXIN

                      Take it easy Andre, I wasn't having

                      sex with your mom.  I was having sex

                      with your sister, your mom was just

                      watching.

               ANDRE lets out a groan as the rest laugh.

                                   RUXIN

                      No, about all I can get away with is

                      doing a haka.

                                   KEVIN

                      That dance thing the rugby players do

                      before the games?

                                   RUXIN

                      Yeah, Sophia says that if I use props,

                      I'm just bringing attention to myself,

                      it's not about the team success.

               TACO creeps up behind Kevin

                                   TACO

                      Hey guys, what are we talking about?

                                   KEVIN

                      JESUS, TACO!

                                   PETE

                      Sexual endzone celebrations.

                                   ANDRE

                      Yeah, Kevin does the Ickey Shuffle,

                      Pete uses props and I just say act

                      like you've been there and you plan to

                      go back.

                                   KEVIN

                      Jeez, Andre.  You sound just like

                      those cranky old white dudes you see

                      on TV, "Football was much better back

                      in my day before helmets, cheerleaders

                      and the forward pass."

                                   TACO

                      No, no, Andre's right.

                                   ANDRE

                      Thank, you Taco.

                                   TACO

                      No problem.  If we're talking about

                      Andre's mom's endzone, I've been there

                      before.  And I definitely plan on

                      going back.

               ANDRE drops his head and lets out a groan.

Now, that's a pretty long scene.  But that was pretty much my dream.  I've tacked some stuff in some spots, but this shows just how crazy my dreams are.  Here's just a little clip from the show to give you an idea of what it's like.

An Objective Review of GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra - Negative 2 billion stars out of 5

I had incredibly low expectations for this movie and it managed to surpass it with stunning ability. Ridiculous plot, terrible acting, pathetic special effects; just plain stupid.

Christopher Eccleston plays a corporate weapons honcho that gets NATO to give him money to develop a new fangled nano-robot weapon, even though he has enough money to have built an enormous underwater city at the North Pole that even the Chinese don't know about. He also, for some reason, has a deep-seated grudge against (humans?) because his great^20 grandfather was busted selling weapons to the French and turned into the man in the iron mask. Channing Tatum (who was in love with Sienna Miller at some point because they shared a nice dance or something but they break up because he just happens to be there when Sienna's brother blows up during combat in some random east African locale, don't ask me) and Marlon Wayans (killing all the credibility he gained from Requiem for a Dream that had built up to counteract Dungeons & Dragons, White Chicks and Little Man) are tasked with transporting this new weapon to somewhere, in jeeps. With helicopter backups. Not sure why they didn't just put the weapons in the helicopter. Anyway, they get ambushed. SURPRISE, BITCH! Sienna Miller and (Korean Pop Superstar) Rain try and make off with the goodies.

GI Joe saves the day, Tatum and Wayans ask to be recruited into the wonderful world of Joe and blah, blah, blah. Its really difficult to talk about this steaming pile of dog squeeze. I just kept on thinking "Dumb", "What the F**K?" , "Is my mac and cheese done?" while watching this. I mean you have Snake Eyes versus (Korean Pop Superstar) Rain, and for some reason they consider themselves brothers. A white guy and a Korean guy growing up in Japan learning Chinese kung fu. And their "brotherhood" consisted of white kid trying to steal food, Korean kid yells at him in Korean and fights him, Chinese "master" says we gotta train this white kid while Korean kid snarls, Korean kid beats up white kid in training while Chinese "master" broods, white kid finally "beats" Korean kid while Chinese "master" claps, Korean kid sticks a sword in Chinese "master's" back. All in the space of a couple of weeks.

Stuff like this really made me proud to say I made it all the way thru this muck only turning away for a few minutes. Now I know how Sisyphus felt.

So now go buy it.

How I learned about racism

The Jeffersons. That's right, The Jeffersons taught me about the evils of racism. There was an episode called "Sorry, Wrong Meeting", where George inadvertently attends a KKK meeting in his building.  When the KKK leader has a heart attack, George is the only one in the room who knows CPR and saves his life.  When the KKK leader's son tells him that George saved his life, he says "You should have let me die".  As a little kid, I was completely freaked out.  My poor Mom wasn't able to explain racism to me.  I just couldn't comprehend the intense hatred somebody could have just based on somebody else's skin color.  Maybe it was because my best friend at the time was Mexican or maybe because I used to watch Sanford and Son, Good Times as well as The Jeffersons that I didn't think there was anything inherently strange or different about people that weren't white.  Or maybe it was a good family to teach me right from wrong.  Or maybe it was a combination of all of them together.

Here is part 2 of that Jeffersons episode.  Just try to imagine watching this as a 9-year old and that's how I felt.

Backwards thinking?

So, I've sort of avoided all this Herman Cain sexual harassment talk.  (I will be voting for Stephen Colbert again anyway)  But I was listening to the radio on the way home and heard a guy screaming about it to the host.  His exact words were "I can't believe you can believe anything Herman Cain says about this situation when he's done nothing to prove his innocence."  Very strange concept of American justice.  But I have to say these days, most people do think you are guilty until proven innocent.