vintage

So I’m 20 today (yeah, I’m a bit of a baby when it comes to the blogosphere), and so I thought I’d make a post about me. That is, I’m passing along links to some of my favourite funny videos so you can experience them too. Warning: may cause spit-takes. Protect your monitor.

Robin Williams – Bush & Obama is a hilarious video from just after the American election. He did some comedy in England for Charles & Camilla, or as he calls them, “Chuck and Cam”. It is stupid how many times I’ve watched this, but it’s amazing.

Paul McCartney making mashed potatoes. I never thought I would enjoy watching an old rock star talk to his oven mitts and slice onions.

Bob & Doug MacKenzie’s 24 Anniversary — self-explanatory. Hosers represent.

Star Wars retold by someone who hasn’t seen it is probably funniest for people who have seen the movies — sextilogy? Is there a word for a series of six? — but either way, someone trying to inform us about the finer points of a series they’ve never seen is already comedy gold.

How to write a fugue, on a theme by Britney Spears. This is especially great for musicians, but I think that anyone can appreciate the hilarity of a remarkably adept treatment of “Oops, I Did It Again” in fugal style (and the excellent editing).

Bach a cappella features one guy singing all four parts of a Bach piece — soprano too — and comically straining his voice to both extremes. His theatrically exaggerated facial expressions make this one of the funniest performances of ol’ Johann Sebastian on the internet. (He has more Bach, as well as Mahler, Puccini, and Gounod on his channel page … I recommend them all.)

Sloan loses a guitarist on tour … Jay gets lost in the woods and the rest of the band go to find him. A ridiculous video featuring such quotes as “It’s getting dark, it must be like, five-thirty or something!” or “It’s a leg. A human leg” (identified by Chris Murphy after a smell test).

And of course, Hugh Jackman on Japanese television (just after the Oscars). This is the biggest trip ever — I don’t even know what’s going on most of the time, but the exchange about balls is HILARIOUS. More clips here, if you’re still interested after that.

Real posts on their way!

The 44th President of the United States of America.
Thank you.

I just want to say thanks to those of you who have been reading and linking to my previous post. It has created a huge spike in blog traffic, and is already the top post on this blog by a huge margin. I appreciate all the support — maybe political writing is my calling! Please keep debating in the comments, it is always great to hear what other citizens really think of the way politics are going in this country.

In music: for those of you who are unaware, Canadian favourite Final Fantasy has released two new EPs (Spectrum, 14th Century and Plays to Please). Check out the review at Pitchfork. The records feature Beirut, Alex Lukashevsky and Andrew Bird; Pallett’s upcoming LP Heartland, due for a 2009 release, will include contributions by Mantler and $100.

I’m not sure if this is news to anyone else, but Panic At The Disco seem to have recently gotten rid of the annoying exclamation point in their name. However, the annoying music is unfortunately still with us.

In Canada, Margaret Wente of the Globe and Mail and Dick Pound of VANOC have created quite a stir. Pound caused a great deal of controversy by referring to the Canada of 400 years ago as “a nation of savages,” which understandably enraged most of the First Nations communities in the country. Wente then ran a Globe column supporting Pound’s claim and saying that the aboriginal people of Canada were uncivilized. Pound has since apologized for his comment and issued a statement that said the ethics commission “found no intent of racism,” but most still aren’t convinced, and there are many calling for the dismissal of both.

And in American politics … well, I think I’ll let the headlines speak for themselves.

First, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens (R) was convicted today on corruption charges. This is a huge blow to the GOP, and particularly to the Alaska Republicans. Between this and Sarah Palin’s increasing drop in the polls, Alaska is getting hit pretty hard. So far, Stevens has made no indication of dropping out of the race to be re-elected to Senate, but in a curious turn of events, he may not be able to vote for himself.

Two skinheads were arrested today in an alleged attempt to assassinate Barack Obama. The men were planning to kill 88 civilians and 14 African-Americans, with Obama being their last casualty. This is pretty scary business — nobody’s even been elected yet.

And finally, on a lighter note: the New Mexico Sun Times is a bi-weekly newspaper, with the next issue (October 26th through November 8th) hitting newsstands a week before the election. The editors decided to take a different path than most, and the latest Sun Times headline boldly proclaims Barack Obama the winner of the United States presidential election. Claiming the honour of being the first to report the results, the Sun Times still encourages everyone to go out and vote on November 4.

It’s been a fun week!

Well, here we are, in the aftermath of this year’s Grammys. I didn’t even watch them, so I can’t comment on the excellent performances or the faux-pas, the red carpet hullaballoo or the dresses, or the fact that Amy Winehouse couldn’t collect her five (!) awards due to the fact she couldn’t get a visa. They tried to make her go to rehab … er.

Anyway, it’s true. Winehouse picked up five Grammy awards last night, and not small ones, either. “Rehab” won both Song and Record of the Year as well as Best Female Pop Vocal Performance; her album Back to Black won Best Pop Vocal Album, and she picked up Best New Artist. “New” is always a baffling category; it seems to mean ’we finally realised you existed this year,’ even though Winehouse had released an album prior to Back to Black. It didn’t do as well, of course, but “new”? Hardly. Still, this is not nearly as head-scratching as the nomination of Leslie Feist for the same category. Uh … what?

Curiously, the winner of Album of the Year went to a – gasp! – jazz album. I wonder how many people were up in arms about that one. That’s right, Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters took the prestigious best album title, as well as winning Best Contemporary Jazz Album. Not bad, especially for an album in tribute to a Canadian artist. (Interestingly, Joni herself won an award for Best Pop Instrumental from her new record Shine.) I’ve got to say that I’m actually impressed with the Grammys for awarding the Album of the Year to a less-than-mainstream genre; there will be speculation about their “hidden intentions” for that one, I’m sure (pandering to jazz fans! trying to garner interest from the less mainstream!) but really, it’s nice to know they actually liked a jazz record enough to award it that highly for once.

Some of the less-publicised awards, though, are even more interesting. Levon Helm (formerly of The Band) won Best Traditional Folk Album for Dirt Farmer. Bright Eyes’ Cassadaga won for Best Recording Package. And yes, ladies and gents, Barack Obama – that one – picked one up for Best Spoken Word album, for the audiobook of his own The Audacity of Hope. Now that’s news. Is the United States ready for its first Grammy-Award-winning black president? I’d vote for him.

See the complete list of winners here: Fields 1-8 and Fields 9-26.