Maybe it's because I'm a history major, maybe it's because I live in the past, or maybe it's just part of my personality to embrace nostalgia... BUT I LOVE RECAPPING THINGS. Hell, one of my favorite part of the party-scene in college was eating brunch the morning after and retelling the stories that had become ancient history over the night.
This time of year it's all about recapping the 365 days that most recently came before us. While I haven't been drooling over this stuff like I did in 2009, I've been eating the 2011-Recap stuff right up. I've compiled some of the notable articles/lists for you to enjoy!
As of 11:30pm last night, it is officially the start of winter (May it be a short one...).
In Chicago, we'll only see 9 hours, 7 minutes and 43 seconds of daylight today.
So... Happy First Day of Winter! Perhaps you'll celebrate Korochun, Wren Day, Santa Lucia, Soyal, or Yuletime! Or maybe you'll just play around with this fun interactive animation. Enjoy.
DRINKS ON FIRE: I have a friend who I worked with a few summers in a row who would go into a bar and the first question he'd ask would be "What drinks do you have that we can light on fire?"
So everyone knows I love music. I also enjoy a good music video. Since the advent of MTV, some good videos have been able to make a song, or even a band, reach new heights of popularity. Others have at least provided exposure for bands while generally confusing their audience.
Back in the 80's music videos were relatively new, and simply standing in front of a camera playing a song could suffice for a video. Today with every band under the sun posting their videos on youtube, most try to do something different to stand out.
After watching a few videos from the early 80's, I thought it would be fun to do a video comparison. I thought comparing New Wave to Indie made sense because they are both sort of against the mainstream, and their videos both have a tendency to be a little ridiculous and make no sense. For this comparison, the videos both come from English bands and neither makes a real attempt at telling a story, opting instead for the classic band-playing-music-in-a-room style.
First up: New Wave band with androgynous lead singer dance in a room at a well-disclosed location until a boy turns orange.
Observations: Man they look awkward, but at least they're enthusiastic about it.
Next: Diverse Indie band plays in aesthetically pleasing arrangements while seagulls learn the peril of bumper-cars.
Observations: White people have stopped attempting to dance in music videos. This is probably mostly a good thing, but it makes me a little sad.
The Human League video takes place at a location on a map / in a map (I'm not quite sure), while the Metronomy video takes place in an anonymous white room. Is this a reaction to the lack of privacy we feel today? Or is it just indicative of the fact that it was shot in a professional studio rather in a band member's basement?
P.S.: I'm thinking of turning this into a recurring feature, what d'ya think?
So I was perusing the interwebs and found this video on a blog I follow. It's probably the least exciting Wingsuit video I've seen, BUT it shows the other side of the story: the story of the actual wingsuit-dude. It doesn't have music; it records his personal ritual before "takeoff" and it shows a landing. Kinda cool.
It has finally happened. Our dear blog has been, for a lack of a better word, infiltrated by the "enlarge your penis spam" we have all come to know in our emails:
Who is rickybollinger might as well be called....I sell penis pills by putting up comments on other people's blogs. His comment had nothing to do with senior Ted's insightful post, yet his message is a question we as men all yearn to answer.
Do we stand for this?
Do we embrace the new-found marketing potential of our blog? (monetize)
Do we write the company a "wash cup" type letter?
Do we buy the pills and grow super large penis's and achieve incredible sexual stamina?
These questions, much like the pills Mr. Bollinger wants us to buy, certainly should "perk" your interest.
Haven't looked too closely at all of it but I think the most interesting to me was the comparison of Coca-Cola's annual marketing budget and the cost to buy (note: not the cost to make) everyone in the world a coke. I don't really know what it means but it's interesting.
I also enjoyed the estimated net worth of J.K. Rowling had she been a rapper.
