With the new MTV music video site just recently launched, I thought I would start a small little series on my blog where I pick five music videos I have saved in my favorites and embed them here for you to enjoy. If you want, you can friend me on the new site and keep up to date with what music videos I’m favoriting. The list right now is mostly small, but I’ll be adding more as I find them. Anyway, onto the music fest!
October 2008
Weighing In On Rev3 Changes
Big news today in the world of New Media. Revision3 decided today to cut back some of it’s shows as well as a few of it’s employees to persevere through this economic downturn. While I’m saddened that such talented people are out of work, I’m not too terribly disappointed that some of these shows are no longer a part of the Rev3 lineup. Of course, I’m referring to Internet Superstar, Pixel Perfect, and Pop Siren.
Internet Superstar. A lot of problems exist with this show, in my opinion, and they all seem to stem from Martin Sargeant’s very first show with Rev3, Infected. I gave that show a chance when it first aired, and just didn’t get it. I understood what was supposed to be funny about it, but I lost interest about ten minutes into the first episode. I also couldn’t get through episode two, or episode three, and stopped completely ten seconds into the fourth episode. It was the kind of humor that I don’t subscribe to, and the lack of focus for the show only served to piss me off.
When Web Drifter came into the fray, things changed for me. The show had Martin Sargeant in his element: out and about with all the “weird” internet people he could find. It was a promising concept, and as the series progressed, it started to take a form that I really enjoyed.
And then it was dropped for Internet Superstar (or Infected 2.0: Where’s Joey?). Despite being more focused in scope than infected, it just couldn’t make up it’s mind about where it wanted to go. This was quite evident when the full length version of the show got cut down to just it’s daily “bytes” only. Really, how much longer could this show have gone on anyway? Personally, I think cutting this show down was a wise choice, and should have happened even before this economy crunch occurred.
Pixel Perfect. I really liked this show, but as it continued, I noticed that it just didn’t really fit into the Rev3 lineup. Maybe I’m the only one who thinks that, but there was a definite vibe that this show was kind of outside the core content that Rev3 was producing.
Pop Siren. Now here’s a show with promise and a lack of vision at the same time. I remember watching it a few times between the older (longer) version and the updated version. It lost a lot in the translation, and it only showed me that like Internet Superstar, it just wasn’t finding it’s place in the core lineup. A shame, because I was definitely into it for awhile there.
All in all, it’s a shame to see these shows go. Wine Library TV and EPIC FU will of course find their footing again, considering they were established before Rev3. I can only hope that the talented people from these dropped shows will find their next big thing and give it their all. Best of luck to everyone!
An Old Video, But Good One
Found this older video by perusing a family member’s blog archives. Every time I’ve come across TED I’ve always been engaged on so many levels. Seriously. Good stuff. I agree with a lot of what Sir Ken Robinson says here. Our education needs to be rethought. Funny that I’m thinking about this more now that my education is winding down.
Paralyzed With Joy
Had my RSS feed reader on this afternoon in class (I know, shame on me..) when this article popped up on Gizmodo about these brain implants that help paralyzed monkeys regain movement. I clicked through to the New Scientist article and read further on the breakthrough implant. I must say that I’m quite fascinated by the implications of this, especially since I have a constant fear of waking up one morning and finding myself unable to move. Anyway, give the articles a look-see.
If We Could Still Have A Song
Had the chance awhile back to see The New Pornographers live at The Hideout here in Chicago. They played a lot off of their new(ish) album Challengers, including this gem that I hadn’t given much of a chance. Listening to their performance live was nothing short of spectacular, and the circumstances around hearing that changed the way I looked at the album completely. Anyway, check it out.
(NOTE: If it doesn’t play. Hit the play / pause a couple of times)
Instant (hard) On
Was poking around on Valleywag and noticed a small piece about Microsoft probing it’s users in regards to an “instant on” feature for their computers. The question asked if they would be willing to part with a majority of features of the Windows OS for an 8 second boot time. I don’t know about you all, but I’m wondering why this has to be so “gosh darn” complicated.
It’s this simple: All the current instant-on solutions involve packing the computer with a flash memory chip, one that contains a downsized operating system.
Why can’t they just figure out a better way to manage resources and not load all of them on startup? Granted, I’m asking these questions as someone who doesn’t know a lot about “OS startups,” but as a simple consumer I have to wonder if things aren’t just arbitrarily complicated. Any light shed on this for me would be super.
My Life As An Intern At A Failed Startup, Final Part
There’s not much more to this saga of my life as an intern at a failed startup. A lot of the usual bullshit of idea plus democracy equaling lameness. It’s hard to be more specific about scenarios at that place because a lot of it blended together for me. That, and a lot of time has passed since they let me go without any sort of warning. I don’t want you to get the idea that my intent was to bash this place. I just want you to see my frustration at an amazing opportunity gone south due to “too many cooks in the kitchen” and “no vision.”
If you want to see a lack of vision in action, start at the following youtube video and progress through the multiple episodes. You can also check out all of the videos from the site on the youtube page, which I heartily recommend over the site itself. Take from these videos what you will, and feel free to ask me about it. God knows I love to bitch about this place. See if you can’t spot me in these videos somewhere with a few buddies of mine! :)
First video in the youtube series:
An Edit To My Nick & Nora Post
I was informed that Nick didn’t have sex with Nora, but rather fingered her.
WHAT?!
WHAT THE….
That makes the damn film WORSE!!!
Sorry. Was watching the latest TRS episode and their review of the Nick and Nora film and am surprised at their love of the film. For once, I violently disagree. I don’t think I can really put much stock in their reviews anymore.
Good Playlist; God-Awful Film
I mistakenly thought, upon seeing the advertisements for Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist, that this film was aimed at my age demographic, and that it would try to evoke some kind of feeling that Garden State (see: one of my favorite films) did earlier. Admittedly, I did no real research on the film going in, and just knew that it starred stereotypical nerd Michael Cera and some gal I didn’t recognize (EDIT: but now remember quite well from “40 Year Old Virgin”). The commercials had music in it that I liked, and I knew from reading You Ain’t No Picasso that Bishop Allen had a brief cameo in it as themselves. You can imagine my disappointment, then, when I finally got to see the film.
Here’s a brief (and convoluted) summary of the film, as brought to you by wikipedia:
After seeing his ex-girlfriend, Tris, with a new boyfriend at his band’s gig, Nick O’Leary, a member of The Jerk Offs, is asked by college-bound Norah Silverberg to be her boyfriend for five minutes to prove something to her friend Tris. Little does Norah know, Nick is Tris’s ex-boyfriend, who Norah has developed a crush on even before seeing him. This is due to his mix CDs he had made for Tris after she broke up with him. Nick’s friends then attempt to set them up, thinking it would help Nick get over Tris.
The problem with this film, for me at least, lies in the sum of it’s parts. There are some great moments in here, ones that still stick with me since I saw it a few weeks back. But when combined with all the rest, it makes me realize how little anyone cared whether or not this reached an audience.
Right away in the film we’re introduced to the characters as they converge on a music venue in Manhatten. Nick and his band “The Jerkoffs” open for Bishop Allen. Herein lies the first issue that takes me out of the film. I’ve seen Bishop Allen and bands like them live and to get into the venue they were playing at, I had to prove to the scary guy at the door that I was of legal drinking age. So, even if this is an 18+ venue, why the hell is one of the characters drinking? How did this slip by the bartenders? I’m pretty sure that people in these venues aren’t THAT careless, are they? As we traverse the film further, we end up in more clubs and we see more young high schoolers getting it on with the liquid courage. Really?
I know that high schoolers drink. It’s one of those facts of science, like gravity and Thetans. But what I don’t get is how they can be so careless about it in a big city and not get any flak for it, or at least get picked up by the police. How is it that these morons can get away with so much shit and come out unscathed? Take the character of Caroline, the wasted partier / comedic relief of the film. Not a moment went by in that film where I didn’t wonder how the hell she survived. Granted, this is a comedy and things like this can’t really be challenged, but it did take me out of the film.
And then there was the overt “I’m cool because I listen to x” motif that really turned me off. At times, it was like watching a PR push from hipster central. We see a list of bands in the opening credits, and each of the characters echo the other’s tastes in music. In fact, it was hard to tell the characters apart because of this. Nick likes x, and Nora agrees, and “The Jerkoffs” agree, and the ex agrees, and they all agree that the fictional band “Where’s Fluffy” is where it’s at. They all decide to find “Fluffy” and they all turn on the same damn songs on their car rides to the potential hiding places. The whole music aspect to this film felt like it came from the point of view of someone out of touch with the current generations and their differing tastes in music.
And then there’s extremely awkward sex scene, which you can see being set up a mile away. It’s lame, uninspired, and feels very much like a ripoff of the flashback sex scene in Juno. We don’t see anything happen but still experience the awkwardness of it. They’re young, so this must be how it goes down..so to speak. Right?
But there are good things about this film. I’m not ALL doom and gloom. The way in which Nick and Nora’s feelings grow for each other doesn’t feel fake or forced. They genuinely seem attracted to each other. The acting on everyone’s part is energetic and no one feels like their just doing this for the hell of it. The side characters are colorful, and I believe them all (with the exception of the aforementioned Caroline). There’s a moment in the end of the film where Nick and Nora kiss while on an escalator. It’s all in slow motion and they glide off screen as the music swells. It’s a good moment.
If I had to give this film some kind of grade, I’d give it a C+. The filmmakers never quite figured out who to market this one to, and the end result is that it’s quite the forgettable little flick.
P.S. I don’t think I’ll ever chew gum again.
