guilty pleasure: literal video #1

The blog has been quiet for a while, but finishing law school, graduating, moving and travelling has taken up most of my time and energy these last five months. Anyways, as noted below I've started a blog for my time in Regina, which has now begun. There's a new post over there.

On this blog, I'll probably be posting those silly or general thoughts that don't quite fit on the Regina blog. On the topic of silly, I figure it was time for another guilty pleasure, this one a literal video. Literal videos can best be described as someone singing exactly what is happening in the video. I stumbled upon this one the other day. I've discussed my love for cheesy 80s/90s power ballads before and now one of my favourites gets the literal video treatment. Enjoy!

an explanation

Regular visitors to the blog may have noticed that the blog was locked up for the past few months. Essentially, I shut down the blog as I had not been posting regularly in 2008 and when I got back to school I found I didn't have the desire to write.

Not knowing whether I was done with the blog or not, I thought I would shut it down for a while and give some thought to what I was doing with it. This was also during the time when blog posts were coming back to haunt candidates during the election.

I looked at a couple of options on Blogger for shutting it down, but it came down to two, deleting the entire blog or locking it up so that I was the only person who could access it. I wasn't ready to delete the blog entirely, so I locked it up.

I probably should have put a post up first telling people that I was going to do it first, but I figured I hadn't posted in quite some time so I just shut it down.

If I gave the impression that people were being locked out of the blog, I am sorry. Really, it was more of a blog downtime. I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do with the blog, and I'm in exams right now so this will probably be the only post to the new year, but I realize the world needs access to my guilty pleasures so feel free to poke around and indulge.

memories of the 20-minute workout

Growing up on City-TV in Toronto there was a horrible show called the 20-minute workout. The title pretty much sums it up. It was lunges, bends, forward thrusts, think Pussycat Dolls in legwarmers and tights, big permed hair, a leotard and a sweatband. Pretty picture isn't it.

Well this Pull Shapes video brought those memories rushing back:

clap your hands if you want some more

What the Buck's Michael Buckley is continuing his fascination (and mine) with "Pull Shapes" by the Pipettes. He has created a dance cru on YouTube and has assembled a video of his fans dancing to the song.



Clap your hands, I know you want some more!

learn to pull shapes

The love affair with the Pipettes continues. They seem to have a great sense of humour about themselves as can be seen in this instructional video on how to pull shapes:

i am not alone

As mentioned below, I found The Pipettes through the YouTube entertainment show What the Buck? As will be ably demonstrated by these two videos, Mr. Buck's obsession with The Pipettes is far beyond mine, although I do have time to catch up.

This first episode is not long after he discovered The Pipettes:



This second video is a musical episode of What the Buck? using "Pull Shapes":



Enjoy!

guilty pleasure: sugary sweet pop

Alright, I know I will probably lose what little credibility I have left with this post, but I have to do it. This is brilliant! I just found this group through buckhollywood.com and I can't get the song out of my head.

It is everything happy music should be, fun, poppy and campy. The group is called The Pipettes. To no one's surprise they are British. No one does sugar sweet pop like the brits. The song is called "Pull Shapes" and I defy you not to pull a shape by the time the song is done:

guilty pleasure: rick rolled

So, Rick Astely has been all over the internet lately. It appears he's unwittingly part of a new (ok new to me) internet prank where a link is identified as to new gaming news, when it fact it takes you to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up". There's even a site dedicated to it called YouGotRickRolled.com.

The other big news is here and here. I loved Rick Astley. He's a total guilty pleasure.  I couldn't find a version of the video that I could embed here. If you want to see the 80s video in all of its fabulous glamour click on the yougotrickrolled link above. Otherwise, here's Rick, live in concert:

could this be the end?

I'm a fan of Eurovision, having written about the camp fest that is Europe's song competition. Eurovision has become more camp and more political over the last ten years and appears to be getting to the point where it is now so ridiculous, even people in Europe are fed up with it.

The biggest complaint is that it is no longer the best song or performer that wins, but whoever has the best regional bloc, i.e. Estonia gives 12 points to Latvia, and Latvia gives 12 points to Estonia.

It appears from this news story that at least the Irish are fed up. For this year, through a national, televised selection process, the Irish have chosen a singing turkey puppet to represent them. Even better, the song mocks Eurovision, the voting process and how silly the competition has become. The song is called Ireland Douze Pointe.

Here's the performance:

[title of post]

In an earlier post, I featured the song "Die, Vampire Die" from the musical [title of show]. The show is a musical about two guys trying to write a musical. The cast is four friends all involved in trying to put the musical together. It is fun, a little crazy and although it has run off-broadway they are using viral marketing to try to get a broadway run.

As part of their viral marketing, they have created the [title of show] show, a toscast available on itunes, a cast album, a blog, etc.

The [title of show] show has a cute with chris like tone and feel. Although the play is not currently running the [title of show] show continues, documenting their road to broadway on the "tossability" board. The enthusiasm and humour is infectious.

Here's one of the early episodes:

guilty pleasure #16: cover me

I'm a bg fan of singers covering other people's songs. It's always interesting to hear a new take on an old, or in the following cases, not so old songs. It seems like this is a big trend in England with both cd:UK and BBC Radio One Live Lounge regularly having singers in to sing other artists' songs.

Here are two of my favourite British singers, Daniel Bedingfield and Will Young doing cover versions on cd:UK a popular music program:

one size fits all is a lie

I have a very large head, there's no denying. Even other people with big noggins have commented on the sheer size of my scalp. I've blogged before about my love for the movie "So I Married an Axe-Murder!" In it is a hilarious scene where Mike Myers, playing his character's father does a bit of routine on his brother's head. This was me growing up. You can catch a bit of it here:

How all this head talk has come about is that old man winter has blown onto the prairie for good this time and I've decided to sport an old man hat for the season. But this isn't any ordinary old man hat; it's harris tweed, but it's got gor-tex. 

One of the reasons for this specific hat is that one size fits all hats are a lie! Don't believe them. They may fit most, but they won't fit all. My noggin is not going into a one size fits all hat. When I find some who makes an XXL hat I feel compelled to buy it out of gratitude alone, regardless of what I may think of the hat.  

As for those shocked and appalled by the thought of an XXL hat, my ski-doo helmet is an XXXL and has that conveniently printed across the back for the world to see. I'm surprised I can stand upright when I have it on. It's probably about forty pounds of plastic and padding. I don't resent the helmet though, as my head is how I make my living and it needs to be safe.

Anyways, back to the old man hat. I bought this because the XXL actually included my size, 7 and 7/8 inches, yes I pretty much have eight inches (insert innuendo here). I like the style but I'm not sure I'm loving it yet. Here's me in my old man hat:

I think Russell would approve, but do you?

hold on to your undies

Well before I went offline last weekend, I did promise a Tom Jones post. It came up when I termed Shirley Bassey as a female Tom Jones. They're both Welsh (like me) and have distinctive voices and sounds. And they're both still going strong today despite decades in the business. I blame my parents for my knowledge of things like this. I remember Tom being played throughout my youth.

I've got two clips. One a classic Tom Jones song full of innuendo and trumpets. The second is a more recent effort where he paired up a number of other acts, including the Stereophonics, a Welsh band.

guilty pleasure #15: only in england you say, a pity

I've been a fan of John Barrowman for some time. He is the openly gay actor who stars in Doctor Who and the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood (currently airing on CBC). I rarely get worked up about a personality, but he is a guilty pleasure for his campy performances, and admirable for living his politics.

I have to speculate that based on youTube, he has never said no to a tv appearance on any show. John's background is in musical theatre, starring in a number of West End shows. Although born in Scotland, he grew up in the United States, but his success has really only been in England.

I love the fact that despite being a relatively big star, he's not afraid to gay it up, even on national TV. Here's two clips from the music trivia show "Never Mind the Buzzcocks" which he appeared on. The first is safe for work, the second is not.





In addition to his TV success, he just released a new album last week. I'm not quite sure what to make of the new album, it's easy listening and influenced by his musical theatre past, but I'm not sure whether I'm loving the arrangements. Given my love of the Police it's no surprise I'm not 100% sold on this cover version. It was performed on the UK (and original) version of "Dancing with the Stars" called "Strictly Come Dancing".



I think one of his best musical performances was this classic from La Cage:

gulity pleasure 14: there's nothing like a dame

It's been a long time since I've delved into the world of my guilty pleasures so I figured it was time. I know many of you are fearful of my indulgences in britpop, but this one is a more classic take on britpop - Dame Shirley Bassey.

I don't think any other singer is more frequently associated with James Bond, then Dame Bassey. She is the only singer to have recorded more than one James Bond theme song, having done sung the themese to Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever, and Moonraker.

I'm a big fan of cover versions as it's always interesting to see what another artist does with a song. I'm also a fan of Dames, not just members of the Order of the British Empire, but those brassy, big-voiced female singers who can own a song with their voice and stylings. In either definition, Dame Shirley Bassey fits the bill.

This cover version has a nice lounge, James Bond vibe fitting Bassey's signature style.

bjorn again?

Recently I've had two visits from Stockholm, Sweden here to the blog. After the first visit, I figured it was a bit of a fluke, they found the blog by mistake, or by hitting the "next blog" function on the site. After a return visit a week later, I realize it may not have been an accident.

Although there are any number of rational explanations for this, I am convinced that Bjorn from ABBA visited the blog. It's only natural, given the genius that is ABBA has often been a focus of conversation here at grantednull.

So, just in case Bjorn returns again, I wanted to find a way to express how I feel, but in their genius, he and Benny had already taken the words right out of my mouth.

eurovision 2007 - what went wrong

Now that I have you all hooked on Eurovision, I know that I don't need to tell any of you that this year's Eurovision finale was held this weekend. However, I do have to admit to being a little baffled by this year's contest.

This year Serbia won, and here is the winning entry:



Hmmm, are you as stumped as I am. Where's the camp, the catchy riff, the song sung in English? Aside from a possible lesbian vibe, which I can't say for sure, not speaking serbian. There appears to be no gimmick, except maybe a good song. Hmmm, where's the eurotrash I've come to know and love?

Wait, here it is, Ukraine's entry is a Draq Queen:



That's better!

i really should be in england

Although England is my ancestral homeland, I'm beginning to realize it's my spiritual, and musical homeland as well. Bad britpop is a well known guilty pleasure of mine, and the BBC's latest reality show seems to be tailor made for me.

Any Dream Will Do is an american idol like show to select the next person to star as Joseph in the West End production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Being a bit of a show tune queen, this is perfect for me. I'm such a sucker for these shows that I even watched part of the it's so bad it's good, You're the One that I Want, the american version of this show to select the next leads of Grease on Broadway.

All of these are based on the BBC orginal series, How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria, that was a search for the next star of the Sound of Music.

Anyways, enough history. In each show the Jospeh wannabes do solos and a group number. You may remember I'm a fan of Meat Loaf and Dead Ringer for love. Well, they had the Joseph's do it, in a show tuney kind of way. In all its british brilliance I present it to you:

numa numa

I learned about this latest youtube craze from the Yellowknife Moms. "Numa Numa" is a romanian song that is Eurovision worthy in its catchiness. I'm told this is the big thing on youtube. Everyone is lipsynching to the song and loading their videos. Here's a few of the Mom's favourites:

bye bye charlotte

Well, the final installment in Charlotte Church week is just creepy. This is a duet with british bad girl Amy Winehouse singing Michael Jackson's Beat It. I have some parting words for dear Charlotte

Charlotte, consider this a warning - Amy Winehouse could be your future. You're young, you're talented, you got knocked up, but really you're still a good girl at heart. Stay away from the booze and drugs and you'll be okay. It's too late for Amy, but you can save yourself. Stay close to your metrosexual rugby guy (even if he is David Beckham-lite) and raise your family or one day you too can be drunk, stoned and singing unintelligbly.

If that's not creepy enough for you, this duet was filmed on Friday the 13th, and today is Friday the 13th.