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!

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:

a soundtrack for my stylish, mysterious life

I've added a new link over on the right side of the blog called "i listen to". You'll find a link to somafm.com, a commercial-free, listener-supported internet radio. They have number of different channels to choose from, but my favourites right now are:

• Groove Salad - a nicely chilled plate of ambient beats and grooves.
• Drone Zone - served best chilled, safe with most medications. Atmospheric textures with minimal beats.
• Illinois Street Lounge - classic bachelor pad, playful exotica and vintage music of tomorrow.
• Secret Agent - the soundtrack for your stylish, mysterious, dangerous life. For Spies and PIs too!

The first two are great for while I'm doing school work, nice ambient sounds without too much beat that serve as a background without many vocals to distract. The last two are more for hanging around, chilling out or having dinner or drinks with friends.

Check them out, and if you like what you hear, give them some support!

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:

talk about being on message

It seems the US Presidential Candidates are using the same speaking notes, regardless of party:



(with apologies to Mr. Bowie)

[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:

i am the hasselhoff

The little sister has a fascination with David Hasselhoff that can't be explained. Currently she is running a contest called "Being David Hasselhoff". The contest calls for creative expressions of being David Hasselhoff. I should warn you that the photos submitted so far can only be described as disturbing.

Although I don't understand the allure of the hoff, I have tried in the following to caputre the essence of being "the Hasselhoff". I must begin by offering my apologies to Scandal and Patti Smyth for reinterpreting their 80s hit "I am the Warrior". I have rewritten the song "I am the Hasselfhoff".

As a reminder, here is the original song:



Now play it again, but this time reading along (or singing along, you know you want to) with these new lyrics:

I run, run...run so slow
It's a skill...that you don’t know
Running on...my hunky thighs
I bet you're not so exercised

Well, it’s my love..that you need
A wild need like a growing weed
Break out of East Germany
And follow my career’s meteor rise
I am your man.....a star in your eyes

Chorus:
Shootin' on the sets of Baywatch, splash, splash, I am the Hasselhoff
Well I am the Hasselhoff, and heart to heart you'll win…if you survive the Hasselhoff....the Hasselhoff

You talk, talk, you talk to me
Your eyes touch me physically
Stay with me, we'll take the night
As passion takes another bite, oh

Who's the singer...with the fame?
You hear the fans...call my name
I keep them warm...in Germany
You can’t ever tame my animal style…
I won't be caged...I’m the call of the wild....

Repeat Chorus

I am the Hasselhoff

(Guitar Break – picture the Hoff’s dance moves here)

Shootin' on the sets of Baywatch (shootin' on the sets of baywatch)
The Hasselhoff.....
I am the Hasselhoff, and heart to heart you’ll win
heart to heart you’ll win...if you survive
The Hasselhoff...the Hasselhoff

shootin' on the sets of Baywatch, splash, splash, I am the Hasselhoff
yes I am the Hasselhoff and Germany is mine
(shootin' on the sets of baywatch)
The Hasselhoff...I am the Hasselhoff

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:

two thousand and great?

It's a new year, but long-term readers of the blog will know that I'm not a big new years fan. Particularly with being back in school, I'm far more likely to consider September the new year.

However, with all the media coverage of the new year, resolutions, the year in review, and the year looking ahead, it's practically impossible not to be thinking about a new year, and what you hope to do differently.

As I don't handle failure well, I tend to stay away from resolutions. In spite of this I have been thinking about what I would like to do more of this upcoming year. After a particularly grueling school term, I feel the need to do more creative things. It can't all be about school and work.

This blog is one thing I hope to do more of. In 2007, there were 191 posts to the blog, an average of one every other day, however it was definitely concentrated in the first part of the year. There were long stretches of no blogging and I noticed the absence of a creative outlet, even if it's just a blog post.

Hopefully this year I will do more photography, writing and make use of the sketch book kit and folio I got for Christmas. It's not only about doing more though, it is also about putting your creativity out there. That's the hardest bit. Last weekend I was in Ottawa visiting a north of 60 friend who moved south the same time I left for law school. This was something we talked about a bit over the weekend, in particular in relation to a musical cabaret we saw called "Life on the Wicked Stage".

The show included songs from a number of broadway and off-broadway shows. Some well-known, others a discovery. One woman in the show was a standout, not only for her great vocals, but also for the fact that she could have been Seriously Frivolous' twin. It was uncanny, right down to the smile and laugh. The only thing missing was the high kick of happiness(tm)!

Anyways, one of the songs was from a show called [title of show] (that's the actual title). It's a musical about writing a musical. The songs goes directly to what I've been writing about. It's called "Die Vampires Die" and is about those people and demons that prevent you from creating and putting yourself out there. It's smart and funny but some of the language may not be appropriate if you're playing it aloud at work:

law school musical

I know that as I post more of these videos, you're going to think that we don't actually do any work at law school. The fact is we do so much work that rather than face the reality of it, we spend our time finding ways of not dealing with it. Like making or searching out these videos.

snail in a bottle

Blogging may be a little hit or miss, or video heavy the next week or so as I'm into final exams. Yesterday I was studying Evidence and the Lego Men straightened hearsay out for me. Today I'll be studying Evidence and Indian and Aboriginal. However, I don't have a video for either.

This video though is a nice summation of the modern tort of negligence. This tort began with a snail found in a bottle of ginger beer. It's no "Tort Law Back" but the makers of this video get bonus points for the use of a Police song, and the little A-Ha interlude.

singing in the shower

The following youtuber takes it out of the shower but stays in the bathroom for this recording. He says that his bathroom has the best acoustics. He has quite the voice, and it's an impressive rendition of the song.

A warning for the Grinches among my readers, it's a Christmas song:



Anyways, this will make a good story for if he makes it big. How were you discovered, "singing in my bathroom on youtube".

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.