South Park M&Ms
Vivek: My coworker found an M&M that looks like Kenny from South Park.
Me: Picture?
Vivek: Coming at you!
Ratings.
When we were kids, people watched stuff the Oscars, the Grammys, and the Super Bowl because there were only like 8 channels, so it was just what was on. Plus if you didn’t watch it and you missed something good, you’d have no way to ever see it again. As we got more channels, people’s attention spans got shorter, they got more things to do, and the ratings for these big award shows dropped off hardcore.
This year? The Super Bowl became the most watched show in the history of TV (111 million), and the Grammys last night had their best ratings in a decade (27.6 million)
TV should get down on its knees and thank Twitter for being the wind beneath its wings. If you don’t count all the people clamoring to cleverly livetweet the Grammys and discover the next viral sensation, there would be about 30 people watching.
Thanks Twitter: you’ve made us all obsessed with entertainment again, 80s style.
New Facebook photo fun!
I’m tired of the Lying Down Game on Facebook. Can I start the Mouth Open Game?
Or maybe I should just close my mouth around cameras more often…
Kumail on Portlandia!
This will definitely be taken down soon so please watch and enjoy Kumail on Portlandia. The most amazing thing to me about this scene was that it was 100% improvised. All Kumail was told was that he needed to be an annoying, upselling salesman.
Can someone let Kumail know that this is what I want for Valentine’s Day?
From the website:
According to a Native American tradition, every person is connected with an animal spirit, which provides comfort and protection to new life. Now you can bring the power of these guardian spirits into your home with this first-of-a-kind dreamcatcher replica with Native American-inspired icons.
Available exclusively from The Bradford Exchange, this charming collectible is fully sculpted of artist’s resin, embellished with real feathers and wooden beadwork on leather strings and showcases a sleeping baby cradled in the frame of a replica dreamcatcher. Suspended above the sleeping child, hangs a miniature dreamcatcher featuring real hand-woven string. High demand is expected for this limited-edition home decor and you won’t want to miss out. Order now!
This thing is one foot tall you guys.
Did you want to see a closeup?
Neuroscience and He Said/She Said
An old friend of mine, Kevin Slaughter, has started contributing to a blog called Secular Perspectives. Kevin is an extremely opinionated and strong-willed dude, and his first post is about how he and his wife resolve arguments using applied neuroscience research.
Go check his stuff out and keep checking back- he’s definitely going to say something you disagree with at some point, but he’s a brilliant guy and a great writer, so it makes it harder to argue with him, and I don’t know if there’s any research to back that up.
Happy Birthday to Henry Rollins
He turns 50 today. How time flies when you’re a complete badass, right?
(From ONTD, with a lot of other fun Henry stuff)
Videos of My Life
Let me start this by saying that I love The Monkees. Unironically and completely. Love them.
My favorite era of The Monkees was their dashiki-wearing, long haired rebellious period, when they realized that they wanted to be more than clean-cut teeny bopper comedians- they wanted to rock out.
This song and video (sorry the audio and video isn’t totally synced up) is an amazing example of that. Notice the background, which was used for some of their other tamer videos (like Cheer Up Sleepy Jean), and also notice that adorable little Davy Jones is back on the drumset rather than up front, singing. The song itself alternates between being a sweet ballad and being a riotous mess. Mickey Dolenz never takes any of the video seriously.
If you want to know what rebellion actually looks like, don’t look to any angry smoky-eyed idiots making music now- just check out Randy Scouse Git by The Monkees.
Band Reviews.
(this is the result of a lot of time spent today trying to make playlists for various family members and friends and trying to find a way to describe bands they hadn’t heard of that would entice them)
Mates of State- You had a dream once, in high school, that you and your boyfriend would start a band together and be in love forever. Your piano lessons would have finally paid off. This is what that band would have sounded like, but it didn’t happen because your boyfriend was a loser and you guys couldn’t harmonize.
These New Puritans- If any of the Castlevania games ever had a scene where you had to fight in a nightclub, this would be playing in it.
Baths- You know when you go to a really hip coffee shop and they’re playing music that you’ve never heard before and it sounds awesome but you’re too embarrassed to go up and ask the barista who it is? It’s Baths.
Delta Spirit- Country music that’s been to Brooklyn and is wearing American Apparel clothing.
Miike Snow- You go to a party stocked with models, and this band is playing. You go to a party where there’s a bunch of stoners, and this band is playing. You go to a party with hip hop kids, and this band is playing.
Tennis- If The Adventures of Pete & Pete was still on the air, this band would be playing the theme song, all the music in each episode, and would probably be featured in several episodes as the couple that runs the thrift store.
Arcade Fire- Imagine goth kids with self-esteem, so that they actually tried to be productive instead of sitting around making extra holes in their fishnets and wishing that Skinny Puppy could put out a new album. Then make those kids go to band camp and learn woodwinds.
Moonface- Do you like how this sounds in the first ten seconds? Do you want to know what it would be like if someone took those ten seconds of music and reconfigured them in every fucking way possible, stretched out over a 30 minute span? Do you want to go into a trance right now?
Playboy party medical conditions!
After a party at the Playboy Mansion on February 3rd, dozens of people reported coming down with respiratory symptoms- namely, fever, a dry cough, and headaches.
Playboy is still investigating, but a lot of people think that the problem is Pontiac Fever, which is caused by bacteria living in warm air-conditioning systems, or from things like fog machines.
Sighhhh. What I wouldn’t give for a news story about a good old fashioned case of the group herp breaking out after a Playboy party…
