August 2007

This could become a regular feature here at PCWEI. I really enjoy wacky and offbeat covers. The wackier the better. Last week it was the cover of “I Will Survive” on the banjo ukulele. This week we’re sticking with a similar instrument, with a cover of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” on the regular uke. Enjoy!

The New Pornographers performed “My Rights Versus Yours” on Letterman last week. Here’s the video, complete with Neko’s gloriously short skirt:

NBC’s put together a little update for us on what the characters from The Office have been doing over the summer. I really can’t wait for the season to start…

Robert Schneider, most famously of The Apples in Stereo, but here performing under the his Marbles moniker, performs the classic Apples track “Stream Running Over” at HHBTM Records’ Popfest in Athens, GA, with help from other Apples.

There’s also video of another song, and an audio recording of the whole show.

via You Ain’t No Picasso

It’s not new, but I just ran across Junior Senior’s “Can I Get Get Get” the other day. And I dig the Danish Sugarhill Gang meet The B-52s groove they’ve got. It’s a bit cheesy, but I don’t care.

Sunday Music Spotlight alum Feist appeared on Letterman last night to play her uber-infectious ditty “1 2 3 4″. And as a special treat she had a choir made up of indie music stars, including members of The New Pornographers, The National, Broken Social Scene, Grizzly Bear, and others. Check it out:

In honor of today being my birthday, I’ve compiled a few birthday tunes, and a list of cool people who happen to share the day with me:

• Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Governor of the Province of Maryland
• Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States
• Lester Young, jazz saxophone player (aka Prez, aka Pork Pie Hat)
• Mother Teresa, human rights activist, Nobel Peace Prize, Atheist?
• Sgt. Slaughter, professional wrestler
• Paul “Pee-Wee Herman” Reubens
• Alex Lifeson, guitarist from Rush
• Sarah Chalke, actress from Scrubs (on the very same day!!!)

If you look at Wikipedia’s full list of births you may notice a trend: there are an awful lot of Nobel Prize winners. I guess August 27th is a day when geniuses are born…

Andrew Bird - The Happy Birthday Song

The Sugarcubes - Birthday

Thelonious Monk - Boo Boos Birthday

And an appropriate bit of comedy from Sterling, Virginia’s most bitter son, Patton Oswalt:
Patton Oswalt - You Are Allowed 20 Birthday Parties

Normally the Sunday Music Spotlight is all about the little guy - bands that are underexposed or new on the scene. This week we’re going in a different direction, highlighting a former little band that has exploded in the last couple of years, Spoon.

Spoon started in 1994 in the indie music incubator that is Austin, Texas. The story goes that guitarist and lead singer Britt Daniel met drummer Jim Eno at a party and they decided to form a band. They took the name Spoon from a song by 70s German band Can, which was featured in a movie they both liked. In 1996 Matador Records put out the band’s first CD, Telephono in 1996, leading to what appeared to be their big break, their signing with Elektra Records in 1998. The label released their sophomore album, A Series of Sneaks, then promptly dropped them. Yoink.
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The Hives are back with a new album, creatively titled Black and White Album. It hits shelves on October 9th, but the first single, “Tick Tick Boom” is already out:

The Hives - Tick Tick Boom

The Apples in Stereo have released a second video for their song “Same Old Drag” (off of the most excellent New Magnetic Wonder). It features spinning records, spinning singers, singing sock puppets, sad clowns, and other oddness.

Personally I prefer the first video for the song, with it’s Wayne’s World vibe:

Here’s Bruce Springsteen’s new song “Radio Nowhere”. It’s a bit of a departure from last year’s folk-ish album, but it’s good to hear Bruce rock it out again.

Bruce’s new album Magic isn’t out until October 2nd, but you can pre-order it at Amazon.

UPDATE:
Because the YouTube one will probably get taken down at some point got taken down, here’s the actual MP3:
Bruce Springsteen - Radio Nowhere

NBC is bringing the 90’s classic American Gladiators back to TV. The network has picked it up for at least six episodes, starting in the middle of the TV season. The show will be the same basic format as the original, but with updated events.

I for one think this kicks ass. I caught a couple of the original episodes on ESPN Classic a while back and I was amazed how much fun the show was, even though it’s been almost 20 years since it debuted. It really took me back to my childhood.

Variety has the full scoop

I know it sounds strange. Just watch it. Trust me. It’s worth it. This chick’s bringing banjo back…

This one’s a little strange. TVGuide is reporting that Janeane Garofalo is joining Kiefer on the cast of 24. Um. What? I like Janeane Garofalo, but I don’t get this at all. I really don’t see how she’s going to fit in on a basically humorless show. It should be interesting to see if she can convincingly play a government agent. Though really all she has to do is say “I don’t know if I can do that Jack”, then end up doing it, and she’ll be fine.

Kristen Bell, best known for playing the title character on the recently canceled Veronica Mars, is joining the cast of Heroes. Bell will play a mysterious character named Elle who will have ties to a bunch of the show’s 400 storylines. We’ll be introduced to her in October.

Apparently the folks over at Lost were trying to get her as well. So this is a big win for Heroes.

Variety has the full story.

It was late last night when I wrote my review of Superbad, and somehow I neglected to talk about the movie’s most badassed character, McLovin. To make up for it, here he is on Kimmel:

Two words: Fucking hilarious. Move over Knocked Up, Superbad is the funniest movie I’ve seen this year. And soundtrack kicks ass. I should warn you though. Where Knocked Up was profane, but showed situations from men’s and women’s perspectives, so women could probably relate to it, Superbad is very profane and is TOTALLY from a man’s perspective. So I’m not sure how much the ladies are going to appreciate it.

The fine folks over at Filmspotting said something very appropriate in their review of Superbad: it takes really smart people to make good dumb comedies. Then producer Judd Apatow, writer/producers Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, and director Greg Mottola must be geniuses. And actors Jonah Hill (part of Rogan’s band of merry misfits in Knocked Up) and Michael Cera (George Michael from Arrested Development) are brilliant. Cera especially has mastered looking awkward for comedic effect. Overall the whole cast does a great job delivering the brilliant gags that Rogan and Goldberg came up with.

Rating:

Bonus:
Here’s one of the kick ass funk tunes from the soundtrack (featuring none other than Bootsy Collins himself):
Lyle Workman - Superwhat

And don’t forget to check out the R-Rated trailer

I know I keep harping on Josh Ritter. But The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter comes out tomorrow, and it kicks ass, and I just want to make sure everyone knows about it. Well, that and Ritter’s publicist keeps sending me stuff, which is cool, and I’m lazy, and it’s easy to post…

Anyway. Here’s Ritter and his band playing the song “Mind’s Eye” off the new album, in some guy named Juan’s basement.

Previously on PCWEI:
Sunday Music Spotlight - Josh Ritter
New Song From Josh Ritter (Plus Tour Dates)

This video is very simple: it’s a little yellow robot (think an animated Peep) dancing to Spoon’s “I Turn My Camera On”. Sounds dumb right? Well it should be. But for some reason I can’t stop laughing…

That little limbless robot has far better moves than I do.

But wait, there’s more, and this time it’s a public performance:

More info on the videos over at Pitchfork

Man, you’ve just gotta love the intersection of math geek and musician. We’ve already covered Robert Schneider of The Apples in Stereo speaking at this year’s MathFest. Now we present for your mathematical and musical enjoyment Dan Snaith, better known to the music world as Caribou.

Dan’s not your average math geek. His dad is a college math professor. His sister is a college math professor. And he has a Ph.D. in mathematics from Imperial College London. It’s safe to say this guy knows his fractions.
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It’s release is still almost a year away, but pictures continue to leak from the set of The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger definitely looks creepy as The Joker. And I can’t wait to find out what’s up with the multiple Batmans (Batmen?).

Josh Ritter’s new album The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter comes out Tuesday, and in advance of the release I got the newest single from the album, “To the Dogs or Whoever”. It’s full of imagery and jangly guitars, and it’s destined to be a staple in mixes for a long time.

Josh Ritter - To The Dogs Or Whoever

Josh is naturally going on tour to support the album, and he announced the tour stops this week:
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Another of my favorite childhood toys/cartoons is coming to the big screen. This time, on the heels of the shitefest that was Transformers, it’s another group of transforming robots, Voltron. No word yet on whether it’s going to be the spaceship version or the far superior lion version, but Voltron: Defender of the Universe is due out sometime in 2008.

Hopefully they’ll keep the “Let’s fight this bad guy as separate robots! Uh oh, we’re getting our ass kicked, better form Voltron. Now let’s chop the bad guy in half with a giant laser sword. Yay!” story line. This is going to be awesome! Unless they hire Michael Bay…

More details at The Game Gods

Brace yourself. You’re about to hear a Darth Vader impersonator cover a song by a YouTube sensation.

If you don’t know what Chocolate Rain is all about, here’s the original:

Yes, that’s his real voice…and it gives me nightmares.

For more about Chad Vader - Day Shift Manager check out http://www.blamesociety.net.

Props to Crazy Joe for the tip

The latest Marvel superhero to grace the silver screen is the mighty god of thunder and war, Thor (hmmm….Thunder + War = Thor…boy do I love phonics jokes…). The hammer-wielding Norseman will be brought to the screen by director Matthew Vaughn, whose most recent effort Stardust opened this past weekend. No word yet on who will play Thor, but whoever it is will probably be derided by the internet fanboys.

Yahoo News has the full story

Check out this surprisingly well made fan film about what happened to Soundwave when he found out he wasn’t going to be in Michael Bay’s craptacular Transformers…

The New Pornographers are something of an oddity in the indie music world. Made up partly of members from other successful indie acts you could be tempted to call them an Indie super-group. But they don’t like that somewhat oxymoronic moniker. They don’t see themselves as a supergroup at all, mainly because they’re not well known outside their native Canada. Whatever you want to call them The New Pornographers consistently churn out well-crafted pop.

Band founder and de facto leader Carl Newman started assembling the pieces that would become The New Pornographers in 1996. Setting aside his own band Zumpana, he picked John Collins of The Evaporators, Dan Bejar of Destroyer, drummer Fisher Rose, cartoonist Blaine Thurier, and uber-songstress Neko Case. But the shifting nature of the members meant it wasn’t until 1997 that they finally had their first rehearsal. And it wasn’t until 2000 that they released their first album, Mass Romantic.
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NBC has provided a sneak preview of the upcoming season of their breakout hit Heroes. I’m sure someone will dissect this and pull out all the hidden information, but on first look it doesn’t seem to reveal too much. Watch and decide for your self.

The second season premiers Sept. 24th.

This should appeal to two very different types of geeks…It’s the cast of the original Star Trek performing the Camelot song from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Here’s the trailer for Be Kind Rewind, the latest movie from director Michel Gondry (who made Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). It stars Jack Black and Mos Def as video store clerks who remake Hollywood movies like Ghostbusters and Robocop. It looks pretty interesting. But to tell the truth, with Michel Gondry, Jack Black, and Mos Def working together the trailer could look like dog shit and I’d still be interested. It hits theaters December 21st.

Higher quality versions of the trailer

Ah, good old German ingenuity. Problem: people go to bars and drive home drunk. Solution: create a video game that will let the player know they are too drunk to drive. But how do you make sure people play it? Put it in the pisser of course. (Insert Wii joke here…)

The twisted geniuses at SAATCHI & SAATCHI in Frankfurt have created a system called the Piss Screen which allows men to play a car racing game by pissing on buttons installed in a urinal. If you crash the car a message appears on the screen asking if you’re too drunk to drive. Then the phone number of a local cab company comes up. These folks officially qualify as ad wizards for this one.

What’s the game like? Apparently it’s a knock off of the Need for Speed series. Their blog sums it up:

The Game Design is pretty simple, you can only drive to the left an the right by pissing on the corresponding sensor. If your reaction is too slow, the car will crash in the oncoming trafic and a video sequence of an accident is displayed.

Pictures and video after the jump.
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I’m not sure if the Japanese are super-creative, completely insane, or both. Here’s something they call Human Tetris. I won’t even try to explain, just watch…

Wait, who knew that Jack White was married to a supermodel? That seems like crazy talk. Granted she’s kind of a scary looking supermodel (see the picture on the left). Oh well.

According to their publicist The White Stripes frontman and his wife Karen Elson had a baby boy and named him Harry Lee White. They also have a 15-month-old daughter named Scarlett. Good job Jack. I guess your boys can swim.

More details at Reuters

Failed radio host David Lee Roth is hooking up with his old band mates and heading out on tour this fall. Van Halen will be playing arenas all over the country with three of the original members. Unfortunately bassist Michael Anthony has been kicked out of the band and replaced with Eddie’s son Wolfgang. Boooo.

Rolling Stone has the full story

Alfonso Ribeiro, best known as Will Smith’s dorky cousin Carlton on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, pitches his instructional breakdancing book in this vintage YouTube gem. That’s right, an instructional breakdancing book. A book. Not a video. A book. Because 9 out of 10 experts agree that the most effective way to learn how to dance is from a book. Luckily the book also comes with a breaking board, a rap sheet, an instruction poster, AND “the right kind of music, Rap Attack” (actually BOTH volumes of Rap Attack). Oddly enough Tom Jones isn’t included on Rap Attack…

Can’t…write…laughing…too…hard…

Starts slow, but stick with it. I promise it’s worth it.

Remember the rumor about Keith Richards snorting his dad’s ashes that was floating around the internet earlier this year? Richards allegedly mixed up his father’s remains with cocaine and snorted them. He and his publicists came out and denied the rumor. And it looks like it is in fact false. Keith DIDN’T mix the ashes with cocaine. Geez. I mean what sort of inaccurate, irresponsible journalism is that? To infer that Keith Richards would snort cocaine. Impossible. Slanderous. Inconceivable.

Apparently he’s now claiming that he accidentally knocked over a small amount of the ashes. Feeling that sweeping them up would be disrespectful he decided to snort them up. Of course. That makes perfect sense. Well, it probably would if you’d spent the last 40 years doing every drug you could get your hands on.

NME has the full details

Annie Clark has already had an accomplished musical career. She has been a part of the pseudo-cult lifestyle of The Polyphonic Spree. She has toured with Television, The Arcade Fire, and Sufjan Stevens. And in June she released her first solo album, under the pseudonym St. Vincent.
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I have a hard time watching movies based on books I’ve read. The inherent differences between a two-hour movie and a full-length novel mean that the movie has to cut corners, sacrifice depth, and compress exposition. And often times the challenges of making a movie require wholesale changes to characters and plots. All of these things were present in Doug Liman’s 2002 adaptation of Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity. Yet instead of feeling disappointment when I left the theater I felt nothing but exhilaration. Liman had managed to make me not care about the changes from the book by creating a different type of action movie: one that combined well-rounded characters and drama with impeccably executed chases and fights.
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This video gives us a glimpse into how the voice recording is done on South Park. Basically Matt & Trey sing normally, then the pitch and speed of the recordings is altered to get the familiar voices. Pretty cool.

I heard about this little video clip while listening to the Don & Mike Show today and it’s up PCWEI and personal favorite Christopher Walken. He is a true American original, an eccentric, and a pop culture icon for utter such lines as “What I need is more cowbell” while on SNL.

Or who could forget this memorable moment as the couragous Captain Koons in Pulp Fiction

Well now we’re given this treat straight from YouTube. Yes it’s Christopher Walken cooking chicken. It’s rather low-fi, and the production values are well frankly no existant. But who the hell cares is Christopher Walken cooking a friggin chicken!!!

Man do I love R-Rated trailers. I’m pretty sure that a normal trailer would make Superbad look dumb as shit. But leaving in the profanity and sex jokes makes it look pretty damn funny. It stars Michael Cera (who played George Michael on the tragically short-lived Arrested Development) and Jonah Hill (one of the miscreant friends from Knocked Up). And it’s co-written by Seth Rogan. Fan-freakin’-tastic. It hits theaters August 17th.