Chances are you have heard Weezer’s new song Pork and Beans on the radio or maybe you even got their CD. When I first heard the song i thought it was catchy and a little like Weezer’s old days. I was totally unprepared for the awesomeness of the actual video. You can watch it here:
If you’re not a geek like me and don’t pay any attention to the viral videos that sometimes take the internet by storm, this video may disappoint you, though it’s still fun to watch.
Right off the bat we have a reference to funtwo, who became a sensation by playing Canon in D extremely fast on an electric guitar, back-lit by a large window behind him. Next you get a cut of Gary Brolsama, the Numa Numa kid, and then there is the dramatic gopher, followed by afroninja. Other stars and references include the diet coke experiment guys, the GI Joe PSAs with a reference to the guy who catches glasses with his face, Matt McAllister who put on 155 t-shirts, Chris Crocker, the “leave Brittney alone” guy, CATS from the badly translated game Zero Wing which gave us the “all your base are belong to us” phenomenon. The list continues with Caitlin Upton, the Miss Teen USA chick who so tragically fumbled a simple question on geography on live TV, the whiteboys doing the Soulja Boy dance, Judson Liapply from the “Evolution of Dance” video, Tay Zonday from Chocolate Rain, the Daft Hands dude, the chicks from daft bodies, Kicesie from her youtube “sex ed” videos and several references to the infamous Star Wards kid as well as Ryan vs dorkman from their Star Wars fan clip, the dancing banana aka Peanut Butter Jelly Time, and the “will it blend” blender. The list goes on and on and on. I thought it was pretty appropriate too, given that the song’s message is to be happy about who you are.
Aside from being pure awesomeness, this video is testament to what a huge nerd i am.
As everyone knows, one of my secret (not anymore, eh) life-goals has been, and still is, to reach the end of the internet. I’ve been working very hard to reach this goal, and as a byproduct of my travels through the ether, I’ve encountered some incredible things. Some I’d like to forget, like 2girls1cup (if you don’t know what that means, be thankful).
Inspired by Stacey’s recent blog entry, and in the spirit of sharing, here are some of my favorite unconventional covers of music I have come across:
I honestly cannot remember the last time I went to a club. One could say that clubs are not my kind of thing. At all, really. This Saturday, however, I got to go to Winter Warpdrive 3 at the Roberts Orpheum Theater in downtown St. Louis, the year’s biggest local rave. A co-worker of mine, who in those circles is known as DJ Ken Evil, provided me a ticket and a VIP pass. I’m not gonna lie to you, the party kicked ass. The place is cool, the DJs were all outstanding, and despite much the scantly clad crowd looking extremely jail-bait-ish (the event was 18 and up), there was energy in that place. I’ve often wondered, how a particular friend of ours could always stay up till dawn at age 39 when I’m often ready to hit the sack minutes after midnight. I’m sure for a lot of people it’s drugs. I saw more than just one person stumbling/dancing around with an eerily vacant expression on their face. Full tank of gas, but no one at the steering wheel. Drugs or not, though, there was a certain energy and even fully sober (minus a few beers) I was up and moving until the lights came on.
At one point during the night a young girl came up to me and my friend, Rae, and said something to her. Then she sort of liquid-danced her way over to me and said (verbatim) “Are you a handsome stranger with a jolly rancher?” I, having no candy in my pockets said “No, sorry.” She made an “awww” face at me and kept on dancing. Aside from really not having any candy on me, I had almost reflexively started saying “no” to almost any question or statement that night. One guy asked me if I wanted something I had never even heard of and kept talking to my shoulder and my back for about 5 minutes, after I declined. After the girl had moved on in her quest for a jolly rancher, I started thinking about what had just happened, and ultimately found myself wishing, that I had asked her to clarify what she meant (Uh, what do you mean by jolly rancher, because I only have starburst). Best I could figure and my friend Rae confirmed it, it was a euphemism (or a rather blatant offer) for oral sex. A quick fact check over at urbandictionary.com only partially confirms my assumption though. Apparently a jolly rancher means either a guy who can stay hard for a very long time, in rap music often used in direct relationship with oral sex, or a cough-suppressant that’s taken in pill form (for the DXM which causes hallucinations much the way an overdose on cough syrup will do). I guess I will never know what she was really after that night.
Jolly Rancher saga update:
I have been informed that it is quite possible that the girl was in fact asking about an actual real sugar-and-artificial-coloring kind of Jolly Rancher. It tuns out that when one is experiencing the effects of the drug Ecstasy, the texture or flavor or whatever of a Jolly Rancher is stimulating in some way.
Picture update due to popular demand:
Judging by my search hits, “Winter Warpdrive 3 pictures” is quite popular at the moment so here you go …
I’ve often debated the meaning of irony with friends, most notably with Stephen, who dismisses pretty much every case presented to him, calling it either bad luck or coincidence. Maybe this is irony, or maybe it isn’t, but I can’t think of a better intro so you’re stuck with it.
I received an e-mail today that made me literally laugh out loud. It was a reply from a new guy who works at a sister company. He didn’t quite hit on me but did use the word “lovely” to describe my name. If you’re a guy would you say, “what a lovely name you have” to another guy? No, you wouldn’t. Cool, unique, interesting, different … but not lovely. He wouldn’t either, unless he figured I was missing the man-machinery down there. This not an assumption on my part either. A lot of people, I’d guess about 19 out of 20, who have only seen my name on paper are in for a surprise when they meet me and discover I’m a dude.
So aside from sharing this funny little bit from my daily life, I’d like to point out what I consider irony. I am named after very famous medieval Polish Knight, which in my opinion is as far opposite from feminine as you can get, second only to being a ninja or a pirate.
