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:

• A folk version of Outkast’s Hey Ya by Mat Weddle
  Maybe not super unconventional, but definitely a favorite.
• A Capella Nintendo
  If you were born after 1990, you may not get it
• Daft Hands
  Incredible, just incredible. Gets really good about half way through
• Halo theme
  With rock band instruments
  
• Mario Flute Beatbox
  Seriously, where would this generation be without Nintendo
• Two guys one guitar
  No, nothing like that other website

Enjoy.

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 …

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pshannon/
best pictures of the stage

http://www.flickr.com/photos/unitovone/

http://s128.photobucket.com/albums/p165/allrightname/Winter%20Warpdrive%2016%20FEB%202008/

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg309/bshamalian/

I need to …

put up/send out pictures from our Halloween party — a Victorian themed Masquerade Ball — which was just plain awesome. Best estimate is that around a hundred people in fantastic costumes showed up for a good time (some reluctantly leaving around 4:30 in the morning)

put up pictures from Stephen & Stacey’s drinking container party as well as pictures & design sketches of my Deux Ex Machina drinking container that as many have assured me, should have won for most creative. Despite its awesomeness — such awesomeness it would make Chuck Norris nod in approval — it didn’t win for a number of reasons that can be best summed up as: people didn’t get what it did. I’ll explain when/if I ever get around to putting up the pics. That was also a great party and I’m already looking forward to next year.

process all the pictures from my last photo shoot with Carrie, a new acquaintance I’ve made, who has been willing to spend time modeling for me.

come up with more ideas for photo shoots

get packed for our annual Thanksgiving climbing trip

go through a few thousand images, and judge them for the everyman photo contest. two sections down 4 more to go.

On a completely different note, since my last real update I have …

celebrated mine and Laura’s one year anniversary (night of our Halloween party)

completed all possible 200 miles of the two-day MS150 bike tour and raised a little over a thousand dollars, thereby accomplishing both of my goals. next years goal: ride 300 miles in three days by riding the hundred miles from St. Charles to Columbia, then follow up with the 200 miles at the MS bike tour.

read the entire Harry Potter series and thought they were all great.

read Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. I enjoyed that one as well though I felt he fumbled it a bit at the very end. The first book, The Golden Compass, should hit the big screen sometime in December 2007.

read almost all books, all the ones I cared to read, by Neil Gaiman (American Gods a while back, then Good Omens, Stardust, Neverwhere, Anansi Boys)

seen the Stardust movie earlier this year as well. Didn’t live up to the book, of course, but was throughly enjoyable.

seen the live action Transformers movie and nearly peed on myself out of sheer joy.

been to a Renaissance Festival (in Kansas City) which was an awesome experience

entered two mountain bike races and won neither of them.

broken my wrist during a dirt-jump crash landing about eight weeks before the aforementioned MS bike tour. spent six weeks in a brace.

done the moonlight ramble.

traveled to Puerto Rico and made friends with some locals

discovered some cool new bands/artists like Beirut, the Decemberists, the Pipettes, Grizzly Bear, Amy Milan, Andew Bird, etc.

I’m sure there is a thing or two I forgot, but as it is 12:30am, I am out.

Last year I was introduced to a band called Beirut, a seemingly random collection of experimental instrumentalists from Brooklyn, led by young mastermind Zach Condon, through a song so memorable it lodged itself in my brain and refused to depart. Mount Wroclai (Idle Days), as the song is nonsensically titled, makes just as little sense lyrically. This, however, doesn’t mater at all, as Condon’s voice simply adds another layer — another crooning instrument, if you will — to what starts out as an eastern European / Balkan gypsy-ish accordion piece. Perhaps that is the reason why I find this song, and everything else by Beirut, so appealing. I find myself transported to a different yet familiar and comfortable place. Zach Condon’s music manages to be strangely uplifting while being melancholic — probably a result of mixing loopy accordion riffs, lazy trumpets and chiming glockenspiels with a waltz-like tempo and beat, that makes you want to get up and move to its mesmerizing rhythm.

What brought me out of blog-hiding was another Zach Condon masterpiece upon which I stumbled just a few days ago. Nantes, can be found on the recently released CD, The Flying Club Cup, which is, from what I understand, phenomenal. While I have not had a chance to listen to The Flying Club Cup, I have listened to Nantes over and over again. As one reviewer wrote, “That enigmatic, unclassifiable quality continues on Nantes [...]. The haunted-house organ riff that opens the song sounds like a setup for a variation on modern garage rock. But when the tango beat enters soon after, Nantes transforms into something else altogether: a new genre that could be called poignant ballroom cabaret pop, with Condon’s drowsy voice intoning over it.” Indeed Condon seems to have managed to transcend musical genre’s once again, which is one of those small victories for anyone who doesn’t like neat little well-labeled packages. The only question that remains now, is weather Beirut will be making a stop in St. Louis anytime soon.

Mount Wroclai (Idle Days) on youtube. The video was made by a random fan, there is no official music video for this song.

Nantes on youtube

Nantes performed live in the streets (of New York I think Paris I am told)

Enjoy.