Flight of the Conchords: worth your time; extremely funny (and more of "The Onion" hooray for social commentary!)

Wow...  I basically just summed up this entire post rather effectively with that title there.  But I guess I'll keep going?

Or....I'll just expand the content of this post and cover even more random stuff! (Note to self: Plan basic vague outline of post *before* you write the title and the first short paragraph.) (or two.)

Okay Michael, breathe, okay good? now blog.

(I considered saying "Okay, Michael, breathe, okay, good? But a comma between every word comes on a bit strong) (CRAP this is where I was supposed to start the post)

In the midst of crunch time, what with all (easily one of the weirdest uses of words in the English language) the big assignments and essays and such, (this also ranks) it's important to keep stress levels down and relax with some laughter every now and then. So unless you prefer to cut people down to amuse you, or you just like laughing to yourself creepily, you're going to need something to laugh at/entertain you in general.  This is where I can help.  "Provider of Entertainment" just happens to be my 5th, 6th, and 7th middle names. (After Erik, Danger, MADNESS, and Trish)

Here's a couple of leads to get you started (listlistlistLISTlistlistlist)

1) The Flight of the Conchords:  If you've never heard of them, then shame on you; take a break from homework to go look through their stuff on youtube and read about their lives on wikipedia. They're basically a folk duo from New Zealand (BLOGSPOT DOESN'T RECOGNIZE ZEALAND AS A WORD THAT'S REALLY FUNNY BECAUSE IT'S A COUNTRY. HEY BLOGSPOT, WHY DON'T YOU GO TO COLLEGE?), and they have a Television show on HBO.  It's hilariously awkward and awkwardly hilarious and they have great accents.  If you don't have time to watch it or you can't find episodes on Youtube, then just watch some of their songs.  Here's a couple of samples: It's Business Time, Hiphopopotamus vs Rhymenoceros, The Humans Are Dead

I sincerely apologize for this horribly distracted blog post writing.  I'm putting off homework.

2) Homestar Runner: "Absolutely ridiculous"  These are two words I use to describe Homestar Runner. Although I really mean "www.homestarrunner.com" when I say that, because Homestar Runner is only of a whole ensemble of oddly shaped hysterical animated characters.  I suggest just exploring the site at random, especially "toons" and "sb emails" (Although just jumping in might be a bit of a shock).  If you're not up to exploring at random, here's some random classics I've randomly picked out specifically:  Trogdor, Teen Girl Squad, Cheat Commandos

3) Onion News:  So I've already talked about this one and I bring it up constantly, but it never gets old, and it's probably the place where I waste the biggest amount of time.  Just read one of these articles or watch one of these videos, and randomly explore the site from there.  But I also want to briefly discuss just how ridiculous and full of social commentary these can be.  Of course some of them are just plain weird but amazingly funny, but take for example this one:

20,000 Sacrificed In Annual Blood Offering To Corporate America

It's making a statement about our consumer culture and how our nation's government seems to value economic success and GDP over the health and well being of its people! Hooray!

Terrified FDA Warns Something Making Bananas Black After Several Days

Disgusted TSA Agents Also Calling For End To Body Scanning, Thorough Pat-Downs

New Study Finds Blacks More Likely

Mean Scientists Dash Hope of Finding Life on Mars

Don't Come Crying To Me When You Need Someone Who Can Speak Elvish

Don't worry, feel free to waste as little or as much time on the stuff in this post if you have work to do. (Lord knows I've wasted enough time for all of us)

Collecting: the laziest of the laziest passive hobbies/the random things I end up with large quantities of and seem cool enough to save and not throw away.

Today is the first day of Thanksgiving Break.  But.... I feel like I've extensively covered the subject of breaks and painful amounts of schoolwork that I'm getting a break from, so I'm not going to talk about that.

What I'd like to talk about is collecting.  Some people collect random things, like leaves or stamps.  This almost seems like a manufactured "hobby" that they decided to have one day to make them more interesting, and to give them something to show visitors.  Collecting isn't really the kind of hobby that you spend a lot of time actively doing, unless you have nothing else to do with your time.  So if you look at it this way, collecting isn't really a hobby, it's just something that happens.  The way I look at is this:  I realize I have a lot of some kind of thing, so I'm going to keep any more I get of this thing so that I have even more of a lot.

What really interests me about collecting however, is what it reveals about the person.  Now, because I've been aching to get to it ever since I started this post, I'm going to skip ahead to doing a listy (not a word) type thing of a couple of the things that I collect or have collected in the past.  You can make your own conclusions about what it reveals, because I'm not in the mood for critical self-analysis.  (Does this reveal something too? Or is no one ever really in the mood for that?)

• Quarters: My grandparents gave me a beginning state quarters collection when I was little, and proceeded to help me fill it in with new quarters.  This helped teach me the satisfaction you can get out of collecting and completing things, but without the actual time/active collecting involved.  It's also the kind of collection you can do over and over! Or at least plan to do a second time after you use most of the collection to get into Cici's. (Should've gone with the water)  (You think 32 quarters pissed off the cashier?  What about my friend's 80 dimes?)
• Legos:  Specifically, Starwars Legos.  When my brothers and I were little, one of our rooms would be perpetually covered in legos and action figures.  There would be an entire world of people and complex relations and long lost relatives and evil twins and dead ghost aunts.  (It was like a soap opera, but only pg and with at least three times the violence)  Starwars Legos were at the top of the pack in terms of popularity, power, number, (I almost wanted to say numerosity for a moment, then I realized that's not a thing)and basically everything.
• Broken sunglasses:  This one's pretty easy to explain.  I'm really really bad at collecting and maintaining a collection of fully operable, unbroken sunglasses.  I also like wearing sunglasses, and don't throw them out when they are no longer functional.
• Hoodies:  I hate how that's not recognized as a real word.  I end up with many, many hoodies.  I prefer zipper hoodies, but most of mine are not.  I once found 3.00 shirt-thin hoodies at Pac-Sun.  I bought two, and then went home and told everyone.
• Music:  I got the biggest ipod I could and loaded it up with music from every person's computer I could get my hands on.  If i have more time I put their music on a harddrive then fill my computer with it. =D (wow.  Those smileys (HOODIES ISNT A WORD BUT SMILEYS IS? SHENANIGANS!) look utterly ridiculous in this font.)
• Guitars:  I attempted to have enough guitars to always have one available in the house, so I wouldn't have to go farther than one room away to get one.  I succeeded, although some are in much worse shape than others, and one isn't actually fully built yet. It's a work in progress.  Very, very slow progress.

Well that's it for this week, now I need to go enjoy my break!

(Server keeps rejecting my attempts to upload pictures? Oh well, sorry visually inclined readers, at least I tried.)

New Evidence Proves First Flag Made By Betsy Ross Actually Shirt For Gay Friend

 HARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTER (don't worry; no spoilers) (Also, maybe I'll talk more about Harry Potter next week, when more people have seen it...)

The "holy hell we have 14 days of class left" phenomenon (Why are there japanese characters on the top of my web browser? (This subject is not covered in this blog post))

HOLY HELL WE HAVE 14 DAYS OF CLASS LEFT!

I suddenly realized that today as I was taking a test in my Native American History class. (Of course my next thought after that one was: HOLY HELL I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF A NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY TEST, BACK TO WORK!)

Crazy Horse: Most Badassly Epic Native American Hero Ever. (I capitalize each word because that is his legitimate title) But seriously, read a book about him or something.

Later, once I had time to reflect on this, I realized it is in fact, a big deal.  My first semester of school is coming to a close.  I've basically adjusted to college life, and I've attempted to register for classes for next semester. (always a painful, tragic process)    It's kind of exciting, a little surreal, it probably means I need to keep thinking about my major, but the main thing it means for me at the moment is: time to panic. 

I'm not overly worried about exam time approaching, but the end of the semester is when everything steps up and all kinds of big assignments are due.  If you've been meaning to go to that extracurricular activity you might still be on the listserv for, and you haven't gone yet, it's not going to happen.  (goodbye ruf, open mic night, tnw, respc)  It's time to buckle down and start working long hours into the night in the library/just start stressing out in general.  No more distractions; you've got the ball, now you just need to cradle your g.p.a. under your arm and sprint down the field, spin-move that paper, juke the crap out of that Spanish presentation, and make it safely to the end zone. (Thanksgiving break)  Then you get some gatorade, catch your breath, and do it all over again. (Christmas break)

That's basically what it means to be an overloaded college student just a couple of weeks away from the end of the semester.  It also means that you should probably take another look at that big research paper you got assigned at the beginning of the yearCRAP

Youtube and Myspace as talent agents: Being really obnoxious is the new "getting yourself out there"

gross, misleading, effective?

You've heard about it happening before, and it's becoming more and more
common.  This rapidly escalating new phenomenon is quickly changing
the way people market themselves and approach their careers.

No, I'm not talking about urinal ads or streaking or Disney channel shows that always manage to show people living luxuriously with all kinds of amenities even when financial struggles is one of the problems that often comes up as a driving plot idea.

the one on the right appears to have just undergone dental surgery

.

I am talking about the radically changed dynamic that is the way people get famous and attempt to start their careers as celebrities in America.  Traditionally, bands try to get a name for themselves by playing all kinds of gigs, slowly expanding their fan base, and hopefully being noticed and given a record label.  This has been changed by the new use of Youtube and Myspace as ways to get their music out in a much easier way, both to potential fans, and to the music industry at large. This isn't just limited to entire bands either. Here's a couple of success(ish?) stories that you may or may not know about:

• Panic! at the Disco 
• Arctic Monkeys  (Both bands that used myspace to spread their music and gain a following before they had record deals)
• Justin Bieber (posted youtube videos of himself singing, Usher took notice)
• Arnel Pineda (Journey members saw him singing on Youtube, so they hired him as their new singer!)

Of course these success stories have only inspired hundreds->thousands more to broadcast their personalities and talents (or lack of) around the world through the internet.  I just hope people realize that this is by no means a sure way to make a career, especially if you don't actually have the talent of another Justin Bieber or Alex Turner...(Arctic Monkey)

Apparently there's a whole community of musicians(used loosely) on youtube, that even collaborate and cover each others work over the internet.  A lot of these are extremely entertaining, but at the same time not likely to be noticed by a record label anytime soon. 

One that caught my attention recently is "Matty B"(LOOK AT THIS LINK).  He's a 7 year old rapper, and he looks at posting videos on youtube as "starting his career in the music industry here on Youtube" which pretty clearly shows the different way things are looked at nowadays(IS THAT REALLY A WORD???).

Here's another ridiculous one: RIDICULOUS  (I went through almost every single possible emotional reaction in 3:24)

Here's some other youtube  "would-be" celebrities:   Tyler Ward and Ahmir    Graham Stookey


That's it for this week, now bye.

If I Had One Piece Of Advice For Today's Youth, It Would Be To Throw A Baseball Really, Really Well

Nerd's Parents Afraid Son Will Fall In With Popular Crowd

 

Homecoming (PASSION PIT) and Halloween: You'd think that that much awesome at one time would be illegal

The weekend that we just came out of was a very important one for all of us tarheels.  This was a possibly intentional result of the coinciding of two of the most exciting events of the year for UNC-Chapel Hill.  These two events, of course, are Homecoming and Halloween. 

Our homecoming game was against William & Mary (we won, but it was a little close for comfort), and our homecoming was celebrated by inviting Passion Pit to perform on campus.  Passion Pit is a band from Massachusets that Wikipedia describes as "Electropop, Synthpop, Wonkypop, Indie Pop, Indie Rock."  In Michael speak, this translates as "awesome."

I'm a pretty big fan of Passion Pit, and I had high hopes for this show.  Needless to say, they did not disappoint.  They made my weekend with an incredible show.  Not only do they play really well live, but they're incredible performers as well.  It didn't take me long to decide that this was an amazing concert and probably the best I've seen since I saw U2.  It only really took until the third or fourth song for me to be sure.  They played "Make Light", and as soon as the main riff started up after the bells at the beginning, these incredible white lights started going off all over the stage, perfectly in time with the music, speeding up and blinding me with awesome.  As if that wasn't enough, Michael Angelakos, singer for Passion Pit, would bounce all over the stage, echoing the beats of the bass drum.  These seemingly simple things just made the concert for me.

If you know of Passion Pit at all, you've probably heard of their most famous song, "Sleepyhead".  This was the only song that my friend Nick, attending the concert with me, knew at all, even though all he knew was "sleepyhea-eaa-eaa-eaad" (that was a weird sentence).  We spent all night waiting for it, and eventually we figured it'd be the encore.  So Passion Pit said goodbye, and went off stage.  I had no idea if concerts done on university campuses followed the rules and traditions of conventional popular music concerts, so we did everything in our power to ensure that Passion Pit came back for an encore.

The entire crowd was going wild, stomping their feet and hitting the chairs in front of them.  Then Nick and I began to chant, "SLEEPYHEAD! SLEEPYHEAD! SLEEPYHEAD!"  In another minute or two Passion Pit appeared again and served up another plate of awesome, but they didn't play Sleepyhead.  Then they finished the song and the lights went out.  Immediately cheers started back up again, and Nick and I started too, "SLEEPYHEAD! SLEEPYHEAD! SLEEPYHEAD!"  This time we started hearing more people in our section, all of them joining in with our chant.  Then Passion Pit appeared again, and DIDN'T PLAY SLEEPYHEAD. Instead they played "Eyes as Candles".  This time, they started off with an incredible multi-color lightshow, illuminating Carmichael Auditorium with bright blue and red.  Yet another awesome, rousing crowd-pleaser; I absolutely loved every second.  Then the song was over, and the lights went out once more.  Almost immediately following the last note of the song, we started back up, "SLEEPYHEAD! SLEEPYHEAD! SLEEPYHEAD!" I could hear more and more people starting to join in, screaming "SLEEPYHEAD! SLEEPYHEAD! SLEEPYHEAD!"  At this point I was so totally invested, that I had no idea how I'd live with myself if they didn't play it.  I tried to distance myself from this horrible thought, and instead kept yelling "SLEEPYHEAD! SLEEPYHEAD! SLEEPYHEAD!"

Then FINALLY!  They rolled into the opening notes of "Sleepyhead", and we went wild.  I was so incredibly happy, and I wasn't even bothered by Nick's so-far-out-of-key-it-hurts belting of "SLEEPYHEA-EAA-EAA-EAAD".  To finish it all off, they repeated the instrumental synthesizer riff over and over, with countless UNC students singing along "wuuh-weu-weu-woopwedududu, wuuh-weu-weu-woopwedawuwuwuw".   Incredible.

I started out this post meaning to talk a little about Halloween as well.  Oops.  Well here's some pictures of me in costume; I might give a prize to anyone who can guess who/what I am.

keep in mind that I'm also wearing ridiculously plaid, mismatched pants.  like ridiculously. ridiculously plaid, and ridiculously mismatched.

											Incredible: 5 or 6 times      Awesome: 4     ridiculously: 4    sleepyhead: 22

social security scam robs elderly by convincing them they are dead