So I went to the Weird Al concert on Wednesday, and it was AMAZING. Apparently I haven’t been paying enough attention, because he has a couple of really good new songs that came out late last year that I still hadn’t heard until the show. But they were nice surprises!
Highlights of the show for me:
* “Polka Face”. As always, his pop-polka medleys make me indescribably, inexplicably happy.
* “Smells Like Nirvana”. This is one of my all-time favorites, and I’m so happy he still plays it live. (And that Nicole bought me a t-shirt with Al dressed like Kurt Cobain :D )
* “Skipper Dan”. If you’re reading this, you probably, like me, did time at one of Orlando’s theme parks. (For me it was 9 years at Universal.) And if you did… you need to watch this.
* “You’re Pitiful”. I’m not wild about the song itself, but when he performs it live he starts taking his clothes off.
* “Let Me Be Your Hog”. Yeah, I love UHF way too much, so I was tickled at him performing this.
* “Wanna B Ur Lovr”. I think me & Nicole might have both needed some alone time after this one. She also noted that we have to buy front-row tickets next time he comes. I’m inclined to agree.
* “I’m In Luv Wit Da Skipper”. This song made me wonder if Weird Al wears slash goggles like we do…
* “Craigslist”. Yeah… Weird Al as Jim Morrison… Weird Al as intoxicated, staring-into-space, about-to-pass-out-over-the-microphone Jim Morrison… in leather pants… yeah.
* …and the Star Wars encore with “The Saga Begins” and “Yoda”. This time, in addition to Jedi guitarists and a Sith keyboardist, he had a Darth Vader, a Boba Fett, and at least a dozen Stormtroopers all jamming out with him.
* Apparently there’s a movie of ‘A Handmaid’s Tale’ that came out in 1990. It looks like it might be a little cheesy, but I love the story, and it’s got Natasha Richardson and Robert Duvall. Speaking of…
I swear I didn’t cheat; this was my first try. I saw somebody post their result, and I tried my (friends-locked) June 25th LJ entry as a decent representative of my writing style. I FLIPPED OUT WITH JOY when I saw this result.
* How did I never get into Isaac Asimov until now? I’ve heard of him, obviously, and read a little bit _about_ his work, but hadn’t properly read any of it, I’m embarrassed to say. Recently the VCC East library got rid of a ton of books, and I grabbed a few, including a copy of Buy Jupiter and Other Stories. I’ve been slowly reading it, and I am amazed. Not only at how good it is, but how FUNNY it is. Every story so far has made me laugh out loud and/or given me something to chew on, intellectually speaking. Of course, I’ve only gotten as far as “The Monkey’s Finger”, so hopefully it doesn’t go downhill. I doubt it, though.
This book in particular is a great introduction, I feel, because each story is accompanied by notes by the author, about the story itself, that stage in his life, or whatever…
Honestly, reading about him, he seems like a really cool guy. Smart, progressive, and all-around pretty likable. Too bad he died almost 20 years ago; I want to give him a big hug.
* Babylon 5. It’s amazing. You know it, I know it. For those of you who are going to Dragon*Con, Claudia Christian (Susan Ivanova) and Jason Carter (Marcus Cole) are going to be there. Also, if you’re going to D*C, come hang out and get drunk with me & my girlfriend! XD (We’re almost done with season 1 of B5, and I told her we HAVE to get through at least season 4 before D*C… so until then, no spoilers!)
I’ll close with a couple of videos. The first one made me laugh, the second one made me CRY. The second one has quotes from throughout the series, but it doesn’t really spoil any of the events.
Yep, it’s a long-ass post full of Gaga stuff. Either skip it or deal with it. As a matter of fact:
(Yes, I just made that .gif. Things I do instead of being productive!)
So I posted a while ago on Facebook about the Lady Gaga comic book coming out… it’s been out for a little while now, and I’ve finally seen a positive review of it! Well, kind of. Somebody who didn’t hate it, anyways.
I really shouldn’t judge it by the artwork (which is really not my style, to say the least). I should give it a chance; if I’m enough of a tool to keep buying the ‘Army of Darkness’ comics, can’t I chance a couple bucks on this? I don’t know. If any of you read it, let me know what you think of it / whether you think I’d enjoy it.
And now, video spam!
First off, a remake of the Telephone video by some dudes in Afghanistan. I love it! (Though I’m surprised they’re not worried at all about being DADT-ed… they’re funny about stuff like that sometimes…)
Wow! Been a long time since I updated. I’ve finished my bachelor’s degree and moved to a new town in the meantime!
Here’s a nifty article about the origins of Mother’s Day: The Original Anti-War Mother’s Day
I highly recommend that you read further about it, like the revival in the early 1900s and subsequent commercialization -_-;
Anyways, here are some videos of Emerald Rose that I recorded at Dragon*Con last year.
All right, so… blatantly copying someone else’s work and passing it off as your own? Kind of sleazy. Promoting your (stolen) work with a message of the importance of being unique and being yourself? That’s a bit sleazier, but, y’know, not worth calling for blood, especially since it was just one piece that they retired a while back anyways. And after all, I think it’s arguable that they didn’t steal the character design, just that particular piece of art.
But… pre-emptively suing the people you stole from so they won’t defend their work? That’s pretty reprehensible. Like, really, really sleazy. I confess, they’re not losing much business from me since I was never into Emily to begin with, but please, don’t support this.
Kids’ books are being destroyed. FUCK THAT. I’ve been hearing about this for a while, but it didn’t sound like it was actually going to endanger any books or book dealers. Guess I was wrong!
Sorry, seeing books destroyed really, really upsets me. Especially old books. Makes me want to hoard them to protect them.
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Now… to end on a happy note…
Cool guys don’t look at explosions.
Just… watch the video. I laughed till I just about cried.
So I got a small digital camcorder for Christmas… it basically looks like an iPod, but it gives pretty decent quality for a little $100 camcorder. I’ve been taking videos here and there, learning how to use it, and I posted a couple on YouTube. There are a couple I took at Universal, and a couple I took at Lake Eola.
