The Soul for Getting Down

October 31st is the day that many people celebrate Halloween. I've never been a huge fan of Halloween or horror movies or things that go 'BUMP' in the night. One 'ghoulish' video that's always been a favorite of mine is Michael Jackson's Thriller, which is iconic in enough of itself but is even more prominent around Halloween. Last weekend, those in Washington took part in a worldwide event called Thrill the World, which attempts to get as many people/zombies across the world to dance to MJ's ballad simultaneously. The record was broken with 4179 people across 10 countries.

Want to learn how to dance to Thriller? Here's Thrill the World's Step by Step Video Guide!

Here's Michael's original video 'Thriller'

Here's the 165 Seattle zombies that showed up to contribute to the record:

To Philly....

Yesterday, the Philadelphia Phillies won The World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays in 5 games. The Phillies broke the City of Brotherly Love's championship drought, being the first major league team to win one since the '83 76ers. But great competition and rivalry has existed in Philly for a while, in the form of the Philly Cheesesteak. Sure you've had a form of the sandwhich in one way or another, but Philly's the place to get it. The original does not have provolone cheese or onions, just thinly sliced ribeye and Cheez Whiz - that's right, Cheez Whiz. Like the battle of the Ray's in New York City for pizza, the cheesesteak has locals and tourists going for the best in Philly. The two heavyweights are Geno's and Pat's. Pat's invented the sandwich, but Geno's claims to get the more celebrities as well as a better sandwich. Here's a clip about the shops, located across the street from each other:

Samurai Mike Sounds Off

This last Sunday marked Mike Singletary's first game as the 49ers' head coach. I'm excited to see this man finally get a head coaching job. I know his name was bounced around for a head coach position in the preseason, but never got it. The Hall of Famer and SuperBowl XX champion linebacker was the leader of one of the most prolific defenses in NFL history with the Chicago Bears of the '80's. Unfortunately, his first game at the helm resulted in a beatdown in their second division confrontation with the Hasselbeck-less Seahawks. Afterwards, Mike's press conference was a very stern one. Some in the media are calling it a tirade, but I see it as a stern call to action. I wish this guy the best, because the Niner's could have easily picked their offensive coordinator Martz for the job, who's been a head coach for many years and led one of the most pass-happy offense in the NFL's history with the Rams. Some great anecdotal footage of Mike can be found on NFL Network's America's Game site, with him recollecting the '85 Bears' season.

Here's the conference:



Singletary's great, I'd buy anything this guy sold - like these glasses:



If you want NFL coach tirades, here's some of the classics:


And who can forget Mike Gundy from Oklahoma State last year:

Springfield Audiology

Grandpa Simpson takes a hearing test along with Jasper and Old Jewish Man. Even though there's tons wrong with the audiologic protocol, still chuckle-inducing.

Of Vegetables and Voice-Overs

I've already posted a tribute awhile back when voice-over master Don LaFontaine passed away. Another really great video compilation of his work was recently released, I feel like I had to post it. Also, I'm going to talk about vegetables, because of the rumors being thrown around that I've got a problem with them - this is simply not true. One vegetable product out there, which had its advertisement voice-over work done by the late Mr. LaFontaine is the Birds Eye Steamfresh frozen vegetables line - I particularly go for the Specially Seasoned Asian Medley.

Here's the ad of interest, making frozen vegetables cooler than ever:


Here's the Don LaFontaine tribute:

KazooKeylele - 'Nuff Said

....plus he's singing that awesome song again.

Hollywood-Worthy Football Commercial

Nike has just released a new commercial titled "Fate" for their Nike Football line, with their recurrent "Leave Nothing" tagline. It features LaDainian Tomlinson's and Troy Polamalu's path from birth to their eventual intersect on the football field in the NFL. The interesting bit about the commercial is that it was directed by David Fincher, known for films like Alien3, The Game, Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac and the soon to be released The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Love the music in this commercial, which is a remix of Ennio Morricone's score from Leone's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.




UPDATE: Just after I posted this entry, I decided to watch last year's Nike "Leave Nothing" commercial with Shawn Merriman and Steven Jackson. I didn't realize that Michael Mann of Heat, The Last of the Mohicans, and Ali fame directed this commercial featuring music from 'Mohicans. I like Fincher's commercial better, less noticeable fake players - who really believes that the Patriot's QB is #4? (Even when Vinatieri was on New England, he had one pass during his 10 season stint in Foxboro)



Mann also directed the Nike Air Zoom commercial "The Plan":

Singing It Like You See It

So someone's been making 'Literal Video Versions' of 80's music videos, starting with A-ha a couple of weeks back. Tears For Fears' Head Over Heels was just released recently. Click the links for each song title to see the original video.

A-ha - "Take On Me"



Tears For Fears - "Head Over Heels"

Fun with Megaphones

My roommate Gary wants to use a megaphone for Halloween. He got one in the mail today, it's quite a fun toy. Here's a couple of videos that remind me of megaphones.

'Observational Humor' from The Tom Green Show:



From The Simpsons: I'm not sure if this would amplify Bart's voice, just amplify a giant wave of feedback, anyways hilarious. In remembrance of National Protect Your Hearing Month, remember kids, don't do this if you want to keep your hearing. That ringing at the end of this clip - tinnitus - may not go away.

A Day in the Life of a Sidewalk Superhero

I'm not sure how long this will be up, but SnagFilms has some legitimately free movies (mostly documentaries) up online. Posted here is the doc Confessions of a Superhero, which is a somewhat melancholy film about those who dress up and walk along Hollywood Blvd.

Update 3/26/09: Watch the whole thing below thanks to HULU





Update 10/19/08: If you're not quite sure what the film is, here's a trailer before you decide if you want to watch the whole thing:

Another Reason to Hate Def Leppard

I'm not a huge hockey fan, but Def Leppard was dumb enough to flip the Stanley Cup upside down.

I = V/R

We went more over Ohm's Law in one of my classes today, as applied to circuits - somehow reminded me of robots. Robots are going to take over the world. Reminds me of this Flight of the Conchords song:

Communication Strategy by Sir Mix-a-Lot

The rapper from Seattle gives us a good strategy that would work in aural rehab.

Netflix Gets Cooler....

Netflix has now added the Starz! collection to it's Watch Instantly section. Now I can also watch the primary Starz! channel streaming over the Netflix player as well. I can watch "No Country" whenever I want and as many times as I want! What a deal, friendo!