Lady Gaga Goes to Jail
Fans of avant-garde pop artist Lady Gaga know that her videos never fail to impress. Like something out of Wonderland, Lady Gaga brings as much performance to her music than almost any other mainstream artists. Gaga’s video for her latest song, Telephone, had it’s world premiere last night. Needless to say, it is something to remember.
In the Michael Jackson tradition of music video as mini-movie, Gaga spins a story that is a mix of Quentin Tarantino meets Themla and Louise. Gaga’s partner in crime is none other than R&B siren Beyonce, sporting a series of outfits that seem to have come from the more tame side of Lady Gaga’s closet. With unabashed product placement and outright ridiculous fashion, the video is worth watching, even if you’re not a fan of the music.
Check out Lady Gaga and Beyonce in Telephone below:
Free SXSW Music Sampler for 2010
It’s that time of year again for NPR to give us a free iTunes sampler of some the new and emerging artists that will be presented at the SXSW Festival. Each year, the festival hosts a variety of musicians, filmmakers and many people in the tech industry to meet-up and share information. For information on how to redeem your free downloads from iTunes, click below.
Celebrating 2010 in Sydney
In case you weren’t in Sydney, Australia on New Year’s Eve, we have the fireworks bonanza shot by ITN News. The weather in Sydney around this time of year is great, so why not have a fantastic fireworks display? Enjoy it and look forward to more posts here on Awesome By Default in 2010!
Marvel at The Magic Kingdom
On Monday, August 31, 2009, the worlds of the Marvel Universe and the Magic Kingdom collided as The Walt Disney Company announced plans to buy Marvel Entertainment for slightly over $4 billion. Almost immediately, the Disneyana types were excited and the Marvel Zombies were mortified.
Will Mickey Mouse become the newest member of the X-Men? Will Wolverine become a star on Disney on Ice? Will Hannah Montana dress up like Dazzler on an episode of her series? Will they pit Marvel’s Hercules versus Disney’s Hercules? Will Pinocchio be accused of being a mutant? Will The Incredibles fight against and later with the Fantastic Four? Actually, I’d like that one to come true to tell you the truth.
Most critics of the acquisition fail to realize that the same studio that gave us Hannah Montana, Winnie the Pooh, Cars, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, and G-Force also gave us Gargoyles, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Lost, Scream, Kill Bill, Trainspotting, and Clerks. Needless to say, the initial reaction has cooled down compared to what happened upon the announcement. Now, a little clarity is in order.
Who screams? Ice cream… for equal rights
Ben and Jerry’s ice cream is standing up for civil rights with their recently announced “Hubby Hubby” flavor, in honor of Vermont’s recent passage of legal marriage for gay and lesbian couples. The Hubby Hubby ice cream is a 30-day rebranding of their popular “Chubby Hubby” flavor. The move is mostly symbolic (PR stunt?) since the name won’t be changing on any store shelves or UPCs. The effort was done in cooperation with Freedom to Marry, a group that fights for marriage rights
The press release sent out by the company this week states, “Ben & Jerry’s has a long history of commitment to social justice, including gay rights.”
Since announced on their Facebook page yesterday, the name changed has caused a stir online. Comments ranged from “Brilliant name change” to “Time to give it a rest B & J.” While many people blame Ben & Jerry for using their product as a political soap box, many feel politics and ice cream just don’t mix. Who can blame them. Many products we use today are neutral. If Coca-Cola suddenly supported creationism, would you still be a fan? If Burger King decided all people that buy Whoopers support abortion, would you still order one? Does your food need to have a social agenda?
As someone that supports ice cream and equal rights, I find it refreshing and strange that our political issues can have a flavor. In a slightly ridiculous twist, CBS News recorded a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream truck serving Hubby Hubby to the public in Vermont. The video is below…
The Wild Things Are Right Here
This week the first official (non-teaser) trailer for Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are has been released. Its a mix of CGI and costumed actors. Looks like its going to be something special. As a fan of the children’s book, I’m excited to see it.
Moon Landing Denial: Out of This World
Yesterday was Moon Day, the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 14 moon landing. As someone that has always been intently interested in space, I took some time to research the event through various resources. As with any humanity-changing event, the detractors have taken it upon themselves to naysay the US exploration of the moon and proposed some rather elaborate conspiracy theories. Don’t get me wrong. I love a good conspiracy theory. The Di Vinci Code had me looking at the Pope with a raised eyebrow. These are the same types of people that believe the attacks on 9/11 were orchestrated by the government, AIDS is a man-made disease, and Scientologists & Jews run Hollywood. Its these types of shaky premises that make a good story, but offer little foundation.
Moon Day has help tame some of the rumors started by the moon landing deniers with new photos showing the original moon lander and the astronaut footprints on the surface of the moon. While this evidence certainly won’t convince a denier of the scientific truth, its a validation to those of us that want the evidence. The new satellite images come to us as a result of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft, which launched on 18 June. LRO’s mission is to photograph the moon to scout for future mission sites. So far, LRO has located five of the six Apollo missions that landed on the moon’s surface.
Who do we blame for Auto-Tune?
A lot of complaining has been going on over the use of Auto-Tune in popular music. Auto-Tune is software that corrects the pitch of a sound wave digitally. It has been use by many popular singers including Madonna, Rascal Flatts, Snoop Dogg, Maroon 5, Kanye West and countless other top-40 pop singers. It came to the forefront this year when rapper Jay-Z released his newest single, “DOA (Death of Autotune),” which proclaims the practice of using Auto-Tune is gimmick. Rappers such as T-Pain have become the poster child for the technology, utilizing the correction technique for all of his songs. Are rappers of the future supposed to sound like robots?
So who is to blame for all this Auto-Tune drama? The inventor of the proprietary software, Andy Hildebrand, takes pride in his creation as he give a reporter at PBS’s NOVA a full demonstration (see above video). Don’t blame Andy for the sudden Auto-Tune abuse though. He points the finger at Cher, who let the secret out with her song Believe. Since 1996, the software has been in use to correct certain words within songs. As the video highlights, Hildebrand’s software was initially intended for more subtle pitch adjustments. As the reporter points out, Auto-Tune is simply “Photoshop for audio.”
We Built This City…On Cardstock
Godzilla taught us much about rage, kindness, and the need for a good urban planner. Who hasn’t wanted to stomp their own city after a bad day? Rather than destroying billions in municipal infrastructure, you can now topple an entire skyline by building it yourself, out of paper. For the cost of a few sheets of paper, an Xacto knife and your time, you can create New York or Chicago in miniature.
Wurlington Brothers Press for offering free downloadable papercraft model kits of several major landmarks of New York City and Chicago. Want a mini-John Handcock Tower for your desk? Done. Re-create Times Square? Its your ink cartridge…go nuts.
The Dirty Have Risen and Transformed Into Consumers
I know I usually talk about food so…I like movie popcorn. I do NOT like the new weird Skittles. There—done with that. Now on to what’s really irking me today.
I feel dirty, and not the good kind of dirty. I’m feeing the kind of dirty that comes from being tricked into watching a two-and-a-half-hour commercial and liking it. Yep, you probably all ready know where this is going. I went to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I love it. Who doesn’t enjoy fighting, transforming giant robots shrouded in over the top, amazing special effects? Don’t look at me, because the inner nerd sings majestic when Optimus Prime puts his fist all the way through another robot’s face.
There was a scene where jets are taking off from a Navy carrier and soldiers are working their high-tech radar stations and I’m thinking, “Wow! That looks like an awesome job.” Inside my head, a little warning is going off—the one that goes off when I’m at the check-out counter picking up all the impulse items. I NEED an extra memory card, toothbrush, bug spray and mascara. I NEED to join the Navy, Air Force, Special Forces and….no I don’t. Try and tell me that isn’t an advertisement for the military. It totally is, and I’m not sure I care.
