a post for Pierre

One of the things my bestest work pal Peter and I first bonded over, was Ray Conniff. A couple of years ago my parents brought home Ray's 'World of Hits'-album from a Salvation Army store in Massachusetts. I think they tried to subtly imply that I have very little taste, because look at the cover:


How wrong they were! That album soon grew to become of my favourites, and 'Try To Remember' and 'I Will Wait For You' are among the most played tracks on my iPod.

Any man that can make the theme to Les Parapluies de Cherbourg sound like the jingle of an ice cream truck is okay in my book, and Peter once told me about this little controversy:


Ray Conniff and political protest, whodathunkit?

Literal version

My new favourite thing on YouTube: endless 'literal versions' of all of our favourite 80s videos. Apparently the trend was set by collegehumor.com with this genius version of A-ha's 'Take Me On' (you'll have to bear through the annoying internet-TV-personality):



The first one I ever saw, a couple months ago, was this literal version of the Rick roll:



And, since there's not enough Bonnie Tyler on this blog:



And finally, a Billy Idol bonus, just cos the vocals are pretty spot-on..

Empire mash-ups

For someone with a love of bad puns, Empire Magazine's online poster mash-up competitions are a dream come true. My favourites from the sweets and shoe mash-ups:




And one last one because of this post:

"it's not about Great Britain.."

My brother sent me this YouTube clip of an advert John Lydon did for a British brand of butter; absolutely hilarious.


Cue everyone and their mother moaning about how John Lydon has "sold out", but how can John Lydon sell out?! When the former Johnny Rotten is cheering on the Royal Family and being chased by cows, I think it's safe to say this commercial is meant to be interpreted as satire. In recent years, punk and the Sex Pistols have become as much of a symbol of British culture as the Royal Family, Harrod's teaspoons and Beatle haircuts; in my opinion Lydon is merely poking fun at the fact that 30 years ago he was considered the scum of the earth by many, and now he's in the BBC's list of 100 Great British Heroes, along with Julie Andrews and William Chaucer.

All in all, another great Lydon-video on YouTube, to add to the long line of them.

A different take on nostalgia

Last week, I wanted to show my brother the LEGO-reeanactment of the raising of the Titanic from the 1980 film Raise the Titanic, which I mentioned on this blog a few months ago. Sadly, the video had been removed by the user, but as it turns out there's a whole world out there of homemade LEGO-animations that depict the sinking of the Titanic, or that recreate scenes from James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster.

Call me crazy, but I was surprised at how unsettling I found those LEGO-videos. Completely unexpectedly, this 'LEGO Titanic'-video, with running commentary from the person who made it, really made me think of how harrowing it must have been for the 3rd class passengers who were locked in on the ship as it went down.

In a way, these videos remind me of Todd Haynes' Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story from 1987, a 43-minute film that tells the story of Karen Carpenter using Barbie dolls as actors. The outline sounds ridiculous and laughable but I found it incredibly moving. Richard Carpenter sued Haynes and prevented it from being released, but (hurrah for the internet), you can download it from here. If you have the time/internet connection to do so, I definitely recommend that you watch it; it's an interesting experiment from a great filmmaker, that recently made it onto Entertainment Weekly's list The Cult 25: The Essential Left-Field Movie Hits Since '83 (although the picture they use is from the 1989 movie The Karen Carpenter Story starring Cynthia Gibb of 'Fame'-uhh, fame).


PS: I won't mention the video that recreates the 'Beverly Hills 90210'-opening using stuffed Babar-dolls, or the one where Babar and Kermit sing 'SexyBack'. No, I won't mention those videos at all..

The Holy Trinity of Birthday Buddies

On August 18th, I like to celebrate what I've unofficially dubbed 'The International Day Of Cheese' -- happy birthday to Robert Redford, Christian Slater and Patrick Swayze! The holy trinity of Birthday Buddies; here's to many more. Now, I ask you, what better way to celebrate this Day Of Cheese than to post pictures... of their feet? Seriously, you have got to love the internet: first the cinemorgue, then celebsmoking, girls with guns in
cinema and tv and (my fave) celebrities with phones -- now barefoot male celebs.

There's nothing quite like sitting behind your computer being slightly disturbed by other people's fetishes.


Christian Slater (1969)


Patrick Swayze (1952)


Robert Redford (1936)

"Mummy, can I have one?"

What will they think of next?



I realise Barbie dolls aren't just for little children, and these special editions are purely marketed at adult collectors, but Mattel should learn from this little bit of IMDb-trivia:

Tippi Hedren's daughter Melanie Griffith was given a present by Alfred Hitchcock during the filming: a doll that looked exactly like Hedren, eerily so. The creepiness was compounded by the ornate wooden box it came in, which the young girl took to be a coffin.

[through Defamer]

you would cry too if it happened to you

How on earth do these things happen?