I don't care what anyone says, the "rhino birth" scene from Ace Ventura - When Nature Calls is the funniest scene ever caught on film. Sure, there may be some close contenders, but this takes the cake for Funniest Scene Ever, according to Dan's Über Best Movie guide.
Here are a few other scenes that the Dan's Über Best Movie guide gives awards to:
Stereogum.com is giving away as a free download the album OKX: A Tribute to OK Computer, a song-by-song covers compilation of one of the greatest recordings of all time.
First of all, if you're not intimately acquainted with Radiohead's OK Computer, you need to drop everything you're doing and go hide in a closet. Because I'm going to come kick you. Second, download this disc, because it's pretty good. It's not Radiohead, but it's good. (Probably because Radiohead wrote the songs, duh.) The arrangements aren't too shabby, and the interpretations aren't annoying at all, which is something of a crap-shoot when it comes to tribute albums.
Download it here: OKX: A Tribute to OK Computer
Comments [0]
I was reading a recent article about the Seattle Mariner's pitcher Cliff Lee getting ejected from a Cactus League spring training game, when someone posted information about a scuffle between Nolan Ryan and Robin Ventura way back in the day.
As a kid, my favorite player was Nolan Ryan. He was like 80 years old, yet still better than most other pitchers. What happened one day was that Ryan beaned Ventura with his first pitch, and Robin didn't like that so he charged the mound.
Hilarity ensues, as Nolan Ryan calmly puts him into a headlock and starts whipping him with his fists of fury. It's so humorous, if sadly violent, that Walmart sells an autographed photo of the beating. The fact that they sell that photo is way funnier than the actual fight. Way to go Walmart!
Comments [0]
Well hot darned, I ain't never seen that error afore. I reckon it's
time to reboot the ol' girl.
Comments [1]
There are a lot of crappy camera tripods out there, made cheaply, that
pass themselves off as useable.
Comments [0]
This is unsettling, at the very least.
Topaz War Relocation Center covered 31 square miles and housed about 9000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans during WWII. An interesting tidbit from Wikipedia about the name:
Topaz was originally known as the Central Utah Relocation Center, but this name was abandoned when administrators realized that the acronym was naturally pronounced "Curse." The camp was then briefly named for the closest settlement, until nearby Mormon residents (with their own heritage of forced relocation) demanded that their town name not be associated with a "prison for the innocent." The final name, Topaz, came from a mountain which overlooks the camp from 9 miles (14.5 km) away.
The 442nd RCT of the 100th Battalion was a military unit made up entirely of Japanese-Americans and became the most highly decorated combat unit in the history of the U.S. Army. Many of the boys in the unit returned from the war and were sent straight back to Topaz.
From War of Relocation:
Comments [0]
Last night I played the open mic night at the Empyrean. And, quite frankly, I was awful.
My first mistake was that I decided to play my twelve string guitar on stage. You know, to "liven it up" or something. Once I started playing, however, I remembered why that particular guitar sat in the closet for so long:
It sucks big, fat Yeti toe.
Half way through my second song, my hand was already hurting. A twelve string has twice as many strings as a standard Spanish acoustic guitar, and this particular one has a string action that makes it almost impossible to do barre chords at all. Even open position "cowboy" chords start to become difficult to play after a while. By the time of my third song, it was painful to the point of distraction.
By my last song, all I wanted to do was smash the guitar ALA Joe Strummer. I was so pissed that I wanted to throw it, smash it, break it. In hindsight, that might have been cool, but to a room of about 30 people expecting mellow acoustic music? Who knows. It might have secured my legacy.
That anger didn't help my singing, in a real bad way. It's hard to sing soft, mellow songs when you don't feel mellow, and what normally would have been a routine performance turned into a disaster.
I decided, foolishly, to play a song I hadn't rehearsed, and I totally spaced on the lyrics. That messed me up, and I was so distraught that I messed up the second song also.
Remember my guitar? Yeah, it turns out it was also tuned a half step too high, which I discovered when I attempted to play Bon Iver's Flume. (That also accounts for a lot of the other discomfort in playing that stinking pile of strings and wood, although this was clearly user error.)
It was death to a song sung in a falsetto. I copped out halfway, and sang it an octave lower. Weak sauce!
For my last song, I proclaimed that I was gonna play a song that I could actually sing, which I did. But halfway through the song, I realized that I just wasn't feeling it at all.
I had previously changed my song into one that is sung softly, kinda like Elliot Smith or something. But that wasn't working. What the song was originally was loud, brash, and at the edge of my singing range in terms of pitch and volume.
Halfway through, I realized that I wasn't enjoying myself, and I wanted to sing my song my way, pitch be damned. I think I spooked the soundboard guy, because halfway through the song, I jumped up about 20dB in volume from both my vocals and my guitar.
And you know what? It worked. I actually enjoyed the last two minutes of my performance, and I think the audience did too.
Two lessons learned: One, give your twelve string acoustic to your worst enemy. Two, sing with your heart. Forget trying to appease the masses at the expense of your own interest in the music, because nobody will end up enjoying it.
Comments [1]
Comments [0]