Canada Day excitement

Sometimes, I love where I live.

One of the best parts about my location is that every May 24 and Canada Day I have a great view of the fireworks at Ontario Place (not to mention all the Joe Schmo fireworks throughout the city).

It's like my own personal Feist video...except for the cute little Indie singer (apparently that's going to be a part of Phase 3).

The worst part about where I live: zombie attacks.

In actual RTH news

Since Ventura Wu would prefer to lounge around and relax at the cottage instead of getting their butts whooped by us, we (and when I say "we", I mean "I") had to find another opponent for Monday.

Luckily, Yoink is going to be around and also was without someone to play.  So, like eharmony, TUC used their two dimensions of compatibility (plays on Mondays; needs an opponent) to match us up.

More importantly, Pierre will be coming out to relive his Hounds (and maybe Beach) glory days.  Hopefully he has his cleats, because we could use a few more ill-advised hammers in our game.

Irish Car Bombs to follow.  Hopefully you have the day off on Tuesday.

Release the Hounds vs Yoink - 6:30pm, Eglinton Flats Rugby 9.

It's never good when it goes bad

I find that performace videos are pretty lazy: usually they're done while the band is on tour and their record company realizes "Crap, we need to get them a new single in rotation down at MTV (or MTV2 now, since MTV doesn't actually show music videos anymore)." Rarely is there anything that hasn't already been done in thousands of previous music videos. And the band always says lame things like "We just wanted to express our live energy in video form." Zzzz...

Well, Local H's video for "All the Kids are Right" brings the concert experience alive, but uses only two people (band members Scott Lucas and Brian St. Clair...there are only 2 in the band) to act out the parts of everyone at the concert...definitely different than the usual tripe.



This video reminds me of my high school days, going to concerts at the Hideaway (a basement dive in St. Catharines), and seeing all those characters throughout the night at a concert. From the scalpers and bouncers outside, to the roadies and T-shirt vendors inside, it kinda makes me want to check out the next Alexisonfire show.

Considering Local H never really made it big, it's impressive that they were able to give this video the same treatment as The Matrix. When released, this video (and album for that matter) received little fanfare, and is typically ignored when people make a Best Videos list. But any video where the lead singer gives himself "come-f*ck-me" looks...well, how can you exclude it?

You're stroking my cortex and you know I'm insane

Five reasons why "Space Lord" by Monster Magnet is on my video list:

5. This was their biggest hit, pretty much because of the response to the video. A one-hit wonder that is a one-hit wonder because it makes fun of a one-hit wonder.

4. They are one of the first to make fun of hip-hop money-throwing, hoochie-filled, champagne-flowing, car-strolling videos. Was before the Offspring's "Pretty Fly for a White Guy."

3. Old man with "Mother" written on his chest.

2. They pretty much copy Mase's "Feels So Good" video step-by-step, using the same locations, sets and um...themes. Only when it's Monster Magnet-style...classic.

1. Lightbulb suit.

All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me

This is dedicated to the Canadian National Soccer team, who got ROBBED last night, losing 2-1 to the USA in the semi-finals of the Gold Cup. After falling behind 2-0 in the first half, Canada fought back and had the apparent tying goal called back (in the last minute of play!) on a phantom offside call. Soccer is so frustrating.

A three-on-three soccer tournament, organized by Eric Cantona.

Hidden from the world,
twenty-four elite players hold a secret tournament...
with eight teams,
and only one rule:
first goal wins.



Round 1:
Henry, Totti & Nakata beat Viera, Nistelrooy & Scholes
Davids, Thuram & Wiltord beat Ljungberg, Saviola & Enrique
Figo, Carlos & Ronaldo beat Denilson, Ronandinho & Seol
Lopez, Mendieta & Crespo beat Cannavaro, Rosicky & Ferdinand

Semis:
Henry, Totti & Nakata beat Davids, Thuram and Wiltord
Figo, Carlos & Ronaldo beat Lopez, Mendieta & Crespo

Finals:
Henry, Totti & Nakata beat Figo, Carlos & Ronaldo

All action played to A Little Less Conversation, Elvis vs JXL.

An old Nike commercial, but it's still pretty cool.

Just when you get on a roll

A mathematical equation on how to make a successful video:

(OK Go + Treadmills x 8)^YouTube = 1 Kick ass video

Here it Goes Again...

Sometimes these feelings can be so misleading

I have seen my fair share of music videos, and I've always appreciated artists who use them as a chance to be unique. Anyone can slap together a performance video showing their "live energy"; or round up some hoochies so they can lounge around some expensive car in their underwear. That's why the White Stripes were so refreshing: considering they employed a stripped-down sound, usually consisting of a single guitar and drums, they had quite a few creative videos.

Their first outing was "Fell in Love With a Girl", which is under two minutes of Lego-animated fun. Really, there isn't much more to it than that, but it did introduce them to the main stream. And this was just a taste of things to come, as we will be seeing more of the White Stripes later.

I can’t control my brain

Something new that I'm going to try to make a ritual on my site is to put up some cool songs/videos up.

Today, it was snowing out. Not just some wussy little flurry either. It was "good luck trying to get where you're going in time" snowing out. And now it is expected the snow will give way to freezing rain. Wicked.

So, let's do a 180, and look at Weezer's "Island in the Sun". Not their best video (Buddy Holly and Gone Fishing are better), but really, this is probably the most re-watchable.

The song itself is pretty basic: singing about going away with that special someone and leaving all your cares behind. Probably sitting on the beach, with a fruity drink, wondering if you need more sunscreen...really, what's wrong with that? Nothing, that's what.

Of course, this has nothing to do with the video, which has the band (before they found their new bassist Scott Shriner) playing with a bunch of baby animals. Awww...cute...

I think what makes this such a good video is how understated it is. Obviously, the stars of the video are the animals, but Weezer and the director avoid being obviously cheesy (ok, there's still some roquefort present), and seem to be content to let things unfold, and let the stars do their thing. It's almost like "Animals Close Up With A Wide-Angle Lens" without the circus music.

My two favourite parts:

When the Chimp lifts up the guitarist Brian Bell's shirt.
When the bear comes up from behind Rivers Cuomo and licks his neck. Rivers' reaction is like it's a 40 year-old coked-out groupie ("Um, what are you doing, get away from me.").

So, if you've had a tough day, or if the bad weather is bringing you down, just click below and let Rivers take you away to an island in the sun, where you'll never feel bad anymore.