tenminusone

A very well done mash-up of propaganda video from the Chinese Red Army and Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.”

Amongst a few other albums (Broken Bells – Self Tiled, Crazy Heart Soundtrack, Soldier of Love – Sade, Have One on Me – Joanna Newsom, Dark Night of the Soul – Dangermouse and Sparklehorse) that have been on rotation on my iPhone the past couple weeks, “The Essential Collection – Daryl Hall and John Oates” has been keeping me particularly nostalgic. I’m always impressed by how many era defining pop hits they had in the 80s.

The incessant researcher in me likes to read up on artists I’m listening to (especially the older ones), so  I’ll consult Wikipedia, NME, and take a look at YouTube (not exactly reading) every once in a while. Knowing that “She’s Gone” was Hall & Oates’ first recorded hit¹, I figured it would be worth it to see how they were rocking in the ’70s. Below I share with you what I found.

This video is either a testimony to the strangeness of the 70s or an example of how a group survived a close call with infamy. It’s almost as if they blew their entire music video budget on drugs and hair spray and hired the local public access station crew to produce their music video. What ever the cost of the video, the result is priceless.

¹It’s technically their second top ten, but it was covered twice by other artists and originally recorded about 5 years before it was re-released.

Matarsak from Miguel Alvarez on Vimeo.

The video above was the fourth place winner in the Farhang Foundation’s 2nd Annual Short Film Festival. The main requirement for the festival was as follows: “The video and the music need to compliment each other in telling a visual story about an aspect of Iranian Heritage such as arts, history, culture, crafts, geography, cuisine or lifestyle.”

Of the top 4 videos, the one above was by far my favorite; It also helped me to discover the paradoxical, modern Persian classical music of Fared Shafinury and Tehranosaurus, which I have been enjoying.

Asian Girls Creepy Synchronized Disobedience

Evidently  juvenile disobedience in the classroom can be hilarious…especially when it’s synchronized. These daring Japanese school girls take this classroom prank to the next level  and what’s almost as funny as their synchronized moves are the punishments the teacher assigns to the students (e.g., standing to the side of the classroom on one leg with hands in the air, doing a weird dance, etc.).

Intelligentsia has in many ways perfected espresso and how coffee is prepared and served. Their attention to detail, design aesthetic, and the quality of their product are setting a new standard in the coffee shop experience. This video gives a glimpse into how they do it and why they’re my favorite coffee shop. Kudos to the Department of the 4th Dimension for a well done video.

Those of you interested in using a Syphon coffee maker should look here.

Happy Holidays.