Apathy Jack writes:

Today’s music video, the horrible Fluorescent Adolescence, by The Arctic Monkeys. They’re an awful band, but this video is a thing of sublime terror. Gangsters fighting clowns.

Seriously, that shit’s not okay...

Apathy Jack writes:

Double-header today, of videos which turn their featured bands into cartoon superheroes.

Firstly, Tadpole's Better days, which casts the band as Dragonball Z-esque warriors fighting, I dunno, some guy. I was never a fan of Dragonball Z, but damn do I like this video. It's fast paced and genuinely funny.

Nextly, Skankenstein, by Kora. Less humour, but some very nice superhero-style scenes as the band rallies to defend the Earth from a threat from outer space.

(As per usual, linked to rather than embedded because of the drop in quality that comes with embedding.)

Apathy Jack writes:

As I've mentioned, I rather like videos with a narrative – shows effort to not have endless shots of the band on a soundstage somewhere. Thusly, you may be able to imagine my fondness for the Velvet Revolver video She Builds Quick Machines, where the band has been cast as cowboys rescuing an angel from guerrillas.

The sound is a little tinny, but the video should serve as an object lesson to all directors who make do with shots of their subjects playing instruments under lights - this is better.

(As per usual, linked to rather than embedded because of the drop in quality that comes with embedding.)

The sad fact is I'm so tired of you...

Apathy Jack writes:

Something for you to watch: Look For The Woman by Scroobius Pip and Dan le Sac. You need to watch this for three reasons:

1) It is the best music video I’ve seen in a while, and you know how much of a fan of good music videos I am.

2) Scroobuis Pip, in this video, looks exactly like I will look when God-defying genetic engineering becomes legal and cheap: lanky, mammothly hirsute and winged.

3) Pip uses incredible rhymes and wordplay, and yet instead of sounding clever, the song simply manages to be heart-crushingly sad. I don’t think a song has pulled on my heartstrings this much since I last listened to VAST...

Apathy Jack writes:

Today's video: Weapon of Choice, by Fatboy Slim.

Christopher Walken dances.

If you're still reading this, that means you haven't immediately clicked on the above link, which clearly means you haven't properly understood me.

Christopher. Walken. Dances.


(As per usual, linked to rather than embedded because of the drop in quality that comes with embedding.)

Apathy Jack writes:

Now, by and large, I don't do "sweet", however, the video for Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros is impossible not to like. It's actually quite remarkably touching and, well, just really sweet, dammit. Go and watch it while I feed a bunch of kittens into a wood chipper to get back into my usual frame of cynicism.

(As per usual, linked to rather than embedded because of the drop in quality that comes with embedding.)

Apathy Jack writes:

I do love a narrative in music videos. When I watch the vast majority of them, I'm struck by the fact that the directors have lost a perfectly good opportunity to make a three-and-a-half minute short film with inbuilt soundtrack. With that in mind, I present Savin' Me, by Nickelback. It's not hard to hassle Nickelback for a variety of reasons, but no matter what you think of the song, the video – the weird little story of what happens to a man after his life is saved by a stranger – is a great little piece, and a fun watch.

(As per usual, linked to rather than embedded because of the drop in quality that comes with embedding.)

Apathy Jack writes:

Today's music video is Hey Girl, Hey Boy by The Chemical Brothers. The Chemical Brothers' videos are routinely of above average quality, but this is my personal favourite, mixing real creepiness with a healthy dose of humour, and complimenting the song perfectly.

Apathy Jack writes:

Today's video, Witness The Fitness, by Roots Manuva. In addition to being a catchy tune, the video is a piece of genius. Takes a minute or so to get going, but this tale of Manuva returning to his old school is one of my favourites.

(As per usual, linked to rather than embedded because of the drop in quality that comes with embedding.)

High Culture

Apathy Jack writes:

Remember that song "I wish I was a little bit taller"?

If you don't, you need to watch the video below.

If you do, you should also watch the video below. Watching it for the first time in thirteen or so years, and it's even better than I remember it being...

Apathy Jack writes:

Is it just me who thinks the Beastie Boys’ videos are all overrated? Sure, they take a bunch of 70’s tropes and string them together, but (and I say this as a big fan of that ridiculous 70s style) that by itself doesn’t make a good video.

However, Bloc Party got it right. In their video Flux, they do pretty much what the BB’s were doing in Intergalactic, but do it Properly. Have a look.

(As per usual, linked to rather than embedded because of the drop in quality that comes with embedding.)

Apathy Jack writes:

Today's music video: the catchy Sirens, by Dizzeee Rascal (I don't think I spelled his named with the requisite number of 'E's just there, but I'm reading A Void by Georges Perec right now, so I have a bit of a blind spot for that letter...). A dark little song about police persecution which could have gone the traditional (and boring) route of having Baddie Cops Being Evil™, goes instead with the much more visually appealing imagery of toffs on the hunt.

Three things

Apathy Jack writes:

Thing Primus

A criminal has been going into banks and supermarkets, hypnotising the cashiers, and robbing the tills while they stand there in a mesmerised stupor.

I’ve been keeping half an eye on outbreaks of the twenty-first century, but this is even better – it’s a 1970’s cartoon. Seriously, in a few days we’re going to see news reports about this guy being caught by a group of plucky pubescent adventurers or a super hero in a badly mismatched costume.


Thing Secondus

Big Bad Wolves, the short film made by local talent-repository Rajneel Singh has finally come to the internet. It is findable here. It is a very amusing, and very dark (and probably not all that work safe) retelling of Red Riding Hood, through a bunch of Tarantino-esque gangsters. Also in the link are Raj’s other works, including a couple of music videos by local artists. Of special mention is The Fanimatrix; a Matrix fan-film that was downloaded a couple of million times when it was first put on the intertubes, making it one of New Zealand’s most-watched short films. (Also, it contains RSJS being kicked in the chest – good fun for all the family.)


Thing Tertius

Scroobius Pip, in collaboration with someone or something called Yila, has got a new track, called Astronaut. Seriously, if you don’t like Scroobius Pip, I don’t think you and I can be friends. Watch:

Apathy Jack writes:

Today’s music video is Moby’s latest, Disco Lies. Maybe it’s partly because I saw this for the first time on the big screen TV they have in my local KFC to keep the punters docile while they wait to be served, but I haven’t been this happy watching a music video in a long time. Seriously, I think it is impossible to be unhappy while watching this video. Even animal lovers, who will probably be fairly unhappy with the opening scene, will be very happy if they get past the thirty second mark.

Give yourself a three minute present: watch this video.

(As per usual, linked to rather than embedded because of the drop in quality that comes with embedding.)

Apathy Jack writes:

Anyone paying attention will have noticed that my taste in music videos leans to the creepier end of the spectrum – I like things that are a little disturbing. However, today, I have something that is truly terrifying. I’m not scared of the Aphex Twin teaming with Chris Cunningham, and while Mogwai CGI-ing freaks throwing animals off buildings is upsetting, it doesn’t keep me up at nights.

A world where people go out of their way to make Henry Rollins angry, though, is a frightening, frightening proposition. To see what that would look like, I present Disconnect, by The Rollins Band.

(As per usual, linked to rather than embedded because of the drop in quality that comes with embedding.)

Apathy Jack writes:

Today’s video, the deeply upsetting Hunted By A Freak, by Mogwai. I’m not sure quite what’s going on, but this video gets more disturbing every time I see it. I keep thinking I’ll get desensitised by further re-watching, but all that happens is that I notice messed up things I missed the previous times I watched it, and I get sad...

Apathy Jack writes:

Today, Enemy, by Sevendust. This is just great. A music video that is a pretty direct retelling of the graphic novel Romp, which is about... actually, you should probably just watch the video – it would take too long to explain.

Random things:

Apathy Jack writes:

First:

This may be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen.

Second:

An article from New Scientist suggesting that when young people become Goths they are less likely to self-harm than their more colourful peers.

Third:

Part of the poem Ice Cream Cone, by Liza Jessie Peterson:

I retreated back to headquarters, breathless from surviving yet another day of battling the slings and arrows of outrageous motherfuckers in the street.

Fourth:

Preliminary design for a car-less city.

(This comes from the wonderful new site grinding.be, where a few future-minded people have gathered to look at what life is becoming.)

Fifth:

Your music video for the day: Gone Daddy Gone, by Gnarls Barkley, a crazed wee romp recasting the band as bugs – especially notable for the creepily trippy last thirty seconds or so...

Sixth:

Someone has counted how many lies the Bush administration told in the lead up to the war in Iraq. As it turns out, there were quite a few...




Seventh:

Dara O’Braian on the young:

Next time an eighteen-year-old comes bouncing up to you going: “Look at me! I’m fit, I’m gorgeous, I’ve got a body like a mattress! You could bounce coins off me I’m so fit.” You just go: “Yeah, I’m not so fit. But I’ve been working for a while – I’ve got cash. Here’s a tenner – dance for me, you prick.”

Eighth:

This is actually how I get in the holidays. It’s probably for the best they’ll be over soon...

Apathy Jack writes:

Today's music video is My My My by Armand Van Helden, a fairly bog standard dance track, which starts out as a fairly bog standard dance video, but then gets funny after thirty seconds or so. Nice commentary on the vacuous nature of dance music videos and possibly culture in general, but primarily just a bit of a laugh...

Apathy Jack writes:

Speaking of one-shot videos, here is Blowing Dirt, by Goodshirt, a singularly impressive video, filmed in one take, backwards.

(As per usual, linked to rather than embedded because of the drop in quality that comes with embedding.)