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Random Links
For this area I will be posting links that I’ve discovered that may be of interest to you. Honestly, most new places that I discover online are the direct result of exploration without focus. The best links are often the ones that people send me or I read about somewhere. For now, I will give you some links off the top of my head and why they’re here.
Tenacious D
Jack Black and Kyle Gass are custom-designed to rock your fucking socks off. I used to really enjoy their short-lived HBO series about two fat acoustic singers who just wanted to get somewhere. Their songs are funny, interesting, complex and they just fucking rock. Then they put out their first ever CD, simply called Tenacious D and my wife and I have listened to it about a million times since it came out. Without a doubt, that CD is one of the best things I have ever seen. I know some people just don’t get it, but those people are fucking losers. They are currently in production on a movie that will retell the myth of their formation as a group. It’s called Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny and there is a site that you can visit by clicking here. In addition to the movie, they put out an amazing double-DVD set called The Complete Masterworks and one disc is a live concert and and the other is a compilation of the TV Show, their music videos, some behind-the-scenes stuff and some short films. If you are a fan of this zine, you will love the D. Long live the D and Hail Satan!
V for Vendetta
One of my favorite graphic novels of all time is V for Vendetta, written by the brilliant Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd. I had heard that they were making it into a movie many years ago and the Wachowski Brothers (who made Bound and the Matrix films) were supposed to write and direct. They ended up blowing off this project to do the horrible Matrix sequels back-to-back, but now that those flicks have been flushed down the shitter, they are producing this film from their own script. I love the story and the trailers look amazing, but it’s hard to know if the movie will be any good. If it comes out and sucks, I’ll remove this link and never mention again.
The Covers Project
I am a huge fan of cover songs and I will trade with anyone who has something interesting to share. This web site lists thousands of cover songs and also does something really unique. They string together bands using cover songs, in a way similar to the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. As they say themselves, “We're building a database of cover songs (songs RECORDED by an artist other than the original ARTIST) with the intention of creating cover "chains." A cover chain is a set of songs in which each RECORDING is a cover of a RECORDING by the ARTIST who covered the preceding song. For example:
The The Drifters song "On Broadway" was covered by Gary Numan
The Gary Numan song "I Die, You Die" was covered by Magnetic Fields
The Magnetic Fields song "Falling In Love With The Wolfboy" was covered by Dead Dog
The Dead Dog song "The Optimist" was covered by Love, Execution Style”
LOVE IT!
Jump the Shark
This site is perfect for a pop culture junkie like me because not only do the people really care what they’re talking about, they’re actually putting something I’ve thought about my whole life into a tangible and funny form. The premise is simple, all television shows eventually falter. Nothing can keep getting better and better forever. Eventually, everything falls. The name comes from an episode of a classic from my youth, Happy Days. I used to watch the reruns after school all the time and in a very special two-part episode, a Hollywood producer likes something that Richie Cunningham wrote and wants him to come out to talk about it. While there, they get involved with some LA tough guys and eventually, to prove something, Fonzie agrees to go out on waterskis and jump over a fenced in area in the ocean that has a huge shark in it. The first part of the two-part show establishes the ridiculous premise and ends as Fonzie takes to the air over the shark. The next one begins with him ending his jump perfectly and winning over the LA-liens. At that point in the show’s history, the show stopped being good and became cheesy, corny, lame and irrelevant. It was at that point when the show “jumped the shark.” So for any show you can think of, the author of the site will suggest various points at which the show may have jumped in your opinion and you can vote. Certain things are almost automatic jumps, such as when a character is replaced but that fact is not mentioned (such as on Bewitched), a new kid joins the cast (Brady Bunch has its Oliver helping it right over the shark). Other shows are still up for discussion, and of course, there are a few shows that have never jumped, including in my opinion, The Larry Sanders Show, Seinfeld, The Simpsons and the Sopranos. It’s a lot of fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Grand Theft America
This is an interesting flash movie that explains what happened in the electon of 2000 with lots of interesting info. Every time I see it, I get pissed off again.
Cows Are Cool
Sometimes when there is a political choice to be made, I tend to go with the group who seem the most like me. To me, carnivores are short-sighted, greedy and self-destructive people who don’t care about all the negative effects that beef production and consumption have on this fragile planet. While I often find the methods and strident orthodoxy of animal-rights groups annoying, I still tend to agree with them. So I was delighted to find this site by PETA which is an informal way to teach people that cows are living, thinking creatures who should not be slaughtered in vast numbers. Cows really are cool, even though they smell.
Landover Baptist Church
This is one of those very sick parody sites that seems to have no respect for anything or anyone. There’s a lot of religious-based content here and while many may compare it to the Onion, I don’t ever find the Onion very funny. This site would be very upsetting to anyone that was seriously religious and for that reason alone, I applaud them.
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