I don’t understand why Janelle Monáe isn’t already an enormous star. Check out the above video — it’s a clever, high-concept pop song that’s catchy as hell, and while I grant that I’m an automatic sucker for any musical act who pretends to be a robot, Monáe is such a cool and original performer that I don’t see the world ignoring her for long.
(The track is off the ridiculous space opera of an EP she put out last year, a sci-fi concept album about a fugitive android girl who falls in love with a human; she also appears this Cee-Lo music video-slash-Coke ad.)
This Gatorade commercial from 1985 really demonstrates to me the power of good advertising. Gatorade’s current image as a performance-enhancing sports elixer works incredibly well, in that I believe it on a deeper level than I’d like to. But it’s an image that’s impossible to rectify with the goofy product seen above, which is apparently sold in powdered form, like Tang, and is meant to be served with ice. This is a welcome form of cognitive dissonance, though, because the next time Gatorade’s current, badass taunt of an ad campaign asks you “What is G?”, you remember, “Oh yeah — the same shit it was back in 1985: Sugary orange powder mixed in water.”
Why does the best book on running I own have to have such an intensely dorky cover? Jeff Galloway is making me look better in a swimsuit, but worse on the subway.
This new Snickers ad campaign is a lot of fun. They’re not all winners, though — here are a few that struck us as being a little odd.
It’s not really rape — it’s just nougatory rape.
One of Lisa’s comics will be appearing in Vice Magazine this month. Page 1 is above — Page 2 is here.
They’ve also published an interview with her, in which she explains why she’s so gross and weird and awesome. The interview also includes a lot more art, like this one of two cats kicking a dog in the balls.
If Vice were judged in its own famous “DO’S and DON’Ts” section, I would give them a “DO” for their excellent taste in cartoonists, and a “DON’T” for misuse of apostrophes.
As a big fan of late night television, I’ve always lamented the fact that I was born too late to experience of watching Johnny Carson every night. Case in point, the above clip: this guy knew how to make great television.
Questions People Have
(Tumblr folks, please click through to the image — it’s worth it.)
If your first reaction to this is “Wow, people are racist,” I’d like to raise two points: first, that these are examples of ignorance, not racism; second, that each person who typed one of these phrases into Google was immediately presented with a screen full of information. When I was a kid, I remember wondering why my black friend had white palms, and why my Indian friend often smelled so strongly. If Google had been around at the time, I would have typed in these queries too, and would discovered the existence of melanin and curry. Nothing dispels ignorance like knowledge.
This is great news — after ceasing print publication in 2007, the Weekly World News has made its entire archives available on Google Books. (Check out the above — you can even embed entire issues!)
I loved the Weekly World News when I was a kid. Despite her eyerolls, I’d force my mom to buy it for me at the grocery store and devour it as soon as we got home. I was at a weird age — old enough to get the jokes, but young enough to sustain the belief that maybe, just maybe, some of it might be true. It was only years later, when I saw the headline “Osama and Saddam’s Gay Wedding!” that I realized what a hilarious and subversive publication I had been reading all those years. As far as straight-faced satires of news publications go, the Onion has nothing on the Weekly World News — it parodied the tabloids of its era so successfully that it was sold on the rack next to them. The fact that it wasn’t trying to attack or criticize the format, but simply capitalize on its silliest elements, just made it more fun to read. Long live and R.I.P.
Happy Father’s Day from Olde English! Of all the videos we produced for Super Deluxe, this one was one of my favorites. I love the idea of a dad driven to super-villainy by his asshole kids, yet whose plan is ultimately foiled by their continued lack of respect. More importantly, everything came together in the production of this sketch: Jesse, Raphael and Dave did an amazing job parodying the “Poor Unfortunate Souls” school of Disney-villain songwriting, and Dave nailed the performance; Julia’s costuming and production design are terrific (check out Raphael’s nerd outfit); Ben contributed some of his best work behind the camera; and Emma and Caleb’s hilarious performances just tie a bow on it. (I love the moment when Emma slowly looks up at Dave for the first time — the full force of her contempt is so withering, it almost hurts.)
Notice someone missing from the above list? While everyone else was having a blast filming this upstate, I was at home rendering Don’t Dance or some other ridiculous After Effects nightmare I had assigned myself. I don’t regret it, though — since I had absolutely nothing to do with the production of this sketch, it means I can blab on and on about how much I love it. Way to go, team OE!
Anyway — send this to your Dad. He’ll probably like it.
- adam
Reblogging my own post. To reiterate: I love this sketch.
