Favorite Music Videos: Chapter 1

In no particular order…

Weezer’s “Pork and Beans”

Not only is Weezer going back to the sound that made them kickass in the first place, but this video is brilliant, utilizing v-video that is still in everyone’s minds. The only thing missing is a Rick Roll.

The Grouch’s “Artsy”

In a surprisingly similar vain, The Grouch’s “Artsy” pulls from contemporary music video and commercials to make a pretty interesting video. I feel like Talib Kweli or Swiss Beatz or Lupe Fiasco already did something making fun of the HP commercials (how those three are in a group, I don’t know) but somebody did. I still like this video.

We Are Scientists’ “After Hours”

Not only do I love We Are Scientists more after this video, but I’ve always loved Akiva Schaffer (YES, of AKIVA, JORMA AND ANDY OF LONELY ISLAND!!!) This video is simple, the budget probably went to hiring the actress (who is on 30 Rock or something? What’s with 30 Rock kids getting cast in music videos lately?) and paying the dog’s SAG fees or something.

Flight of the Conchords’ “Ladies of the World”

If I have to explain why this is great, you either have absolutely no idea who I am or are as boring as a brick. Fo seriously.

Foo Fighters’ “Pretender”

Dave Grohl gives me a boner and the simplicity of the idea and killer effects and imagery is like a sweet sweet orgasm for the eyes. Seriously, somebody was like “Here: run around with this steady cam for like four minutes. By the way, wear a poncho.” (better res is available on youtubes, just not embedded)

Girls Aloud’s “Don’t Speak French”

Guilty pleasure. I’m sorry. Whoever picked these girls out of an audition line was a genius. The song sucks, the idea sucks, but dear God, where did these creatures come from? Way to put out there the only thing these girls have got goin for them… Bravo hair/makeup/costume. (P.S. I’m sorry I made you watch that.)

Herman Dunes’ “1-2-3-Apple-Tree”

There’s just something about well done contemporary puppetry that really makes my day. And I dig the song. It just makes me feel good. I think.

Tokyo Police Clubs’ “Tesselate”

My boy Miguel came up with the concept and co-directed it (fo seriously) and I love it. I think it’s an adorable concept, and kind of takes me back to that Disney World thing, Body Worlds or whatever they’ve got, where you go through that journey of the body to help this guy out and there’s all these other guys living inside this guy trying to help him get through the day. (I’m pretty sure it has to do with reproduction too, but I probably blocked that from my 9 year-old memory.) This, however, has nothing to do with reproduction, and is probably cooler.

I’m sure I have tons of more videos to say I love, but these were the ones I found easily. I hope you like them too, and maybe see something you haven’t seen yet. There’s a lot of crap out there, but luckily there’s some select groups of artists floating around… 😉

I’m finding I might be incapable of completing projects. And that’s frustrating.

I finished a feature film my freshman/sophomore year of college, which was a big accomplishment. But lately, I feel that everything I start, I stop soon after:

– there was the tshirt project… I started drawing out all of these tshirt ideas and bought some materials to start making them. Fell apart as soon as I left New York.

– the shoes. i made a pair of custom vans and some people saw them and thought they were amazing and wanted a pair. They were willing to pay me and everything, but I just ran out of time I guess. I’d do them if I was motivated I guess. They were pretty baller shoes.

– this blog. I mean, I started it, forgot about it, and came back to it. I’m doing a shitty job coming up with things to write about.

– the music video. I started working on a music video and putting together all of this art stuff for it. postponed indefinitely at this point. I spent about $300 so far, and some production stuff really fell through which was irritating. I just lost motivation as soon as things weren’t happening. That was cryptic. Sorry.

I just started a new art project today, and I’m not sure if I’ll even finish it. I hope so. I really like where it’s going and I just have to buckle down and finish it… one second at a time.