Super Mash Bros. – Thumbs Up

For those of you who like Girl Talk, you should give a listen to Super Mash Bros. They feature a similar mash up style (if you couldn’t guess by their name) and have just released their second album, entitled “All About the Scrillions” [download here].  It’s as good as their first album (“Fuck Bitches. Get Euros.”) and free to download.  If you like these songs and you’re interested in more mash-up music, check the wikipedia entry about mashup for a list of albums.  Here’s one of their songs off the first album.

WoW Account Cancellation – Thumbs Down

This is a very disturbing/funny/crazy video.  Some kids just take games way too seriously.  The kid in this video gets a thumbs down for overreacting to getting his World of Warcraft account cancelled, but the kid’s brother deserves a thumbs up for the heads up play to catch this on video.

Vuvuzelas – Thumbs Down

The vuvuzelas, the horns that soccer/football fans were blowing at the Confederations Cup tournament for the past two weeks in South Africa, deserve a big thumbs down.  They were given away free to fans, and the fans blew them constantly throughout the game.  It made the broadcasts of the games sound like a giant beehive.  They reportedly drowned out some TV commentary on certain networks, although I didn’t have a problem watching the USA vs Brazil final on ESPN.

FIFA,the world football governing body, has stated that they will address the vuvuzelas before the start of the 2010 World Cup, also held in South Africa.  Players, coaches, commentators, and fans have called for the ban of these horns claiming that they are annoying and making it difficult for the players to communicate and concentrate.  On the other hand, the vuvuzelas are part of the local football culture in South Africa and the president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter stated, “We should not try to Europeanise an African World Cup.” 

My take on the matter is that the horns are probably a lot of fun to use and might improve the live atmosphere at the game, but for the World Cup, which draws huge television audiences worldwide, the vuvuzelas negatively impact the viewing experience too greatly to justify their use.  One option that I’ve heard thrown around is to allow them for games in which South Africa, the host country, is playing.  I would recommend this course of action for FIFA to take, as this would allow the local fans to use them in support of their country, but would avoid the annoying beehive noise during the majority of television broadcasts.

Sunday Movies 3

Some sick trick shots by a couple college students… Look under “More from channel” for their follow-up video.

Sick parkour/free-running chase scene from the French action movie District B13.

I have a friend from college who does this to everyone who taps him on the shoulder.

This doesn’t mean I like baseball.

And last but not least, a great parody of a Lebron/Kobe MVP Puppet Ad.

50 and Famous – Thumbs Down

What a sad week it has been.  An (Charlie’s) Angel has fallen in the death of Farrah Fawcett, 62, who lost her battle with cancer. A King (of pop) has seen his last beats (both in dance and in his heart) as entertainer sensation Michael Jackson, 50, passed away suddenly from a cardiac arrest.  And, most recently, everyone’s favorite pitchmen Billy Mays, 50, died from an unclear reason and will no longer be “here for any product”.  What’s the world coming to, taking some of our most beloved entertainers from our television sets?  Farrah Fawcett has graced us with her beauty as one of the angel’s in “Charlie’s Angels”, Michael Jackson has dazzled us with incredible dance moves that only can be seen and fully appreciated if done on the moon, and Billy Mays has successfully persuaded us that OxiClean can do everything you need it to do.  This has been a very sad, sad week as people across the nation have been mourning the death of not one, not two, but three admired entertainers.  And, they were fairly young.  I guess 50 is the new 80, especially if you are a celebrity.  Thoughts and prayers goes out to each of these entertainer’s family and friends.  You will be greatly missed.  For your viewing pleasure, check out this video of Michael Jackson doing what he does best: busting sick dance moves.

Leinenkugel’s Pink Lemonade – Thumbs Up

I went on the Miller Brewery tour on Monday, and was a little disappointed that I had already tried all the beers that I could sample at the end of the tour.  I was hoping to try the re-formulated Miller Chill since I wasn’t a fan of the original version, but I do enjoy a summertime Bud Light Lime.  I was hoping  However, in the end, I did get to try something new.  Upon hearing that our group was excited to have some Leinenkugel’s beers, one of the tour guides suggested that we try a mixture of two Leinenkugel’s beers, Berry Weiss and Summer Shandy.  The mixture is called a “pink lemonade” and it lives up to its name – it tastes just like one.  It’s sweet, delicious, and a perfect summertime drink.  Because of the sweet taste, it’s a perfect beer to start off an evening, but not something you want to be chugging all night playing drinking games.

Unfortunately, I don’t know of too many bars, even in Leine’s country here in Wisconsin, that have both Berry Weiss and Summer Shandy on tap, so if you want to try the drink for yourself, you might have to purchase a six-pack of each.

SNES Alarm Clock – Thumbs Up

Miss the good ol’ days before all the hype surrounding the realistic graphics and smooth play of Playstation 3’s and XBOX 360’s video games?  Do you reminisce about fighting 2-D villains and only having to worry about two buttons and a directional pad as the controls?  Do you have an old Nintendo or Super Nintendo gaming system sitting in your closet and don’t know what to do with it but remember how easy and simple gaming used to be?  Well, now through the helpful instructions of this website you can take your childhood gaming memories and turn them into an alarm clock.  I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a cooler looking alarm clock then the one in the video below.  It amazes me how someone even thought about turning a Nintendo system into an alarm clock, let alone program the system with alarm clock capabilities.  The only way this could be any better is if the alarm sound could be the theme song of whichever game you chose to be the alarm screen.  What a great gift this would be!

Ukuleles – Thumbs Up

Interesting story from NPR – ukuleles are making a comeback.  Due to the recession, sales of musical instruments are down nationwide – except for ukuleles.  The lilliputian lute is an attractive alternative to guitars and other such instruments because of its low price (around $30) and ease of use.  Plus, as Mark Upton, president of Kala Ukulele in California says, “it’s hard to be sad when playing the ukulele.”

I find it hard to disagree.  Just check out Somewhere Over The Rainbow, covered  by Israel Kamakawiwo’Ole, or any number of ukulele covers on YouTube.

Almost makes me want to buy one and start strumming right now.

Bolivian News Station – Thumbs Down

A Bolivian news station, Periodistas Asociados de Televisión (PAT),  got punked and used images from the TV show LOST thinking they were actual footage from the Air France Flight 447 that recently crashed.

Here’s the news segment:

PAT probably thought they had hit the jackpot with these images.  Too bad they shanked that one.

Thumbs Down – Climate Change

A new report was released by the government recently, giving a forecast of the effects of climate change on various parts of the U.S.  Here’s why you’re all doomed:

Northeast: warmer winters mean less snow which will hurt the ski industry, and weekend ski trips. Also the maple syrup industry may be pushed north, though I thought it was already in Canada.

Southeast: the hot gets hotter, and more drought stricken. Though at the same time, more intense hurricanes, so when it rains it’ll pour.

Midwest: the level of the Great Lakes will drop, even though the global water level should rise with the melting ice caps? Also farmers will face both floods and droughts.

Great Plains: places like North Dakota will see more rain while Texas and Oklahoma will see less rain.  Aren’t parts of Texas and Oklahoma already deserty?

Southwest: the deserts will become more deserty with rainfail dropping by 40%.  Since rain will decrease, so will water supplies (shocking).

Northwest:continued reduction in snowpack, as much as 40%. I don’t think snowpack covers most of the northwest, so apparently it’s been reducing for a while.

Alaska:average annual temperatures are expected to rise by 7 degress by 2050 with lots more bugs.

Hawaii: the article doesn’t talk about Hawaii, so I’m assuming it will continue to be a paradise.

What have we learned from this report?  It’s going to get hotter and drier in most places, which is bad.  Though from the Alaska section, it is clear that many of these changes are off in the future a ways, which may give us time to make proper changes to the way we treat the environment and help save Alaska from the bugs.