SassyBlonde

Today's RoundUp has only one entry, or rather, one subject. The Alabama Million Dollar Band playing the only song any Alabama football fan cares about this time of year: the Alabama fight song.

I freaking love the fact that it kinda looks like Big Al is getting his game on with some jiggly Crimsonette there for a minute, and how great is it that you can clearly hear the fans singing every word of the fight song in the sing-along break? Not many places that that's going to happen. Most places you'd just hear a lot of whooping and cheering. I mean, even itty bitty kiddies are on board down there (I love how her Mom bribes her with a Barbie). Love it, love it. And in case you've never been to an Alabama football game, check this out: The Million Dollar Band from the end zone. Roll Tide, baby.

Like most of my generation, one of the first things I can remember seeing on television was Sesame Street. The language and songs still make their way into my vernacular, and of course, whenever I hear a countoff, this is what runs through my mind:


Remember all of these classic clips?

• The Orange Sings Carmen
• The Ladybugs' Picnic
• The Alligator King
• The Fairy Alphabet
• Letter B
• Milk, Miiiiiiilk, Milk(Check it out-- an interview with the composer here!)
• The Yip-Yips Meet The Telephone(still my favorite after all these years)

• Stevie Wonder: Superstition
• Put Down The Duckie
• Tito Puente
• Good Morning Starshine (Bob looks so young!!)
• Lena Horne & Kermit: Bein' Green

As I promised last week, this week's RoundUp focuses on the career of the intrepid Bip Bippadotta. Who is Bip Bippadotta you ask? Why none other than the star of one of the most famous Muppet Show sketches of all time, Mahna Mahna:

Bip began his career in a sketch on Sesame Street in 1969, in which it's clear that his career has yet to take off.

(Note the subdued striped sweater and his decidedly more calm coif. Clearly not yet in the fashion echelon so coveted by the clients of Rachel Zoe today.) Two days later, it's apparent that Hollywood has come calling when he appears on the Ed Sullivan show in what was to become his trademark look- orange hair and a green shag top, and his eyes have already taken on that vacant I need to wear shades to do this cast. His erstwhile companions have already been replaced by the Snowths, a more polished complement to his scat stylings.

The artist now known as Bip Bippadotta began his career as a Little Anything Muppet, going on to distinguish himself in the aforementioned performances as a solo artist. Cameo appearances followed on Sesame Street in songs such as Fat Cat Sat Hat, Some of Us, Everybody's Song, and Air. He struggled with his identity through the 70's, known only by the title of his hit performance, until the 1979 release of Every Body's Record, on which he finally received artist credit as Bip Bippadotta.

The song that made Bip Bippdotta a household icon was originally composed by Piero Umiliani and made famous as a single from the movie Svezia, Inferno E Paradiso, which the Muppet Wiki refers to as a documentary about Sweden. As a clarification, this is a movie about sexuality in Sweden which "shows contraceptives for teen girls, lesbian nightclubs, wife swapping, porno movies, biker gangs, and Walpurgis Night celebrations. It also examines Sweden's purported drug, drinking and suicide problems." (IMDB) Listen to a good remix of the original single here, or watch the entire film here.

UPDATE: And I almost forgot, for Keith: Bip's hair was made from either the equivalent of long pile shag fur, what appears to be ostrich fringe, or a combination of the two (ostrich hair and shag beard, etc.)

Today's RoundUp, I admit, is sort of a last minute thing, but my sister provided a link to one of the classic comedy songs of all time, Bowser & Blue's Working Where The Sun Don't Shine (The Colorectal Surgeon Song).



Short and sweet this week, folks. Enjoy.

Thanks to Sister Sassy for the heads-up.

Okay, I get it. It's Tuesday. But I just couldn't wait to share this video with you guys: How The Cat Wakes You Up In The Morning!



Swear to God-- this cracked me up so much that I called D at work and made him watch it on the phone with me. Mainly because this pretty much happens every morning to D when Gizmo starts getting antsy at 4 a.m. And just for the extra cuteness factor that everyone needs in their day:

• Duslo Sleeping
• Kitten Sleep
• More Kitten Sleep

Everybody knows that I'm a fool for a Super Mario Brothers Theme, and how could I say no to one played on a contrabassoon?



Make sure you click through to the actual YouTube page and read the info section: it's almost as hilariously bad as the video intro. FYI, today's RoundUp was inspired by a hilarious sound file of a contrabassoon audition TinyFlutist sent me today. I swear to God I would never have been able to keep a straight fact through that recording. Anyway, more love for those of the contrabass whatever persuasion:

• Get Funky With Your Contrabassoon
• The Contrabass Saxophone (plays excellent defense in a number of sports and has great love for Sleeping Beauty, apparently, as well as doing the Charleston)
• The Sub Contrabass Recorder (that thing is incredibly cool)

This very late YTR (NSFW) is in honor of the guy who tried to pick me up at the bar last night, who was the son of the bass player in the band (you can just call me Smokin' Sassy from now on) and gave me and my friends no end of entertainment. Two words. SHUT. DOWN.



I particularly love the guy in the silver jumpsuit playing wingman. Cracks. Me. Up.

I'm all for resolutions, but it always cracks me up to see how the so-called psychics call the new year's events, and even better, to check their records later:



Via Solonor.

And since I can't contain myself, YAY.

Every once in a while it's just great to hear a really damn good band playing some seriously skillful stuff, so here's the band 4Beat6 from the Netherlands playing After You've Gone in the style of the great Benny Goodman:



Smokin'.

Yeah, I know it's a day late, but I just had to share because I like the way this guy thinks.




Very funny, likely to start some real good arguments, and just one more guy expressing a point of view way too common and way too infrequently discussed. Nice.

Via Solecist.net.

I'm sure you all remember the Simon's Cat video from Tandem Films, Cat-Man-Do. Well, now it's time for another gem from Simon Tofield: Let Me In.

For your enjoyment today, a sign language interpretation of Marilyn Manson's This Is The New Shit:



Via Amy over at solecist.net.

Peeps, I am so far behind I will never die. I know I've been promising a lot of updates, but I just need to make it through Sunday and then I promise I'll be back. Until then, enjoy the following examples of the weird, the wonderful*, and the hilarious:

The Weird:


The Wonderful:*


The Hilarious:


Enjoy, and I promise I'll be back on the flip side with more stories and pictures and ranting and ruminating.

*I swear to God, that Kiwi short just kills me every time I see it, but it's a beautiful work.

One additional entry today for the Friday YouTube RoundUp-- this is something I had been meaning to watch and post about for a while now, the documentary 9/11: The Falling Man, which an intrepid user has posted in its entirety on YouTube for everyone to see. I don't necessarily recommend everyone watch it, since it is more than a little creepy and really disturbed me at the outset with its retelling of the events preceding the fall of the towers, but I do think it's a powerful examination of another aspect of that day that hasn't been done to death. (Definitely don't watch it if you're not in a "safe" place mentally. And don't ask me how I thought it was appropriate viewing fare for two A.M. on a Friday-- my mind is a strange place.) I thought it was interesting-- you decide for yourself:

Today's YouTube RoundUp comes to you via Amy over at solecist.net, who put me onto this lovely gem: The Engineer's Guide To Cats:



What can I say-- corporal cuddling+feline yodeling? Awesome.

Geeks of the world bust a move-- Mathmaticious:

In case you've ever wondered what would happen if you got a spider drunk or fronted him some bud, here's your answer:



And as a special bonus, enjoy LSD vs. Alcohol vs. Tree. I particularly like the Viagra tree myself.

Via Amy.

We all do it. Listen to songs and extrapolate lyrics that are wrong, kooky, and downright hilarious. And who hasn't done it when listening to "O, Fortuna" from Carmina Burana?



More fine examples:

• Rock The Cash Bar
• Living on a Plane
• Pour Us Coffee In America (Musicals)
• Hung Like A Bird
• And of course, Numa Numa

As if we could have ever forgotten him, but the best Gap ad ever featuring Will Kemp:



*le sigh*

Okay, now we're all aware of the high esteem in which I hold good burlesque performers, but I have to admit that the following video (which is possibly NSFW, but it's more the personage and not the footage you might not want on your corporate internets I suppose) was a special treat, if only for Immodesty Blaize's last little tidbit in this examination of the word word "merkin" (which as a word has always amused me greatly):



That kind of possible relation of his turns of phrase is exactly why I've hated George W. Bush from day one. *le sigh*

Miss Immodesty Blaize, however, retains my eternal esteem.

In honor of the Man's retirement, I give you Windows Music:



Bring more music neepery, you ask? Hack your Wii Guitar to play like a real Guitar and rock Guitar Hero like a god. (Guitar hack found at over at My Home 2.0.)

Okay, seriously, The Muse (who's here visiting this week) and I just about died when we heard this video, especially the lead-up to 1:25. He always seemed line a shady character to me, you know?

In honor of Frankenberry's gig this week:



That is all. Except for this, which is awesome, at least if you're a music dork like I am. (Thanks to Dan P for the All Blues heads-up.)

Dr. Randy Pausch passed away on July 25th, and if you've never watched his Last Lecture from Carnegie Mellon, Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, I highly recommend you do so. I'm sure many of you have probably watched this, and most of you have probably heard it, but I can't tell you how inspirational it is and how much it will probably either change your perspective or remind you of some life-lessons you should remember, so here it is, all 76 minutes of it:



Godspeed, good Doctor. Your mother would definitely say you were the kind that helps people.

Yoshizawa Hitomi vs Iida Kaori - Bass Clarinet Showdown: Kaorin and Yossy throw it down to see you can play the bass clarinet the best... or at all...

The death stares are the best part:



Or for something a little more serious, check out Squonk playing Jonathan Russell's Double Bass Clarinet Concerto with the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra.

This one goes out to Frankenberry, who made us laugh our asses off with his recounting of Louis CK's recounting of the following observation about rationalizing racism (at 1:22):



I pretty much walked around the grocery store today saying "Jewwooooooooooos..." and giggling like a maniac. Awesome.

P.S.(8/29/08:12:35AM):Yeah, I know it's not YouTube, it's Comedy Central. And the video will play if you click it. The "Not Available" graphic is a dodge, at least at the moment.

Because the weather is so lovely and inspires us to fire up the smoker, and because it is so completely hilarious and so completely true, I give you The Barbecue Song:



Oh Brother Johnny Ray, where art thou?

(Thanks go to my dad for finding this one.)

Seriously, this needs no explanation:



That is so wrong.

Thanks to Sister Sassy for sending that on.

UPDATE: Oh. My. GOD. (Pun intended.) Apparently the fun never ends: Jesus Is My Friend. (Somebody call Child Services-- apparently there's some guy out there named Jesus who's touching kids inappropriately.)

Hilarious. Love it.



And furthermore, Paris Hilton for President?

Thanks to my fabulous brother in law for this one, which is *totally not YouTube, but meh, close enough.

Hilarious. Love it.



And furthermore, Paris Hilton for President?

Thanks to my fabulous brother in law for this one, which is *totally not YouTube, but meh, close enough.

Seriously. Don't vote.



Via Aimee at Greeblemonkey.

This is the part where I plug my ears with lima beans and burn every flute I own in my barbecue grill: Sarah Palin is an "accomplished floutist."



And dig the band in the background. Someone needs to shoot that trumpet player, like, yesterday.

This is the part where I plug my ears with lima beans and burn every flute I own in my barbecue grill: Sarah Palin is an "accomplished floutist."



And dig the band in the background. Someone needs to shoot that trumpet player, like, yesterday.

Finally, after years and years of thinking about this, someone's actually gone and done it.



To explain my statement above, when I was in high school I spent many a weekend in a van full of band geeks trucking down the road to honor band festivals, and we'd always invariably reach a point where we were so bored that our band director would edge off the road enough to hit the rumble strips, at which point we'd all completely geek out and try to figure out the pitch of said vibration at whatever speed we'd reached. We postulated that someone should and could do something like what they did in California, but of course when they did it either the speed limit was too low for the engraving they did or they were all completely tone deaf (I'm voting for the former, because it stands to reason that they wouldn't waste all that effort for the pitch to be off.)

To be fair, Japan had already had done it a while ago, but it's something that makes me chuckle nonetheless.

So, in case you haven't seen this (it was featured on Shanghaiist), an American expat kid comes out to his mom, with surprising and hilarious results:



The rest of the series is pretty great too. What a cool kid, and what a process to share on YouTube. Drama ensues later after he tells the guy he has a crush on, and you just want to *squoosh* him to make him feel better.

I know, I know-- I missed this whole soundboard prank call thing by quite a while, but in case you haven't heard it, you need to hear when somebody soundboards Ahhhhnold to a Gateway computer sales rep:



(I love that he keeps her going for so long. Hah!) Soundboarding allowed you to use your computer to play a grid of sound clips or voice cues, in this case of celebrity voices. So you know all of those robo-calls you're getting? (This is for you, Frankenberry, O resident of a swing state.) Now you can fight back. Answer as John Kimble just to piss off the pollsters, or fight for your side with Slate's Obama and McCain soundboards. And remember, just do what I tell ya.

FYE: The Whazzzup Boys after eight years:



Indeed.

Here's my winner of the weird award for this week's video viewings, although it's made me investigate Paul Steel a little more and that's not a bad thing. ( NSFW because of drug use references and language, but then again if you're reading this site you're probably not at work anyway):



Basically, this is just one of the weirder videos I've seen on YouTube since I started this series, and the song's been in my ear ever since Susannah Breslin posted it (her site is definitely NSFW).

Since we're coming up on Turkey Day, where we celebrate all things we're thankful for and the family we share them with, this Friday's RoundUp is dedicated to the work of my incredibly talented brother-in-law, also known as Dancing Dragon. On November 8, 2008, The Windy City Cowboys performed a piece he choreographed, "Cowboy Love Story", at the Sundance Stompede, and they rocked:



In case I don't say it enough, I'm incredibly proud of you Steven, and of the talent and drive with which you pursue what you love. Even if I can't be there to see you shine in person and support your work, know that you're on my list of things to be thankful for this year and always. Love to you and t.i.m. and sorry I'll miss you at the glorious yearly blowout next week.

A simple shout out this Friday, since I have two wishes: 1.) That my poor Roomba had not completely bitten the dust about a month ago and 2.) that Gizmo would be chill enough to do this before it did or when I get a new one:



Apparently it's not a one-cat phenomenon either:

• Exhibit A
• Exhibit B
• Exhibit C

I SO know where I'm going to be on February 6th:

Love this: Linsey Pollak jams out with a carrot "clarinet" (well, okay really it's a saxophone mouthpiece, but I'll stop being a clarinet geek):



From his show, Making Jam. A lot of other great clips of him available at his YouTube channel.

As Solonor said, I had no idea zombies had moves like this:

Most of you are by now aware, I'm sure, of one of the all-time most-entertaining sites on the internet, FailBlog. Here today for your enjoyment: an inauguration fail, an epic fail or two, an epic win, and a really disturbing and hilarious fail. (*drum roll*)

FIrst up, I'd like to bring you an as-yet non-Failblog fail, courtesy of my town's biggest ever (apparently judging by the state of the nation's news correspondents) party and via Gawker: Diane Sawyer's Obama Inauguration Inebriation. It seems to me that maybe, just maybe, Diane's had a few too many?



I mean honestly woman, step away from the punch. (Or get some sleep? Yeah, I kind of don't buy that either.) Good grief.

Some of my favorites from FailBlog:

• Statue Fail: I mean honestly. There's no schadenfreude like church schadenfreude.
• Ice Sculpture Fail: That one just kills me-- great statue to beer cooler fodder in an instant.
• PengWIN: Score!!
• Balloon Fail: Who does that? (It's what he does at 2:06 that really really cracks me up, and also grosses me out.)

• Bell Ringer Fail

A shout out, because the fantastic Mr. Gaiman asked that this be passed on and around, for the fantastic movie Coraline coming out on February 6th:



I agree that this is my favorite trailer so far-- much more in the style and spirit of the story than some of the more lighthearted trailers I've seen.

I don't think it's a secret that I pretty much unashamedly adore Neil Gaiman's work, and I'm so completely excited to see this film. The fact that it's done all by hand and in old-school stop-motion just blows my mind and I can't imagine a better treatment for such a fantastic story. I first read Coraline just after we moved into the house where we now live, full of its old doors and bendy closets and crawlspaces and was delighted by its darkness and the fantastic warped reality he created-- one of the many reasons I love his writing: the fact that he is utterly committed to the full body of the story in all of its glorious, beautiful, and unabashedly twisted and often frightening dimensions. To see that brought to life on the screen as apparently this production has done will be a dream, or rather a nightmare, come true.

And by the way, have you seen some of the promotions they're doing for this film? It's some of the absolute best P.R. I've seen in ages. For instance, the Coraline boxes. And the Alphabet cards and ads. Fantastic.

You can pretty much bet that I'm skipping a show that weekend to go on opening night somewhere, because honestly, how could I not?

Since I whiffed on last Friday's installment, here's a little gem for you all: in case you've never heard the music of Oren Lavie (go forth NOW to iTunes and stock up) here's your primer, a little bit of grace on a tired Monday, his video for "Her Morning Elegance":



Enjoy, and may your Monday be a little more graceful. I'm still trying.

"You got weed? I'll store anything you want! Do you know how big a bus is?" Yes folks, here on 'dem internets with today's drunk discount, is Toby Jones of Jones Big Ass Truck Rental & Storage:



And the second spot: "CDs from your failed speed metal band..."

Thanks to D for this one. So awesome.

Okay, if you're at all a fan of the Sopranos, then you know how, well, kind of offensive it is to try and watch that particular show on A&E with all the voiceovers and cuts to take out all of the profanity. So, if you miss that and are stuck with that as your only option, I present for your so SO very NSFW pleasure, The Sopranos, Uncensored: a twenty-seven minute reel of "every curse, from every single episode of The Sopranos, ever":


the sopranos, uncensored. from victor solomon on Vimeo.

I kid you not, this had me in stitches. By the second instance of shit at 00:49 I was rolling. I fuckin' love it.

I can't do anything but geek out today, I'm not gonna lie: one of my favorite TV series of all time comes to an end tonight and I'm basically spending the entire day being a huge geek about all things Battlestar Galactica. One of my favorite things to come out of this series has been the absolutely fantastic music composed by Bear McCreary as soundtrack and enhancement-- as someone who plays new music for a living, I can honestly tell you that he's one of the best film composers I've heard in a long damn time-- the man just gets it.

As a musician, I was literally stopped in my tracks by the way he used Bob Dylan's All Along The Watchtower in the season three finale-- I still get goosebumps every time I hear it, and it's probably the first time I've ever wanted to stand up and roar because of a frakking television show. I, like most everybody else, missed out on being at this concert, but here's the pretty damned awesome live version McCreary did of this tune:



So say we all.

You know, I knew I loved this man, but never so much as I did after watching this clip about "what he's learned from his students":



PREACH. IT. Damn kids.

So here's the thing:

I've missed you guys.

I've had some pretty heavy things going on in my life this year, things which basically have changed the face of my entire existence in one way or another. And I haven't really felt comfortable talking about that here, in public, for anyone and everyone to read. More importantly, there are very good reasons why I can't and shouldn't.

And frankly, it's killing me.

Because if you're still reading this, then I've probably known you, or had you as a reader, for long enough that you're probably wondering what the hell happened to me.

Because if you're still reading this, you're probably one of the people whose opinions and love I value enough that I'm going to need your help in the next year.

Because frankly, I need an outlet more in-depth than Twitter and less personal than Facebook.

So here's the other thing:

On March 1st, this blog is getting a makeover. I'll be moving it to a new server, shaking up the layout a little, and converting it to a new CMS, though the site address won't change. The ranting and raving and silliness will stay the same, only there will be some things that I don't want to share with everybody, some things that I may need to share and say, but only within certain circles. I'm tired of keeping it all pent up and I've done that for long enough.

If you're still reading this blog, and you're been a loyal reader or friend or even a long-time lurker, email me at (sassy{at}sassyblonde{dot}net) with the title of this post in the subject line or comment on this post and request an access key. I'd love to have you in the circle.

Til then, I'll be cleaning house and doing some renovation, and I'll see you on March 1st.

UPDATE: So, snow and circumstances being what they've been around here, I'm going to have to ask you guys to wait around a little longer, which actually ends up being appropriate for a lot of reasons. I've gotten all your emails and comments, and if you can hang tight for a few more weeks, I'll have the next phase ready on April 1st.