Posts from February 2011

Something completely adorable happened on Tuesday. See, musician Molly Lewis is a big fan of Stephen Fry — and why shouldn’t she be, really? Why shouldn’t everyone be a fan of Stephen Fry? No good reason as far as I can see. Anyhoo, a while back she wrote a song for/about Stephen Fry called “An Open Letter to Stephen Fry,” and last week she got about to releasing a recording of it. Things moved rather quickly after that.

The Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard announced that they would be honoring Stephen Fry at an event on Tuesday evening. Similarly, Molly Lewis posted a cryptic plea on her website asking if her fans could perhaps help with airfare so she could fly out to some event in Massachusetts…

Well, tl;dr — I’ll let their own Tweets tell some of the story:

Those darling darling darling people at Harvard. Made so welcome felt so at home.Thank you humanist association thank you all who attended.

— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) February 23, 2011

The adorable @molly23 sang her song to me and I didn't know where to look – how sweet she is

— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) February 23, 2011

@stephenfry I'd like to mention that our hypothetical child would have excellent hair. It was an honor and a privilege to serenade you. <3

— Molly Lewis (@Molly23) February 23, 2011

@Molly23 And just as much an honour for me to be serenaded by you. Even of I blushed to the roots of my hair …

— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) February 23, 2011

And now that your curiosity is no doubt piqued, here is the serenade in question. There’s no video of the actual event, but you can watch Molly Lewis’s original video (or if you don’t want to watch it, you can just listen to the song below the video).

Adobo, no? Here’s a nice recap of the whole event. Now be a good little jellybean and support Molly Lewis by tossing four quarters into her coffers: Buy that song!

I decided it was about damned time that I made myself a new mix CD. For your convenience, I’ve included (when I can) links to where you can get these songs for yourself, should you so desire!

1. Things I Think About On Planes – Palmdale
2. An Open Letter to Stephen Fry – Molly Lewis
3. All The Same To Me – Anya Marina
4. Airbrushed – Anamanaguchi
5. Career Advice – Open Mike Eagle
6. Common Scents – Spot Two – JP Inc.
7. Dark Dark Eyes – Marian Call
8. Deer God – Busdriver feat. Open Mike Eagle
9. End Of Line – Daft Punk
10. Stay The Same – Bonobo & Andreya Triana
11. Haircut – Open Mike Eagle
12. The Internet – JP Inc.
13. Juicy Fruit – Mtume
14. Meet The Future Downlow – Palmdale
15. The Mating Game – Bitter:Sweet
16. Sentimental Heart – She & Him
17. Nothing in Between – Celene Ramadan
18. Lieutenant Custard & His Banger Of Time – JP Inc.
19. Promise – Cocorosie
20. Three Is a Magic Number – Molly Lewis
21. Your Woman – White Town
22. Original Butterscotch Confection (Three Ninjas Remix) – Open Mike Eagle feat. Busdriver
23. Bucky Done Gun – M.I.A.
24. Nothing Unusual – Three Ninjas feat. Geli Wuerzner
25. Twice As Nice – Pomplamoose

I especially like how I have a Busdriver song featuring Open Mike Eagle AND an Open Mike Eagle song featuring Busdriver.

Every year, one lucky audience member gets a chance to win a date with a Fool.

THIS IS THAT DATE:

Every once in a while there’s a music — a song or a performance — that makes me get a little misty-eyed. This video is one of those musics:

This video for Leeni, probably my favorite chiptune musician, was animated by James Franzen of Radio Gosha. Hey, I know that guy!

Link of the Month:
Lackadaisy
A webcomic about prohibition-era St. Louis has much of what you’d expect from such a thing: speakeasies, flappers, pinstripes, tommy-guns, moonshiners, heavies, and dames. But you might not expect that it is one of the most lushly-illustrated webcomics I’ve ever seen. Seriously, it makes other webcomics look like they were drawn by four-year-olds using their non-dominant hand. It’s also meticulously researched and strives to be as historically accurate as possible. And let’s not forget that it’s hilarious and dramatic and thoroughly entertaining. And it’s about anthropomorphic cats.

Album of the Month:
JP Inc.: An Album of Distinction
You might know JP by his former musician name of Pleaseeasaur. In his new identity, JP has crafted a concept album: JP Incorporated is a company that crafts “Music Themes for Quality Television Programs.” The album is a parade of howlingly-funny horrible theme songs for horrible-sounding TV shows, such as “Lietenant Custard & His Banger of Time,” “Family Comedy,” “Gymnastics Dad,” and “The Internet” (and those are all just on the first half of the album), interspersed with some commercial work, such as the recurring “Common Scents” and the heavy-metal band Crap Factory. The songs are all purposefully incompetent and sometimes hilariously and aggravatingly accurate, especially to 1980s TV theme songs. Take a listen to some sample tracks here:
The Internet:
Situations:
Jacuzzi Air:
And here’s the video for “Jazzbot Xtreme”

Game of the Month:
Kirby’s Epic Yarn
One of the most visually stunning Wii games I’ve ever played, Epic Yarn re-tools the familiar Kirby franchise and spins a new game where everything is composed entirely of yarn and fabric and buttons. But it isn’t just a visual style; the side-scrolling platformer gameplay is based almost entirely on incredibly creative ways to manipulate and interact with the various fabric environments and yarn characters. Kirby’s Epic Yarn is simply a joy to play, and is a surprisingly relaxing and happy experience. It’s low on the challenge level (much like Lego Star Wars, you can’t actually die), but the whole point is to be able to experience the lush fullness of the game, not get frustrated by its challenges. So much fun!