Ask and you shall receive ..

Crazy frog

The best video I barely understand

One semester of college German leaves me nearly functionally illiterate in German. When I went to Germany in 2005, I was amazed when I understood a few single words, like after I paid for my food at Burger King and the girl at the register said, "Danke."

On that little trip, I spent a lot of time on the night shift watching MTV Pop, which is some kind of German MTV. A lot of time.

This video was in heavy rotation and, no matter how much I saw it, it fascinated me. It's a lot like the really old pre-music-video video of Bob Dylan flipping the little signs with words from "Subterranean Homesick Blues.". This is slightly different approach than that, using backwards and forwards photography. It looks like it may have been shot in one take, but maybe not. I think the fellow who choreographed it deserves some kind of award.

At any rate, here's my favorite German band, Wir Sind Helden, and their video for "Nur ein Wort."



I just watched it again. Man, that's just mesmerizing. I better quit now or I'll never go to bed.

Is the glass half full? Was the defense secretary half-right?

This is an interesting article about Donald Rumsfeld. Draw your own conclusions. I think history will judge him with a great deal of ambivalence.

Spinning in Orbit

This is pretty cool. On this site are lots of music clips and a video called "Wavegirls," from William Orbit.

He is an electronica/ambient/dance music artist who doubles as a producer for such artists as Madonna (remember "Ray of Light" and "Beautiful Stranger?", U2 and Pink, among others.

(Some observers may remember the theme song from the WFAL radio show called "The Big Boat" circa 1996 used a William Orbit song as the theme for the show.)

I have never heard anything by Orbit that I have not liked. I have had no success in finding his latest album, however. I have yet to order it online, but I suppose I could do that. I either have or used to have all the rest. Here's an Amazon link to his "best of" album, from, wow, 12 years ago.

Perhaps his greatest song was "Water from a Vine Leaf." I wish I had a bigger musical vocabulary to describe it. You can find a clip of it at the Amazon link, though.

Orbit's music probably isn't for everyone, but he's certainly contributed to his fair share of hits and I sure like it.

Serial cereal blogging

I ate "Cap'n Crunch's Crunch Berries" twice this weekend. Both times, after an hour or so, I completely crashed and wanted to sleep. Monday, I think it was, I actually took a nap.

Usually sweet cereals don't have that effect on me, with the energy from the sugar giving way to a listless feeling. I can eat Fruity Pebbles with no ill effects.

I don't like "Crunch Berries" that well, anyway. "Cap'n Crunch" is so hard, it irritates my gums. The only way to stop it is to let it soak in the milk, and then it becomes "Cap'n Soggy."

Serial (but not) cereal blogging

This coming under the heading of food ...

I think I am addicted to "cherry lime aid" at Sonic. I have had three in the last couple of weeks. A perfect blend of sweet, sour and fizzy. They are half price from 2-4 p.m., if you are interested.

Stan Freberg perfoms "Heartbreak Hotel"

... as only he can.