Weird Al Is Back, Educating Fans About "Word Crimes"

Weird Al Yankovic is back! It's been a while since he made fun of pop music so vigorously--3 years since "Polka Face" skewered Lady Gaga. But now he's back with his 14th album which he spent the last week debuting with 8 new videos over 8 days on his Vevo channel.  

As a writer, my favorite by far is "Word Crimes" which is not only hilarious but also quite educational when it comes to common grammatical mistakes. And, at the same time, it sorta takes the piss out of one of my least favorite pop songs of all time "Blurred Lines". Enjoy as you laugh and learn about the Oxford comma.

ALL BY MYSELF Gets Epic iPhone Music Video In Airport

This is one of more viral videos of the month--a self-made music video to Celine Dion's version of "All By Myself".  Though it was shot entirely on an iPhone what's more impressive is that it was entirely shot by the guy performing in it, Richard Dunn. 

He was an Atlanta visitor to Las Vegas who got stuck in McCarran Airport overnight and, instead of whiling away the hours til his 6 a.m. flight, he decided to get creative and make this video to amuse his wife. He strapped his iPhone to a wheelchair using some baggage tape he got before the airport shut down and then had fun, lip-synching and over-emoting to Celine's classic (with a Celine cameo too...sorta). 

The video has been seen more than 11 million times on Vimeo, YouTube and other platforms. And even Celine saw it herself, and loved it too! Not bad for a night's work...

FROZEN Viral Video Has Twins Singing "Let It Go"

I'm a big fan of the new Disney animated film FROZEN, which cleverly reimagines the standard princess story and has some great Broadway-style songs to boot. In fact, there was a recent official announcement that Disney is developing the movie as a stage musical though there is no date on when it might hit the Great White Way. 

Since it's release in November, there has been some serious viral video action based off of FROZEN's big hit song, "Let It Go" originally recorded for the film by Bway star Idina Menzel. Now, there are all kinds of kids singing the song on YouTube, with various stages of professionalism and polish. But the one that really caught my eye was first posted on Vimeo where it has racked up more than a million hits. Now it's on YouTube where it passed the half-million mark today.

Maddie and Zoe are twin 4-year old girls singing the song as a duet for their dad, cinematographer Aaron Mendez. They perform the song with such heart and verve and excitement (including the awesome yawn halfway through!) that it has clearly taken the crown in the viral derby for "Let It Go" covers. However, this take does require some previous knowledge of the song/lyrics to fully enjoy the girls truly unique version. At least, that is, until someone adds subtitles. 

HOUSE OF PAIN Super8 Film Now In HD On Vimeo

Last spring, in preparation for my B.C. class reunion, I got my Super8 films out of storage and had them digitized (finally) with a glorious HD transfer. I was hoping to somehow screen them at the reunion but then I ended up moving apts for the first time in about 20 years that same month. So I didn't have time to edit the transfers, get the sound in order, and output them.  Cut to a few months later and I've finally settled into the new place ... and I've had time to finish this project!

Today this new HD version of HOUSE OF PAIN is available for viewing on my Vimeo Plus page. This film was a wonderful collaboration with my fellow "History of European Cinema" classmate and good friend Donnamarie Floyd. We were given the option to do an AV project for our final instead of a 20-page paper and we looked at each other and were both like "hells yeah!" So we decided on a spoof of German Expressionism, a style that included classic films we loved like NOSFERATU and THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (from which we stole borrowed various elements). And we found the perfect scary location for it all--our infamous, off-campus apartment building nicknamed The House of Pain.  Donnamarie agreed to star on camera, I did the shooting/editing and the rest is Super8 history, as they say.

The transfer to HD was done by the good folks at Legacy Digital in California, referred to me by fellow filmmaker Jim Fall.  The great thing about this place is that they not only cleaned the original film but actually did not use a projector for the transfer; instead each frame is scanned digitally and the results were really great with none of the distortion that the old VHS version had. Our budget for the original film was $60(!) but this new transfer cost more than 4x that. Thus, on the Vimeo page there is a little "tip jar" button for donations at the bottom of the screen to help offset that as well as hosting it on Vimeo Plus in HD. So please give a little if you can and I hope you enjoy the film--I've had a lot of fun working on it and getting it out again into the digital realm. Enjoy! 

Web Series THE OUTS Wraps It's First And Final Season

My favorite web series, Adam Goldman's (pictured center) THE OUTS wrapped up its first and unfortunately final season this week with a Chanukah special, which debuted on Easter Sunday. This super-sized seventh episode of the series is a lovely finishing touch to the show about two ex-boyfriends and their contentious relationship. It doesn't exactly tie things up but proves a very satisfying finale to this show which has more in common with well-made cable shows like GIRLS than the lower-rent feel of most web series.

Also, more than other Internet-based shows, THE OUTS has truly utilized the flexibility of this new format by using a wide-range of running times, from 7 minutes all the way up to the massive final one, clocking in at over 40 minutes.  It also employed some well placed time jumps and jumpbacks which made the story more interesting if it had been told straight through as most shows are.  

The final episode is linked below but if you haven't seen the rest, it might be a bit confusing  To catch up, you can watch all of THE OUTS on their website.

The Sights And Sounds Of The NYC Subway

I found this cool little video over on my favorite subway blog, Second Avenue Sagas.  It's done by a freelance video editor based in Washington, Tim Sessler. It's a cool look at the sights and sounds unique to the subway system here in New York.  In DC, of course, things are much quieter in the sleek, soundproofed and sterile caverns of the Metro....which could explain this filmmaker's fascination with the MTA.  Enjoy!
   

Warning: Your Child Might Be Gay, Circa 1991

I saw this video posted on a couple friends' walls on Facebook this AM and, from the description, had to watch it.  It's from 1991 and is a video of a 9-year old boy Robert Jeffrey doing some amazing dance moves and lip-synch to Madonna's VOGUE.  It was recorded at a summer resort in New Hampshire and it is pure awesomeness. Seriously, this kid has got the moves! It's like he had been rehearsing for this moment for weeks in his bedroom watching the video on MTV over and over again but also adding his own crazily unique personal flair too.  Just amazing!

From what little information I found on Vimeo. Robert has not grown up to be a Broadway chorus boy but is actually a writer/filmmaker.  If one can consider this his first film, then I can't wait to see more. This video truly made my weekend and the weekend hasn't even started yet!  Enjoy :)


ME AT NINE, PERFORMING TO MADONNA IN SUMMER '91! from Robert Jeffrey on Vimeo.

The Blizzard of 2010 In 38 Seconds

New York was hit by a massive blizzard the day after Christmas with nearly two feet blanketing the city in less than 24 hours.  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I missed all the excitement as I've been down in Maryland where we got barely a dusting from the storm.  But I've been reading all about it on the web.

There have been some great photos in the TIMES of the storm and it's aftereffects, the one above taken on a Sackett Street in Park Slope.  And there was a great time lapse video of the storm posted to Vimeo yesterday which, so far has gotten more than a million hits.  It's a fun and funny look at the blizzard, as the videomaker keeps trying to keep his clock above the rapidly accumulating snow.


December 2010 Blizzard Timelapse from Michael Black on Vimeo.