Highly Recommended Thing Of The Moment

Bassnectar vs. Pixies

2012-02-25T10:01:00.004-08:00

There's a lot of godawful dubstep (I'm looking at you and your Grammys, Skrillex). Hex nailed it: the guy's songwriting sucks. Some dubstep works in parts and then turns super-irritating (go to 1:28) at the drops.

Here's a piece I think works on all fronts. I'm seeing Bassnectar in a week and look forward to being the oldest person in the crowd.

Bassnectar - Where Is My Mind Remix by gypsysphere

Clifford The Big Pink Dog

2011-12-10T23:30:00.000-08:00

Go here, spend $5, watch the show. Because, as with Ace of Bass, you can never give Louis C.K. too much money, no matter what you do.

Two minutes of wonder

2011-06-15T12:30:00.000-07:00

Amazing piece of animation made from NASA pictures. Also, thanks Trent Reznor, for releasing Ghosts under a Creative Commons license. Your music works well here.

CASSINI MISSION from Chris Abbas on Vimeo.

Management Tips From A Master

2011-06-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

Tina Fey on staying skinny during her Saturday Night Live years:

"I regularly ate health food cookies so disgusting that when I enthusiastically gave one to Rachel Dratch she drew a picture of a rabbit and broke the cookie into a trail of tiny pieces coming out of the rabbit's butt."

Wu-Tang Clan Kung Fu Movie Samples

2011-05-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

Ten minutes of your time is a pretty big investment, but this is supremely worth it.

Why Star Wars is Secretly Terrifying for Women

2011-04-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

Long-winded, overly smug with it's own nerdiness, everybody talks too fast, yet pretty much utterly on point with the subtext it suggests to a movie trilogy that's already far over-analyzed.

..Pretty much just the way we Star Wars nerds like it.

Clockbusters

2011-04-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

Cool and addictive movie game. You're given three stock photos as clues and 60 seconds on the clock. Your job is to name the movie the photos are suggesting.

Sounds easy enough -- but it can get tricky once you get into it.

To be honest, when I started out on it it seemed a little too easy for my taste, but it did stump me for a while on a few of them. Luckily you can skip over ones you get stuck on and come back to them later.

On the downside though -- even though you can skip and come back, the game doesn't officially end until you correctly answer all the questions (or give up). This was especially bad in my case because the one it said I was getting wrong was one that I ABSOLUTELY KNEW I WAS GETTING RIGHT.

Here's the weird part -- the game is really open-minded about spelling and grammar. If you get most of the name of a movie right it will give it to you, and if the clues are from a series or a trilogy, you can still get the question right if you just give the main title of the series and not the specific installment -- except for this one particular question where the thing turned suddenly super-anal about how you type the words in, which was really frustrating until I figured it out.

Even with 50 questions and that one particular quirk it's a very quick and fun time-waster, and the kind of test that a movie nerd can't resist.

I aced it (..eventually) -- which isn't really that big of a deal, since that's the way the way the game is designed, but I got really stuck on about 3 of them (not counting the typo one).

How did you do?

How Did This Get Made?

2011-04-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

If you're a movie nerd (as I know many of the staff here at HRTOTM are) you really need to check this podcast out. More than just bagging on bad movies -- which has been done to death, this podcast takes a film that's conceptually so bad that all you can do when you see the poster or the trailer is wonder "How Did This Get Made" and tries to make sense of the studio/celebrity thought process that led to such a disastrous piece of crap not only getting made but then getting marketed and released to the public.

We're talking films like All About Steve, The Last Airbender, and Burlesque, and they try to make sense of the plots, which are invariably 100 times more insane than you'd ever expect them to be.

Comedian Paul Scheer and his team are basically just starting out, so there's only like 5-6 episodes to listen to so far, but it's absolutely hilarious and worth your time.

Enjoy!

A Paean to Pubes

2011-03-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

Or perhaps more of a pondering. Go to page seven.

Bit o' TMDR

2011-03-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

Thomas Morgan Dolby Robertson, that is.

Being Prepared

2011-03-08T10:14:00.000-08:00

On March 19th, you can get free training in CPR and first aid from the American Red Cross. Be the person who knows what to do in an emergency. Find out where your closest class will be here.

Goodnight Dune

2011-03-06T09:03:00.000-08:00

If awesome had a bedtime story, this would be it.

-- Mad love to Shaina for the link. (Or in the immortal words of Feyd: I will credit her!!)

Odd Future

2011-03-02T07:46:00.000-08:00

Odd Future aka OFWGKTA aka Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All

Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All

A Young hiphop crew from LA. They remind me of the DIY punk ethic.

The odd future video that went viral: Yonkers at the odd future website

Charlie Sheen or Muammar Qaddafi?

2011-02-25T09:52:00.000-08:00

Much more difficult than you might have ever expected a tongue-in-cheek quiz to be.

Nrrrd Girl You Don't Deserve Me

2011-02-21T12:07:00.000-08:00

Who's the A-hole that forgot to tell everybody about this until AFTER valentines day!?

For those of you who might not have completely comprehended the awesomeness, this is bacon wrapped in chocolate sculpted to look like Han Solo encased in Carbonite.

(this is the part where the opening chords to "Tom Sawyer" play at full volume).

Map of Metal! Electronic Music Map! Maps of music.

2011-02-17T08:04:00.000-08:00

You know you love metal. If you are a metalhead, you probably have genres and sub-genres you like. If you are a little more casual, then you probably like visual kei or classic rock or some related genre of metal. But I'm positive, just like there is someone out there that is right for you, there is a metal song that is right for you.

Map of Heavy Metal (flash required)

This will help you figure out what you like, what is related, maybe help you find something else that you like. And it will burn up a chunk of your day exploring. Use the minimap to move the big map around. Click on a genre and in many genres you can listen to a little sample.

Found one that does Techno music:

Electronic Music Map

Not as polished, but just as fun! I also think everyone loves Electronic music.

Back to Their Future Photos

2011-02-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

This KICK ASS series of photos recreates scenes from participant's past with the people as they are now. What an awesome idea!! Makes me kinda want to recreate this one of myself... But where would I find all that wood paneling and that awesome Micky Mouse record player?? Oh well - at least I know how to use Photoshop...

Everything is a Remix

2011-02-02T12:44:00.000-08:00

This is fantastic.

Everything is a Remix Part 2 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

P.S. -- Stick around after the credits, there's some very cool bonus stuff hiding there around the 7:03 mark.

RADTASTICNESS!

2011-01-26T07:07:00.000-08:00

From Enthiran, the most expensive movie ever made in India. I can only hope it has a dance sequence, too.

Again, life would be empty without Cartoon Brew.

Expanding Your Horizons

2011-01-26T00:29:00.000-08:00

Koji Yamamura. New to me. Old to anyone who's been paying attention. This is some of his latest stuff, but dig in and watch a few of his earlier shorts, too. He's made decades' worth of fantastic, charming, thought-provoking animation.

Products for the Passive-Aggressive

2011-01-24T16:19:00.000-08:00

Coupla things:

1) This is the type of idea that makes for soul-deadening conversation in cubicleland lunchrooms ("Betty's always stealing a bite from my ice cream. I should have a lock on it!"). It's a completely different thing to have actually made and sold.

2) This type of shit would be grounds for divorce.

3) The carton is made of paper, so if I want your fucking ice cream, it's mine. Fuck you.

4) In fact, someone meaner than me would stomp the carton open and put it back in the freezer, lock and all. Here's your ice cream, asshole. Oh, and: nice lock.

My Blackberry doesn't work either

2010-12-22T10:23:00.000-08:00

For anyone who has pain from their blackberry. Kind of a simple sketch, everyone has thought of the jokes, but the execution from an 80 year old comic pro and an almost cracking up straight man on the BBC has an ineffable quality of comedy.

excerpt from the BBC comedy, The One Ronnie.

Putting Your Finger On It

2010-12-17T12:31:00.000-08:00

It's funny 'cause it's true.

Getting It Really Right

2010-12-03T06:32:00.000-08:00

Clicking Girl and I love Craig Ferguson. I love Doctor Who. Therefore this weird-ass opening to Ferguson's show with Matt Smith as guest is a glorious tower of win. Extra bonus points for using Orbital's version of the theme music.

Something for Everybody

2010-12-01T18:18:00.000-08:00

Despite being a rabid Devo fan, I only recently got their new release Something for Everybody--their first in 20 years. The band continues to kill. See them live if you can. Meanwhile, check out Human Rocket.