Every week seems to have a natural lull in the entertainment news that is particularly interesting. Tonight features The Office's long-awaited Jim and Pam wedding, but we've talked about that. Project Runway is on, but we've talked about that. I don't do Gosselins, I'm Daved out, and I have nothing to say about the upcoming Couples Retreat (which I have not seen) except "Oy."
What to do, what to do. Oh, hello, brilliant accordion performance captured and uploaded to YouTube! Now, I ask you: why is this kid referred to in the title as "nerdy"? Is it because he plays the accordion? That is hardly fair.
(Hat-tip for this one goes to my accomplice Trey Graham, who keeps me in accordion performance videos.)
What do you do when you love someone else's wildly ubiquitous pop song so much that you're compelled to play and sing it and share it with the rest of the world, but there's still one particular part that hits you like fingernails on a chalkboard? If you're San Francisco-based jazz-pop duo Pomplamoose, you forge on ahead with a charming cover that magnifies the swing of the original while gently (and hilariously) making your displeasure known. See if you can spot the offending section!
There's not a whole lot to this Mad Men parody from the inventive folks at Sesame Street, but never let it be said that they're all about Elmo. Many have seized on the "sycophants" reference, and I cannot deny it is the best thing in the clip, but I think my favorite elegant touch is the silhouetted figure at the close of the credits.
I don't even know what to say about this video of Ari Shapiro singing at the Hollywood Bowl with Pink Martini, except that it is awesome. Putting aside the audience-shot quality of the video, and not to be all root-for-the-home-team, it is delightful and grand, and clearly, sharing was necessary.
Look, I like this clip as much as anyone, where the dad catches the foul ball, and then ... well, you should just watch it. It's absolutely adorable.
But what I find far funnier is the remainder of this news report, which treats this sweet, loving dad as some kind of model of class because he didn't become wildly angry at his three-year-old and leave her behind at the ballpark. I was half-expecting to hear, "Believe it or not, he has not cut her out of the will -- MAN OF THE YEAR, am I right?"
Come on, local news. Dads actually give a lot of hugs.
This means that on September 9, we at Monkey See will not discuss cats, cat videos, adorable cats, or talented cats of any kind. (Note: This may affect coverage of Cat Stevens, Cat Deeley, Tiger Woods, the new ABC show Cougar Town, and sales trends in Hello Kitty merchandise.)
The folks at Urlesque have opened a poll allowing users to select another animal that will be written about instead on that day, but unfortunately, since that poll does not include monkeys, we cannot endorse it or agree to abide by its results. Call it a Day Without A Day Without Cats Without Monkeys.
Fortunately, until then, cats are fair game, so please enjoy perhaps the greatest Internet cat video of them all, "Big Box And Maru."
You can read more here about the winner of Ukraine's Got Talent, a woman named Kseniya Simonova, but first, check out the clip, in which she tells a World War II story with sand and light. It is, to say the least, remarkable.
At the World Science Festival in June, Bobby McFerrin did this demonstration with the audience. It's a little exercise using a pentatonic (five-note, rather than seven-note) scale, and it's really something.
Over at BoingBoing, which is where I saw it, they're having an interesting discussion in the comments about what can and can't be learned from it, but it'll give you a kick the first time you see what he's up to, and it certainly may make you think that people respond to music and musical scales in ways we only partially understand.
It's a slow news day in Cleveland. How slow? Slow enough not only to spend a solid two minutes (out of what, 22 minutes of newscast?) on a non-story about a non-attack by a non-bear, but to take the time to make props and costumes. Who knew that WJW even had an arts and crafts department? Special kudos to Cleveland Metroparks naturalist Carly Martin for her insights into bear scat, and to the reporter who provided such an enthusiastic simulation of ursine climbing.
Work carefully: Here, Bob Vila's YouTube channel helps you do something with joint compound. He could tell you what.
by Linda Holmes
I first came across the site There I Fixed It via Metafilter, and then through the comments there, I found the Home Inspection Nightmares section of the site for This Old House, and then I spent about an hour there, looking at stuff like this home repair, which is -- spoiler -- not an approved use of a two-liter Coke bottle.
Both sites are lovely afternoon-brightening bursts of silliness. They will also make you want to be really careful about any homes you might purchase in the future, because people are not to be trusted.
I really wasn't sure where to put this video in which several test subjects voluntarily play the new Grey's Anatomy game for the Wii. Television? Games? Unrelenting horror?
Just...I'm going to let them explain it as they go, because if I told you how weird it is, you wouldn't believe me anyway. Take it away, College Humor.
With a grateful hat-tip to Metafilter, here is the totally literal version of "Total Eclipse Of The Heart," in the great tradition of the similar rendition of "Take On Me."
The literal nature of this is very funny, but honestly, it's all there in the raw material. Dear People Born Relatively Recently: Yes, entirely serious videos used to look like this.
Has there ever been a weirder, goofier video that was meant to be serious? I'm sure there has been, and I'm sure you'll tell me.
When NPR's own Trey Graham directed me to this fantastic and quite well-known clip of Leslie Uggams doing her best to perform "June Is Bustin' Out All Over," in spite of forgetting the words or not having the teleprompter or entering a fugue state or whatever happened to her, it seemed kind of mean.
And then it started to seem heroic.
(And in fairness to Leslie Uggams, her words aren't that much more ridiculous than the real words. And she's kind of close...up to a point.)
This is the kind of disaster that only a true professional can withstand without simply running off the stage. Think of Mike Myers trying to figure out what to do after Kanye West came up with "George Bush doesn't care about black people." (Not because of the politics, but because it clearly was not what Mike Myers thought was going to happen.)
It takes me back to "Fiasco!", my favorite-ever episode of This American Life, which I have listened to at least ten times, linked to repeatedly and played for almost everyone I know, because if you can get through the first twenty minutes of that show and not collapse into giggles over the stories of the disastrous performance of Peter Pan, you are a much stronger person than I am.
(I just stopped to listen to it again. I love it that much.)
So I present it as an open question: Who are your favorite mishap survivors? I'm not talking about real trainwrecks where something honestly terrible happens; I'm talking about the people who soldier on no matter what. They fall off the stage; they get back on.
Battles Of The Bulge: The curious collision of toys and food. David T. Cole
by Linda Holmes
So you've got some little Army men, and you've got some food. What do you do?
If you are my friend and former colleague David Cole, you create a photo series called Battles Of The Bulge, in which you explore such incidents as The Battle of Chili Basin, pictured above.
The Internet: Looking at dinner in ways you never thought of.
Everything about this clip of the students of PS 22 singing "Eye Of The Tiger" is utterly delightful, starting with the fact that they think this song is really good, and in the context of this clip, it is really good. I also love to death the teacher's expression at the very end. Much of why people teach is right in that grin.
Not a Survivor fan? How about this, then?
Now, excuse me while I disappear down the rabbit hole of watching PS 22 videos. (Check out their Coldplay! Thrill to their Crowded House!)
Sing it, sister:Susan Boyle is the latest surprise from Britain's Got Talent
[Note: I had embedded the YouTube video for you here, but the embed has been disabled, so you'll have to pop over to YouTube to see it. It's well worth it. See it here. Thanks! -- Linda]
Last night on Britain's Got Talent, a lady named Susan Boyle showed up to sing, and what followed was not exactly what you might expect from her introduction. This is the sort of thing where you instantly fear that later, you will learn that she is not all that she appears to be, that this was a set-up, that...well, watch it first and you'll know.
Every now and then, though, one of these shows feints left and goes right, totally undercutting its own tropes and clichés, and it's always a treat when it does. For now, this clip is fantastic. I've watched it several times.
Philosophically, I have a lot of doubts about guerrilla blogs like this. As the writer points out himself, you can't always tell whether people have a disability themselves just by looking. At the same time... I can sort of understand how he became frustrated, and he's certainly right that a good number of these people are working hard not to see him.
Nerd glasses: Just one of the most popular props for Sexy People. iStockphoto.com
by Linda Holmes
I'm not sure whether most of the portraits submitted to Sexy People come from the SPs themselves, the SPs families, the SPs vengeful exes, or disgruntled Olan Mills employees.
But no matter where they came from, the sexy people of Sexy People may very well make your day. By which I mean, "steal your afternoon." Today's Sexy Person is Bernard.
(Hat-tip to my good pal Dave Cole, who occasionally, as in this case, sends out a random link that is not something hideous like a guy touching his own eyeball or something.)
I learned something new while researching the new Pussycat Dolls version of "Jai Ho," the Oscar-winning song from Slumdog Millionaire.
It turns out that everybody and their three-year-old is posting YouTube videos of themselves dancing to "Jai Ho." Up there at the top is an unnamed small child getting his groove on, and believe me, there's much more.
Oh my gosh, you guys, this makes me so happy. I had almost forgotten about this Bank Of America corporate cover of U2's "One," which circulated widely on the internet a while ago. And now, it is circulating again, and I am absolutely not above the rehash. This is one of the absolute funniest things anyone has ever sent me, and as you can imagine, people send me a lot of things. As certain networks are always happy to say: If you've never seen it, it's new to you. I can never decide which part is the funniest, but I think it's the part about "leading the team in the Northeast."
I am filing this under "How Did I Not Know About This Sooner?": CNBC.com has been running a bracket tournament of the 64 greatest "As Seen On TV" infomercial products of all time, in search of a single winner. As you can see from the full bracket, many greats have already fallen.
And now, they are down to four. The Foreman Grill, the Bowflex, Girls Gone Wild, and the Shamwow (above) (you're apparently spending TWENTY DOLLARS A MONTH on paper towels; you must be stopped!).
Based on these Final Four, somehow, we want to be both meat-stuffed and lean and muscular; both clean and dirty. This is America, you guys. And I'm here to tell you, if Girls Gone Wild defeats the Shamwow, then we all are in a heap of trouble.
Hat-tip to AdFreak, one of my favorite blogs, without which I might never have seen this clash of giants.
If you remember the very first Dogs In Wigs post of all time, we discussed Dance Party Friday, the spectacular local-weather feature in which the News 12 staff in Cincinnati gets its groove on at 5:45 AM on Fridays if there's no traffic to report. (A recent example.)
In the same vein, enjoy the above "Snowmageddon '09" video, further evidence that when local news and weather meet, hilarity is sure to follow. (Or, as one of my friends put it, "Too much time, not enough editorial control.")
David Lee Roth: Do you like the way he says "Awwwww yeeeeah"? Have we got a site for you. Jesse Grant/Getty Images Entertainment
by Marc Hirsh
It doesn't get "Dogs In Wigs"-ier than this: The David Lee Roth soundboard. It seems that someone has acquired the isolated vocal track from Van Halen's "Runnin' With The Devil" and chopped it up into easily clickable clips. Pepper your day with any of four "Hey!"s, three "Woo!"s, thirteen (obviously) variations of "Ah yeah!" and/or one magnificently ludicrous extended exclamation that I swear I've somehow never picked up on in the two decades that I've owned Van Halen. That's right: it's not just a primo time-waster, it counts as art appreciation as well.
Neil Patrick Harris hosted Saturday Night Live this past weekend, and...this happened. Fans of Harris' early work, let us say, will be amused. The fact that no comment is made about the origin of the music is what makes it so delightful.
It's not often I can actually say, "This made me bust out laughing," and completely mean it. But this really, truly made me bust out laughing. I don't entirely get the advertising relevance, but particularly if you were raised on '80s pop, you must see it. I have nothing further.
A room full of excitable nerds with acoustic guitars is never, never, never a bad idea. This video of Ben Folds covering the Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" has been kicking around for a couple of years now, beloved by random YouTube stumblers and email link-followers. There's a lot of love in that room.
Thanks to Whitney at Pop Candy, I was reminded of the Elf Yourself site, where you can make your very own video of yourself doing a Christmas dance. Up there? That's me. Doing my little dance. You can include up to five elves of your own making, which made it very tempting to run around grabbing photos of NPR staff to dance in my video, but I chose not to appropriate anyone else's image. Happy Holidays! Frightening elf heads for everyone!
My love for this video knows no bounds. This is the product for you if your bicycle is too compact, has too small a turning radius, or doesn't take up enough space in your garage. Or if your treadmill is too convenient to entertainment options, doesn't require you to put on enough protective clothing, or doesn't put you in the position of potentially being hit by a car.
This was sent to me by a friend who actually sent me to this page, where a lengthy discussion ensues in which nerds argue over whether it is, in fact, a ridiculous concept. They laughed at the Wright Brothers too, you know.
I'm going with: "And then she said, 'But he's my boyfriend!" And then I said, "But you broke up with him already!" And then she was like, "I don't care we're supposed to be best friends it doesn't matter what you say you aren't my friend anymore!" And then I said, "Well if that's the way you're going to be then just get out anyway, because shut up and who cares about you?"
You know, I always say the world doesn't have nearly enough robots playing musical instruments while wearing hats.
It's a pretty amazing story, what with all the technology that went into the lips and the lungs. I'm not sure I'm buying the idea that a robot with a face painted on him and a hat plunked on his head is "a contender for concert performances," but there are other uses for this technology than this very literal thing. Let's face it: if there weren't, this would be a lot of work to put into a flute-playing robot.
This makes two "Flight Of The Bumblebee" references in one day. It's a fine day to be a very fast piece of music.
A quick oldie-but-goodie for those who have never played: Guess The Dictator Or Sit-com Character. Surprise yourself with the small number of questions required to guess that you are an obscure character! Analyze your life by answering as yourself and seeing which character you most resemble!
This game has been kicking around for years, so it's been honed pretty carefully...except for spelling. So consider yourself warned.
This uparallelled YouTube treasure just popped up on my Facebook page, courtesy of an actor I know. I've played it four times now, and I'm thinking my day will involve another six or seven listens, minimum:
Looks like it's been up on the Tubes for about a year and a half, in which time it's racked up a mere 103,000 plays. Surely it deserves better than that, no? I mean, who'd have thought to mash those two up?
Hilarious bonus: The Gothamist photos are taken from a public Flickr set by a photographer going by the handle "istolethetv," and while Gothamist didn't select it as one of its featured photos, one of istolethetv's pictures from the New York dog parade is a dog wearing one of BWE's Top Ten Humiliating Pet Costumes. Now that is synergy.
Today in Dogs in Wigs: Jumpy adolescent felines and buzzy electric toothbrushes -- two phenomena that were more or less made for each other. Hat tip: FishbowlDC.
Marlon Brando in The Godfather: The greatest movie ever? A new list is here for all your fight-starting needs.
Paramount Pictures, Getty Images
by Linda Holmes
• Can't get enough lists? Can't get enough official reminders that you should see The Godfather? In what it's calling "the most ambitious movie poll ever conducted," Empire has a new list of the 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time, voted on by readers, critics, and "150 of Hollywood's finest." Start your quibbles! (I'll start by quibbling with the idea that On The Town (#277) is less great than A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (#265).)
• Does the embrace of video games mean the abandonment of reading? Some librarians and gamers say no. And when an official from the New York Public Library says that "reading is no longer just in the traditional sense of reading words in English or another language on a paper," well, we say the times, they are a-changing.
Seniors at the symphony and a stupendous video, after the jump ...
Frighteningly alike: Nanna Ingvarsson and her Invasion double.
Photo: Mara Majorowicz/Courtesy Nanna Ingvarsson
When you write about theater, which I do sometimes, you occasionally find yourself taken aback when you head out to the movies: An actor you know from his distinguished work in, say, the August Wilson plays will turn up playing a character named 'Strange' Sex Addict in a John Waters film.
This happens a lot, actually, here in D.C., where there's a thriving theater scene -- and plenty of big-budget movies shooting on location and looking for bit players.
But not every moonlighting actor gets to have a life-size, screaming body-double doll. And not everyone who does get a life-size, screaming body-double doll has the presence of mind to get pictures of it to put on her Facebook page.
Life-size, screaming doll explained, after the jump ...
It is one of my theories of the Internet that all blogs must carefully limit posts that fall into a category I call "Dogs In Wigs."
This is a post that consists, essentially, of a statement akin to "Here is a picture of a dog in a wig." And you click on it, and indeed, it is a picture of a dog in a wig.
"Ho-ho," you say, "that is certainly a dog, and it is certainly wearing a wig." And then you go back to whatever you were previously doing, resisting (or choosing not to resist) the urge to send someone you know a message with the subject line, "FW: Dog in wig!"
Examples of "Dogs in Wigs" would include the famous Peanut Butter Jelly Time video, the wonderful Cats In Sinks, and the astonishing Dance Party Friday, wherein the early-morning traffic reporters at one Cincinnati TV station bust an end-of-the-week move if, as often happens, there's no traffic to report on when their first segment airs at 5:45 a.m.
Don't get me wrong: the Internet would not be what it is without dogs in wigs. You just have to be careful with them, because there are only so many of them that one can tolerate before a limit is reached — sometimes abruptly — and you begin to feel that you are under siege by a flood of e-mails sent by your least amusing relative.
Battles Of The Bulge: The curious collision of toys and food. 
A different kind of vigilante: If you're on the New York City subway, look out for the guy snapping photos over his crutches. 
Nerd glasses: Just one of the most popular props for Sexy People. 
David Lee Roth: Do you like the way he says "Awwwww yeeeeah"? Have we got a site for you. 
