Snap, Crackle, Pop Culture

The following article was written for Geekscape.net. For unfortunate reasons, the website feels like since it's been 2011 for over 11 days no one is interested in top 10 lists. The boat has sailed for this final instance of remembering 2010. I think it's a pretty great article (although how do you not like something you wrote? It feels like if you do, you shouldn't be writing at all). Also check out my review for hair-metal band The Scorpions newest (and final) album Sting in the Tail.


So 2010 has officially come to a close. So far 2011 is barely peaking the horizon but let’s be honest… it looks promising. 2010 (much like every year) had it’s ups and it’s downs. We saw some serious tragedy this year with January 12th 7.0 Earthquake that devastated Haiti, and we saw even more tragedy when a group of musicians decided to remake the mediocre 80’s song “We Are The World” to help raise money for said-Haiti disaster. This year we’ve even dealt with the Wikileaks scare when an online publisher did with internal reports on the “War on Afghanistan” what Facebook does to all of our lives. And while all these things are important, that’s not what Geekscape is about. Why talk about government information being released this year when we’d much rather discuss what was more offensive at the 2010 MTV VMAs… Will.i.am’s blackface or Lady Gaga winning every award (um… I mean… her Meat Dress).

So for you lovely Geekscapists I have compiled a list of the Top 10 Greatest Moments in Pop Culture

10. Double Rainbow, Possibly Triple Rainbow – When nature enthusiasts Paul Vasquez went camping one day he saw in the sky something amazing. Something so amazing he grabbed the nearest camera and quickly videotaped it to show the world the amazing Double Rainbow. Soon Paul found himself one of the top videos on youtube and being interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel. I can understand being excited about stuff, but rainbows? I mean I stopped being excited by rainbows when I learned I could make them myself using a hose.

9. Sandra Bullock wins Oscar and Razzie – Sandra Bullock did something this year no one has ever done before, she managed to win the Oscar for The Blind Side as well as the Razzie for All About Steve the same year. This event did two things; it showed the Sandra Bullock will apparently act in anything but also it showed that Bullock has a sense of humor when she showed up at the Razzies handing out free copies of All About Steve.

8. Myspace is Dead Long Live Facebook – This month Myspace and Facebook made a joint announcement. Myspace is now just a “Music Site” and no longer a “Social Network”. It really shows how quickly you can go from the top to the bottom in the world of the internet.

7. Fucking Magnets – When Insane Clown Posse released their single Miracles, I don’t think Violent J or Shaggy 2 Dope expected the entire world to cling to six simple lyrics “Fucking Magnets, How Do They Work?”. Next thing we know there are SNL parodies and internet memes all over explaining Magnets; the best comes (not surprisingly) from cracked.com with their Science book for Juggalos

6. Fuck you by Cee-Lo Greene – Rapper and Gnarl’s Barkley singer came out of nowhere with his single Fuck You (or Forget You if you’re a fucking pussy). The vulgar but catchy Motown throw-back track was an instant internet hit receiving not one but two music videos and bringing Cee-Lo Greene into a much needed lime-light. The Song has even been covered multiple times ranging from great (William Shatner) to the terrible (Glee)

5. Every Comedian in the World Gets a Podcast – The World of Podcasting always was a decent place for Comedy with Scott Aukerman’s Comedy Death Ray, Doug Benson’s Doug Loves Movies and Jim Pardo’s Never Not Funny, but this year it felt like every Comedian on the planet got their own podcasts with WTF with Marc Maron, The Nerdist With Chris Hardwick and Pod F Thomkast with Paul F Thompkins to name a few. Even Geekscapes own Brian Walton has his own podcast now with Live Nude Geeks

4. Conan leaves and returns to television – In Early 2010 Conan did his last Tonight Show after just 7 months of being the host. Unjust? Possibly. But it gave us a heart-felt goodbye (“if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen”) followed by a new show on TBS that is ten-times funnier and edger than his NBC days. Conan is an extremely talented interviewer and seems like a great guy, some people (Corey Roberts) think people are giving him too much credit, but sometimes it’s just nice to see the nice guy end up on top.

3. Muppets Make a Comeback – The Muppets for a while were the Kings of TV. But back in 1990 when Muppet creator Jim Henson sadly and suddenly passed away. By 2000 the Muppets were nothing but low-budget TV-movie characters. However thanks to youtube the Muppets have been making a comeback in a BIG way. Also this year it was announced there would be a new Muppet movie, which is coming out next Thanksgiving, a Muppet-aholic like myself is completely overjoyed.

2. Geekscape gets a booth at San Diego Comic Con and new site – Okay, yeah call me lame. Sure this wasn’t something that changed the world this year; but for this community it’s something huge. Not only did we get a new and impressive website; we got a booth at San Diego comic con where we were able to reach multiple new listeners and users. Not to mention we caused some controversy with Evan Stone’s Riddler signing autographs; but luckily someone stabbed someone else in the eye and took the attention off of us.

1.Bed-Intruder Song – “He’s climbing in your window and snatching your people up, so hide your kids, hide your wife and hide your husband because they’re raping everyone around here”. One simple heart-felt comment by a brother sincerely concerned about his sister’s well being ended up leading to a hit single that caught the entire nations ear. This song is one of the catchiest songs I’ve heard in years and it’s simply a news-report in auto-tune.

Insane Debate About Clowns (The 25 songs of Christmas Part 21)

Today, I received the following email from my friend Matt Voigt; the other person emailed was none other than Judge John Hodgman; the email reads:

well Hello...

My name is Matt and I humbly submit this dispute for Judge John Hodgman to consider. I feel as if there is an obvious answer, and while this is not a dispute that causes consistent friction...it is something that legitimately makes me think differently of one of my friends due to his musical preferences....

The Insane Clown Posse. By all accounts my friend (also named Matt) is a level headed, creative, and artistic individual. I go to him for music suggestions frequently and he has a finely attuned musical palate. He's a writer, musician and film-maker, not to mention one of my best friends. I usually default to him on educated opinions when it comes to entertainment. Except for this. Matt STRONGLY believes that the Insane Clown Posse are in on the joke and are awful on purpose. He thinks this is brilliant. He compares them to Andy Kaufman anti-humor. This is obviously not the case and it bothers me that an otherwise intelligent individual could think this way.

Now i'm usually tolerant of people who are wrong....but when we go on extended road trips (which happens semi-frequently) this argument begins anew and is worth at least 5 minutes of me screaming.

This is a dispute that must be settled for the legacy of ironic-semi-full-of-themselves comedians and our friendship.

Respectfully yours...

Matthew

now hopefully we'll get on the show and you'll get to actually hear my debate; but my opinion is that no one can honestly be serious when they write lyrics like "I met Milinko he gave me three wishes/That night i fucked three fat bitches" or "I'll cut your finger off and shove it up your butt... then glue it shut".

Anyway, fingers crossed that I'll have a chance to prepare songs and such in my defense (and that I win the case)

That being said (and on a completely unrelated note) song #21 on the 25 songs of Christmas is No Use For a Name's cover the Pogues christmas classic "Fairytale of New York"; enjoy the song and this video which contains a cute picture of a dog (among other things)