Arcade Fire: Another Spooky Web Video

First off, thanks to Creativity mag for bringing this one to my attention. Arcade Fire is pushing
Black Mirror as the next big tune off of Neon Bible, and I likes how they're going about it.

They've created a dark and odd video that let's you play the dark and odd DJ, hovering behind the turntables. You can't sample Bootsy Collins bass lines over this track, but the site does give you the power to remix it. Take away or add certain instruments and vocals, all by pressing numbers 1-6 on your keyboard. And are those synchronize swimming ninjas I see towards the end of the song? Fantastic (and oh, how gracefully they dance when only keys 4 and 6 are active).

You've probably already seen the puppetry fun behind the
Neon Bible video site, which they released a few months ago. If you haven't, I won't spoil anything. But have a look. It's such a lovely song to begin with, made all the lovelier by magically writing the lyrics in smoke.

Bonus points for the URL jumbles...neon bible = beonlineb, black mirror = rorrimkcalb (I would have gone with "clamor brrik" myself). Keep up the fantastic work, Arcade Fire!

Mr. Proverb and Cliché Reciter

In honor of my friend and former boss KR – a real man of genius – below is my take on DDB’s Bud Light jingles. Happy Birthday KR. This one’s for you (but remember, it’s not about you).

Cue the ballad

Bud Light presents Real Men of Genius.

[Background vocals: Real Men of Genius]

Today we salute you, Mr. Proverb and Cliché Reciter.

[BV: Mr. Proverb and Cliché Reciter]

You’ve got a way with words, even if they’re not your own.
What’s that you say? A rolling stone gathers no moss? How true indeed.

[BV: So very true]

Like an endless supply of fortune cookies, you’ve got an answer for everything. You can have your cake and eat it too. But what good is you cake if you can’t eat it?

[BV: That cake is tasty]

Sure, curiosity killed the cat. But did it ever so much as harm the people?

[BV: I ain’t no cat]

So crack open an ice cold Bud Light, man of borrowed expressions.
Because when life throws lemons, you may not make lemonade, but you’ll tell others to.

[BV: Mr. Proverb and Cliché Reciter]

Bud Light Beer. Anheuser-Busch. St. Louis, Missouri.

A New Year, A New List

You’ve all heard that we are more likely to achieve our new year’s resolutions if we write them down. That said, I WILL stumble onto a large sum of money in a leather suitcase at the end of a dark, though not forbidding, alley.

Joking. Without further ado...

1. I will go on a fantastic adventure in 2008 – maybe to Ireland or Alaska or Mexico City. Destination TBD.
2. I will eat plain yogurt more often, adding my own fruit in place of “poser” fruits and sweet imposters like aspartame.
3. I will celebrate the Ides of March like never before.
4. I will visit a cranberry bog and/or a cheese factory.
5. I will make s'mores in the fireplace at Employees Only.