captain random's roundup of miscellanea...

I got a lot of items on in the hopper and not much time or energy, so I'm starting a new, semi-regular feature on this blog. Every so often I'll toss up a post with a whole mess of links on it.

Good news for me, I clear my Inbox of possible blog posts. Good news for you, I inundate you with quality reading.

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Monster By Mail

The artist who runs this site creates one-of-a-kind caricature type drawings of monsters based upon a seasonal theme. This summer's theme is zombies, and you know how I love zombies! I just ordered one... Once I get it I'll post a picture here and let you know what I think. It is also pretty cool that you can get a video of him creating your monster for an additional fee.

a zombie ophthalmologist: the eye is the quickest way to the brain

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Generation Chickenhawk

Max Blumenthal is a lefty writer and quasi-documentarian whose work has appeared in The Nation and the Huffington Post. You can check out his blog here.

This short movie was filmed when Blumenthal attended a College Republicans convention at a hotel (Moonie-0wned!) across the street from Arlington National Cemetery. All the folks he talks to are gung ho for the war in Iraq. But when he asks why they aren't over there fighting for their country the self-contradictions and hypocrisy kicks into high gear.

In conversations with at least twenty College Republicans about the war in Iraq, I listened as they lip-synched discredited cant about “fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here.” Many of the young GOP cadres I met described the so-called “war on terror” as nothing less than the cause of their time.

Yet when I asked these College Republicans why they were not participating in this historical cause, they immediately went into contortions.

Check the disconcerting political hilarity:

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Johnny Depp to play Hunter S. Thompson Once Again

Say what you will about Terry Gilliam's 1998 release of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Johnny Depp did a hell of a job portraying one of the most important (in my opinion) figures in twentieth century journalism. Hunter S. Thompson's death was the first death of a celebrity that affected me as much as did the passing of Jerry Garcia.

From reading after-the-fact stories about the filming of Fear and Loathing I learnt that Depp lived in Thompson's basement for months in preparation for this role in order to be able to imitate to unmistakable Gonzo master. That's dedication...

the Gonzo One's Trademark

Depp will play a younger, slightly more sober Thompson in the Rum Diary (IMDB page here), due in theaters in 2009. For those of you who have never read it, a brief synopsis:

Depp will play Paul Kemp, a freelance journo writing for a rundown newspaper in 1950s Puerto Rico and surrounded by a bunch of lost souls bent on self-destruction. The journo was 22 when he wrote the autobiographical novel and had yet to develop his trademark gonzo style. It was written in 1959 but not published until 1998.

This is not my favorite H.S.T. book, but I'm excited to see Depp reprise the role.

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Symphonic Video Game Music

I'm a child of the video game generation. I'm also moved into a somewhat cultured phase of my life. So what better then world-renowned symphonies playing the tunes from videogames--Super Mario Brothers, the Legend of Zelda and others--that served as the soundtrack of my childhood?

National Public radio did a nice little story about the Video Games Live tour's recent stop in Washington D.C. I'd love to see this show and I hope it comes down to South Florida...

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That's all for now, I hope you enjoy! Posting will be sporadic to non-existent the next few days as I will be in NYC for a little mini-vacation. I'm going to see the Beastie Boys in Central Park on Wednesday, which is only a warm up for the concert event of the summer... DAFT PUNK in Brooklyn on Thursday. I got a good crew of folks coming up from Florida and a bunch of people meting us in the city. On Friday, we are going to take my good friend BKNY's Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour and feed out faces before heading home on Friday night.

Hopefully, I'll have it together enough to review my trip this weekend.

Michael Jackson's Punch-Out!!

Yesterday's 8-bit video put me in a old skool mood, and then I see this in my Inbox this morning. It's a sign, people!

I used to love playing Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!. I remember sitting in my buddy Matt Levy's bedroom when we were little kids and playing the bosses at the end of the game over and over and over and over again before we finally finished the game.

Funny, but I don't remember this level...

Was it just me or did the makers of the game intentionally make Mike Tyson way too difficult?

I wonder what they'd say about Iron Mike nowadays... I don't think they'd be making him the star of his own video game, that's for sure...

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

I know that it seems like I'm on a bit of an unnecessary Daft Punk kick over here. Which of course I am. The beginning of last week's tour pumped me out so much for the show I'm going to see later this summer that I've been listening to the French robots quite a bit lately.

Another unintended side effect of the tour's recent kick-off is the reemergence of a considerable amount of Daft Punk-related material on the web.

Take these videos. None of them (except the last one) is officially sanctioned. They're all a video of the same song but they couldn't be more different. I like how art of one kind influences art of another, but there is no expectation of how the influence is going to manifest itself.

This first pick is entitled Daft Hands, and the creator of the video has claimed that he created this masterpiece in one take. Dunno if that is the case or if he is being a little dishonest, but regardless it's pretty incredible. I do not have the coordination to do something like this at all.

For a little more musical talent (though not digital talent, the last d00d had that in spades), here is an a cappella version from the Carleton College Singing Knights. They have a pretty interesting set of songs that they perform on a regular basis; videos of most of them can be found at YouTube. If you've ever tried to sing anything in harmony, you know how difficult what this group of guys is doing truly is.

Click here (damn Flash-based pages) for an uber 8-bit version. If anyone know what game this is from (I'm looking at you, Perc) please let me know.

If those Nintendo throwback graphics brought you back to the future, then this one will bring you back. I spend at least ten hours a week with my feet planted firmly in front of my television, standing with a plastic guitar in my hands. I'm super-anxious to get my hands on a modified Play Station 2 so that maybe I can play things like this (though no where near as well).

And here, finally, is Daft Punk's version from their animated film Interstella 5555