Legend of the "Bed Intruder"

This blog is a spectator's view of the legend of the "Bed Intruder". I'll save the debate about whether this is funny or making fun of this guy for another time - but I do want everyone to know what happens when someone becomes a celebrity on YouTube even if it is unintentional.

In an unfortunate event - someone broke into a house and attempted to rape a young woman but her brother (Antoine) was in the house and came to her rescue. The local news interview of the brother, however, took on a life of it's own. This blog will chronicle the "Legend of the Bed Intruder" which made Antoine a lot of money when the iTunes song hit the Top 50!

Here is the original airing of the TV broadcast (30 million views!)


Here is the selection of Antoine the brother - only 30 seconds of TV time but now he is famous:


Then someone "auto-tuned" a song out of his TV interview which started the whole Legend (this song is popular on iTunes now!)


So why not surprise everyone with the "Bed Intruder Song" at your choir Christmas Concert!:


Or you can have your own Acapella group as a one man band:


What's next? A marching band?


And now for some Blues (wish these guys wore shirts - but they are good!):


Bed Intruder Song LIVE:


If you've seen one Acapella group why not another:


Bed Intruder on the Piano:


On Flute:


For obscurity's sake - here's the song on Mario Paint for the Super Nintendo:



Crazy YouTube!

Musical Memories - The Opera

Just because even after 12 years I think my own writing is funny - and I am the author and editor of this blog - I am posting my Sophomore year report on the New York City Opera's performance of Daughter of the Regiment. This was inspired by my last blog on Hilary Hahn.

Now before you read this - you must know that in real life I had seen an Opera before this 1998 paper (we saw Phantom in Toronto), however since classes outside of my Chemical Engineering Major often didn't get too much of my attention - I developed techniques for these "Gen-Eds". If you are taking a class about performance art - pretend you have never seen such a thing before and that the teacher has just opened up a new world for you (then they feel like they are doing their job). That's how you get an "A" in a class you spend almost no time on.

Without further adieu...

New York City Opera: The Daughter of the Regiment

For lively arts this semester I have seen the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and the play Marisol. So after a concert and a play I knew the next thing I would have to see would be an opera. Why not, after a little music, a stage show its about time I saw a singing production. Of course it was to my complete surprise that the New York City Opera was more than just singing, it was practically a concert, a play and tremendous singing all rolled up into one with a little comedy on the side.

The opera began with a sunrise over a small village. There was nobody on stage and only the orchestra to entertain us. It would be difficult not to notice the orchestra because they played for what seemed like an hour but was probably only 10 minutes without anyone taking the stage. My first thought was, “Where’s the Opera?” but the orchestra was actually very good and made the time quite pleasant. Unlike the symphony orchestra though, this orchestra was not the center of attention, and in fact I couldn’t even tell you how large it was for I could not see them. Regardless I was impressed not only with their music but with the way it enhanced the action on stage. I imagined them playing music like you would hear for Tom and Jerry or Mickey Mouse cartoons, it was music for theater not music for listening. The orchestra did a great job and made the opera much more enjoyable than I thought an opera would be.

The opera involved a lot more acting then I imagined an opera would. I mean it was by no means a play, but I guess I thought an opera was a couple of people standing around singing to one another. Of course this was not true. There were often times a huge cast of stage at once acting, running around and singing together. Some of the best scenes involved the entire regiment singing together acting out either a dinner scene or the like. I also had the stereotype that the performers would be in outlandish costumes with spears and helmets with horns. This stereotype, of course, was also not true. The costumes were actually quite normal for a play. I didn’t find them distracting in the least unlike the Viking outfits I had imagined would be used. The opera also had a plot or story and was easy to follow. I imagined people standing around telling a story about what had happened to one another in series after series of monologues. In the daughter of the regiment, the performers interacted and we saw the story take place right before us. My eyes were definitely opened to what an opera really is and how similar it is to a play.

An opera wouldn’t be an opera without singing, and the singing was great. It took some time to get used to how they sang. The entire thing was in French, but I know a little French and that wasn’t the problem. Often times in the beginning I thought maybe they were just singing nonsense words at times. Later when I got used to how they sang I could understand more of the French and follow it a lot better. I was interested to see that for those not fluent in French, and I by no means am one of those people, there was screen above the stage translating the basic idea of what they were saying. When I heard about this I thought it would be distracting, because I hate movies with subtitles. But because the opera involves so much singing I guess, not a lot is said at one time and I found it easy to follow along with the translation but not be distracted. I was still able to enjoy the stage performances and know what was going on.

Finally, the real shock, even more surprising than the fact that I enjoyed the opera, was the fact that it was funny. I never even put the words humor and opera in the same sentence before. This opera was really funny. From the dialogue to the stage jokes, like the sheets of music being thrown around, right down to the silly little houses that made everyone look like giants, the opera was laugh after laugh. I don’t know if this is typical in operas, but it definitely gave me a new vision of what an opera could be. It really is more entertainment than just some people standing around singing. The singing was great and the performers had impressive voices and dynamics, but the opera was a much more complete package of music, theater and humor.

I enjoyed the opera, and although I may still be reluctant to attend one over a baseball game, I now know that it is not only bearable to sit through, but very much enjoyable. There were so many different aspects to performance art that went into the opera that I had never thought of before until I saw the Daughter of the Regiment by the New York City Opera Company.

Re-reading this after ~12 years my favorite quote is "Where's the Opera?"

Old Spice Ad Goes Political

Alaska senate candidate Joe Miller takes inspiration from the Old Spice guy in this ad. Pretty funny!

Smell Like a Monster

Funny!

The Local News is Funny

I make fun of the local news a lot because it is terrible. But sometimes they do it themselves...

Here is a Cincinnati local weatherman "gesturing" towards a hurricane.

Predicting the Path of a Hurricane

I love weather models, I also love when NOAA gives us a little too much info into their predictions because this just looks crazy!

How to Stop Terrorism

Jon Stewart continued his coverage of the 'Ground Zero Mosque' debate last night, focusing on Fox News' incongruities harder than he ever has. In a segment called "The Parent Company Trap," Stewart shared with his viewers how Fox News' plan to "follow the money" from mosque builder Imam Rauf to terrorists will be a tricky one because it leads right back to Fox News.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Parent Company Trap
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

I looked up the definition of Terrorist and found: "a radical who employs terror as a political weapon".

Hmmm... maybe the trail leads back to Fox News after all!

Do you believe in Ghosts?

I was randomly surfing the YouTube when I came across this video. It reminded me of how Dave has that fancy ghost hunting equipment when it seems a regular camera can pick up an apparition. I'm not sure if this is REALLY a ghost but it does seem hard to just explain away...

Forget the Tour de France!

Many of you know about the epic battle taking place in our Fantasy Tour de France league - however the most epic sporting event taking place this week was the US AIR GUITAR CHAMPIONSHIPS!

Just like "Le Tour" the US was upset last year when an American lost to a French Air Guitarist in the World Championships! (Thanks Obama....). Well now the US is raising their game in an attempt to claim what is rightfully ours! If any country deserves to be the best at NOT having musical talent - it is the US. Here's the summary from the US Air Guitar Blog!

Friday, July 23, 2010 at 3:04PM

Last night at a sold out show in New York City's Irving Plaza (I saw Beyoncé play here once), the Unites States' most elite professional air guitarists competed for the national belt and the opportunity to represent the stars and stripes in the Air Guitar World Championships in Oulu, Finland.

It was a tight, tight competition, with first round ties for fourth and fifth sending 8 performers into the second round.  WILLIAM OCEAN (Andrew Litz, NYC), the 2009 champ, was among them.  But the smooth moves of ROMEO DANCECHEETAH (Matt Cornelison, Milwaukee) and DREAMCATCHER (Ryan Layman, Denver) topped the rest and after some serious deliberation celebrity judge JASON JONES (Daily Show) sent the two competitors into a third round air-off.

Like most immortal shit, in the end there can be only one.  And that one is ROMEO DANCECHEETAH.  Check out our youtube channel for more moving pictures from last night's binge and today's bangover.

Alex Lipsitz, director of the megabrilliant Air Guitar Nation, for some unknown reason agreed to send her crew to film the evening's performances and youtube it before the venue staff had time to kick me out for firing confetti guns all over the place.

Here's the new US Champion at his best: Romeo Dance Cheetah!

Our Commercial Debut!?!?

I'm pretty sure this Kindle commercial features the back of my head and the back of Meghan's head. Maybe it was when we were on the beach in Aruba for our honeymoon?

Kermit The Frog's Legs

Do you remember watching Sesame Street - and every once in a while they would try to show a muppet with their legs and it never looked right? Kind of like this scene of Kermit the frog?



Well... That's sort of how I feel about this interview of Lebron James. Except that Larry King is the muppet...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMCc_5uHxAg

My Favorite SNL Digital Shorts

If you follow Saturday Night Live - then you know that the Digital Shorts have become very popular in the past few years. They are produced by "The Lonely Island" - an American comedy troupe composed of Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Andy Samberg, best known for its musical parodies.

A word of warning - some of these have questionable content (it is SNL after all) so watch at your own risk!

What I love about their work is:
1) They are really talented and produce high quality music videos
2) The songs are VERY well done and tend to stick in your head
3) They are funny to broderline over the top, with multiple layers of jokes - and then they take it too far

It probably all started with Lazy Sunday:


My Favorite might still be "I'm on a boat" with T-Pain (nominated for a Gramy!)


(Uncensored if you can handle it!)


This is another great one - "Shy Ronnie"


Maybe my favorite song and hilarious - "Boombox"



This one is more absurd everytime I watch it - "Space Olympics"


Now we transition in to even more questionable content, however I think this Justin Timberlake SNL digital short really put them on the map - "D*ck in a box"


And the sequel for Mother's Day - "Mother Lover"


And one that is a really great video and song - but will make your jaw drop - "J*zz in my Pants"


While we are out on a limb - "Like a Boss"


Last and maybe least is "Iran so far"


Bonus - "On The Ground"

Volcano in Iceland

This volcano is a pain in the ASH!

Consumer Alert - Pringles!

This is a riot. Working for P&G - even I had no clue how many flavors of Pringles there are out there!

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Consumer Alert - Pringles
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Skate Expectations

Love This Guy and Many More Creative People

This guy combines like 5 of my favorite things:

1) Playing a duet or trio all by yourself
2) Split screen video
3) The comedic value of his appearance and the fact that he seems to specialize in Lady Gaga and Britney Spears songs!
4) Juxtaposing the violin with modern pop music
5) Musical humor!

This video was also featured in a commercial for the Grammy Awards



The only way this could be better is if someone played Lady Gaga on a Ukulele



Who could Lady Gaga possibly inspire next?



Meghan tells me that no one likes to watch videos I paste in my blog (especially long TED.com ones) - so if you've made it this far I am going to reward you with blog humor and bring this entry back full circle!

Where could I go after the A Capella version of poker face? how about a one man A Capella group!



(I'm taking a bow for this blog performance - even if no one is applauding!)

My Encore will be this one - since Dave and I played the Trumpet and Trombone - this is a riot:

Combo Impressions

There are a few impressions I make where the same voice can be used for multiple impersonations. Theses double impersonations require comedic genius and impeccable timing. Attempt at your own risk:

Example 1) I do a hilarious Sean Connery / Mathew McConaughey

Example 2) I do a mean Mr. Bill / Julia Child impersonation

Balloon Boy Humor

YouTube is amazing, not because you can follow clips of news events about Balloon Boy (although you can) but because you can follow all of the parodies (who has time for this and how to they make them so fast!) Here are a few of my favs

Parody to 99 Red Balloon Song (warning: the letter to the parents at the end has a few choice words)


Parody of Balloon Boy AND I'm on a Boat (warning: a few swear words)


And just because I can - here's the original I'm on a boat song from SNL. This is the edited version (beeped out swears) but I've been rocking the unedited version in my car since the Cape Cod trip - it was a hit in South Carolina too! (you might have to watch a 30 second commercial but it's worth it!)



UPDATE: Just found one more Balloon Boy parody set to I'm on a Boat!

WARNING: This one has [Explicit] lyrics but is pretty true to the original On a Boat Song. Watch at your OWN RISK!

Edward 40s Hands

Since my college friends and I went to college before cell phones, IM, and "Edward 40s Hands" the drinking game - it has been a running joke since Molly mentioned it.

Here's some photo evidence of Edward 40s Hands meets guitar hero!

Text Messaging about Football

Here's a typical trash-talking text message.

In this case Meghan's cousin Sean (Colts fan) is feeling pretty good about himself after waiting 21 regular season games since Brady last lost a game to send some smack talk.

Sean is on the left
I am in green and on the right

Funny License Plates

I saw these around town. The first one is obvious if you've seen Superbad.



This next one is a little more subtle:



So FF0000 is the programming code (hexadecimal) for the color red! Thank goodness I knew that so I could get the joke and snap a picture! Also this is my first blog generated by sending an email with pictures from my iPhone dirctly to my blog - hope this works!

Sent from my iPhone