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Volkswagon’s Super Bowl ad features an office worker who sounds like a Jamaican who has lived for many years in Russia…but he’s supposed to be a Minnesotan! C’mon, Volkswagon; you don’t expect your ad agency to do even just a tiny bit of research to get the accent correct, don’tchknow?!? Found at YouTube from Volkswagen.
I watched Young Adult on Christmas Day and I did like it a lot. Charlize Theron’s performance is fantastic, which I expected. I didn’t expect, however, to see that it was shot in Minneapolis. Didn’t even know until I saw the credits that the movie was written by Minneapolis’ own Diablo Cody, so there you go.
As I said, it’s a good movie but the following trailer really doesn’t do it justice or even represent it accurately. While Young Adult does have it’s funny moments, it is actually quite depressing…but then aren’t all the good stories? Found at YouTube from YoungAdultMovie.
Yay for reason! Yay for science! Yay for facts! I admit I was dreading watching this video for fear of where our very own Miss Minnesota, Brittany Thelemann, for stating rather definitely and eminently reasonably that evolution should be taught in our schools.
I’d say it makes gives me hope for the future were it not for so many of the rest of her fellow Miss USA candidates who said No, or Yes, But or, worse, All Opinions Should Be Taught. Still, way to go Brittany! Found at YouTube from seng12900 via Washington Post.
This is pretty funny. Stephen Colbert lampoons Tim Pawlenty’s GOP debate performance. Found at Comedy Central.
I finally got to see OVO by Cirque du Soleil at the Mall of America on Sunday.
It was amazing.
If you’re not familiar with it, Cirque du Soleil (Circus of the Sun) is a theatrical take on the circus, minus the animals. It’s a remarkable mix of gymnastics and choreography and theater, featuring trapeze artists, jugglers, tight-rope walkers, trampolines and contortionists and climbing walls and stilt-walkers amidst an artfully-designed set and backed by superb musicians.
One of the joys of athletic performance is the feeling of command one has over one’s body when you’re able to make it perform the athletic feats necessary to excel. If you can appreciate that, you cannot fail to appreciate the phenomenal athletic performances Cirque du Soleil offers.
As if that weren’t enough, take that athleticism and throw on top of it a layer of unbelievable choreography that synchronizes a handful of performers juggling oversized kiwi, and themselves, without missing a beat.
The entire performance is backed by a live band performing an original soundtrack of wonderful compositions by Berna Ceppas. Found at YouTube from Ct8u.
The set design was both subtle and heavy handed at the same time. During the song Cacoon, a performer is suspended above the stage swathed in sheer cloth, mimicking the metamorphosis into a butterfly so seamlessly, with the help of stage lighting, that the whole thing reminded me of animation by Gerald Scarfe.
Likewise, the set featured a giant, phallic stalk of vegetation and an oversized, unfolding flower that made their appearances during key romantic scenes. These, two, reminded me of Scarfe heavy-handed sexual imagery. Found at YouTube from floydiantheo.
Wrap all that together and it amounts to an amazing experience.
Heh. The Daily Show explains how Minneapolis dethroned San Fransisco as the gay capital of America. Found at The Daily Show via Kevin Hoffman and Julio Ojeda-Zapata.
Steely Dan, with special guest Sam Yahel, August 30; Marc Anthony, September 1; and Train and Maroon 5, September 5, the Star Tribune reports. [DETAILS.]
Found at YouTube from 09toctoc.
Found at YouTube from TrainVEVO.
Found at YouTube from Maroon5VEVO.
Against by better judgment, but… Found at YouTube from marcanthonyVEVO.
Love it! Twins catcher Joe Mauer makes fun of Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu over his high voice and his Head & Shoulders commercials…in this Head & Shoulders commercial. Mauer ought not quit his day job; he’s a far better hitter than he is an actor. Found at YouTube from headandshoulders.
More evidence that the notion of the mashup is taking hold in the mainstream culture. The Bryant Lake Bowl is currently showing Michael Bay’s Super Mario Armageddon, a mashed up play featuring the video game sensibilities of Super Mario Bros depicted in the film direction style of Michael Bay.
Here’s Bryant Lake Bowl’s description: Action movies and video games collide in a mushroom cloud of funny! Imagine the biggest video game ever! As told by the biggest director ever!! In the biggest way ever!!! Now imagine all that squeezed onto a 9 x 22 foot stage in the back of a bowling alley.
Two more shows remain. [DETAILS.]
Found at YouTube from IGNentertainment.
Found at YouTube from TomasGolej.
Don’t tell me I don’t love America! Take THAT, France!
