The Sam O'Rama Halloween 2008 Video Variety Thingy

Tim and Eric make another creepy video

You Dont Know Me (Ben Folds featuring Regina Spektor)

Smith Westerns "Irukandji" 7" and the Temple of Whoomp! There it Is!

Anyone who knows me is already sick of me yammering about Smith Westerns. I'm sorry. Look, we finally have their first 7" on HoZac so I'm gonna wear it out almost as much as that Men Without Hats "Pop Goes The World" 7" in 1987. It's like shooting up chocolate milk. You might jump on your bed. Your dog probably won't like it. You most likely won't regret it in the morning. Look, a music video:

The New Weezer Single/Video

OMGWTF I kinda like this!!!

Planet Earth Is Back!

Melissa and I will be womaning a table at the new Planet Earth at Subterranean this Saturday! I'm very excited since it had been a while since I went to Neo for the Thursday nights, but how can you lose with a Saturday night of dancing close to home?

Check it out! Buy tix in advance for $5!

Bonus video: (Is Simon LeBon wearing knickers?)

Lemonheads - It's a Shame About Ray Deluxe Edition

This is probably my most High School album. There's a great story with it too. I made Evan Dando sit through it once, so now you will.

I went to high school in Jakarta, Indonesia. The American/European CDs the one chain of CD stores would stock were pretty erratic; you never knew what you would walk in and find. Imagine my delight when I found It's A Shame About Ray nestled in the racks during a Sunday of leisurely shopping at Pondok Indah mall! I listened to it all day long! I told everyone I knew about it Monday, including this boy I sort of had a crush on, Daniel Eiland (boy, I hope he doesn't Google himself EVER). He then proceeded to get mad at me because he claimed to have "hidden" it in the store so he could go back and buy it, and tomorrow was his birthday!

I felt kind of bad, but didn't really feel that the CD was "hidden". When I got home (this part gets complicated, I lived with a friend and her family, and her mom did commercial baking in the house) "Mom" was excited to show off this giant sheet cake and cupcake display she had made for the Boy Scouts. The cake was pretty big, and she encouraged us to touch it. We did, tentatively, and discovered it was hard as a rock! She had made the icing into a gluey substance that looked just like the real thing and "iced" a box. I immediately had a brilliant idea.

The next day at school I presented Daniel with a beautiful white sheet cake with green icing border and, written in my own unmistakeable handwriting, "Happy Birthday Daniel!" with all sorts of little doodles. He was shocked, to say the least. I also let him have the CD. I ran off before the secret of the phony cake was exposed, but eyewitness reports were pretty detailed. He was impressed by both moves, he later told me, and I found a copy myself at another less popular mall's CD store.

Oh yeah, the deluxe reissue! The music sounds great, the bonus tracks really should have included the actual b-sides, but the demos are interesting. The DVD is where the action is though. That Evan Dando was quite the hottie back in the day, and I swear there are multiple videos here of him sitting on a beach/cliff with the wind blowing his hair around and he just looks all high.

I will now present a video not from Lemonheads, but of Superchunk. I love the slumber party scene which prominently features a picture of Evan looking sexy in his PJs from Spin Magazine which I totally had hanging up.

Beardo of the Week

Congratulations William T. Riker of the USS Enterprise. You are probably the first beardo that has his own collectible plate. Although, now that I'm thinking about it, maybe I will do a series of Beardo Collector plates. Hirsute men on china. There's no way this isn't going to make a million dollars!

Please enjoy this musical tribute to Riker. Warning: It uses the music of Right Said Fred. I did not want to be held repsonsible for that one. Okay:

Beardo of the Week

Congratulations, Zach Galifianakis, you are my Beardo of the Week. You are funny and make Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job just a little bit more awesome. Let's take a look at them together in this short film they did for Absolut Vodka. (Please note, if you work for Absolut and want to send me Vodka, I am over 21 and like those fruity ones.)

BubeTube #1

Inspired by the blocks of good music video programming on Sunday Nights I present to you "Sam O'Rama's Rack Presents BubeTube!"


1. Andrew Bird - "Imitosis" Official Video
Gee, this looks good! I actually saw it on MTV tonight, awesome!

2. The New Pornographers - "Myriad Harbour" - Official Video
Animated Dan Bejar. Neat!

3. R.E.M. - "Supernatural Superserious" - Official Video
Also saw this on MTV tonight. I am SHOCKED I really like it! Thax didn't like the album when heard it, so I was kinda worried.

4. Faith No More - "Easy" - Official Video
FNM and men in drag do a really good job on this Commodores classic.

5. Velocity Girl - "I Can't Stop Smiling" - Official Video
This was such a great freaking album.

6. Fuzzbox - "Love is the Slug" - Official Video
These gals should have been HUGE.

7. Bolshoi - "Sunday Morning" - Official Video
I dunno, I always liked this song.

8. Wilco - "Jesus Etc." - Official Video
Whoa, there were only 4 guys in that band for a while.

9. Thompson Twins - "Hold Me Now" - Official Video
This video takes advantage of 80s video technology.

10. Le Tigre - "Deceptacon" - Fan Video
UTTERLY BRILLIANT. Of course Jem is Kathleen Hannah.

11. The Magnetic Fields - "I Don't Believe You" - Fan Video
Set to clips from, uh, House. The TV show House starring Hugh Laurie. Dude, I didn't make it. I don't know!

12. The Monkees - "I'll Be Back Upon My Feet" - Fan Video
YES YES YES! Perfectly AWESOME!! Man these tv show fan vids are the BEST!!

13. The Osmonds - "Down By The Lazy River" - Live Video
People talk shit about the Osmonds, but look at them electrify the State Fair!!

14. The Brady Bunch - "Sunshine Day" - Official Video
You WISH you could write a pop song like this!

15. The Flat Five - "Kites Are Fun" - Live Video
Scott, Kelly and Nora nail those otherworldy harmonies.

16. Tarkio - ? - Live Video
Colin Meloy a long time ago.

17. Gary Louris - "We'll Get By" - Live Video
I think it unsynchs at some point, which makes it a little trippy, man!

18. "MacArthur Park" - Wayne Newton - Live Video
If you make it 'til the end you get a prize!

19. Ernie and Hoots - "Put Down the Duckie" - Official Video
features some amazing guest spots by Edith Prickley, Pee Wee Herman, Ladysmith Black Mambazo.. trust me.

20. Gnarls Barkley - "Run" - Official Video
Oooh yeah!

Beardo of the Week

Off the momentum of that show and this Letterman performance, Liam Finn is Beardo of the Week. Did you know he's Neil Finn of (my favorite band that I'm really too young to like) Crowded House's son?! Watch this, really! Dave's intro about the really big CD is good too.

I vote for some Manlove

"It's important to have a congressman that understands our area."

Wow!

Head of the Class was also a good show.

Whoa. SNL was funny!!

I watched in preparation for Wilco being on next week. I was shocked that there was a funny skit in the middle of the episode:

The Best American Sitcom FINALLY on DVD!

Well, of course it is! Don't be reedikulous! Alright, I'll amend that to "Best American Sitcom Of My Lifetime". Yes, Season 1 and 2 of Perfect Strangers is here! Season 1 was a mid-season replacement and only 6 episodes long, but Balki and Cousin Larry had an amazing chemistry from the very first episode. The physical comedy is up there with I Love Lucy and Three's Company, and yet they manage to squeeze some heart warming message in to nearly every episode. Don't forget the always awesome "comic misunderstand" too! Toss in the fact that it takes place in Chicago and how could you have a more Perfect Sitcom?!

Here's a nice montage of some musical scenes from throughout the show:




I'd also like to present to you the simple Perfect Strangers Drinking Game! Take a shot or drink each time:

•Balki says "Of course...Don't be ridiculous."
•Dimitri, Balki's stuffed sheep appears on screen.
•Balki wears suspenders or a vest.
•A popular song is sung.
•Larry corrects Balki's grammar.

The Carpenters + Carol Burnett do Paul Williams Medley!

I had no idea Lawrence Welk was so hip.