Random Epicness Part II: English is Weird

I dunno where this came from ... again, found it somewhere deep in the dark depths of my computer O_0

Here's something to boggle your mind with.

I had the strangest conversation with my friend Wiki P. Edia today:

He said to me, "That that is, is. That that is not, is not. Is that it? It is." To which I replied, "O rly?"

His next remark was then, "James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher." My response: "Is that so?... wait, who's James. And who's John??"

His answer? 

Only this: "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."

This story was brought to you by the Muses of Facebook (a.k.a. my pals. Thanks guys!) and the lexical ambiguity of the English language. Stay tuned for the next episode...

Instead of a song, I figured since everyone's been talking about Rebecca Black's "Friday" (or FRY-day as I like to call it), here's one vlogger's opinion of the song:

And if you haven't heard the original...

Hmm...

I Wanna Be An Engineer So Freakin' Bad - Optimize the Things I've Always Had

YouTube is a wonderful place [unless your actully trying to get some work done - but then again maybe that's the best time... procrastination = winning (okay that's not true, but it's what I like to tell myself)]

Only Won - the "Lyrical Engineer"

And the original:

If it bothers you, just a heads-up that there is some mild language in this song

The Muser's Handbook: Essential Funny MUSE Moments

Manager and childhood friend of the band, Tom Kirk really takes things to heart...

The anniversary of my first Muse concert is coming up and I thought, what better way to celebrate that than to share some of my favorite funny Muse videos? So here is a compilation of wacky, weird and wonderful, MUSE!
*Just a little heads up that there is some language/mature content in a couple of these vids - the 2nd and 3rd last in particular

Let's start things off with a little gay cheese...

and you can't skip out on part 2!!

Then there's the classic fanvid:

And let's not forget the Italian talk-show prank!

Ever wondered where the "pwopa fish" came from? It's a little long but the key moments are at 1:02 and 2:25!

And what about Matt and Dom and the meaning of love? "yeahwellmaybe!"

 

A lesson in English from Matt - "take you to a higher level...":

Can you say it now? 

If you still 'want more' I've added a non-Muse but still highly educational song at the end of the post, 
as always, 4URaMUSEment ;)

A very special personal fav - it's been on my iPod for a couple years now....

cracks me up every time! XD

For more Muse-funnies check out takeabow19's channel on YouTube!

*EXTRA STUFF!!!

"Floccinaucinihilipilication:

why use several words when just the one will do?" 

And here is a little something that I put together for the aformentioned word a while back:

Floccinaucinihilipilification /

[flok-suh-naw-suh-nahy-hil-uh-pil-uh-fi-key-shuh n]

(noun) the action or habit of judging something to be worthless

The 18th-century Eton Latin Grammar handbook had listed in a rule a set of words which all meant “of little or no value”: flocci, nauci, nihili, and pili. As a learned joke, somebody put all four of these together and stuck –fication on the end to make a noun for the act of deciding that something is totally and absolutely valueless (his homework, perhaps?). There is also a widely unused verb, floccinaucinihilipilificate, and a more accessible noun, floccinaucity [fla-si-naw-sê-tee] "a trifle, something of insignificance".

The first recorded use is by William Shenstone in a letter in 1741:

“I loved him for nothing so much as his flocci-nauci-nihili-pili-fication of money.”

Well, I'll Be Damned!!

Happy Moanday everybody! 
Here's a little random epicness to kick off your week :D

Diga del Cingino Dam, Italy

 

This is the Diga del Cingino dam in Italy, but look closer...

do you see the spots on the dam wall?

 

These "spots" are also known as European Ibex. You may be thinking, "Okay, but why are they on the wall?" and the reason is simply that they like to eat the moss and lichen & to lick the salt off the dam wall. Talk about living 'on the edge'! 

Big thanks to Rachel for sending this to me! <3

On Your Marks, Get Set, and OK Go!

Credit: Daniel Nugent

ahaha, I hope (at the very least) my attempts at humour are somewhat aMUSEing :P

Anyhoo, I've posted about this band before. Waaaay, waaaaay back in the neolithic ages of this blog but it is time for a refresher!

See OK Go.

Credit: Lester Cohen/WireImages

See OK Go: run

See OK Go: Rube Goldberg

and finally, see OK Go: dog

Mini-bio: These American rocker have earned a great deal of attention for their fun and creative music videos. Some of the awards they've received for them include: Video of the Year and Best Rock Video for "Here It Goes Again" at the 3rd annual UK Music Video Awards; "This Too Shall Pass" won the LA Film Fest's Audience Award for Best Music Video; and at the UK MVA Awards they were Music Video Of The Year Winner 2010. 

Karen Elson, the Ghost Who Walks

"Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore'."

You may be thinking, "who's Karen Elson?" but if you're a fan of the White Stripes then it's likely that you've already seen her.

I love her hair!

Indeed, she is Jack White's latest wife (he "separated" from his sister/wife Meg White a few years back... and that's a WHOLE other can of worms) but she also appeared in the White Stripes music video for "Blue Orchid"!

 

Karen just released her first album The Ghost Who Walks in 2010 and here are a couple samples of her sound. "The Ghost Who Walks" :

And my favorite, "100 Years from Now":

Elson has said: "The  title was a nickname that I had at school. It was one of the nicer nicknames I had for being tall, pale and a little bit haunted." And (conveniently :D) I've found a video that will work as her mini-bio:

 

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

 I was listening to my iPod on shuffle the other day when one of my all-time favorite songs came on and I was reminded that I've been wanting to do a little article on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for some time. (fyi, Matt has said that he admires their gusto). Without further ado, here is the first single from the bands' third studio album It's Blitz, "Zero":

It was this song that first introduced me to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and to their unique genre of music. My love for the song was only further reinforced when I took a close look at the lyrics and realized that, at least by my interpretation, the song was about Icarus. The Greek myth of the flight (and fall) of Icarus has been a fascination of mine for many years but I'll leave that rant for another post :P Moving on!

This is "Heads Will Roll":

Nice little tribute to MJ's "Thriller". Not only is their muse-ic awesome, but Karen O has become something of an enigma herself! Apparently she can list Marilyn Mason amongst her many admirers... And another little tidbit of trivia, Quora/Olivia Wilde's hair in Tron Legacy was inspired by Karen's. 

Another personal fav, gotta dig the raw energy of "Gold Lion" from Show Your Bones:

Actually, I think Apple must have "dug" this song too, they used it for one of their iPhone adds!

hee hee, vampire children! YaY for "Y Control" (Fever to Tell):

Karen is pretty awesome, but for a period of time I kinda has a little ity-bity crush on Nick Zinner (the guitarist).... I think it was the hair. 

Here's "Cheated Hearts":

Don't take my word for their awesomeness, check out this live performance of "Down Boy" off the EP Is Is:

LOVE the energy, the passion, and the TINSEL! :D

And finally, the song that catapulted them to fame, "Maps":

Mini-bio:

An American indie rock band based in New York City, their style has been described as "an art-rock trio who made an edgy post-punk, dancefloor-friendly racket".

The Early Bird Can Have the Worm... I'm Having A Latte

Good news, fellow night-owls! Turns out, "Smart People SLEEP LATE".

 Yea, I don't really know if Matt sleeps late but it's a good excuse to post a picture of him

"Sleep is a fundamental component of animal biology. New evidence confirms that, in humans, its timing reflects intelligence. People with higher IQs (intelligence quotients) tend to be more active nocturnally, going to bed later, whereas those with lower IQs usually retire to bed sooner after nightfall.

The precise function of sleep is arguable. But, accumulating evidence shows that lack of sleep in humans and animals can result in obesity, high blood pressure and reduced life spans. Drowsiness impairs mental performance. For instance, 37 per cent of all motor vehicle accidents are caused by drowsy motorists, according to a University of Pennsylvania study. Even minor sleep deficiencies impact on body chemistry.

According to Juliette Faraco of Stanford University, sleep loss generates a proportionate need for "sleep rebound".

One of the most controversial and significant recent findings is the correlation in humans between the earliness/lateness of sleep preferences and intelligence.
Robert Bolizs at Semmelweist University, and his coworkers, have shown that encephalograms during sleep illustrate how sleep elements are directly related to "wakeful cognitive performance." Studies by researchers H. Aliasson and colleagues show the timing of intervals of sleep "correlates closely" with student academic achievement.

Extensive research by Satoshi Kanazawa and colleagues at the London School of Economics and Political Science have uncovered significant differences in sleep-timing preferences among people, depending on their IQ scores.People with higher IQs are more apt to be nocturnal night-owls. Those with lower IQs tend to restrict their activities primarily to daytime.

People who prefer to go to bed early, and who are early-risers, demonstrate "morningness," whereas those whose sleep patterns are shifted later demonstrate "eveningness." Researchers say eveningness tends to be a characteristic of those with higher IQs.

According to Kanazawa, ancestral humans were typically diurnal, and that a shift towards more nocturnal activities is an "evolutionarily novel preference" of the type normally found in more intelligent individuals, demonstrating "a higher level of cognitive complexity" in the practitioners.

Recent studies at the University of Bologna suggest early-risers are comparatively more conscientious people. Related studies indicate eveningness is often age-related and that eveningness usually peaks at between 17-21 years of age; thereafter morningness becomes more prevalent.

A 2008 study by psychologist Marina Giamnietro and colleagues indicates evening-types tend to be less reliable, less emotionally stable and more apt to suffer from depression, addictions and eating disorders.

Morningness or eveningness are often genetically-based, according to researchers Lambertus Klei at Carnegie Mellon Univesity, Patrick Rietz at the University of Pittsburgh and their associates. In 2008, studies at Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry demonstrated sleep-time preferences are often inherited, and subsequent data indicates that 50 per cent of sleep-time choices are dictated by genetic factors.

"Hypocretins" are inextricably linked to sleep/wakefulness, according to Stanford University research. Hypocretins react with "wake-up" cell groups, including dopamine.

Sleep parameters vary among animals. Cows, for instance, sleep open-eyed. Horses sleep standing up. Some birds can sleep in flight, others while standing. Dolphins sleep in one-half of their brain while the other half remains awake. Bats need 19.9 hours of sleep every 24 hours, lions need 13.5, rats 13, cats 12.5, whales 5.3, deer 3.1, giraffes 1.9, most birds three to eight and donkeys three."

Read the original article by Robert Alison at Winnipegfreepress.com

He's Prince Charming... and Cinderella

Intrigued? Meet Andrej Pejic...

 

Images from Models.com and Google

This is his story:

Rico, a.k.a, "Zombie Boy"

Photo cred to Pinero-Solanno

Okay, this ...  I don't even know what to say (not a good thing as a blogger). Think girl, think! Lemme start at the beginning, then.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary....
NOPE.
sorry, that's Edgar Allen Poe.

Restart.
When Lady Gaga's new music video (that's better!) for "Born this Way" came out a couple weeks back, was when I first saw Rico:

*Note: This video may contain scenes some views may find disturbing (no, not her face)

  unicorns!

Recovered? Well, here is Rico's story:

Rick Genest aka Zombie Boy

*****

UPDATE (Oct.21.11):
Wonder what Rico looks like without the tattoos?

I wonder how long it took them to put all that make-up on...

Cheers!
iKaria 

Adele

I realized that after listening to this 26 times on a loop this morning, that I really should just put it up here (LOVE the video too):

It's a good song...

Here's another

Mini-bio: a British singer-songwriter, Adele was the first recipient of the BRIT Awards' Critics Choice and has also won two Grammy Awards (Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, 2009).

*EXTRA STUFF!!!
Actually, this was the first version I heard of this song (it's originally a Bob Dylan tune but good luck finding a vid of him performing it on YouTube >.<). Gamu's version gives me shivers!

Oh, Mr. Sun ... was it something I said?

No, it's not called "being lazy", it's more "huh, I was going through some old posts that never made it out of the 'draft saved' folder but were pretty much ready to be published" and then published them. This one I think is from late May/June 2010:

Ho-hum-humdrum... feeling a little under the weather lately? Me too. While I love the rain as much as any other water-drinking air-breathing self-disrespecting mammal (vampires excluded) the overcast sky is starting to take its toll on my disposition. So, instead of moping around and wearing my best scowl - slouchy shoulders, and shuffling feet included - I set out to make myself laugh. Let me share this journey with you. 
*Note: I have intentionally excluded the trip to Candy Mountain, the Crabby Patty and the Banana Guard. (Batteries not included). (>.<) 
(here's the link in case you were wondering about that last part: Banana Guard FAQ)

Stage One: The Magnetic Thingies Are Fun-E ...

(Stage 1.5: That Guy's Pants)

At some point in every person's life, there comes a time when they will have the misfortune of being subjected to "That Guy". Yes, that lecture-crashing pleb who not only sits in front of you only to clasp his hands behind his head (and thus effectively block the entire front of the room from your view) but who also has the generosity to share with you the inner-contents of his neck acne. You haven't yet? Well, maybe I'm just lucky... To continue: Furthermore, I lament that should this guy insist upon sitting the front of me, he should, at the very least, have the courtesy to NOT have pants so TIGHT that they give me a wedgie just by looking at it! Whatever happened to the good 'ole days of low-riders and skater pants? *this is a joke* (because happy-face boxers were no good either) At any rate, dude, as much as you vex me, I still find you amuseing. Keep up the good work and, uh, might want to change that Hannah-Montana ringtone in case your phone goes off in class again...

Stage Two: ... and So Is My Spam

In 2011: Wow, 2010 was a good year. 

Muse NME 2011

Congrats on the win boys! I know this is outdated news now, but when I originally wanted to publish this, I couldn't find the video and yada-yada-yada... ANYWAYS Hands down, this is THE best interview I've seen in a while.

Dear Matt is quite charming when drunk :3

WINNING

For all those "bi-winners" out there...

Poor Charlie, "Two and a Half Men" will be missed. Let us pause for a moment to sing along once more with the much-loved theme song:

Just for Laughs

Ohhh man! This next video is sheer hilarity. Kudos to the Just for Laughs team! XD

Unisex Backpack

Random Epic-ness + Mother Mother



This picture is not mine and I'm not actually sure where it came from - I found it in deep in the archives of my "Random Epicness" pictures album...



Ahh, the world is a wonderfully fun(ny) place, isn't it? Well, here are a few aMUSEing tidbits to brighten your day and lessen your opinion of mankind. 

15 Stunningly Dumb Warning Labels 

Got your interest piqued? While your still grinning, take a quick peruse of this site:

Stella Awards

To give you a bit of background info, a friend referenced the Stella Awards to me a while back and this is what he transcribed to me:

"I found the post! Here are the Stella Awards from a few years back. 

"Only in America!!!
It's time again for the annual 'Stella Awards'! For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico , where she purchased coffee.... You remember, she took the lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving. Who would ever think one could get burned doing that, right? That's right; these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy. 
Here are the Stellas for the past year:  


Start scratching! 


SEVENTH PLACE
Kathleen Robertson of Austin , Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict, considering the running toddler was her own son.

Start scratching!

SIXTH PLACE
Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles , California won $74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.

Scratch some more...


FIFTH PLACE
Terrence Dickson, of Bristol , Pennsylvania , who was leaving a house he had just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, the automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get the garage door to open. Worse, he couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut. Forced to sit for eight, count 'em, EIGHT days and survive on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner's insurance company claiming undue mental Anguish. Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson $500,000 for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish.

Keep scratching. There are more...

Double hand scratching after this one..

FOURTH PLACE
Jerry Williams, of Little Rock , Arkansas , garnered 4th Place in the Stella's when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on the butt by his next door neighbor's beagle - even though the beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. Williams did not get as much as he asked for because the jury believed the beagle might have been provoked at the time of the butt bite because Williams had climbed over the fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun.

Pick a new spot to scratch, you're getting a bald spot..


THIRD PLACE
Amber Carson of Lancaster , Pennsylvania because a jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on a spilled soft drink and broke her tailbone. The reason the soft drink was on the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument. What ever happened to people being responsible for their own actions?

Only two more so ease up on the scratching....

SECOND PLACE
Kara Walton, of Claymont , Delaware sued the owner of a night club in a nearby city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor, knocking out her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her $12,000....oh, yeah, plus dental expenses. Go figure.

Ok.

Here we go!!


FIRST PLACE
This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was: Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , who purchased new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the river's seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her, are you sitting down?

$1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home." 

 Those warning labels don't seem so stupid anymore >.<

And (in case you were wondering) I was, indeed, listening to some music while copy/pasting all that! Check out some Mother Mother! Their third album Eureka hits stores March 15.

I have to add this video because I so vividly remember the day I first watched it... and I quote: "It's a GUY?!?!" Yeah... but in my defense, after listening to it on the radio for I-dunno-how-many months I never would have guessed it was a falsetto (it's more obvious now. I'll admit ;)

I really like music videos like this and in all honestly, before watching this, I thought those gals were just saying something like "dum dum da de dum dum, dum dum da de dum dum ...." Pfft! See, you can learn so much from music videos!

 

(great face, eh?)

Ah, this one's got a catchy tune. And I'm starting to notice a trend with their lyrics here....

Mini-Bio: Mother Mother is a Canadian indie rock band based out of Vancouver, BC and siblings Ryan and Molly Guldemond are the two with blond hair on vox/guitar and vox/synth respectively.




*EXTRA STUFF!!
I just bought Eureka last night and I am really diggin' the flow and feeling of the album! Definitely a good investment and highly recommended - it's not too often you can put an album on shuffle and end up enjoying everything (and here's where I'll pitch Florence + the Machine again, Between Two Lungs was one of these albums). A few songs that stand out to me at the moment are "In the Wings", "Simply Simple", "Getaway", "Baby Don't Dance" and "Oleander".

Here's the music vid for "The Stand" (comes with the album on iTunes!): 

Jasmin Parkin (dark hair) is so striking! Yay for La Roux-inspired hair

And to end this post, "O My Heart" and the little Edward Scissorhands boy :P

Apocalyptica

There is nothing more bad-ass than rocking out with leather pants and metal hair... on a cello. I first heard of Apocalyptica's Worlds Collide (2007) a while back but I was listening to them again this morning and HOOOEY - you must watch them live. It's all part of the Finnish symphonic/metal experience!

To kick things off: 

Grieg's "Hall of the Mountain King", originally composed for Henrik Ibsen's Pyr Gynt.

Then, throw in some Ville Vallo (H.I.M.) and Lauri Ylönen (The Rasmus) in "Bittersweet". (for some reason I couldn't get the proper music video...*grumble* well, the girl in it's got a crazy amount of hair if you wanted to check it out)

Or, strip everything else away and fall in love with the cello in "Fade to Black";

"Nothing Else Matters" (yes, it's a Metallica cover);

and "Ruska" - if 'epic' had an eerie romance song, this would be it.

Add a pinch of Marta Jandová (Ulm) in "Wie Wiet" (also called "How Far").

And another Metallica cover, "One".

Finally, a song off their latest album 7th Symphony (2010), the eponymous "Beautiful". (just a little f.y.i.: I read on the bio of their official website that if the song sounds "bare and beautiful" its most likely got something to do with the way it was recorded... naked.)

 

Enjoy!