Spaggyj

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Posts tagged with "music"

Watch these.

Sunday, January 22, 2012 11:02:52 PM

music, video, silly, tv

Some of you may remember a post from Another blog in July 2008. It was this post.
I didn't know who the mime was at the time, and when I caught a few episodes of a show called How Not To Live Your Life , I felt I knew one of the characters from somewhere, but couldn't place him.

I was on the phone to my Dad last week and he mentioned some clips he thought I'd find funny, and told me the search terms for YouTube. He told me about the songs he'd mimed and that's when I remebered the post from Attilasoul's blog those years ago. I was pretty pleased there were more mimes, so I checked it out and realised that the man was David Armand and I DID know him from before that show.

Anyway, he's been on a newer comedy show (which, to me, seems rather rubbish apart from these bits) doing music mimes and people have to guess the song. I watched all 8 and 2 are by far my favourites.

Phonies: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bkzsoJf-UsA

Phonies: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ1BfI5y91s

11 comments

The Talented Mr MacFarlane

Thursday, December 17, 2009 6:45:42 PM

video, music, tv

There are more people in the public eye than ever. Reality shows, serials, movies - whatever - they are coming thicker and faster (giggety) than ever before. It's hard to find the diamonds in all the rough, but it seems all the more special when there's so much average "talent" out there.

Me, I've got high standards when it comes to truly appreciating a person on their talents alone. Sure, most half-decent actors have a certain forte within their field, but not many possess skills that are... Well, rare.

It's no secret that I love the show Family Guy, nor is it a secret that I love American Dad.
The creator of both shows is also the voice of like, half of the characters - and those voices can differ immensely.
Seth MacFarlane is the voice of many of the main and secondary characters, his sense of humour is wonderfully varied, satiric, offbeat... But again, this is not the reason for this post.

The reason is this: his musical talent.
MacFarlane has one of the most fantastic singing voices I've ever heard. I first realised this a few years ago when watching an old episode of Family Guy and I heard a song sung by the character, Brian. He's played in MacFarlane's natural voice, and it's a fantastic voice. I couldn't find a clip of the song I referenced, but you can sample Seth's standard singing voice by clicking here, and you'll hear the opening theme to Futurama's Wild Green Yonder, which Seth just did the song for.

There are a lot of musical references in his shows, and what amazed me was his seemingly natural ability to sing in character, with so many different characters and voices...

And then he took it one step further.
We got the DVD of season 8 of Family Guy a short time ago and in one episode, there's a song sung by MacFarlane in the character Stewie. You can listen to a Stewie song by clicking this link.

Again, not unusual. In fact, MacFarlane has often recorded songs in duet with himself - as two different characters. Sometimes three.. - but this is a step further...
MacFarlane as Stewie, imitating Bryan Adams.
Click here to watch the video.
Both Mik and I are amazed by this particular video, not to mention how funny it is. I would have loved to find more songs and samplings to show you just how varied his voices are, but I have limits to my resources as a phonie. There are a couple of songs he's done for the show with Frank Sinatra Jr - who adores him, by the way, and if you can find those, they're fun. Honestly though I'd just recommend you get thee some humour and culture, and buy the damn DVDs.

22 comments

Music Of The Week

Monday, June 23, 2008 9:49:26 AM

music, photos, useless trivia, random weekly crapola

In 2001, Drowning Pool screamed it's way onto the radar of the Rock community with it's debut single, Bodies, from the album, Sinner. The next single released from this album was one of the main themes in one of the Wrestlemanias - Tear Away. This is how I first found this band. It was only a month ago that I was able to recollect enough information to track down the song title. I didn't remember any of the lyrics or the score, just that it was shouty and tuneful. Anyway, I found it, and found a love for the entirety of Sinner. It's my entire playlist lately.

Drowning Pool have so far released three albums, each with a different vocalist - Dave Williams, (pictured third left above) the original vocalist, died on the tourbus in 2002 from heart problems, so for their second album, Desensitized, released in 2004, Jason Jones (pictured second left below) was the lead vocalist.

After this, he left to form a new band. Admittedly, I've only heard one song from that album, and I don't know if I'll pursue it or not. It's growing on me. Something happened in 2005 that was a dream come true for many.

Ryan McCombs (ex-frontman for SOiL, pictured third left above) was to be fit in place for new vocalist. This seems to be a partnership made in heaven - They released the album Full Circle in 2007, and fans of Drowning Pool, SOiL, or just fans of the genre seem to be beside themselves with their affections for this. I decided to grab a song from this album, and I think it's one of the best songs I've ever heard in my entire life. Honestly. Their sound has changed rather drastically from album to album, but it always seems to work. I'm out to get Full Circle today, if I can find it. It's not often I'll hear one song and love it so much I'll HAVE to have the album as soon as possible. The name of the song? Enemy. You can see it on YouTube here: Puteys go here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gLxsQAU2uI Phonies go here - http://m.youtube.com/details?v=_gLxsQAU2uI&warned=1&v2=1&locale=en_US My eyes are firmly on these guys and I'll never lose them again.

10 comments

When life gets you down, Mrs Brown...

Saturday, April 26, 2008 7:45:59 AM

music

And things seem hard, or tough...
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft,
And you feel that you've had quite enough...

Just... Remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun, and you and me, and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day,
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the "Milky Way".

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars,
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side...
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.
We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point,
We go round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions in this amazing and expanding universe.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding,
In all of the directions it can whizz,
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.

- The Galaxy Song, Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life, 1982.

I have this song stuck in my head so I thought I'd do the same to you lot (providing any of you have seen and remember this song, of course. Oh, shut up. I'm bored.)

23 comments

The Big Ballet

Friday, April 25, 2008 10:54:02 AM

music, life in general

This Russian dance troupe was formed in 1994 by Evgeny Panfilov, who set out to go against some common preconceptions about what the form of a graceful dancer was.

The requirement for the dancers? Do not drop below 120kg. Each person must weigh at least 17 stone.

The dancers have all been overweight through childhood, and adult life, giving them solid and large bone structures, rather than having a slight frame with weight accumulated over time.

None of the girls are classically trained as a ballerina, but many hail them as good or better than their professional, skinny opposites. And their average weight per dancer is 20 stone.

Their performances are hailed to be "enchanting" "graceful" and "hilarious" - they mix classical and contemporary music with humorous parodies, and they're taking the world by storm. Critics all over seem to love them - and I'd like to see them, because it sounds delightful!

Leader of the troupe Katya Kurkowa stated, "It's actually surprisingly easy to do the splits when you have 280lbs of down force!"

I imagine it would be!

25 comments

Music of the week

Thursday, March 6, 2008 10:05:48 AM

music, random weekly crapola

In 2001, Puddle Of Mudd debuted with their album Abrasive. They were one of the first bands to be signed to Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst's record label.
The first album I heard, however, was Come Clean, also released in 2001, which contained the well known tracks "She Hates Me", "Blurry" and "Control".

I have to admit that I was inclined to hate this band, because singer/songwriter Wesley Scantlin seems as though he's eerily trying to emulate the late Kurt Cobain's voice. I'm a Nirvana fan, so I didn't really take kindly to it at all.

But, Come Clean really left it's mark on me. And recently I discovered Life On Display. It's pretty old now - 2003 - but I like it even more than it's predecessor. Puddle Of Mudd are known for their loud, abrasive hateful music, but also contained within each album are heartwarming ballads of sorrow.

Life On Display has a wide array of music styles - from the raw, paranoid anger of "Away From Me" to the catchy love rock-ballad "Spin You Around", the relaxing chants of "Time Flies" to the manic scream that is "Cloud 9" to the angsty sleaze of "Already Gone", it's one of the most complete albums I've ever heard, and is currently my album of choice.

It's not an instant love, though. You have to want to give it a chance.

You can download any of the songs from either mentioned album here, at Fank.ru . Remember, it's illegal to download something you don't already own.

16 comments

Music of the week

Monday, February 25, 2008 9:50:44 AM

music, random weekly crapola

In 1981, Dave Mustaine exploded into the rock scene as a bandmember of a new band called Metallica. Two years later, he was kicked out of the band, supposedly due to drugs. I'm so glad that happened, because in 1983, he formed Megadeth. Now, Megadeth's style has changed over the years, each sound brilliant - but there is one album that I am currently playing a lot, which is Youthanasia.

This came out in 1994, after Mustaine had gotten clean in rehab, and, unsurprisingly went platinum. If you listen to anything today, make it Youthanasia. All the tracks are fantastic - and that's rare.
My favourite tracks -
Train Of Consequences
Victory
Addicted To Chaos
I Thought I Knew It All
...oh hell, they're all good. Mustaine's a king.
All tracks at Fank .
And remember, it's illegal to download stuff you don't already own.

42 comments