the internet is for kicking james blunt in the pants

There are a lot of reasons I love my friend Miggie: she is witty and sarcastic and cutting and kind, she knows approx. twelve languages, she has amazing boobs and she has dressed individual members of Franz Ferdinand, which is pretty awesome.

Also, she does things like this: makes up a game where you can kick James Blunt in the ass.

Kicking James Blunt is supremely therapeutic. Try it, you'll see. And see if you can beat my current best of 104000 m.

You might wonder what would lead miggie to create a game like this. The answer is pretty simple. Miggie really, really, RLY hates James Blunt. m'elle used to sing "You're Beautiful" in the car before I told her to stop or I'd sell her to gypsies, and once I made her sing it for miggie's voicemail, just to make her scream. Good times.

And, from Sarah, who I think got it from mistah katz, the Montana Meth Project. Oh, meth. You're the sexiest of all the class A drugs.

my cats are named Schrodinger and Heisenberg

(or, as m'elle calls them, "Schroder" and "Hamburger.")

So can you really blame me for passing this youtube video on? Much thanks to the marvelous Courtney, who knows how much I love cats and jokes about engineers.

Rick Astley is never gonna:

a) give you up
b) let you down
c) run around and desert you
d) make you cry
e) say goodbye
f) tell a lie and hurt you
g) all of the above

No, I promise you're not being rickrolled, guys. But I had to give a nod to Mister Astley, because I wanted to talk about viral videos.

You know the ones - prisoners dancing to MJ's Thriller, Chris Crocker and leprechauns being crackheads and getting hold to the wrong stuff - those videos forwarded to you by coworkers or friends, the ones passed from blog to internet magazine to the local news. Some are funny, some are just wrong, and some involve tigers hugging people!

I love viral videos, folks. They're the best kind of email forward, because they rarely involve anyone telling me they'll pray for me or little .gifs of an American flag. And as I was saving everything on my work computer today as the computer will be taken away from me tomorrow, I came across three viral videos I'd saved and totally forgotten about! (Um, please don't tell on me, people at work. I know I'm not supposed to have non-work stuff saved on my computer.)

My very favorite viral video is the Aicha boy, partly because he reminds me of my cousin Thomas, and partly because I really respect the conviction that must come from shooting a video next to your Minnie Mouse bedsheets. Also, I find the popup text to be extremely helpful in narrating the story of Aicha, because I, too, find myself asking, "she move how?" when people are singing about movement. You should hear me when I'm listening to Patrick Swayze's "She's Like The Wind" (get better soon, Patrick!) - there is a lot of moving of smybolic stuff through the metaphorical trees in that song. And don't even get me started on The Kooks' "She Moves in Her Own Way." Actually, just don't get me started on The Kooks, period.

And if you think I do not know every second of this choreography, and do not perform it along with Gelliman everytime I watch the video, then you don't know me very well, do you?



The second video I found on my hard drive was the Kosovo video! I love the Kosovo video. I know this makes me patently unhip, but "Kokomo" is actually my very favorite Beach Boys song. I know, I know. And yes, I own Pet Sounds. I just can't help it! I always immediately want to run off to vacay on a tropical isle when I hear it. With Kermit as my faithful companion.

The Kosovo video stars a bunch of Norwegian (I believe) soldiers who walk around without shirts on, which is always a plus in my book. And they sing about Milosevic. Plus, it teaches you about current events. Um, current ca. 1998, that is. So it's totally educational as well! Also, I believe this video marks the only time anyone affiliated with the UN ever apologized to Rwanda at all. So how can you not love it? Fact: you can't. You must love it, because it is awesome.

The only thing that would make this video better is if these lads had spent more time working on their choroeography and less time gay-bashing (although I do appreciate the water, boys. I am only human.).



And then, of course, there's the video I always watch when I'm having a bad day: C4's Celeb Swear Words advert. I dunno; there's just something about hearing the word "fuck" 40 times which really soothes me. Of course, I must add that my future-husband-when-he-stops-liking-men, Derren Brown, has the exact same favorite swear word as me. It's FATE, y'all.




Watching these videos, I remembered why I kept them on my hard drive for four years in blatant disregard for my company's IT policy: they really cheer me up. That's the power of a funny minute-long video, that it can completely lift your spirits and put a smile on your face.

So, internets, what's your favorite viral video? Link away in the comments!

friday's for internet-lovers

Also, as your friday afternoon interweb link, I must say, Dinosaur Comics has been cracking me up even more than usual lately. I suddenly have the desire to condense every song I know into limerick form. ILU T-Rex.

The most amazing thing I've seen today, by erin e.

Wow. Do you know how, if you're really lucky, you'll have one or more very good friends who know your SOUL and always know the right things to say or do to make you smile? Well, I'm totally lucky, cause I have like 30 of these friends, but today's Honorable Mention goes to fellow-likepenguins-contributor Courtney, who just emailed me the most AMAZING youtube video I HAVE EVER SEEN. Like, there are no words at all, guys. You just have to see it:



Sound is not necessary; just imagine a dramatic score to some epic romantic film like The Notebook, or something.

In other news, today is Int'l Day of Awesomeness (mascot: Chuck Norris), so congratulate yourself on being AWESOME.

the world wide web

Can you tell I have no time to write this week? Work insists on actually being work (what?) and because Comcast is stupid, my internet connection at home is knocked out anytime there's a strong breeze.

So to tide you over, here are some things out and about on the internet:

courtesy of my buddy Jacob, we have Catherine Hicks Online. Catherine Hicks was in several movies and shows, but you know her from 7th Heaven, the Beast That Would Not Die. Join us as we discover her feelings about 9/11, old people and National Housekeeper's Day. Sure, it's doesn't reach the opus that is MelanieGriffith.com, but Catherine does what she can.

Stuff White People Like. Are you trying to befriend that special white person in your office or classroom? This handy guide will tell you everything that white people like, so that you too can become A Friend of a White Person. Meredith sent this to me a couple of weeks ago and I check it faithfully. So far, with the exception of vegetarianism, I completely fit the bill. So embarassing.

Enjoy your Friday, internets!

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