Newest Rulings on Alternative Source Citing

Our friends at the PostModern Language Association have created a guide for citing some alternative information sources:

http://www.pmla.org/altsource.html

How to apologize, the Japanese way

This video is by the same people who made the sushi video I posted a long time ago. It shows you the correct way to express your shame in various situations, including bumping into someone in public or violating the Code of the Ninja.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4bMM73-qHo&

Cake Wrecks

I don't often laugh out loud at things I see on the Internet, even if they're really funny. But I was truly LOL over this blog, featuring photos of very...unfortunate...professionally decorated cakes.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

There's a wedding cake that is a life-sized replica of the bride, a psychedelic monstrosity intended for a Sweet 16 party, some truly hilarious errors in the messages written on cakes, and a disturbing number of baby shower cakes in the form of actual babies.

Font humor. Yes, I said font humor.

What could be funnier than a Font Conference?

Song of the Count

Here's the Count from Sesame Street singing a song. It's been edited in a very minor way by Neil Cicierega (of "Potter Puppet Pals" fame), with interesting results.

I won't say more, except to warn you that it's probably best not to play this at work unless you're wearing headphones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AXPnH0C9UA

beard jokes never get old

Is anyone else super annoyed by all of the shitty trailers that keep advertising movies as being produced "by the guys who brought you the 40-year-old Virgin"? I'm pissed because Judd Apatow was only tangentially involved in most of these projects (as in, he's making money but didn't make them funny) and we can already tell that the films are going to completely suck or will be sophomoric to the point of painfulness.

Anyway, I found this neat little collection of sound clips from Knocked Up that compiles all of the hi-LAR-ious beard jokes from that movie here: http://www.soundboard.com/sb/Knocked_up_Beard_Joke.aspx.

Just listen to those clips a couple of times instead of going to see Forgetting Sarah Henderson or Drillbit Wilson or whatever else is getting promoted as the next Superbad.

Dr. Seuss in The Onion

Many of you probably got to see this IN PRINT, but for anyone who missed it:

Stop Making Movies About My Books

Jane Austen + Nelly Furtado

I know I'm not the only Jane Austen fan here...we're a bunch of librarians, after all.

This music video made me smile. :)

I thought "librarian" implied gender...

I guess some people still haven't heard of the word MANBRARIAN!

Penny Arcade comic

Happy New Year's Eve, everyone!

"Won't you blog about this song?"

This video had a high slot on The Onion AV Club's "Videocracy" site. It's undoubtedly the funniest Web 2.0 themed Billy Joel parody I've ever seen.

"Here Comes Another Bubble"

I am thankful for...shushing

I wrote this song a while back, and have been saving it for a special occasion like THANKSGIVING! It was inspired by my first experience shushing a patron, a girl who was yakking away very loudly on her cellphone in the middle of the main floor of the library. I had to banish her to the foyer.

I used this "The Office" music video to help me write new lyrics for the song. Please imagine me dancing just like Michael Scott as you read.

Shushin' Back

I'm bringing shushin' back.
These little patrons don't know how to act.
I heard a ringtone, what's behind your back?
And none of that now while you're in the stacks.

Take it to the foyer.

[Bridge]
Chatty babe,
You see these glasses?
Baby, act your age.
You better watch it if you misbehave.
Library's not where you act this way.

Take it to the foyer.

[Chorus]
Come here, girl.
(Go ahead, get shushin' it.)
Come to the stacks.
(Go ahead, get shushin' it.)
VIP.
(Go ahead, get shushin' it.)
Just like Dewey.
(Go ahead, get shushin' it.)
Let me see what you're shushin' with.
(Go ahead, get shushin' it.)
Look at those lips.
(Go ahead, get shushin' it.)
Don't crack a smile.
(Go ahead, get shushin' it.)
Go ahead, child.
(Go ahead, get shushin' it.)
And get your shushin' on.
(Go ahead, get shushin' it.)

Get your shushin' on.
(Go ahead, get shushin' it.)
[6X]

Get your shushin' on.

I'm bringing shushin' back.
These little patrons don't know how to act.
Some peace and quiet are the things we lack.
Cause you're acting up, you better shut it fast.

Take it to the foyer.

[Bridge]

[Chorus]

Get ready! [3X]

I'm bringing shushin' back.
Hey little patrons, watch while I attack.
If that's your cell, you better watch your back.
Cause you'll get a shush from me, and that's a fact.

Take it to the foyer.

[Chorus]

Get ready!

{record scratch, music stops}

SHHHHHHHHHHH!

Get ready!

{record scratch, music back for end of song}

Can't get enough of remixed movie trailers

Here are a few of my recent favorites, courtesy of YouTube.

Citizen Kane: Tha Remix -- I don't know if this will be as funny to people who haven't actually seen Citizen Kane, but I was literally LOL over this one. I rarely laugh over things I see on the Internet, even if they're really funny, but the scene with the dancing girls cracked me up. Thank you, film class!

Alex DeLarge's Day Off - A Clockwork Orange as an Eighties teen comedy.

Blood Labyrinth shows us how recent drama Blood Diamond would look if it had starred young Jennifer Connelly and a bunch of Muppets.

And speaking of the Muppets, House of 1000 Muppets shows us what it would look like if Rob Zombie directed a Muppet movie. I always knew there was something "off" about that Dr. Teeth...

The Nicholas Cage remake of cult horror favorite The Wicker Man wasn't too successful in theaters. Maybe it would have done better if they'd made it a comedy about beekeeping among the Amish.

The Office parodies

In honor of the new season of "The Office", and the fact that my office has been getting on my nerves recently, here's a selection of the best "Office" vids I've seen on YouTube recently:

It's Getting Hot in Here: Scranton Style -- I was really impressed by the editing on this one, and the way the creator managed to match the lyrics with such fitting clips

The Office 300 -- Dwight rallies Dunder-Mifflin Sparta against the Persians. "Tonight, we dine in hell!"

For some reason the idea of Jim being murdered has inspired several clips. Poor Jim. See The Office re-cut (crime film) and The Death of Jim Halpert.

The Back Dorm Boys are back (but not in the dorm anymore)

I was afraid we'd seen the last of Chinese-based YouTube sensation the Back Dorm Boys when they graduated from college last summer. But they have released a couple more videos. Judging from the first one, they also seem to have discovered drugs.

"We Will Rock You" -- not the original Queen version, but some weird cover. This isn't the BDB's best work in terms of lip synching, but must take the prize for sheer weirdness. (Watch all the way to the end for an especially bizarre epilogue.)

"O Yi O Yi A" -- since their graduation the BDB have landed a real recording contract, and released a new single of an original song that they actually sing rather than lip sync to. This is the official video for the song. (Sorry for the poor quality, it's the only copy I could find.) The director seems to have been inspired by the opening credits to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

O Yi O Yi A" again -- yes, they've used their Webcam to make a lip synched version of their own song! That's postmodernism, that is.

Sadly, they still don't kiss in any of these videos. I keep hoping that one day they will, but they never do. It's rather pathetic, really.

Remixed movie trailers

Now that I've finally (FINALLY!) got Internet access in my new apartment, I'd like to share a few more examples of my favorite form of YouTube humor, remixed movie trailers.

Scary Mary (Poppins) - she's coming for your children!

Taxi Driver - romantic comedy about a big city cabbie.

Big - the story of a man with a BIG secret involving his relationship with a young boy.

Silence of the Lambs - a chick flick about a woman who develops a special relationship with her mentor.

Lukewarm Fuzz

So, you can probably tell that I'm doing absolutely everything in my power NOT to revise my paper right now, but I have to tell everyone that Annie and I saw Hot Fuzz last night (a movie I was totally jazzed about) and I was, sadly, disappointed. I mean, that scene in Sean of the Dead when they are beating zombies with pool cues to the tune of Killer Queen, well, that ranks among my top 10 comedy screen moments of all time, so I was expecting good things from Simon Pegg.

So I had to reassure myself after that only-slightly-funny debacle that I still found him funny and charming. I decided to revisit his gem of a show Spaced...which I think was from 2000. Anyway, it's totally funny and I recommend investing the necessary time to YouTube at least a couple episodes. So check it out if you're bored and indulging in procrastination (for which I applaud you).