Busy days... here's a video instead

I know I've missed a couple posts lately.  Let's just say things have taken a turn for the crazy!  Hot weather, prepping to be a witness in a criminal misdemeanor trial (I turned in a drunk driver) and oh, yeah, we're going to Disneyland next week.  And I just found out yesterday! 

Anyway, I don't know if I'll have time to post before I leave next week, so just in case I don't, here's a video to keep you entertained while I'm gone.

A couple 4th of Julys ago, I posted a YouTube video from a group called Soomo Publishing.  It was a new take on "Too Late to Apologize" by One Republic, where they took the song and twisted it around to match the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  If you haven't seen that yet, check out the original post to see it (it's really good).

Well, the same people have done it again, this time with women's suffrage.  It's a remix of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance".  Pretty neat (and a little freaky) and actually quite historically accurate.  Check it out:

Christmas Music on YouTube

One of my favorite things during the Christmas season is the music. None of my family will let me play any before Thanksgiving, but literally the day after I pull out all of my Christmas CDs and playlists. It always manages to get me in the Christmas mood.

So when my brother sent me a video by a group called Straight No Chaser for a song called “The Christmas Can Can” I knew I had to watch it. And I wasn’t disappointed. It’s hilarious. So for today’s Christmas post, I present to you “The Christmas Can Can”:


By the way, someone also animated this song, which is also pretty funny. You can see that here.



There’s also a pretty awesome version of “The 12 Days of Christmas” too:

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to everyone who celebrates!  I'll be busy handing out candy tonight, but for those of you who stop by, here's a little Halloween treat to entertain you for a few minutes.  My mom turned me onto this, and it is the coolest thing ever:



And here's a Thriller one (since that's a classic):



Enjoy your night!

My Brother's Favorites, Or... My Blog Goes Geek

So I suppose today's post requires a little bit of an explanation.  I was lamenting to my brother about having to prepare for the lesson I'm teaching tomorrow and how I expected it to keep me away from the blog most of the day.  And then it hit me.  In the interest of the blogoversary theme of "my favorite things" I could do a post about my brother and some of his favorites.  And one of the things he really loves is random YouTube videos.  So here today, we have some of the most random videos I could think of to share.

So one of the things my brother is really into these days is a video game called Portal 2.  If you haven't heard of it before, you can check out this wikipedia article (or not, it doesn't really matter).

Anyway, in the game there is this robot/machine thing that's called the Space Core.  And it, predictably, is obsessed with space.  So randomly on YouTube one day, my brother showed me this video, where someone has taken all the Space Core's phrases and combined them with some animation of Pinky Pie from My Little Pony.  It's pretty funny, even if you aren't familiar with either source:


In this video game, there's also a character called Cave Johnson (he is the founder of a the company where the game takes place).  At one point he starts to a little crazy, and it leads to a rant about lemons.  Someone made a video of it, so here it is to share with all of you:


And now salvage any semblance of book-relatedness this post has...

I know I've posted about How It Should Have Ended.com before, but one of their newest videos is about Harry Potter. So if you're a fan of the books (or the movies) check this one out. The best part is the last few seconds after the credits. :)



And with that, I'm off to go work on my lesson again. We will return you to your regular book-related posts soon.

Traditional 4th of July Video

Happy Independence Day to my American readers!  If you've just started reading the blog in the past year, you don't know that it's my tradition to post an Americana video every 4th.  And today is no exception.

I wrestled a little bit with what to post this year.  But while I had my iPod on shuffle at work one day, this song came up and I knew this was it.  One of my favorite places in the world to go is any Disney park.  And at Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort, nestled in the back of the World Showcase is the American Pavilion, home of the largest animatronic stage show in WDW, The American Adventure.  There's a song at the end, "Golden Dream", that plays while they show a video montage and I get choked up just about every time I see it.

Now, since this is on a movie theater size widescreen, it's difficult to get good video footage of both the movie and good sound quality of the song.  So after searching and searching through clips on YouTube, this is the one I found with the best of both worlds.  The person filming makes me a little sick with his/her constantly panning the camera back and forth, but he/she does a pretty good job of letting you see most of the movie:


Now, if you're more interested in just hearing the song, and don't particularly care what the movie looks like, I recommend checking out this tribute video instead.

And since I really, really, really like the video I posted last year, I'm posting it again so that everyone has a chance to see it.  It's a parody of the song "Too Late to Apologize" with a Declaration of Independence twist.  Very well done, and lots of fun:




For anyone interested in the lyrics to "Golden Dream":

America, spread your golden wings
Sail on freedom's wind, across the sky.
Great bird, with your golden dreams
flying high, flying high.

Restless one in a world of change,
keeping dreams aloft in the rain.
Spirit free, soaring through the clouds
of time, of time.

America, you must keep dreaming now
Dreaming the promised vow of your pioneers
America, keep on flying now.
Keep your spirit free.
Facing new frontiers.

America, spread your golden wings
Sail on freedom's wind across the sky.
Great bird with your golden dreams,
Flying high, flying high,
Flying high, flying high!

Random Day 6: Two for the Price of One!

Okay, so it is 11:34 p.m. on Friday night and I am changing my plan for today's (Saturday's) post. I had originally intended something completely different to share today, but I just found something and I had to share.

This comes to you again courtesy of my brother, who is just as much of a Disney nut as I am. And he likes Star Wars too. And yes, it is a Disney YouTube thing again. But stick with me for a second.

For those of you who don't know, Disneyland and Walt Disney World just got brand new revamped versions of Star Tours (the Star Wars themed simulation ride in the Disney parks). There are some pretty funny Star Wars themed commercials out there, but this one has to be my favorite.

Darth Vader goes to Disneyland:


My favorite part? Taking a lightsaber to the ghosts in the Haunted Mansion. Oh, and when he's watching the princess float in the parade with the Mickey balloon in his hand while the two stormtroopers have on their classic Mickey hats. I just about died laughing.

So if you scroll down a bit you'll see the entire post I had originally planned for today's date. So you get two bits o' random entertainment for the price of one!








Orignal Post:

Today is Day 6 of the Week o' Random Entertainment. 

For today's video I have something a little different.  One of my favorite Sunday comic strips is Pearls Before Swine by California cartoonist Stephan Pastis.  The series features anthropomorphic animals Pig, Rat, Goat, and Zebra as they bring animal life to suburban living. 

One of my favorite running gags is Zebra's next door neighbors the crocodiles.  Being natural predators, they are constantly trying to kill Zebra.  But they are also incredible stupid, which leads to some pretty funny situations.  A few Pearls Before Swine strips have recently started being animated, including these two, which are some of the best croc strips:



And that concludes our Week o' Random Entertainment.  I hope you enjoyed yourself at least a bit and I didn't bore you all too much.  Come back tomorrow for the kickoff of Round 2 for the 2011 YA Bloggers Book Battle!

Random Day 5: Muppets!

We're winding down the Week o' Random Entertainment, with today's entry as number five. 

I know I've featured a couple of the Muppet videos before, but I don't think I've posted this before and it's one of my favorites.  It's like the greatest YouTube spoof ever.  Not much left to say, so I hope it makes you laugh as much as it does for me:

Random Day 4: One Man Disney Movie

Welcome to Day 4 of the Week o' Random Entertainment.  I saved one of my favorites for today.  A friend tipped me off on this one, and I've been meaning to share it with you for awhile.  Here is the One Man Disney Movie.  Yes, it's another Disney clip, but I couldn't resist.  Disney is in my blood, you know.  ;)

This is Nick Pitera, and although he has lots of videos on YouTube, this is my favorite.  He's recorded himself singing the same set of Disney songs 6 different times, so it looks like 6 different people.  His vocal range is super amazing, and I like the arrangement too.  This is one you'll want to watch more than once so you can pay attention to the other "characters" facial expressions when they're not singing. 

Bonus points if you can name all 9 Disney movies too. 

Random Day 3: Harry Potter Puppet Pals

Today is Day 3 of the Week o' Random Entertainment, and today's feature is actually book-related.  Sort of. 

Have you heard of the Harry Potter Puppet Pals?  Probably a lot of you have.  But if you haven't, and you're a Harry Potter fan, this is definitely a group of videos you should see.  Today I present my favorite of the Harry Potter Puppet Pals features: The Mysterious Ticking Noise

Random Day 2: How It Should Have Ended

Today for our Week O' Random Entertainment... how it should have ended!

I know I've mentioned HISHE before on here, but for those of you who are new, this is an animated series that features ideas on how various movies should have ended.  What would really happen if you strip away all the Hollywood drama?  Well, the results are pretty humorous. 

About a month ago my brother talked me into watching Inception for the first time.  And it made my brain hurt.  A lot.  But I did ultimately enjoy the movie.  So here for your viewing pleasure today, how Inception really should have ended:

Random Day 1: New Pirates!!

Welcome to Day 1 of the Week o' Random Entertainment! 

Today I have a video my brother tipped me off on  from his blog post last week.  If you're a longtime blog follower, you know I'm a huge Disney fan.  And one of my favorite things about Disney is the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.  The new Pirates movie came out just a week ago (I've already seen it) and it is awesome! 

For those of you who aren't on the west coast, Disney's California Adventure (sister park to Disneyland in Anaheim) has a new nighttime show called World of Color.  I haven't seen it in person yet (my brother has, lucky kid) but the videos I've seen look super epic-y awesome!  And they just added a new section for the new Pirates movie.  It's pretty neat, so here's a video so you can see.  This actually goes through the end of the show too, just to give  you a glimpse of how amazing it is.  And it has the princesses too, which next to pirates is my favorite Disney thing.  :)  

So without further ado, check out this Pirate awesomeness. It begins with the new mermaid section from the fourth movie (and mermaids are scary!) moves on to feature the new villian Blackbeard, the one-of-a-kind Captain Jack Sparrow, and the pirates music you all love. Oh, and fire too. Lots and lots of fire...



Captain, I'd like to report a mutiny.  I can name fingers and point names.  Classic.  I love it.  :)

Plans for the Next Week

So, responses from my Round 2 judges have been coming in slowly but surely, so I'm still organizing the shortlisted books into brackets.  Hopefully after this week it will be all done.  :)  So if you haven't answered my email yet, you're not too late.  And in the same vein, if you didn't get an email, but think you should have, let me know.  Also, a few people have dropped out, so if you're still interested in being a Round 2 judge, check out this post for all the details to sign up. 

So what to do in the meantime?  My poor little blog has been so neglected as I've been busy organizing things this past few weeks.  I spend all my free time behind the scenes rather than posting much content.  So to make up for it, I'm holding a special event all week long.  I call it:

The Week O' Random Entertainment

What is that, you say?  I'll tell you.  Pretty much what it sounds like.  But here's where it came from.  One of my favorite things to do (other than read) is to watch random clips on YouTube.  Things my brother finds, things I've seen posted other places, etc.  I usually plan to do a random post about various videos, but oftentimes my plans get off track (for whatever reason).  But not this week!

Every day this week (starting Monday) I will be posting a random video for your entertainment.  It gives you something to watch while I'm busy setting things up for Round 2, and I get to share some stuff I've been wanting too.  Two birds with one stone. 

Some come back tomorrow to see what random video is in store.  And if you're not up for this sort of thing, feel free to completely ignore the blog this week.  And we hope to see you back here on the 5th for the Round 2 kickoff. 

Have a great week everyone!

Hurry up May...

Okay, so some of you might have seen this already.  But when I find myself wasting time on YouTube, I usually end up looking at things like this:

Isn't it awesome?  May 20 can't get here fast enough. 

Those of you who know me well know that I am a huge Pirates fan.  If you don't believe how huge, check out my post about our trip to the Pirates' League this summer. 

And this one looks fantastic!  Pirates, mermaids, zombies, and the MOST EPIC movie soundtrack ever!  Oh, and Johnny Depp.  Although I will miss seeing young William Turner, because although his character was kind of a dork after the first movie, he was so much fun to look at.  *sigh*

Completely Random: How To Waste 20 Minutes On YouTube

It starts simple enough. First you jokingly make a reference to your brother about "Oh Long Johnson". When he looks at you like you don't know what he's talking about, of course you have to show him:



Then, thanks to YouTube's related videos feature, this clip catches your attention:



Okay, that was kind of freaky. Let's find something more normal. Ooh, here's one with two cats, I wonder what it is:



Oh, that's just so cute. So you watch it again. And then another related video pops up. There's a translation, cool!:



Hehe. That was kind of funny. Ooh look, the same guy's got another video:



I love this guy! What other kind of videos does he have? A mystic cat?:



Which leads to this:



And then this (which is my favorite):


By this time you are rolling on the floor, so you call your dad over to show him, and play all 8 videos again.

20 minutes wasted. Thanks YouTube.

Best Book Trailers of 2010

Book trailers have come a long way. The first time I saw a book trailer was in 2007 I think, and it wasn't much more than a bunch of pictures and some text. And while there's nothing wrong with that kind of trailer, they've also gotten lots more sophisticated over the last 3 years.

So my first 2010 wrap up is sharing with you (in no particular order) my top 10 book trailers of 2010. I haven't read all of these (actually I haven't read most of them) but they sure do make me want to read them all right away!

So which trailers were your favorite this year? Any you really liked that I missed?

Breathless Reads (The Eternal Ones, The Replacement, Nightshade, Matched, and Sapphique)


The Karma Club by Jessica Brody


Heist Society by Ally Carter


Vixen (The Flappers) by Jillian Larkin


Matched by Ally Condie


Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale (not actually a 2010 book, but I saw the trailer on Shannon Hale's blog in Feb of 2010, which is why it makes the cut)


The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood


Mistwood by Leah Cypess


Hearts at Stake (Drake Chronicles, Book 1) by Alyxandra Harvey (also technically a 2009 book, but I saw in Feb 2010)


The Iron Fey by Julie Kagawa

Happy 4th of July (and a video!)

Happy 4th of July to all my celebrating readers! So I kind of have made it a tradition to post a video on this holiday... not sure why but I have. So today I have a new one to share with you!

I actually first saw this back in May, and I've been dying to share it since then. But I waited until today because since it's about the Declaration of Independence it's pretty much perfect for today. So here you are:



Thanks to Katy from A Few More Pages for sharing it first.

This is the Sweetest Thing EVER!

I can't believe this. This is so nice, I'm practically in tears.

Okay, let me back up a bit. Back in April when I posted my battle trailer, my brother got kind of sulky for a bit and kept saying I "stole his idea". I didn't really find out what he meant until today.

As longtime readers are aware, this summer I am moving to Orlando, FL to once again participate in the Disney College Program. I first went back in 2008 and had enough fun that I decided to do it again when I was offered the opportunity. As a going away present (I leave Sunday) my little brother made me this:



He edited it together from all the videos I took for him when I was there in 2008. Isn't it so cool? I love, love, LOVE it!

And you may notice the music is familiar. :) That's why he said I stole his idea with my trailer. Apparently great minds think alike, as he had already planned a movie with the same music before I made my trailer.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to go shower him with sisterly affection.

*This post has also been posted (with a little bit different information) on my Disney blog*

Happy Birthday Bro!

So besides today being the day after Christmas, today is also my brother's birthday. Those of you who are long followers know that I like Star Wars, but my brother is a total Star Wars nut. So in honor of his birthday, I'm sharing with all of you the funniest Star Wars fan film I've ever seen.

Enjoy!

Star Wars: Retold (By Someone Who Hasn't Seen It)

Atom.com: Funny Videos Spoofs Star Wars Fan Movie Champions

A Christmas Carol

Today's topic is another Christmas classic: A Christmas Carol.

For those of you who don't know A Christmas Carol WAS originally a book penned by author Charles Dickens. And probably the shortest thing he ever wrote. But most people don't know the story of Scrooge and the ghosts of Christmas that way. Especially with Disney's new adaptation now in theaters. By the way, has anyone seen it yet? I want to know if it's worth seeing.

But back on topic. I wasn't an exception to this stereotype. And today's post isn't going to talk abut the book either. Instead we're going to discuss my experience with A Christmas Carol. It wasn't until middle school that I learned A Christmas Carol originally was a book. My first interaction was with this:


That's right, it's Mickey's Christmas Carol. Hey, you guys already know I'm a Disney nut, we're you surprised? This was my first Christmas Carol and it remains one of my favorites. I loved seeing all my favorite Disney characters pop up in this one. Although Pete as the Ghost of Christmas Future still creeps me out, and it gave me nightmares as a kid. I would fast forward through that part to the end until I was about 8 years old. I know, I'm a sissy. But at least I'm an unscared sissy!

It's a very kid-friendly adaptation (despite creepy Pete) for those of you who haven't seen it. And the good news is that it is now available on DVD as part of Disney Animation Collection 7: Mickey's Christmas Carol. I just ordered my copy and it should be here any day now!

Now, for those of you who are observant, you'll notice I didn't say Mickey's Christmas Carol was my all-time favorite version. Nope, that spot is reserved for A Muppet Christmas Carol:


Can I just say that Michael Caine as Scrooge is downright scary in this beginning? He was a perfect choice for the part. A Muppet Christmas Carol is everything you could wish for in a Muppet movie. It tells a lot more of the story (including the sad bits), but you have a lot of zany Muppet fun to break up the story and make it not so sad/scary. And I love the music too. And lets face it. Statler and Waldorf make pretty scary Marley ghosts.

This is by far one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Although I do occasionally miss some of my other Christmas movies each year, this is one I always watch. And sometimes multiple times. It's probably time for me to break down and buy the The Muppet Christmas Carol - Kermit's 50th Anniversary EditionDVD, since my old VHS tape is pretty much shot.

In closing, I leave you with one of my favorite parts of A Muppet Christmas Carol (if you're reading this in a feed you might need to click over to view it):

Christmas Childhood Memories

This is a spontaneous Christmas post. Thanks to Sherry at Semicolon who inspired this post.

When I was little we had a tape that had 3 or 4 of these really old Christmas Cartoons. And thanks to Sherry's post, apparently one of them is on YouTube. I knew these were old, but I wouldn't have dated them back the 1930s. Interesting when you learn a little bit more about your childhood staples.

Anyway, I share it with you as a part of my Christmas childhood:


What'd you think? It strikes me as really corny now that I look back on it, but I loved it as a kid. I was always amazed at how he came up with all those toys.