DR HORRIBLE IS THE NEW KANYE WEST

Are teh Emmies over yet?

I feel the same way about the Emmys as I do about the Oscars, the Grammys, and whatever the hell they call the VMAs: they have no influence whatsoever on anything I happen to like. And more often than not, I’ve probably never seen or heard 70% of the nominees. (In the case of the Emmys, make that about 97%, as I don’t actually watch much TV in the first place.)

Also, the actual awards shows don’t really interest me. I don’t need to give 3+ hours of my life watching an event that is essentially an industry event handing out Employee Of The Year awards (only with really famous employees) when I can take one minute to skim an AP story on the winners or watch the highlights on YouTube.

Not that there usually are any. But when there are, the Internet is there for you. That’s because the Internet is the future of television.

Dr Horrible has my back on this.

"Lou Reed - Sweet Jane from Rock n Roll Animal" (Watch on YouTube)

[Glommed via wookiemonster ]

I’ve come for my award,

This is dF

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (FACEBOOK EDITION)

People often ask me why I’m generally not that worried about the youth of today, what with their crazy clothes, wild music, illiterate text messaging and social networking replacing actual human communication.

The answer is simple: it’s all been said before.

Not verbatim, of course. But every new form of communication has been derided by traditionalists as something that will make things worse instead of better. Plato was against writing things down because it would rob our ability to retain knowledge in our heads and it wasn’t interactive.

Ha ha. Good one, Plato.

Anyway, for more information, see this interesting interview with Dennis Baron, a professor of English and linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who has written a book chronicling this very phenomenon:

Baron seeks to provide the historical context that is often missing from debates about the way technology is transforming our lives in his new book, "A Better Pencil." His thesis is clear: Every communication advancement throughout human history, from the pencil to the typewriter to writing itself, has been met with fear, skepticism and a longing for the medium that's been displaced.

ADDENDUM: I think the same applies to music, incidentally. All the criticisms you hear about today’s chart-toppers having a negative influence on the youth? Our parents used to say the exact same thing about our heavy metal albums. And look how we turned out.

The downward spiral,

This is dF

MEMO re: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (DEF LOVE ARMY)

So I find out that Agent Provocateur staged a Love Force March in London.

A full week ago.

( Surveillance photos behind the cut )

Why was I not notified of this?

Remind me what I pay you people for. Honestly, throw me a bone here.

Now I have to post a Media FAQ so Neil Cavuto will stop leaving messages on my machine asking for a two-on-one interview with my Love Captain.

MEDIA FAQ ANSWERS

1. Is Agent Provocateur’s Love Force affiliated with the Def Love Army?
No. The Love Force has nothing to do the Def Love Army. Our uniforms don’t look anything alike.

2. Is yr production company, Terribly Frog Productions, responsible for the new ultimate NSFW Rammstein video, “Pussy”?
No. While it’s true we have been advocating hardcore porn in music videos for some time, we were thinking of something classier.

3. What about the new TV show Glee?
Let me be clear: Team Def is not associated with Glee. If we were, the students would be dancing to Rammstein. And they wouldn’t be making veiled oral sex references. They would be performing it on screen (provided they are over 18, of course, but I have yet to see a TV show set in a high school where the actors were younger than 25, so that wouldn’t be a barrier). I’d have thought this was obvious. Evidently not.

Special forces,

This is dF

BAD COVER VERSION 036.1: ROCKING HORSE PEOPLE EAT MARSHMALLOW PIES

I’m not reclaiming the Bad Cover Version series from bedsitter23 (though I’ve been coming across some great candidates lately, so there may be a co-op deal in the future), but his recent Beatles episode called my attention to VH1’s list of the ten worst Beatles covers ever.

And for the most part I can’t argue with it (though personally, I’m sure there must be much worse covers than Kylie’s take on “Help!”). But I’m going to make a case for William Shatner’s “Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds”.

Why? Because (1) it always makes “Worst Beatles Covers” lists to the point where including it is borderline laziness and (2) it’s not nearly as bad as everyone says.

Obviously I can’t prove that, because all music is subjective. Even the Beatles had (and still have) their share of detractors.

"Lou Reed - Sweet Jane from Rock n Roll Animal" (Watch on YouTube)

But I think the redeeming quality of Shatner's version of “Lucy” is what everyone else seems to hate about it: that demented overacted loopiness that’s so over-the-top that I’m positive Shatner et al intended for it to be hilarious.

In fact, I’m reasonably sure they were taking a cue from Peter Sellers’ brilliant Shakespearian cover of “A Hard Day’s Night”.

"Lou Reed - I Love You Suzanne" (Watch on YouTube)

It’s just that people don’t expect Shatner to do comedy, so they don’t know when he’s doing it. Maybe it would have helped if he’d had the right visuals to go with it.

Like this.

"Lou Reed - Sweet Jane from Rock n Roll Animal" (Watch on YouTube)

Admit it. That’s funny.

BONUS TRACK: For more Beatles cover commentary, feel free to visit the Bad Cover Version Archive (Episode 004).

Carry on.

Waiting to take you away,

This is dF