Best of Funny Christmas Movies, TV & Music
Surviving another month in the “holiday spirit” echo chamber made me ponder, “Which of these movies, television episodes, and songs do I actually enjoy?”
Best Christmas Movie
Winner
Die Hard (1988) - ”Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho.” It’s a tale of redemption set on Christmas. That makes it a Christmas movie. Deal with it.
Runner-up
Elf (2003) – Everyone likes this movie. If you don’t I recon you might be one of those damned communists.
Best Christmas Television Episode
Winner
South Park – Woodland Critter Christmas (Season 8, Episode 14, 2004) – Stan helps some adorable Woodland Critters give birth to their savior. Insanity ensues. This isn’t for the faint of heart, or for young children.
Runner-up
Futurama – Xmas Story (Season 2, Episode 8 1999) – 1,000 years in the future, a robotic santa (John Goodman) distributes gifts on Xmas. Robot Santa’s behavior standards were set too high in the factory and he judges everyone as naughty… And tried to murder them for their misdeeds.
Best Christmas Song
Winner
O Holy Night – Matt Mulholland - Be sure to read the description of this song, and stick around for the crescendo at the end; Mulholland has exceptional vocal range.
Runner-up
The Night Santa Went Crazy - Weird Al Yankovic
Happy Holidays!
Arm Cannon = Metal + Classic Gaming
Instrumental music (acoustic or electric) is my personal preference for work time for all of the reasons your would assume. I’ve been working a ton lately, so I’ve been listening to a lot of instrumental artists ranging from Bela Fleck, to Rodrigo y Gabriela & Jake Shimabukuro. On the geekier side, I’ve also discovered an awesome band called Arm Cannon.
Arm Cannon takes their name from Mega Man’s primary weapon, they combine metal and classic 8 & 16 bit music in creative and fun ways. There’re a lot of bands out there that do this, but Arm Cannon is my new favorite.
If you like that, consider checking out two albums; they’ve got a lot of great music.
In other news, I was off the blogging wagon for a while, but I’m back on.
Stunning Flute/Guitar Duet of Mega Man 9 Song
I’ve been listening to this Flute/Guitar Duet of Splash Woman’s song from Mega Man 9 on a loop.
FYI – For no reason the last minute minute of this song is dead air.
Enjoy!
(Via Kotaku)
Actor Wil Wheaton Explains Why the Entertainment Industry Causes Piracy
Actor/ geek Wil Wheaton (Stand By Me, The Guild, Eureka) explains why the entertainment causes piracy through stupidity.
I haven’t really pirated anything in a very long time because I earn enough money to pay for my own stuff. However I have bittorrented movies, music & games after purchasing legit versions simply because the cracked versions were more user-friendly than the locked-down crap I paid for.
Also, it’s become clear that pirates are also the best customers.
(Via techdirt)
Rodrigo y Gabriela, “Live in France” Review
Insane guitar duo, and my favorite band Rodrigo y Gabriela (RyG) have released a new live album called Live in France.
It basically captures their latest tour, and most of their second studio album 11:11 (minus Atman, Logos & Master Maqui).
The good
RyG are the only band I know of where I at the very least like every song they have released. I absolutely love their music, and Live in France is no exception.
Five songs stand-out:
Hanuman (dedicated to Carlos Santana) – This rocking first track will get your blood flowing
Gabriela’s Solo – Gabriela is easily one of the most incredible guitarists playing today. Her approach to playing rhythm guitar while filling in percussion blows me away even after years of watching her play. Most guitarists, I can watch and feel confident that if I practice my ass off, one day I could play like that… I have never once felt I could, or ever will be able to reproduce a single bar of her work. Ever. Needless to say, her solo is spectacular.
11:11 (dedicated to Pink Floyd) – Spacey and beautiful, whenever I listen to this song I find myself wishing it would last for 20 or 30 minutes.
Rodrigo’s Solo – The dude can shred, and this solo rocks. Most shredders play on electric guitars with a ton of distortion, Rodrigo does it on an acoustic guitar without distortion. If you don’t play guitar, let me assure you, what he does is incredibly difficult.
Tamacun – My favorite track on the album, Tamacun is a party in song form.
The not-so-good
This may sound ridiculous, but I’m upset that there isn’t more on this album.
I saw RyG on this tour at Radio City Music Hall, and two of the standout performances for me were Atman performed with Alex Skolnick, and Orion performed with Metallica’s Rob Trujillo. I desperately wanted recordings of those performances on this album, and I’m very disappointed by their absence.
To be blunt, as great as Live in France is, the show they put on in New York was better.
The bottom-line
This album is so good that my only complaint is that it isn’t longer. RyG manage to create difficult and unique music that is also very intense and beautiful. It’s a rare feat.
Regardless of your musical tastes, I think you will find something to love on this record.
Buy Live in France:
CD – Download (Amazon) – Download (iTunes)
Download the “Bastion” Soundtrack
Last week I reviewed the downloadable game, Bastion, and I liked it a lot. Probably my favorite part of the game was the music. I wrote:
“The mostly guitar driven music is crazy good. The acoustic ‘In Case of Trouble’ at the beginning of the game sets the mood magnificently… Later in the game, there is a swampy electric guitar track named ‘Spike in a Rail’ that added a lot to the beautiful environment… If I could buy this soundtrack I would.”
It turns out, you can acquire the soundtrack for the low price of $10.00.
Give it a listen:
