Last night I was thinking about my favorite music videos of all time after looking at Michael Gondry’s list of his favorite 25. Since I am a huge fan of hip hop, it’s no surprise that many of them are from hip hop artists. So, here they are (links go to YouTube since some of them can’t be embedded):
The Roots- The Next Movement
Not only is this such a good song, but it’s a very creative video. The video shows the band performing in various positions and brings humor and simplicity to the video. Just the look of Amir “?uestlove” Thompson when he has his bandmates sitting on his shoulders makes the video well worth it.
2pac- Changes
This has to be the best posthumous Tupac video. It is a great tribute to a brilliant rapper, poet, and actor. With scenes from his other music videos, his movie roles, and interviews he gave early in life, it is a powerful piece of work. The icing on the cake is when the camera zooms out on all these images and TV screens to show a mosaic of Tupac. Great video.
Michael Jackson- Thriller
Did you really think I wouldn’t include this one? Basically a mini-movie, this defined the epic music video. Great story, great song, great choreography. What else can be said?
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – Mary Jane’s Last Dance
I remember seeing this video while I was in 7th grade. It is a very creepy video. The house on the cliff in the moonlight is very Tim Burton-ish. The ending scene of the video when the body floats to the surface… Sends chills up my spine every time.
Prodigy – Smack My Bitch Up
This video wouldn’t be that great if it weren’t for the ending. I don’t want to spoil it so I won’t say much about this one. Just watch it. All the way through. Very good video.
Pearl Jam- Do the Evolution
This Tod McFarlane animated video is very powerful. It goes along well the song and show that even though we may become more and more advanced we’re still really just the same.
Common – Come Close
This is a really great video by Chicago rapper Common. The song is about love and features Common driving over to his girlfriend’s house and rapping to her from her lawn. He has large cue cards showing what he is saying because his girlfriend in the video is deaf. It’s a really good song and video.
Pearl Jam- Jeremy
This video is simply amazing. This video was banned from the music channels because of its violence. The video shows a kid being picked on and made fun of so much that he loses it and at the end of the video he shoots himself at school in the middle of class. The imagery, the colors, the stop motion of the direction makes it a very powerful video.
Talib Kweli- Get By
This video came out after 9/11 and is a great look at New York City. When I look at it my mind thinks Spike Lee. One thing that stand out about Spike Lee is how authentic his films look. That’s how this video looks. Authentic. Talib raps in various places in New York and the camera delivers great panoramic shots of the city. It truly is a beautiful video.
Bone Thugs N Harmony – Crossroads
This video came out when I was in 7th grade and it has been stuck with me ever since. It is a very powerful and moving video and helped propel this Cleveland, OH rap group to superstardom and a Grammy award. If you ask anyone who listens to rap what their favorite rap songs of all time are, this is sure to be on their list.
There you have it. There are many videos that I really like that aren’t on the list and it was hard to come up with my top 10, but as I think about it, these have to be them. At least for now.
The Dark Knight
I have to say I am extremely excited about The Dark Knight coming out. The movie looks to be fantastic. The viral marketing is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Just check out Gotham Cable News, Gotham National Bank, and The Gotham Times for examples.
I thought Batman Begins was great and I knew they had to make another. Every preview for TDK I’ve seen has blown me away. This does not look like a comic book movie. This looks like a crime thriller, such as Heat. It’s being compared to The Godfather II, meaning it’s a sequel that is so good it blows the first film out of the water. There are even whispers going around that if Heath Ledger doesn’t win an Oscar for this it will be a travesty. Christopher Nolan is a talented director and Christian Bale is one of the top actors in the business.
I’m counting down the days until its release. I’ve seen every Batman movie in the theater. I’ve seen every one, since the first back in 1989, when I was 6, with my dad. I’m looking forward to going with him. It’s one of our traditions. 19 years of Batman movies. Thankfully, Christopher Nolan was able to revive the franchise after the horrible Batman and Robin and hopefully he’ll come back for a third in the series reboot. Until then, I’ll continue to drool over more news and previews of TDK and wait impatiently for the day my dad and I can see it together.
Cancer
Just a quick update. My mom has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Please keep her in your thoughts. I will update with her progress as time goes on. She’s a strong fighter and I know we can get through this.
My Ten Favorite Music Videos
Last night I was thinking about my favorite music videos of all time after looking at Michael Gondry’s list of his favorite 25. Since I am a huge fan of hip hop, it’s no surprise that many of them are from hip hop artists. So, here they are (links go to YouTube since some of them can’t be embedded):
The Roots- The Next Movement
Not only is this such a good song, but it’s a very creative video. The video shows the band performing in various positions and brings humor and simplicity to the video. Just the look of Amir “?uestlove” Thompson when he has his bandmates sitting on his shoulders makes the video well worth it.
2pac- Changes
This has to be the best posthumous Tupac video. It is a great tribute to a brilliant rapper, poet, and actor. With scenes from his other music videos, his movie roles, and interviews he gave early in life, it is a powerful piece of work. The icing on the cake is when the camera zooms out on all these images and TV screens to show a mosaic of Tupac. Great video.
Michael Jackson- Thriller
Did you really think I wouldn’t include this one? Basically a mini-movie, this defined the epic music video. Great story, great song, great choreography. What else can be said?
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – Mary Jane’s Last Dance
I remember seeing this video while I was in 7th grade. It is a very creepy video. The house on the cliff in the moonlight is very Tim Burton-ish. The ending scene of the video when the body floats to the surface… Sends chills up my spine every time.
Prodigy – Smack My Bitch Up
This video wouldn’t be that great if it weren’t for the ending. I don’t want to spoil it so I won’t say much about this one. Just watch it. All the way through. Very good video.
Pearl Jam- Do the Evolution
This Tod McFarlane animated video is very powerful. It goes along well the song and show that even though we may become more and more advanced we’re still really just the same.
Common – Come Close
This is a really great video by Chicago rapper Common. The song is about love and features Common driving over to his girlfriend’s house and rapping to her from her lawn. He has large cue cards showing what he is saying because his girlfriend in the video is deaf. It’s a really good song and video.
Pearl Jam- Jeremy
This video is simply amazing. This video was banned from the music channels because of its violence. The video shows a kid being picked on and made fun of so much that he loses it and at the end of the video he shoots himself at school in the middle of class. The imagery, the colors, the stop motion of the direction makes it a very powerful video.
Talib Kweli- Get By
This video came out after 9/11 and is a great look at New York City. When I look at it my mind thinks Spike Lee. One thing that stand out about Spike Lee is how authentic his films look. That’s how this video looks. Authentic. Talib raps in various places in New York and the camera delivers great panoramic shots of the city. It truly is a beautiful video.
Bone Thugs N Harmony – Crossroads
This video came out when I was in 7th grade and it has been stuck with me ever since. It is a very powerful and moving video and helped propel this Cleveland, OH rap group to superstardom and a Grammy award. If you ask anyone who listens to rap what their favorite rap songs of all time are, this is sure to be on their list.
There you have it. There are many videos that I really like that aren’t on the list and it was hard to come up with my top 10, but as I think about it, these have to be them. At least for now.
Hope for Songbird
I recently downloaded and installed Songbird .6. Songbird is the open source music player that is based on Mozilla code. With each release Songbird gets better and better. With this release comes support for larger media libraries, smoother scrolling, improved memory management, faster search, and a bunch of new add-ons. I have a feeling that Songbird will eventually replace Winamp for me. Since AOL took over Winamp it seems to on a steady downhill spiral. The plugins for Winamp are pretty crappy and if you use a skin that isn’t one of the defaults, most of the time the plugins (if they require their own pane) look out of place. This is not so for Songbird. The add-ons are just like the add-ons in Firefox and seamlessly integrate into the program. I have a feeling that there will be a huge community to support Songbird, just as their is with Firefox, that will create great add-ons and themes, or feathers. It’s not going to replace Winamp just yet on my system. While the memory management is better, it still takes up quite a bit of process power. The search often freezes the application as well. The guys behind Songbird are on the right track though. I can’t wait until I’m able to use it full time without any problems.
George Carlin You Will be Missed
1937-2008
He was one of my favorite comedians. I loved his comedy shows, his books, and his performances in movies. He truly was a legend. He will be missed.