On that note

In light of Nick's enlightened article on parenting in the digital age, I thought I'd share this skit from Taylor Swift's relatively recent appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live. I found it timely and appropriate and weirdly accurate.

And, while we're on the subject-- if you haven't been watching, next time you need to waste a hot minute, check out this season's SNL. Critics haven't been stoked on the season but I'm going to politely refute their assertions and tell you all that the sketch comedy show is at its funniest since the golden days of Tina Fey and Will Ferrell circa 1998. Beyond Swift's adorable performance, don't miss the episode hosted by steamy Gerard Butler. This particular skit may or may not have caused me to pee in my pants. Yeah.

Compare & Contrast

I was Google Video searching for an episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and I randomly came across this clip of Juliet Weybret, an adorably talented girl who does a surprisingly great* cover of Taylor Swift's 'Should've Said No':

This girl is 16 years old, and accordingly you'll find covers of the likes of Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers (along with more Taylor Swift) on her YouTube page. But sister girlfriend writes her own songs too, and sure they're all semi-cliched songs about star-crossed teenage lovers and stuff, but honestly, I listened to them and ended up nodding my head like yeah.

Anyway, if you though she was good, go listen to a few more of her tunes on MySpace or YouTube, become a fan on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter. I always feel that people like this should be encouraged.

All of this to say that this talented girl's video jogged my memory of another YouTube-published cover of the same song. I'm going to go ahead and let it screech for itself:

For some background-- this sad little person is 19 years old and I'm pretty sure the poor thing takes herself dead seriously. Perez Hilton found the clip a few months ago and it has since gotten over two and a half million hits on YouTube. She takes this to mean that she should continue to film and post her musical stylings on the internet. Yeah, I wish I was kidding.

* Yeah, that sentence probably has too many modifiers in close proximity to each other.

I wanna be Taylor Swift for a day.

So the makers of Guitar Hero have made their own version of Rock Band (appropriately named Band Hero), but they have Taylor Swift on their side.

Yeah, they win.

As to Kanye 's little, um, 'moment'...

MTV Shows

I'm pretty sure he was kinda drunk. And by the time he posted an apology on his official blog, he was straight up hammered*:

“I’M SOOOOO SORRY TO TAYLOR SWIFT AND HER FANS AND HER MOM. I SPOKE TO HER MOTHER RIGHT AFTER AND SHE SAID THE SAME THING MY MOTHER WOULD’VE SAID. SHE IS VERY TALENTED! I LIKE THE LYRICS ABOUT BEING A CHEERLEADER AND SHE’S IN THE BLEACHERS! …………………… I’M IN THE WRONG FOR GOING ON STAGE AND TAKING AWAY FROM HER MOMENT!…………….. BEYONCE’S VIDEO WAS THE BEST OF THIS DECADE!!!!

I’M SORRY TO MY FANS IF I LET YOU GUYS DOWN!!!! I’M SORRY TO MY FRIENDS AT MTV. I WILL APOLOGIZE TO TAYLOR 2MRW. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD!!!! EVERYBODY WANNA BOOOOO ME BUT I’M A FAN OF REAL POP CULTURE!!! NO DISRESPECT BUT WE WATCHIN’ THE SHOW AT THE CRIB RIGHT NOW CAUSE … WELL YOU KNOW!!!! I’M STILL HAPPY FOR TAYLOR!!!! BOOOYAAAWWWW!!!! YOU ARE VERY VERY TALENTED!!! I GAVE MY AWARDS TO OUTKAST WHEN THEY DESERVED IT OVER ME… THAT’S WHAT IT IS!!!!!!! I’M NOT CRAZY YALL, I’M JUST REAL. SORRY FOR THAT!!! I REALLY FEEL BAD FOR TAYLOR AND I’M SINCERELY SORRY!!! MUCH RESPECT!!!!!”

Right? There's no other explanation for either the initial douche move and the subsequent struggle with coherence (and the English language as a whole, actually) that he exhibits in his apology.

Long story short, as much as I love Kanye's tracks- and by god I do***- as far as I'm concerned he and Joe Wilson can hold hands, braid each other's hair, and go to hell together.

*UPDATE: I've just been tipped off to this blog entry. God, I'm so right.

**(Equally douchey)

***Just ask my long suffering ex-roomie, the lovely Abbie. She's gone through more than one week-long period over which I've refused to listen to anything else. And we're talking nothing else... only Kanye.

Happiness

Since I've been having fun with music videos lately, I thought I'd share the perfectly adorable video to the perfectly adorable song, Fireflies, by Adam Young's Owl City. Prepare for emotional/spiritual uplift. Yes.

To those with low tolerance for this type of music, I apologize. To all you people like me, you're welcome.

For an additional giggle, have a look at this really fun commercial for the upcoming West Side Story themed MTV video music award featuring the talents of Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Cobra Starship (including a quick cameo by Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester*), some unreal dance moves by NeYo, and, of course, the ever entertaining Mr. Russell Brand.

VMA West Side Story: Full Version

* She did the female lead vocals in Cobra Starship's summer hit Good Girls Go Bad. Actually, she got into show business to be a singer and sort of fell into acting. Who knew? Anyway if you like that song, enjoy a little throwback and go back and listen to Cobra's Snakes on a Plane (Bring it) from a few years ago.

** I don't get a ton of traffic from New York City, but I get enough to point out that Russell Brand will be doing a rare live show tomorrow night in the city. I'm bummed I can't be there so for those of you who can make it, gogogogogo.

Dom's brief yet comprehensive version of the VMA's

It's come to my attention that in the vast array of subjects that my blog covers, I've seriously neglected the music front. So, with the upcoming MTV video music awards, I thought I'd take a moment to share some of my all time favorite music videos with you all. In the spirit of keeping the entry manageable in length, I've come up with three categories that I deemed generally representative of good music videos, and named my top three in each sector.

Disclaimer: This list is probably too heavy in more recent videos (2004-today) and I can't say that I'm any kind of connoisseur, it's just a list of considered preferences that, hopefully, you all will find to be a moderately entertaining distraction-- I know I did.

BEST DANCE:

3. OK Go "A Million Ways"

I don't really have much to say about this-- I'm going to go ahead and stick to my contension that it sort of speaks for itself.

2. Michael Jackson "Bad"

Obviously Michael Jackson has to go somewhere in the best dance category, and most minds jump automatically to the (justifiably) omnipresent Thriller video. Though the clip is undeniably excellent, My vote goes to the criminally underrated video for "Bad". I tend to get bored in dance-heavy videos but the Scorsese directed "Bad" is so expertly put together that you literally can't look away from the screen. If you liked it, you should also check out the 16 minute full length Director's Cut-- Part I, Part II.

1. Britney Spears "Stronger"

I stuggled between this and the classic "Baby, One More Time", however, I decided that when push comes to shove, the chair dance always wins

BEST STORY:

3. T.I. ft. Rihanna "Live Your Life"

Backwards moving story line? Check. Corsets and burlesque Jazz clubs? Check plus. T.I. looking smooth? Check plus plus plus.

2. Taylor Swift "You Belong With Me"

Ok so I know that this choice is cliche but, I'm sorry-- I just don't care. No matter how many times I watch it (and that, I'm sad to say, is a lot of times) this video manages to leave me grinning like an idiot and sighing about my newly restored belief in true love. In three minutes, Taylor Swift succeeds where most full-length romantic comedies have failed.

1. Foo Fighters "Learn To Fly"

This is one of my long time favorites. Just watch it-- if you don't chuckle even a little, I'll send out a search party for your sense of humor.

BEST CONCEPT:

3. The All-American Rejects "Dirty Little Secret"

This particular band is awesome at matching the story of the video to their song in an unexpected way. Where you might expect to see a typical story of secret lust attached to "Dirty Little Secret", the All-American Rejects use the music video to put a unique spin on the song's title. If you liked this one, I also recommend "Move Along".

2. Jay Z "99 Problems"

This is gorgeous. Plain and simple. Just beautiful.

1. Incubus "Drive"

This is my long-standing favorite music video of all time. Fun fact-- Brandon Boyd (the lead singer), did all of the drawings and animation for the clip. Unreal, right?

*****

As I said before, I hope you found this a pleasant distraction. If you guys have any music videos that you think I'd like (or that should at least be called to my attention), leave a comment or send me a facebook message or tweet it to me or whatever. If I like your suggestions enough (or if I get enough suggestions, let's be honest here), I'll do a Reader's Video Music Hall of Fame post. Or something.

Unreal

This may or may not have changed my life.

I may or may not be prone to hyperbole