PJH Studios

Category: Pop Culture

Popular culture, culture that seems to spread beyond more than three people

  • My songs of 2010

    Below is the track listing for my 2010 songs. By no means is it exhaustive, but I focused on the songs and albums I listened to. I also left out quite a bit of music I did listen to, notably Arcade Fire, Band of Horses and Sufjan. The ordering is only a track listing and not a ranking. Also, each track is linked to an accompanying video, preferably a live version. Without further ado:

    1. King Charles – The Brightest Lights: This guy hails from England, and phenomenal only begins to describe how cool he is. He performs this live, acapella but repeats the verse, changing certain lines as he goes.
    2. The National – Terrible Love: The National write songs that you may not like on the first listen. They start slow, contain cryptic lyrics and musically, a lot goes on. After the third listen, you’re singing along. Give this song a minute to build, and then wait as it soars.
    3. Broken Social Scene – Meet Me In the Basement: A bouncy, jangly instrumental, perhaps the perfect waltz for an indie rock ice cream man (or woman).
    4. OK Go – This Too Shall Pass: They’ve come far. Far from dancing on treadmills. I’m sure they’re wiser, too. A fun song about letting go–not too many of those.
    5. Doug Burr – I Got This Fever / O Ye Devastator: Doug Burr’s a local guy from Denton. This is a more upbeat track, folky, catchy answering some grand questions.
    6. The Morning Benders – Excuses: It sounds a bit like late-era Beach Boys with the symphonic arrangement, melody swirling and progressing beat.
    7. Beach House – Norway: This song pulses, warming a cold, winter night.
    8. Girl Talk – Triple Double: Sure, that’s some Phoenix you hear at the start, but by the end, listen for Willow Smith. Girl Talk makes songs from other songs for an instant summer party mix.
    9. Sleigh Bells – Rill Rill: Treats (Sleigh Bells’ debut) was my summer album, and in defiant protest to Katy Perry, this was my summer song. The sugary vocals and thumping percussion make for a good drive on a summer night with the windows down.
    10. Yeasayer – I Remember: In love, it’s the beginning and end you remember the most. Vividly.
    11. Vampire Weekend – Horchata: Horchata is made differently, depending on where you are.
    12. The Head and the Heart – Sounds Like Hallelujah: This Pacific Northwest band deserves to be heard with their blend of folk, rock and pop.
    13. Bruno Mars – Count On Me: The Glee kids did this as a sugary confection, but the original keeps the punch.
    14. Mumford & Sons – The Cave: Knowing Mumford & Sons is like knowing a revival, a celebration of the soul with banjos and rockin’ sing alongs. See them live if you can.
    15. Janelle Monáe – Cold War: R&B, jazz and rock get fused together into a space opera.
    16. King Charles – We didn’t start the fire: Sorry for the crappy quality, but it’s the best I could find. Now, imagine if Billy Joel did update his 80s anthem.
    17. The National – Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks: This song, performed unplugged at the Dallas show in October, had a sold out crowd standing, singing and crying.
    18. Titus Andronicus – A More Perfect Union: It begins with a passage from an Abe Lincoln speech and turns into something else entirely. The vocals are raw and defiant, but I think the song’s guitar noodling is epic as it climaxes to a bar room sing along.

  • Homemade Angry Birds game

    A mother made a homemade variation of Angry Birds with the birds made out of various household items. Angry Birds Live, she calls it.

    I used a tennis ball for the red bird, a ping-pong ball for the blue bird, modeling clay for the yellow bird, an Easter egg for the chicken, and a black dodge ball for the bomb bird. I had an old set of cardboard blocks that they never really used, and they were perfect. I printed out pictures of the pigs on labels and stuck them on paper bags.

  • Brett Favre is like the Internet

    In a great example of divergent thinking, Kottke collects a series of tweets by Tim Carmody comparing Brett Favre’s career to that of the Internet.

    In 1995, Favre wins the MVP, the Packers get to the NFC Championships, and Windows 95 brings the internet & graphic interface to the masses.

  • Devour

    You Tube’s recommended videos a little, meh?  Tosh.0’s videos too random or mean-spirited?

    Devour is the site to cure your web video ills.  Clean design that focuses on the videos.  Good videos.  Every now and then one will be no longer available.  So, have a night with the friends and watch awesome You Tube videos.

  • Coordinated camera flashes at a concert

    At concerts, the pop of a camera flash is constant. You see it on TV at the Super Bowl or some other event. At a Robbie Williams concert, for a Nikon ad, he called upon the crowd to raise their cameras and take a picture. The result: