Archive for the ‘Video’ Category

Daft Punk hit ‘Get Lucky’ spawns viral mash-ups

Wednesday, May 15, 2013 by:jennlouisew@gmail.com (Jennifer Wadsworth)
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When a song goes viral this time of year, you could take it as a sign it’s on track to become the hit of the summer.

Think of Carly Rae Jepsen’s (Carly Rae Who?!) “Call Me Maybe,” which spun into popularity last spring by a Justin Bieber tweet and subsequent YouTube parody. Or Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” which inspired a deafening chorus of knock-offs in early 2007, which, in the dizzying hot-one-minute-gone-the-next YouTube age, already seems like ancient times.

Daft Punk’s suspenseful marketing build-up to the launch of their first album in eight years, “Random Access Memories,” created enough anticipation that it boiled over into a myriad of cover song tributes to the collection’s capstone tune, “Get Lucky.” Electronica-house faithfuls couldn’t wait to hear it, let alone reinterpret the latest from everyone’s favorite and oft-imitated robot-impersonating French techno-pop duo whose current hit tops the charts in 55 countries, including the United Kingdom. Here’s the official audio in all its polished retro-funkadelic glory:

The Wall Street Journal compiled some of the best covers of the bubbly dance tune, which got us to poke around for a few more takes. Take a look at these tributes to Daft’s be-boppitty collab with Pharrell Williams.

Daughter

Here’s an ambient remix of the bright, bouncy original, interpreted for BBC Radio One Live Lounge by three-member British indie folk group Daughter. There’s no video here, just a track laid over a lovely monochromatic still of the band’s lead songstress, Elena Tonra. Somehow they managed to take a funky dance hit and transform it into something sad, calm, yet still-recognizable.

George Barnett

This willowy high fashion model turned one-man band serves up one of the most faithful reinventions of the Daft Punk hit, staying true to the let-it-loose spirit of the catchy dancey inspiration. And he manages to do it all by his lonesome, cutting video from itty bitty keyboard to mic to drums to guitar to a cow bell he plays with a drum stick. The result already captured close to 2 million views on YouTube.

Forsythe

You could call this a cover of a cover. To prove the song’s danceability, avid YouTuber and hoofer extraordinaire “takeSomeCrime” gets funky with it in what appears to be a studio-slash-bedroom, choosing Barnett’s masterful remix to pop-and-lock to. Dude’s energy is infectious, with all his mesmerizing moves, alternately halting and fluid.

Igor Presnyakov

This YouTube acoustic guitar superstar who posted some jaw-dropping non-electronic renditions of Scrillex last fall wasted no time in uploading his take on Daft Punk’s latest. It’s amazing to hear how much sound he pulls from a solo unplugged performance.

JB Craipeau

Tough to tell if this is truly sans soundtrack of any kind, but the guy who posted it did so claiming it’s an a capella cover. If the  sounds here really do come from layered tracks of the same man’s voice and nothing else, then, well, nicely done, JB.

Pitbull

If you’re in the mood to hear the groovy original butchered into a mess of novice club-rap rhymes, then check out this version  courtesy of “Mr. Worldwide,” who, as Idolator bluntly put it, “mindlessly rip[s] the life out of this thing as quickly as possible.”

WSJ suggests you also take note of these covers by The Struts, Postmen and Peace and the Mystery Jets. Do you have a cover you’d like to share? Post a link in the comments.

h/t Wall Street Journal

Find Jennifer Wadsworth on Twitter at @jennwadsworth.

Man mauled by dogs while others take video

Thursday, May 2, 2013 by:Peter Hockaday
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An Australian man suffered severe injuries after being attacked by four dogs earlier this week, and he can’t believe witnesses didn’t help him.

According to the Herald Sun, the man was pinned up against a fence and attacked by four American Staffordshire terriers near his apartment. The attack occurred in Carlton, a Melbourne suburb, on Tuesday night.

The Herald Sun says the incident lasted 15 minutes, and passers-by took video instead of helping. The victim’s son, Vi, told the paper: “My father was very upset when he saw that they were taping the attack and not helping. … My father is very big and tall. Imagine if it was a child the dogs went for.”

Here’s some of that video. Warning: It’s graphic.

Eventually, a security guard took a stick to the dogs and two other men helped get between the dogs and the victim. He was taken to the hospital as “his clothes were ripped to shreds,” according to one witness.

9 News reported that the dogs and the owners are still being sought.

Update: Found ‘Vietnam veteran’ exposed as fraud

Wednesday, May 1, 2013 by:jennlouisew@gmail.com (Jennifer Wadsworth)
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vietnam_veteran

Vietnam War POW Sgt. John Hartley Robertson was purportedly found alive and well 44 years later. (Photo via The Independent)

Update: The story was exposed as a fraud, according to The Independent, which published the original report. The man calling himself U.S. Army Sgt. John Hartley Robertson is believed to be a Vietnamese citizen of French descent who has made a history out of claiming he is a U.S. Army veteran.

***

Original story: In 1968, U.S. Army Sgt. John Hartley Robertson fell into the jungle, his helicopter shot down over Laos in a top-secret mission during the Vietnam War. If Hollywood had its way with the script, the Green Beret would have been welcomed home a hero after a daring rescue. In reality, history presumed him slain, relegating his name to war memorials and funeral pamphlets.

A new film by Emmy-winning documentarian Michael Jorgensen tells the story of this Alabama-born soldier lost at war. “Unclaimed” purports to have found Robertson in a remote jungle, his frame bent with age, his memory of his wife and children’s names erased by the trauma of war. He no longer speaks English.

The documentary follows Vietnam veteran Tom Faunce, who, while on a humanitarian trip to Southeast Asia in 2008, heard tales of an army brother forgotten by his own government and left to start a new life in Vietnam. At first, the filmmaker set out to debunk these claims and expose the man as a poser. But the evidence seemed to suggest otherwise.

“The MIA story was pretty unbelievable, pretty grandiose,” Jorgenson told the Daily Mail. “Tom went to meet him and was very skeptical, grilling this guy up and down, trying to get him to break.”

Through a translator, the 76-year-old man tells his account: How the North Vietnamese captured him after his helicopter crash, how they trapped him in a bamboo cage and tortured him for years. Eventually, his captors released him, physically and mentally broken. A widowed woman found him lost in the jungle, nursed him back to health and eventually married him. Taking on his wife’s late husband’s identifying information, he registered as a French-Vietnamese citizen named Dan Tan Ngoc.

Another surprising twist about the supposed rediscovery is how the American family reacted. Instead of submitting to DNA testing, his sister says she’s happy to simply assume this man is Robertson while the woman who’s possibly his American wife inexplicably dropped out of participating in the documentary midway.

But stories of missing soldiers rarely end with much closure, and here’s one that at least seems to have come close enough.

h/t Daily Mail

Find Jennifer Wadsworth on Twitter at @jennwadsworth.

Video: Fan catches foul ball in beer cup, chugs the beer

Thursday, April 11, 2013 by:Peter Hockaday
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At Safeco Field on Wednesday, there was one bad catch and one good catch. The bad: Mariners right fielder Michael Saunders ran into the outfield wall making a catch and sprained his shoulder in an 8-3 loss to the Houston Astros. The good: A Seattle fan made a spectacular catch with his beer, and chugged the beer with the ball still in the cup.

The guy gets high marks for creativity, low marks for execution, as he ended up with about $5 worth of beer on his shirt. Plus he made quite the impression on the kid behind him, who looks excited enough to try the move himself. Not ’til you’re 21, young man!

Separated twins? Reunited via YouTube, they raise funds to meet

Thursday, April 4, 2013 by:Peter Hockaday
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Samantha and Anais (Kickstarter)

In 2013, if you think you’ve got a long-lost twin, there’s one way to find out: Connect on Facebook, Skype each other, and raise money on Kickstarter to meet up and get a DNA test.

According to their Kickstarter page, Samantha Futerman and Anaïs Bordier have already hit their Kickstarter goal of $30,000, so you can expect a documentary about their unique reunion. Their story is like a flipped Catfish: The internet made a perfect match.

Futerman and Bordier say they were both born in South Korea on Nov. 19, 1987, and adopted. Futerman grew up in New Jersey and eventually moved to Los Angeles to act, while Bordier studied fashion in London after growing up in Paris. One day, Bordier’s friend posted a screenshot on Facebook showing Futerman in this YouTube video. After some online sleuthing and an appearance by Futerman in the “21 and Over” trailer, Bordier tracked down her apparent twin and sent her a message:

(Kickstarter)

The two connected, chatted online and discovered similarities, including their shared lactose intolerance and “apparent napoleon complex.” Now they plan to reunite and get a DNA test to confirm the match. The meetup will be filmed and:

“The film will touch upon nature vs. nurture, adoption, sisterhood, & the power of social media. Our goal is to reveal every step of their journey, in order to exhibit an experience never documented before.”

Long-lost twins, coming to a YouTube/Skype/Twitter/theater near you.

Lawyer: You can’t take a zombie to court

Monday, April 1, 2013 by:dana.guthrie@chron.com (Dana Guthrie)
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The job market’s been pretty dire for new law school grads, so perhaps it’s not surprising that one lawyer, Ryan Davidson, is spending his time evaluating the possible legal situations a zombie or other fantastical creature might find himself in.

Esquire editor claims women are meant to be objects

Tuesday, March 26, 2013 by:michael.damante@chron.com (Mike Damante)
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Alex Bilmes, editor at Esquire magazine, says women that they feature in there magazine are ornamental. After that interview, people immediately hit the social sphere calling him “sexist” and “from the wrong century.” What do you think?

Why NASA chief said prayer is the way to go with an asteroid

Thursday, March 21, 2013 by:Laura Weisman
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About a month after a meteor hit the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, a U.S. House panel led by Texas’ Rep. Lamar Smith, put scientists on the hot seat, asking if the United States is prepared for such an event.

NASA administrator Charles Bolden was widely reported to have told them that if an asteroid is headed to Earth, his advice is to “pray.” He did say that, but as is often the case, it’s not the whole story.

“The funding did not come,” Bolden said. “And so the answer to you is, if it’s coming in three weeks, uh, pray.”

NASA leaders and administration officials told members of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee on Tuesday that most of the massive “near-earth objects” are being tracked and pose no immediate threat.

“Unfortunately, the number of undetected potential ‘city killers’ is very large,” said John Holdren, assistant to President Barack Obama for science and technology. “It’s in the 10,000 range or more.”

Congress has directed NASA to improve methods to be able to identify and track 90 percent of meteors 140 meters or more in diameter by 2020. That’s task that will likely not be achieved until 2030, using current budget estimates, Bolden said.

The estimate was not “particularly reassuring” to the committee’s chairman, Smith, who said he’d look into “possible budgetary assistance.”

Bolden said scientists need more telescopes in outer space. “Ground-based systems are great. … But if you really want to find and detect asteroids and near-earth objects early enough that we can do something, you want that vehicle to be in space,” he said.

To do all this, NASA needs a lot of “budgetary assistance.” Check out Holdren’s estimates:

Detection efforts = $100 million a year.
Mitigation efforts = $2 billion between now and 2025.
Air Force Space Command = $200-300 million a year.

So … maybe “pray” doesn’t seem like such a flip answer?

– Alison Sullivan of Texas on the Potomac contributed to this report.

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