Read, Watch and Vote: Mahoney - Turn Off The Lights & Turn On The Stereo

June 19, 2008

When I first saw the video for Mahoney’s “Turn Off The Lights and Turn On The Stereo” directed by Marty Stano, I was instantly hooked. The song’s garage-punk-pop riffs and sing-along chorus are undeniable. It grabs you from the opening notes and happily take you toe-tapping and head-bouncing forward until you find yourself wailing right along with lead singer Chris Martin on the outro. Honestly, the song has more hooks than a tackle box and makes you want to do as you’re told; turn off the lights and turn on the stereo with Mahoney cranked to 11.

The video goes even further to perfectly complement Mahoney’s pop vision by taking itself lightly, tongue firmly in cheek. This kind of high-energy match-up rarely, if ever, happens by pure coincidence or completely on accident. It takes time, effort and above all else, talent which director Marty Stano displays in spades. Not only is it as fun to watch as it is to listen to, it goes to show what can be done with a single stage, a handful of props, the right lighting and a director’s eye that can see a final product well before the camera even rolls.

It is for this reason it comes as no surprise that the video for “Turn Off The Lights and Turn On The Stereo” has made it into the “Top 8″ for the Super Shorts International Film Festival’s Online Music Video Competition at DailyMotion. It is a well-deserved honor and one Marty, Mahoney and I humbly ask that you show your support for by voting. With more on the topic, I’ll quote a message from Mr. Stano himself:

Hey All,

The music video I directed “Turn Off the Lights and Turn On the Stereo” for Mahoney has made the “Top 8″ for the Super Shorts International Film Festival’s Online Music Video Competition. This is my first music video and I’m pretty psyched!

Now, the online audience determines who the final winner is based on the ratings the video receives- view count doesn’t play a factor. The contest is sponsored by Dailymotion.com and their interface is very similar to Youtube, but with better compression quality. There is a rating box on a five star scale in the “Video Info” part. To rate the video, you need a user name which you can quickly register with any email address.

Please take the short time to register and rate the video, and that is if you dig it over the other videos. Thanks!

Watch and rate the video:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5toyy_mahoney-turn-off-the-lights-and-tur_music

Please forward this to anyone that may be interested.

Mahoney - Turn Off The Lights and Turn On The Stereo

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Gigantic Moon on June 18th. Don’t Miss It!

June 17, 2008

Be sure to catch the Solstice Moon Illusion tomorrow evening as it rises in the East. For more information, see the following article:

“Sometimes you just can’t believe your eyes. This week is one of those times.

On Wednesday night, June 18th, step outside at sunset and look around. You’ll see a giant form rising in the east. At first glance it looks like the full Moon. It has craters and seas and the face of a man, but this “moon” is strangely inflated. It’s huge!

You’ve just experienced the Moon Illusion.

There’s no better time to see it. The full Moon of June 18th is a “solstice moon”, coming only two days before the beginning of northern summer. This is significant because the sun and full Moon are like kids on a see-saw; when one is high, the other is low. This week’s high solstice sun gives us a low, horizon-hugging Moon and a strong Moon Illusion.”

Complete article:
http://www.labspaces.net/6763/_Solstice_Moon_Illusion

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Happy Friday the Thirteenth, Paraskavedekatriaphobes

June 13, 2008

Note: I originally made this post several years ago, but since today is the only Friday the Thirteenth until February, 2009, I figured I would update and repost it. Enjoy.

A friend of mine collects and reviews perfumes, scents and mixed oils for Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. She was saying that they released a limited edition scent called 13 in honor of Friday the 13th. She read me the description (or should I say preamble) of the scent and I was blown away. It was exceptionally informative! Those of you who frequent my blog know how I love to discover and share the origins of things, so you’ll instantly realize why I dig this so much.

Give it a read:
13 is significant, whether you consider it lucky, unlucky or just plain odd. Many believe it to be unfortunate…

… because there were 13 present at the Last Supper.
… Loki crashed a party of 12 at Valhalla, which ended in Baldur’s death.
… Oinomaos killed 13 of Hippodamia’s suitors before Pelops finally, in his own shady way, defeated the jealous king.
… In ancient Rome, Hecate’s witches gathered in groups of 12, the Goddess herself being the 13th in the coven.

Concern over the number thirteen echoes back beyond the Christian era. Line 13 was omitted form the Code of Hammurabi.

The shivers over Friday the 13th also have some interesting origins:

… Christ was allegedly crucified on Friday the 13th.
… On Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrests of Jaques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and sixty of his senior knights.
… In British custom, hangings were held on Fridays, and there were 13 steps on the gallows leading to the noose.

To combat the superstition, Robert Ingersoll and the Thirteen Club held thirteen-men dinners during the 19th Century. Successful? Hardly. The number still invokes trepidation to this day. A recent whimsical little serial killer study showed that the following murderers all have names that total thirteen letters:

Theodore Bundy
Jeffrey Dahmer
Albert De Salvo
John Wayne Gacy

And, with a little stretch of the imagination, you can also fit ‘Jack the Ripper’ and ‘Charles Manson’ into that equation.

More current-era paranoia: modern schoolchildren stop their memorization of the multiplication tables at 12. There were 13 Plutonium slugs in the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. Apollo 13 wasn’t exactly the most successful space mission. All of these are things that modern triskaidekaphobes point to when justifying their fears.

For some, 13 is an extremely fortuitous and auspicious number…

… In Jewish tradition, God has 13 Attributes of Mercy. Also, there were 13 tribes of Israel, 13 principles of Jewish faith, and 13 is considered the age of maturity.
… The ancient Egyptians believed that there were 12 stages of spiritual achievement in this lifetime, and a 13th beyond death.
… The word for thirteen, in Chinese, sounds much like the word which means “must be alive”.

Thirteen, whether you love it or loathe it, is a pretty cool number all around.

… In some theories of relativity, there are 13 dimensions.
… It is a prime number, lucky number, star number, Wilson Prime, and Fibonacci number.
… There are 13 Archimedean solids.

AND…
… There were 13 original colonies when the United States were founded.

Says a lot about the US, doesn’t it?

In our paean to all the mysteries surrounding this enigmatic number, there are thirteen lucky and unlucky components, including white chocolate, tangerine, currant, mandarin, white tea and iris. (Gender Neutral).

Source: BPAL: Limited Edition

Naturally, Wikipedia has a lot more information on Friday the Thirteenth if you’re interested to learn more. Oh, and about the title:

Paraskavedekatriaphobia: The fear of Friday the 13th. The word is derived from the concatenation of the Greek words Paraskeví (Παρασκευή) (meaning Friday), and dekatreís (δεκατρείς) (meaning thirteen), attached to phobía (φοβία) (meaning fear). The term is a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, a simple phobia (fear) of the number thirteen appearing in any case.

Happy Friday the 13th!

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Memphis and Alabama - Pre-travel

May 26, 2008

So come tomorrow morning, I’ll be flying into Memphis for a day, then driving to Alabama the next day (where to exactly I’m still not sure yet), then driving back to Memphis the day after that, then two more days there, then flying back into DET.

Since I haven’t been to Memphis before, can anyone tell me anywhere good to eat, drink, hang out, check out, explore, etc? Thanks!

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I Want To Know: Interviews

May 12, 2008

As a fan of interviews and biographies, I love shows like Bravo’s “Inside The Actors Studio“, “The Henry Rollins Show” on IFC and things like morning drive-time radio where they call up some actor, director, musician, whatever and rapid-fire questions at them. I recently found myself watching a few back-and-forth style interviews on MySpace’s “Artist on Artist” series and started thinking about who I would want to interview given the chance.

My mental Rolodex flipped through everyone from favorite rock stars to interesting actors to major inventors to politicians to modern day visionaries and beyond. For me the question went from “who” to “who first?” I can’t say I even have it narrowed down to a Rob Gordon-stlye Top 5 yet, but I thought I would throw the question out to all of you as well, so here it is:

Given the opportunity, who would you interview and, if you wish to share, why did you choose them?

I really am authentically interested in hearing who you would choose and why. If I may narrow it down a bit, try to keep them real (ie. not Spider-Man or The Easter Bunny) and still alive (ie. not Jesus or Abe Lincoln). Feel free to be as loquacious or as brief as you’d like and thanks in advance for quelling my curiosity.

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