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Posts tagged as “Awesome”

I really really love this

This gem comes from illustrator, artist, and cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt. You might remember her from the illustrated review of War Horse that’s been floating around. I absolutely love this drawing. I e-mailed Lisa promises of my undying love if she’d sell me a print. I suppose we’ll see what happens. I want to hang it in my office. Some interweb snooping reveals that she grew up in Palo Alto, a town neighboring where I grew up. Funny.

Like a colossal space bear squeezing Earth juice

Remember the Dollar Shave Club spot posted previously? Well, here we have an ad (of specious legitimacy) for a brand of Lithuanian mineral water called Vytautas. And boy is it ever a great ad. Even if it isn’t real (it isn’t), it’s great (it is).

Let’s make a list of all the things I like about it.

  • Yelling.
  • Polar bear riding a laser-spewing orca.
  • Birds and fish.
  • Digest bricks, leather jackets, richest cuisine, Icelandic cuisine, and this goat on a boat.
  • Pig & iPad sandwich.
  • 1 milk. 1 banana. 1 jet fighter you knocked from the sky with a crossbow.
  • Electric eel.
  • Freddie Mercury.
  • Time travel.
  • Screaming bunny.
  • Sexy like a tiger in a Bucati powered by liquified thoughts of the universe.
  • Panda gang rape.
  • Give a negative fuck.
  • The description of the taste.
  • Guy riding a buffalo riding an ATV.
  • Colossal space bear squeezing Earth juice.
  • Tractor sex.
  • Boobs or cheese? SMART CHOICE.

Did you get all that? Good. Now watch it again. Love.

Pulp’s “Mis-Shapes”

Much has been written on The Black Laser about Pulp. I am a fan. A big fan. But, until recently, Pulp had not uploaded this video to the Youtubes. So, here it is: the video from the first track off 1995’s Different Class, “Mis-Shapes”. I don’t have a lot to say about it. It’s pretty great and the song too. Enjoy.

Also, I can’t possibly express how super mega fucking excited I am to go see Pulp perform at Radio City Music Hall in April. LIKE WHOA. I have an extra ticket too. Anyone want to go?

Dollar Shave Club: Advertising done so, so right

My work compatriot Mike sent me this video today while I should have been working. Instead, I watched the video and am now wasting more time telling all of you about the video. C’est la vie, eh?

The video is an ad for a new website called Dollar Shave Club which is dedicated to bringing men (and women, I suppose) affordable razors.

From their About page:

We got tired of spending $15-$20 every time we bought razor blades. We asked ourselves, did we really need all this fancy technology in our shave: a vibrating handle, LED guide-lights, 8-blades, and grip that could steady a 9-iron? The answer was a defiant “No”!

We felt like we’d been over-marketed to. “Big Shave” companies keep telling us we need more expensive equipment, but why? Shaving should be simple. It sure used to be. Look at old photos of your father & grandfather. They didn’t have extreme shave gear, and they look pretty handsome, don’t they?

So… we teamed up with one of the world’s leading blade manufacturers and created signature 2, 4, and 6 blade razors. They’ve got everything you need in a shave: stainless steel blades, lubrication bars, and pivoting heads.

Seems pretty neat to me, but they’ve forgotten man’s most affordable, most rugged shaving method: the humble, magnificent, thrift safety razor. I switched to the safety razor years and years ago after becoming fed up with the poor shaves I was getting from more modern razors. Plus, as they said above, who wants to spend 15-20 bucks for fucking cartridges? Then you try and drag out blades WELL past when you should and you get piss poor shaves. No thanks.

With a minor investment in brush and handle, safety razors are your best friend when shaving. There are numerous of brands of blades on the market, all of which are incredibly cheap. My personal favorites, the Turkish Derby Extras. A few years ago, Jesse and I got a sample pack of razors and determined that the Derbies were the best: just sharp enough but not too sharp (Feathers, I’m looking at you), hold an edge well, and are inexpensive. For 20 cents a blade, you really don’t mind shaving with it three or four times and then replacing it. And therein is the advantage: with a constantly sharp blade (and a good afetrshave), you tend not to suffer from cuts and ingrown hairs and razor burn so endemic with dull, shitty blades. Think about it this way: have you ever tried to cut a tomato with a dull knife? Think about what happens to the poor tomato. Same thing with your face.

Plus, since I shave MAYBE once every 5 to 7 days (not for lack of hair; purely from laziness), I spend maybe a dollar on razors a month. Quite a bit like what they are charging for their baseline razor, but I get a vastly superior shave. In fact, if these guys were smart, they’d offer a double edge razor offer. Maybe like 10 razors a month for a buck. 5 for 50 cents? There’s got to be something there for the safety razor enthusiast. And hell, I’d like to support Dollar Shave Club. Seems like a good crüe.

So, if you’re not yet enlightened to the joys of a good wetshave with a safety razor, check these dudes out. I like their thing and this ad is pure brilliance.

Turntablerocker’s “Alles Auf Die 303”

I love this a lot. At first you’re all, “Man, this is a totally normal music video of a panda chilling out in his hotel room. He calls the front desk. What’s weird about this?” And then BOOM—pole dancing chicks emerge from the ceiling. And then it gets better. Watch the whole thing! Enjoy it! It is NOT work safe for you people with serious jobs, but I won’t spoil why not. Needless to say, you’ll like it and if you don’t you’re wrong.

Huoratron’s “Cryptocracy”

Now that it is embeddable, here is Huoratron’s new track from his forthcoming album Cryptocracy. And it totally rules. Charles described this video best, I think, when he wrote, “so much danish forest bloodrave zombies”. I don’t think I even need to say anything else about this, except that they are probably Finnish forest bloodrave zombie, not Danish forest bloodrave zombies. Watch the video. If you have epilepsy, don’t watch the video. The warning up front is accurate. Lots and lots of flashing things.

Huoratron’s “$$ Troopers”

I read that Huoratron is coming out with a record and thought, “Man, did I ever post that on The Black Laser????” And guess what?!?! I hadn’t! What the hell! How could I let you all down like that?!?

On the strength of this one track, Charles and I went to see Huoratron (pronounced “whore-a-tron”) at Webster Hall. Prior to the show we sat in front of a college dorm and drank a couple 4 Lokos (the old, good kind) each. They we went into the seething madness that is a party at Webster Hall and danced until we were sweaty, awful messes. It was great. Huoratron’s set was fucking awesome and jarring and dissonant. A lot like this video, but, you know, like an hour long.

I am pretty psyched about the new record coming out. I just preordered the LP on Amazon. I wanted to share this with all of you. There’s another one coming later on.

Misery Loves Company’s “My Mind Still Speaks”

Do you guys remember the 90s? Do you remember how awesome they were and how much awesome metal was coming out at the time? Yeah, so do I. It was great. Misery Loves Company is one of those bands that if you weren’t in the scene at the time you probably have never heard of, but who, for me, scream 90s. “My Mind Still Speaks” comes from their 1995 self-titled debut and I still think it is awesome. I can’t even tell you how many times I listened to that album. It is so good, but I don’t think you’ll like it now. It sounds real dated, but nostalgia is strong. God damn, even the music video is super 90s.