October 31: Oingo Boingo ~ It’s a Dead Man’s Party

Oh, but it’s so much more than just Oingo Boingo or Dead Man’s Party.

Danny Elfman’s work as composer helped make Nightmare Before Christmas the spectacular artistic effort it is. Combined with Corpse Bride, you have a mash-up of simply epic proportions.

Not the video you remember from the ’80s? There’s a reason. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I love it when Elfman mugs for the camera, but the cuts between the movie Back to School (dreadful full-on ’80s teen angst flick) and Oingo Boingo in concert with animated Day of the Dead figures, makes for a much less cohesive video overall.

Happy Halloween to those who celebrate.

October 30: Halloween Light Show 2011 ~ This Is Halloween

Thinking of my friend Richard on his birthday. He would have been 53 this year, IIRC, Pumpkin pie for a birthday cake. He never quite forgave his mom for being a day early.

Seems appropriate to celebrate Halloween eve with this particular video. I’ve got pumpkin carving on the schedule this evening. Over the top Halloween decorations are part of the fun.

One more day…

October 29: The Charlie Daniels Band ~ The Devil Went Down to Georgia (live) AND The Devil Comes Back to Georgia

In 1979, when this song originally hit the radio, it was a major crossover hit, but more importantly, it was the soundtrack to my summer out west in 1979 and 1980. By then we’d settled down to a summer house just outside Garden City, Utah, with a fabulous (three and a half-mile distant) view of scenic Bear Lake, which straddles the state line between Utah and Idaho and is so close to Wyoming you can see it from the deck.

It was impossible to turn on a radio station (full service – Country AND Western – or Classic Rock) and not hear this song eventually.

Lyrics junkie that I am, I had the whole song memorized before the end of summer.

I’m not a Country music fan by general nature, but when it’s thrust upon me, as it was back then, some stuff just catches my attention. I will never know if it was the white hot sound of Daniels’ fiddle playing or the patter style of the song, but it hardly matters. How else do you beat the devil?

Two days and counting…

But wait. There’s more!

October 28: Zbigniew Zbig Rybczynski,The Orchestra, Funeral march

There’s a story behind this clip.

At some point (and by this I mean *years ago*) I caught a brief clip on the Classic Arts Showcase, If you’ve never encountered it in channel cruising on Cable, you might not have a frame of reference, but for me, often dealing with insomnia, being able to tune in for random clips of ballet, classical music, ancient theatrical films – think Shakespeare – and more, it’s awesome.

One night, I caught the majority of this piece, which (it turns out) was part of a larger whole. And then it took me forever to find out who made the film so I could watch it again, because a random chance encounter on CAS rarely produces a second viewing of the same clip.

I knew of the director (Zbigniew Rybczyński) from short films like Tango and music videos for The Alan Parsons Project, Pet Shop Boys, Art of Noise and more, but had never seen this clip before.

Enter YouTube and IMDB.

October’s list started with this clip. I’ve had it on the list for months. Glad it’s still here for you to watch. Halloween in 3…

October 27: Dumb Ways to Die (times four)

It’s not my fault.

Really.

It started innocently enough, when a young friend of mine suggested I *had* to watch this awesome clip. Yes, yes, I know. That’s how it always starts.

First one’s free and all that.

Obviously, it had to go with the Halloween Count-down, but when I went to find the link to add to my list, curse YouTube for including all those “related video” suggestions, because I would never have found the others. Well, except for the last, because the same young friend pointed it out to me as awesome. And you know what? It is!

Besides, now that you’ve got the earworm, you know where to go to get rid of it again.

You’re welcome. It was nothing. Really.

Heh.

And because it *is* all about movies, after all…

Or maybe Minecraft…

And this is the one said young friend thought was so very awesome. Frankly, I agree.

Four more days left…

October 26: Boris and Bobby do the Monster Mash

It’s no wonder I’ve always had a fondness for this single by Bobby “Boris” Pickett. It arrived on this planet 15 months before I did. I’ve never known a world without Monster Mash. Picket’s impeccable imitation of Boris Karloff makes this campy hit a perennial favorite.

The tune was far and away the most popular Halloween soundtrack for my childhood handily beating I Know An Old Woman and The Cat Came Back. Even the Purple People Eater can’t compete.

Sometime next year, as I continue to add to this archive blog, I’ll get to those other tunes of my early years, but for now let’s just enjoy this super, lipsync’d, earworm-worthy track.

October 25: The Muppets ~ Cårven Der Pümpkîn

One more Muppet clip, because I can. Besides…Who can resist the Swedish Chef? Really?

Pumpkin carving – another annual ritual abused horribly by the Chef.

The Muppet Studios clips – almost all of them designed to help pump up Muppet popularity in advance of The Muppets (2011) – resulted in some selections of sheer genius. Also hugely popular viral videos.

We’re counting down the days to Halloween. One more week to go (a mere six days left).

October 24: Muppet Labs Experiment 2Q975: Carve-O-Matic *and* 5T832: Ghost Hunt

Was there ever a pair more suited to Halloween than Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant, Beaker?

I think not.

Beaker is Everyman. He is the hapless recipient of every wrong thing in the universe. Think about it.

There may be a reason why he is my favorite Muppet, aside from Animal.

But wait! There’s more!!!

October 23: Delta Rae ~ Dance In The Graveyards (Official Video)

Catchy tune, sentimental theme.

And an important one, too, considering the variety of attitudes about life and death, and about Halloween in general.

I have no use whatsoever for zombies (except maybe Michael Jackson’s Thriller) but this is about so much more than just ghosts.

So sorry if I make you cry today. Listen to the music again. It’s important.

So important, I’ve been saving this list up for months. Halloween is ever so much more than just candy and costumes. As it should be.

October 22: THE ART OF NOISE (Feat. MAX HEADROOM) ~ PARANOIMIA 19

Don’t hate me for the earworm I’m gifting you.

Watch Max Headroom get down with his bad self.

Wait.

You don’t know who Max Headroom is?

Really?

Max Headroom – 20 Minutes Into the Future (the original, much better, Brit movie). Wish I could embed it, but it’s disabled on YouTube.

No, don’t thank me. It’s nothing.

October 21: Spooky Mens Chorale ~ Dancing Queen. Shrewsbury Folk Festival

Oh, Lordy. Here we go.

Into the realm of the spooky, the weird, the strange and potentially scary. Only in this case I’m the one who controls the horizontal and vertical and you just entered MY Halloween Zone.

Abba never sounded so…odd.

Counting down to All Hallow’s Eve begins now…

October 20: Honest Trailers – Avatar

Unobtainium?? Really? REALLY???

So, yes, I enjoyed watching the movie (principally because I never sat through Dances With Wolves and had no basis for comparison), but the Ferngully references? Totally there.

And with this last Honest Trailer we segue into the run-up to Halloween. 10 days of theme-appropriate video for your late October.

October 19: Honest Trailers: Titanic

Seriously. No, I never saw the original. As much as fictional movies like this are about the characters placed in their events, there is nothing to replace the fact that the ship sank and I’m over it. Pretty costumes and awesome acting will not change that fact for me.

Ironically, tomorrow’s last installment of Honest Movie Trailers also features a James Cameron film (you’ll never guess which). All because I can.

October 18: Honest Trailers – The Avengers

Okay. I loved – LOVED – The Avengers and I’ve totally bought into the series, but there’s a lot of truth in this trailer. Not that it matters, because it’s worth every moment of the movie to see The Hulk get mad.

Swallow Warning: Eat and drink at your own risk.

Happy Friday…

October 17: Terminator – How It Should End

I swear. I did not pick this today. Weeks ago. Really.

And with this clip, we move to Honest Trailers.

From next week on till the end of October, it’s pretty much all about Halloween. I had these videos picked months ago. Miraculously, YouTube hasn’t pulled them yet.

From blockbusters to Halloween.

Thanks for sticking around this long!

October 16: How Top Gun Should Have Ended

Hilarious!

Okay, maybe not. But funny. Right?

Oh, c’mon. You know you wanted to…

Yeah.

October 15: How Willy Wonka Should have Ended

Boy, does this seem right for today.

Imagine that I selected it months ago. Just imagine that.

Surreal, right? 

Yeah.

Also seriously viral (over 6 million hits). I wonder why…

October 14: How The Wizard of Oz Should Have Ended

Just as we’ve seen the roll-out of the new Anniversary edition, here’s today’s dose of “How It Should Have Ended” (Wizard of Oz-style).

Considering where we’re headed in the next couple of days, I would expect to see a few flying monkeys and maybe an earth-shattering tornado, but I don’t think we’re going to get Glinda the Good Witch. Does this seem like fiddling while Rome burns? Hmm. Could be.

Then again, what else is YouTube for?

October 13: How Tangled Should Have Ended

Okay, tell me you didn’t wonder about this when you saw the movie Tangled.

Yes, yes, I know. Suspension of disbelief, yadda, yadda…Whatever.

Don’t get me wrong – I *loved* the movie when I saw it, but there was that moment when I had to turn the part of my brain off that said “How is she not picking up everything in her hair?”

Anyway, I’m revisiting How It Should Have Ended this week, along with Honest Trailers (coming later) because the material’s too funny to just let lie. Want more? Go to their YouTube channel and subscribe.

October 12: Hamlet – Summary & Analysis by Thug Notes (and) Dr Seuss VS Shakespeare. Epic Rap Battles of History #12

Think you know Hamlet? You’ve never seen it like this.

Cliff Notes for the modern generation? The contemporary connection? Masterpiece Theater.

Tag line? “Classical Literature. Original Gangster.”

Yeah! Thug Notes brings the classics to you with a vernacular spin that could make you seriously dizzy or leave you gasping for air.

Got one more day to go on Shakespeare Week. Putting in a special plug for a whole series (which doesn’t fit the One Day/One Video format of this Blog, but if you haven’t already put it on your Must Watch List, do it.

Slings and Arrows – another view of Hamlet (and the Scottish Play, and King Lear).

Trust me. You need to see the show. Especially if you’re a theatre geek (like I am).

And because I still have one more that wouldn’t fit into the week. Kind of puts the “Gangster” in a whole new perspective…