I’m not 100% sure who first thought to do this, but I would send them a huge thank you if I could.

Someone got the bright idea to pose a very simple question: Ever wish songs just sang what was happening in the music video?  The concept is simple enough in that you take any music video that has odd, non-sensical moments (i.e. pretty much every music video from the 1980’s and 1990’s), write new lyrics for the song that deals with what you are seeing in the video, and, there you go, you have a literal video.

I believe the first one was by Dusto McNeato for A-Ha’s “Take On Me“, which has since been pulled and replaced by a version showm on a Digg show.  Since then the concept has really taken off, but I think the person producing the highest quality ones is dascottjr.  Check out his latest for Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart”.

You can check out all six literal videos that dascottjr has done so far on this playlist, or be more adventurous and check out every literal video done thus far (be warned, some of them really suck).

It’s a nifty concept that I am sure will be taken too far as happens to everything else on the Web, but it’s a fun diversion for now.

Susan Boyle appeared on Britain’s Got Talent this week, and to say she wowed the judge and audience would be an understatement.

Seeing as I live in the United States, I don’t watch Britain’s Got Talent, but, then again, I don’t watch America’s Got Talent either.  I’ve never been big on the “talent” style shows like American Idol, but then tonight a video was making the rounds on Twitter, and considering it seemed to leave everyone speechless, I went ahead and checked it out.

Same as its American counterpart, Britain’s Got Talent consists of common British folk coming on the show to display their talents, whatever they may be. Unlike American Idol they can dance, sing, play instruments, even spin plates if they want, it really is open to all talents. In the early rounds the judges, Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan, can say if someone is passing on to the later rounds, or they can stop them there, and even stop the performance by hitting their big X lights.

In this week’s episode, Susan Boyle, who is 47-years-old and hails from West Lothian in Scotland, came on the show. She informed the television audience that she lives alone with her cat Pebbles, and has never even been kissed, let alone had a boyfriend. When she took the stage the audience and judges were snickering alike… and then she sang.

If there ever was a case of “don’t judge a book by its cover”, it is obviously Susan Boyle.  I hate to admit it, but I was snickering along with the audience when she took the stage in her awkward little way.  Shame on me.

I also have to admit it is very rare for me to actually watch a shared video on Twitter, it is even odder for me to watch the whole thing, but I have watched this one a couple times thus far.  Her voice is simply amazing.  If I had the ability to vote in this show, I would be, and I don’t even know if there is someone with more talent performing, but I find that difficult to imagine.

Good luck, Ms. Boyle, but somehow I doubt you’re going to need it if you keep wowing the audience and judges like this.

UPDATE: You can see the Susan Boyle CBS The Early Show interview here.

Update 2: Hear Susan Boyle sing “Cry Me A River”.

Make sure to check out SusanBoyleFandom.com for all of the latest Susan Boyle relate news!

A United States Air Force F-22a Raptor crashed in California on Wednesday morning.

At approximately 10 AM Wednesday morning, an F-22a Raptor crashed around 35 miles northeast of the Edwards Air Force Base in California. (link takes you to an interactive map)  The fighter was conducting a test mission at the time, and the cause of the crash, as well as the fate of the pilot, is unknown at this time.

The plane officially entered service in 2005, and costs $137.5 million each, hence why we’ve only built 135 of them thus far. Due to the advanced nature of the fighter, and its perceived superiority over everything else in the sky, the government does not allow them to be sold to any of the countries we normally sell weapons to.

This is the second of these fighters to crash, the first being in December 2004, and luckily the pilot in that case ejected to safety.  Hopefully the pilot in the latest crash is okay, but only time will tell.  Search and rescue teams are currently working in the area.

If the fighter looks vaguely familiar to you, by the way, it’s because it’s the basis for Starscream in the Transformers movies.

UPDATED: Unfortunately, the pilot, David Cooley, 49, was killed in the crash.

Mt. Redoubt, near Anchorage, AK, is erupting.

Beginning around 10:38 PM local time on Sunday night, Mt. Redoubt, which has been under watch for quite some time, finally blew its top.  The mountain, which stands 10,200 feet tall, threw ash as high as 60,000 feet, causing some sir traffic to be rerouted or turned back.

If history tells us anything about this volcano, when it last blew in 1989, it continued to spew ash for four months.  Scientists have no clue how long it will continue to emit ash this time, but it could be for a similar amount of time again.  Ash is a known abrasive that can eat away at exposed mechanical parts, cause asthma attacks or any other host of health problems.  Luckily the winds are blowing it away from Anchorage, but other smaller towns are expecting to get a good coating of the stuff.

What concerns me, and prompts me to write this, was the news last week of undersea volcano off the coast of Tonga erupting.  While these volcanos are seperated by great distances, they are both part of the Pacific Ring of Fire: a series of volcanic trenches, arcs and belts that encircles the Pacific rim.  When one area of the Ring starts to have major activity, it is usually a good indicator that other parts of it will react with its own eruptions and earthquakes.

In short, don’t be surprised if there is news of other things happening in this region sometime soon.

Actress Natasha Richardson has passed away.

Unlike the rumors of Tuesday, this time it has been made official by a spokesman for the family.  She is survived by her husband, actor Liam Nesson, and their two  sons, aeges 12 and 13 years.  She was the daughter of Oscar winning actress Vanessa Redgrave, with whom she had worked on Broadway.  Ms. Richardson won a Tony for her role in Cabaret in 1998, and had appeared in numerous movies such as Nell (where she met her husband), The Parent Trap and The Handmaid’s Tale.

She was injured on Monday while taking a private skiing lesson at Mont Tremblant near Montreal. While practicing on the beginner’s slope, she fell, but wa sable to get up and walk away with no visible injuries. A member of the ski patrol and her instructor followed her to her room to watch over her, and an hour later she was taken to Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal. Mr. Nesson then raced to her side from Toronto where he was filming a movie.

Rumors abounded on Tuesday that she had died, then was just brain dead and then that her brain was swelling. She was moved from Canada to Lenox Hill Hospital on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, though this was only confirmed by sightings of her family. On Wednesday afternoon she was taken off of life support, and was not expected to make it through the night. While the “brain dead” rumor was never confirmed it is looking highly likely that she was indeed at the time she was moved to New York.

Did I miss a memo about how doing porn was the way to get back some of your fleeting fame?

With people still shocked by the news yesterday that Kelli McCarty, Miss USA 1991, has made a porno, now comes the news that the Long Island Lolita herself, Amy Fisher, is not only making porn, but it will be pay-per-view! True, Ms. Fisher, has preciously been seen in a “leaked” home sex video, and, in news to me, has been going around at feature dancing at strip clubs for a while now, but this is a whole new level of “ick”.

For those of you who don’t remember who she is, or she came to be “famous” after she had an affair with Joey Buttafuoco. As the affair carried on, Amy asked Joey to leave his wife, Mary Jo Buttafuoco, but he refused. So, in May 1992, when Ms. Fisher was a 17-year-old, she shot Mary Jo in the face in the doorway of her Long Island home. She has been in and out of the headlines ever since for various escapades.

Apparently this latest “event” (I just made actual air quotes before I typed that) will feature Ms. Fisher in a girl-on-girl scene, but she would like to expand into man-on-woman scenes eventually.  The only thing that stops her for now is that her husband, Louis Bellera, views that as cheating, but he seems oddly a-ok with Amy hooking up with a woman.

…

Oh, excuse me, I passed out after repeatedly slamming my head into my keyboard.  -peels the “G” key that stuck to his forehead off and place it back on the keyboard-

I am perplexed by this sudden decision by people that no one cares about starring in porn productions.  There have been others before such as Scott Schwartz from the movie A Christmas Story, and John Wayne Bobbitt who famously had… a piece of his anatomy removed by his wife, who later starred in a porn film after he had reattachment surgery.  Is this some odd ball extension of Andy Warhol’s 15-minutes of fame?  Are these people so desperate to be known again that they are willing to debase themselves in these ways?  Have we become such a fame obsessed society that people feel they must do whatever it takes to stay in the spotlight?

… or maybe they’re just skanky?

It’s episode 23… Scattercast is facing life without college!

- I finally checked out another podcast, Smodcast… I’m not doing so bad!

- Christmas Eve… more holidays need an “Eve”.

- Christmas shopping reflections.

- Digg annoys me and is an enigma.

Here’s a link to the MP3 for those who wish to download it, subscribe to Scattercast via iTunes.

Considering my recent rant against Christmas sweaters, some how this story from Pete Cashmore at Mashable seems like some sort of cosmic justice against me.  Office Max has jumped on the Christmas sweater bandwagon and produced a web site called My Christmas Sweater that will let you make as an atrocious Christmas sweater as you’d like.

I tried to keep mine at least somewhat tasteful, but I had to include a red pompomed reindeer over the left nipple per the comments on the last article I did.

Merry Christmas to all my readers.

What in the world is wrong with Fred Phelps?

For those unfamiliar with Phelps, he is the head of the Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka, KS.  They are best known for their protests at the funerals of soldiers saying that all their deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are the fault of the United States acceptance of homosexuality.  He has also been known to blame natural disasters on the same “problem”.

Well, it seems Mr. Phelps has now moved on to blaming things on Santa.  The economy?  Santa’s fault.  Dead soldiers?  Yep, Santa. To get this point across to the masses, the church wanted to post a sign detailing all of this in the Washington state capitol. (The SpokesmanReview has the story, but requires paid registration) Steve Valandra, a spokesman for Washington’s Department of General Administration, when e-mailed the text said, “Holy cow. I guess we’ll consider it like all the other requests.”

You can see the whole poster here, but I’ve reprinted the text below.  You can also sing it to the tune of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” as demonstrated by a video the church made, which I refuse to link to, but you can find it if you insist.

Santa Claus Will Take You To Hell!

You’d Better Watch Out Get Ready To Cry
You’d Better Go Hide I’m Telling You Why
Cuz Santa Claus Will Take You To Hell

He Is Your Favorite Idol You Worship At His Feet
But When You Stand Before Your God
He Won’t Help You Take The Heat

So Get This Fact Straight You’re Feelin’ God’s Hate
Santa’s To Blame For The Economy’s Fate
Santa Claus Will Take You To Hell

Don’t Leave Your Kids With This Red Fright
Just Like The Priests He’ll Rape ‘Em At Night
Oh Santa Claus Will Take You To Hell

You Tell The Children He Is Real
You Know That’s Just A Lie
To Justify Your Own Vile Sins
That’s The Only Reason Why

So Get This Fact Straight That You’re Feelin’ God’s Hate
Santa’s To Blame For The Dead Soldier’s Fate
Santa Claus Will Take You To Hell!

While I am all for religious freedom, and these people have every right to say whatever they like, you have to seriously wonder what is wrong with them?  Sure the world is messed up, but blaming Santa for the world’s woes?  I guess maybe the homosexuals have been cleared now?  They are somehow now blameless for the deaths of the soldiers, it’s all Santa’s fault!  Good to know.

Comparing him to child molesters?  Saying he will take you to Hell?  What in the world did Santa ever do to these people?

Some of the stories I find online just make my brain hurt.

Every December 23rd brings the most magical of holidays… Festivus!

As I always say when I discuss this, I never thought much of the television series Seinfeld, but I do thank them for giving us the concept of Festivus.  Sure I don’t think any of us need to go through the “Airing of Grievances” (that’s what Thanksgiving dinner is for) or the “Feats of Strength”, but it still makes a nice concept of families spending a holiday together without all of the trappings we have added on to the existing ones.

I have already shared many of my thoughts about this pseudo-holiday in my Festivus 2006 and Festivus 2007 posts, and they all still hold true.  As I only got to begin my Christmas shopping this past weekend, and the UPS man brought me an arm load of Amazon packages today, I realized, yet again, just how silly this whole gift giving thing has gotten around Christmas.  I am sure next year I will repeat the majority of it, and I will kick myself again, but every December 23rd I can smile and think of a happier and simplier version of the winter holidays.

Happy Festivus everyone!

Ever gotten to spend an hour in a store just watching how it operates? It can be interesting.

I’ve been cleaning my house lately, and decided to get a large chunk of DVDs out of my life, along with some older video games. Seeing as I wasn’t interested in spending a lot of time putting them on eBay, I decided to take them to the local Hastings to sell them. Let’s just say I got the distinct feeling they would have much rather not seen me come in.

Before I say anything else, I need to mention that Hastings has a large banner outside their store saying you should sell your used items to be able to afford gifts for Christmas.  This says to me that they are still welcoming used items during the month of December, and I honestly did take into consideration if this was the best month to do this trade-in, but with the banner there I figured why not.

So, I walk in with my two boxes and some loose DVDs and set them on the trade-in counter.  The woman was checkign out some customers, no problem, and she finally turned to look at me when done.  She scanned the stack with her eyes and went “Oh… a buyback” and she starts looking around for another employee immediately.  I told her I was sorry for the hassle, “Ohhh… that’s fine… let me find you someone.”  She pawns me off on to another employee who also goes, “Oh… I love buy backs” and rolls her eyes.  Again, I aplogized for the hassle, “Oh, that’s fine…”

Okay, look, I get the point, you don’t want to do it, fine, but you have a banner up saying you will, so suck it up and do your job and don’t make me feel like an ass for making you do it.  Yeesh.  They told me it would take a while process, that I should look around or do whatever.

As I wandered around the store for the next hour, stopping only once so they could ask if I wanted store credit or cash, I was amazed by not only their pricing, but how busy they were.  I mentioned this on StarterTech today, but I saw the newest version of The Nightmare Before Christmas marked at $29.99. If you go over to Amazon, it is $20.99.  This is just one of many examples of the pricing I saw, but yet if you went up to the check out, it was ten people deep almost the entire time I was in there.

How?

How is it people can not be aware of much lower pricing out there in the world?  Heck, even Walmart is cheaper and it’s only a few blocks away!  Here’s another great example, Gilmore Girls season 1 is $14.99 just about everywhere now.  Amazon, Walmart, Target all have it at that price.  Hastings had it at $45.99.  Admittedly that is below the original suggested retail price of $59.98, but still, it’s insane.

After my walking around for an hour, shaking my head, I finally got called back up to the register and was informed they couldn’t take everything I brought in, but they would give me $223.08 in store credit for what they would take. Believe me, you don’t want to know how much stuff that covered.  I agreed to it, used every cent of my store credit (mostly on sale items so I didn’t feel like I was being take advantage of), and left.

I think my days with shopping at Hastings are over.  If this was an isolated day of snarly customer service, I would excuse it as the season, but I don’t think I have ever been in there that the staff didn’t snarl at least once.  Think it’s just me?  Wish it was, but it isn’t.  The Kirksville store has a horrible reputation in town, and just about everyone has similar stories of the service from them.

Oh well, just another place I don’t have to worry about wasting my money in.

Is it just me, or is there just no sense of Christmas spirit this year?

Maybe it’s the economy, and the never ending bad news that seems to come with it, but I just have no Christmas spirit this year.  I had to go to Home Depot today to shop for a new shower faucet set, and even looking at their Christmas decor, it just didn’t seem as bright or enticing as usual.

I think it may also be partially that I am slowly finding myself turning in to Clark Griswold from the Vacation movies, specifically Christmas Vacation.  Each year I am hoping to recapture that sense of wonderment I had as a child about Christmas, and with the ever more depressing news, like the lose of 533,000 in November, it’s just hard to feel cheery about much of anything.  I’m not in the mood to shop for gifts, no matter how hard I try.

Maybe it will finally click once I get around to watching my normal bevy of favorite Christmas movies, but I sure hope something kicks in soon and gets me excited about it.