my new anthem, I guess

lulajze jezuniu

I'm singing this at church on Christmas Eve. Pretty, eh? I'm supposed to study the youtube video to learn how to pronounce the Polish.



I think I'll do that later. Now it's bedtime.

make our garden grow

This is the big finale of Candide:



Love it.

zut alors!

Did anyone else notice that Saturday Night Live was actually funny this season? An example, from last night's rerun: French Def Jam comedian Jean K. Jean.

telespringar

Here's a video of the main Norwegian dance I do, although I don't do it anywhere near this well:



This is from March of this year - it's the same competition I went to (as a spectator!) last year. Some of you know the male dancer. (I think only Miss Shirley knows the female dancer.)

not exactly the lincoln portrait

I've found the litmus test for classical music nerdiness. Is this funny?




(My answer: Hyeah.)

paw to face

Every time I watch this video, I laugh.

prairie dog

It occurred to me: some of you faithful readers may never have seen the Drama Prairie Dog video on YouTube. Go watch it now. Even if you don't like it, it won't take up much of your time. I find it useful to think of this video whenever anything dramatic happens. (Dun dun DUUUNNN!!!!)

iran so far

Meet my latest obsession: a love song to a world leader.

Seriously, I can't stop watching this video. I saw it on TV Saturday night and it's still just as funny. And now the song is totally stuck in my head. Also, I have developed a small crush on Adam Levine, although I hate his band. Hm. I may have to adjust my opinion on Maroon 5. I mean, it *is* nice to be able to sing along in my own octave....

UPDATE, 1/1/08: Youtube doesn't have the video anymore - watch it on the SNL website.

speaking of mandy moore

How often do you get to use the transition "speaking of Mandy Moore"? Anyway. Speaking of Mandy Moore, some of you may have missed Mandy Moore's cover of Rihanna's song Umbrella. If you are one of these people, go remedy this situation now. It's pretty great. You may also want to watch the original if you (like me) didn't know the song. I know, apparently it was all over the radio this summer. And yet I missed it.

knut roundup

I know I already blogged about Knut the baby polar bear, but there's more. He has a blog. It's in German, and it's first person, and he signs posts with things like, "Eurer Knuti!" (Your Knuty!) And there's video on the blog. Video. Of the world's most adorable little polar bear.

Perhaps you missed Knut's appearance on German news? Well, miss no more. So you can say, with Stephen Colbert, OHHHH HIS EYES LOOK LIKE LITTLE BUTTONS.

baby polar bear video

Cuteness like this must be seen to be believed. (Thanks for the tip, Kay Ray!)

I've become kind of even more unnaturally obsessed with Cute Overload, and someone in the comments pointed toward this video. Watch it. You won't be sorry. Well, you might - it's totally weird. But also kind of hilarious.

dock dogs

It's a video of, um, dogs jumping off a dock. And it's hilarious.

j-pop

The other day Spice sent me a link to this article in Slate about Japanese pop and how it's totally awesome but iTunes is run by idiots who won't let you buy from the Japanese iTunes store. However, Slate pointed out, you can hear these tunes on YouTube. This inspired me to find a couple of my favorite J-pop tunes of all time and share them here.

Best pop song ever: "Robinson" by Spitz. I'm sorry, you don't believe me? Then you'll have to see it for yourself. YouTube seems to have taken down the actual video, which is just as well, because it has some unfortunate resonances with David Brent's video for If You Don't Know Me By Now. So here's a live version for your viewing pleasure:



Liked that? Now here's the first Japanese pop song I ever fell in love with. This girl group, Speed, was huge. Huuuuge, I tell you. They broke up shortly before I left Japan, and let me tell you, it was a big deal. The song, as you may discern from the chorus, is called "All My True Love." The girls, as you may discern from the opening notes, are squeaky. It is pure J-pop genius.



Ahhhh. Makes me want to go out for some Japanese-style karaoke.

window in the skies

Ok, I get it, you aren't as into U2 as I am. But you should still watch the video for their new single. It's like a trivia game. (Bonus points if you spot the members of U2 - I've only seen it once and I missed Larry, so I guess I'd better watch it again. And again. And again.)

dango

Big day: my favorite Japanese TV bit has appeared on youtube! It's called "dango san kyoudai," which means "the three dumpling brothers." Because "dango" sounds like "tango," it's a tango. And it is awesome.