Smoke your little smoke, drink your little drink..
August 30, 2010 10:37 AM   Subscribe

Our Universe consists of between thirty to fifth billion trillion stars, arranged in eighty to one-hundred-forty billion galaxies. Our nearest neighboring star is called Proxima Centauri and it's four light years away. We need some bread, but it's really hot outside and I can't be bothered to walk around the corner. Try to make sense of the things that you think.
posted by Lord_Pall (47 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
do i need a rhythm section to do so?
posted by clavdivs at 10:41 AM on August 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


The magnitude of a task is relative to the performer of the task, not the space of all possible tasks. Would it be easier to walk around the corner if there were only 10 billion trillion stars in the universe?
posted by DU at 10:44 AM on August 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'll bet it would, actually. Gravity and all that.
posted by koeselitz at 10:45 AM on August 30, 2010 [3 favorites]


This whole "look at us, whimsically holding our own microphones and running around our studio to hit one organ pedal" thing is so staged - ARRGH
posted by Spacelegoman at 10:45 AM on August 30, 2010


Mostly I just feel judged now. And sad.
posted by Shutter at 10:47 AM on August 30, 2010


I found the chorus to be annoying and the facts uncompelling.
posted by cjorgensen at 10:47 AM on August 30, 2010


Yeah, it's a really good thing that I don't do the Pomplamoose thing when I'm recording stuff, because most of it would involve lots and lots of booze and angry rants and kicking things and disheveled grunting. And probably some nakedness.
posted by koeselitz at 10:48 AM on August 30, 2010


Kind of like the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius with indie appeal.
posted by doteatop at 10:48 AM on August 30, 2010 [2 favorites]


So when can I go get some bread?
posted by pianomover at 10:57 AM on August 30, 2010


Ben Folds, Nick Hornby AND Pomplamoose? I would call this some sort of unholy tweenity.

I kid! I kid!
posted by Think_Long at 10:57 AM on August 30, 2010


Yeah, it's a really good thing that I don't do the Pomplamoose thing when I'm recording stuff, because most of it would involve lots and lots of booze and angry rants and kicking things and disheveled grunting. And probably some nakedness.

Explain to me again how it's a good thing that you don't do the Pomplamoose thing.
posted by davejay at 11:02 AM on August 30, 2010 [4 favorites]


It's a Ben Folds song! It's songs like those other Ben Folds songs! But it's got an author...umm, talking....at me?
posted by mikoroshi at 11:09 AM on August 30, 2010


This whole "look at us, whimsically holding our own microphones and running around our studio to hit one organ pedal" thing is so staged - ARRGH

Yeah, they've got innocent naïvete down to a fine art.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:12 AM on August 30, 2010


All that gear, and poor Ben can't afford a drum stool?
posted by Paid In Full at 11:16 AM on August 30, 2010


I see, we're all poor benighted fools, wasting our time on mindless diversions such as watching Youtube videos..... CRAP

Admittedly, I turned it off at about 2:00 because I was tired of it, but if they don't even reference the ironic fact that they're contributing to stupid mass entertainment that distracts people that could otherwise be reading some good books, this is even worse than I thought.
posted by norm at 11:22 AM on August 30, 2010


And the whole blasted thing is just an atom in the thumbnail of some colossal transdimensional bugger innit? Which colossal bugger is itself just a snurg near the basal portion of a whisker on a gnn'tha'a —which is something I just made up!

Therefore the whole universe is something I made up and control! Bring me coke, you bastards!
posted by Mister_A at 11:22 AM on August 30, 2010


Aye, it's a big old universe out there and a tiny old world, yet that tiny old world is still filled with more talents, wonders and rampaging nonsenses than any one person can reasonably expect to imagine or truly feel part of.

And that's why I drink.
posted by Decani at 11:38 AM on August 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


As I watched that I found myself nervously dreading the appearance of a ukulele solo. Fortunately it never happened and I didn't need to violently drive my forehead through my computer screen.
posted by Nyarlathotep at 11:39 AM on August 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


All that gear, and poor Ben can't afford a drum stool?

Matt Z of Tyvek beat him to that by a long shot.
posted by joe lisboa at 11:49 AM on August 30, 2010


I see they managed to minimize her unblinking raised-in-a-basement stares for once.
posted by hermitosis at 11:58 AM on August 30, 2010


me: “Yeah, it's a really good thing that I don't do the Pomplamoose thing when I'm recording stuff, because most of it would involve lots and lots of booze and angry rants and kicking things and disheveled grunting. And probably some nakedness.”

davejay: “Explain to me again how it's a good thing that you don't do the Pomplamoose thing.”

'the Pomplamoose thing' = 'videotaping yourself while playing instruments'
posted by koeselitz at 12:02 PM on August 30, 2010


(They're good musicians, but they also happen to be fun to look at & visually witty, as well. I am not.)
posted by koeselitz at 12:03 PM on August 30, 2010


Excuse me, but I drink a rather large drink. Thank you very much. "Drink your little drink" indeed. Such effrontery.
posted by oddman at 12:04 PM on August 30, 2010


Backwards baseball cap + ukelele = chicks

Or at least that's what the twangers in my local park seem to think.
posted by benzenedream at 12:04 PM on August 30, 2010


oh I get it
posted by koeselitz at 12:04 PM on August 30, 2010 [2 favorites]




So whimsical indie musicians are going to be explicitly condescending now? I don't need that.
posted by cmoj at 12:11 PM on August 30, 2010 [6 favorites]


Heck with all you haters. I enjoyed that quite a bit. Every once in a while I enjoy being reminded to eff the ineffable, and musically it was pretty. (Plus, they've apparently gotten rid of the toy piano which is a Good Thing.) And Nataly has a pretty voice, and is pleasant to look at. And Jack is a big old goofy dork, which is another reason for me to like him. That's right, I'm the anti-snark and you've got me in a vendetta kind of mood.
posted by ZakDaddy at 12:33 PM on August 30, 2010 [3 favorites]


That was a catchy little ditty.
posted by Mister_A at 12:43 PM on August 30, 2010


twangers

Twanger-Americans, please.
posted by Mister_A at 12:43 PM on August 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'll get you a Coke, Mister_A, but you'll still have to get your own damn bread.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:59 PM on August 30, 2010


DU: ...Would it be easier to walk around the corner if there were only 10 billion trillion stars in the universe?

Maybe not...it might be darker, and so you'd maybe walk into a telephone pole or something.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:01 PM on August 30, 2010


This thread was redeemed by koeselitz's link. So great.
posted by norm at 1:10 PM on August 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


F*ckin' twangers, how do they (get) work?

This makes me want a big drink. And I like Ben Folds. With spoken word.

As long as the speaker is...

Shatner.
posted by chavenet at 1:47 PM on August 30, 2010


Jack (I think) used the word "sailor" as an adjective - can anyone enlighten me as to what it means?
posted by kcds at 2:03 PM on August 30, 2010


Space is big.
posted by Electric Dragon at 2:04 PM on August 30, 2010


I actually skipped over this because I didn't look at the tags, and the snark opened strong. I'm glad I did watch this because it contains things I like:
- Ben Folds
- Nick Hornby
- Pomplamoose
- Cats

Also, I've been on a bit of a reading kick lately, so this resonated with me. I used to read loads when I was younger - as a child I'd say it's fairly honest to say that I was precocious with regard to my reading level and sheer volume of books read. When I was at school I was still reading loads for pleasure, although thinking of all the missed hours of reading (over three hours a day on the bus every day! Plus, y'know, homework and sport and stuff) makes me a bit sad, although I got other things out of those journeys. When I hit university, suddenly my workload ramped up, as is common. I remember that post-exams, one of the things some of us used to agree on was that it was amazing to be able to read for pleasure again. Except that we got drunk and partied instead, but hey.

And more recently, out in the real world with jobs and having to live (cooking, cleaning, commuting) I've more often than not switched on my computer in the evenings to watch a movie or just aimlessly browse the news and various sites (MeFi, Reddit etc.). And I read those articles on how the internet was changing our brains, and confirmation bias kicked in whenever I got distracted - oh crap, the internet rotted my brain! I can't focus! But still, I sat and surfed because hey - I was tired, man. I didn't have the energy to read. And anyway, I was reading all day anyway - dense, boring texts, where I had to concentrate on the details and fucking drafting. So, YouTube it was. I definitely scan texts when I read - and used to think that was just the way it was, my mind had changed irretrievably. I even have this annoying tic where I'll highlight chunks of random text for no reason, mainly because I'm not concentrating.

I went to my local library the other day, and took out a few books. One trashy piece of fiction, some travel writing, and Slaughterhouse 5. Devoured them. Ate them up. Sat down, read, and time vanished. I was concentrating.

And I've realised that skimming online isn't a symptom of some brain change, it's because I realise that really what I'm reading is crap, and I don't really care about it. I'm wasting time - it's the equivalent of flicking through the channels on TV.

And now I'm definitely back in the reading saddle (as it were). Polished off Down and Out in Paris and London the other night. Scoop before that. Onto some Somerset Maugham I've not read before. Not particularly epic or taxing novels, but certainly good enough to engage me, get me back into things.

And I'm reminded of me when I was younger. I feel smarter, more focused. I feel better about myself, because I feel that I'm using my time constructively. I'm dropping literary references into conversation (I told my friend he was like R. from Down and Out - "sat in his corner quietly boozing") just for kicks, even though it does smack of attention grabbing ego inflation.

I enjoy good TV, but you know what - even with The Wire, The Sopranos, $your-favourite-programme, once I've watched it, I can't watch it again. Because I know the plot, I know what happens, I'm bored - I can't get back into it. With a novel, I can re-read it loads of times without having the same boredom. I don't know why that is - I'm not saying that TV is badly written, or inferior. Just that for me, books are the shit.

I don't really know where I thought I was going to go with this comment when I started, so I'll wrap it up (hey, I'm a reader not a writer). Reading is fucking great, and I intend to do more of it. I hope you all do too.
posted by djgh at 2:29 PM on August 30, 2010 [2 favorites]


No, space is REALLY EFFING BIG.
posted by norm at 2:30 PM on August 30, 2010


Space is really big. I'm on a horse.

Space is really big. If you lived here, you'd be home by now.

Space is really big. Apply directly to the forehead.

All make about as much sense as talking about your difficulties buying bread.
posted by LogicalDash at 2:48 PM on August 30, 2010


Indie bands seriously need a glokenspiel/toy bell intervention. A 12 step program-1 step per note.
posted by sourwookie at 3:21 PM on August 30, 2010


I'm with you ZakDaddy-O. Was having a rough day and this (skipped the little smoke, but took a little drink) was just what I needed.
posted by meinvt at 3:51 PM on August 30, 2010


To hell with bread; today I need vinegar and baking soda so my kids can make volcanos.
posted by davejay at 5:37 PM on August 30, 2010


For those of you who watched the video to the end:

TRUE LIES is available right now on Netflix Watch Instantly.
posted by jettloe at 8:02 PM on August 30, 2010


I'd buy that if it was just Nick Hornby talking about stuff like that. The music got in the way. But to each her own.

and norm: Space is big.
posted by Hactar at 8:02 PM on August 30, 2010


Christ, what an asshole.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 8:52 PM on August 30, 2010


Is it me, or does most pop music right now sound a lot like the Sesame Street theme?
posted by Twang at 11:50 PM on August 30, 2010


As I begin the decades-long slide into decrepitude, I no longer smoke at all, drink very rarely, and only think when I am paid to do so. This song goes a long way towards explaining why so often these days, I simply feel Too Old for This Shit.
posted by drlith at 5:41 AM on August 31, 2010


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