Well, it’s not technically Friday, but I’m keeping the title for the sake of alliteration. This week I’m going to tribute the videos of The White Stripes. Say what you want about them, but Jack White is an amazing musician and whether you like the music or not, their videos are always amazing. Michel Gondry did most of them. He is a music video god. They started off with the classic “Lego” video, but everyone’s seen that and they’ve raised the bar so much higher with each video that it seems silly to post that here, so here you go, my 3 favorite White Stripes videos:
Hardest Button to Button
Simple, contagious, and even parodied by The Simpsons. Gondry epitomizes the White Stripes in this video.
The Denial Twist
White Stripes + Conan O’Brien + Wacky 2D + Michel Gondry = Video Gold.
Seven Nation Army
This video is hypnotic. It’s not directed by Gondry, but it is my favorite song by the White Stripes. Love that beat and the guitar riff just infects you. If you like the song and you don’t hate music, check out Audioslave’s cover. It doesn’t get any better.
I could stare at the images in this video for hours on end. It’s like a kaleidoscope. I miss kaleidoscopes. Those were simpler times.
Tags: audioslave, conan-obrien, Favorite Video Friday, jack-white, lego, michel-gondry, Music-Videos, simpsons, white-stripes
I was watching Conan last night and it got me thinking. Have you ever thought of what you would say if you were brought on a talk show? What stories would you tell? Why is it that only celebrities get to tell their stories? What makes them any more special than any of us? I’ll tell you what does… nothing. We all have interesting stories to tell. We all have at least one story that we love to tell that is guaranteed a laugh. I’ve been working blue collar jobs for a long time now and just about everyone I’ve worked with in these jobs is far more interesting than any of these celebrities.
So here’s my idea, I want to start showcasing these stories. I want to start showcasing your stories. My plan is to start videotaping people, starting with my friends, as they do nothing more than tell a story. I don’t care what it’s about. It can be funny, sad, tragic, or just plain interesting. It can be a group of people or just one. It doesn’t matter. What matters are the stories.
Everyone loves to talk about themselves. I believe Bradbury said it best, “If we come at him right, talk him along, and give him his head, and at last say, What do you want? . . . every man will speak his dream. And when a man speaks from his heart, in his moment of truth, he speaks poetry.” I only ask that you let me put this poetry on tape and then on the internet to share with the world. This cannot work without your participation. I will not edit the stories in any way and will do my best to make the whole interview process a comfortable one. I want to show you in the best conditions possible. I’m going to call the project “Interviews with the Common Man… or Woman.”
So, if you’re interested, start thinking of a story and send an email to Interviews@faberfilms.com and we’ll get started. If you don’t live in the Las Vegas area, I’ll try and find a way to make it work. I want to hear your stories. This will not work without the participation of my friends and family. The more stories, the better.
Tags: Announcements, conan-obrien, interviews, people, Ray-Bradbury, Shameless Self-Promotion, videography, videos
I have always been a night person. I don’t know why. Something about the night has always brought me peace. Ever since Junior High, when I moved into my own room, I remember staying up late into the night. It’s quiet. It’s peaceful.
It started with books, reading late into the night just to finish the story, and moved on to little hobbies. I would stay up fiddling around on the computer long before the days of the internet, learning the ins and outs of DOS and Windows 3.1, then moving on to learn the secrets of Windows 95. I crashed many computers many times and spent the night figuring out why they crashed and trying to bring them back to life. Often I would grab my walkman or stereo and take them apart just to see what was inside and then see if I could put them back together. I remember building an exact replica of the Batmobile from scratch out of Legos. This took me all through the night hours. I remember trying to rig an electric bubble blower to a ceramic halloween skull so I could get a little plastic ball to hover over one of those novelty straw net things. It was late at night that I learned to draw. It was late at night that I learned patience. It was late at night that I found peace.
I didn’t always have to be doing something. Often I would lie on my bed, just staring at the ceiling for hours, doing nothing but thinking. I would lie there in silence and just let my mind wander. I later got an old TV and put it in there, but it was rarely on.I remember rearranging things in my room one night and the TV fell on my legs. I didn’t want to wake anyone up, so I just grit my teeth, rolled it off my knees, and laughed. Late Night with Conan O’Brien used to come on at 3am in Houston for some reason. I remember watching one night as he came to Houston to see if anyone was actually watching his show. He went to the bus station. He should’ve come to my house.
My house was always chaotic, admittedly much of it was my own fault, but I always found solace in my room. The rest of the house was a pig sty, but my room was always spotless. It was my fortress of solitude. No matter what was going on outside, I knew I could leave it all outside. My room was my own little world. I even wrote it on the window shade in blacklight responsive ink, “Welcome to my world.” My entire room glowed in the dark, from the stars, to the posters, to the knobs on my ancient stereo. It truly was my world.
Later, my room wasn’t enough. I had to find other ways to escape. I would go on late night drives, cruising the empty streets. No one even knew I was gone. When I graduated High School, I started strapping on my rollerblades every night at 2am and would skate for miles around the empty neighborhoods to clear my head. It doesn’t matter how big your city is, every street empties if you stay up late enough. Even crime goes to sleep eventually, but not me. I can fall asleep anywhere, anytime, except at night.
People often wonder how I can spend so much time alone. They get bored. The truth is, I almost prefer it. I don’t have to be entertained, I’m often satisfied just staring at the wall. My mind never shuts up. Maybe that’s why I have trouble sleeping at night. Maybe late at night is the only time my mind is truly free. Maybe I just spend too much time inside my head.
It is now almost 6am and I’m just beginning to get tired. It’s quiet. It’s peaceful. Outside, the only sounds to be heard are those of normal people waking up and starting the morning commute. Over time, I discovered writing, and the therapeutic effects therof. Now my nights are mostly spent writing, freeing my mind, trying to get it to shut up. Now, for some reason, in the age of blogging, I am posting my ramblings on the world wide web along with so many afflicted kids. They listen to their emo and write their poetry and complain about how no one understands them. They stay up at night to cry out to the world, to be noticed, to be welcomed. I am not afflicted. I stay up at night to be alone, to find peace.
Tags: Articles, computers, conan-obrien, emo, escape, growing-up, houston, night, reading
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