DC vs. Marvel, Round 4

Perry White versus J. Jonah Jameson.

DC vs. Marvel, Round 3

Solomon Grundy versus the Incredible Hulk.

Qoo~游泳篇(韓文)

Why is everything in Asia so cute?

Matisyahu (Live) -- Chico State (part 1) -- 11.19.08 (his friend doing standup comedy).AVI

This is Simcha opening up for Matisyahu.

Music Video of the Day, part 4

"Rutzi Shmulik" by Ariel Zilber.

I hear this guy's a Baal Teshuva now. We sang this song at camp when I was little. Brings back some fond memories. This is a sweet little song about a girl who sees this boy named Shmulik in her dreams. The chorus goes something like "Run, Shmulik is calling you and he's sending you a thousand kisses."

Music Brings Back Memories

It's funny how music can jog your memory. I was just talking with a friend of mine whom I haven't seen in a while. She told me she was on a bus Saturday night, and her iPod played a song I had recommended her, after which she couldn't stop thinking of me. It was very flattering, but it got me thinking about how certain songs bring me back to specific periods of my life, especially if a certain girl figured prominently into what was going on with me at that time.

I first noticed it in sixth grade, when I had a big crush on a girl, and Magnificent Bastards' "Mockingbird Girl" made me think of her every time it came on the radio (I was listening to WAAF a lot at the time). I've since gone back and listened to that song, and it kind of sucks. In college, when I started to get involved in my first serious relationship, which coincided with my introduction to My Bloody Valentine, I listened to Isn't Anything and Loveless as much as possible so I would have a frame of reference for the memories.

This is just my interpretation, but it seems to me that Chassidus explains why music is so universally moving. Chassidus teaches that when one reads a book, for example, a bond develops between the reader and the author, perhaps as small as a favorable opinion. A favorable opinion may progress to curiosity, mild interest, fanship, and so on. Regarding music, however, the Alter Rebbe famously said, "If words are the pen of the heart, then song is the pen of the soul." While words may be understood according to one's own ability, music connects on a level higher than understanding, cutting through directly to the soul. Perhaps this is why my Grandma always calls nigunim Jewish Soul Music.

Music Video of the Day, part 3

I guess I'm a little late on this one, but please enjoy "Do The Know It's Hallowe'en?" by the North American Halloween Prevention Initiative.

Music Video of the Day, part 2

"Straight Up" by Paula Adbul

A Triumph of Good Taste

On the 3 train last night, some girl was practicing her pole dancing moves for her friends across the aisle from me. I was in too much shock to move, so I took out my chumash and started learning last week's parsha just so I wouldn't have to see some obnoxious girl shaking her fat behind and kicking her feet up in the air. They got off at the same stop as me. When the train stopped, her friend said "I have to pee like a race horse." Very classy, ladies.