Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Stop Rock Video

Inspired by this weekend's Direct from Brooklyn viewing with my band pals, today's Audience Participation topic is Favorite Videos. Anything released or condoned by the band is eligible.

I am giving you my list but I can never quite make up my mind about which videos are my favorite so I can't promise they will be in the same order next week or next month.

10. Hovering Sombrero - The little Quickcam vid in the airport. It so obviously looks like Linnell just got bored and decided to make a video and yet it is wonderful in ways I can't fully explain.
9. Older - The Brave New World video. Oddly, a still from this video was my very first introduction to The Band of Dans and yet even though I watched it once, I completely forgot about it's existence until last week. Which is a shame since I discovered I find it endlessly amusing.
8. D is for Drums - The bit where Flans sings "I can't think, there's too much noise" and Marty stops playing to twirl the drum stick around. And I heart those puppets.
7. Electric Car - This video is a work of art. I can not even imagine how long it took the animators to put it all together. And it's adorable too.
6. Ana Ng - Everything about this one is wonderful.
5. Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head - My two favorite moments of this are the brief shot where Linnell sticks his tongue out at the camera and the last shot of Flans touching his cheek with that dopey expression on his face.
4. They'll Need a Crane - Linnell's dancing. That is all.
3. Nine Bowls of Soup - "Please can I some Mr. Ichthyosaur?" No, you can't. I've saving them for friends." See my blog icon photo for the explanation on this one.
2. Robot Parade - The bonus video on the ABCs disc. I only rediscovered this recently but OH MY GOD, I love this video. I love it so much it almost edged out my number one (psst... it's the presence of the band that does it, you know I have a fondness for those guys).
1. Don't Let's Start - I had to think about this really hard to come to this decision. I might change my mind yet, but there it is.

Bonus points also go to the Birdhouse video which I find I do not love in the way I love some of the others but yet, I continually half-joke about re-enacting this video at my wedding as a flash mob thing with members of the wedding party during the first dance. So if you ever get invited to my wedding, beware, you may be recruited.

2 comments:

  1. Purple Toupee is my favorite, although I'm fond of the Sleepwalkers video too.

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  2. Eeshk...there are so many wonderful ones, some I'm still discovering. But, in no particular order:

    1) They'll Need A Crane -- mostly for the exact reason you mentioned, plus his amazing hair, and other little things.

    2) Don't Let's Start -- most of my favorites involve odd and fantastic dances, including this one. I also love the way some of them are sped up visually, and this is a prime example. There are lots of other things I like about this one, too. I'm going to stop saying that and just mention a few things and let you assume that there are lots of other things I like about the videos like a normal human being.

    3) Birdhouse In Your Soul -- he walks along darkened corridors, and is scrumptious [at all times, but for some reason, particularly] when he says "it's a simple message and I'm leaving out the whistles and bells". haha. And incandescent lightbulbs! So many of them! And the dancing, of course! I, too, have daydreamed about re-enacting TMBG music video dances (particularly this one) at my wedding if I ever get married. :]

    4) Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head -- I'm really not trying to completely steal your reasons, but those moments of this video you mentioned are also my very favorites.

    5) Ana Ng -- Once again, I agree with you. It's a beautiful video and the dancing, THE DANCING! (Including that little run-dance they do together at the end.)

    6) Doctor Worm -- More nice visuals to great music. And some funny pharmaceuticals.

    7) Hovering Sombrero -- I love this little extra, too, and I'm not really sure why. There's this odd sort of feeling that you're being serenaded by John Linnell when you watch it. Maybe that's part of the reason. haha. Oh man..I don't know. I'm not erasing that though. X}

    8) Seven Days Of The Week -- The animation and the kid's expressions are ridiculously cute. Plus I really like the song.

    9) Q U -- I so badly want someone who will dress up as a Q and a U with me and go out on the town! :D

    10) Purple Toupee -- Another one with lots of nice visuals to great music. And I like how happy they look at the end (as do they, according to the commentary). :]

    11) The Guitar -- Even though I'm not fond of Linnell's hair in this video, I still find the video to be quite lovely. I also think it's cool to see Flansburgh's old apartment.

    12) D Is For Drums -- This one sort of introduced me to the band, in a way, and made me love them that much more whenever I watched it later. And yes, I love those puppets, too!

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