mrshl | blog

Like me, Owen Jarvis is a musician who went to law school. Unlike me, he’s made a fantastic (and fantastically viral) video documenting the experience. 

Jarvis wrote this song during exams for his first year of law school. The lyrics are pretty typical bitching and moaning, but with the sketches (also by Jarvis) and some clever turns, he’s perfectly distilled the cliché angst of your average 1L.

I have to say that I enjoyed law school immensely, and I think the work load is usually overstated (e.g., I had to walk 9 miles in the snow, and write 100 footnotes in a dark, frozen room). But this video had me laughing.

Hat tip: my fellow UH-er, 3L Luke Gilman.

I learned of this video courtesy of Slate.com’s recap of the year’s best singles. I’m not sure anyone in the world does better a cappella guitar solos.

Footage is from the 1996 French documentary Microcosmos. Hat tip: Treefingers.

Huh. A Schoolhouse Rock I’ve never seen. Via videosift.com

At Ty’s birthday party last weekend, one of the songs blasted from the party boat speakers was a forgotten favorite of mine from the 90s and one of the most genuinely creepy hit songs I’ve ever heard. I was again reminded when I saw the video on a Tumblr site devoted to MTV’s 120 minutes.

Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

For some reason, I’ve never checked out the lyrics to this song. I’m sure I must have seen them printed in the insert for my copy of Angel Dust, but I’ve got no memory of it. So as I’m printing them for you in this post, it’s basically the first time I’m seeing them as well. The full lyric is here, so I’m just giving you the first verse and bridge and the chorus:

Go on and wring my neck
Like when a rag gets wet
A little discipline
For my pet genius
My head is like lettuce
Go on and dig your thumbs in
I cannot stop giving in
I’m thirty-something

Sense of security
Like pockets jingling
Midlife crisis
Suck ingenuity
Down through the family tree

You’re perfect, yes, it’s true
But without me you’re only you (you’re only you)
Your menstruating heart
It ain’t bleeding enough for two

Now that I’m reading, and singing it back to myself, I think that line in bold might be one of my all-time faves. No wonder I don’t remember reading these lyrics when I was a kid. I wouldn’t have understood them. Not the way I read them now.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/3o9DHY7cTLU" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

This weeks Saturday Morning Cartoon is a reminder that there were cartoons in the 1970s, too.

Oh, man, track #69 from Cracker’s Kerosene Hat record was probably my favorite song of 1994. Looking back, I’m not sure why. It’s not like the lyrics were particularly funny or even memorable. I think it must have been the beer-soaked chorus that made its singers sound drunk–even when they were sober. It was my freshman year of college, and I sang as loudly as anyone. Here’s an excerpt of my favorite bit (full lyric here):

Called my mom from a payphone
I said “I’m down to my last.”
She said “I sent you to college…
now go call your dad.”
And the waitress that he married,
well she hung up the phone.
You know she never did like me,
but I can stand on my own.

Sold my plasma in Amsterdam.
Spent it all in a night,
buying drinks at the Melk Weg
for a soldier in drag.
And I’ll search the world over
for my angel in black.
Yeah, I’ll search the world over
for a Eurotrash Girl

Euro-trash Girl, Euro-trash girl.
Euro-trash Girl, (I’m a) Euro-trash girl.

For your further entertainment, here’s Cracker’s abridged video. 

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/_MEVWHMaFR8" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

And the “ironic” Chicks on Speed version.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/z0e4XuGJUMc" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

And yeah, I guess I’m just in a Cracker kind of mood tonight.

(5:37:06 PM) mrshl: seen any good movies lately?
(5:37:12 PM) niece: hot rod
(5:37:12 PM) mrshl: heard any good songs?
(5:37:13 PM) niece: lol
(5:37:19 PM) mrshl: you saw hot rod?
(5:37:21 PM) niece: haha that mobvie is sosooo funy
(5:37:22 PM) mrshl: i want to see that.
(5:37:25 PM) niece: omg its halourious
(5:37:36 PM) niece: but its dummber than nacho lebra
(5:37:40 PM) niece: lol..i think
(5:37:44 PM) mrshl: well, i will soon get my chance.
(5:37:48 PM) mrshl: to see if you are right.
(5:37:57 PM) niece: curse of curves
(5:38:00 PM) niece: i like that song
(5:38:16 PM) niece: cute is what we aim for
(5:38:36 PM) mrshl: i have no idea what those are.
(5:38:51 PM) niece: its a band
(5:38:53 PM) niece: and a song
(5:38:56 PM) mrshl: curse of curves is?
(5:39:04 PM) mrshl: sounds vaguely feminist.
(5:39:48 PM) niece: ??
(5:39:54 PM) mrshl: sorry.
(5:39:58 PM) mrshl: i forget you are 13.
(5:40:20 PM) mrshl: or is it 14?
(5:40:27 PM) niece: /13
(5:40:29 PM) niece: lol
(5:41:20 PM) mrshl: i’m watching the video now.
(5:41:27 PM) niece: what
(5:41:36 PM) mrshl: curse of curves.
(5:41:43 PM) niece: really
(5:41:44 PM) niece: lol
(5:41:45 PM) niece: funny
(5:41:52 PM) mrshl: thanks to the you tube.
(5:42:31 PM) niece: i use aol
(5:42:39 PM) niece: for vidoes and itunes for songs
(5:42:40 PM) mrshl: dude. this is too sexy for teh kids.
(5:42:48 PM) niece: what are you talking about
(5:42:49 PM) niece: lol
(5:42:53 PM) mrshl: i’m scandalized.
(5:42:54 PM) niece: the video
(5:42:57 PM) niece: ?
(5:43:01 PM) mrshl: yes. the video.
(5:43:10 PM) niece: i have it on my ipod the sng and the vidoe a
(5:43:17 PM) niece: mom say it
(5:43:21 PM) niece: saw**
(5:43:30 PM) mrshl: well, it’s not terrible.
(5:43:34 PM) niece: lol
(5:43:35 PM) niece: i no
(5:43:38 PM) mrshl: i mean, not my cup of tea.
(5:43:43 PM) niece: i doesnt soo anything really
(5:43:47 PM) niece: yea
(5:44:07 PM) mrshl: but similar to panic at the disco and fall out boy.
(5:44:21 PM) niece: yea very much like so
(5:44:26 PM) niece: i like them to
(5:44:27 PM) niece: both
(5:44:30 PM) mrshl: i figured.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/UAQcNo9yWbM" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=SFlH64YyvIc]

Hat tip: 17 Dots