I’ve blogged about OK Go before, with their Here It Goes Again performed by the Notre Dame band as a magnificently huge halftime show …. And with OK Go performing This Too Shall Pass in uniform with the Notre Dame band.
They’ve done it again with another video for This Too Shall Pass, this time involving paint guns and their absolutely hypnotic Rube Goldberg contraption.
Enjoy!
I know this was already posted, but thanks to Her Awesomeness, MJ, I have better video of the Notre Dame marching band doing OK Go’s treadmill music and have edited the original post. Whether you’re a band geek or not, you will enjoy this!
Also, note that the OK Go video is one continuous shot. Impressive, eh?
Are MJ and I the only ones who love this??
The alternative band OK Go heard about the Notre Dame marching band performing their fun and intricate treadmill video — unfortunately sans hundreds of treadmills — on the football field during halftime one season, so they asked them to be in their next video. Note it’s one continuous shot. Impressive, eh?
Here’s excellent video of Notre Dame’s halftime show doing the treadmill song which got OK Go’s attention. I’m such a band geek I cried when they made the two guys walk on the treadmills. You GOTTA see this!
For some reason, YouTube isn’t letting me post this directly, so here’s the link …. http://www.youtube.com/user/notredameband#p/u
It’s less than two minutes and it will make you SMILE! I guaran-dang-tee it!
And just for fun, here’s OK Go and their treadmill video via the Wayback Machine …
Still a hoot after all these years.
I don’t care who they march for or how they score … there’s just something ridiculously endearing about band kids.
Read the Chicago Tribune article and watch a behind-the-scenes video of Marian Catholic High School before the Bands of America Grand National Championships in Indianapolis.
I love their band director’s advice. “The (trophy) cup is actually empty when you look at it,” he says. “Your quest needs to be: How well can you perform tomorrow — is there another level?”
The image of each kid filling that cup with their accomplishments makes me smile.
And he told them the definition of the word ‘win’ — “To get possession of something by effort.”
Using that definition, what are some things you’ve won?
I decided not to move my blog so just ignore the indecisive blogger waving her arms like a madwoman behind the curtain there. It wasn’t because it was too difficult … well, it might have been, but I didn’t get that far. I’m starting up a new enterprise which you’ll hear about in due course and I thought it would make sense to move this blog to practice with all the bells and whistles at the new place.
Not so much.
So I’ll just wait and start up the new one in the new place.
Curious about my traffic while I wasn’t posting, I checked my stats. Imagine my surprise that I get just as many readers when I post as when I don’t. About 100/day.
What might that mean?
Just a heads up to all my loyal readers. And to you not-so-loyal ones, too.
I’m switching this blog over from wordpress.com to wordpress.org for a variety of reasons I won’t bore you with today. I have absolutely no clue as to how to accomplish this lofty goal, however, so I might be floating around the bloggy heavens for ten minutes or ten days.
I hope it’s closer to ten minutes, but that’s probably not quite realistic as I’m going to eat lunch now. I don’t work through my lunch. I sometimes lunch through my work, but never the reverse.
I guess all I can do is guarantee I’ll see ya’ll somewhere on the flip side. For those of you who subscribe or visit BeckyLand on an RSS feed, if there is anything you need to do to continue your daily fix of The Becky, I’ll be sure to let you know.
Wish me luck!
In just a few short hours I leave for my 30th high school reunion. I wrote about it when I heard it was being planned and again a few days later because clearly, I’m quite needy.
Still a bit apprehensive in ways I can’t exactly put my finger on.
I loved everything about high school and despite my crooked teeth and uber-awkwardness, I had a ball.
My friends included cool kids, cheerleaders, crazy-smart geeks, freaks and band nerds even though I was none of those things. I don’t know if that made me inclusive and progressive, or just clueless and desperate.
Let’s go with that first thing.
I loved them all and when I moved to Arizona during my junior year, I mourned my loss. And for those of you who’ve never lived without cell phones and email, let me tell you, it’s an abrupt loss. Complete lack of contact. I may as well have moved to the moon.
I guess what worries me is that they’ve meant more to me all these years than I’ve meant to them. Do they ever think of me and all the good times we had? Am I included in the recollections of their excellent adventures? Or am I a blurry presence at the edge of a distant memory?
But more importantly, do I hide this extra eight-and-a-half pounds with Spanx or do I, literally, let it all hang out?
PS – Here’s how it went.
I was minding my own business over the weekend, reading the Denver Post while nursing a lovely cup of coffee, when I saw a blurb about prisoners in the Philippines doing the Thriller dance. Now, trust me when I say I had every intention of letting the Michael Jackson news fade away from Beckyland.
Alas, I was lying to myself. In my defense, I didn’t know that Filipino prisoners — and so many others — have created YouTube videos of the Thriller dance.
Take a look at these.
Filipino Prisoners Thriller … The only scary thing about this is the guy in drag playing the girl from the video.
Sobe Lizards Thriller …
Wedding Party Thriller …you wouldn’t believe how bridal parties choreograph the Thriller dance! Almost makes me want to get married again.
Bollywood Thriller … what they lack in expertise, they make up for in speed …
And it wouldn’t be BeckyLand if I didn’t have a Marching Band Thriller … always funny to see a marching band dance! Thrilling even! Skip ahead about 40 seconds or so.
World Record Thriller … that’s a lot of college zombies …
Toddler Thriller … if she had a little bit of gray hair, I’d swear it was me dancing.
Marine Thriller … truly secure in his manly military bearing.
Star Wars Thriller … sorry – I can’t stop!
Thriller Hungary … I think they wanted to show off their costumes for a bit because it doesn’t actually start till about 1:40
Flash Mob Thriller … two of my favorite things …
Favorite?
Tis the season of photo ops of student athletes signing their letters of intent to play sports in college.
Let me begin by saying that I am a mom who “woohoos” her kids for any and all reasons. If I were a belly dancer, I’d probably “jai ho” them.
Band competition? WOOHOO!
College financial aid? WOOHOO!
You’re a sailor? WOOHOO
Did your laundry without being asked? WOOHOO!
So I don’t have a problem with signing ceremonies of any kind. In fact, I wish there were more.
Because, really, how are these unacknowledged kids supposed to cope? They’ve spent 12 years in school being told “everyone’s a winner — everyone gets a participation ribbon — nobody is better than anyone else” and then this?! Some kids ARE better?? Just because they can kick or throw or dive or spike or run better? What’s up with that?!
Because we’re nothing if not egalitarian, the social scientists here in BeckyLand wish to give a shout-out to all the downtrodden kids who never got their photo in the paper. Mind you, Downtrodden, you still won’t get your photo in the paper, but at least we want to acknowledge the fact you’ve never had your photo in the paper.
So, here’s to all the kids who …
• have excellent penmanship
• never once got stuffed inside a locker
• kept wearing that shirt despite all the ridicule
• didn’t succumb to all the lectures about personal hygiene
• only had to see the Dean that one time. And it was totally bogus, dude.
• never got caught ‘purpling’ on a band trip
• knew enough not to play with the spilled mercury in the chemistry lab
• survived 12 years of cafeteria lunches
• refrained from keying teachers’ cars
• cheered the loudest at the games
• had a small number of really loyal friends
• picked up trash even when it wasn’t yours
• volunteered to mentor squirrely 9th graders who didn’t realize they needed mentoring
But this shout-out is especially for the ones who got up every day without complaint, attending class with a smile and without attitude, knowing none of their efforts would ever really be acknowledged appropriately by anyone other than their mothers.
BeckyLand salutes you.
But seriously. Why no signing ceremonies for the brainiacs who are going to employ all these athletes in the future? Where’s THEIR spread in the newspaper??
Every time I mention Bugler’s Holiday, people ask me about it. So here it is in all its fabulousness …
The US Coast Guard Band:
One guy! Playing all three parts!
I wish they would have done this just with the vocals. It’s terrific until they start playing. But it’s a good illustration of how difficult the piece is to play:
You likey? I likey. Which was your fave version?
Theme: Rubric. Blog at WordPress.com.
