VIDEO: Very Nervous Fat Kid

PROOF POSITIVE that when you search "fat kid" on YouTube, you will always find gold. I know this is old, but so is your mom, and she gets a lot of views, too.

VIDEO: Devil Sheep

VIDEO: Reach! A Lecture Musical

This is epic.



(I think it was supposed to be "Teach! A Lecture Musical", but, you know...typo.)

VIDEO: Ethel Mermon's, "There's No Business Like Show Business"

Irving Berlin knew what he was talking about. You can be anyone you want to be, or anyone someone else wants you to be, too. All it takes is a costume, a shift in your pitch, and a willing suspension of disbelief.

I've been ruminating on the concept of identity. Does it belong to us, or is there something in the idea that reality is in the eye of the beholder; that once I close my eyes, everything ceases to exist? "I am whatever you say I am..."?

As humans, it's rather necessary for us to require an "us" and a "them" in order to properly organize the world in which we live. I've can personally apply this line of thought to a few parameters: friends and foes; gay and straight; parents and children; boss and employee, et cetera. In all these relationships, identity inevitably becomes a kind of currency, able to be traded to gain certain priveleges or services. Our boss thinks we're one person, which becomes her reality concerning your place in the organizing of her life. Yet, when we're not in the office, that identity ceases to be, and another identity takes its place with our family/friends/enemies. We're someone different when we're with our partner than who we are with friends.

So which identity is true? Is it that fluid? Does this particular coin of trade really belong to us, or is it another tool with which others manipulate and shape the world around us to suit their particular wants and needs? Or is the currency of identity used to buy and sell on behalf of those others ("I'm ________ because ________ is what I think/perceive you want/need me to be.")

Who gets to decide who I am?

Are we doing people favors (good!)? Are we lying to them (bad!)? Is it all really as Berlin said...a show? As long as the audience loves you, you're a star.

There's no people like show people
They smile when they are low
Even with a turkey that you know will fold
You may be stranded out in the cold
Still you wouldn't trade it for a sack o' gold
Let's go on with the show
Let's go on with the show!
The show!
The show!

VIDEO: Jamie Cullum, "All At Sea"

(kind of my song at the moment)

VIDEO: The Bird Poltergeist

(I find this very metaphorical...)

"The highly coordinated movements of flocks of birds or schools of fish are among the most fascinating phenomena to be found in nature. The group seems to turn and maneuver as a single unit, changing direction almost instantaneously, leading some researchers to hypothesize that electromagnetic communication or even "thought transference" must be involved. In reality this behavior results from far less mysterious causes. Such movements are a prime example of emergent behavior: the behavior is not a property of any individual bird, but rather emerges as a property of the group itself. There is no leader, no overall control; instead the flock's movements are determined by the moment-by-moment decisions of individual birds, following simple rules in response to interactions with their neighbors in the flock.

When flocks are not under attack, but instead leaving a roost site to go to a feeding area, they may also swerve back and forth apparently aimlessly, because random movements by single individuals can easily generate changes in direction. However, eventually a sort of consensus will develop based on the motivation of the majority of the flock members, and the flock will fly off to its destination in a fairly direct manner."

VIDEO: "Get Me Bodied (Extended Mix) #3 - The Sims 2

Shut the fuck up.

VIDEO: Cause the Gays Are Getting Married

I'm with Marc Felion: this is old, but brand-new to me, and, um...hilarious. Also: true.

VIDEO: Get Me Bodied (Extended Mix) #2 - Big Girl Remix

A few points, before we begin:

1. I've seen amateur drag queens who know their words better than these two.
2. Some of the things executed in this video were non-consentual. I did not ask for them. I needed to exfoliate after my initial screening.
3. When all else fails, swing your weave.
4. One of the performers is named "Ton". Oh, and she has a YouTube channel.
5. I can't help loving it when big girls own it for themselves.
6. The end of the video is like a Bizarro-world Maya Angelou card.

VIDEO: Bea Arthur's Sex and the City

...starring Bea Arthur, Charlotte Rae, Sally Struthers, and Katherine Helmond.

VIDEO: "Get Me Bodied (Extended Mix)" #1 -- Mr. Beyonce

I'm fascinated by the phenomenon of homemade "Get Me Bodied (Extended Mix)" dance videos on YouTube. I have no idea what causes this. My odd curiousity regarding the uber self-confident? A morbid fascination with the strange? A voyeurism that extends to poorly decorated row house bedrooms?? I logged onto WebMD and everything, and I still don't know what it is about these that demands my attention.

I can't hold it inside any longer. There's beauty in release, and it is in that spirit I bequeath these oddities to my readers, beginning with the man(?) we lovingly refer to as Mr. Beyonce. Please...SOMEONE explain the costume and lighting choices. WHO IS HOLDING THE CAMERA?!

I urge you, reader, to watch 'til the end -- the "Naomi Campbell walk" is without parallel. Shout out to Aisha and Tamiyah!

VIDEO: Talking to Your Cat About Drugs

VIDEO: Planet Unicorn

To see more, sparkle on over to PlanetUnicorn.tv

VIDEO: Country Roses