Television Tried to Kill the Video Star, Failed: The Suzan's Home

Traditional music videos are all but dead. If you hadn't figured that out yet, head to the MTV website where you will see six scheduled hours of The Hills: Thinking is Hard, and back-to-back episodes of things called I Can't Stay Thin/ I'm Addicted to Food. The Russian music channel isn't faring much better, considering I just watched a half hour of c-list celebrities playing charades.

That's not to say I'm getting nostalgic; music videos have just been rerouted to the internet where that they can now benefit from interactive technology. In the fall, there was Arcade Fire's eerily-personalised We Used to Wait.  Last week, I showed you the Team Me's retro video-game-video for Weathervanes and Chemicals. 

Now Pomp&Clout have done up Home, the first video for Japanese all-girl group The Suzan. It's an infectious, energetic whirlwind of colour and xylophones, and if you download it as an app for your iPhone or iPad you can play with the speed, position, and angle of the kaleidoscope all day. And you will do it all day. If any of you just finished getting high, I apologise in advance for the massive blow I just delivered to today's productivity level.

You can get both the video and app here.

The Suzan "Home" from Mr Goldbar on Vimeo.

Retro Playtime: The Weathervanes and Chemicals Game is as Much Fun as the Song

When we were kids, my sisters and I didn't have a Nintendo. We really wanted one, but our older brother wouldn't let anyone touch his and our parents had deemed video games too expensive and brain-rotting.

Dangerous...

We were allowed access to the shed, however:

...totally cool

Being the resourceful tykes we were, we made a shoebox Nintendo with Smartie-box-and-string controllers, cardboard game cartridges, and even a changeable "screen". And we actually played with it for hours which is either insanely awesome or heartbreakingly sad.

What I'm getting at here is that I come from a disadvantaged home in the video games department. So of course I like Get Home--a retro 8-bit game based entirely around the song Weathervanes and Chemicals by Norway's Team Me.

Wow--It's like actually being there.

You'll need some patience because the controls are only slightly more responsive that those engineered by my sister and myself. But it's good, clean, three-button fun.

And since I love the song itself I'm going to post it for those who have no desire to play the game. If you haven't heard Weathervanes, it sounds a bit like Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, The Polyphonic Spree, or another band of similarly orchestral hippies. Very catchy.

Enjoy playtime.

Weathervanes and Chemicals (Team Me) by Mr.Shuffleupagus

Obituary: The Walkman

Japan--The Walkman, 31, has been quietly euthanized by Sony following a long period of irrelevance. His tragic end was hastened by the development of digital technology and music lovers' deep hatred of having to fast-forward then check then fast-forward then check to get through songs they don't like.

Born March 24th 1979, Walkman began his life as a chunky, 4-battery using youth, but grew into a svelte, colourful fashion statement of the eighties.  During his peak years, the number of people who claimed to walk as a form of exercise increased by 30%. The exact number of lives saved by aiding cardiovascular fitness and improved by keeping people from becoming ugly fatty-fats is unknown.
 
The Walkman is survived by the Discman (also not long for this world), dusty mixtapes still stashed somewhere in our mother's houses, and hipsters who think that releasing stuff in unplayable cassette format is ironic enough to be cool.

RIP Walkman. You will soon be forgotten.

*Fun Fact: The above artwork was created by Andy Warhol for a campaign Sony never used.