Siteseeing

Here we go with a good old link-blogging post for the first time in too long.



I know it’s been making the rounds at warp speed the past few days, but Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy in Audi’s “The Challenge” has at least one moment too priceless not to keep sharing. It’s a commercial, obviously — so if you have a hard policy against watching such things, here’s your warning. [2:56]

Wil Wheaton offered up a spontaneous monologue on “why being a nerd is awesome” last month at the Calgary Comic Expo, in reply to a woman asking on behalf of her young daughter. He’s using “nerd” interchangeably with “geek” as many do, although I tend to prefer the distinction of a geek as someone with an intense focus on a particular hobby or fandom (or constellation of same) and a nerd as someone who is a geek to a socially awkward extreme, that is, “nerd” as the overlap of “geek” and “dork”. [4:13]

A Canadian astronaut who returns to Earth today after serving as commander of the International Space Station, Chris Hadfield, yesterday posted a cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” shot aboard the station. He sang and played the guitar, while the rest of the music and production was handled terrestrially. If I’m being completely honest, I kind-of miss the harmony vocals and I’m a little torn on how he adapted the lyrics to his situation. Then again, I get not wanting to sing about being lost in space when you’re due to come home. And I still find the whole thing technically impressive as well as emotionally powerful. [5:31]

Speaking of harmony vocals and mixed feelings, Pentatonix, champions of The
Sing-Off Season Three, have released a nifty little a cappella medley called “The Evolution of Music”. It comprises the last thousand years, although of course it’s weighted towards the twentieth and twenty-first centuries — the former has the most songs included but I think the latter wins out on time devoted proportionally. I definitely could’ve done with less of an event horizon on the very recent stuff, and I’m ticked about the fumbled lyrics to “La Bamba” (in the age of the Internet, there’s no excuse for not knowing that it starts with the actual Spanish words “para bailar” rather than the stutter/filler syllables “ba-da-ba-da-da”). Given that half these kids are half my age, I should be glad they even made the effort. Plus, Avi Kaplan’s bass parts are boss. [4:28]


Related: NCC-1701-DVD • Look and Listen • Ol’ Pointy Ears Is Back