January 2008

DIVERSION: MTV Flashback To 1983

Pining for the glory days of MTV? When you think they used to play video after video after video? Well, unless you're old, you probably don't know that the early years had so much filibustering by their VJs that you may now realize why Tila Tequila and LC are what props up the ratings. Here's an hour of content from 1983, featuring a few videos, some commercials and a whole lot of VJ Mark Goodman. (more MTV olden times at appelogen.be, via Boing Boing)

DIVERSION: Boondocks vs. B.E.T.

Let's start with a quote:

"The most appalling of McGruder's reckless charges was that BET 'does not serve the interest of black people.' Our response to this slanderous assertion is that the 500-plus dedicated employees of BET do more in one day to serve the interest of African-Americans than this young man has done in his entire life." — Robert Johnson, President and CEO, BET Holdings, Inc. [full story here]

SHOT: R.E.M. - Vincent Moon, director

It's odd to say this, but my favorite music video director right now has not done a traditional music… until now. Director Vincent Moon has complied an amazing body of work called The Take-Away Shows over at the French music blog La Blogotheque. These live, unusually staged performances — typically in Paris — strips away all the artifice of traditional music videos in favor of single-take, organic and usually acoustic performances. Some of my faves include:

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