Sufjan Stevens - Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois

This song (mentioned in the title) is possible one of the more beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard in my life. Sadly, it clocks in at only about two minutes. To me, that makes it all the more miraculous.

It is composed mainly of piano, woodwind, and vocals. The piano melody is... indescribably serene and heart-wrenchingly beautiful. Or so I think, at any rate. Maybe that makes me a pansy. But at least I have good musical taste. In Sufjan Stevens.

The song comes from the album Illinois. It's a great album. You should get it. In the meantime...

Pokerap

Well, by now, hopefully some (or all) of you have seen the umu-infested Charlie the Unicorn 3. Yes, it is quite funny. However, didn't that fish-themed rap at the end sound vaguely familiar? Almost like you had heard the tune before, but you couldn't quite put a finger on it..

Well, that's because it was blatantly stolen from the greatest song of all time, the POKERAP.

Check it, yo.

Possibly the Greatest Animation Ever

Four years ago, the popular Flash animation site was hit with an animation called "Fallen Angel Teaser". The animation (which can be seen here) was a 3-4 minute action thriller set in a post-apocalyptic landscape, where a random girl comes in and causes some extreme havoc/carnage. Fantastically animated, it was rated among the top animations of its time.

Four years later, the teaser has finally bloomed into a full-blown animated feature, Episode 1 of a continuing series. I do not estimate by saying it is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Flash animations that I have ever seen. Trust me, you will NOT be disappointed.

It comes in 3 parts, and is about 12 minutes long, total.

Fallen Angel, Episode 1, Pt. 1
Fallen Angel, Episode 1, Pt. 2
Fallen Angel, Episode 1, Pt. 3

COLDPLAY @ MSG 6/23/08

Well, I just got back from seeing Coldplay at Madison Square Garden last night, and I am bushed. The concert was absolutely amazing. Here's the low down:

Coldplay opened up a contest on their website for people to win free tickets to a show at MSG. I didn't win, but a friend of mine did, and being awesome, he gave me the tixx. So, my family and I took the train into Penn Station, and went to the arena. I also got a stylish t-shirt beforehand.

The concert was... AMAZING. Extremely energetic - 10,000 screaming Coldplay fans make for some powerful singalongs. They played some old hits, including Clocks (complete with lasers), God Put a Smile Upon Your Face (very powerful), and Fix You (hugely powerful). They had some really sweet new songs, including Viva la Vida (huge singalong), Lost! (with lots of handclaps), and Lovers in Japan, the closer.

There were some cool things included, too. The band moved to the middle of the arena and played two songs there, which was way cool. Then, later, they moved up into the seats and played a two-song acoustic set: A heartbreakingly beautiful version of Yellow, and a new song where the drummer sang. Also, lots of tech: Laser lights, confetti butterflies, and six giant magic balls that were huge spherical video screens.

What impressed me the most was how with the crowd Coldplay was. They actually messed up certain parts (beginning of Chinese Sleep Chant, end of Lost!, and some lyrics on Fix You), and handled themselves well, joking with the crowd and ad-libbing lyrics. At one point, with some technical difficulty, the lead singer said "Fuck it, we're cancelling the show. No refunds!" which got a huge laugh. He even made new lyrics on Fix You when he forgot a part.

Either way, it was a magical night. They were amazing. You can read my full review here, or if you don't trust me, search Google.