Penelope: Princess of Pets

is like my absolute favorite new thing.
I was reading on Radar a feature about New Radicals, new artists that are bucking tradition/making trends/doing really cool things(including Kathy Griffin and Candis Cayne) and one of the people featured was Kristen Schaal from Flight of the Conchords and Story Pirates.
In her profile it mentioned something like you'll see her next "on the viral video Penelope: Princess of Pets, which will be forwarded to you at some point in the coming months." So of course in my continuing attempt to be 6 inches back of cutting edge I had to check it out.

And they're really really funny. Quirky, strange and different but cute and endearing and leaves you wanting more, kinda like Kristen.

Anyway here's the description and...it doesn't really do justice.

We think Penelope might be a little crazy. It's not so much the whole "I'm going to Washington, D.C. to kill a senator and save the world" part. It's the "I've been able to talk to animals ever since I started getting my period" thing.

Did I mention Senator Stone is one of the execs on 30 Rock? (think "The Head & The Hair" episode)
Enjoy! (try not to, I dare you)

Part One: Openings


Part Two: Poison


Part Three: Cardboard


I can't wait for the next epic chapter...[dum dum dum]

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Story Pirates, Arrrggh!

After that last post I feel I need something pure and innocent and good to counteract the evil of the Republican Party and so I remembered a video from earlier this morning. After the Bud Light "Dude" commercial played a set of realted videos showed up and one seemed so random I clicked on it.
It's called "This Movie is About Cats Flying" and it is a little frightening

While I was watching I read the description and it piqued my interest more. You see "This story is about cats flying."
Based on this sentence by 8 year-old Jah-Kym McMillan, and adapted into a film short by The Story Pirates - a non-profit company that promotes a love of creative writing.
The Striking Viking Story Pirates (www.storypirates.com) adapt and perform stories written by kids as a way of celebrating the words and ideas of young people."

It seemed like such a great and fun idea, and I'm sure it must give the authors and their families such a thrill that I started watching most of the videos that they've posted out of happiness and so I thought you should enjoy them as well.
Here is "Abby is Sile" written by 6 year old Sofia Morales-Bello Barcelo

(And you may have noticied as I did that Abby looks familiar. So I checked out the Pirates' bios and found out it's Kristen Schaal the one fan of Flight of The Conchords.)
The Day I Got My Head Stuck in A Barstool written by 4th grader Russel Kay (from the stage show)

"Teddy Bear Cottage" by Eli Land, age 4.

Fourth Grader Michael Breen's "Giant Bugs 2"

And finally, from Madeline Desrochets "I Love You The Best" (because that's what I do!)


(I think at this age I wrote stories about murderous robots and monkeys moving to the city- this kids are far more well adjusted than I)
This totally had to have been my most kid friendly post ever,btw; I'll try to slut it up later...

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Tim Minchin: Definitely Funnier Than Yahoo Serious

The L.A. Times today had a profile of the Australian comedian Tim Minchin that asked the question: "Could this be comedy's next superstar?" With the subtitle "[he] might or might not be the next big thing" and so of course in my pursuit of new hottness and things that I can find and love but then disavow when they get big and "sell out" I decided to check out some of his stuff and I have to say he is really hard to categorize

hH ranges from a pretty straight cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah (the only thing in it that's funny is the guy at about 1:02 who proclaims in disbelief "You've gotta be fucking kidding me)

to a surprisingly heartwarming original song about acceptance and being okay with what you've got called "Not Perfect"

A song that sounds like it really could be from like Ben Folds, "Rock n Roll Nerd"

to a song about true love and relationships, "If You Really Loved Me"

or the benefits of synthetic humans, "Inflatable You"

A poetic reading and exploration of one's own psychology "Angry [feet]"

and a summary of Donnie Darko (that finally helped me understand that film)

and his interest range all the way to the geopolitical, and environmental concerns as can be evidenced by this medley of "A Peace Anthem for Palestine/ Canvas Bag"

but all in all he's pretty brilliant (with songs that are really catchy). His piano playing is really impressive and unlike Flight of the Conchords I can actually listen to him for more than 5 minutes at a time without getting annoyed. And so while I don't know what makes the "next big thing" (middle america/frat types-I can't get into their heads) I really enjoyed him (the first thing that really made me laugh over the past few days) and he is probably the greatest Australian comedic export ever (though when your main competition* is Yahoo Serious and Paul Hogan that distinction may not be that hard to achieve.)

*and I'm sure there are a lot of great Australian comedians, but I'm drawing a blank right now

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Someone Call New Zealand's Child Protective Services

or whatever the equivalent is there, because this kid is going to be in for a tough time.
In my quest to find the strangest baby name ever we have a very strong contender. A couple in Wellington has named their child Superman. As in the comic book Krypton hero (son of Jor-El.) But as "awesome" and unique as Superman is as a (real life) name, it wasn't the parents first choice. No that honor would go to 4Real, written exactly that way. And what made the couple decide on this moniker to gift their child with?

The Wheatons decided on the name after seeing the baby for the first time in an ultrasound scan and realizing their baby was "for real."...They decided 4Real was the best way to write it, but the name was rejected because the registrar said a name had to be a sequence of characters.

Thankfully there's at least one person with some sense in that country, though sadly the parents will still call the kid 4real, like he was in some late 90's one man boy band. There's no way this kid is having a normal life. The kid is now 2 months old. I'm sure when he's like 7 it'll be really cool that his name is Superman and maybe when he's in his teens and there's some hip hop revival, going by 4real will be "fresh" in his group of friends but imagine he's 25 and trying to advance in some buttoned down business world, imagine that when he's growing up people want to see if they can beat up Superman, or, heaven forbid, when he gets too into the hard core gangsta rap scene in New Zealand that someone wants to see if this Superman can survive bullets. Poor, poor Superman Wheaton. 2007-2026. I just wish his name was Mojo, then at least someone could pray for him.

Poor kid. I hear Daniel's a nice name. You'll need this when you become legal

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