Crazy Christmas Cavalcade: Holiday Spirit 2011

Hey everybody it's the eve of Christmas Eve, and it's time for my last holiday animation of 2011.

Please gather the entire family around the computer (or smart phone or tablet) to enjoy the short animated musical Christmas adventure of Jingles the bell ringing elf, and the holiday spirit that possesses him...



If this animation seems familiar it's because it is.  It's a "special edition" of  animation I made back in 2007.  Hey if George Lucas can do it so can I.

Anyway I think I've made some improvements.  The little red elf was originally intended to be in the animation, but was cut due to time constraints. I have a better grasp of particle systems so I think the avalanche looks more dynamic.  At the very least the picture quality is certainly much better.  Yes the Internets have improved over the last 5 years.  Here's how it looked back in 2007 for those of you who didn't click the link...



Merry Christmas everybody!

Music Videos from Hell: Part 3

Now it's time for my last scary music video post. These posts have been so exceptionally popular that Vh1 has contacted me, and I've agreed to turn them into a series of specials. Please look for Music Videos from Hell right after Lindsay Lohan's new reality show WTF Am I Doing to my Life? airing sometime in 2011.

Anyway let's look at a scary video now. In Between Days by The Cure is another one of those videos that's accidentally creepy. The song is very happy, but the trippy florescent makeup is spooky. I don't know what the stop-motion socks are all about.

The Cure - Inbetween Days from feelthemonster on Vimeo.

Let's jump from 1985, to the present day and take a look at Kids by MGMT. This video is a depiction of a small child's nightmare. I'm sure the band has gotten some sharp criticism for apparently terrifying a toddler thru nearly the entire video. (FYI: the actual song starts about 1 minute in)



I'm pretty sure the kid is OK, and wasn't traumatized by the experience in the slightest. Although those monsters were nothing compared to the horrendous futuristic wardrobe the band wears. Silver clothing is so unflattering.

Well I've save the scariest video for last. So if your nerves can take it, brace yourself for the most frightening music video ever...


I don't blame you if you had to look away. The horror... the horror...

Music Videos from Hell: Part 2

It's time for another one of my very popular "scary" music video posts that have become the talk of the Internets...

Jeopardy by the Greg Kihn Band was released March of 1983 according to Wiki. The Wiki also says Michael Jackson's Thriller video was released December 2, 1983. If this is correct it's interesting to note that Greg Kihn came out with a zombie music video 10 months before Michael. Michael went on to became a music superstar, and this was Greg Kihn's only #1 hit. Maybe if the zombies in Jeopardy had the dance skills of the Thriller zombies things might have been different.

Also Jeopardy is a true music video - it was actually shot on video...


Now here's a video that's a little more current, Back Against The Wall by Cage The Elephant isn't trying to overtly scary like Jeopardy. It's just plain creepy, but it's also one of my favorite songs released this year...



Do those ugly garden gnomes look familiar to anyone? I think they resemble the scary little creatures from the 70's TV movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (TV 1973)

Music Videos from Hell: Part 1

For some Halloween fun, I was thinking about taking a look at some scary music videos.

Sometimes they are intentionally "scary" like Michel Jackson's Thriller directed by John Landis, but other times I think the scariness was unintentional. I'll be showcasing both kinds of music videos this month.

The Aphex Twin video for Come to Daddy directed by Chris Cunningham is intentionally scary. Very aggressively scary, and according to the Wiki, "The music video was positioned number 35 in 100 Greatest Scary Moments, as voted by Channel 4 viewers in 2003."

Okay if you've never seen it, brace yourself for some seriously messed up stuff...


Man that's unpleasant to watch, but it's also genius. Chris Cunningham is a master at creating disturbing imagery. Check out his Rubber Johnny short for more of his expertly crafted grotesque weirdness.

Next is a video that I don't think was intended to be scary, but it is. Can your nerves withstand Bonnie Tyler and Total Eclipse of the Heart directed by Russell Mulcahy...



Wow there's everything but the kitchen sink this this video. It's so over the top you could write a dissertation on the underlying themes and symbolism.

Anyway as the video starts it's candles, slow-mo doves, and silk fabric blowing around. You may think it's just going to be some boring video filled with artsy romanticism, but then at the 45 second mark a school boy walks though the door with glowing green eyes. What the hell?

After the guy with the glowing green eyes there's so much other crap going on by the end of the video you practically forgot about him. Then wham! You get hit with the "Boys Choir of the Damned" who not only have the scary glowing eyes, but one boy even levitates.

I'm not sure the makers of this video were aware of how scary this stuff was. I think they were going for something more stylized than scary, but they unintentionally created a nightmare. Seriously what's scarier - the glowing eyed ghost pirates from John Carpenter's The Fog, a R rated horror film that was released around the same time as the music video...

John Carpenter's The Fog

... or the possessed boys choir from Total Eclipse of the Heart?

I don't know about you, but for sheer creepiness the ghost pirates ain't got nothing on that boys choir.

Intoxica with Howie Pyro

Hey Howie, here's some personally made fan art just for you.

Do you know about LuxuriaMusic?

You should! I've had it listed over on the right ever since I started this blog as a "Cool Thing To Click," but if you don't it's basically a retro music internet radio station.

But more importantly it's the home of a really fun, weird and cool show called Intoxica hosted by Howie Pyro that's on every Tuesday at midnight Eastern (9pm Pacific). But you don't have to wait at all to listen to Intoxica, just click on a show over on the right and give it a listen right now damn it.

Intoxica is a combination of obscure early 60's rock, R&B, jazzy surf music, weird commercials for crazy old movies and stuff, and a lot more. If this moronic blog of mine had a soundtrack it would sound a lot like Intoxica.

If you like holiday music Howie does Halloween and Christmas shows with the strangest holiday music you've heard. It's stuff way, way beyond Monster Mash or Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.

Intoxica is also available on iTunes for free download, so just search for Intoxica in the podcast section. All his shows are super great.

I hope I haven't over sold the Intoxica show. But seriously, you'll be a better person for listening to it, or at least a cooler person (well cooler in my book).

Now in the spirit of Intoxica I present something that's unique, cool and very stupid all at the same time - the Sixfinger! This one is dedicated to you Howie...