10 Cool Things! Finally.

1) Marble Hornets



Marble Hornets is an interactive web series created by Joseph Delage and Troy Wagner. Delage and Wagner were just film students when they browsed the Something Awful forums and found a thread called "Create Paranormal Images". Here they found a new creature created by user Victor Surge. It was a little monster that would soon be known as Slender Man.

The duo immediately set off to create a little video tie-in to the stories that fans of Slender Man were creating. However, their new web series started to take a life of its own. As the found footage medium continued to unravel a complex story, Delage and Wagner used the tools common to internet-savvy college students to make the story more interactive than ever before. The YouTube channel itself was part of the story: The protagonist, Jay, uploaded videos to the account as a record of his findings. A cryptic rival YouTube account called "totheark" started posting creepy responses. Jay interacted with fans on Twitter, thanking them for helping him discover clues. As mysterious and supernatural forces became involved, his Twitter account was "hacked" within the story.

Marble Hornets is an underrated story that is a prime example of how new media has the potential to revolutionize storytelling.

2) Operation Doomsday - by M.F. Doom

Operation Doomsday was recommended to me by a trusted musician friend. Boy, was it a good recommendation. I'm a big fan of hip-hop, but admittedly, I have a lot to learn about the history of the genre. When I found this, it exposed me to a side of it that I had never experienced. M.F. Doom speaks to me in ways that I never thought a rapper would be able to. While its clear that he has some life experiences very different than mine, what stands out to me is that Doom is a total nerd.

First of all, his very persona is based off of the Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom. Throughout the album, clips from a 60s Fantastic Four are used to help tell his story. The album is a beautiful collage of pop culture. Everything from remixing the Beatles' "Glass Onion" to a song called "Zoinks", which remixes background music from Scooby-Doo. Doom explains his life by pointing to the media he's consumed, which is almost exactly how I perceive my own life.

What I really appreciate is that by remixing the media that he obviously loves, Doom creates a completely new meaning out of it. This meaning is an honest and authentic look into his life.

3) The Muppet Show



How can you not love the Muppets? I loved Sesame Street more than any other kids show, and that love carried over when my sister won a copy of Muppet Treasure Island in a Disney Magazine sweepstakes. Naturally then, one of the first DVD sets I ever bought was the first season of the Muppet Show on DVD. I love the combination of chaotic humor and respect for artistry that the show has. One minute, giant purple monsters will devour Miss Piggy, and the next minute, Floyd will play a heartfelt cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

The Muppet Show doesn't rely on cheap jokes, but creates truly endearing characters. We laugh alongside them, feel genuine emotions with them, and that's all due to the incredible genius of their creator, Jim Henson. Henson was one of the world's hardest workers, with great expectations for himself and others, and relentless optimism. That optimism and joy has helped me through lots of hard times. Thank goodness for the Muppets.

4) Abbey Road by the Beatles



Okay, so I've mentioned the Beatles already a couple times in here. Why shouldn't I? They're simply the greatest band of all time. No question. The other day I had a facebook friend post, "How long has it been since you listened to Abbey Road? The answer is too long. Listen to it now." What a way to go out for the Beatles. The emotion and passion in George Harrison's simple guitar solo in "Something" is palpable. I weep when I listen to Paul's gentle melody in "Golden Slumbers" that shifts to a powerful belt. The alternating solos in "The End" perfectly sum up an amazing but all-too-short career for the lads from Liverpool.

Everybody truly gets a chance to show their best talents and variety in this album. We get funny and fun songs such as "Octopus's Garden" and "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" to the serious and haunting "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". We get pure imagination and dream-like lyrics in "The Sun King". Overall, this album is a complex and yet instantly familiar piece of artwork. It never gets old because its a timeless collection of some of the greatest talent and genius that this world has ever known.

5) The Fisher King by Terry Gilliam

So in the spring when I was taking 241, Jeff recommended this film to me to give me some ideas that would help me develop my story. What I found was an absolutely profound story that spoke to me on oh so many levels. It's a story about a man seeking redemption for indirectly causing a terrible tragedy. After finding himself in a deep depression, Jack Lucas decides to help a crazy homeless man as penance for his messy past. He finds that it will be much more complicated than he'd imagined, as the homeless man, beautifully played by Robin Williams, is seeking for the Holy Grail.

The film is honest and raw in the horrible things that happen in the world and how selfish all of us are at different times in our lives. But what I love is that it's also honest about the good that exists in the world and how it shows the contrasts between those absolutely sweet moments, and the moments of fear and despair that are also all too familiar to us. The crowning moment of the film is the above monologue, in which Robin Williams teaches us some eternal truths. "By very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls." Terry Gilliam beautifully teaches true principals about the atonement.

6) Twin Peaks by David Lynch


Twin Peaks is so good! I started watching it and at first I saw nothing more than a drama-filled soap opera. But it quickly became so much more. David Lynch gives his traditional surrealism to create a truly unique tone and aesthetic that would be immeasurably important to the future of storytelling in television. One of the central themes is given by one of the characters at a time of great danger: "I guess you could say that about most things in life...it's not so bad as long as you can keep the fear from your mind."

Even though Twin Peaks experiences its fair share of darkness and evil spirits, the supernatural elements of the show strengthened my faith and encourage me to be a force for good in the world. Much like the hardworking, obedient, pleasant, and optimistic Special Agent Dale Cooper is always there with a smile and a slice of cherry pie, I want to be there listening with my spiritual ears and always ready to lend a hand to those who require my service. Plus, the music and production design of the show are just absolutely astounding.

7) How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found by Sara Nickerson

Not nearly enough people have heard of this book. In fact, I think nobody has. I only got this book because it was on a book order in elementary school and it sounded creepy. And it definitely was. To be honest, I don't remember many of the details about this book, but I remember how it made me feel. There was suspense at every page, and a sense of fear and dread at the grotesque and macabre images it suggested. 

From what I remember of the plot, it was your basic story of a young girl moving into a creepy old house that her family inherited. You know, your basic Goosebumps storyline. However, it unraveled into a unique and scary story about an uncle who faked his own death after being so obsessed with rats that his body started changing into some kind of rat-human. The rat-human-uncle started keeping track of his life by creating graphic novels, which become the book within the book. The weirdness and creepiness of it captured me, and surely is part of my fascination with such things today.  

8) Sunday in the Park with George


To be honest, I don't fully understand this play. I don't understand a lot of it. I watched a recording of it for the first time last semester. It's very dense and covers so much in such a short period of time. What I do know is that it goes into depth about what it feels like to be an artist.

I guess I've always loved the painting that this is based on because of my love for the famous Chicago Art Museum scene in Ferris Beuller's Day Off. At any rate, I relate so much to George and his modern counterpart and how inadequate they feel at times and yet how powerful they feel at other times when they know what they're doing is coming from the heart. The music by Stephen Sondheim is beautiful as always and a great preview for what we would get later in Into the Woods.

The cast is impeccable and conveys so much emotion, especially Mandy Patinkin. In the above clip, his voice is just absolutely stunning.

9) BoJack Horseman


If you'd asked me a few months ago if I would list BoJack Horseman as one of the really cool things that I was obsessed with, I wouldn't believe you. Seeing a few previews, I had assumed that it was just a crass substance-less comedy ala Family Guy. However, when I gave the first season a chance, I found it to be much deeper than the simple critique of Hollywood that I thought it might be. What I found was a complex story about addiction and self-destruction. It asks important questions, such as how can one pull oneself out of a pattern of self-destruction when nobody believes in you? What happens when you have every desire to change, but your addictions and habits completely overcome you? You can't change until you want to, and you can't want to change when you're caught up in your bad habits.

BoJack is a frustrating protagonist, but he's one that we continue to root for. He makes some inexcusable decisions, but we can't help but notice his inner cries for help. How can he receive that help if he keeps pushing everybody away? I love the theme song to this show, because as one YouTuber pointed out, the saxophone represents the painful whinny of a horse. Although BoJack is silent on the outside, he's calling out as passionately as that saxophone.

10) Comedy Bang Bang! (The Podcast)


Every week I can't wait to tune into the newest episode of the Comedy Bang Bang podcast. Hosted by Scott Aukerman, the show is a combination of talk show elements and improvisation. Comedians appear as either themselves or as characters such as Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, Ho-Ho the Naughty Elf, or the Time Keeper (who is really just a watch repairman). I love how naturally these comedians slip into their characters, but I know better that this is a result of a lifetime of comedy and probably many times when they've been booed off stage.

I love how creative people collaborate and can create something new that kind of takes on a life of its own. The characters build off of one another and Scott is a fantastic host who helps the comedians stretch and push and create their own mythos around their own characters. Incidentally, the show is actually very feminist. Sometimes the show has groups of only women and they are hilarious. Plus, it's just dang funny.