A cornucopia of distractions for Friday

:: This is a must-see - Neil Young performs the theme tune to Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air (okay, it's Jimmy Fallon pretending to be Neil Young, but see if you can tell the difference...)



:: The permanently underrated Kelis released a new song via her new website earlier this week. It's called Acapella, but its got instruments on it. Confusing. But Amazing. [link]

:: "I like girls. But now... it's about justice". The Top 50 Worst Moments of Video Game Dialogue [link]. See also: "Just before you die, I’m going to tell you a secret so you really don’t want to die!" - part of the ever-expanding catalogue of poor video game dialogue on the website Audio Atrocities. [link]

:: The Tao of Don Draper [via Gawker]



:: The 14 most awesome fake products from The Simpsons. [link]

:: This basketball mascot has gone above and beyond the call of duty with his half-time dance...



:: US public radio station NPR (think Radio 4 after a hostile takeover by Harvard University) ran its list of the Top 50 Most Important Recordings Of The Decade. Despite the pompous title, they have pretty funky taste - Kelly Clarkson rubs shoulders with Outkast and someone who's done a manic jazz cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit. The 1h20m podcast has music from all the winners and some hugely pretentious chit-chat. Essential listening. [link]

:: While we're looking at the end of the musical decade, you should also check out this excellent Spotify playlist from Drowned in Sound [link] and NME's Top 100 Tracks Of The Decade - correctly topped by Beyoncé's Crazy In Love. [link]

:: Lady GaGa put on an atypically understated performance of THE BIG BALLAD from her new album on Ellen De Generes' US chat show.

Lady GaGa - Speechless


:: Wikipedia quiz -- can you guess which wikipedia article is being quoted before time runs out? WARNING: This will eat up your entire afternoon. [link]

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We have moved to Springfield

That's mrsdiscopop and me visiting Apu in the Kwik-e-Mart, courtesy of the splendid "make your own Simpson" thingamawhatsist on The Simpsons' Movie website. Hours of fun guaranteed*

* Terms and conditions apply. Your home may be at risk if you do not have fun. Fun can go up as well as down. Although going up and down is pretty good fun in itself. Especially on a trampoline. Or a big wobbly jelly.

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Spiderpig

Mrsdiscopop and I have been to the cinema twice this week. Once to see Harry Potter (plot in six words: like the other ones but angsty) and once to see Die Hard 4.0 (plot in six words: a whole ton of shit blows up).

While both movies weren't a complete waste of £7.00, the best thing we saw on either visit was this thing right here:

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HomeRun

Until now, I have been studiously avoiding the forthcoming Simpsons Movie. My reasons are threefold:

1) I don't want to know anything about the plot in advance
2) I'm desperately worried it'll be disappointing
3) As a result of 1 and 2, I kind of forgot it was coming out

Luckily, my dodgy memory has been given a quick jolt by Fox's marketing department, who have just released the first proper trailer from the film. I held my breath and clicked on the play button, and...



Phew! It is distinctly not a sham of a mockery of two farces in a trojan horse pretending to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. Creator Matt Groening is one of the main writers, all of the major characters are in there, and, most important of all, it made me do a laugh (actually it was more of a wheeze - I'm still feeling a little unwell).

The only disappointment is the American voice-over man's inability to say "coloured-in". Really, guys, English isn't that difficult to master.

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Live action Simpsons!

Someone clearly has too much time on their hands - but this is a small piece of genius, nonetheless.

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Who the hell are you?

How does it feel to be the lead character in the world's most successful sitcom, yet have no-one recognise you in the street?

That's the dilemma Nancy Cartwright explores in her one-woman show, "My Life As A Ten-Year-Old Boy."

Nancy is the voice of Bart Simpson (and Ralph Wiggum, and Nelson, and Chucky from the Rugrats), and its massive fun to hear her break into character, as she does throughout her act.

Trouble is, on the evidence of the opening night, Nancy is only as good as the material she's given - and her show desperately needs the attention of The Simpsons' crack team of writers.

She relies heavily on crowd-pleasing script recitals, and seems more interested in self-promotion than giving an insight into her peculiar talents.

By far the most telling moment comes when she reveals, with a generous helping of jealousy, that Hank Azaria joins most Simpsons readthroughs by speakerphone because he's "off in Italy, or Paris, or Broadway in Spamalot getting 11 Tony nominations." Ouch.

But it was a pleasant surprise to find that Cartwright was one of the voices behind Animaniacs - Warner Brothers brilliant, but largely unloved, TV series of the mid-90s (do a Google search and you might find ten or so woeful sites from the dawn of the internet).

Indeed, Cartwright's character Mindy still shuts down the Discopop PC every night as she squeaks "OK, I love you - Byebye!"

Bless.

NancyCartwright.com

Riverside Studios

Daws Butler (Nancy's mentor and the voice of Hukleberry Hound)

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