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I was watching Best Week Ever a while back, and they had a clip of the “sing country songs” American Idol episode, where FallOutBoy Wannabe slash Unknown Sexual Orientation Guy sang “Ring of Fire”, but he sang it with an Indian twist. I’m sorry to say this, but it was kind of awesome. So I looked it up on YouTube, and indeedy, it is pretty cool, especially for Merkin Idol, which is not exactly cutting-edge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-NULFMky4s

And to keep my hard-earned street cred, here is a Ukrainian band covering “Hot ‘n’ Cold” by Katy Perry. With an accordion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1upZz3a-7iM

Everyone’s talking about this new MTV site that supposedly has all the videos they’ve aired, ever. Which, I am sad to say, is untrue. So I’ve made a short list of some of my favorite videos that I want to share here. There will probably be several posts like this, because I always feel like I’m forgetting something, and I probably am. But we’ll start with these.

Gnarls Barkley “Crazy”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd2B6SjMh_w
Does this really need an explanation? It’s a Rorschach test using light and dark to carve the artist’s faces out of the ink. And bugs and spiders. And a skull. That too. Gorgeous video. I actually sat down in awe when I saw it the first time.

Kanye West “The Good Life”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su_zrW9WBVk
I wish I had worked on this video. I would have loved – LOVED – to do the animation. Also, so considerate for the deaf. Pretty much everything that is said is spelled out. Kanye is thinking of the aurally challenged, how sweet. He’s not the self-centered meanie-head everyone says he is.

Coldplay “The Scientist”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3Kd7IGPyeg
I don’t much care one way or the other about Coldplay’s music, but to have to learn your own lyrics backwards, wow, that must be hard. I like the video because it reminded me of one of my favorite movies, Memento. Very clean and emotional and stark.