A nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests. The discovery’s first application will probably be in treatment of the severe sleep disorder narcolepsy.
I want to perform like a well-rested monkey!
1 Comment about Snorting a Brain Chemical Could Replace Sleep
Did you know that people still make music videos? In spite of MTV’s evolution into reality TV, music videos have lived on and found their home on the web in places like YouTube and MySpace, where adults can watch them without seeing commercials for soda and pimple cream. Here’s a list of the best videos I found in 2007, and by best I mean the most unique, unusual, sublime and creative.
Trentemøller: “Moan” (YouTube). The video tells the sad yet sublime story of Laika, the first Earthling in space.
Justice: “D.A.N.C.E” (YouTube). An excellent song, and an excellent video. The animation is simply incredible and unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
DJ Scotch Egg - Scotch Bach (YouTube) Bach played on GameBoys. Not kidding. The most unique video of the year.
MC Frontalot “It Is Pitch Dark” (YouTube). The undeniable apex of the nerdcore genre. Bonus points for not being about Star Wars. “You are likely to be eaten by a Grue”.
Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip: “Thou Shalt Always Kill” (YouTube). Sort of like being run over by a train for 3.5 minutes — in a good way. The most unique lyrics of the year. The beard will scare Americans.
All Through The Night - “Escort Video” (YouTube). Post modern Muppet mashup. The video is made from edited clips of the Muppet show and synchronized with the music. Retro clever.
José González - “Down The Line” (YouTube). Mellow, somber music and a weird video featuring a pig man. The video is effective because you find yourself empathizing with the mysterious plight of the pig man. I’m not kidding.
Spoon: “Don’t You Evah” (YouTube). A catchy song for sure, but this video stands out because it’s chock full of robots, and real robots. Real robots programmed by the dude in the video. The whole thing was produced by Wired magazine.
New Young Pony Club: “Icecream” (YouTube). This is a quintessential new wave video: bold visuals, primary and secondary colors, cute women and nerds with guitars. Watch it and you’ll think: this could be 1985, and I wish the 90’s never happened (well 1994-1999 at least).
I haven’t seen that many Top 10 type lists (a.k.a. the Curse of David Letterman) this year. I’m kind of disappointed, as they’re a fun way to waste time a work during the quiet days between Xmas and New Years. Here are 10 good ones:
101 Dumbest Moments. The most entertaining Top list ever, from Business 2.0.
12) The Krampus visits the Venture Brothers (YouTube). The Krampus is a demon like creature that once traveled with Santa Claus doling out punishments to naughty children. He needs to make a comeback.
The word Krampus originates from the Old High German word for claw (Krampen). In the Alpine region the Krampus is represented by an incubus in company of St Nicholas. Traditionally, young men dress up as the Krampus in the first two weeks of December and particularly in the evening of December 5 and roam the streets frightening children (and adults) with rusty chains and bells. In some rural areas also slight birching especially of young females by the Krampus is part of tradition.
The present day Krampus costume consists of red wooden masks or Larve, black sheep’s skin and horns. Considerable effort goes into the manufacture of the hand-crafted masks, as many younger adults in rural communities engage competitively in the Krampus events.
10) A Krampus celebration (YouTube). Freaking awesome.
9) Yo yo yo - 1-900-909-RAPS - Santa is Gangster (YouTube). “Back in the day”, in a time before the interweb, 1-900 numbers offered children and adults alike a chance to run up $1000 phone bills by exploiting their primordial urges. Nothing says Christmas to small children like rapping, criminal Santas; what child wouldn’t be enticed by this commercial:
8) Santa’s 1-900 Number (YouTube). Here’s another one without the urban flava:
6) Home Alone in 5 Seconds (YouTube). Home Alone is one of the better Christmas-themed movies. Who doesn’t love a little slap-shtick violence in context of celebrating the birth of the “Prince of Peace”? We’ve all seen this film enough times that is isn’t as funny as it once was, but leave it to the 5 Seconds guy to make this quick and hilarious edit:
5) Raging Rudolph (YouTube). Mad TV’s parody of The Year Without a Santa Claus… and the Godfather.
4) Christmas In Hollis - Run-D.M.C. (YouTube). The first rap Christmas song? The most famous one for sure.
3) Aquateen Hunger Force Christmas (Adult Swim). The make the most of what little they have.
2) Musashi’s Xmas song (YouTube). Cats singing Christmas songs. This is to neutralize the impact of the next video.
NWA’s music might be considered inappropriate for children, but with some careful editing and insertion of new lyrics, it’s “right as rain”. This video from the BBC show Rush Hour should serve as an excellent example for young adults who want to continue enjoying their music collections without corrupting the children’s impressionable minds.
Animetal Lady is a heavy metal band from Japan that sings the theme songs of Japanese animated movies and TV shows (Anime). Their original singer was MIE from Pink Lady (and Jeff) fame, and their latest singer, well her name is 未唯. I purchased their latest CD (oh so expensive import) recently, Animetal Lady Marathon 2, and although my exposure to 2000’s metal is limited (Dimmu Borgir, Slipknot, Cradle of Filth, Ministry, Dethklok) I think it’s the best metal disc of the 21st century so far. The metal music is solid metal (never false or nu) and flawlessly played, the vocals are over-the-top Otaku, and the energy and excitement of the songs is non-stop from start to finish.
The sad thing is I believe both Animetal Lady and their masculine counterpart Animetal have broken up. :( For more info, here’s the Animetal site.
Okay, now all that said, the point of this post is to show you this video of Animetal Lady in concert performing one of my favorite Anime theme songs, Cutie Honey:
