Two frickin' awesome videos

The first one I watched tonight is a World of Warcraft how-to regarding Brewfest. I say even if you don't play WoW, have never played WoW, have never played an MMO in your life, you might enjoy it. WoW fans ... you will most definitely enjoy it. I enjoyed it so much I already watched it twice, just to enjoy the sheer artistic value of it! I plan on watching it again too!

The second one is a Duran Duran song I'd never heard before, and just when I thought I'd already heard their best ... along comes one of my fellow Blippers with this song. And can I just say it is Simon Le Bon-riffic? *squee*

Duran Duran

Do not underestimate the power this band has to draw a crowd. Big crowds. As in, fill-Wembley-Stadium-for-5-nights-big crowds.

So there I was reading up on them on Wikipedia. I went there to look up some petty little detail or another regarding their last album Red Carpet Massacre. Well I got more than I bargained for - hence the blog post.

I went and signed up for the member mailing list. And when I save up the money I'm going to buy an annual membership. Yeah, they're that good.

Ever since I profiled them here for National Duran Duran Appreciation Day I got such an education on their music that I simply wasn't expecting. I knew I liked The Reflex from back in the day; I knew that was a good, timeless song. I knew some of their other hits from that era were not my favorites. But then, I hadn't listened to them since their release either (yes, I'm that old, what of it!). So I settled in for a few hours of researching their music in order to write the blog post ... and I really haven't quit listening since! It has been an absolute pleasure rediscovering the hits I grew up with, as well as hearing some of the later stuff that I missed the first time around ("Ordinary World"; "Come Undone"; "What Happens Tomorrow"). Their song-writing, lyric-writing, vocals, the whole package, fits my music tastes exactly.

I really just went to Duran Duran's website to poke around and see if there was any chance they might still be touring the U.S. of A. the remainder of this year, because the Wikipedia article seemed to end right about now. I was THRILLED to see they are, in fact, still recording what will become their 13th album - and by all accounts, there is great anticipation surrounding this one! A tour shall accompany the release of this album sometime next year.

So. I've got a mission. And that mission is to attend a Duran Duran concert in my lifetime. Whatever other missions I said I had before, well, they're playing second fiddle now!

National Duran Duran Appreciation Day - 2009

An hour of research later and I totally understand now why this day exists.

I've been sitting here blipping Duran Duran songs like crazy on my Blip.fm station (where I am the much sexier DJ SolarSoda), and looking up lyrics as I go along, and just generally getting a crash education on their history to prepare for today's post. All I really knew about Duran Duran involved their early big hits like Hungry Like the Wolf, and their unique sound has a way of catapulting me back to 7th-grade like few others. I am positively thunderstruck as I listen to their music now ... this is great stuff! Their music is more sophisticated than I remember, although I'm here to tell you The Reflex - the video as much as the song - really captured my 12-year-old imagination in a way I never forgot over the years. The lyrics are deep, deeper than I was expecting, and eclectic. I'm having a blast picking songs I'm pretty sure I never heard before in addition to the ones I grew up listening to in the 80s. So far I have not been disappointed.

So yes I understand now why there is a National Duran Duran Appreciation Day. Here is a band that deserves it's fame in my book.

Besides Simon Le Bon is still pretty friggin HAWT!... actually, they're all pretty damn hot. Musical talent + pretty boy looks = WIN!