Super Dave—guitar player, video instructor of Jonathan Coulton songs, and all-around guy-with-too-much-free-time—has recorded another video guitar lesson, this time of our song "Live".
Because the song is so phenomenally awesome, it cannot be contained in a single video, so he’s split the lesson into two parts (Part 1 and Part 2). Thanks, Dave—both for liking the song enough to include it in the series, and for rocking the cool Batman t-shirt during the lesson.
In our most recent podcast, we got into a spirited discussion (think Lincoln/Douglas) about our pajama habits. As promised, we’re opening the matter up to everyone else.
Because we are incurably curious, please take part in the following polls regarding your own personal jammies habits. Feel free to elaborate on your answers in the comments section below as well. Please help us lay these pressing questions to rest, so our long national nightmare can end.
[poll id=4]
[poll id=5]
[poll id=6]
.jpg?resize=100%2C100)
The eighth episode of our podcast, Paul and Storm Talk About Some Stuff for Five to Ten Minutes (On Average), is now online.
In this particularly failure-obsessed episode: the difficulty of adapting songs for live shows; disasters, especially where Jimi Hendrix is concerned; worries, fears and bad dreams; and the subject of pajamas proves more fruitful than Paul had originally thought.
Featured post-show song: “Me Make Fire” – Paul and Storm
Show #008: A Pajama Jammy Jam (Some content NSFW)
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/www.paulandstorm.com/podcasts/PS_5-10_008.mp3]Enjoy the podcast? Maybe donate, why don’tcha?
Readable version of the scrolling credits from the "The Way-Too-Early Christmas Song" video.
Photos in order of appearance. All are Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Licensed except for those marked with an asterisk, which are CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Licensed. In most cases the actual name of the photo is different from the titles below, to make it easier for folks to find their faves so that they can learn about These Great Photographers:
December
http://www.flickr.com/photos/billhd/311667638/sizes/l/
Turkey 1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johncabell/66600957/sizes/o/
Turkey 2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/2091638550/sizes/l/
Tofurkey
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eszter/2055391109/sizes/l/
Sno Cones
http://www.flickr.com/photos/waytoocrowded/2539163757/sizes/o/
Candy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/427/2526120541/sizes/l/
Snow Globe
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7875788@N03/465582991/sizes/l/
Mini Mall
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vidaarctique/1534559011/sizes/l/
Red Mall Ornament
http://www.flickr.com/photos/essjay/74384491/sizes/l/
Snowy Mall Display
http://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/2072416382/sizes/l/
Fast Food Santa
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drhenkenstein/2158132008/sizes/o/
“Understand” guy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisdaniel/2113673820/sizes/l/
Flying Christmas Family*
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshunter/2129589072/
Mistletoe
http://www.flickr.com/photos/strawbleu/2145472050/
Veterans Day
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jglagowski/354280683/sizes/l/
“Wrong”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pickledshark/314413354/
Headless Display
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aricee/77576049/sizes/l/
Toy Band
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davepatten/313018592/sizes/l/
Billy Bass
http://www.flickr.com/photos/feastoffools/2691280859/sizes/o/
Billy Bass Adoption Center
http://www.flickr.com/photos/glennharper/332225870/sizes/o/
St Pat
http://www.flickr.com/photos/torugatoru/2343391398/sizes/o/
St Pat Santa
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7447470@N06/2070212447/sizes/l/
Tree Color 01
http://www.flickr.com/photos/keith1999/302243388/sizes/l/
Musk Display
http://www.flickr.com/photos/von_roeder/78167032/sizes/l/
Display Santa
http://www.flickr.com/photos/judybaxter/316823851/sizes/l/
LOLcat
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnbutts/2191283544/sizes/o/
Elf Dude
http://www.flickr.com/photos/randycox/305433651/sizes/l/
Plastic Trees
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmueller/2149029551/sizes/l/
Manger Scene
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_g_travels/2144082647/
Heat Miser/Cold Miser
http://www.flickr.com/photos/akiste/330168460/
Dreidel 01
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oschene/72151761/sizes/o/
Cinnabon
http://www.flickr.com/photos/absentbabinski/2918746874/sizes/l/
Cinnajesus
http://www.flickr.com/photos/freestone/135556525/sizes/l/
Wise Men
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trommetter/2131332651/
Snowman Murray
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ennor/257483306/sizes/l/
Groundhog
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisirmo/234379899/sizes/l/
Video clip from “The Big Board” (public domain)
Preggers
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cactusbones/76928089/sizes/l/
Mastercuts
http://www.splotchy.com/images/blog/negspace/3/mastercuts.jpg
Big Scary Santa
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pbo31/331673079/sizes/l/
Fat Santa
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mottram/2102944405/sizes/l/
Ho 1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gwen/2081403787/sizes/o/
Ho 2
Sa
Santa Segway
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uberj/2154387365/sizes/o/
Claus Clones
http://www.flickr.com/photos/macwagen/2466431/sizes/o/
Snapped Hat Girl
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emotionaltoothpaste/2151708667/sizes/l/
Kick Ball*
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seraphimc/86240728/sizes/l/
Pole Tongue
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nplove/265559667/sizes/o/
CSI Dolls*
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpocali/2158143137/sizes/l/
Balls Guys
http://www.flickr.com/photos/krizsa/2075625139/sizes/l/
North Pole bling
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shinyredtype/2104129289/
Prison Cell
http://www.flickr.com/photos/flooznyc/2902871182/sizes/l/
Prison Wreath
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sherlock77/1748642/sizes/l/
Prison Santa
http://www.flickr.com/photos/luanacreativa/178998540/
Prison Gifts
http://www.flickr.com/photos/royshearer/934196255/sizes/o/
Rude Ornaments
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frosted_peppercorn/2304342659/sizes/l/
Claus Kiss*
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pensacolawinterfest/332440831/
Santa Hug Haley*
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7914635@N03/2135647787/
Candle Table Family*
http://www.flickr.com/photos/beija-flor/77665788/
Santa Canine*
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laughingcat/2720919135/
Mistletoe Thong
http://bgalrstate.blogspot.com/2008/10/cracked-me-up.html
Stick Up Santa
http://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/2145017466/sizes/l/
Xmas Tree Clipart
http://openclipart.org/people/BenBois/BenBois_Christmas_tree.png
Holly Leaf Clipart
http://openclipart.org/media/files/nicubunu/7798
Snowman Clipart
http://openclipart.org/media/files/yeKcim/3365
Xmas Lights Clipart
http://designcreatology.com/b/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/christmas_lights.png
Stocking
http://valerywarren.com/
Christmas Tag
http://www.flickr.com/search/?l=1&q=christmas+design&m=text
Spiff, the guy who makes World of Warcraft music videos for so many Jonathan Coulton songs, has pointed his magical computer screen in our direction again. In honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day,Spiff has made this awesome video for "The Captain’s Wife’s Lament". Visual Interpretation Arrr!
The seventh episode of our podcast, Paul and Storm Talk About Some Stuff for Five to Ten Minutes (On Average), is now online.
In this episode: episode naming conventions; bad song ideas; the best damn food in Indy; the advantages to performing in someone’s living room; the ordering about of minions; Paul argues from a position of weakness; but everyone is still friends at the end.
Featured post-show song: “Monkey Rag” – Asylum Street Spankers
Show #007: Peanut Butter, Eggs, and Dice (Some content NSFW)
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/www.paulandstorm.com/podcasts/PS_5-10_007.mp3]Enjoy the podcast? Maybe donate, why don’tcha?
Our friend Len, who apparently has nothing better to do with his Saturdays, has already completed his visual interpretation of our song "Me Make Fire". It America new dance craze!
The "Ook Ook pile of ashes" is exactly how we pictured it. Thanks yet again, Len!
Hey, check it out: new song! “Me Make Fire“, our submission for Round 2 of the latest iteration of the Masters of Song Fu songwriting competition, is now online.
Our task was the following: “Choose a famous inventor and craft a song proposing a ‘dance craze’ based on either the inventor or one of his/her most well known inventions.” We decided to go with an oldie-but-goodie: fire.
This one, truth told, was kind of a nail-biter. It’s not that we didn’t have any ideas; it’s just that none of them were any good. But we finally hit on this one at about 10 am yesterday, and it stuck. We’re quite happy with the results; Paul got to haul out his long-dormant trumpet skills, and Storm provided further evidence that he’s the Lost Muppet (with a dash of Tom Hanks.) There’s also a number of little tributes thrown into this kitchen sink: the horn section is pretty much Blues Brothers meets “The Horse“; the production is part “Jim Steinman does the ‘Mashed Potato‘”, part “Monster Mash” with a sprinkle of “Alley Oop“; and the “caveman syntax” is (in part*) a nod to our friend and competitor Jonathan Coulton, who was forced to drop out of this round due to imminent new baby-hood. Get some sleep, JoCo!
Of course, there will be a few folks out there who quibble that we’re “not abiding by the rules of the challenge” because, technically, fire is not an invention, nor is the “inventor” famous, per se. Those people are welcome to this opinion.
[*big fancy tip o’ the hat to the Arrogant Worms]
UPDATE: Forgot to mention: please go vote for your favorite song for this round. Voting ends this Wednesday!
[audio:http://www.paulandstorm.com/sounds/newstuff/MeMakeFire.mp3|titles=Me Make Fire]
Me Make Fire
We (meaning Jonathan Coulton and ourselves) are considering making a "limited edition" commemorative tour shirt for this October’s tour of the UK together. And we’d like to use one of Storm’s UK Tour Photoshop mashups for the design.
Below, we have listed our favorites; if you would, please take a moment to answer the poll below. This will help us to decide which design to actually use. We’re intending to sell these only at the live shows in the UK, but if there are leftovers, we may put those on sale back in the US. But once this run is done, it’s done. Hence the "limited" part of "limited edition."
Please note: we are asking which, if any, you would ACTUALLY PAY MONEY FOR. While it is nice to know which design is everyone’s favorite, we’re also trying to get a sense of the demand for the thing in general. Becasue the last thing we want is a couple hundred of these things growing dust in our collective basements. For the same reason, please also only vote once (unless you intend to buy multiple shirts or something).
UPDATE: Whichever design that "wins" will get "cleaned up" before actual "printing."
Here are the choices (click on a design for a larger version):
 |
 |
 |
| Coulton/PS-Madness | Mandelbrot-Floyd |
Coulton-U2 |
[poll id=2]
The sixth episode of our podcast, Paul and Storm Talk About Some Stuff for Five to Ten Minutes (On Average), is now online. (For reals this time)
In this episode, we commemorate Acknowledgment Day (September 2nd) and announce “Whedon Watch” and “McCartney Watch,” celebrate the return of Paul’s laptop, discuss Storm’s living situation and puppetry skills, and recap the phenomenon that is FunModCon. Plus, passive-aggressiveness carries the day.
Outro music: “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny” – Tom-Terry Trio; “I Wonder Who My Daddy Is” – Eileen Fulton
Show #006: A Moderate Amount of Fun (Some content NSFW)
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/www.paulandstorm.com/podcasts/PS_5-10_006.mp3]Enjoy the podcast? Maybe donate, why don’tcha?
