Invisible Themepark

Category: .

  • Listen & Learn: Radiohead’s Creep by Vega Choir

    Radiohead’s “Creep,” performed by the Vega Choir of Sweden, has been burning up the Internet like a match on a gasoline-soaked haystack.

    Hit Play and scroll down this page and find out what’s going on with Vega Choir’s “Creep.”

    What is “Creep”?

    “Creep” is a song by English band Radiohead that was released in 1992.

    What is The Vega Choir?

    From Malmo, Sweden, Vega Choir is “25 girls from 18 to 25 years of age [who] sing mainly classic pop- and rocksongs.”

    Why is Vega Choir’s Version of “Creep” Suddenly So Popular?

    This version of “Creep” was used in the trailer for The Social Network, a movie about Mark Zuckerberg and the inception of Facebook.

    Not only that, Vega Choir’s version of “Creep” is a haunting, bone-chilling take on a song that many of us have known for nearly the last two decades.  “Creep” is about unrequited love, the state of being when when you love someone but they do not love you back.

    What Does “Creep” Have To Do With Zuckerberg and Facebook?

    “Creep” is also about social alienation.  Facebook, begun by very alienated geeks at Harvard, was seen as a way for even the most hated, socially awkward freaks to connect to real people.  But that’s not all!

    By laying down “Creep” over the trailer, the implication may be that Zuckerberg himself–even now that he is a famous billionaire–is still a creep, due to serious privacy problems that erupted in 2009 and 2010, and Zuckerberg’s apparent lack of concern about these problems.

    Are There Other Notable Versions of "Creep"?

    What Are The "Creep" Lyrics?

    When you were here before, Couldn't look you in the eye You're just like an angel, Your skin makes me cry You float like a feather In a beautiful world I wish I were special You're so fucking special But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here I don't care if it hurts, I wanna have control I want a perfect body I want a perfect soul I want you to notice when I'm not around You're so fucking special I wish I were special But I'm a creep I'm a weirdo What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here, ohhhh, ohhhh She's running out the door She's running out She run run run run... run... Whatever makes you happy Whatever you want You're so fucking special [whispered] I wish I were special But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here I don't belong here...
  • Realtor or REALTOR®? Either Way, Royal Bullshit

    Realtor or REALTOR®? Either Way, Royal Bullshit

    I have long been suspicious of the word Realtor, Realtor®, REALTOR®, or whatever it is.

    It began years ago when I noticed that the National Association of Realtors stressed that they were called the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and that their members were obviously called…REALTORS®

    That’s right. All caps and with the registered trademark symbol. What the Hell?

    Babbitt

    My suspicions were further piqued when, in Chapter 13, Section 1, of Sinclair Lewis’ Babbitt, title character George Babbitt says:

    First place, we ought to insist that folks call us ‘realtors’ and not ‘real estate men’. Sounds more like a reg’lar profession.

    No caps, no trademark symbol. Babbitt was published in 1922.

    NAR

    The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® says that

    Since 1916, when the unique term REALTOR® was first “coined” or “invented”, the public has come to recognize those who use the MARKS as Members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®…

    Congress

    I found an interesting article published in The New York Times on May 18, 1922. The previous day, in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Curry of California, said,

    …it comes from the Spanish words ‘real,’ meaning royalty, and ‘tor,’ meaning bull.

    Mencken

    Is this right, though?  H.L. Mencken, writing in The American Language, apparently did not believe so.  Word Detective tells us:

    “The suggestion that ‘realtor’ is derived from two Spanish words,” wrote Mencken, “‘real,’ meaning royal, and ‘toro,’ bull, and that it thus connotes ‘royal bull,’ is spurned by the bearers of the name.” Mencken went on to note that the suffix “or” was undoubtedly carefully chosen, since “or” has always carried more dignity than the equivalent “er,” citing “author” as weightier than “writer,” and “advisor” outgunning “adviser.” Such delicate considerations count, no doubt, when you are trademarking a noun.

  • Merchant Ivory-Speak

    My son Lucas, when he was 2 1/2 years old, began speaking like an actor in a Merchant Ivory movie.

    “Merchant Ivory” refers to a film production company established in 1963 which filmed covers of high-falutin’ texts from Henry James, E.M. Forster, and others.  Interestingly enough, James Ivory was born in the decidedly un-high-falutin’ town of Klamath Falls, Oregon, and for many years maintained a cabin at Lake of the Woods, Oregon.

    Anyway, my son began speaking like this:

    • “Are we not going to school?”
    • “Is this not Mommy’s bag?”
    • “Will we not go to the playground?”

    What was up with that?

  • “The Year 2000”: Lost Forever


    Is the phrase “the year 2000” or, more widely, “the year 20XX,” lost to history forever?  I believe it is–except preserved in old movies and TV shows.

    Before 2000 rolled around, people almost always referred to this future event as “the year two-thousand.”

    I remember wondering, pre-2000, if people would continue that usage. They didn’t, and now it’s gone.

    My theory has two points:

    1. “Two-thousand” sounded too abrupt, too short.  Some filler material was needed for the listener to pick up on the phrase.  It’s no different than saying, “You know, I’d like to ask you if you’d fix me some Ovaltine,” rather than “Fix me Ovaltine.”  Certainly, polite words are added to the former (“ask,” for one), but the point is that you are fixing the listener’s attention on what you will be saying.
    2. “Two-thousand” had little meaning to pre-2000 listeners in a time element.  Thus, “the year” established that we were talking about 2000 times, rather than 2000 potatoes or 2000 gallons of diesel.

  • Secret Stash

    Secret stashes tend to fall along the lines of either those crappy fake hollow books you buy at Bed Bath & Beyond or DIY stashes (for the herb!) that simply do the job but look like Hell.

    Yiting Cheng has gloriously overturned these assumptions with his/her (?) art project, Secret Stash.

    Glasses of orange juice slide up to reveal pills.  An apparently loose sheaf of papers slides away to show ID cards.  My favorite is the above-pictured desk that neatly hinges open.

    Secret Stash 720 HD from yiting cheng on Vimeo.

Exit mobile version