Animal Collective does not care about being your favorite buzz band, no matter what you think. (Probably because the buzz died a few years ago.) When you know that, it’s not hard to recognize the anti-motivation behind the video for their single “FloriDada,” which features two low-fi virtual reality CGI beings making love amongst flowers and ethereal rainbows. Oh, it climaxes with an epileptic fantasia, which earned the video an actual WARNING for those of you with any actual history of epilepsy. No better way to draw in the viewers than a strong warning about flashing lights.
Something else that runs the risk of triggering an epileptic shock is this clip of Lip Sync Battle, featuring Channing Tatum and Beyoncé performing “Run The World (Girls).” Alright, fine: Jenna Dewan-Tatum’s performance of Ginuwine’s “Pony” is also pretty damn spectacular. Good job getting our attention with your second season premiere, Lip Sync Battle. Good job.
Alright, one last thing about people singing things: here’s Oscar Isaac singing a bunch of different things, courtesy of BuzzFeed. He may not be the best boyfriend for the Internet, but he’s at least a pretty man who sings OK, and that’s something else altogether valuable. Who knew that, when Isaac broke through in Inside Llewyn Davis, he’d accumulate an online fanbase to rival that of Benedict Cumberbatch? Huh. His weird, shifting fame isn’t breaking ground, but it sure is fascinating.
Someone else who is fascinating but not necessarily groundbreaking (yet) is Jaden Smith, regardless of how often he wears a dress or whose womenswear advertising campaign he’s cast in. Over at Fusion writer Tahirah Hairston has charted the history of dudes wearing dresses and heels and generally caring nothing about whether or not they’re “meant” to be wearing one thing or another. Regardless of whether or not Jaden was the first man in a womenswear campaign, it’s still pretty damn cool.
Just like this video of a guy completely dominating the most difficult level of Stepmania, which is a kind of open source version of Dance Dance Revolution that most people play with their hands on a keyboard, rather than with their feet on a dance pad. Full disclosure: I have a strong history with DDR, so may find the enclosed video to be much more impressive than most, but it’s really worth checking out, even if only for a glimpse at the Twitch community. It’s a bunch of people watching other people play games, and talking about it while it’s happening. It’s fascinating, and it’s real. The site gets 50 million unique viewers per month. That’s a lot of video game viewin’.