Night Owl Chat – Mash Ups!

Our nightly wind-down from the day’s annoyances.

From Urban Dictionary:

mash up:

v. To take elements of two or more pre-existing pieces of music and combine them to make a new song.
n. A song comprised of elements of two or more pre-existing pieces of music.

In the early and mid oughts, mash ups were the new, creative frontier. Danger Mouse made his name by taking The Beatles’ “White Album” and Jay-Z’s “Black Album” and creating the “Grey Album”. He was given a cease and desist order by Apple Records, but he created the piece at a time when file sharing had exploded, so it’s quite easy to get access to the album. (Yes, I have it, and it’s SPECTACULAR.)

Mash ups are still a font of creativity, where mixers take disparate songs, find commonalities in them, and create something new.

So, for tonight’s night owl musical thread, mash ups!

Bob Marley v. The Beatles: “Let it Be, No Cry”

hey ya, flotus!

fit for office

President Barack Obama does push ups on the White House Basketball Court after a member of the Harlem Globetrotters made a shot, April 9, 2012. The President participated in “Shoot for Strength”, a game where children did push ups for every basketball shot made by the pros, during the 2012 White House Easter Egg Roll festivities. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

mr happy guy …. and the severely magnificent first lady

….. As the First Lady put it, she’s “Eeyore,” and he’s “Mr. Happy Guy, seeing the glass half full.” “I’m like regular people. It’s like – we’re losing! The sky is falling! Oh no!” she said. “And he’s like, just calm down.”

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First lady Michelle Obama reaches for a hand as she arrives for physical activity with kids at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando, Florida, Feb. 11

AP: Add another dance move to Michelle Obama’s repertoire. This one has to do with a certain celebrity platypus. The first lady gave “the platypus walk” a try on Saturday during a visit to Disney World’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

The dance was inspired by Disney’s “Phineas and Ferb” show, whose characters include Perry the Platypus. It required some flapping of flippers, or arms if you’re human, shuffling left and right and yanking limbs up and down, all to a pulsing rock beat.

Mrs. Obama did the dance at an event marking the second anniversary of her “Let’s Move” campaign against childhood obesity.

…. with Perry the Platypus from the children’s TV show “Phineas and Ferb”

…. with tennis player James Blake

Standing behind is Paralympian April Holmes

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push up! press on!

i’m exhausted …. just watching

Toofab

Thanks Sosena

let’s move, south africa

Desmond Tutu is 79 😯

a good sport

NASCAR:

Gymnastics:

Cycling:

Quarterbacking:

Prize Fighting:

Pretend-golf:

Mind-reading:

Cow-taming:

Fencing:

Juggling:

Dancercise:

Aerobics:

International Ping Pong:

Trans-Atlantic paddling:

Sailing:

Orienteering:

Rodeo:

Stone-flinging:

Karate Chopping:

Long Distance Running:

Chess:

Ice-skating:

Hurdling:

Wave-riding:

High-Jumping:

Backwards Tennis:

Cricket:

Really Big Fish Catching:

Saber-swinging:

Soccer ball juggling:

Tiny ball-whacking:

Pocket Battleships:

Batting:

Ball-potting:

Weight-lifting:

Left-leaning (a popular sport in Communist Europe):

Snow-ploughing:

Hurling:

That ‘don’t-blink’ game:

Thumb-Wrestling (thank you gobrooklyn for the reminder about this great sport):

General Wrestling:

Fly-swatting:

green fleet

Text of speech here

President Barack Obama tours a UPS shipping facility to view clean fleets vehicles, April 1, in Landover, Md.

picture perfect: no 9

By Callie Shell: “Two staffers had just passed this site and done two pull-ups. Not to be outdone, Obama did three with ease, dropped and walked out to make a speech.” Missoula, Mont., 4/5/2008

See all the Picture Perfect photos here