YOUTUBE: Mustache Baby Music Video

A friend recently sent me this video with a message that said simply, "This is the last music video you will ever need to see in your life." After watching just half of it, I knoew he was right. That being said, I give you Mustache Baby Music Video.

Sergio del Limonar

*This song is apparently by some absolute genius named Riva Starr.

YOUTUBE: Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Written by Dean Fleischer-Camp and SNL's Jenny Slate, who also provides the voice for the titular character, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On may be one of cutest and most instantly infectious things you've seen in a long time, unless of course you are currently surrounded by a houseful of baby otters, because those little guys are adorable.

The short video is kind of a mock-interview/profile of this tiny shell, named Marcel, with one beady eye and two pink and white shoes. Marcel is a nervous twitchy little thing, in that way that a socially awkward five-year old in a room full of strangers might be. Marcel's world is unique at best and he shares with us some of his wishes and favorite activities, like wanting a pet dog but realizing the fallacy in it and attaching a hair to a piece of lint instead.

You will love Marcel. There is no way around it.

Sergio del Limonar

MUSIC: "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" video

Forget about the over-played summer anthem "Crazy" from a few years ago, Gnarls Barkley should be best known for creating ZONINO!-worthy videos as well as great pop music. The pop duo of Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo Green did it again with the last single off their sophomore album from 2008. "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" does such an amazing job of conveying what heartbreak feels (and could look) like, I see no reason for anyone else to write a heartbreak song ever again! If more artists put this kind of creativity into the visual representations of their music, perhaps MTV would still be relevant...

Buzzy

YOUTUBE: BP Spills Coffee

Disclaimer: I know this is a little late to be considered cutting-edge topical humour. I also realize that the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico and the way in which it was, and is still, being handled are not laughing matters.

Post: This is video is hilarious. Period.

Buzzy

YOUTUBE: Girlfriend Slam Dunk

Is you girlfriend super tiny? Do you love all things basketball? Want to see something the two of you can enjoy together? Check out this video of what appears to be a cheer stunt gone potentially wrong. I think my favorite part (other than the fact that the lucky girl actually made it throught the hoop) is that she clearly bumped her noggin a little on the rim and the guys are whoopin' and hollerin' like they won the NCAA tournament when she - the one who actually served as the focal point of the stunt - stands back rubbing her head.

Sergio del Limonar

MUSIC: "Take Control"

Apparently, upon some very topical 5-minute research, it turns out Julissa Veloz, singer behind my new favorite booty-shakin' dance, "Take Control", was a contestant last season on American Idol 8. Turns out she didn't make it too far...

Either way, she's not doing too shabby for herself as this debut song is climbing the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Songs list and is [hopefully] poised to be one of the ones we'll all be hearing all... summer... long! Can you handle it?!?! This is definitely a song directed at the guys but all about the ladies. Check out the video and if you love it, then "take control" and head over to iTunes or Amazon.com and get it for yourself!

Buzzy

WEBSITE: Once Upon A Win

Once Upon A Win is the anti-Failblog. Instead of pointing out things that are epically wrong, this site celebrates the great victories of times gone by. All those things you thought were "rad" back in the day, still are, you just can't get them anymore. Adult footie pajamas, Umbro shorts, 70's coloured Tupperware, and Tamagotchi's are all here for your reminiscing pleasure. The absolute most fantastic part of this site though, with out a doubt, is "80's Music Video Thursday" where the likes of Belinda Carlisle, Salt N Pepa, and The Fixx come back to their aquanetted, stirruped pants wearing, paint-splattered jean jacket glory!

Buzzy

MUSIC: "Nothin' On You" video

Last month I ZONINO!ed about my favorite of-the-moment jam "Nothin' On You" by Atlanta new-comer B.o.B. (featuring the delicious Bruno Mars). Well, that was before I had seen the amazing music video. I love the song; I am infatuated with the video! It looks like it was done using a combination of stop-motion photography and scrap-booking to make it but it turned out fantastically! Check it out here and could someone please have Bruno call me?!?!

Buzzy

MUSIC: ""I'd Rather Be With You"

Sometimes it seems to take the longest time for the truly talented musicians to reach the mainstream. This is definitely the case with Ohio's own singer-songwriter, Joshua Radin. Hopefully, his single "I'd Rather Be With You" change that. If he sounds familiar its probably because you've heard him before on any given number of television and feature film soundtracks, as well as collaborated with such prolific industry greats as Ryan Adams and Patty Griffin.

Off his second studio album, Simple Times, from 2008, the single is finally gaining some attention and climbing the charts. With a slightly folk slash Jack Johnson vibe, the guitar strumming love song is about what you would do (or would rather do) for the one you love. We need more happy and harmless ditties in our lives!

Sergio del Limónar

MUSIC: "In The Sun" video

Let's ignore for a second that the alt-folk duo comprised of actress Zooey Deschanel (Almost Famous, Elf, The Happening), and M. Ward is sorely under-appreciated for a moment. Their first full-length studio album, Volume One, received much critical praise, and for good reason. Their second album, appropriately titled Volume Two, comes out later this month. But let's instead focus on this:

While their first disc was ZONINO! in and of itself, as will be their next, the music video for the lead single, "In The Sun" is campy romp of youthful abandon.

Combine Britney Spears' "Baby, One More Time" video with the scene from Hairspray where Tracy Turnblad sings "I Can Hear The Bells" and a pinch of ballet. If this doesn't make you smile in a wow-that-was-awesomely-bizarre-but-I-liked-it kind of way, then don't talk to anyone the rest of the day because clearly you're a little crabby and you might ruin someone's day. Just saying!

Sergio del Limónar

YOUTUBE: "This Too Shall Pass" video

Remember when indie-rock band Ok Go! broke into the public conscience, riding treadmills in a one-shot, choreographed (and oft-imitated) music video? Their creative streak continued with other impressive videos but their latest, for the song "This Too Shall Pass", off their new album "Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky", is another work of how'd-they-do-that art.

Taking a cue from the Mouse Trap board game of my youth, the band has surrounded themselves with various everyday items in a large warehouse or studio back lot to pull off one of the biggest cause and effect series pieces I've ever seen. I mean, if one piece of this massive sequence was even slightly out of place, none, of it would work! May favorite parts are the falling umbrellas and when the electric guitar with the spoons dangling from the neck spins around in a circle, hitting the glasses filled to different levels of water synched to specific tones in the song. Also, dropping a piano always looks cool!

Judging by the fact that this video already has over 5 million views, we might be a little late to the game but that doesn't cange the fact that it is ZONINO! I'm wondering though, does anyone really pay attention to the song during this video? Just asking...

Buzzy

MUSIC: "Gitana" video (preview)

I've heard of previews for movies, theatre productions, and recordings, but music videos? Something must be really good for a director to leak 30 seconds of a music video ahead of the finished product, right? After watching the sneak peak of Shakira's latest single "Gitana" (which translates to "Gypsy"), I can see the excitement.

The Colombian pop super star, is seen her her usual mid-drift baring garb smiling coyly at the camera while lounging amorously with tennis champion Rafael Nadal. In sepia-inspired tones, the video sample only shows the chorus of the song in which Shakira sings, "aprovéchame, que si llegué ayer me puedo ir mañana; que soy gitana." I'm looking forward to seeing the entire thing; until then, I'll just have to loop the sample over and over...

Sergio del Limónar

*Roughly translated as "take advantage of me, for if I arrived yesterday I can go tomorrow; I'm a gypsy."

YOUTUBE: Cyanide & Happiness

HAPPY SAINT VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

With or without a lover this Hallmark Holiday, take a few minutes (seriously, some of these are literally 30 seconds long) and enjoy a few cute and satirical animated shorts from the web-series Cyanide & Happpiness. These videos are great for those of you in loooove and want to share another laugh together or those of you who are just irritated because you really just want to hit up a movie tonight but don't dare for fear that you'll be drowned in a sea of couples.

Some of my personal favorites include:

Sad Larry - for that Eeyore in your life.

The Hard Way - its ironic sometimes...life that is.

The Man Who Could Sit Anywhere - because sometimes being silly is...well, silly.

Waiting for the Bus - epically clever and probably one of the longer, but better ones.

The rest are great too in their own uniquely bizarre way. Just start with these three and you'll be hooked; just keep clicking!

Buzzy

YOUTUBE: The Midnight Beast

I have some new heroes. Yet another clever bunch of chaps from England calling themselves The Midnight Beast have taken to song/video parodies with bloody fantastic results. (What can I say, I wish I was British.)

My favourite (yes, I threw in a "u") of the moment is the parody of Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" song in which the guys sing:

"I' m mad, really bad
But dont tell my mum & dad
Pucker up kiss my but
'Cause I'm bloody f***ing nuts
Hear the bass, skinny waist
Now lets copy "Pokerface" like.... whoa!"

Another in their collection to check out is the Jay Sean parody of "Down" where they sing "They'll never know your trousers just fell down...Down, down, down" For some reason some things are just funnier in British accents.

Buzzy

MUSIC: "Baby, I'm A Fool" video

Britney, Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, and all the other singing starlets who like to get a little naked in their videos should take one simple note from jazz chanteuse Melody Gardot: nothing is sexier than library glasses and an updo.

Gardot oozes passion with no trashin' in her video, "Baby I'm A Fool", a self-penned tune off her sophomore album My One And Only Thrill. Although Gardot's specs are vision and health related, she owns them in this video; even soaking in a bubble bath surrounded by dancing tuxedoed men seems acceptable in this classy take on what will be sure to become a new-generation jazz standard.

Sergio del Limónar

YOUTUBE: Key of Awesome

Clearly we here at ZONINO! have a sweet spot for good parody. It's been awhile but we've come across another mock-video set to entertain you with hilarious visuals and intensely clever lyrics.

The YouTube series Key of Awesome has music videos poking fun at all your favorite topical pop-culture fads in television and music right now. From "Jersey Shore" (with Garden State native "Bruce Springsteen") to teen-crooner Justin Bieber.

In the video parodying Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" video, "Gaga" sings, "I like to eat brillo pads that's how I got this voice, sometimes I like to cut myself but it's a fashion choice."

"Emo Vampire", appropriately enough poking fun at the "Twilight" saga, stars a old-timey vampire (a la Dracula) singing sadly about how he'll "never be an emo vampire...i've got nothing in common with the vampires of today, they gaze at girls and pout and brood, and then just run away." There is even a great jab in the song at author Stephanie Meyers.

These videos show how you don't have to be amazingly high-tech, just maybe tech-savvy, to create something that's technically humorous.

Sergio del Limónar

MUSIC: "Shady Esperanto and the Young Hearts" video

Massachusetts band Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers has been a favorite of mine for several years. If you've never heard of them then you are probably in the majority (and obviously don't go to UMass). This is definitely a band to keep an eye on, though, as they are poised to be the next big thing.

The video for their first single, "Shady Esperanto and the Young Hearts", off their fourth studio album, The Bear, is a giddy romp back to the days of our childhood backyard imaginations. Utilizing the UMass Minuteman Marching band (sans instrumnets for the most part) and seemingly impromptu choreography, the group embraces the lyrics "I never want to get old!"

Sergio del Limonar

MUSIC: "Meet Me Halfway"

While I still love me some "I Gotta Feeling" and don't think I've ever not dance when this Black Eyed Peas song comes on, even all alone in my apartment, I love Fergie's voice even more. The girl can blow and I love songs that feature her vocals, like "Shut Up" and "Don't Lie." It's about time for another...

The sultry and smooth "Meet Me Halfway", off their 2009 album The E.N.D. gives Fergie plenty of center-stage space. Plus, the video has will.i.am riding an elephant on the moon. I think that might be ZONINO! enough right there.

Buzzy

MUSIC: "Cowboy Casanova"

Carrie Underwood is a genius. The first single, "Cowboy Casanova," from her third studio album,Play On, is a catchy country-pop confection typical of Underwood's previously released and wildly popular hits. This song becomes ZONINO!-worthy, however, because of it's video.

The song, a man-bashing anthem about a guy who uses and loses women like it's going out of style, will appeal to Underwood's female fan base without a problem. In the video, Underwood tries like an Oklahoma tumble weed catching a good breeze to appeal to the guys. Placing the video in the brothels of either the wild west or the French Quarter of New Olreans and sporting classy yet sexy period costumes inspired by the 1920's and '30's, Underwood and her troupe of fellow dancers choreograph their way through the catchy tune, all the while this said "casanova" lurks about in the shadows.

Bravo, Carrie! Looks like a great start to another year of well deserved awards for you!

Sergio del Limonar

WEB: Animoto

Have you ever gone on a trip and had a thousand photos to show for it?

Ever try to show all those pics to your friends only to be told half way through that they needed a break, "After all, it's been six hours"?

Well, now there's a groovy way to take your pics and make something special so that you can coerce your loved ones into watching hours of you you you!!!!

Animoto lets you take pictures and turn them into videos with music and effects that are easy and fun to use. In no time at all you can turn piles of pictures into well positioned and transitioned video footage, and with one click you can post your video on Twitter*. Also, your friends and family can post their comments to your video. They have sample videos and a super easy, user friendly format for creating your own neat-o-burrito movie. Oh, and it's FREE!!!

AmErica

*For the record, we here at ZONINO! think Twitter is lame.