Green Oasis

The embedded systems programmer in me dug the instruments used in this cover of Radiohead’s Nude.

Big Ideas (Don’t get any) from 1030 on Vimeo.

[via kottke.org]

It’s funny to think back on the controversy Madonna stirred up with her video for Like A Prayer. Some just couldn’t get past its burning crosses.

Update: Just for comparison, how about Heart-Shaped Glasses (NSFW) by Marilyn Manson?

Update 2: Actually, I meant to include Personal Jesus (also NSFW).

I’ve known for a while about the Nirvana song Jesus Don’t Want Me For a Sunbeam (originally by The Vaselines), but I was just reminded of it and I think it’s cute.

Jesus don’t want me for a sunbeam. ‘Cause sunbeams are not made like me.
Don’t expect me to cry for all the reasons you had to die. Don’t ever ask your
love of me.

Don’t expect me to cry.
Don’t expect me to lie.
Don’t expect me to die for thee.

For those who don’t know, this is a parody of a popular Christian song for children, I’ll Be a Sunbeam. It’s popular in Mormon circles where child folk tradition dictates that the refrain is sung with special emphasis on the syllable “beam” sometimes accompanied by hopping up in your seat:

A sunbeam, a sunbeam,
Jesus wants me for a sunbeam;
A sunbeam, a sunbeam,
I’ll be a sunbeamfor Him.

Are Mormon kids the only ones who do this?

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails (songwriter of Hurt) in a 2005 interview for Rolling Stone about seeing Johnny Cash’s video cover for the first time: “I saw the video and it took my breath away. Immediately my throat had a lump in it, and at that point, it really struck home. It was heartbreaking. I had goosebumps, which I have right now even thinking about it. It became really inspiring to me.… It works. And it probably works better than my version.… I haven’t listened to my version since then.”

Mortality is a bittersweet pill.

Madonna’s Love Profusion just popped up on my playlist. I discovered that the balance between despair for knowing the truth clearly without illusion and the soft, loving gratitude to life portrayed in this song reflects a part of my unnamed mind state.