This little one had a delayed release until this evening due to a power outage last night which made it a bit difficult to edit. Have you ever tried editing on a desktop computer without working electricity? 'Tis quite alright: we still made the Thursday deadline! Enjoy, my friends.

The story behind this one: I was sitting in bed a couple of hours ago and feeling rather lazy. I didn't have any ideas for a video and didn't particularly feel like making one this week. And so I made this at the last second...a choose-your-own-adventure, something I hadn't made since November of 2011. Except that one was interesting. I'm rather interested to see what the reaction to this one will be because I find it hilarious but I doubt anyone else will feel the same way! haha *Sigh*...I'm insane. *Gets back in straightjacket*

My apologies if you tried to reach this website in the past couple days and got nothing. I foolishly forgot to renew my purchase of my domain name, so pogiejoe.com was temporarily up for sale! No worries though: I just renewed it for the next two years so you'll be waiting a long time to buy this no doubt priceless website that everyone is clambering to call their own...

Today's video is a collaboration with my good friend Hannah AKA "critterlitter3" on YouTube. It was very exciting to work with her as I love her videos! I actually discovered her when she got her wink used on the channel "Wheezywaiter" around the same time I did. Hope you enjoy! Here's her channel: http://www.youtube.com/critterlitter3

My little sister Lucy is turning four! In celebration, here's a video starring her! Okay, it was mere coincidence, but I'll call it one of my birthday gifts.
My sister loves being in front of the camera. (Runs in the family I guess!) She spends her days pretending to be various animals and characters, and making up stories which I think is wonderful and probably the best thing one can possess as a kid. She often watches me film my videos and is remarkably patient and silent when doing so. Then she'll actually go off and pretend to make her own. She's most certainly one of my biggest fans, watching my stuff over and over again to the point of memorizing lines. I'm really thankful for her in a lot of ways.
She's been in many of videos in the past but I never really wanted to give her more than a line or two because three-year-olds acting tend to be painfully hard to stomach and smacks of impatient and boredom. Well...I underestimated Lucy! I thought she did a fantastic job for someone so young, but she's really truly someone who likes playing pretend. She actually improvised a lot in this one actually. haha
Lil Lucy acts a lot in the real world too...one time my dad observed her running into a room quite literally crying that one of her toys was missing. Dad tried to point out that the toy was sitting right on the chair in the very room they were in and she instantly calmed down and said sternly "Daddy! Pretend!" and returned to character. It's quite amusing and the signs she shows of imagination bring me great joy!

Quick! How many young music stars can you name with artistic integrity and actual creativity and personality to the songs they write all on their own? None? Well I have you an answer: Jake Bugg.

Jake is a fantastic artist and, at only 19, has already accomplished more in his short career than I will in my entire lifetime, with many awards and chart-placing singles to prove it. So this kid is pretty popular? Yup. Decently so. But he's good too, you say?

Yeah! He truly is. He is probably the most Bob Dylan person I've heard since Bob Dylan...not only in bits of the tone in his voice but in the attitude of his work and his spirit as a person. And as aforementioned: he writes his own stuff! From his interviews one can see he's oh so snarky, but possesses such a love and appreciation of the fun and art of music (and the poetry of it) that it really only makes him more likable and humble. Curiously, although he's been compared to Dylan many-a-time, he says that Bob was "cool" but not really a major influence.

I hope this kid goes incredibly far. It helps that he's getting more media attention for his occasional wry comments on crappy pop stars! He's not a corporate product: he's a talented kid who got noticed and people genuinely enjoy. We could use so much more of that.

Below I give you one of his more recent singles. 

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY0oPg1h8fQ

Spotify:

Similar songs:
Ok. Really. Just listen to all of his stuff. He's so new that he's got, what, ten songs? It will take you like half an hour. You won't regret it.

Backstory: I was bored during a "Study Hall" day in my Music Appreciation class so I recruited my good friend John to help me with a quick video made up on the spot for the following day. That's...really about it. You may recognize John from many other PogieJoe shorts. Enjoy!

I live for underrated bands like this. Dr. Dog is a fantastic little group. The following might be my favorite of theirs.

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_4_By9NJOc

Spotify link:

There's something so dinky-darn enjoyable about this song. It's so incredibly fun. The band, which started from Toby Leaman and Scott McMicken messing around and playing songs in the eighth grade, teeters upon many thresholds of style, something I'm mad for in a band. Is psychedelia? Is it indie rock? Is it folk music? Listen to some more of their work and decide for yourself!

I don't know what it is about Dr. Dog's songs that's so enjoyable. The vocals are so unique and very "indy." The percussion reminds me what would happen if someone recorded drums in a junkyard, which I find delightful. But what I really like about a lot of their songs is the piano. That booming, deep piano. I adore songs with a booming, bashing, deep octave piano, especially if they feature a lot of beautiful minor chords and the like. See: John Lennon. But we'll get to him another day!

Similar Songs:

My favorite album of theirs is probably 2007's "We All Belong" especially the titular song which bears a slight resemblance to the song you heard above. I even used it years ago in an All Quiet On the Western Front spoof I created called "Kill the Dirty French!" which you can look up on YouTube if you're brave enough!

To continue my trend of uploading all my class project videos here's an English "Book Talk" I did on...*gasp* Twilight! Yes, never having read it for my own yet being the type that always complains about it I thought I should at least know my enemy. And you know what? It wasn't completely godawful...just mostly godawful. Its worse sin is being completely boring and forgettable. But that's not very fun to video about so instead I took all the things I hated about it and put it into song! Yes this sure would have been clever five years ago!

I admit it's not my best work. Just a little filler for you guys while I work on better stuff hopefully. The lip-synching is extraordinarily bad and it goes on for far too long but hopefully it makes the grade! Literally!

It didn't help that I procrastinated on this and literally made the entire thing from lyrics, recording, filming, and editing all in one day. Yeah....bad idea. Enjoy. :)

In 1976 an album came out by the name of 3:47 EST by an unheard of band named Klaatu. The tracks were innovative, clever, brilliant produced, and had lyrics and performances that were simply magical. The album had no photos, no credits, and no information at all really except that the album had been "made by Klaatu." No one noticed it.

That is until one day Providence Journal published a story speculating that Klaatu were The Beatles themselves under an extremely low profile so as to only do something for fun and not for media attention. And then, my friends, people went wild. Could there by clues in the songs? The vocals did sound quite a bit like Lennon and McCartney and the songs themselves smacked of a brilliance surely only the Fab Four could cook up.
But once the world found out that Klaatu was actually just comprised of three lads from Canada they were swiftly and heart wrenchingly abandoned in music history even after their following albums revealed more ingenius pieces. They broke up by 1982.

This is a huge huge shame. I would argue that given the even more superior technology Klaatu had room to occasionally to be even more ambitious than The Beatles. That's right: I think this band has some songs equal to and even better than some from the greatest band in history.

Take a look for yourself. And if you don't agree listen to their work a thousand more times until you learn to love them as much as me. Haha Just kidding. If you don't like these guys after one listen you are emotionally bankrupt. Get out of my sight.

We're Off You Know (the funnest adventure song ever)

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5grhuvcSes

Spotify:

Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft (A dazzling song and probably their biggest hit...that may have been actually more famous when The Carpenters covered it. )

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9URM_5R-vWk

Spotify:

One very reminiscent of Lennon's solo career: Hope.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzifM9squYc

Spotify:

Similar Songs:

You really cannot go wrong with Klaatu. I'm sorry if I sound overexcited but they are severely underrated and absolutely phenomenal. Here's some more of my favorites that I didn't embed in fear that you would be overwhelmed: Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III (a very fun and very Muppet-esque selection), Prelude (a soaring orchestral masterpiece that takes you on so many exhilarating and spine-tingling avenues that you never quite know what to expect) and Sub-Rosa Subway which may be their most Beatles-esque of all.

If you want something else similar I highly recommend ELO (Electric Light Orchestra). Their body of work is incredible and John Lennon called them "the Beatles of the '70s." Just a heads up: if you feel too lazy to now I'll probably cover them sometime in the future!