As you well know, periodically I’m sucked into YouTube–thanks Jaye Wells–and then I end up wasting untold hours, I mean minutes, watching useless though very funny stuff. I can’t resist piggy-backing on Jaye’s video choice. It’s Will Farrell and his real life friend clowning around with the friend’s one year old daughter. It’s called The Landlord. It’s can’t miss.
Onto the videos I’ve plucked from obscurity for all you kids:
Turns out Riverdance is not only an esteemed group, or name of a musical, or category of dance–I’m not sure what the term refers to exactly–but on YouTube you’ll find Riverdance is really a cultural cornerstone of American life. There’s a wonderful selection of Riverdance renditions. Below you’ll find three.
First is a young man–teenager–in his basement doing River Dance. Self-taught, yes, but we should give him at least 5/10 points for enthusiasm, lack of inhibition, and fitness. Anyone who can rattle off two minutes and 22 seconds of even fake Riverdance is all right in my book.
The second clip warms my heart because in light of all the destruction at VT and the general worrying parents of college aged kids must be doing this week–more the normal amount, that is–I thought this clip would bring us back to the real activities that occur at college on a daily basis. For your thousands of dollars, your children stay up late in the dorm, laugh hysterically at some guy dressed in his female friend’s Riverdance outfit, dancing his little heart out, doing nothing to stretch those dollars into something concrete that might in the end help pay back those loans. But it sure is fun. 8/10 points for wasting dad and mom’s money in such flagrant fashion. The kids look remarkably sober–so I gave them an extra two points for that alone.
The third clip is the real tacquito my brothers and sisters. I’m not sure there’s a big difference between the three examples. Well, okay in terms of sheer entertainment, the self-taught guys are more fun the real thing. But damn, if only I took up a little Riverdance, I bet I could shed six pounds a day. They ought to put a Riverdance segment into this season’s biggest loser where that Michael Flatley comes and just beats the dancing hell out of the contestants. I can feel my thighs getting thinner just watching the clip. Nine out of ten. I can’t give full points when no one really smiles and they look as though after the dance they’ll shuffle off to some torture chamber. It’s very pent-up for dancing…I dunno.ÂÂ
So have a good weekend, everyone.
It’s disconcerting how their hands just lay by their sides. That kind of dancing is the devil’s work. I do love it when they do that little side to side ankle thing, though.
That college piece really takes me back to when I was wasting my own money. But those were some of the best days of my life. And you never get those back. Never again can you just sit around and laugh, not worried about tomorrow or the next day. It’s a true gift.
Thanks for the laugh with the Will Ferrell one! YouTube is just evil, period….a better time-waster is yet to be found.
I agree with you, Scott, those college days were some of the best. Ridiculous charades like the one shown above, major crises over someone stealing my bag of chips, and philosophical conversations at 3:00 AM — those things are hard to come by now (if I’m up at 3:00 AM now, it’s usually to clean up after a sick child or to figure out how I’m going to deal with my daughter’s abusive volleyball coach). Though watching that clip made me realize I don’t miss it a bit. I never let a moment of fun slip away back then, so I have no regrets. Hmm. Maybe I’ll plan a trip to Vegas.
Hey everyone, thanks for the comments. I wrung every fun moment out of college as I could. My regrets lie with my not paying more attention in class as an undergrad. I always went to class, but I was very annoyed with it. As though it weren’t the reason I was there…hope my kids are more balanced than me.