old adventures in lo-fi

Special Topics in Pop Culture - Episode 1: Drinking the Debate

2008-10-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

In order to properly inaugurate the new phase of my video podcast, I decided to videotape myself getting rather tipsy from a Drinking Game involving the Debate.

Special Topics in Pop Culture - Episode 1: Drinking the Debate

MTV from 1983

2008-01-28T15:50:00.000-08:00

I am sorry, but I will be unable to update Old Adventures in Lo-Fi this week. I caught a nasty bout of strep throat last week, and as such I am still digging myself out from beneath the mountains of grading I have left to do.

In the meantime, Wil Wheaton directed us to this wonderful little morsel of 1983 MTV footage, and I highly suggest you take a peek:

Old Adventures in Lo-Fi 12 :: The 1991 MTV Video Music Awards

2008-01-16T11:02:00.000-08:00

I know that I have previously shared gems from this particular awards show, such as Prince's ass-less pants and Michael Stipe stripping off various political t-shirts when R.E.M. was awarded Video of the Year, but I have so much more interesting footage to share! As such, I continue our exploration of the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards.

Goodies: Jesus Jones wins Best New Artist, and we take a look at the International Viewers Choice Awards.

Back in the Saddle Again.

2008-01-16T10:18:00.001-08:00

Nearly two years, two jobs, and an entire shift in living situation later, I have decided to ressurrect the Old Adventures in Lo-Fi project. I'm not even sure I will have time to update this on a semi-regular basis, but I will give it a shot.

Stay tuned for updates!

The Optimism of the Early '90s.

2006-09-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

Good news: due to the response (thank you!) I will continue on with the Old Adventures in Lo-Fi project.

Bad news: I am still swamped with work, moving, etc., so it may very well be November before I get a new episode posted.

In the meantime, you should take a gander at Bill Clinton on the Daily Show. That man has a sort of innate optimism which I feel may have been the source of so many young Americans feeling as if they were capable of changing the world back in the early 1990s. You can see some of that optimism at play here.

I know that I'm totally giving away my political alliances here, but I must say -- it makes me happy that the announcers on NPR still refer to Bill Clinton as "Mr. President" whenever they have him in interview.

Temporary Hiatus

2006-09-10T17:41:00.000-07:00

As you have probably already noticed, Old Adventures in Lo-Fi has been, and will continue to be, on temporary hiatus. There are three major reasons for this:

I am swamped with a backlog of work a mile long which I need to focus my attention and energy on.

I am in the process of moving into a new residence, which is taking up the remainder of my attention and energy not focused on work.

I have been disappointed with the overall response and reaction to this video blog, and the amount of time and energy I put in to each episode all too often feels like time and energy wasted.

It is, of course, my intention to try to come back to this project in a month or so, but honestly a lot of that will depend on whether or not I still have an audience that actually wants to see the project come back. If you are a regular "watcher," and if you do want me to continue this project, please comment and let me know -- leave a way I can reach you, and I'll even let you know when the site is back up and running. But if the response is as weak as I imagine it will be, well. It was fun while it lasted.

For those of you who have been paying attention, I appreciate it. See you in a month, hopefully.

Old Adventures in Lo-Fi 11 :: No Alternative to Free Your Mind

2006-08-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

My apologies in advance for not getting back into the swing of my updating-every-Sunday routine. I've been quite the busy Dexter as of late.

For this episode, I talk a little bit about No Alternative, and then ramble some about the weird "Free Your Mind" commercials that used to air on MTV in the nineties. It was only after I'd finished this particular broadcast that I realized the example I've given here is, in fact, *not* "Free Your Mind", but rather "Plug Into This". Ah well. To-may-to, to-mah-to.

Goodies: Buffalo Tom live at No Alternative, and a bartender with shiny pink hair.

Where is Dexter?

2006-08-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

My apologies for being so long absent from Old Adventures in Lo-Fi. I do, however, have a very valid excuse -- I've been out of the country, visiting friends in Germany. In celebration, I have put together a pastiche of video and images to the tune of "She Went To Germany" by the Violent Femmes. Enjoy!

And now back to your regularly scheduled adventures.

Old Adventures in Lo-Fi 8 :: The State (Part 4 of 4)

2006-07-01T21:20:00.000-07:00

This week, we finish up our exploration of MTV's The State.

Goodies: Toothbrush You've Come Back To Me! and Watching the Monkeys Do It.

Old Adventures in Lo-Fi 7 :: The State (Part 3 of 4)

2006-06-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

More excerpts from The State this week.

Goodies: The Bearded Men of Space Station 11, and Secrets that Threaten your Status in High School.

Old Adventures in Lo-Fi 6 :: The State (Part 2 of 4)

2006-06-17T22:20:00.000-07:00

This week, we continue our exploration of MTV's comedy show, The State. We also begin to marvel at my infinite variety of pajamas.

Goodies: Meanwhile at the Hall of Justice, and a very pleasant dinner party.

Old Adventures in Lo-Fi 5 :: The State (Part 1 of 4)

2006-06-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

For the next four episodes, we will be exploring the 1990s MTV sketch comedy show, The State.

Goodies: Louie at the Last Supper, and a lighthouse keeper a little obsessed with S&M.

Old Adventures in Lo-Fi 4 :: Rock in Rio II (Part 3 of 3)

2006-06-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

This week, we will wrap up our exploration of Rock in Rio II with another live performance and a few more news clips.

Goodies: INXS performing "Never Tear Us Apart" live at Rock in Rio II, members of Information Society wandering around Rio, and members of Faith No More hang-gliding.

Old Adventures in Lo-Fi 3 :: Rock in Rio II (Part 2 of 3)

2006-05-31T09:21:00.000-07:00

First of all, my apologies for the delay in getting this week's episode out -- my grandmother was in the hospital the early part of the week, and I did not have access to my files in order to upload them. For the second part of the Rock in Rio II series, we'll begin looking at live performances.

Goodies: Faith No More performing "We Care A Lot" live at Rock in Rio II, and a little clip of MTV's Martha Quinn.

Old Adventures in Lo-Fi 2 :: Rock in Rio II (Part 1 of 3)

2006-05-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

For the second episode of Old Adventures in Lo-Fi, I begin to tap into my footage from the 1991 music festival Rock in Rio II, explaining a little bit about the history of this festival.

Goodies: MTV News clip of Rock in Rio II, featuring New Kids on the Block, Run DMC, Faith No More, Queensryche, and Information Society, among others.

Old Adventures in Lo-Fi 1 :: Introductions and Namesakes

2006-05-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

For the first ever episode of Old Adventures in Lo-Fi, I attempt to define the purpose of my vodcast (i.e. I ramble a lot in my pajamas), and introduce my namesake.

Goodies: MTV News Report of REM's New Adventures in High-Fi with Tabitha Soren.

Notes: From now on, I'll be using various audio clips from REM. For this one, however, I use a brief clip from Death Cab for Cutie's "Crooked Teeth."

Greetings and Salutations!

2006-05-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the brand new vodcast (i.e. video podcast) -- Old Adventures in Lo-Fi. In order to prevent confusion and to help explain myself, let me give you a brief analysis of what my vision for this podcast is.

Over the years, I have collected well over a hundred VHS tapes with various shows, commercials, MTV specials, and other remnants of Post-Generation-X pop culture. Most of these clips have been recorded in the 1990s, though some may be before or after then. I'm in the process of cataloguing them; if you have Gopher or the latest version of Mozilla Firefox installed, you may watch the catalogue-in-progress over here.) I was showing a few of these bizarre gems to Alestar, who suggested I share them online. Since I was looking for a good excuse to start a vodcast anyhow, I decided to make this my theme.

Ideally, you'll find things on this vodcast you can't find anywhere else -- old commercials, live performances, bizarre music videos, and clips from television shows that never quite took off. I will also film a little intro and outro for each clip from the top bunk of my bed, explaining their relevance to the "MTV Generation" (i.e. why I think they're cool.) I'm considering the idea of remaining in my pajamas for each one, and the fuzzy hat is a must. While I failed to do this for the "pilot," I plan to use short background sound clips in the lead-in from REM's album New Adventures in Hi-Fi, for obvious reasons.

Perhaps you know me, perhaps you read ~~my blog~~, perhaps you stumbled upon this completely by accident. Whatever your reason for coming here, I do hope you'll stay, and enjoy, and tell all your friends. (Or at least the cool ones.)