September 19th, 2008They All Want Cake (was: Friday Link Dump)
We just got our review copy of Rock Band 2, complete with wireless drum kit and guitar, or as I like to call them, Kodos-proof drum kit and guitar. It came a little late for episode 35, so watch for our review next week, and you might even recognize one or two AfterElton vloggers among our test subjects.
There happened to be a few music/gaming items in my RSS reader these past few days, so in what appears to now be a quasi-weekly thing, I offer you another Friday link dump.
If you’re not into the devil’s music that is Rock Band, Guitar Praise Solid Rock also just came out. Unfortunately, there aren’t any Faith + 1 tracks, but unlike Rock Band, you’ll never inexplicably have to play Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” three times in a row. Really.
There are thousands of variations on Portal’s ending theme “Still Alive”, including the insomnia-induced mandolin version I was tinkering with last week. But here’s something a little different. Instead of re-interpreting the music, Vimeo user Trickster gave us some amazing typographical visuals to accompany the original version. [redacted 2008.09.23: The original video is no longer available. YouTube version substituted.]
Next up, we have a sweet little song that has been infecting my brain all week.
I always felt bad for Toad, hanging out in that dark, fiery dungeon just to tell Mario that the princess was elsewhere. The Mountain Goats have finally given voice to this unspoken hero. [Via Destructoid] 
This next one is not as pleasant for the ears, but if you’re the kind of person who appreciates the act of spending hours on a project with no monetary value for the sole purpose of impressing the Internet, then you’ll really like this. [Via GayGamer]
Thanks to Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People, I can now include this techno song in the list. [Via TubeFilter]
He had to be at least partially referring to Sunbeam’s “Outside World”. In college, there was a German exchange student across the hall who used to play that track from morning until night. If he hadn’t been cute (and German), I wouldn’t have put up with it. There was another mysterious song that went:
First British girl: “I had a dream last night.”
Second British girl: ” We had the same dream.”
My eternal gratitude to anyone who can help me figure out what that was. Maybe if I can listen to it again, I’ll stop hearing those creepy girls’ voices just before I fall asleep each night.
