Jonathan Coulton – Garrick van Buren

3.75 Reasons Jonathan Coulton Is More Interesting than Radiohead

In Jonathan Coulton’s Portal post, I find 6 things very interesting. He:

was commissioned (I’m assuming) to write a song for a video game ($$$)
likes the video game (is this an ad or a recommendation to his fans?)
includes the lyrics in the post
includes the chords in the post
thanks the video game dev team
recommends another game with a great theme song that

3.75 of them are for JC’s fans. He didn’t need to include any of them. Others haven’t and wouldn’t. This to me makes Coulton a far more interesting and fan-oriented musician than Radiohead simply removing the middleman.

LATER:
Tonight, my iPod randomly pulled an almost-exactly-one-year-old Coulton/Hodgeman/Sound of Young America interview from my Unlistened Podast playlist. Quite good. Hodgeman even discusses Minnesota State Fair food.

Monetizing Robots, Duckies, and Amanda

Modern day troubadour Jonathan Coulton is the latest cult-of-personality on Ze Frank‘s GimmeSomeCandy micropayment platform.

In related news – Amanda Congdon announced new projects with ABC News and HBO.

Duckies, robots, and bananas for everyone!

Jonathan Coulton in Twin Cities – Could It Be True?

John Hodgeman says so:

MINNEAPOLIS, MN October 6 Fitzgerald Theater; 7PM
With Neal Pollack.
THERE WILL BE AN ADMISSION CHARGE: STAND BY

PopSci Delivers Geek Triumverate

PopSci Podcast #14: Jonathan Coulton asks Bruce Schneier about the risks of snakes on a plane.

The Future Soon Flickr Flick

I got another Jonathan Coulton tune stuck in my head last week. As I’ve discovered, the best way to get the earworm out is to make a music video for it (i.e. purposefully listen to it repeatedly hundreds of times).

Inspired by JC’s classic Flickr, and the recently launched JoCoPro, I present you:
Future Flickr [quicktime].

Thanks to all the photographers (and JC himself) for publishing their works under Creative Commons – with special thanks to Chuck Olsen and J Wynia.

Making Jonathan Coulton Videos – Minnesota’s Winter Pasttime

A 10th Grade class in Sobriety High down the street in Edina made a video for Jonathan Coulton’s ‘Mandelbrot Set’.

Aside from being a brilliant project, making videos for JC is a an excellent way to get through Minnesota winters. I should know.

Shop Vac in the Suburbs Music Video

Almost 50 years ago, Redbook magazine and On Film made In the Suburbs, a promotional video for suburban life.

A few weeks back, Jonathan Coulton released “Shop Vac” a catchy little theme song for suburban life.

I wondered what they’d look like together.

Behold the power of Creative Commons and archive.org:
Shop Vac in the Suburbs [quicktime]

Tuesday Triple Play – The ER Being Like an After Bar

This triple play was tough, two of these songs were sitting in the queue for a while now awaiting a third. This morning inspiration struck – like that scene from Pulp Fiction. Conventional wisdom says there’s a fine line separating pleasure and pain. These three songs aren’t sure which side they’re on.

Tuesday’s Triple Play – Let’s Go Shopping

The day after Thanksgiving (or Halloween, or Arbor Day, or St. Patrick’s Day) marks the start of the holiday shopping season. This week’s Tuesday Triple Play is dedicated to the entertainment of retail.

High at Home Depot from Minneapolis’ Diesel Jenny
IKEA from Jonathan Coulton’s Smoking Monkey
Sandbox [real] from Too Much Joy’s Cereal Killers
Money from Michael Koppelman (yes, I can count. This track felt real good with the other 3, so I left it in. Consider it a Holiday bonus.)

Tuesday’s Triple Play – The Robots We Love and Hate

Sony’s dog is just the first step in machines taking over – via our hearts. This week’s triple play is dedicated the androids so near to us me must destroy them.

“Small Wonder” from the Vandals’ Fear of a Punk Planet
“Todd the T1000” from Jonathan Coulton’s Our Bodies, Ourselves, Our Cybernetic Arms
“My Girlfriend’s a Robot” from the Hanson Brothers’ Gross Misconduct