5. United State of Pop 2014
It’s December, and that means two things are soon to be upon us: the holiday season and a deluge of best of, end-of-year, or year-in-review recaps of every topic imaginable. As far as pop music goes, you could look at any old list. Or you could watch a dramatic synthesis of the year’s best in catchy choruses and edgy music videos, crafted with love by DJ Earworm.
4. Owl Goes For a Swim
Owls are definitely in the pantheon of predator birds. Maybe there aren’t a lot of predator birds outside the pantheon, but who’s counting. Regardless, for all the respect these night hunters get, they don’t normally get much recognition for their swimming ability. This video remedies that injustice, showcasing an owl doing a butterfly stroke in Lake Michigan. Bet that’s a sentence you’ve never seen before.
3. Jane Krakowski’s Peter Pan Live! Audition Tape
NBC’s live theater event, Peter Pan Live!, aired Thursday. It boasted a star-studded cast, including Allison Williams and Christopher Walken, but ended up being pretty boring. Maybe 30 Rock’s Jane Krakowski could’ve spiced it up—it certainly looks that way from her “leaked” audition tape, produced by Funny or Die.
2. Slow Jam the Immigration News
Every once in a while, Jimmy Fallon enlists a very serious news or political personality to help him with a very serious task: slow jamming the news. This week, he had Brian Williams reprise his role as newsman-turned-jazzman. With the help of Tonight Show band The Roots, the two recounted the president’s controversial executive action on immigration and the political fallout that has resulted.
1. Nick Offerman’s Whiskey Love Song
One of the most romantic—and, some would say, unrealistic—phenomena of American culture is the concept of “the one.” Many people believe there’s one person out there that they’re meant to be with and who will complete their life and with whom they will live happily ever after. For Nick Offerman, of Parks and Recreation, the one is a thing: whiskey. This music video is an ode to his one true love, complete with romantic rides on horseback.
