Imagine a music video consisting of random video game footage strung together and set to a hugely popular rock song. It sounds amateurish, doesn’t it? And then, imagine that a major cable network decides to air a bunch of these videos. That sounds lame, doesn’t it?

Welcome to MTV2’s “Video Mod” program, where rock videos are reimagined using 3D game footage mixed with re-rendered band performances and what-not. There is some original content mixed in, but for the most part it’s game footage galore.

I have a little clue for the folks over at MTV: You might want to do your homework first. From what I’ve seen so far, your video editing skills are even more lacking than mine. (And I assure you that coming from someone of my meager talents, that’s a real insult.)

In case there are pedants among you who will point out that AMVs aren’t exactly the same thing: I know. I know. But it couldn’t hurt for MTV’s “Video Mod” creators to see what good videos created from existing materials can look like.

So I’m putting together a playlist of songs that start with H. (Previous endeavors have centered on the letters M and S, for no apparent reason.) My biggest problem isn’t in keeping the artists nicely shuffled, or in song flow. No, I have to keep the “Home”, “Heart” and “Heaven” songs separated!

Don’t believe me? Here’s the playlist as it stands right now:

Heart. (Pet Shop Boys)
Heaven Will Come (The Space Brothers)
Hitorigoto (Kotoko)
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Daft Punk)
Home (Econoline Crush)
Hercules (Midnight Oil)
Heartbreaker (Led Zeppelin)
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow (Dada)
HOME SWEET HOME (Reborn) (Home Made Kazoku)
Heaven’s in Here (Tin Machine)
Home On The Strange (Geddy Lee)
Here (Vast)
Heaven Knows (Robert Plant)
Halo (Depeche Mode)
Home by the Sea – Second Home by the Sea (Live) (Genesis)

I suppose “Here” shows up a couple of times as well, doesn’t it? Insane, I tell you.

The delightful Kyla and I checked out “Episode 3” this afternoon. Yes, that one. Our collective verdict? “Better than the previous two. Heavyhanded and obvious. Won’t be buying it when it comes out on DVD.”

Curiosity satisfied. Now on to better things, like the impending Issue 5 of City of Heroes…

I had an entry almost ready to go, and then I had to try to Google for something to clarify a point… and my browser crashed.

So, you get this instead. Here, I’ll even throw in a random funny link.

Remember, kids: save those draft entries when your entry is getting a bit lengthy! Don’t be like that “grey duck” guy! Man, what a loser…

Happiness is…

… finally hooking up the surround sound speakers. So far, our informal test-disc review shows that Ronin has far more precise but subtle use of the rear stage, while Italian Job sounds more dramatic, especially during the helicopter chase scenes. Akira’s menus sound incredible, but the movie itself doesn’t really lend much to a 5.1 system. The Ah My Goddess movie places a lot of its orchestral ambience in the surround environment.

I’m sure we’ll “test” some more movies over the course of the weekend. I mean, why not?