March 20, 2007

Neato Viddys on the Intertubes

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There’ll be no Viacom product on the YouTube these days, for sure, but that doesn’t make no nevermind. We can still, er, dance if we want to. Or at least stave off the Monday blahs with some music videos. Here’s five I like:

Tracey Thorn – “It’s All True” (via ArjanWrites)
In which the former Everything But the Girl vocalist delivers a lovely melancholy retro-dance number in a room full of choreographed office workers

Travis – “Closer” (via Stereogum)
In which the nice-enough Brit songsters go to work at a grocery store, and apparently Ben Stiller is their boss

Gus Gus – “Moss” (via ClipTip)
In which animated Icelanders (uh, Icelandians?) pass along a lovely rose of happiness to everyone they meet

TV On the Radio (featuring David Bowie) – “Province” (via MTV.com)
In which a female soldier lip-synchs, and some obtusely symbolic stuff happens, and it’s actually weirdly affecting and (I assume) anti-war somehow, even though I’m not exactly sure what it all means

Bonus: Timbaland – Shock Value Preview (via Pitchfork)
In which the mad genius hip-hop producer plays us some beats from his upcoming album

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

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