Maroon 5 “Memories” music video great, except for one strike against it

I heard this song on SiriusXM for the first time a few days ago and wow, it’s one of those songs you almost need to pull off the road and just listen. It’s that good. Perhaps it hits harder if you can relate, and perhaps it’s unfortunate if you can relate… because loss and the void loss sometimes creates really stinks! Let’s avoid all that sadness and talk about the video…


You know, I’ve always thought to myself something like this, “If you have a good song and a good voice, you don’t need anything else.” I’m thinking of concerts that have pyro, flashing lights, huge set pieces, etc… all to entertain the audience. That’s all well and good, but there’s something to be said when someone like Jack White takes the stage and it’s just him, a mic and a few guitars, and that’s enough. Know what I mean? It goes for music videos, too. A music video can make or break a song. There have been plenty of songs that I didn’t like as much after seeing the music video. On the flip side, there’s a video like Kenny Chesney “Anything But Mine,” that makes the song a thousand times better…


So this video from Maroon 5 fits in with that idea perfectly. Any kind of flashy or heavily edited video would only distract from the beauty of the song. So it’s just Adam Levine singing to the camera, very close up, with an extremely slow camera pull out to reveal a little more of Adam, shoulders and up.

I honestly believe anything else they put together, short of home video clips, would have just taken away from the song’s power.

Screen Shot 2019-11-06 at 9.06.30 AMI do have one complaint and this can be fixed in a few seconds. On the Maroon 5 YouTube presentation of this video, it ends with “For Jordi” but here’s the problem… that tribute is covered by YouTube video suggestions. A powerful ending for this video is missed, or maybe a better word is destroyed, by distraction.

Evenso, this video is great and I have a sneaky suspicion this song is going to end up in my top 10 all-time favorites.

-Out of the Wilderness

Study shows fish discouraged by evolutionary process

Pensacola, FL — Ichthyologists doing research on the behavior of fish in the gulf region, just off the coast of northern Florida, have been perplexed for months by the apparent mood changes of many vertebrates in the area.

“We’ve seen fish change behavior based on environmental factors, predator stressers, and the like, but we haven’t seen anything quite like this before,” says scientist Joseph Blaylock. “Entire schools of fish swimming slowly, with no apparent direction, some were even documented as having ‘sad faces,’ so we’re conducting more research to find out what might be causing this.”

A few factors that might make a fish to look “sad,” or frown, are big sharks in the area, getting hooked by a fishing line, losing Nemo, or watching your best friend turn from a mermaid to a human and leave forever.

Marine biologists have been brought in to study the sounds heard amongst some of the fish in the gulf. Primarily studying the fish who appear downcast, communication between them has an eary similarity to a minor key in music.

Progress took a leap forward yesterday when a stack of paper was found floating near a school of mopey mullet. It was nearly tossed aside until some of the writing caught the eye of a few biologists on the research boat. The spelling was very, very poor, but was in English, much to the delight of all on board. The note was written by Yerlstey the Mullet, Jr., and can be summarized by extreme disappointment that they have yet to turn into humans. Pages two and three mentioned all the fun they see humans doing, from jet-skiing to parasailing, kayaking, boating, using arms and legs, talking, laughing, hugging, snorkeling, breathing air, all things fish in the area cannot do.

The last page, page four, ends with an honest question: “Can’t we at least get to lizard status? Having little legs and feet would be a real game-changer for us.”

Although the sentiment of the underwater dwellers tugged on the hearts of those who heard the plea, there’s ultimately nothing these scientists can do. In a handwritten note addressed to Yerlstey the Mullet, Jr. and friends, a response:

“We’re sorry you are still fish. The process of evolution takes millions of years, so those reading or hearing this note won’t be turning into humans during your lifetime, but on the bright side, a lot of humans are becoming vegan. This means they won’t eat you or your family.”

Scientists weren’t exactly sure this was the right angle to take with the fish, but blamed their years of schooling and lack of social interaction on however their note might have sounded.

-Out of the Wilderness News

 

Activist student drops bombshell on university faculty

Los Angeles — Earlier this week, University of Southern California student Abby Thompson took to social media expressing her distaste for some of the faculty and staff at the private college.

Screen Shot 2019-10-30 at 4.08.19 PM

Administration takes comments like this very seriously, especially in the #MeToo era, so when they were made aware of the vague accusation, an investigation began immediately.

Leading the inquiry as to what happened was well-known and highly-regarded Ethics in Society professor Linda Shultz. She has a history of getting to the bottom of things and was eager to make things right with this student, given the fact that the student is a woman and whatever she is upset about is probably true, because otherwise, why would she have said anything?

It was quickly known what the matter was pertaining. Abby Thompson felt attacked in her Basic Communications course as the syllabus stated the course started every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9am.

Class instructor Tom Treadwell said, “I’ve been teaching this class for 7 years now, and this is a first for me. We start the class at a certain time on a certain day, and students sit in whatever seat they want. I’m still not sure what exactly the problem is.” He went on to say the day of the incident Ms. Thompson was irate, and stormed out of the class chanting “My body! My choice!”

Linda Shultz was able to sit down with Abby to get her side of the situation. The official report is about one page double spaced, mostly consisting of dates and locations, witness statements, and of course it includes Abby’s complaint. According to the document made available exclusively to OTW News, Abby was offended and insulted when she read in the syllabus that students were to report to room 309 (location of the class for the entire semester), by 9am.

“This is so sexist! How can he tell me what to do with my body? It’s my body! If I don’t want to take my body to class at 9am, no man is going to tell me otherwise. I can’t believe this is happening in 2019.”

Once learning of the reason for Abby’s extreme dislike of having to attend a class at a particular set time in order to get credit for that class, she quickly dismissed the investigation and became embarrassed on behalf of all women everywhere.

Asked for her reaction, Abby simply said, “Men are the problem.”

-Out of the Wilderness News

New XFL football season in 2020! Thanks, no thanks.

For those that think we need more football in our lives, the XFL kicks off in February 2020, the weekend after the NFL Super Bowl. You may remember the XFL from the 1-season-season back in 2001, promoted as a mix of WWE wrestling and professional football. The league folded but supposedly it’s back and better than ever now.

I can’t speak for all football fans, but I don’t think I’ll be an avid fan of the league. We already have football on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Saturday. And now with fantasy football, I’m just about exhausted every Sunday night!

I’ll tell you a little story about yesterday, Sunday. My fantasy football team, The Billy Oceans, faced the best team in the league. He scores like, a bajillion points every week, so I didn’t have much hope going into it. My team, though, is almost in a must-win situation if I want to make the 4-team playoffs. So he ends up outscoring me by early afternoon.

I take a nap. It’s Sunday after all.

I wake up to find my team dead even, scoring quite a few points while I was sleeping! Long story short, in the Sunday night game, Lamar Jackson gave me a headache and I get headaches maybe once every few years. Not good!

So do I want MORE football once the NFL and college are over? For the sake of my health, I’ll pass.

-Out of the Wilderness

 

If you hadn’t heard yet, Willie Taggert is gone

A bomb dropped in Tallahassee today… coach, or should I say former coach Willie Taggert has been relieved of his duties at Florida State. If you didn’t already know that, you probably haven’t been on Facebook, or the internet in general, this afternoon.

As a graduate of Florida State, a lot of my Facebook feed revolves around the breaking news. I’d talked to some of my family just a few weeks ago and we agreed if he finished the season with 6 wins and 6 losses, he may be given another year. But if it were 5 wins and 7 losses, no sir, gone! Well, we were kinda right… but he’ll never get a chance to get to 7 losses. At least not at FSU.

I don’t know of any names floating around that fans would happy with. Many fans are fed up, and they’re not alone. Even ESPN host Kirk Herbstreit had a real hangry outburst about FSU and the crazy part is he’s probably right about everything.

It’ll be interesting what happens next as far as head coaching goes. A return of Bobby Bowden? Perhaps, Mark Richt? I may even become a fan again if either of those two great men were hired for the job. But it’s FSU, so they’ll somehow mess things up further for the football program, I’m sure.

For now, gone are the days of great football at Florida State.

-Out of the Wilderness