I think Nicolas Cage is one of the greatest actors of our generation. He gets mad props for Face/Off, Con Air,  Leaving Las Vegas and Adaptation. He gets some props for The Weather Man,  National Treasure and Lord of War. And, he has baffled us with the atrocities that are Snake Eyes, Ghost Rider and The Wicker Man. That being said, I think it’s about time The Daily Monthly celebrates Cage’s lesser known acting career:  Japanese commercials.

Nic Cage, selling something (?) to Japanese people (?)…

Nic Cage selling three(?) more things to more Japanese people (?).

Cage sings about Pachinko, sells Sankyo.

Sometimes, well most of the time, two songs from the opposite end of the cultural spectrum make the best mashup. First offf we have  “Cult Logic Forever”, a mashup of Miike Snow and Drake that surely could unite U Street hipsters and Rhino’s Rhine-hoes.

Now for a classic, Toto’s “Africa,” which you may recognize from the Georgetown Phantom’s a capella repertoire, gets the royal treatment of Jay-Z and Beyonce’s “Me and My Girlfriend.”

Ron Artest is my favorite basketball player of all time.  From his jersey number 91 (wtf?) to his ridiculous hairdo to his penchant for knocking out fans mid-game, I think there’s little not to love about Mr. Artest. Now, being a hoya, there’s even more:  The first single from his newly blossoming rap career is entitled “GeorgTown Girl.”Artest cranks the fuck out of his auto-tune (which is probably for the best), and he spits lines like “touch, touch touch her” and “Artest likes to pop bottles/You don’t even got to be the next top model.” Bear in mind that Artest went to St. John’s, not Georgetown, he’s from Queens, and he’s never even played for a team in the D.C. area.

Bravo, Ronnie boy.

Sometimes I forget how tightly the Internet has become woven into all of our lives.  You’ve heard it a thousand times before: Social networking, the death of journalism, online TV content and google’s expanding big-brotherishness are just factual parts of our cultural landscape by now. But, there was a time when the Internet was this ambiguous entity no one quite understood or quite knew what to do with (READ: Pets.com).

It was a time when a twelve year old Julia Stiles could explore the world of hacking where “curiosity and imagination equals power,” where you were judged by what you “say and think, not by what you look like.”  Hope you like the vid…

Notorious BIG is no doubt rolling in his grave with this mashup with Miley Cyrus “Party (And Bullshit) in the USA.” But gangster rap and adolescent pop just sound so good together while your dancing on the table at a Village B party.

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.  Without the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, we would never be able to enjoy the wonders of McDonald’s, baseball, cheese grits, The Hills, “Back to the Future” part I and II or even this very blog.  So, here’s The Daily Monthly’s celebration of Chrissy Columbus. Forever we’ll be in your debt, C-bone.

Just because you wear thick rimmed classes, flannel, converses, doesn’t mean you don’t appreciate some good rhyme spitting every now and then.  Indie darlings Grizzly Bears join forces with Dead Prez in this mashup.

Also, Old Dirty Bastard and Rhymefest reach back into their childhood in this mashup with “Build Me Up Buttercup.”

Despite my taste in music that is typically pretty far on the snobbish end of the spectrum, I’ve been defending Lady Gaga’s songwriting prowess since I first sunk my teeth into “Just Dance.” There’s no doubt she knows how to produce a good track, and there’s no doubt that she always makes for a good interview. But, I’m never quite sure if Gaga is a base, fame-obsessed musician who just happens to know how to produce a solid dance track, or if she is a genuine artist who has created a persona that truly taps into the ethos of our self-obsessed myspace-ing/facebook-ing/twitter-ing generation.

This video is just fodder for my difficulties in pinning down what Lady Gaga is really about.  Her rapport with Paris Hilton seems completely genuine, but it’s hard to believe that the chick who has been churning out hit after hit could actually think that Hilton’s debut album was even listenable. I’m not sure if this video horrifically shows us who we Americans really choose to adore, or if this is a rare artifact of one of our most insightful celebrities playing off of one of our decidedly dumbest ones.

Either way, here’s the vid so you can decide for yourself.

Narrowly, The Daily Monthly avoided destruction last night.  The enigmatic forces called “iPower” notified us yesterday that our domain would be de-activated by midnight if we did not renew our subscription.  Fortunately, our august Editor-In-Chief, Bee Paulmer, was able to fend off the blighting potency of iPower before she went out and got rejected from The Tombs. As editor of The Daily Monthly, I’d like to personally send out thanks to Bhee for her inscrutable tact.

THANKS BE!

Video Re-Enactment: Polmur vs. iPower