Brian mostly writes about movies and TV, but he’s contributed some music commentary over the years. This week, I’m revisiting seven of his song reviews and recommendations.

“8 Awesome Angles of YouTube” – From “10 Things Brian Likes – Honorable Mentions (2 of 2)” (2014)

In 2009, Jack Black guest-starred on Sesame Street. One segment features Black explaining the word “Octagon.” Unfortunately, he forgot his octagon at home, and rushes off to find one. Elmo holds up a stop sign, which frustrates the frazzled Black, until he finally realizes that the stop sign IS, in fact, an octagon.

Somehow, remixing the scene became a YouTube meme, practically bordering on a subculture.
Ours is not to wonder why.

The first instance of the trend I came across was a video simply titled “Octagon Remix,” which leads me to believe it was one of the earliest “trendsetters” to establish the meme. The video, shared above, is a “YTPMV” set to the melody of techno track “Bloomin’ Feeling.” Because of this, the remix has subsequently been dubbed “Bloomin’ Octagon.” I wish I could give credit to the original artist behind this masterpiece, but alas, as with many “YouTube Poopers” he eventually fell victim to the site’s copyright police and had his videos deleted. Luckily, the YTP faithful carry on his legacy with endless re-uploads. The heavenly chorus of the revolving Jack-sphere shall echo for eternity.

If you survived that video (and enjoyed it), why not take things to the NEXT LEVEL? Here, to wrap the first segment of “Ten Things Brian Likes,” is an 8-minute collaboration which will melt your reality and turn the universe upside down. Black is octagon. White is Elmo. Stop is day. Night is “How, HOW!?” If that didn’t make much sense, it’s only because you probably haven’t finished the video and become a gibbering lunatic yet.

Full-Screen is mandatory.

Dan’s take:

When I was in college, my brothers sent me a link to a Google Docs file. It had previously been a school project planning document, but had gone off the rails. They warned me it had been defaced, and encouraged me to continue to mess up the document. Excited by the prospect of anarchy, I opened the document, and was promptly speechless. There was no chaos I could add to the document that hadn’t already been added: Size 1000 font, bright pink text, in Papyus, with a black background. Hundreds of thousands of nonsense words and copy-pasted Wikipedia articles. Pictures and animations inserted, willy-nilly. It was a sight to behold. I wish I had saved the link.

I have an automatic appreciation for any idea executed to its extreme. Hence, my appreciation of “8 Awesome Angles of YouTube.” It’s a professional-level remix and accompanying video of (exactly 8 minutes!) of Jack Black talking about octagons. Even if it has no reason to exist, it couldn’t be more perfect. And, for that reason, I admire it.

Click here for the full list