Werdsmiffery

Today is the 10-year anniversary of the “Shoes” video

It may not seem like it, but 2006 was a different time. The concept of viral fame didn’t really exist yet. Even the creators of YouTube hadn’t quite figured out what it was for. (They thought it was going to be place where you could easily access “big, newsworthy footage,” like Janet Jackson’s nipple slip.)

It was into this online Wild West that comic and actor Liam Kyle Sullivan uploaded his massive hit “Shoes.” The folks over at Noisey interviewed Sullivan to get his thoughts on “Shoes” a decade after its birth.

“I find it hard to sleep without you.” —Pittsville, Maryland 2014

“Someone sits on the shore and tells him how the waves have been there long before Bill existed, and that they’d still be there long after he’s gone. Bill looks out at the water and thinks of all the wonderful things he will do with his life.”

Mount Fuji, falcon and eggplants (Ichi fuji ni taka san nasubi) / Eisen

RISD MUSEUM

David Bowie called MTV out on its early exclusion of black artists

In 1983, David Bowie released his mega-selling Let’s Dance album and handily proved he could not only survive but thrive in the MTV era. Tracks like “Modern Love,” “Let’s Dance,” and “China Girl” logged plenty of hours on the cable channel in those days, but the black artists who had so strongly influenced Bowie’s music were notably absent from the station. This frustrating discrepancy led to a rather tense conversation that year when Bowie sat down to chat with original MTV VJ Mark Goodman. In the wake of Bowie’s death, the decades-old clip has been getting some additional attention, as it still makes for riveting viewing today. As was his nature, Bowie is calm and well-mannered when making his case to Goodman, making sure to mix in some praise with his criticism

Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man (1973).