I wanted to update you with some new "Rickrolling" angles that I found particularly humorous. I have been holding this first one all the way since Thanksgiving. I was watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade as we do every year. I was unsuspecting like I imagine most viewers were, but laughed out loud when it turned out I became another victim. Watch here to see for yourself:

This one took some serious effort to create. Someone spliced up Barack Obama speeches to make him perform his own version of "Never Gonna Give You Up." This video shows the Barack version side by side with the real Rick Astley version. Very entertaining in my opinion:

I have posted a couple "literal" versions of music videos in past issues. I have posted these "literal" videos for the a-Ha song "Take On Me" and the Tears for Fears song "Head Over Heels." The video is dubbed over with lyrics that literally explain what is happening in the video. I think these are very creative and funny. Guess what? There is a literal version for "Never Gonna Give You Up" and I thought I would share that here as well:

Hope you enjoyed those as much as I did. Speaking of Rick Astley, I just came across an article on the UK Guardian which announced that Astley was writing a movie musical. You can click on that link to take you the actual article, but I have also included it below:

Rick Astley writing movie musical
The Rick-rolling legend and Best Act Ever is writing a rags-to-riches musical for the screen - so not autobiographical then
Sean Michaels
guardian.uk.com, Monday 2 February 2009

Rick Astley's career revival may be based on people being tricked into seeing him, but the 80s pop star is now counting on fans buying actual tickets. Not only is Astley again headlining the Here and Now nostalgia tour, but the man who promised to never give you up, let you down, run around and desert you ... is writing a movie musical.

New York Cowboy will tell the story of a small-town boy who moves to New York City in the 80s. It is not, in other words, an autobiography.

"My wife's now a movie producer so I read a lot of scripts and I'm really passionate about films," Astley said in a recent interview. "One day I thought, 'Well, why don't I write one?' And it turned into a musical - but not for the stage."

Astley "hooked up with a guy in California", he told the Times, and after writing a script the two are now seeking an agent. "I'm not fooling myself - nothing may come of it and I totally understand that, but as a process I have loved it. When you're writing frothy pop songs the lyrics can be a bit 'whatever', they are hooky and you just sing them because they work. But writing these songs ... Do they call that a libretto?"

Astley's appearance on the Here and Now tour is unexpected. Despite headlining the show last year, he hadn't intended to participate in 2009 - until Boy George was sent to jail. "Poor George," Astley said now. "I don't know him but it seems such a waste, somebody as sharp and intelligent as that being sent to prison."

Though Astley's a fitting billing along with Kim Wilde, Howard Jones and Brother Beyond, these days he's most keen on the Luddites - a covers band he plays in with his mates. "I play drums and sing with my two friends Graham and Simon and we play East Molesey Cricket Club every now and again," he said. "We were going to call ourselves Mid-Life Crisis because that's what it is."

I am glad to see that Astley takes all of this in stride and does not take himself too seriously. He remains humble and relatively normal. I look forward to more funny "Rickrolling" pranks. If anything, it fosters creativity and also brings a little piece of the 80s to present times.

That will do it for another issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the new Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: I came across some funny graffiti mostly thanks to my friends over at the List of the Day blog. These are some of my favorites. Enjoy...

Quote of the day: "Happiness is a direction, not a place." -Sydney J. Harris