they made the washingtonpost LOL
The distant war in Afghanistan has felt a whole lot closer since seven American soldiers in the 82nd Airborne shucked off desert fatigues for tattoo-baring costumes made from caution tape and cardboard, in a viral remake of Lady Gaga's "Telephone" music video.
Whipping their hips and punching the air with water bottles, the soldiers spin off-duty boredom into cathartic release with a funny, sexy and even bittersweet version of the hit. The all-male cast filmed it in a garage at the forward operating base in Farah province and uploaded it to YouTube a week ago. As of late Friday, "Telephone: The Afghanistan Re-make" had more than 500,000 views.
The video is a party -- and it's also raw poetry. It's the poetry that gets us: The dusty boots. The sweat stains. The plywood walls in the background, and the dart board hanging forlornly on one of them. (Is that all they have for fun? No wonder they dance!) The choreography steals a bit -- and vastly improves upon -- the video that features Lady Gaga and Beyoncé conspiring in a luridly sex-crazed prison.
But despite the distance, despite the exoticism, there's a powerful poignancy to this music video from a war zone, featuring young soldiers who could die tomorrow, who are, perhaps, funneling months -- years? -- of restlessness, loneliness and pent-up self-expression into a flamboyant 3 1/2 -minute escape.
"Prepare yourself for a fantastical journey," boasted Aaron Melcher on YouTube. Melcher, the beefy redheaded star of the production, added that more cuts and edits were planned, "however with guys always on mission it is harder to film than you think."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/30/AR2010043002716.html?hpid%3Dartslot⊂=AR