One of the things which I’m very glad hasn’t come to pass, was the descent into another global financial crisis, which, for a brief time, it looked like Dubai World’s financial problems might have sparked.

In the end it took a $10bn bail out from Abu Dhabi to save the troubled company, and in return the company showed it’s gratitude by naming it’s latest project, the Burj Tower, after Abu Dhabi’s ruler Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan. The Burj Khalifa, as it’s now known, opened earlier this week, and is now officially the world’s tallest building, beating the previous holder of the title, the Taipei 101, by about 300 metres.

As part of the publicity surrounding the tower’s opening two intrepid base jumpers were granted permission to leap from it’s top in a death defying record attempt. I guess it was only going to be a matter of time before someone made such an attempt, with or without permission, so maybe the owners were just trying to harness the inevitable publicity which such a stunt is bound to generate. However, before would be daredevils start booking their flights to Dubai it’s worth pointing out that the event was strictly a one off, and neither the owners, nor the Dubai authorities are likely to take kindly to further, unauthorised, jumps.

The internet is of course full of lies, and I’ve seen a fair few comments claiming that this vid is a fake, however, judging by the fact that news sites, including the BBC, have reported the stunt, I’m inclined to think it’s real. Obviously you’ll have to decide for yourselves though.

In anycase, if you’re not familar with the concept of “literal video” it’s basically where somebody takes an artists music video and re-writes the lyrics to describe the action that’s taking place in the video itself; Given some of the drug, or ego, fuelled concepts which musicians have come up with for their videos over the years this really offers an abundance of potential comedy gold.

There are loads of these things floating around youtube and other video hosting sites, and to some extent the concept has suffered from the freedom which the ‘net gives just about anybody to have a go at being creative; Or, to put it less politely, some of the literal videos out there are utter crap!

Still, amongst all the chaff there are, if you look, some real gems; productions which you can tell somebody has put a lot of work into, in terms of watching the video and composing an alternate set of lyrics which describe the action, while still scanning, and following the pattern of the original artist’s lyrics. It may not be as impressive as coming up with a complete song from scratch, but it’s a form of artistic creativity which I respect none the less.

Anyway, I’ll stop waffling and let you get on with watching the video; This is definitely one of the best literal videos I’ve seen so far! So, without further ado, I give you the Literal Video version of Bonnie Tylers Total Eclipse of the Heart

Literal Video: Total Eclipse of the Heart

Anyway, enough of my rambling, take a look for yourself; Some of the action is almost too fast to see what’s going on, like the point around the 1:00 minute mark where he manages to take his top and trousers off while flick-flacking down the mats.

Source: Damien Walters Showreel 2009