Power Hours: A Dangerous and Beautiful Art
What is a Power Hour?
In my books, I’ve several times referenced a drinking game/ceremony/religious rite called a Power Hour. While some people know of its wonder, and others read the explanations I left in the comments back on the old site, occasionally I still get asked what the hell a Power Hour is. So today I am going to address that issue, explain not just the basic concept of a Power Hour, but the many resources one can use to enjoy it to the fullest.
Disclaimer: Holy shit, this whole goddamned entry is about binge drinking. Drink to your level, drink responsibly, and never ever drink and drive. Just assume everything below this is terrible life advice.
Alright, that should cover my ass.
Power Hours Defined
A Power Hour is where you spend an hour drinking shots of beer. Every minute that passes, you fill up a shot glass with beer, them slam it. By the end of the hour you should have consumed anywhere between 5 – 7.5 beers depending on how full your pours get the shot glass. Generally this is done to pre-game going out to a bar or party, getting intoxicated cheaply at home to spend less while out. That’s the bare bones of a Power Hour, binging down a six-pack in a single hour.
However, much like explaining sex to someone, the simplistic definition fails to capture the enjoyment of the activity. The actual doing facilitates far more fun than the dry description. Plus, both work best as group activities.
How to Have Fun With Power Hours
Power Hours should be done in a group, pretty much always. The only reason to binge that much by yourself is if your ride out will be there in an hour and you’re too broke to drink at the bar, or you’re testing a Power Hour you created before showing it to people (we’ll get to that later).
See, Power Hours might have started by watching a clock and slamming beer shots, but thankfully they have evolved to a medium all their own. The most popular style of Power Hour is watching a series of music videos or clips that conform to a theme or style. Each clip is roughly 60 seconds long, and when the clip changes: you drink. Easy, entertaining, and far more fun than a stopwatch.
Where can you see these magical creations, you ask? Well, for ones that are simple and work well, you can check out PowerHourHQ, which boasts a smaller selection but is full of quality. I’d also recommend looking Ali Spagnolia’s website, as she actually fought a court battle against a dickhole who was trying to trademark Power Hours as his own creation, which was bullshit. She does musical sing-along Power Hours, which can be fun in their own odd way.
You can also search around a bit on Youtube, there are some buried about and more popping up every month.
Making a Power Hour
Those are great resources for finding Power Hours, but I can hear you already. You don’t want to just watch someone else’s collection; you want to make your own! I can respect that, fellow compulsive drinker/creator. Up until a few years ago, that required a shitload of downloading of videos and editing them together. As it does with most things, however, the internet ultimately made that easier! How?
With this: MyTube60. On that site you can easily search for clips, set their run-times, and organize them into a unique viewing experience. Then you can publish it for the world to see (and get hammered to). This means it’s also the home of the widest selection of Power Hours I’ve found. It’s so big, in fact, that you might have to search around a bit to find what you’re looking for. Keep at it though, there are some real gems in there.
Choosing Your Power Hour
I know, I know, I overwhelmed you didn’t I? You went from not knowing what the hella Power Hour is to having too many options. Do you want to do cartoon intro themes, Mario Brothers Erotica scenes, music videos, or maybe sets from comedians? Too many choices!!! Well relax, because remember what I said way earlier? Power Hours are a group event. You’ll want to take the pulse of everyone in the room to find out what appeals to them.
My recommendation is to stake out a few on the site, and offer up an array of choices. If you make everyone dig, it will take hours of precious drinking time to find what you’re looking for. It should only come to that if none of the options strike a chord with everyone present, but that will rarely happen. These are your friends, after all, you’re bound to have some idea of what common interests you all share.
Some of My Favorites
For those who really care (guessing not many of you) below are a few of my current favorite Power Hours. And, to put my own clip assembly skills on view, I’ll also include links to the few that I’m made.
Enjoy! (Responsibly)
Ones I like and recommend:
And the one I made:
It's only fitting that this week's Youtube break clip be one I first saw on a Power Hour, and then laughed so hard at I nearly choked on my beer. Stick with it past the first ten seconds, you'll be glad you did.