Don't read too much into this...I made it as a joke for a class project...we'll see...possibly more later...
Showing posts with label Silliness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Silliness. Show all posts
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
What am Was Watching II
Trying to get more into a bloggin schedule of a couple times a week (as opposed to my current schedule of "never"). Here's some videos, in no real order:
This was written by one of the guys who made LOOOOOOOOOOOOST (deep cut). It is funny and you should watch it because it is funny. Also there's famous-ish people and a cool use of time travel.
The next thing I was going to post went down the memory hole, so here a video of Kurt Vonnegut being awesome instead:
The next thing is also the thing that is the last thing, because I thought I had more things but did not. Anyway I am recomendiding Clone High because it is a fun show that is funny and also fun and you can watch the whole thing in like three hours so theres that. Also I really like the theme song, so at least watch that part. The first episode is kind of weak, and the show never does that much with its premise, but it gets stronger as it goes along (surprising for both an animated show and an anything-goes parody, it's actually pretty serialized). All the episodes are streamable (note to self: is streamable a word?), although you might have to hunt for some of them.
The next post is number 250, and I'm trying to think of something cool for it, which is not-very-subtle code for I'm probably going to start posting music again.
This was written by one of the guys who made LOOOOOOOOOOOOST (deep cut). It is funny and you should watch it because it is funny. Also there's famous-ish people and a cool use of time travel.
The next thing I was going to post went down the memory hole, so here a video of Kurt Vonnegut being awesome instead:
The next thing is also the thing that is the last thing, because I thought I had more things but did not. Anyway I am recomendiding Clone High because it is a fun show that is funny and also fun and you can watch the whole thing in like three hours so theres that. Also I really like the theme song, so at least watch that part. The first episode is kind of weak, and the show never does that much with its premise, but it gets stronger as it goes along (surprising for both an animated show and an anything-goes parody, it's actually pretty serialized). All the episodes are streamable (note to self: is streamable a word?), although you might have to hunt for some of them.
The next post is number 250, and I'm trying to think of something cool for it, which is not-very-subtle code for I'm probably going to start posting music again.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Ok normally...
..."it's funny because it's true" is a shorthand way of dismissing things as neither funny nor true, but this really is funny because it's true. This guy knows his states. Plus it'll take less time to watch then it took for this page to load (I should fix that...)
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Photoblag One
I'm not the only one who sees it, right? (taken way back at Christmas)
Apparently Wal★Mart has the same opinion of Guitar Hero 4 & 5 as I do. (Taken a few weeks ago)
I'm still not sure I drove my own car home. (Taken the day before the previous photo I think)Hopefully the next one of these will be longer. I have something planned, so it'll either be awesome or the worst thing ever, according to the laws of the Internet.
Also while I probably don't have your attention, here's my twitter, which is just about to wrap up a truly anticlimactic month-long series. I'm very...proud is the wrong word. Relieved? Distracted? Waffles? I'm very waffles of my achievement
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Let's Play Count the Clichés! (Again)
Bon Jovi, "It's My Life"
This ain't a song [1] for the brokenhearted
No silent prayer for the faith departed [doesn't really count, but I hate when songs cheat at grammar like this. Unless you're Shakespeare, it always sounds forced]
And I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd [2, plus a third just for "face in the crowd", and a warning for "I ain't gonna be"]
You're gonna hear my voice [4] when I shout it out loud [5]
It's my life [6]
It's now or never [7]
I ain't gonna live forever [8, plus another warning for rhyming "never" with "forever"]
I just wanna live [9] while I'm alive [warning #3]
(It's my life) [10*]
My heart is like [11] an open highway
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way" [12**]
I just wanna live [9b] while I'm alive [warning 3.5]
'Cause it's my life [10c]
This is for the ones who [13, or possibly 1d] stood their ground [14]
For Tommy and Gina who never backed down [15; 4th warning for putting these two right next to each other]
Tomorrow's getting harder, [15, though I'm pretty sure it's "tomorrow's getting hotter," which is about equally bad] make no mistake
Luck ain't even lucky, gotta make your own breaks
[repeat chorus]
You better [16] stand tall [17]
When they're calling you out [18]
Don't bend, don't break [19--when was the last time you heard "bend" without "break"]
Baby [20-- the imperative "Baby"], don't back down [15d]
[repeat chorus twice]
Total Score: 20 distinct clichés, plus 4 repeats (or possibly 19/5), adding up to two less than our last entrant. However that song had 23 qualifying lines, while this one has 21 (or 19 if you omit the two repeats in the chorus). Add in the 4½ warnings, and the final score on the Clichometer is a near-perfect 95|114|135.
This is actually lower than I expected; most likely I was overestimating it because of the all-cliché chorus, which just feels like you're being assaulted with them. And note that many of the non-cliché lines (especially the second and the first half of the last), don't actually make sense (how can a song be a "silent prayer"?); for that matter, the first two lines are complete filler, state what kind o song this is not, but having no real relation to what the song is. Other special notice goes to use of "ain't" and "gonna" as cheats to skip syllables, and, conversely, "just," "like," and "when" as filler words. Note the fact that nearly every line is (part of) a complete sentence, and that the chorus is twice as long as the verses, both tropes endemic to pop and pop-adjacent styles (i.e. pop-rock, pop-country), which tend to lead to lyric that are stilted and repetitive, respectively.
That took longer than I expected. I;m really out of practice with this actual writing stuff.
*The cliché in question is reusing the first line of the chorus as the last line of the chorus.
**I'm letting "I did it my way" off, but glib quotes of older songs, literature, and poems are one of the worst of all the clichés. Bon Jovi does this on a lot, the worst of which is this. For your own sake, don't click on that link
This ain't a song [1] for the brokenhearted
No silent prayer for the faith departed [doesn't really count, but I hate when songs cheat at grammar like this. Unless you're Shakespeare, it always sounds forced]
And I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd [2, plus a third just for "face in the crowd", and a warning for "I ain't gonna be"]
You're gonna hear my voice [4] when I shout it out loud [5]
It's my life [6]
It's now or never [7]
I ain't gonna live forever [8, plus another warning for rhyming "never" with "forever"]
I just wanna live [9] while I'm alive [warning #3]
(It's my life) [10*]
My heart is like [11] an open highway
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way" [12**]
I just wanna live [9b] while I'm alive [warning 3.5]
'Cause it's my life [10c]
This is for the ones who [13, or possibly 1d] stood their ground [14]
For Tommy and Gina who never backed down [15; 4th warning for putting these two right next to each other]
Tomorrow's getting harder, [15, though I'm pretty sure it's "tomorrow's getting hotter," which is about equally bad] make no mistake
Luck ain't even lucky, gotta make your own breaks
[repeat chorus]
You better [16] stand tall [17]
When they're calling you out [18]
Don't bend, don't break [19--when was the last time you heard "bend" without "break"]
Baby [20-- the imperative "Baby"], don't back down [15d]
[repeat chorus twice]
Total Score: 20 distinct clichés, plus 4 repeats (or possibly 19/5), adding up to two less than our last entrant. However that song had 23 qualifying lines, while this one has 21 (or 19 if you omit the two repeats in the chorus). Add in the 4½ warnings, and the final score on the Clichometer is a near-perfect 95|114|135.
This is actually lower than I expected; most likely I was overestimating it because of the all-cliché chorus, which just feels like you're being assaulted with them. And note that many of the non-cliché lines (especially the second and the first half of the last), don't actually make sense (how can a song be a "silent prayer"?); for that matter, the first two lines are complete filler, state what kind o song this is not, but having no real relation to what the song is. Other special notice goes to use of "ain't" and "gonna" as cheats to skip syllables, and, conversely, "just," "like," and "when" as filler words. Note the fact that nearly every line is (part of) a complete sentence, and that the chorus is twice as long as the verses, both tropes endemic to pop and pop-adjacent styles (i.e. pop-rock, pop-country), which tend to lead to lyric that are stilted and repetitive, respectively.
That took longer than I expected. I;m really out of practice with this actual writing stuff.
*The cliché in question is reusing the first line of the chorus as the last line of the chorus.
**I'm letting "I did it my way" off, but glib quotes of older songs, literature, and poems are one of the worst of all the clichés. Bon Jovi does this on a lot, the worst of which is this. For your own sake, don't click on that link
Thursday, January 27, 2011
This is like the first post in six months that's not a song of the week
Here's the machine you use to make these:
Friday, May 28, 2010
I feel bad for pushing that .GIF off the front page
"Reaction"
For some reason the title of this song reminds me of another song, which is going to be stuck in my head for the next week. Thanks a lot, me. (More words later)
UPDATE 6-3: First of all sorry I haven't been doing more of these. It's been harder to make time then I thought it would be; I keep sleeping weird hours-- Monday I went to bed at 1 AM and woke up at 4 AM; Tuesday I went to bed at 1 AM and woke up 4 PM; four out of the last six days I've still been up when the sun rose (it's 5:35 AM as I type this). So figuring out a time to make a lot of noise when you won't be waking people up requires a small amount of planning & a much larger amount of luck.
As for the song itself, here's what I like:
-The contrast between rough heavy metal and shimmery shoegazey textures. The guitar somehow manages to switch between sounding really clean and really distorted and back again almost within a single note. Part of this was accomplished by setting my Expensive Whammy Pedal to harmonize a fifth below; mostly it was just raw natural talent. The drums are really cymbal-heavy, but then there's that breakdown at the end with all the off-beat hits (originally I was going to make the guitar part go crazy here too, sort of like "I [spade] Noise" or the end of "22 Minutes," but I like that it stays into that three-chord pattern). The vocal part is ragged and shouty, but it's mixed so low that at barely registers that way. Speaking of which...
-The low-mixed vocals. I wasn't going to do vocals at all, but my instincts suggested listeners need something to sing along with here. The words are pointless--they actually make sense and are internally consistent, but mostly I just needed something with "Reaction" in it, since I had already figured out the title (those instincts again). So I sort of shouted them away from the mike, almost like someone was just listening and started singing along. Plus that way you (hopefully) focus on the melody and emotion of the singing, which is more important than the words anyway. I seem to be doing this trick a lot-- see also: "Toybox," the aforementioned "22 Minutes"-- so my next song will probably have to have really loud vocals so I don't look like a one-trick miniature horse.
-I forgot what I was going to put for this one.
-Another contrast: the simplicity of the arrangement vs. the complexity of how it fits together. I used the White Stripes band setup, plus a clone of the guitar track so I could add a phaser (phasers are cool. They make me feel like I'm living in what people in 1975 thought 1999 would be like. For more cool phasers, see "Taps"). So there's no bass, no keyboard (speaking of which*), no cowbell. On the drum part a I don't even use the high-hat. The guitar is just three chords (Cb, A, and G, but the harmonic effect makes it a little more complicated). For almost half the song all you hear is that rapid bass drum pedal. But at the same time it's an insanely fast tempo, a weird key**, the rhythm is constantly shifting around (at one point the guitar rhythm is identical to "Duel," which is, sadly, unintentional), and at any moment it might stop or start up again.
-Which is the thing I don't like. This song is hard to get into. Once I finished it I wasn't sure if it was actually a good song or just one that was fun to record. It only after two or three listens that the groove of it made sense, and I was sure that it was worth doing. And I wrote the damn thing. Of course, once I got into it, I really got into it, and now I've listened to it maybe more than any other song of mine I've recorded in the last two years (though there are some unfinished songs that get stuck in my head a lot). So give it a few chances. And if you still hate it, lie and tell me how right I was.
*And speaking of that, between the bass pedal, the simplistic guitar part, the atonal singing, and all the empty lpace, I think I've written the least fun Rock Band song ever.
**It's possible I just don't understand key signature, but I believe it's played mostly in G but resolve on A.
DOWNLOADABLE VERSION:
Rerelease Notes: This one's exactly the same.
UPDATE 6-3: First of all sorry I haven't been doing more of these. It's been harder to make time then I thought it would be; I keep sleeping weird hours-- Monday I went to bed at 1 AM and woke up at 4 AM; Tuesday I went to bed at 1 AM and woke up 4 PM; four out of the last six days I've still been up when the sun rose (it's 5:35 AM as I type this). So figuring out a time to make a lot of noise when you won't be waking people up requires a small amount of planning & a much larger amount of luck.
As for the song itself, here's what I like:
-The contrast between rough heavy metal and shimmery shoegazey textures. The guitar somehow manages to switch between sounding really clean and really distorted and back again almost within a single note. Part of this was accomplished by setting my Expensive Whammy Pedal to harmonize a fifth below; mostly it was just raw natural talent. The drums are really cymbal-heavy, but then there's that breakdown at the end with all the off-beat hits (originally I was going to make the guitar part go crazy here too, sort of like "I [spade] Noise" or the end of "22 Minutes," but I like that it stays into that three-chord pattern). The vocal part is ragged and shouty, but it's mixed so low that at barely registers that way. Speaking of which...
-The low-mixed vocals. I wasn't going to do vocals at all, but my instincts suggested listeners need something to sing along with here. The words are pointless--they actually make sense and are internally consistent, but mostly I just needed something with "Reaction" in it, since I had already figured out the title (those instincts again). So I sort of shouted them away from the mike, almost like someone was just listening and started singing along. Plus that way you (hopefully) focus on the melody and emotion of the singing, which is more important than the words anyway. I seem to be doing this trick a lot-- see also: "Toybox," the aforementioned "22 Minutes"-- so my next song will probably have to have really loud vocals so I don't look like a one-trick miniature horse.
-I forgot what I was going to put for this one.
-Another contrast: the simplicity of the arrangement vs. the complexity of how it fits together. I used the White Stripes band setup, plus a clone of the guitar track so I could add a phaser (phasers are cool. They make me feel like I'm living in what people in 1975 thought 1999 would be like. For more cool phasers, see "Taps"). So there's no bass, no keyboard (speaking of which*), no cowbell. On the drum part a I don't even use the high-hat. The guitar is just three chords (Cb, A, and G, but the harmonic effect makes it a little more complicated). For almost half the song all you hear is that rapid bass drum pedal. But at the same time it's an insanely fast tempo, a weird key**, the rhythm is constantly shifting around (at one point the guitar rhythm is identical to "Duel," which is, sadly, unintentional), and at any moment it might stop or start up again.
-Which is the thing I don't like. This song is hard to get into. Once I finished it I wasn't sure if it was actually a good song or just one that was fun to record. It only after two or three listens that the groove of it made sense, and I was sure that it was worth doing. And I wrote the damn thing. Of course, once I got into it, I really got into it, and now I've listened to it maybe more than any other song of mine I've recorded in the last two years (though there are some unfinished songs that get stuck in my head a lot). So give it a few chances. And if you still hate it, lie and tell me how right I was.
*And speaking of that, between the bass pedal, the simplistic guitar part, the atonal singing, and all the empty lpace, I think I've written the least fun Rock Band song ever.
**It's possible I just don't understand key signature, but I believe it's played mostly in G but resolve on A.
DOWNLOADABLE VERSION:
Rerelease Notes: This one's exactly the same.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Party like it's post 199!
This is the blog theme I'm going with for next month. Thought you'd want a preview. Make sure your speakers are on.
[Made with Geocities-izer]
[Made with Geocities-izer]
Saturday, April 17, 2010
untitled 196th post
You've probably already seen this, but...I don't know, I'm busy. I'll right a real post about something else later.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Nope, still can't sing
"Enter Sandman":
(Here's a better version of the same thing. In my defense I only spent like five minutes writing this.)
UPDATED 4/22: There are usually two kinds of ways I'll write a song of the week. Either it's something I've worked on for a while and figured out enough to get recording, or it's something where I started recording with just a concept (sometimes not even) and just worked out ideas as I went along. This is the much rarer third kind, where I'd have an idea and record so I wouldn't forget it. If you want you might call it a sketch.
I had this just come to me after watching that smoothtallica video and a melody just popped into my head. I decided to do it rockapella because the internet has a retarded fascination with a capella and I knew if I put it in the title it would get a billion hits. This turned out to be true. According to the Youtube this has quickly become my 2nd most popular song, beat out only by That Zelda Song. I'm a whore.
Artistically, this is one of my less successful songs, partly because I don't really know how to write a cappella music (at least I avoided the "guy one sings the guitar, guy two sings the bass, guy three beatboxes" cliche, which is basically the lamest thing ever yet describes nine eighths of all internacapella music). The other failure is that I didn't really care enough about this song to work hard on it. Like I said, it's a sketch, and (hopefully people figured this out for themselves) a joke. I tend to obsess when I fail, but here I just hope people listen to my other, better songs after hearing this one.
UPDATED 4/22: There are usually two kinds of ways I'll write a song of the week. Either it's something I've worked on for a while and figured out enough to get recording, or it's something where I started recording with just a concept (sometimes not even) and just worked out ideas as I went along. This is the much rarer third kind, where I'd have an idea and record so I wouldn't forget it. If you want you might call it a sketch.
I had this just come to me after watching that smoothtallica video and a melody just popped into my head. I decided to do it rockapella because the internet has a retarded fascination with a capella and I knew if I put it in the title it would get a billion hits. This turned out to be true. According to the Youtube this has quickly become my 2nd most popular song, beat out only by That Zelda Song. I'm a whore.
Artistically, this is one of my less successful songs, partly because I don't really know how to write a cappella music (at least I avoided the "guy one sings the guitar, guy two sings the bass, guy three beatboxes" cliche, which is basically the lamest thing ever yet describes nine eighths of all internacapella music). The other failure is that I didn't really care enough about this song to work hard on it. Like I said, it's a sketch, and (hopefully people figured this out for themselves) a joke. I tend to obsess when I fail, but here I just hope people listen to my other, better songs after hearing this one.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Hey, remember when I used to review shit?
I'm busy so I'm time-capsule blogging this from the glorious world of yesterday. That sentence was mostly an excuse to coin the phrase "time-capsule blogging". Some movie reviews I couldn't figure out how to fit in 6 words:
Almost a week later and I'm not sure whether I can really recommend Mirrormask. It's cool-looking (and also has really good music), and I like the fact that they used CGI so it's supposed to look unrealistic and creepy, since it'll usually end up that way anyway. As far as riffs on Alice in Wonderland, it's not as good as Pan's Labyrinth but better than Tim Burton's attempt at the story is certainly going to be. I wish someone would carry over my favorite thing about the book, though, which is that it actually operates on dream logic. Nothing makes sense; nothing even comes close to making sense, but everyone, including Alice, acts like nothing all that strange is going on.
I was a little worried going into Food Inc. that it would turn into some hippy vegan preachy thing, but I was glad to be wrong. It's not about why it's wrong to eat meat; in some ways it's not even really about food. Instead, at its most interesting it's about power, and money, and the corporate mindset and how we've unwittingly attached ourselves to this destructive and shortsighted system. But not boring like I made it sound. Watch it.
It's sort of weird that Kevin Smith is back in the news, or that he's in the news at all but anyway, I just ended up seeing Clerks 2yesterday Tuesday (stupid time-capsule blogging). I think it may be his best film, with the caveat that I haven't seen all of them (Zack & Miri Make a Porno is on my desk, because my Netflix Queue is set up weird, and I'm not going anywhere near Jersey Girl). It's sort of a small, kind of goofy movie, on one hand very realistic (for a Kevin Smith movie) and on the other hand there's a spontaneous musical number. I think it works partly because of that, and also because the first two scenes and the last shot of it are really cool, which fits that rule about three good scenes and no bad scenes (and all three have no dialogue, which is pretty hilarious considering who made this movie).
Still, nothing he ever does as a director is going to top An Evening with Kevin Smith, if only for that story about Prince. Seriously, that's the movie you've gotta see.
In case you're too lazy to read all that, I basically said Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton movie) ‹ Kevin Smith movies (exceptClerks 2) ‹ Mirrormask ‹ Clerks 2 ‹ Food Inc. ‹‹ An Evening with Kevin Smith ‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹ the story about Prince in An Evening with Kevin Smith
Almost a week later and I'm not sure whether I can really recommend Mirrormask. It's cool-looking (and also has really good music), and I like the fact that they used CGI so it's supposed to look unrealistic and creepy, since it'll usually end up that way anyway. As far as riffs on Alice in Wonderland, it's not as good as Pan's Labyrinth but better than Tim Burton's attempt at the story is certainly going to be. I wish someone would carry over my favorite thing about the book, though, which is that it actually operates on dream logic. Nothing makes sense; nothing even comes close to making sense, but everyone, including Alice, acts like nothing all that strange is going on.
I was a little worried going into Food Inc. that it would turn into some hippy vegan preachy thing, but I was glad to be wrong. It's not about why it's wrong to eat meat; in some ways it's not even really about food. Instead, at its most interesting it's about power, and money, and the corporate mindset and how we've unwittingly attached ourselves to this destructive and shortsighted system. But not boring like I made it sound. Watch it.
It's sort of weird that Kevin Smith is back in the news, or that he's in the news at all but anyway, I just ended up seeing Clerks 2
Still, nothing he ever does as a director is going to top An Evening with Kevin Smith, if only for that story about Prince. Seriously, that's the movie you've gotta see.
In case you're too lazy to read all that, I basically said Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton movie) ‹ Kevin Smith movies (except
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Mi crítica del seis palabras
del parodia de los superhéroes, protagonizada por Ben Stiller, Mystery Men:
S'allright, but just watch this instead.
UPDATE: Acting off some critical advice, I went ahead and streamed The Specials, which is not only a much better movie (not that it's some kind of competition), but it pretty easily blows (almost) every other superhero movie out of the water. If you haven't seen it (and, let's face it, you haven't), go out and find a copy.
S'allright, but just watch this instead.
UPDATE: Acting off some critical advice, I went ahead and streamed The Specials, which is not only a much better movie (not that it's some kind of competition), but it pretty easily blows (almost) every other superhero movie out of the water. If you haven't seen it (and, let's face it, you haven't), go out and find a copy.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Best song of the year so far!
"Toybox":
Sorry, apparently 12:00 AM means something different to popular blog publishing platforms than it does to humans. Anyway, here's the song. More later.
UPDATE: I changed my mind. Figure this one out yourself.
DOWNLOADABLE VERSION:
Rerelease Notes: Mixing, esp. louder electric piano in the beginning.
UPDATE: I changed my mind. Figure this one out yourself.
DOWNLOADABLE VERSION:
Rerelease Notes: Mixing, esp. louder electric piano in the beginning.
Monday, September 14, 2009
AAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAA:
I'm working on song that will be the hardest Guitar Hero song ever (its title is "Hardest Guitar Hero Song Ever"). With this I sort of wanted to sketch out some ideas for that. Playing "AAAAAAAAA" wouldn't actually be that hard, except maybe on drums (the trick is to hit the cymbal and tom on the same stroke, and to alternate hands in the first part), but there are some ideas there. The final song, if I ever do it, will probably be longer and feature more shredding (though probably less screaming, since they always just make that a talky part, and that would kind of negate the harditude).
That's it, I guess. See you.
*There are nine A's, and don't you forget it.
DOWNLOADABLE VERSION:
Rerelease Notes: The drums and organ are louder, the vocals quieter. I'd say this is the song most improved by a different mix.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Infinite (The Blog Post)
The Infinite (The Song):
So I knew I wanted to do something special for the 150th post, and the idea of writing a title track for a website just seemed hilarious for some reason. I had no idea what the song would actually sound like--among the discarded ideas were a mock-epic about how awesome a blogger I am and a music video, which I couldn't do because of technical difficulties (I don't have Movie Maker inntalled and iMovie is a pain in the ass). I eventually latched on to the idea of Infinite as "like echoes or something" (I didn't want to overthink this), and grabbed my guitar. I didn't even really care if it was good; mostly I just wanted it to be loud.
Inasmuch as there's an influence here other than "make a lot of noise", it was probably Sunn 0))), which takes itself to such an extreme it's barely even music anymore, and can get so loud (that's not a good word for it, but it's the only one I can think of) that the room will start shaking*. I tried to do the latter by playing with a sub-bass that GarageBand has built in, but I'm not sure how well it worked. Either my laptop's crappy speakers can't do those frequencies, or they can and it doesn't do anything. Someone with a good sound system will have to tell me.
I kind of failed at the "barely even music" part, because there's definitely some kind of rhythm or riff or something. It even has chords--one of them is G, and another is so obscure it's not even on this list (it's 022010, basically a modified E chord), and the other one is just whatever it's called when you don't fret any strings (hang on...apparently it's known as both Gm6add9 or Em7add11. Hooray for ctrl+F).
By now you've probably heard the banjo-ey (banjaux?) part, which was based on the idea that if this is the Song of the Blog, it should reflect the blog: long stretches of almost nothing broken up by ridiculous ad nonsensical torrents of whatever. I came up with it last weekend and put it in this song more or less accidentally: what you do is, you make an open-G chord shape, and you move it up and down the scale. It only works at certain frets (3rd, 7th, 10th and 15th work the best--something to do with pentatonic and major and something), but it's worth it if you want to make your guitar sound like a banjo (like for example, if you're really really bored).
In the spirit of "Mixology" (which inspired my "just play something and hope it works" approach to writing this, albiet not the song itself or its sound), here are them sped-up and slowed-down versions, the latter of which is not for the
fast version:
slow version**:
slow version**:
*or maybe I was shaking and the room was standing still...mind successfully blown.
**I like to call it "The Infinite...Amount of Time You'll Spend Listening to This Song" and then I laugh and laugh and then I cry a little.
DOWNLOADABLE VERSION:
Rerelease Notes: The drums aren't processed, some synth tracks were added.
Liveblogging The Simpsons Season 12
Because I'm bored and my writer's block is keeping me from doing Song of the Week. OK let's go.
-First thing's first, the box is still pretty stupid. Hard to open, hard to figure out where our DVDs are, big Comic-Book Guy head making it hard to go on the shelf. At least they give us a cutaway to help get the discs out.
-Matt Groening gives his usual intro, which isn't really noteworthy but still kind of cool, with the listing of guest stars and specfeats and all. How come nobody else does those?
"Treehouse of Horror 11"
-Surprised it took this long for a "Munsters" gag
-"Snakes: Nature's Quitters"
-Broccoli is one of the deadliest plants on Earth
-One cool thing about the "Treehouses" is that they can do stuff like kill Homer and have him be all ghostified. The show's normal, albiet tenuous, connection to reality kind of keeps it from exploring as many stories as they can. Oh well, I'm sure they'll never run out.
-Did this one air before or after Halloween? I just heard this year's would be before for the first time in a while.
-"Hansel & Gretel" is kind of a stretch for a horror episode, ain't it? I mean, I know the original stories were violent and gross, but still.
-Oh, it's the dolphin one! Swizz-eet!
-"They made me do tricks--like a common seal!"
-I know the later seasons get a lot of flack, but I can't think of anything funnier than dolphins marching on their fins.
-Snorky's voice sounds a lot like Principal Skinner's.
-OK, one more thing about the dolphin one. That had some of the best animatin' I've seen on this show, especially the crowd shots woth 90 billion people and the getting dolphins to walk on land. OK, next ep.
"A Tale of Two Springfields"
-"I will not plant subliminAL messaGOREs"
-Carl's explanation of whether 636 or 939 was better--awesome.
-The Simpsons' number: 939-555-0113
-"Your fears are groundless and your complaints moronic"-- a very useful quote in this day and age.
-"We Joe Twelve-Packs"
-Wackiness: Homer attempts to suicide-bomb town hall.
-"That's my novelty flying disc"
-"They were looking at me...with their eyes"
-"There's nothig like revenge for getting back at people"/"I don't know, vengeance is pretty good"
-"Because of you, we're taking golden showers...what"
-Part of the Springfield wall is the angel skeleton
-"Who huddle"
-Keith Moon is still The Who's drummer in the Simpsonverse.
-Season 20 had an episode with a wall in Springfield too...except this was the Berlin Wall and that was the border fence...or something.
-Wouldn't Pink Floyd have been more thematically appropriate (puns!)
"Insane Clown Poppy"
-Couch Gag is a bullet-time joke. I'm pretty sure they do the same thing later in the season.
-"It's gonna take a lot of fireworks to clean this place up."
-"Maya Angelou is black?"
-Hey, it's John Updike!
-Springfield has a beach in this episode.
-Finally, someone who's a worse parent than Homer.
-Why are Homer and Moe playing cards with Krusty and Fat Tony?
-"It's not worth much cash, but its sentimental value is through the roof"
-Apparently, a ukulele is "the thinking man's violin" and "four aces is no gamble"
-"If I know Fat Tony, which I don't..."
-"Our website name will be crime.org" (it's for sale, maybe I should buy it)
-OK so this episode kind of sucked, but lots of great one-liners. And they didn't let the guests overwhelm the plot. Maybe could have used more Homer.
"Lisa the Tree-Hugger"
-Wait, hasn't Lisa always been a tree-hugger?
-Teletubbies joke...that aged well.
-Is "Gamestation" the go-to fake video game console name? (To The Max!)
-You Thai Now
-Bart's ninja costume is back! And another bullet-time joke.
-"Take that, Lisa's beliefs!"
-"In New Orleans they hose us with Tabasco"
-"I get enough flaming toilet paper thrown on me at home"
-"I'm a level-5 vegan, I won't eat anything that casts a shadow"
-"We might have an opening at the 'poser' level"
-Apparently, Homer has a "stash"
-From Lisa's tree, you can see Shelbyville, St. Louis, Hollywood, Paris, New York... in that order
-"Dad is building a ladder, but it is of poor quality"
-"This family has had nothing but bad luck when it comes to farce"
-"Oh right, I don't have superpowers...yet"
-They even used the Matrix song.
"Homer vs. Dignity"
-This is the one everyone hates, right? With the panda? Let's see if they're right.
-Bart's story of how he gets an A gives me an idea for solving the education crisis.
-This is the "Retirony" episode? Can't be that bad.
-"There's a New Mexico?" (wouldn't be funny except Burns is saying it)
-Lenny's a war hero?
-"...calmly eating candy like Spaniard"
-"[Smithers] doesn't know the meaning of the word gay". Cut to his musical about dolls.
-Bart gets his shot in his right arm, because he's left handed. Callbacks!
-The shots of Homer getting zapped in the panda suit were actually pretty cool-looking.
-Yeah, that panda part did suck. At least Homer was mad about it.
-Wait, this is a Christmas episode?!
-Homer throws a present to Ralph, which just bounces off his head.
-Homer is throwing out Lil' Lisa's Slurry. Callbacks!
-OK, so it wasn't great, but, I don't know, I didn't hate it. There were worse episodes, at least this one had a plot and actual jokes.
"Homer vs. Dignity" w/Commentary
-Let's see what the they have to sat about all this.
-So this episode is based on a book?
-They're surprisingly quiet on this commentary, breaking in namely to point out/ laugh at the jokes.
-Apparently even the cast and crew weren't sure what to think of the panda-rape stuff.
-And the first draft was even worse (in terms of like dark, not quality).
-Part of the problem: people didn't get the references to the book, probably because who reads books?
-Groening assumed the panda stuff would be taken out, so he didn't even bother fighting it.
-"In hindsight [old, discarded idea] doesn't sound too bad"
-Like I said, this was a pretty quiet commentary. I expected them too have more to say about such a controversial episode, especially with eight (eight!) people in the room. Oh well, if I wasn't blogging it I probably wouldn't have cared.
Anyway, that was disc one. I may or may not go back for discs two and three. It sort of depends on junk and stuff.
-First thing's first, the box is still pretty stupid. Hard to open, hard to figure out where our DVDs are, big Comic-Book Guy head making it hard to go on the shelf. At least they give us a cutaway to help get the discs out.
-Matt Groening gives his usual intro, which isn't really noteworthy but still kind of cool, with the listing of guest stars and specfeats and all. How come nobody else does those?
"Treehouse of Horror 11"
-Surprised it took this long for a "Munsters" gag
-"Snakes: Nature's Quitters"
-Broccoli is one of the deadliest plants on Earth
-One cool thing about the "Treehouses" is that they can do stuff like kill Homer and have him be all ghostified. The show's normal, albiet tenuous, connection to reality kind of keeps it from exploring as many stories as they can. Oh well, I'm sure they'll never run out.
-Did this one air before or after Halloween? I just heard this year's would be before for the first time in a while.
-"Hansel & Gretel" is kind of a stretch for a horror episode, ain't it? I mean, I know the original stories were violent and gross, but still.
-Oh, it's the dolphin one! Swizz-eet!
-"They made me do tricks--like a common seal!"
-I know the later seasons get a lot of flack, but I can't think of anything funnier than dolphins marching on their fins.
-Snorky's voice sounds a lot like Principal Skinner's.
-OK, one more thing about the dolphin one. That had some of the best animatin' I've seen on this show, especially the crowd shots woth 90 billion people and the getting dolphins to walk on land. OK, next ep.
"A Tale of Two Springfields"
-"I will not plant subliminAL messaGOREs"
-Carl's explanation of whether 636 or 939 was better--awesome.
-The Simpsons' number: 939-555-0113
-"Your fears are groundless and your complaints moronic"-- a very useful quote in this day and age.
-"We Joe Twelve-Packs"
-Wackiness: Homer attempts to suicide-bomb town hall.
-"That's my novelty flying disc"
-"They were looking at me...with their eyes"
-"There's nothig like revenge for getting back at people"/"I don't know, vengeance is pretty good"
-"Because of you, we're taking golden showers...what"
-Part of the Springfield wall is the angel skeleton
-"Who huddle"
-Keith Moon is still The Who's drummer in the Simpsonverse.
-Season 20 had an episode with a wall in Springfield too...except this was the Berlin Wall and that was the border fence...or something.
-Wouldn't Pink Floyd have been more thematically appropriate (puns!)
"Insane Clown Poppy"
-Couch Gag is a bullet-time joke. I'm pretty sure they do the same thing later in the season.
-"It's gonna take a lot of fireworks to clean this place up."
-"Maya Angelou is black?"
-Hey, it's John Updike!
-Springfield has a beach in this episode.
-Finally, someone who's a worse parent than Homer.
-Why are Homer and Moe playing cards with Krusty and Fat Tony?
-"It's not worth much cash, but its sentimental value is through the roof"
-Apparently, a ukulele is "the thinking man's violin" and "four aces is no gamble"
-"If I know Fat Tony, which I don't..."
-"Our website name will be crime.org" (it's for sale, maybe I should buy it)
-OK so this episode kind of sucked, but lots of great one-liners. And they didn't let the guests overwhelm the plot. Maybe could have used more Homer.
"Lisa the Tree-Hugger"
-Wait, hasn't Lisa always been a tree-hugger?
-Teletubbies joke...that aged well.
-Is "Gamestation" the go-to fake video game console name? (To The Max!)
-You Thai Now
-Bart's ninja costume is back! And another bullet-time joke.
-"Take that, Lisa's beliefs!"
-"In New Orleans they hose us with Tabasco"
-"I get enough flaming toilet paper thrown on me at home"
-"I'm a level-5 vegan, I won't eat anything that casts a shadow"
-"We might have an opening at the 'poser' level"
-Apparently, Homer has a "stash"
-From Lisa's tree, you can see Shelbyville, St. Louis, Hollywood, Paris, New York... in that order
-"Dad is building a ladder, but it is of poor quality"
-"This family has had nothing but bad luck when it comes to farce"
-"Oh right, I don't have superpowers...yet"
-They even used the Matrix song.
"Homer vs. Dignity"
-This is the one everyone hates, right? With the panda? Let's see if they're right.
-Bart's story of how he gets an A gives me an idea for solving the education crisis.
-This is the "Retirony" episode? Can't be that bad.
-"There's a New Mexico?" (wouldn't be funny except Burns is saying it)
-Lenny's a war hero?
-"...calmly eating candy like Spaniard"
-"[Smithers] doesn't know the meaning of the word gay". Cut to his musical about dolls.
-Bart gets his shot in his right arm, because he's left handed. Callbacks!
-The shots of Homer getting zapped in the panda suit were actually pretty cool-looking.
-Yeah, that panda part did suck. At least Homer was mad about it.
-Wait, this is a Christmas episode?!
-Homer throws a present to Ralph, which just bounces off his head.
-Homer is throwing out Lil' Lisa's Slurry. Callbacks!
-OK, so it wasn't great, but, I don't know, I didn't hate it. There were worse episodes, at least this one had a plot and actual jokes.
"Homer vs. Dignity" w/Commentary
-Let's see what the they have to sat about all this.
-So this episode is based on a book?
-They're surprisingly quiet on this commentary, breaking in namely to point out/ laugh at the jokes.
-Apparently even the cast and crew weren't sure what to think of the panda-rape stuff.
-And the first draft was even worse (in terms of like dark, not quality).
-Part of the problem: people didn't get the references to the book, probably because who reads books?
-Groening assumed the panda stuff would be taken out, so he didn't even bother fighting it.
-"In hindsight [old, discarded idea] doesn't sound too bad"
-Like I said, this was a pretty quiet commentary. I expected them too have more to say about such a controversial episode, especially with eight (eight!) people in the room. Oh well, if I wasn't blogging it I probably wouldn't have cared.
Anyway, that was disc one. I may or may not go back for discs two and three. It sort of depends on junk and stuff.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
"Look out, he's got a gun!"
Now that I've got your attention, here's something completely different.
Do you ever see something on TV and think, holy flerking snart*, how did they get that on TV? Apparently this was on TV (but only once, but still, but keep in mind the network):
Do you ever see something on TV and think, holy flerking snart*, how did they get that on TV? Apparently this was on TV (but only once, but still, but keep in mind the network):
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