1: I've invented a 40-comment-or-8-hour-whichever-comes-first rule for posting on top of a previous post. I quite like it, this completely out-of-thin-air rule I've invented.
Oh man, that's awesome. Both the song (which I had not heard before) and the fact that people are taking it seriously.
4: I laughed at the song the first time I saw the video, but seeing a room full of people singing along in earnest is weird-weird-weird. Maybe I'm getting old.
Depends what sort of people. Would these aspiring professionals be of the pink-polo-shirt-with-popped-collar crowd?
I feel the same way about that Jamie Foxx "Blame it on the Alcohol" song. I figured it was sort of a joke, but no. It is a happening dance track.
I'm at the Pizza Hut, I'm at the Taco Bell. I'm at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.
So, Stanley is a drummer, yet he has strict rules about drug consumption (well, caffeine, at least) and sometimes hangs out with people who listen unironically to "I'm on a Boat". You are one weird cat, Stanley.
I wouldn't call that an example of a song actually taken seriously. It's enjoyed as a successful parody. This, on the other hand...
11: You discount the possibility (admittedly counter my stated purposes in the OP) that I was associating with this sample population for personal financial gain. For instance, in my capacity as a drummer.
I like this song both as a joke and as a song. I love saying "I GOT MY FLIPPY FLOPPIES!" I love saying to Hawaiian Punch "I never thought I'd be in a bath, motherfucker!" or carseat, or whatever.
I wouldn't call that an example of a song actually taken seriously.
Ditto.
Have people seen this remarkable naval reproduction of the original?
I wouldn't call that an example of a song actually taken seriously. It's enjoyed as a successful parody.
I'm not swayed. This was not, for instance, Weird Al-type enjoyment, or even Bloodhound Gang's "Bad Touch"-type enjoyment. Not that I care all that much, but this song is a Serious Dance Song to some people. That's weird.
but this song is a Serious Dance Song to some people
I'm just curious how you know this. They looked serious while they were dancing to it? And anyway, it's decently danceable, but that doesn't mean people dancing to it don't understand the parody aspects of it.
The really nice thing about Wikipedia is that it describes something like this video at such an elementary level that even those of us with almost no visual reference points to the material being spoofed can grasp what it is supposed to signify.
Further, it just seems like the song presents excellent opportunities for uptight white people to act all crazy and bling bling rap star and shit. Our people love that, and the more ridiculous and over-the-top, the better, my swippa.
Were they talking all serious about what a great jam it is, and on such a universal and heartfelt theme?
19: Its a subjective reaction to be sure. They certainly seemed earnest. Or drunk. Or both.
Were you, in fact, on a motherfucking boat? Because that would make it a different situation altogether.
Good point, Jesus. Next time I'm on a boat, this song will be running through my head without any irony in sight.
Unless I forget my flippy-floppies, in which case the song will leave the acrid taste of failure in my mind.
I'm online, motherfucker! I never thought I'd be online.
Reminds me of Tea Partay.
(Youtube says is popular with girls 13-17).
The video is the original post is classified as 'comedy' in iTunes store.
An annoying bug kills my flash sound, so maybe that linked youtube video has been dubbed with some alternate soundtrack, and the joke's on me.
I'm online, motherfucker! I never thought I'd be online.
I'm online at Denver International Airport, where being online is free! At SFO t-mobile grubs for money!
Denver!
I've enjoyed that very free onlineness on several occasions, motherfucker.
where being online is free!
I found it to be very tricksy a few weeks ago. Sometimes I'd almost rather pay and actually get online.
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My landlady seems to have gotten Thailand and Taiwan mixed up. I guess at some point I'll have to correct that, but I don't mind it when people recommend Thai food.
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34: So the whole renting an apartment worked out?
You must lack my way with wireless routers, ().
Motel 6 has crappy wireless. It connects, but slowly. On the other hand, they had cheaper rooms than other places I checked.
Also, Redding, CA is closer to Portland than it is to LA. I found this surprising.
35: It appears to have. The exact details haven't been worked out. It's a bit of an issue that the landlady smokes - she goes outside, which is good, but the smoke blows back into the apartment. So I don't know how long I'll deal with that until I have to move again. It would have been nice to know this beforehand, since I sort of did say I was a non-smoker.
It seems to me part of the appeal of the Andy Samberg novelty songs is that they're generally quite credible as examples of the genre they're parodying. (Unlike, say, Weird Al, who always sounds a bit rinky-dink.)
Oh, and while I'm completely hijacking this thread, I'll note that I saw not one, but two billboards on I-5 that read "WHERE'S THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE?"
Redding is the area where self-described terrorist factions have infiltrated our national legislature.
Yay, we made it to 40 comments! I had a post I wanted to throw up, before I went to bed. And I'm getting tired.
Yawnoc, those songs are a collaborative effort on the part of the entire Lonely Island.
Just so it is clear, I did not see Stanley this weekend and he did not actually see or hear me singing loudly to this song.
I don't even understand what "taking this song seriously" means. That it's a serious exposition as to the awesomeness of boats?
45: specifically, taking it as seriously as one of the songs it's parodying, probably.
Boats are very fun. I enjoy being on boats.
I like it when people see that I am on a boat and having fun.
Unlike Stanley, I am not ashamed of those facts.
I also like the DMB.
Oh, and if there's interest in a meet-up in the Bay Area or the Sacramento area or both in December, I should be able to make it. It depends on the university holiday schedule.
nosflow, I hereby apologize to those two guys who aren't at all famous that I attributed their work to Andy Samberg alone.
I fucking like boats, motherfuckers, as well.
Hadn't seen the vid in 31 before. It's pretty funny.
"If you rarely get laid put your hands up
If you're not well paid put your hands up
If you got a pet cat put your hands up
And if you got a bad back put your hands up."
It reminds me that I need to finish up the rap break for heebie & the supergoup's Disappointment song. It's all about being the mediocritest.
I'm online at Denver International Airport, where being online is free!
Huh. This is somewhat problematic for my theory of airport wireless.
I'm online at Denver International Airport, where being online is free!
I love that about the Denver airport. I also love how it tends to have wide open spaces, so you can sit far from other people, and frequently even plug in your laptop while doing so!
I should have gone to Colorado this summer. Stupid me.
The mountains? And the As/pen Cen/ter for Phy/sics as an always-available excuse to go to Colorado without having to pay for the trip out of my own pocket.
The Google-proofing here may be a little excessive, I suppose.
At SFO t-mobile grubs for money!
More proof of the superiority of the East Bay. Oakland also has free wi-fi. (Although it, like Denver, requires you to connect through an ad-supported web page.) Also free power.
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I have had it with Torchwood killing off characters. That is all.
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Charlottesville has free wi-fi downtown. The creep of socialism!
52-4, I'm online at Denver International Airport, where being online is free! At SFO t-mobile grubs for money!
Shorter continental divide: digital divide.
I hated illiterate morons who confused internet with web.
also has free wi-fi. (Although it, like Denver, requires you to connect through an ad-supported web page.)
Free internet should give me free ftp, gopher, nntp, stmp, ... without touching http(s). I've given up now, and even accept html in e-mail.
If wikipedia is to be trusted, Colorado appears to be the state with the highest low point.
So that means that there's a bunch of states with high points lower than Colorado's low point.
There are but highest low point doesn't mean that.
Assume hypothetical states 1-49: each range 0-12000 feet
Hypothetical Colorado: 1 foot everywhere.
Colorado: 3,315 ft.
Wyoming: 3,099 ft.
New Mexico: 2,842 ft.
All the others are much lower.
And yes, there are a bunch of states with lower high points. New Jersey is one.
On a completely different topic, have you read Peter Hall's Cities of Tomorrow? Do people in planning programs read it?
I have not read it, although I do have a copy of it that I bought a while ago. People in planning programs do read it; I know some professors here assign it as part of the core history and theory class.
That's good to hear. For some reason I brought my copy with me (not the most recent edition, though), so I might read it.
I suppose I could learn to hit preview. But where's the fun in that?
One of the things that really stood out about the drive up here is that central Vancouver, unlike the other cities I went through, does not appear to have been heavily cut up by freeways.
76: I think that's right. And, of course, there are only two bridges to West Van, which creates incredible bottlenecks but also preserves the integrity of who knows how many neighborhoods.
I was just browsing re: state high points, and I see that there is a club, and you can get a pin if you're been on a bunch of them. When I was teo's age, I thought I might like the try for 40 or 50 of them, but have given up at 5.
None on a boat.
I'm pretty sure I have never been to the high point of any state.
Adding to 77, it's also interesting how many of the areas under the bridges that do exist haven't been blighted. False Creek leaps to mind, though it's probably important to note that many of the bridges I'm envisioning aren't highways.
How's the weather? Have you drive up to Whistler yet?
Looking around online, it appears that there are plans to bring in some freeway over the next few years. Although some think opposition will keep them out - there's been successful anti-freeway fights since the 1950s or 60s.
I just got here this afternoon, so I haven't done much exploring. I like the lack of freeways, but as I already don't particularly like driving in cities, I can't say I look forward to driving to or from this neighborhood (I'm near downtown).
I have the impression that metro Vancouver is struggling with growing blight. The recession has hit BC harder than elsewhere and there's a growing crime problem (distributed inequally across neighborhoods, but an aggregate trend).
More than most places I know, Vancouver's traffic is truly awful at rush hour and really not bad at all other times. Driving at off-hours, then, is a reasonably pleasant and efficient way to get across town. But at peak times, it's pure hell.
It's odd to think that I'll never again live in the place that I most love in the world. I envy you and hope you enjoy your time there.
Ooh, have you been to the pie place in Granville Market yet? If not, go. Also the soup place (which is just across from the pie place). Double yum.
Wow, the Canadian dollar is incredibly strong right now. I hope that doesn't suck for you. I guess it depends if you're getting a stipend or paying out of pocket.
16 knows it is a joke and is funny.
Having been on a couple of boats since that song came out, I can report with some certainty that it's impossible not to sing this song while aboard.
Motel 6 has crappy wireless. It connects, but slowly. On the other hand, they had cheaper rooms than other places I checked.
My experience with Motel 6 is that their quality across all areas varies enormously from location to location.
This song (to return to an earlier point in the thread) seems to cry out to be covered by Pere Ubu. "I got my flippy-floppies" is truly an Ubu line if there ever was one. Definitely something haunting off of Dub Housing.
I've always wanted to stack New Jersey and Colorado, but it seems so futile since they wouldn't reach in the middle.
93: Is there some 3rd state that you could you use as the "meat" of the sandwich?
Isn't the question of whether the song is a parody the same question (raised on Crooked Timber a while back) as whether garden gnomes owned by working class people are serious or ironic?
95: I didn't read the gnome thread, but I doubt it. This song is definitely a parody. It was featured on SNL. It'd be like the "Dick in a Box" song playing at a club six months on, which I contend is odd.
"I got my flippy-floppies" is truly an Ubu line if there ever was one.
Ain't it the truth, sister.
#92. Frowner gets it right. Motherfucking Crocus Behemoth wouldn't forget his flippy-floppies.
96: That's the thing -- garden gnomes are inherently silly ornaments. What would it mean to take a garden gnome seriously? So what's the difference between the way tacky people relate to them, and people who only like them because they're 'ironic' relate to them?
99: I'm heading straight towards Intentional Fallacy here, but here goes: Garden gnomes weren't intended to mock anything; they were made as playful lawn ornaments. Some PBR-swilling hipsters now have garden gnomes as kitsch*. That, to me, is different from Grandma who has garden gnomes and one of those weather-predicting rocks that says "If I'm wet, it's raining."
And garden gnomes are different from this song, because this song was intended, from the outset, to mock outlandish hip-hop songs. And people regarding it as simply another song** strikes me is odd.
*Was that the argument at CT? Maybe I should go find that thread, so I know what I'm talking about.
**I don't have strong evidence for this claim, admittedly.
Also: Kobe!
I think you mean "take a good hard look at the motherfucking Kobe".
That, to me, is different from Grandma
It is different, but if you poke at it it's interestingly complicated to figure out how it's different. Grandma and the hipster are both amused by the gnome -- Grandma because it's amusing, and the hipster... because it's not amusing, and it's amusing that Grandma thinks it is when it isn't? Or something?
I dunno about the song, because I don't know from music. But what does it sound like? If it were in a language you don't speak, would it suck, or would it be a respectable dance song? If the latter, what keeps people from dancing to it because it sounds like dance music, and still recognizing it as funny?
So what's the difference between the way tacky people relate to them, and people who only like them because they're 'ironic' relate to them?
Some people think they're cute (not sure that's the right word--I'm not actually sure how people who are genuinely fond of them subjectively experience that fondness--I'm just guessing "cute"); other people think they're so obviously tacky that it's hilarious that anyone thinks they're cute, and so they're willing to litter their own yard with them in order to be continually reminded of that hilarity (or so I'm guessing, if I'm reading your comment right; I don't actually know of anyone who likes garden gnomes "ironically" enough to decorate with them, but I'm assuming such people must exist or your comment wouldn't make sense, since "the difference" would be obvious).
The question really boils down to whether you'd choose to surround yourself with garden gnomes if you were stranded alone on a desert island. If so, then you're the sort of person who takes them seriously.
it's interestingly complicated to figure out how it's different
This is exactly where I'm at. "This is weird! But why?" It's frustrating me more than I bother thinking about it.
If the latter, what keeps people from dancing to it because it sounds like dance music, and still recognizing it as funny?
Absolutely nothing, and, as much as I'd love to agree with 6-8, that's obviously what was happening. (As several people in the thread have noted.) I.e., the double asterisk in 100 is marking a clause that is factually false.
I wonder how the same people would react to "Jizz in My Pants". It seems like it would be slightly harder to have a "recognize it's funny, but still enjoy dancing to it" reaction to.
If it weren't two words, I think pink-flaminogization would be an apt term for the whole decor thing. And I think Grandma is often not given enough credit for probably realizing that they are regarded as "tacky" by more sophisticated folk and putting them up anyways as a big "EFF YOU", but in a nice Grandma way.
The parody songs grade rather seamlessly into novelty hits that actually do make it big. For instance where do you put "Who Let the Dogs Out?" on this scale? Or "Boy Named Sue"?
And I think Grandma is often not given enough credit for probably realizing that they are regarded as "tacky" by more sophisticated folk and putting them up anyways as a big "EFF YOU", but in a nice Grandma way.
Yep. I know people with flowers planted in an old toilet out front, and it's not ironic, it's a combination of "it works as a planter, and the flowers are pretty" and "fuck you if you think it's tacky."
Neighbors up the street have an 80s trans-am with flames on the side and a pair of fountains-of-wayne style concrete sphinxes the size of german shepherds on pedestals flanking their doorway. Painted gold and regal Egyptian indigo. I rather like them, but it's a reliable way to generate entertaining "those people" hissing at neighborhoody get-togethers.
Real pink flamingos are so beautiful.
I wonder how the same people would react to "Jizz in My Pants".
I think you know.
I still don't understand the premise of the question. It would be like asking about someone who takes "Purple People Eater" seriously. What would it even mean to take it seriously? I'm sure that there are lots of people out there who don't exactly get the joke behind the lyrics of "Y.M.C.A", but that doesn't mean that anyone thinks its a serious listing of excellent features of your local Y.M.C.A.
Chopper's 10 was the first I'd heard of the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell song. Tonight I found out that my writing partner met one of the band members a few years ago when she was casting a reality show, and that when we were floundering on getting inside our main character, he was the person she described as an inspiration.
114: I really do apologize if you actually listened to the song because of me. It's pretty goddamn earwormy.
115: Don't worry, this song will get it out of your head.
I'm sure that there are lots of people out there who don't exactly get the joke behind the lyrics of "Y.M.C.A",
I'm not sure I get the joke behind the lyrics of "YMCA".
That the band doesn't explicitly mention that the primary reason that it's fun to stay at the YMCA is the easy availability of sex with other men. Cf. In the Navy.
That was from Standpipe's blog, of course.
Walt probably doesnt take Girl Fight or Booty Poppin' seriously either.
I was genuinely asking, because I was thinking the gay-sex thing was the point, and there was some 'nother more clever layer of joke that I'd never gotten. Good to know I get it!
The YMCAs around here are often very nice gyms.
Is Prince's "Jack U Off" really an allegory for free silver?
121: We're not going to judge you, Will.
123:
I have been making a concerted effort to avoid any attempts at humor where the point is to accuse someone of being gay. It is really easy to fall in the trap bc it has been acceptable for so long.
The tender trap. Of gayness. We sympathize, Will.
Prince, please respond in comments, as this is not my real email address.
To be serious about 126, to me comment 121 sounded strongly enough like "Playboy often has some very nice articles" or "Hooters makes really good hot wings" to prompt the joke, rather than the fact that gay sex per se is involved.
My mother has fond memories of hearing "YMCA" over the loudspeakers at the Y as my Minnow-level swim class practiced jumping off the diving board.
Now that I've finally watched the video, the creepiness that stands out to me is the racial part. I don't know how relatively well-known the various musicians are, but the black guy (T-Pain?) seems to be functioning as a combination prop and shorthand for authenticity. Offensive, much?
I'm prepared to be told I'm dead wrong, or reading the visual shorthand incorrectly. But if not -- yuck, seriously creepy on the part of the other musicians.
T-Pain is well known and on lots of non-parody tracks and videos similar to this parody. I don't think he's meant to convey authenticity at all in this context. They're not trying to be authentic, they're parodying the genre.
Of course they're also leaning heavily on the "white people doing black people stuff is funny!" trope.
T-Pain is a guy who has appeared on dozens of actual hip-hop songs and is here parodying himself. The other guys are not musicians but comedians.
white people doing black people stuff is funny!
Yeah, maybe that's what I was reacting to.
135: I go back and forth in my reaction to that. On the one hand, part of the joke is just that it's nerdy guys acting with such exaggerated self-importance and sense of their own prowess, and in a manner associated with tough, streetwise types.
You can see a couple of nebbish black comedians doing the same thing and it being funny because they're acting so tough when they're so obviously not (cf the Dave Chappelle episode where Wayne Brady turns out to be a violent street thug).
And in this video part of the fun is also their childish glee: "I'm on a BOAT!"
Plus, that genre of rap song/video is ripe for, and badly in need of, parody. And in my opinion they've done a pretty good job of it in this case.
But all that said, there's still the problematic "white people doing black people stuff is inherently funny" aspect of it.
T-Pain's big hit. I'll admit that I find this song irresistible.