The video did have some neat dark moments though. It's a shame the song is so empty and bland. I know it's meant to be parodying empty and bland corporate mission statements but it doesn't really do anything beyond do what they already do. I've seen real mission statements at least as bland and full of meaningless corporate lingo as Al's song.
I mean, I love the new Al-bum! I don't want to just blindly say it's perfect though. I'm not trying to shit on anybody's (mandatory) fun. I just want to be honest about my impressions of each song/video.
It's only really a shame because the other 10 tracks on the disc are so amazing. I've been showing Jackson Park Express to anyone who will listen and trying (and failing miserably) to learn the polka on my accordion.
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Lord DaveGrief CauserBitch Free ZoneRegistered Userregular
I like Mission Statement better than Jackson Park Express, so there
Having worked in the corporate world for a while, and having seen a lot of those rsa whiteboard videos, I laughed harder at the Mission Statement video than I did any of the others. It doesn't have any super bizarre twists until the end, but it's funny in its pure distilled banality and meaninglessness. Each individual drawing has a bunch of effort spent on saying absolutely nothing.
The video did have some neat dark moments though. It's a shame the song is so empty and bland. I know it's meant to be parodying empty and bland corporate mission statements but it doesn't really do anything beyond do what they already do. I've seen real mission statements at least as bland and full of meaningless corporate lingo as Al's song.
I can't find it now but I think there's an established term for cases where reality is so absurd that it's nigh-impossible to parody because the two would be indistinguishable. I feel that applies here.
I think the video is getting some unfair flak because people were expecting one of the bigger name songs like the polka to be the one that caps off the week.
I suppose that applies, but I've always taken that to refer more to statements that are ambiguous due to a lack of context clues. I thought there was a different term for situations that are so inherently absurd that they transcend parody.
Without a blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of extremism or fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing.
The core of Poe's law is that a parody of something extreme, by nature, becomes impossible to differentiate from sincere extremism. A corollary of Poe's law is the reverse phenomenon: sincere fundamentalist beliefs can be mistaken for a parody of those beliefs.
It's not quite it, but it's close. I was hoping that wikipedia might have had what we're looking for in the 'see also' section but no, it didn't.
Without a blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of extremism or fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing.
The core of Poe's law is that a parody of something extreme, by nature, becomes impossible to differentiate from sincere extremism. A corollary of Poe's law is the reverse phenomenon: sincere fundamentalist beliefs can be mistaken for a parody of those beliefs.
It's not quite it, but it's close. I was hoping that wikipedia might have had what we're looking for in the 'see also' section but no, it didn't.
I'm aware of the phenomenon you and OmnipotentBagel are describing and I think you're spot on.
Overall, I think this was a really interesting and clever way to launch an album.
For me, the first three were probably the strongest videos, which probably works out the best for getting the album exposure. They were all really great.
Handy, for me, suffers from the original song being garbage. The video is entertaining enough, and has a good idea, but the execution doesn't quite capture what they seem to be going for.
Sports Song, I'll have to watch again, but the joke seems to be how the video is playing it more or less straight? I find myself not really having much of an opinion on it one way or the other.
First World Problems was pretty good. A bit too much green screen, but I can give that a pass knowing that there was barely any budget for most of these. I'm also aware that I tend to care about green screens way more than is reasonable. So yeah, enjoyable video.
Lame Claim to Fame, for one of the weaker tracks on the album IMO, had a really neat video.
Mission Statement is another one I'll have to watch again. The video seemed a bit light on actual humor, but I have to respect the effort and style.
All told, it was a fun and ambitious way to promote his new music, with plenty of effort and thought put into it, and I think it went really well. Releasing these over a week makes it feel like more of an event. It seems to have worked too, and I hope the album is very successful.
You say that as if we don't have Al's entire discography on our phones at all times, including a separate playlist that is just the polkas
Wait, what?
Oh, that's just me then?
I assume most people are lazy like me and just click on an artist and listen through all the artists music over and over again.
We should try and come up with a top 20 Weird Al playlist as a group. Maybe everybody gives a top five with a weighted voting system could work well.
Dare to be Stupid
Hardware Store
Smells Like Nirvana
Eat It
White and Nerdy
This is a list I can get behind.
Throw Amish Paradise in there too.
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Lord DaveGrief CauserBitch Free ZoneRegistered Userregular
You Make Me
Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota
Pancreas
Dog Eat Dog
Germs
Why Does This Always Happen To Me
Since You've Been Gone
Beverly Hillbillies For Nothing and Eat It and some other ones should probably be on there, but I get confused by parodies of songs that are already great
WOW that was quite a god damn shot
I wonder how many takes they did?
One long take, apparently.
Each attempt at recording a particular shot is a "take." I was wondering how many times they had to try recording that shot (how many "takes") before they were happy with it, not whether the shot was very long and continuous (it was, as you said). Sorry for being technical.
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
Given that the original "Happy vids were one take, they probably did the same with Tacky to be authentic, though there was obviously a lot more choreography. We'll find out eventually.
Yeah he mentioned that he got a good workout that day because every take he had to dance and then run down to the ground floor while changing his clothes
I will love the Amish Paradise video forever because of the rewound part, it's just so perfect that he managed to mouth everything backwards. Followed by Smells like Nirvana and White and Nerdy.
I found most of his videos for this albulm kinda meh, save for Foil and Tacky.
WOW that was quite a god damn shot
I wonder how many takes they did?
One long take, apparently.
Each attempt at recording a particular shot is a "take." I was wondering how many times they had to try recording that shot (how many "takes") before they were happy with it, not whether the shot was very long and continuous (it was, as you said). Sorry for being technical.
Weird Al did an AMA on Reddit, in which he mentions Tacky was one long take, but I think he said they did it several times to get it right.
So was Margaret Cho unable to nail "droppin' names almost constantly" in any of them? Or was that the best take overall with just that one small flaw?
And I wonder if Jack Black had different moves for each take...
To her credit, she was the only one who had to perform her part while walking away from the camera, which would be a bit trickier coordination wise.
Plus, yeah, if everyone else nailed their part, and the entire thing is an unbroken shot, it very well could have been the best 'overall' take even if she had better ones.
It isn't like the song is actually supposed to be coming from them, though, right? I just saw it as they were singing along with it and dancing, so the lips might not line up perfectly and that's fine.
+1
AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
It isn't like the song is actually supposed to be coming from them, though, right? I just saw it as they were singing along with it and dancing, so the lips might not line up perfectly and that's fine.
Again, the original was specifically a lip sync video where not everyone hit it right on, not even Pharrell. So that was pretty much fitting.
I will say, I keep forgetting 'Inactive' exists.
Mainly because 'Radioactive' is a song that's neat once or twice, and then very quickly becomes super boring.
Like, Fancy is garbage, but Radioactive is such a nothing song.
God Weird Al is such a badass accordion player. He seriously does not get enough credit for his work on the instrument because, I don't know, it's not mainstream like a guitar? Some of the lead runs on songs like Everything You Know Is Wrong are in-fucking-sane.
Posts
Yeah, but then I also had to buy something I didn't even need to get free shipping.
Billboard chart for last week comes out on Wednesday.
Not a big fan of the song, either. I think I actually like it less than Sports Song. It's like the Dilbert of Weird Al songs.
I don't want to argue about it but I didn't want the thread to just be people shitting on the new video.
It's only really a shame because the other 10 tracks on the disc are so amazing. I've been showing Jackson Park Express to anyone who will listen and trying (and failing miserably) to learn the polka on my accordion.
I can't find it now but I think there's an established term for cases where reality is so absurd that it's nigh-impossible to parody because the two would be indistinguishable. I feel that applies here.
What an appropriate avatar...
I suppose that applies, but I've always taken that to refer more to statements that are ambiguous due to a lack of context clues. I thought there was a different term for situations that are so inherently absurd that they transcend parody.
It's not quite it, but it's close. I was hoping that wikipedia might have had what we're looking for in the 'see also' section but no, it didn't.
I'm aware of the phenomenon you and OmnipotentBagel are describing and I think you're spot on.
For me, the first three were probably the strongest videos, which probably works out the best for getting the album exposure. They were all really great.
Handy, for me, suffers from the original song being garbage. The video is entertaining enough, and has a good idea, but the execution doesn't quite capture what they seem to be going for.
Sports Song, I'll have to watch again, but the joke seems to be how the video is playing it more or less straight? I find myself not really having much of an opinion on it one way or the other.
First World Problems was pretty good. A bit too much green screen, but I can give that a pass knowing that there was barely any budget for most of these. I'm also aware that I tend to care about green screens way more than is reasonable. So yeah, enjoyable video.
Lame Claim to Fame, for one of the weaker tracks on the album IMO, had a really neat video.
Mission Statement is another one I'll have to watch again. The video seemed a bit light on actual humor, but I have to respect the effort and style.
All told, it was a fun and ambitious way to promote his new music, with plenty of effort and thought put into it, and I think it went really well. Releasing these over a week makes it feel like more of an event. It seems to have worked too, and I hope the album is very successful.
WOW that was quite a god damn shot
I wonder how many takes they did?
This is a list I can get behind.
Throw Amish Paradise in there too.
Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota
Pancreas
Dog Eat Dog
Germs
Why Does This Always Happen To Me
Since You've Been Gone
Beverly Hillbillies For Nothing and Eat It and some other ones should probably be on there, but I get confused by parodies of songs that are already great
Each attempt at recording a particular shot is a "take." I was wondering how many times they had to try recording that shot (how many "takes") before they were happy with it, not whether the shot was very long and continuous (it was, as you said). Sorry for being technical.
http://www.audioentropy.com/
Since You've Been Gone
Everything You Know is Wrong
Don't Download this Song
Albuquerque
You Don't Love me Anymore
I found most of his videos for this albulm kinda meh, save for Foil and Tacky.
WoW
Dear Satan.....
I believe he said six takes on Never Not Funny
So was Margaret Cho unable to nail "droppin' names almost constantly" in any of them? Or was that the best take overall with just that one small flaw?
And I wonder if Jack Black had different moves for each take...
AC:NH Chris from Glosta SW-5173-3598-2899 DA-4749-1014-4697
To her credit, she was the only one who had to perform her part while walking away from the camera, which would be a bit trickier coordination wise.
Plus, yeah, if everyone else nailed their part, and the entire thing is an unbroken shot, it very well could have been the best 'overall' take even if she had better ones.
Again, the original was specifically a lip sync video where not everyone hit it right on, not even Pharrell. So that was pretty much fitting.
Mainly because 'Radioactive' is a song that's neat once or twice, and then very quickly becomes super boring.
Like, Fancy is garbage, but Radioactive is such a nothing song.
That's definitely something I noticed on this one. I would have also enjoyed a guest rapper on Word Crimes, like Cheech showing up for Taco Grande.