TV producers: For the love of Deuce, stop splicing the ‘Who dat’ chant backwards!

{ September 3, 2010 @ 2:24 pm } · { Sports }
{ Tags: , , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

As referenced in my column in this week’s Enjoy, my plea for sports TV editors is to stop showing the “Who dat” chant backwards.

Listen to the clip above: It clearly goes, “Who dat say dey gon’ beat dem Saints? Who dat? Who dat?” But when editors and producers for TV segments splice together pieces about us crazy, passionate Saints fans, they edit it so that the chant is backwards. To spell it out:

WRONG: Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gon’ beat dem Saints?

RIGHT: Who dat say dey gon’ beat dem Saints? Who dat? Who dat?

It’s scary how many times I hear this backward version. It’s regularly on ESPN. It was featured prominently in the DVD covering the Super Bowl season. Even quarterback Drew Brees got it wrong in a nationally-televised interview with a doting Katie Couric.

I guess there is some reason for confusion. Over the last few years, Saints fans have adopted “Stand Up and Get Crunk” by the Yin Yang Twins as an official anthem. As others have done versions with lyrics rewritten for the Black and Gold, the chant got incorporated in a backwards fashion. (Note: That link also shows a great moment of fans going crazy.)

But the reason it bugs me is that the correct version has such a great rhythm to it. It’s musical, it’s moving and almost spiritual. Compare that to the mushy, mealy-mouthed “Who dey” chant from Bengals fans. It’s no contest. And wow, is that song terrible.

Some bonus history about the musical clip above: It’s sung by Aaron Neville, and members of the ’83 team. All those “bum bum bum bums” aren’t just a chorus — they are a shout-out to then coach Bum Phillips, who brought some success and hope to a beleagured fan base that suffered through a 1-15 season two years prior. The New Orleans Times-Picayune published a pretty good history of “Who dat,” enough to effectively render any Cincinnati claim of originality null.

“But Joe,” you ask. “I see several times in that Times-Pic story above, where the history shows the two ‘who dats’ come first.” That’s true… enough to almost destroy my entire point. But the ’83 Neville song, with its order of lyrics gave the chant the life it has today. That’s the way it should be shown on TV, as far as I’m concerned.

Eh, none of this matters. All that matters is the upcoming season and defending the title. Instead of “Who dat,” it’s “Two dat.”

New Devo song, video catchy like virus

{ July 27, 2010 @ 12:10 pm } · { Music }
{ Leave a Comment }

I really have no idea why I never got into Devo. And I’m kicking myself for it. (Not too hard, of course. Marching band gave me phenomenally strong legs.)

ANYWAY… I can’t stop spinning “Don’t Shoot (I’m: a Man).” The song sounds incredible: Devo infused today’s musical innovations and technology with the spirit and vibe of the ’80s. The video looks like it’s done by a guy who used to do Target commercials, then got fired, but couldn’t get the palette out of his head. The “Don’t taze me, bro” chorus the perfect ending. Check it out:

Scott Meeker, J Magazine overlord, saw the band live last weekend. He had this report about the concert:

It was one of those unlikely rock ‘n’ roll moments.

The Buzz Under the Stars concert lineup at Kansas City’s City Market last weekend was headlined by singer-songwriter Ben Folds, who put on a great show, and bands such as Silversun Pickups and Against Me.

But squeezed in the middle of the lineup was Devo — a group of 60-somethings clad in matching grey uniforms and masks (and, later, those familiar yellow radiation suits and energy dome hats) that put their much younger peers to shame.

Mixing old songs like “Whip It” and their off-kilter cover of the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” with selections from “Something for Everyone,” the band’s first album in 20 years, their set was part cheesy nostalgia act, part mind-blowing head trip into some bizarro future world where the ’80s is a sacred religion, and all fun.

Catchy new songs such as “Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man)” were backed by eye-popping video backdrops featuring an angry kitty, a frightened-looking windsock and a french fry mating with a doughnut. It was over-the-top, but in a good way, and the crowd ate it up. Very “geek-out” worthy.

(In an unrelated note: Around the same time at the other end of I-70 in St. Louis, Kings of Leon walked off the stage three songs into their set when a pigeon pooped into the mouth of their bass player. If your “sex is on fire,” bird poop will apparently put it right out.)

Man gene on overload: Mower fixed

{ July 24, 2010 @ 8:22 pm } · { Gadgets }
{ Tags: , , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

The picture to the left is my interpretation of what $100 looks like.

It’s a diaphragm and gasket for the carburetor of a Briggs & Stratton lawnmower engine. It rests on top of the gas tank and below the carburetor; it regulates how much gas and air get into the engine. Installing in requires removal of both the carburetor and gas tank, as well as disconnecting a fuel line from the engine.

But I did all of that. I could have paid one of Joplin’s fine businesses about $100 or more to do that. Instead, I paid about $3 for the parts and fixed it myself.

This geek’s man gene is on overload. I’m thinking about changing my own oil on the truck now. I probably won’t.

See, geeks pride themselves on ELECTRICAL mastery; the smaller the better. Combustion engines don’t really qualify as geeky — too noisy, too inelegant, too inefficient. Mulching mowers come close to getting a geek’s interest, but only because they accomplish two tasks (cut grass, fertilize lawn) and eliminate a third (bag clippings).

But my mulching mower was in bad shape. So bad that the grass at Geek Central, located near the seemingly inaccurately named Gabby Street Boulevard, was nasty thick and might-get-a-ticket tall.

I gotta tell you, I pulled a lot of joy out of working on my engine. I knew what I was doing thanks to this YouTube video by user craig1974:

Mower works well. Cut through the forest in my yard. I am MAN. Yep.

“Inception” lives up to all the hype

{ July 20, 2010 @ 11:38 am } · { Movies }
{ Tags: , } · { Leave a Comment }

It’s not often that a movie lives up to the hype, but “Inception” does it. It’s been called the best movie of the summer, the summer’s only great adult movie, the next big thing in sci-fi, the next “Matrix” and more. It’s all true. Go see it. Now. Skip work if you have to.

Christopher Nolan has done an incredible job in creating Nebuchadnezzer’s nightmare — a journey into the layers of consciousness found inside our own heads when we dream. The action is great, the special effects are dizzying, but what makes this movie excellent is that the story drives each and every loud boom.

Everything you have seen in trailers and commercials — from the huge freight train plowing through a downtown intersection to gravity defying scenes featuring spinning hotel hallways — has a reason for being there that relates directly to the story.

As to what that story is: I don’t want to spoil anything for you. Just go see it. “Inception” is a true mindbender that will be remembered alongside the greatest sci-fi movies ever made.

Lost no more: Final episode airs

{ May 24, 2010 @ 12:16 am } · { TV }
{ Tags: , , , , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

Lost, I’m going to miss you.

There are countless bloggers, critics and others pounding keys furiously right now, going into all their theories, what questions were left unanswered, etc. There are many of my questions that will remain questions, much to my consternation. TLP (The Lovely Paula Hadsall, my wife) has others. I’m a little saddened that my theory about the Smoke Monster being in the cabin the whole time — thus giving orders to Ben about “Jacob’s” wishes — was never proven. (But, it was never disproven, either, so that’s something.)

That being said, I loved the finale. Or at least I would have, had KODE-TV decided to not cut in early with a Quapaw Casino commercial. For those of us who watched the show on KODE, we didn’t miss much. While the TV station was busy airing its error, Jack closed his eyes and died (reversing the first show’s opening shot), and the traditional Lost end screen showed.

I loved the ending. The Sideways world being revealed as a type of friendly, custom-made, leave-when-you’re-ready purgatory was a great way to tie the two worlds together. This second world gave the characters extra chances to find new redemptions (more on characters in a few sentences), and it set the table for a spiritually satisfying end. I could gripe about what got answered and what didn’t, but I think it’s enough to know that the plane made it off the Island successfully, Hurley had a hell of a run as an Island protector (did anyone else relish the irony of Ben being a great No. 2?) and Jack died having finally fixed something. And when Vincent trotted over and laid down next to Jack, tears welled up. Perfect.

There are those who wanted technical answers. For a while, I wanted to know whether the Smoke Monster was a bunch of supercharged nanotech particles or a sentient patch of electrically charged aether. However, Lost has never really dabbled in that sort of minutiae. This is a character driven show, so I’m fine with the Smoke Monster being the unnamed Man in Black. That transformation happened at the beginning of this season, but I didn’t know that had happened until I had watched “Across the Sea” without getting really angry.

That’s why the most moving part of the finale for me was Jack laughing in the pool of light, after he had replaced that large stopper back in the vent. His driving need to fix things was finally sated after he fixed not just any old thing, but the most important thing on the planet, the source of light, goodness and whatever else people believe is the Island’s magic. I’m OK not knowing the details. I’m just thankful that redemption and fulfillment finally arrived for him.

‘Little Big Planet 2′ trailer released

{ May 13, 2010 @ 1:09 am } · { Uncategorized, Video games }
{ Tags: } · { Leave a Comment }

I can’t wait to show this to my 10-year-old stepkid. It’s about 2 a.m. and I’m really tempted to wake him up to see this.

Sony promises that the game, developed by Media Molecule, will have the same type of development that made the first version so addictive. And not only can we make platform levels, but we’ll be able to make all new games. Holy freaking wow.

“Little Big Planet” is currently available at most stores for about $30. LBP2 should be out later this year. Yeah, I’m gonna wake the kid up. I’ll be right back…

Oh, if you like the music, here’s the full song and video. It’s “Sleepyhead,” by Passion Pit.

“Lost” better frickin’ answer these questions

{ May 7, 2010 @ 12:31 pm } · { TV }
{ Tags: , } · { Comments (1) }

Truth be told, I’m still kind of puffy-eyed from “The Candidate,” Tuesday’s episode of Lost. I made it through Sun and Jin’s tearful tribute to “The Abyss,” only I knew Bud wasn’t going to beat on Lindsey’s chest, scream “FIIIIIIIGHT!” and bring her back to life. I kept it together when their clasped hands were shown drifing apart. But my eyes welled when Hurley started bawling on the beach.

Though the episode didn’t answer any of the Island’s big questions, it set the table for the end game. All the cards are on the table between Jack and the Locke-ness Monster (sorry to steal your nickname for the Locke/Smoke Monster combo, Doc Jensen): The two have pushed all in. Widmore and the trio of Richard, Ben and Miles are still figuring out their play.

And the producers decided to add 30 minutes to the two-hour finale. That gives plenty of time to get some big questions answered. There are a ton of questions floating (see video below), and the producers have said that not everything will get answered, but here’s a wish list from Scott Meeker, Paula Hadsall and me, and we’re fairly certain that if answers don’t come, we’ll beat our head against walls, curse the producers’ names and scream “WHY DID WE WASTE SIX YEARS OF OUR LIVES?”

~ Why are the numbers so important and prevalent? The closest reason we have is that they corresponded to names of candidates. But the twitchy guy Hurley played Connect Four with in the mental hospital muttered them over and over. The numbers were looping on a transmission that brought Rousseaux’s team to investigate. And Dharma notched those numbers on the hatch that ended up being ‘sploded. What is so magical about them?

~ What are the origins of Dharma? Founder Alvar Hanso has never been a character on the show, but he has been a canonical outsider. How did Dharma discover the Island and what was their purpose for it? Season 5 had a lot of time to address this, and never did.

~ What is the Smoke Monster? Evil spirit? Nanotech? How did it get there?

~ What made the candidates worthy of being candidates? Was it simply Jacob’s touch? Or did they have to pass character tests?

~ What civlization was on the Island? That Tawaret statue didn’t get there by itself; some people had to build it. Given that Tawaret is Egyptian, is there a connection with other Nile-area deities? Was Jacob a member of that group? And how did those people end up there? Are “Adam and Eve,” the corpses found in the cave, descendants of those people?

~ Why was Walt so special? He was kidnapped, tested and called a very special boy. But after he escaped, the Island said, “Meh.” Is there some bigger picture for Walt? Or, like Mr. Herbert from “The Family Guy,” did the Island lose interest once Walt grew up?

~ Why does Hurley see dead people? Or, in other words, what’s the difference between the dead people Hurley plays chess with, and the Smoke Monster’s manifestations?

Here’s a few more questions out there:

Video game violence taken up by SCOTUS

{ April 26, 2010 @ 11:22 am } · { Video games }
{ Leave a Comment }

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to wade in interesting waters concerning video games and free speech. The court will review whether a California court correctly threw out a law banning the sale or rental of violent video games to minors.

I’m no Supreme Court judge, but my ruling is that the California court was right.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who starred in the uber-violent movies Commando, Total Recall, Terminator and Conan the Barbarian, signed the ban into law, but it never went into effect. Rightly so: There is no evidence that violent video games trigger abnormal behavior in children, and there is already a pretty good rating system parents can use.

I would rather see a system similar to movie theaters across the country. If a kid somehow bought a ticket to see one of the Governator’s bloodbaths, the theater wouldn’t be breaking a law, but would be justified kicking the kid out or refusing the sale. There’s no reason video game renters or retailers should face federal penalties for not doing a parent’s job.

Ebert demonstrates ‘irrelevance’ in critique

{ April 21, 2010 @ 12:51 pm } · { Video games }
{ Tags: , , , , } · { Comments (2) }

Film critic Roger Ebert, who delivered one of the greatest comeback lines to a critique in history, has become a sort of Vincent Gallo himself. Sure, he’s not sputtering in a drunken and schizophrenic manner, like Gallo did after “The Brown Bunny.” But if Ebert is going to say there’s no way video games can be considered an art, then he might as well be.

Ebert reaffirmed why he thinks video games aren’t art in a recent editorial. He reacted to a speech given by game developer Kellee Santiago, who gave a TED talk about what’s next in video game development. Her speech started out with the statement that video games are already art.

I could dissect Ebert’s illogical, doddering column, but I don’t have to. Santiago already did, and pointed out Ebert’s relevance to popular culture in this brilliant “hadouken”:

“It doesn’t seem that Ebert has played many, if any video games. And if that’s the case, then his opinion on the subject isn’t relevant anyways … It’s time to move on from any need to be validated by old media enthusiasts. It’s good for dinner-party discussion and entertaining as an intellectual exercise, but it’s just not a serious debate anymore.”

8-bit tech + Legos = awesome

{ April 21, 2010 @ 12:29 pm } · { Internet }
{ Tags: , , , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

This makes me want to crash that Lego building club at the Joplin Public Library.

« Older entries
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.