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Video Gold: 'Funky Y2C'
I try to avoid gratuitously selling out my people on this blog, but I am not kidding when I say I have been searching for this video on YouTube for more than a year.
When I lived in Clearwater 14 or so years ago, I was too cheap to get cable. But somehow, I wound up with access to the video-by-request channel, The Box. The great thing about The Box was that the most trifling videos imaginable stayed in heavy rotation. Things like the Spanish version of "Whoomp! There It Is" (or "Whoomp! Si Lo Es) and Luther Campbell's "You Go, Girl." You weren't going to see A Tribe Called Quest or Tony! Toni! Tone! on this station.
One video that played around the clock was "Funky Y2C," a Miami booty-bass song performed by The Puppies. Suffice to say that I was taken aback by the sight of 10-year-olds rapping enthusiastically about booty shaking. The video reached Olympic levels of foolishness when one of the girls started dancing the Funky Y2C alongside her mother. Really.
Eat your heart out, Michel Gondry!
Scrabulous Interruptus
Even if you aren't on Facebook, you probably know by now that Hasbro recently laid the smackdown the Scrabulous application via lawsuit. A collective "What the f***?!" went up yesterday as I and my fellow addicts tried to continue our games, only to see a terse message that Facebook users in the U.S. and Canada were out of luck. Never mind that my competitor A. and I were in the middle of an incredibly tight match. Or that I won my first game just last week.
From a logical standpoint, I understand where Hasbro is coming from. Scrabulous is a blatant, if teriffic, copycat of Scrabble. Hasbro wants people on Facebook to use the official Scrabble application, which reportedly sucks. And you can still play Scrabulous via its Web site, but it's not the same.
In terms of PR, however, Hasbro looks like a hater. A corporate hater who has pissed off hundreds of thousands of people hooked on the game. Any day now, "Hasbro Blows" T-shirts will be available on Cafepress. There are already several anti-Hasbro groups on Facebook with names like "Give Us Scrabulous Or Give Us Death!" and "Please God. I Have So Little: Don't Take Scrabulous, Too."
Thing is, I can't figure out how Scrabulous hurts Hasbro. If anything, wouldn't it encourage people to go out and purchase an actual Scrabble set? As far as I know, Scrabulous is entirely virtual.
Hasbro, give us free!
From a logical standpoint, I understand where Hasbro is coming from. Scrabulous is a blatant, if teriffic, copycat of Scrabble. Hasbro wants people on Facebook to use the official Scrabble application, which reportedly sucks. And you can still play Scrabulous via its Web site, but it's not the same.
In terms of PR, however, Hasbro looks like a hater. A corporate hater who has pissed off hundreds of thousands of people hooked on the game. Any day now, "Hasbro Blows" T-shirts will be available on Cafepress. There are already several anti-Hasbro groups on Facebook with names like "Give Us Scrabulous Or Give Us Death!" and "Please God. I Have So Little: Don't Take Scrabulous, Too."
Thing is, I can't figure out how Scrabulous hurts Hasbro. If anything, wouldn't it encourage people to go out and purchase an actual Scrabble set? As far as I know, Scrabulous is entirely virtual.
Hasbro, give us free!
Back To School ... With A Retro Soundtrack
"The Breakfast Club" is considered one of the best teen movies of my generation, but I never loved it. While I have nostalgic affection for some of the actors, the movie hasn't aged well — especially Judd Nelson's performance, which is straight out of the "The Misunderstood Punk's Handbook."
But it's still mine. Which is why I wasn't prepared to see JC Penney's lame "tribute" — complete with a remake of Simple Minds' "Don't You Forget About Me" — in a back-to-school commercial. Did any of the ad people behind this actually watch "The Breakfast Club?" Because it's not about how awesome school is. The Nickelodeon crowd might not make the connection, but their parents — the ones buying the clothes — certainly will.
This is the second time JC Penney has used a Gen X anthem to sell school gear. In 2005, it was Black Sheep's hip-hop classic, "The Choice is Yours." I admit the choreography in that particular commercial is neat, and I'm a sucker for kids who can dance. But it's still weird to see things I once associated with being young and (kinda) edgy being used to sell Arizona jeans. Is this what the boomers were complaining about when Beatles songs began turning up in footwear commercials? Oh, well. It comes for us all, eventually.
And for the record, "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" is the best teen movie of my generation. Even if I was only 12 at the time.
Michael J. Fox Is Off Limits
In general, I think celebrities and public figures are fair game for skewering. But I'm going to make an exception for Michael J. Fox.
Maybe it's because he was my first serious celebrity crush and the person on the first poster I ever bought. Or maybe it's because his biography, "Lucky Man," convinced me that he is a genuinely good guy. He seems to be weathering Parkinson's Disease gracefully, and he's been a powerful advocate for stem-cell research. Some of my teen idols turned out to be freaks, but not Fox. And let's not forget that he is (I refuse to say was) a talented actor with excellent comic timing.
So last night my husband and I were watching "Family Guy," which is notorious for its brutal, pop culture-themed humor. Sometimes it's random and hilarious, like the time the show ripped on the seemingly endless theme song of '70s sitcom "Maude." Even the cheap shots (Corey Haim in a sewer) make me laugh sometimes. But when Peter Griffin joked about Fox being miscast as Zorro — and the next scene was of illegible scrawl where a Z should have been — I found my line in the sand.
I've seen "Team America" three times, so I'm not that easily offended. But the man has a disease. It's not like the show was cracking on Fox for making bad movies, falling down drunk out of a limo or screaming at his kid on voice mail. With so many perfectly healthy, deserving celebrities to make fun of, why pick on him? Plus, the bit wasn't even funny in an oh-no-they-didn't way.
When my husband and I were dating, he learned not to make jokes about Mr. Rogers in my presence — and Fred Rogers was alive and well at the time. I think we're pretty clear that Fox is off limits, too.
Maybe it's because he was my first serious celebrity crush and the person on the first poster I ever bought. Or maybe it's because his biography, "Lucky Man," convinced me that he is a genuinely good guy. He seems to be weathering Parkinson's Disease gracefully, and he's been a powerful advocate for stem-cell research. Some of my teen idols turned out to be freaks, but not Fox. And let's not forget that he is (I refuse to say was) a talented actor with excellent comic timing.
So last night my husband and I were watching "Family Guy," which is notorious for its brutal, pop culture-themed humor. Sometimes it's random and hilarious, like the time the show ripped on the seemingly endless theme song of '70s sitcom "Maude." Even the cheap shots (Corey Haim in a sewer) make me laugh sometimes. But when Peter Griffin joked about Fox being miscast as Zorro — and the next scene was of illegible scrawl where a Z should have been — I found my line in the sand.
I've seen "Team America" three times, so I'm not that easily offended. But the man has a disease. It's not like the show was cracking on Fox for making bad movies, falling down drunk out of a limo or screaming at his kid on voice mail. With so many perfectly healthy, deserving celebrities to make fun of, why pick on him? Plus, the bit wasn't even funny in an oh-no-they-didn't way.
When my husband and I were dating, he learned not to make jokes about Mr. Rogers in my presence — and Fred Rogers was alive and well at the time. I think we're pretty clear that Fox is off limits, too.
He's No Marlin Perkins, But ...
I wish Animal Planet or the Discovery Channel would hire my husband J. to narrate their wildlife shows. He has a penchant for reimagining animal encounters as if they took place in Ice Cube's old neighborhood.
A few weeks ago, one of those channels aired a special on whales, and J. got sucked in. Apparently, a mother whale who was traveling with her calf got some unwanted attention from two aggressive, skirt-chasing males. According to J., a more gentlemanly third male intervened on her behalf, though he had his own agenda. The way he recounted the tale was way more entertaining than the official version could have been:
"So one of the whales was like, 'Hey there, girl. Can I holler at you for a minute? You're kinda fine. You got a man?' And this other whale was like, "Look bro, let her through. She's just a single mom out here trying to make it. Ease up.' And then the first whale and his boy got in his face, like, 'What? Oh, it's like that? You ain't shit.' Then the gentleman whale got back with him, like, 'Oh, I ain't shit? Watch this.' And then it was on. But the first two whales couldn't beat the third one because they weren't working together. They were both too busy trying to get a piece for themselves, and while they were scrapping, momma and the kid swam away. It was crazy."
I really wish I had recorded his commentary after we watched "March of the Penguins."
A few weeks ago, one of those channels aired a special on whales, and J. got sucked in. Apparently, a mother whale who was traveling with her calf got some unwanted attention from two aggressive, skirt-chasing males. According to J., a more gentlemanly third male intervened on her behalf, though he had his own agenda. The way he recounted the tale was way more entertaining than the official version could have been:
"So one of the whales was like, 'Hey there, girl. Can I holler at you for a minute? You're kinda fine. You got a man?' And this other whale was like, "Look bro, let her through. She's just a single mom out here trying to make it. Ease up.' And then the first whale and his boy got in his face, like, 'What? Oh, it's like that? You ain't shit.' Then the gentleman whale got back with him, like, 'Oh, I ain't shit? Watch this.' And then it was on. But the first two whales couldn't beat the third one because they weren't working together. They were both too busy trying to get a piece for themselves, and while they were scrapping, momma and the kid swam away. It was crazy."
I really wish I had recorded his commentary after we watched "March of the Penguins."
I Like The Ums
I wish I were one of those people who knew all the cool local acts and could pick out a band on the way up. But I'm not. When we have a babysitter, we pick the lazy option of dinner and a movie instead of going to hear live music.
However, an enthusiastic article in Capital Culture magazine made me curious about The Ums — and they're good. The stuff I streamed on their MySpace page was a mixture of pop tunes that were ironic, dreamy and very catchy. It passed the "I'd pay 99 cents for this on iTunes" test, and I think I'm gonna have to see them live.
However, an enthusiastic article in Capital Culture magazine made me curious about The Ums — and they're good. The stuff I streamed on their MySpace page was a mixture of pop tunes that were ironic, dreamy and very catchy. It passed the "I'd pay 99 cents for this on iTunes" test, and I think I'm gonna have to see them live.
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