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This Giant Pie Business

edited November -1 in OK Go

In case you haven't seen it yet: http://bit.ly/dyghBI

It's funny, and they do a pretty good job of lampooning the boys.  The Damian looks more like Jagger than Damian (even though Damian sometimes looks like Jagger, this guy isn't quite right), the Tim is a good likeness, but the Dan guy really watched videos of Dan to get him down.  I think he is to be commended.  The Andy guy isn't even close.

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Comments

  • I think the video is funny, but kinda cringe-ish sometimes... The article on Mashable about it is really negative to the guys tho, hope people don't start feeling like this :(
  • At first when I watched it, I saw the Damian guy and was really confused... I was thinking, "Is that guy supposed to be Damian....?" The Tim and Dan guys are pretty good, the Andy one looks absolutely nothing like him; he looks more like Duncan more than aross.  I like the music that they composed, however. But I wished that instead of wine, they were holding a giant egg, or a turkey leg. That would have been an awesome nod to the RGM interviews.
  • I just watched it. I'm not impressed. I didn't think it was funny. But the Dan guy was spot on.

    Did anybody also read the Prince article while they were at Mashable? In that picture Prince looks like a Peter Chung character.

  • Meh, it was okay. After a while though I was really hoping that it would end, but it just kept going and going and going. Plus their blueberries kept flying away. 

    Sunnyside said:

    Did anybody also read the Prince article while they were at Mashable? In that picture Prince looks like a Peter Chung character.

    Speaking of Prince, did anyone else read that he thinks the "Internet's completely over"? Wonder if the boys have heard this new revelation yet.

  • Prince must be living in the Far Distant Future rather than The Future like the boys. Cool
  • I was laughing at the title of this thread because I was imagining this giant pie business with, you know, a storefront. Boardies in bakery chef coats… Anyway, when I first watched the video yesterday, I just laughed…it gets annoying when it's viewed again. Maybe because I have a ex that is the spitting image of the Damian guy (Speaking of that, last night on my late night Voodoo Doughnut run I encountered Dan's look-alike. More than just passing resemblance, and I know because I passed him twice to make sure, this was a Definite Danimal Doppelganger! I regret to say I'd left the phone at home so I couldn't snap a shot to add to the "Rock Star? No, Mock Star." collection.). I also think the video could have done so much more with the pie sequences.

    And now, the part of the day where I hijack the thread:

    Prince. Don't get me started. Seriously. I don't like being on His Royal Bad-side, but I also think that there was some sort of intergalactic incident in Minnesota around about 2002-2003, that no one speaks of, in which alien beings absconded with the, admittedly already spotty "better judgment" portion of his brain, and what we are left with is The Curmudgeon Formerly Known as Prince. But, like I said, don't get me started because I can really talk myself into trouble on the subject. I've done it before, and god help me, I'll probably do it again, but not here.

    He can still make good music. Damn good music, and lots of it. For instance, Lotus Flower & MPLSound  both possess a pluvial plethora* of fantastic moments (he's a funky little genius, "$" is fantastic old school stuff, as is "Old School Company", and his cover of "Crimson and Clover", oh man. That's Pure Christel Kryptonite!), but he packaged them with Bria Valentine (see? No "better judgment"filter). He has been forecasting the end of the internet for at least a decade, it's just coming around as a soundbite again now because 2010 needs a push. He used to be so good at manipulating the media, but he seems to have forgotten that being contrary is not the only way to command attention. And he's never been good with sharing, which is what the present and future of the music business (online or not, Chief) is all about. He refuses to realize that the last 25 years have radically altered the ways, not only in which we produce, distribute and market and utilize music, but, most importantly, the ways in which we listen to it. Yes, Prince is the rare artist whose music truly can speak for itself, but that only matters of someone is listening.

     We can't listen if he won't let us.

    And that picture is an artists representation, if I'm not mistaken… It does look Peter Chung-ish, though. Thanks Becky, now I've got mental images of Chucky and Angelica re-enacting Purple Rain. Laugh

    Back to Pie-making. As you were. No diminuative little tyrants to be seen here.

    *not being a vocabulary nazi, it's part of a scavenger hunt contest/to-do list. My friend had to eat 12 saltines in a minute and I have to work words like pluvial into places where there is no actual rain (Purple Rain doesn't count!),

  • Ok without turning this into a Prince thread, I really cannot resist weighing in here. I am kind of obsessed with the Purple One.

    ChristelAdina, you are so right, his judgement has always been spotty, to put it uh..very kindly. You and I should chat sometime because I love chatting Prince.

    Was 2003 when he went loco full-tilt into Jehova-land? Because it seems to have co-opted his brain. He's just so over the top about it now.

    After reading a local blurb about Paisley Park's future being in question and just wanting to see the place because I hadn't driven past it for about 10 years, I drove out to Chanhassen to get a glimpse. It's still really country behind Paisley, but about 1/4 mile to the east of it is a nasty strip mall development and a bunch of chain stores. There's been some speculation in the MPLS paper that he's might be demolishing Paisley because he's been removing trees from the yard and a few other little "clues" that the local Paps have put together.

    I have to say, it was looking kind of deserted without a single car anywhere in the whole lot. I seriously hope he keeps it alive. SO much incredible music has been made there, and OH the shows and parties of the past….and it's such a fantastic homage to late 80s architecture.

    But what totally floored me is that about 500 feet down the road from the building is a huge Jehova's Witness church or center or whatever. It looks newer than Paisley, so I am wondering if he had a hand in it. It's quite a coincidence that they would be so close to each other.

    There's something so naive about the man. Have you ever seen the interview with Tavis Smiley where Prince talks about "Chemtrails"? Is there an emoticon for rolling ones eyes on this board? I can't find one so just picture a shit ton of rolling eye emoticons here. For someone who is so disinterested in politics and refuses to vote because of his religion, it's kind of annoying to hear him get into conspiracy theory. (btw, I am not anti-conspiracy theorist at all, I have a huge tinfoil hat on at all times)

    And like you, ChristelAdina, I could go on and on too…but this is not a Prince board so I'll shut it now.

  • I'm glad the boys got paradied again. I just don't have to like the parody! It was okay/meh, though they did their homework well.
  • I'm all for parody, but it was kind of a low blow when they implied that the song wasn't as important to the band as the video.
  • bullshituous said:I'm all for parody, but it was kind of a low blow when they implied that the song wasn't as important to the band as the video.

    Yes, that was one of the things that rubbed me the wrong way.

  • I feel somewhat obligated to weigh in on this Prince thing.

    Have any of you ever seen the first An Evening with Kevin Smith DVD?  Kevin tells this great story about Prince.  He wanted to use "The Most Beautiful Girl In the World" for the Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back Soundtrack, as well as "Jungle Love" by Morris Day & The Time, for which Prince also owns the rights.  So he calls up Prince's people, and gets to talk to "the purple one himself" and Prince tells Kevin how he's going to be doing this big concert for some anniversary (this was maybe 9-10 years ago, and I'm a little sketchy on the details) and he wants Kevin to direct a documentary about it.  So Kevin goes to Minneapolis and spends the weekend interviewing fans and filiming the concert and what not.  I forget why, but it's an especially harrowing process because Prince is putting all kinds of restrictions and demands in place.  At the end of the weekend, Prince just basically says ok thanks see ya, and Kevin is totally dumbfounded. He just barely gets to ask about the song rights and Prince responds, as if this is some unimportant afterthought instead of being the entire impetus for the meeting, that Kevin can use "Jungle Love" but not "The Most Beautiful Girl In the World."  Mind you, Kevin wasn't paid for any of the work he did that weekend.  So then Prince's assistant comes by and Kevin asks her when he'll get to see the final print of the documentary.  She tells him that it will probably never see the light of day; that she's produced countless music videos and they've recorded all kinds of material, and all of it is sitting in a vault right now.  Apparently Prince just lives in his own reality; he'll come to them at 3 in the morning and ask for a giraffe, and he won't understand that you can't just get a giraffe at 3 in the morning in Minneapolis. 

    Back to Giant Pie.  Look, parody is supposed to poke fun at something and isn't always going to be in the most flattering of lights.  The whole "videos are better than the music" comment is so cliche right now that it would have been negligent of them to leave it out.  It's what people say when they are trying to seem intelligent, and generally comes out of the mouths of pretentious pricks, hipsters, and other wannabes.  We know what's what, and it's that this band is one of the most innovative bands out there right now.  So screw the wannabes, and get a good laugh at that Dan guy.

  • Ehh, the actual video was okay...ish. It did a good job of capturing the cliches, but it was kind of boring, and frankly, unfunny. I understand the idea of 'parody' but usually parodies present the cliches in a way that makes you laugh. Maybe I'm being too pessimistic. 

    But kind of on a tangent here: ChristelAdina, I LOVE Voodoo Doughnuts! Every time I perform at Berbati's I stand in line for an hour for one of the No Names. But yeah. Back to the subject.

  • You know, at first I thought this was pretty funny.  The clothes, the fact that it's a pie, the interview with the wine and the discussion about how long the videos takes.  That was all good and well.  I chuckled even.  But JESUS after about a minute it was really hard for me not to stop it. 

    It was the song that got to me at first.  What is that?  Is that what OK Go sounds like to other people?  And you guys are right, could they not find a better aross?  Atleast throw a wig on the guy or something. 

    But honestly it wasn't the pardoy that bothered me or anything like that.  It was that total mouthbreather Damian guy.  Does that get under the skin of anyone else but me?  The whole time, mouth open.  Like gapping.  It makes me think of that cartoon Hey Arnold!

  • It's not laugh out loud funny but I did find it amusing.  And it draws attention to the boys (even if it's poking fun at them) so that's a good thing, right?
  • Aleatory said:

    Ehh, the actual video was okay…ish. It did a good job of capturing the cliches, but it was kind of boring, and frankly, unfunny. I understand the idea of 'parody' but usually parodies present the cliches in a way that makes you laugh. Maybe I'm being too pessimistic. 


    ^This^

    The only redeeming quality of the vid was the guy who was portraying Dan. 

    I think the only current parody that actually worked (pun not intended) is Mousetrap Never Works.

  • Mouthbreather bugged me too.
  • I loved Mousetrap Never Works, that is the way a parody should be done. I mean, the biggest thing I noticed was that the music was actually good. The stuff behind GP was terrible, and the vocals nearly made my ears bleed. Props to the makers for attempting it, but there's a line between parody and pure crap. 

    Also, I was really bugged by the Damian guy. 

  • Aleatory said:

    Hey Renata is this the article you mentioned?

    http://mashable.com/2010/01/21/ok-go-damian-kulash-youtube/


    Yep

  • DJRose said:

    Have any of you ever seen the first An Evening with Kevin Smith DVD?  Kevin tells this great story about Prince. 

    ...

    Apparently Prince just lives in his own reality; he'll come to them at 3 in the morning and ask for a giraffe, and he won't understand that you can't just get a giraffe at 3 in the morning in Minneapolis. 

    Back to Giant Pie.  Look, parody is supposed to poke fun at something and isn't always going to be in the most flattering of lights.  The whole "videos are better than the music" comment is so cliche right now that it would have been negligent of them to leave it out.  It's what people say when they are trying to seem intelligent, and generally comes out of the mouths of pretentious pricks, hipsters, and other wannabes.  We know what's what, and it's that this band is one of the most innovative bands out there right now.  So screw the wannabes, and get a good laugh at that Dan guy.



    One, YES, I have seen that! Actually. I haven't read the various pro- or anti- or whatever-Prince rants on this thread (tl;dr, sorry I suck), but y'all should watch that because what Rachel wrote about how he lives in his own reality and the giraffe thing is totally true. He's rather whacked out.

    Two, let me tell you a story. A few years ago this band called Misty's Big Adventure released a video for their song called "Fashion Parade" which declared we were in the "bland age" of music and lampooned Franz Ferdinand, among others. I remember getting into a heated, angry debate about it on LJ - their video criticised FF, whom I love, and it therefore SUCKED and was LAME. I went back and rewatched it recently, and you know what? Although I still think FF is a fantastic band and didn't deserve what was said against them, I found that MBA had an incredibly valid point about today's music.

    What's my point? That I was blinded by my, um, blind love for a band from seeing what was being said. Y'all can have your opinions, and I agree it wasn't the best parody ever (far from it), but I feel a lot of the arguments against it here boiled down to, "It's lame because it criticises OK Go." DUDES, IT'S A PARODY. It's supposed to do that. They're not trying to make nods to the TTSP vid. They're not trying to make the music good. (And honestly, I chuckled when I heard the music, 'cause dude, that sounds like a bad version of the latest record. It might not be good, but it was appropriate.) They don't even have to get actors that look 100% like who they're portraying. Granted, all of that would make a better parody. But, quite simply, they're not trying to appease the superfans, they're trying to make the general public laugh, or at least titter.

    I don't care how you feel about it otherwise, I'll wager a LOT of the general public probably thinks that the videos are more important / better than the music. It would have been negligent to leave this fact out; indeed, it would have made the parody pointless other than a reason to dress up some actors and pretend to be a band. There are plenty of cover bands out there; Landline TV isn't going to get views just filming that.

    In other news, y'all should watch Landline TV's "Kids Reenact" videos. It's good stuff.

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