Video Rankings

[Wizzerkat]

Re: Plympton.. As a piece of animation about a female celeb who gets her wide ass splashed everywhere, it's a fine video. It just didn't do the job it was supposed to do which is be a visual representation of the song.

[AlejandraDD]

I don't have the attention span to do an entire ranking, so just let me say that I'm disappointed at the "new" videos. Party in the CIA seems to be the best one of the bunch. SFTCTM: I didn't even watch the whole thing because, in the words of my boyfriend: "I want to see it, not read it". TMZ was meh-tastic.

But I am mostly disappointed about ITIL: I chose to interpret the song as a song about a sweet guy who equals mundane things to love. The artist chose to interpret the song as being about a douchebag who treats his girlfriend like crap and putting up excuses. The character in the video is actually doing the opposite of what the song says (*not* holding her ladder, trying to sharpie up her face, and so on).

Seems like Al should be sitting down with the artists and EXPLAIN them the songs before they start working on them.

[Milkdudds92]

11. TMZ - Pretty much everything I think about this has already been said.
10. Whatever You Like - While I enjoyed all the Al references, it was just way too busy for me. Also, this suffers from a little bit of the same problem that TMZ does: It hardly spoofs the original video.
9. Another Tattoo - I do appreciate all the work that was put into this one, but for whatever reason, it just didn't make me laugh.
8. Party in the CIA - I really appreciated the dark humor in this one, but once again, it would have been SO much funnier if it actually made fun of Miley Cyrus. I mean, they could have at least shown the CIA agents dancing under the American flag or something.
7. Craigslist - As others have said, it looked a little too much like a real Doors video...there weren't any jokes.
6. Skipper Dan - A really great video! Very fluid throughout, and captures the essence of the song very well. Love the mask transition.
5. Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me - This one gets its rank because it's so dang creative. I really love the work that went into this one, and how despite its own creativity, it still let us create our own imagery.
4. If That Isn't Love - This is one of the few that really made me laugh out loud. It was simple, followed the original song, and added just the right amount of additional gags. I'm definitely looking more into this animator.
3. Ringtone - Call me crazy, but this song/video made me laugh more than anything else from Internet Leaks. Sure, the verses can get slow, but the sheer ridiculousness of lines like Chinese factory workers/Muslim women in burkas makes me lose it, and the video makes it even more ridiculous with all the cameos.
2. CNR - In my opinion, the only animated video that really feels like a legitimate, old school Weird Al video. The folks at Jib Jab always do a great job, and it's a shame they cut out a verse. I wish I could have seen what else they could have come up with.
1. Perform this Way - Just the right amount of disturbing to be awesome. He is Weird Al, after all. The only caveat is that a Gaga parody is its own worst enemy; everything in it could realistically be worn by Gaga at some point. Since we're so used to hearing all the crazy things she's up to in the news, we're kind of desensitized to it. But I think that when Gaga finally becomes yesterday's news in a decade or two (please don't shoot me, Gaga fans!), people will look back upon this song as a summary of her career, and it'll only get better with time.

Overall, these videos made me dislike the idea of animated videos for every song/album. Most of the time they just feel less special, and I feel like we should leave the medium to fan videos, except for rare occasions, when there's a really awesome idea that demands animation. At least leave the parodies alone! If we don't get to see Al putting his own spin on a famous music video, then what's the point? We lose the spirit of parody. I'd rather just have no video. I cringe thinking of what Bill Plympton's version of "I Love Rocky Road" might be...probably a guy in an ice cream cone costume going to the mall or something.

[mrmeadows]

I cringe thinking of what Bill Plympton's version of "I Love Rocky Road" might be...probably a guy in an ice cream cone costume going to the mall or something.

That made me laugh out loud. Spot on!

[Quab]

I can't really rank them, because I have only watched em a few times, but my thoughts.
TMZ-Wow....love this song...but wow. (And this is coming from a guy who can't get enough of pictures of butts). I think you could play this video with the original "You Belong With Me" and it would make just as much (if not more) sense. I would wish Al would dismiss this video and make a live action one...
(PS DDTS was my favorite animated video from SOL... I really liked it)
Party CIA- I like the animation style, and the ideas are okay, but it looks like a fan made Adobe video you'd would find on youtube. Kudos to the blood and violence though.
Ringtone-No. Bad song. Video does it no justice.
Skipper Dan- Fitting, yet very underwhelming.
Another Tattoo- At first disappointing...but thinking about the lyrics not quite sure what else could have been done. Love all the tattoos. Overall great video.
If That Isn't Love- The Good-Adds more jokes than originally in the lyrics. The Bad-Looks like somthing JibJab would have poorly animated in 2003.
Perform this Way- I love it. It makes fun of Lady Gaga, and has Madonna jokes. The only thing that could have made this better would be some dialog scenes, but I understand that not happening.
Whatever you Like- Funny, but frighting.
Stop Fowarding This Crap to Me- I like text animation style, and I'm not sure how else this song could have been done.
Craigslist-Boring. I love Liam Lynch, and feel as if his talents went to waste.
CNR- My favorite (even more than PTY). JibJab did a FANTASTIC JOB, the jokes and animations are brilliant, and Al and Jon are actually IN the video!
Overall-animated videos are severely disappointing. They could be much better if Al was involved (perhaps he write the video, and the animates merely animate it?), but anyway, I think 2 well done, live action videos are better than 10 (terrible to subpar to fantastic) animated ones.

Im also dissapointed there isn't a super sexual CBNC type one. I like it when cats have sex with women to Weird Al songs.

[Way_Moby]

1. Perform This Way
2. Whatever You Like
3. Craigslist
4. CNR
5. Party in the CIA
6. Another Tattoo
7. If that Isn't Love
8. Ringtone
9. Skipper Dan
10. TMZ
11. Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me

[sethmartin]

Wow someone actually gave TMZ a higher rating than the 11 spot

[Way_Moby]

Wow someone actually gave TMZ a higher rating than the 11 spot

Yeah... "Stop Forwarding that Crap to Me" was just a boring lyrics video. I don't like those...

The premise of the TMZ video, one in which a celeb has to combat a terribly unflattering picture of her her entire life isn't too bad. The reason that it truly stank was the fact that the picture had to be a bare butt. Tee hee. Yes, we are all five.

[ludovica64]

01 Perform This Way- Crazy and wonderful and completely mindblowing. Win.

02 CNR- Great song with an immensely visually strong video.

03 Craigslist-Just a really pretty thing to look at, like jewellery

04 Skipper Dan- Divya Srinivasan has such a distinctive and beautiful style. This is a piece of art, even though it's short on laughs

05 Whatever You Like- OK so it looks amateurish, but this is a great video with lots of things to look at and a constant flow of Al references Log this under "unexpected surprise/delight"

06 Party In The CIA- I really liked this. Love the 1930's European Deco style. It fitted the Dystopian ethos of the song

07 Ringtone- Its an OK video.. no complaints

08 Another Tattoo- Not brilliantly executed or anything, would have been fun to see something in a more "Ed Hardy" style, but it fit the song well and had some giggles.

09 If That Isn't Love- It's OK. A bit amateurish

10 TMZ- What a pity. This is a good song that will be crippled by this lazy scribble. One lyric stretched out for three minutes, when there was so much there to use. Another "pursuit" video exactly like DDTS actually.

11 Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me- Seriously? again.. LAZY Wow whoever took this job really didn't see it as an opportunity at all did they?

[mrmeadows]

Wow someone actually gave TMZ a higher rating than the 11 spot

Yeah... "Stop Forwarding that Crap to Me" was just a boring lyrics video. I don't like those...

The premise of the TMZ video, one in which a celeb has to combat a terribly unflattering picture of her her entire life isn't too bad. The reason that it truly stank was the fact that the picture had to be a bare butt. Tee hee. Yes, we are all five.

I still say the video for SFTCTM has more going for it than just being a "lyrics video". The way that the words unspool along with the song are quite creative and fluid, and at least it was different than a video that just shows what was being described in the song. Those really aren't any more creative, in my opinion. And while TMZ didn't do that, it also didn't seem to fit the song at all. There was something about it was just plain depressing.