Hanging 27: Taco Surfing

[Orthography Enthusiast]

Thanks, Dave! There's a deep bench around here when it comes to Al-expertise.

[Orthography Enthusiast]

A little more Spanish-language WAY surfing:

From Spain:QUOTE If there is an irreverent singer in the world, it's Al Yankovic. The most popular pop songs have passed through his hands and have been turned into hilarious parodies in which, while keeping the music, the lyrics are turned around creating a mockery of the original. In this case, Yankovic has used the music of Don McLean's classic \"American Pie\" to narrate, in a humorous key, the story of \"Episode I: The Phantom Menace.\" Yankovic has based his career on parody and in each work demonstrates that he has an imagination that's out of the ordinary.

From Argentina, in an article on the greatest parody (TV, movies, music) of the last 20 years:QUOTE Weird Al Yankovic, as the saying goes, took no prisoners where musical parody was concerned. Madonna, Michael Jackson, Nirvana and many others succumbed to his method: leave the music of a song intact, change the title and the lyrics and do a similar video, but riddled with humorous touches ranging from ingenuous to impudent. There is a parodic will in pop that has been revealing itself more or less regularly since Frank Zappa and his \"We're Only In It For The Money\". The latest link in the chain is Atom, a German musician living in Chile, who under the alias of Sr. Coconut takes on the sacrosanct Kraftwerk and translates their songs into tropical rhythms on the record  El baile alemán (\"The German Dance\").

From a weblog (I couldn't figure out the country of origin): Some guy posts a list of his favorite music videos. QUOTE \"Thriller\",\"Bad\", \"Who Is It\" and all the others of Michael Jackson. Somebody ought to explain to this guy what the difference is between a video and a movie. I don't like his music but at least when he puts a record out you know you're going to be able to see a good video on TV.  
\"Fat\" by Weird Al Yankovic

The definitive parody. Paraphrasing Ford Fairlane, Michael Jackson would have turned over in his grave when he saw it if it weren't for the fact that the son of a b..... isn't even dead.



And finally... could Al have a distant relative in the Chilean film industry? There's an actress who rejoices in the memorable name of Aranzazu Yankovic. And Al thought HE had spelling problems!

[scottidog]

Aranzazu Yankovic. Still, it's better than Superfly Yankovic.



Interesting surfing there OE. You have a much deeper pool to fish from than I do. Thanks for sharing. I was struck by some of the descriptions of Al's music. So I went to dictionary.com to check out the definitions, to be sure I knew what they meant...



QUOTE impudent

Im\"pu*dent,  Bold, with contempt or disregard; unblushingly forward; impertinent; wanting modesty; shameless; saucy.



ir•rev•er•ent    
adj.



  1. Lacking or exhibiting a lack of reverence; disrespectful.

  2. Critical of what is generally accepted or respected; satirical: irreverent humor.



in•gen•ious    
adj.



  1. Marked by inventive skill and imagination.

  2. Having or arising from an inventive or cunning mind; clever: an ingenious scheme. See Synonyms at clever.

  3. Obsolete. Having genius; brilliant.



I agree that Al's humor is bold, and certainly satirical. And that perhaps it lacks reverence, but I would never, ever say it was disrespectful.



Ingenious: fits our Boy to a T!

[Orthography Enthusiast]

Before you get too deep into analysis of definitions, remember that what you're reading is my translation, and I've already done some choosing among alternatives. Here's what my bilingual dictionary has for the word that was actually used:



desfachatado:brazen, impudent, barefaced; cheeky.



So now you know. "Brazen" really didn't seem to fit; neither did "barefaced," since the movie was made in the days when the cookie-duster was a constant feature of Al's countenance, so I went with impudent. Although, given the scene with Uncle Harvey's wife, "cheeky" could have had some points in its favor.



Translation is interesting. For example, the phrase that I rendered as "took no prisoners" actually meant "didn't leave the head on a single puppet." I decided to use a stock phrase in English that meant roughly the same thing, because the puppet line sounds so odd to our ears.

[anthontherun]

A double insult: a trivia game about 'Wierd Al' Yankovich.



http://www.jokingaround.com/games/trivia.asp?typeid=86

[Orthography Enthusiast]

I scored 100. But I cheated by using my knowledge of Weird Al Yankovic. Amazing similarities between his career and that of this Wierd Al Yankovich guy. Maybe even some plagiarism issues.



Seriously, what kind of selective inattention to detail can result in spelling "Jon Schwartz" right, and even get the accent on the name of that keyboardist guy (no, not Pat Regan, the other one) and still misspell Yankovic?

[scottidog]

QUOTE \"didn't leave the head on a single puppet.\" I decided to use a stock phrase in English that meant roughly the same thing, because the puppet line sounds so odd to our ears.



But it's so much funnier than the english version...

[Elvis]

Check out the article called Ideas & Trends; Shhhh! We're Trying To Surf over at the NY Times web page. It's nothing spectacular, hardly worth mentioning, but what did get my attention was the author's name!



Also on the site there is MUSIC; A Master of Parody, Weird Like a Fox. It's really a very praising article once you get done playing the ever so fun and popular game of "spot the mistake."

That includes directing ingenious videos for himself as well as a wide variety of bands like Jon Spencer Blues Band, Hanson and the Black Crowes.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

For sheer silliness there is ''The Toppings Will Go On,'' a pizza-delivery-themed takeoff of ''My Heart Will Go On,'' or as he refers to it, ''that annoying song from 'Titanic,'

Obviously the author just misspelled "Free Delivery."

No one is spared, from Madonna to Nine Inch Nails, with Alanis Morrisette and Menudo thrown in for good measure

Menudo? :dontgetit:

His appeal ranges from his ''severely cultish'' audience members, or Al-coholics, to elementary school kids and their great-grandparents.

Alcoholic! Hey! We don't drink that much!! The author should check out a Rolling Stones concert if he wants to see alcoholics!! Although he did hit the nail squarely on the head with "severely cultish."

It's really for everybody. I think, you know, you don't have to be an alcoholic.

Dave

[Orthography Enthusiast]

Menudo, Backstreet Boys, Beatles... it's so hard to tell those boy bands apart, isn't it?



I was too cheap to pay to download that article, so I went & found it in the microfiche at a local college. It is very favorable... and I"m thinking that might be because Robbie Woliver actually is a knowledgeable music journalist. He knows good stuff when he hears it.

[Elvis]

I was too cheap to pay to download that article, so I went & found it in the microfiche at a local college.

I didn't pay for it either. When I go to the link I provided, the entire article shows. If anyone has trouble seeing the article or finding it on microfiche, let me know and I'll send it to you.



Dave