Apr 07 2008
Take On Squeeeeeeeeek
Mary Robinette Kowal sent this to me with the following comment: “No one will appreciate how wrong this is as much as you will.”
Let’s find out if that’s true.
Well?
Guest Bloggers 8/1 – 9/12
From August 1st through September 12th, John Scalzi is on a blogging hiatus and Whatever is hosting four super awesome guest bloggers. They are:
John Anderson
John Anderson blogs Microsoft SharePoint for his employer, Bamboo Solutions, but what may be far more germane to Whatever readers is that he was the co-creator and editor-in-chief of ComicsAlliance.com, blogs the SXSW music festival annually for Twangville.com, and has known Scalzi longer than (most of) you. Nyah nyah.
Mykal Burns
Vagabond bon vivant. Instigator. More fun than anyone I know; probably more than anyone you know, too.
N.K. Jemisin
N. K. Jemisin (nkjemisin.com) is a fantasy author whose debut novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, is just out from Orbit Books. Her Canadian cat, NukuNuku, can wrestle bears, yet remains intensely jealous of Ghlaghghee's long silky coat and tail.
Mary Robinette Kowal
Campbell Award-winner Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of Shades of Milk and Honey(Tor, 2010). She is a professional puppeteer.
Holding up the back end as site manager: Kate Baker.The Big Idea
What's the big idea behind The Big Idea? It's authors discussing what makes their books tick -- and what that meant for the writing process. Read all about it.
Authors: Want to be featured in a Big Idea? Here's what you need to know.
What does it say about me since I actually listened long enough to guess the song? And went, “Aha!”
Eeek.
Hand farts? Jesus Christ. *shakes head*
the best part is that he has on a wrist brace.
A WRIST BRACE PEOPLE! He is stone cold serious about making music with his hands.
What a great blast from the past. It sounds just like I remembered it.
Do you think he mentions this talent to potential employers on his resume or in the interview?
My brother can do the Blue Danube, but he’s got nothing on this guy.
I think Mary was absolutely right.
Somebody make it stop….
I like the body language! The leg is bouncing to keep time and we actually had a couple of head banging moments towards the end as he really got into his program. Overall a very nice rendition.
3. #Pat Rock – I KNOW! The wrist brace is what clued you into the fact that this was not just a one time deal – he is currently working on a followup tune of the #7 One-hit-wonder; Ice Ice Baby.
Okay, I think that’s the most amazing use of the hand-fart sound I’ve ever seen. Props to this man, for finding a creative use for what is otherwise a mostly destructive talent.
If hand-fart covers of 80s pop songs are wrong, then I don’t want to be right!
…At least it wasn’t Rick Astley?
The guy has 88 videos. I don’t know whether to be scared or impressed.
I’d bet dollars to donuts that this guy’s a ventriloquist (though he’s probably also a manuelist).
Notice how his lips purse differently on the really high notes?
Still… I teach people Klingon, so I’m not about to throw any stones at his house. :
I paused Deadstar Assembly to listen to that. I feel like the world owes me a quarter or something.
OMG!!! I clicked on the Star Wars Cantina song by this guy and I am literally laughing so much that I’m crying THIS IS SO WRONG!!!! It must be shared.
That man is my hero. That right there is fricking genius!
Seriously, I know how ridiculous it might seem, but that is incredibly hard to do. And I’ve been practicing since I as 14.
That’s 25 years of hand farts.
My cat really enjoyed that.
The noises actually sound like words during the refrain!
That. Was. Awesome! That, my friends, is what youtube was meant for; hand farting music. Is “America’s Got Talent” still on? This guy should win some kind of recording contract.
Now I want to hear “Flight of the Bumblebee” or “Ride of the Valkyries”…
The very definition of “singular talent.”
What I wanna know is, why did Big Pussy join the mob when he was sitting on this goldmine?
(The guy really looks like him. I think.)
Holy crap, he looks even MORE like Big Pussy in the Star Wars song clip.
Ladies and Gentlemen, from Secaucus, New Jersey, let’s have a big welcoming hand for Vinnie Batchagaloop!
Huh huh… “hand.” huh huh huh hmh huh.
That’s a great cover but not as good as this one:
I was wrong! Other people do appreciate it.
Christian… you wanted Flight of the Bumblebees? Be careful what you ask for.
Tim Berners-Lee would be so proud.
Seriously though, for me the strangest part of that video? The man is sitting on my couch-before-last.
Ah, good times.
Reminds me of a truly excellent bowel movement I had the other day that was also a toe-tapping good time.
He’s got at least 15 covers on YouTube. The shirts change. He really does look cold stone serious.
Besides the Star Wars cantina band, I saw in passing:
Guns N Roses – Sweet Child of Mine
Europe – The Final Countdown
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
But Take On Me by A-Ha — priceless. (And I actually am a huge fan of the original and its semi-animated video.)
Dr. Phil
Disturbing – and evil. I think they have drugs to correct that.
If you click on his You Tube site (http://www.youtube.com/user/gunecologist), he has 88 videos including a couple of commercials that he did.
Flight of The Bumblebee and his expression…Classic. No wonder he needs that wrist brace. I’m now a fan.
I think we should all take a moment to thank Mary for finding this wonderful entertainment and John Scalzi for sharing. It was a wonderful, enjoyable waste of time. Thanks guys!
My hands can make farting noises, but I can’t control the note. Yay for me I guess. At first I thought the song was the theme song for Fashion Television.
No, the wrongness John should appreciate most fully is the manualist version of Europe’s The Final Countdown.
The thirty-second version of that one is definitely better.
It’s the wristband that sells it.
Here’s what you’re all missing. Video ventriloquism is the easiest thing in the world to do. How are you going to know where the sound is actually being produced. This man is a genius. He’s actually farting the whole thing and just using his hands to mask the fact. Genius! Sheer Genius!
The frighteningly sad part is, I suspected what it was from the title of the post…
… and I clicked on the youtube video, anyway. I have no one to blame but myself, really.
ZOMG! “Don’t Stop Believin’”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ldTGno__58
I just love the look on his face–almost a smirk. He knows he rocks. He’s like the Shaft of hand-farts, and that’s awesome.
“Damn right.”
Will Entrekin, that’s just what I was going to say. The smile on his face at the end of the video is priceless.
I see that I have wasted my life working on my writing when I could have been doing… this.
He looks like a squarer Gilbert Gottfried.
Wow! Bohemian Rhapsody on Jimmy Kimmel Live! I guess everyone does get 15 minutes of fame after all.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RwqjFmlYdNg
I’ve actually seen a few of this guy’s vids before, most notably his version of Mason Williams’ Classical Gas (heh). Seriously though it is a twisted talent, but still damn impressive.
And as for the wrist brace, I thought it was to hold a mic.
My ears! My ears!
Meh. I’d be impressed if he’d done Take Five, by the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
@jimbob: I think you’re right about the brace holding a mic.
On the Best of Carson DVDs there’s a guy who does a hand fart medley that leaves Johnny laughing so hard he’s in tears. But this guy might even be better. That Star Wars Catina is going to be sent to several fellow nerds.
But is it ART?
Now we have the answer to the age-old burning question of what hitmen do with the long boring hours while they’re waiting for their target to hit town.
You people are all Philestines.
This is a rare and beautiful talent.
I can only hope that my own children can be as successfull at their chosen paths as this man.
After viewing MANY of his other offerings on Youtube, the wrist brace is a microphone holder. (watch teh Legend of Zelda clip)
This guy’s talent is not hand farting. He is an audio technician with access to sound-mixing equipment. You can hear the distortion on the high notes. I’m not sure if he’s modifying the pitch on the hand sounds, or lifting the vocals and squeakifying them. He’s having fun with it, though! :-)
Clearly, we need to catch the live show.
I like the singing pickle jars’ version better. No, what’s scary is that Aha’s Take On Me inspires people to reach such heights.
<python>
You warned us, didn’t you? But nooooo, we had to click the linky-thing. “It’s just a harmless little video clip,” we said.
</python>
Two observations:
(1) No way was them hand-farts. I’d be willing to believe a Wii, perhaps…
(2) That. Was. Just. WROGN!
I go now to find a sharp pencil, a bottle of bleach, and a skinny Wirebrush of Enlightenment.
So, were all those, hands farts, or do you think he squeezed in a couple of real ones.
Just wait ’til the folks at the Witness Relocation Program realize that he’s posting video of himself from the safehouse. D’oh!
I’m torn between invoking tentacled ones on his hometown and wondering “Why ‘Take on me’, that’s the lamest and poppest of the popular A-Ha songs… The long notes in ‘Big in Japan’ would be much more impressive if he could pull it off…”.
In humble defense of the latter thought, I’m at home with a fever, and have been all day.
Very good! Can he also make noise with his hands?
OK, I think I’m ready for that tympanumectomy now…