Quoting:
(i'm not going survivor see comments for my reasoning)

End Quote

That's OK, dude!  See my comments, too, where I accept and respect your opinion.

However..... after re-reading your comment on "Ear Doctor" and reflecting on it some more..... it struck me as extremely interesting that you judged "Ear Doctor" based on "censorship" and "if it got airplay".

That's a fascinating rationale! I never write parodies for airplay...I write them purely to entertain visitors to Amiright, period!

Ethan, you appear to have declared that your judgement-criteria for everybody's entries in this Amiright Parody Tournament might in some cases be at least partially based on your judgement of their need for censorship for airplay.....

I am genuinely intrigued, Ethan - exactly how do "censorship" and "airplay" figure into all of this, when airplay is not the primary reason why most of us are here anyway, and when so many of us are fundamentally opposed to censorship?

Peace

Johnny D :) :) :)

Quoting:


and melhi what do you mean by accessibility?
End Quote

Accessible: (The shortest definition I can think of is) Written for mainstream consumption... no insider or special  knowledge required to "get it."   Similar to a universal theme.  

Except where I prefaced with "it finally came down to," the things I cited were just what I liked best about those parodies, not the deciding criteria and not, at all, a comment on the ones I didn't choose.  I liked multiple things about each of the parodies.    

PS to MysteryGoat -- I was in such a rush, this morning, I didn't take time to read more than just Claude's post.  I got a real kick out of finding out we'd voted for each other!   :)    

Quoting:
In my opinion the primary goal of a song parody is to be heard... which is why having several syllables of a word chopped off (a merry and pippin specialty) doesn't seem right to me.  End Quote

'than Ma'yer!  :(

Quoting:
1
8  ::)
5
13
11
3
10
15
;D
End Quote

What he said, since we only get one vote ;D

For the record, even though we voted for ourselves (obviously) I probably would have voted for Phil's in other circumstances because his parody is just, to be honest, better :)

Quoting:
Claude's not here right now, Bobby, but I think voting is restricted to the participants in the tournament.  

You can still link to the parodies that have been entered and vote and comment though.  The authors would appreciate that, though you votes and comments would not be directly affecting the tournament :)
End Quote

No worries, Indy. I think I will do a bit of 'informal voting'.  :)

'Ear Doctor' was a great parody. The original song involved a lot of made up words so made this, with an excellent sense of logic (difficulty of hearing) made this a great achievement.

'Free Parking' could have been a tricky parody (subject matter was a little too linear) but worked really well with the pacing of the original song. It is also one of my favourite Tom Petty tracks.

'Atomic No 5' by Mike Florio is a very clever chemistry lesson and deserves my vote because it is simply that - clever.

'Molestor Guy' was another tricky parody (not for the same reasons as above) but I thought it was well written and showed a good sense of satirical humour.

Quoting:


No worries, Indy. I think I will do a bit of 'informal voting'.  :)

'Ear Doctor' was a great parody. The original song involved a lot of made up words so made this, with an excellent sense of logic (difficulty of hearing) made this a great achievement.

'Free Parking' could have been a tricky parody (subject matter was a little too linear) but worked really well with the pacing of the original song. It is also one of my favourite Tom Petty tracks.

'Atomic No 5' by Mike Florio is a very clever chemistry lesson and deserves my vote because it is simply that - clever.

'Molestor Guy' was another tricky parody (not for the same reasons as above) but I thought it was well written and showed a good sense of satirical humour.


End Quote

Nice to see you around these parts, Bobby.  Say, if you have any experience writing song parodies, we're lookin' to fill out the other bracket for the tournament.  And if you don't have any experience, that's even better, right guys?  Heh heh.  

Quoting:

Nice to see you around these parts, Bobby.  Say, if you have any experience writing song parodies, we're lookin' to fill out the other bracket for the tournament.  And if you don't have any experience, that's even better, right guys?  Heh heh.  
End Quote

I don't have any experience as such, Claude but I did a great poem based on Billy Joel's 'We didn't start the fire'. I put it on the board a while ago but I might put it on again sometime.

Quoting:


I don't have any experience as such, Claude but I did a great poem based on Billy Joel's 'We didn't start the fire'. I put it on the board a while ago but I might put it on again sometime.
End Quote

On the messageboard?  Or at AmiRight?

Quoting:
On the messageboard?  Or at AmiRight?
End Quote

On the messageboard. I'm not familiar with AmiRight. Here is the link:

http://www.inthe00s.com/cgi-bin/YaBB/YaBB.cgi?board=membersonly&action=display&num=1056586228&start=15

You will have to scroll down a little before you reach it.  :)

Quoting:
Well done Bobby; I liked Phil's chorus too.  Well, if you ever get the urge to write more make sure you come to AmiRight and submit them.  It's pretty addictive though.
End Quote

Thank you very much, Claude. I'll give a shot in the future.

Quoting:


Accessible: (The shortest definition I can think of is) Written for mainstream consumption... no insider or special  knowledge required to "get it."   Similar to a universal theme.  

Except where I prefaced with "it finally came down to," the things I cited were just what I liked best about those parodies, not the deciding criteria and not, at all, a comment on the ones I didn't choose.  I liked multiple things about each of the parodies.    

PS to MysteryGoat -- I was in such a rush, this morning, I didn't take time to read more than just Claude's post.  I got a real kick out of finding out we'd voted for each other!   :)    


End Quote

Quoting:
Proposal to break a tie:

If two contestants in a given round split the 16 votes 8-to-8, then they should each post a link to another one of their parodies - different from their "primary tournament parody" - and let the other 14 people vote on the basis of that new match-up.  

If another tie results, the process is repeated, until a winner emerges.

Comments ?

Johnny D  ;-D
End Quote

I like you ;D

We've got a bunch of parodies that we should probably prostitute off to y'all ;D

Quoting:
Proposal to break a tie:

If two contestants in a given round split the 16 votes 8-to-8, then they should each post a link to another one of their parodies - different from their "primary tournament parody" - and let the other 14 people vote on the basis of that new match-up.  

If another tie results, the process is repeated, until a winner emerges.

Comments ?

Johnny D  ;-D
End Quote

Funny, I was just thinking about this today.  I think it's a great idea and if there's a tie that's what we'll do.  My other plan was to give anyone from the other bracket 24 hours to vote and break the tie that way but I like the idea of bringing in another song; in fact I'm starting to think we should've allowed a different song in each round but I'm hesitant to change it at this point.  Thanks guys.

Quoting:

Funny, I was just thinking about this today.  I think it's a great idea and if there's a tie that's what we'll do.  My other plan was to give anyone from the other bracket 24 hours to vote and break the tie that way but I like the idea of bringing in another song; in fact I'm starting to think we should've allowed a different song in each round but I'm hesitant to change it at this point.  Thanks guys.
End Quote

Hey Claude, how about you use this bracket as a crash-test dummy to iron out the kinks, so that bracket 2 will have a more smooth time?  :)  This was a great idea though, lots of good fun.

Quoting:


Hey Claude, how about you use this bracket as a crash-test dummy to iron out the kinks, so that bracket 2 will have a more smooth time?  :)  This was a great idea though, lots of good fun.
End Quote

Actually, I'm sorta looking at the whole tournament as a crash-test dummy (particularly the voting part) to see if some sort of monthly contest would be feasible.  I mentioned it somewhere before but it got buried quick.  I do think I set the voting deadline too far away for round one so I plan to shorten it a bit, and of course subsequent round voting should go much more quickly since there'll be fewer each round and everyone will already be familiar with the songs.  This is a good time to remind everyone, though, that even if you're eliminated this round you must vote in every round.  Also, you should read both songs again back to back even if you think you already know which one you like better.   Thanks for the input Rice and you guys keep those suggestions coming.

Quoting:
Hi Claude,

I'm in favor of allowing the entrants the option - not as a requirement, but only the option - to change their song in every round!

Even starting right now, with the soon-to-be-decided second round of Bracket One!

The benefit of doing this would be that pre-formed opinions about a song in a previous round might not necessarily be able to bias the voting in subsequent rounds, if a given parody-entry is changed from one round to the next.

If entrant A secretly decides they don't like entrant B's "song C", period, and will always vote against it no matter what other song it's matched-up against, then if entrant B happens to change from "song C" to "song D" in the next round, that would refresh the game's dynamics!

Johnny D
End Quote

I do agree; the only reason I hesitate to change it is that we decided on the format ahead of time and it may irritate people if we change the rules after we've begun.  If a few more people really like the idea of a different song each round and no one speaks against it we can change it but they'd have to speak up in the next few days.  A different song each round would of course bring more benefits to those advancing but for those who don't it may seem like more work since everyone's kind of setting an etiquette standard with the comments as they vote (which I think is fantastic, by the way--I imagine people are pretty happy so far even if they're not leading in the votes).  Thanks Johnny.

Quoting:
Let me use a couple analogies here.

So if we change the song for every round, that would sort of defeat the purpose of bracket-style tournament play since it's not like the same team advancing through to earn the title of "best song" (at least in this contest).

But if you did change the song, that would be like a coach changing his team's strategy for every round.

Tough call :)  I'm gonna just go with the flow.
End Quote

Well, that's a good point.  Changing songs also kinda takes the focus off the song and onto the artist, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but could make it more difficult for people to avoid taking the voting too personally.  We'll just see if anyone else has any thoughts.

Quoting:

.....it may irritate people if we change the rules after we've begun.  ......it may seem like more work since everyone's kind of setting an etiquette standard with the comments as they vote .......End Quote

This proposed rule-change does not hurt anybody as far as I can see.  

Nobody is forced to change a song if they don't want to.

And we've all been reading and writing parodies long enough that the extra effort, if any, to read and think about a new song should not be overly burdensome to conscientious and intelligent writers like all of us !!

I agree it may "seem" like more work, but it really isn't.

Again, no one will be forced to change their song.  

And we're all smart enough and literate enough to be able to read and think about a new song.

Let's go for it!  It'll make the game more exciting and fun!

Johnny D  :-D

Quoting:
Hi Claude,

I'm in favor of allowing the entrants the option - not as a requirement, but only the option - to change their song in every round!

Even starting right now, with the soon-to-be-decided second round of Bracket One!

The benefit of doing this would be that pre-formed opinions about a song in a previous round might not necessarily be able to bias the voting in subsequent rounds, if a given parody-entry is changed from one round to the next.

If entrant A secretly decides they don't like entrant B's "song C", period, and will always vote against it no matter what other song it's matched-up against, then if entrant B happens to change from "song C" to "song D" in the next round, that would refresh the game's dynamics!

Johnny D
End Quote

Quoting:
Thanks, Paul - I did not intend to plagiarize your plan - in fact, my idea would allow people to either keep or change their parody in each round - whatever they personally choose to do is OK - keep or change, keep or change - freedom of choice!

And Claude - speaking for myself, I do not weigh the personalities of the parody artists at all as I develop my voting decisions, only their parody-writing ..... you'll see, when I cast my votes!

..... I'm totally confident that no one in Bracket One has self-esteem so low that they feel the need to vote somebody else's parody down out of some kind of personal spite or revenge or any other such stupid and immature motive.

And after seeing the excellent quality of all the entries in Bracket One, I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that everybody in Bracket One has both the intelligence and the literacy to be able to smoothly consider new parodies from round to round...enjoying the variety along the way!

And we'll all have the option of publicizing more parodies from our respective catalogs, too!  Everybody WINS !!

Johnny D

:-D
End Quote

Quoting:
Proposal to break a tie:

If two contestants in a given round split the 16 votes 8-to-8, then they should each post a link to another one of their parodies - different from their "primary tournament parody" - and let the other 14 people vote on the basis of that new match-up.  

If another tie results, the process is repeated, until a winner emerges.

Comments ?

Johnny D  ;-D
End Quote

Personaly I love the idea. In fact I love it so much I beg for a tie between me and Mehli. (he says after last chance desperation  ;D)


By the way, being able to change the song after each round may not be such a bad idea. Actually i'm having second thoughts on my current song choice right now, it'd be great to be able to change it in later rounds.

Quoting:
Voting for the following seeds :


1
2
14
4
5
6
7
9


End Quote

Quoting:
Only the people in this bracket should vote.
End Quote

Are you one of the people in the bracket, just using a different name or something? Because if so you should let them know that, and if not you should really read the rules before jumping into something.

Quoting:
he's one half of mike armstrong... of course i wouldn't mind his vote not counting considering one of his choices  :-[ ... i'm starting to think i'll be very lucky if i pull off a tie this round
End Quote

Ah, ok. Never mind, then. But yeah, I was also hoping that it didn't count... it sucks how many people say mine was a really difficult choice, but they went with my competitor's :-/.

Quoting:
*****************************************************

Vote: 16 B.O'Connor  

I am very impressed by B.O'Connor's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" parody.  
I went so far as to get myself a sample of The Beastie Boy's "Intergalactic" rap,
and listen to it enough to get a sense of what B.O'Connor did.  

B.O'Connor accomplished quite a feat of parody writing there - the lines
are very long and intricate, and - since it's rap - the pacing needs to be
conversational and fluid - and B.O'Connor achieved all of the above.  

My "Ear Doctor" parody, so I'm told, is very humorous and entertaining - but I don't think it's as impressive and challenging a parody as is B.O'Connor's take on "Intergalactic" - so I'm breaking with tradition here and voting for my opponent.  Well done, B.O'Connor.

End Quote

:o wow...thanks Johnny....

Quoting:


:o wow...thanks Johnny....
End Quote

Thank YOU, Just_Brit ... I must admit that I am not an avid fan of rap music - could have something to do with my age, I guess!  

Anyway, your parody of "Intergalactic" gave me the perfect opportunity to get off my 45-year-old-butt and finally give rap a respectful listening.  

I have a sister-in-law who loves The Beastie Boys - for Christmas, I got her a compilation CD set of The Beastie Boys called "The Sounds Of Science" - so I'm not a total stranger to the guys.  

Rap is tough stuff to parody!  It's essentially poetry declaimed explosively to a beat - like I said, tough stuff to parody - that's why I'm so impressed by your "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"!  You NAILED it!

Also, I really like the Turtles, too - they're weird, funny, mutant, bizarre, friendly, good-natured, and martial artists, too - all adjectives that I would like to think also describe me - I'm a computer geek who has a 1st degree black belt in shotokan and who dropped-out of the great temple of mutant nerddom, M.I.T., more than 25 years ago.

So be assured, my vote for your parody was well-thought-out and very carefully considered... I took almost a whole week to cast this vote... you deserve it.  

Congratulations, good luck, and God bless you.

Johnny D  :)  ;) ;D

Quoting:
So far I have the #2, #5, #4, and #7 seeds advancing.  We still need Jack Wilson's vote and he should have it in by 8 PM if possible.  Also, Ethan, neminem, and 2nz still have 2-3 matches to vote on.  Please do so even if the match is already settled.  Thank you.
End Quote

Ok, I got the rest of mine in.

Quoting:
Dang! I got exactly 8 votes! Stupid tiebreaker rule...
End Quote

And if you'd gotten 9 you'd be delighted.  Sorry; can't please everyone.

Quoting:
Not your fault - just felt like complaining ;-). Hey, I got large numbers of 5s out of it, anyway!
End Quote

Good; that's how it's supposed to work.  Kind of like a "competitive co-op".  The contest makes it fun but the real reason to do it is the agreement to read each other's stuff.

Quoting:
Hey i asked a lot earlier if i could get into the second bracket seeing as how it looked like i wasn't going to get through. And wouldn't you know it, i didn't. Is the possibility still open to get in?  ;D
End Quote

Crap!  I'm sorry; I coulda sworn you were talking about the different song for each round idea.  Believe me, if I thought I had two already lined up I would not have offered the other spot.  Oh well.  This has gone over well enough I guarantee there will be others of some sort.  Thanks for your understanding.

Quoting:
I remember talking about both so i probably confused it. Anyway i'll be the first to sign up for bracket 3. :D
End Quote

Hey, yeah, if you do a 3rd bracket can losers from the first get into it?

Quoting:


Hey, yeah, if you do a 3rd bracket can losers from the first get into it?
End Quote

I'm afraid a 3rd bracket seems pretty unlikely at this point; we've had almost no interest for quite awhile outside our existing 30 participants.  As I told MG though, the response to this has been good enough that future contests similar to this seem pretty certain.