Normally I try to keep this world and my real world separate. There have been exceptions, such as when I revealed my skill to my AP Chemistry class when the student teacher was asking us for "facts that most people don't know about you," which caused some guys to call me "Weird Caitie Yankovic," nergh.

But anyway, it seems as if my parody-writing skills have infiltrated my math mind. I have an enormous calculus test tomorrow, and while I just usually repeat something or make a mnemonic in order to remember a certain tricky concept, one of the things in it reminded me of a line in a certain Stephen Stills song, which led to this miniature parody of its chorus...

"And as you go, don't forget pi-iiiii!
And when you wind, minus Y-hyyy!
And when you do chains, must remember this, Caitie,
What you wind, you lift!
What you wind, you lift!
What you wind, you lift!

F divide by D equals K!
F divide by D equals K!
F divide by D equals K!
Equals K! Equals K!"

Yeah, just don't ask what it means. It'd take forever to explain.

And if you haven't guessed already, Caitie is indeed my real name.

So anyway, other than obvious things like performing your work, has your experience as a parodist affected your real life in ways you wouldn't expect?

other than obvious things like performing your work, has your experience as a parodist affected your real life in ways you wouldn't expect?


It has utterly destroyed my ability to listen to music.

xoxox
Spaff

So anyway, other than obvious things like performing your work, has your experience as a parodist affected your real life in ways you wouldn't expect?


I've grown a second thumb on my left hand... err, wait a minute, I had that before I started writing.  ;D

I never expected that soooooo many people are utterly clueless about the concept of parody. When I tell people I write songs, most of the time they say "Oh cool! What band are you in?", and when I reply "I write parodies, you know, like what Weird Al does", they go "Uh, okay, yeah, well, that's nice. I gotta go feed my cats now. Nice talking to you."

And ditto what Spaff said. It is very hard now to listen to music for what it is w/o wanting to turn it into a parody. Or worse, a song comes on the radio that I've already done, and I sing my lyrics (or, occasionally, some other parodist's) instead of the original: that tends to annoy people.

I'll also find that laundry tends to pile up when I'm writing, but I can justify that one: writing is more important than wrinkled clothes.

My experience as a parodist goes back too far to know what life was like before I was doing it...but my experience with AmiRight has been shorter lived...

I have to say that if we're not allowed to mention the obvious things...(being on the site has made me a better parodist, most notably)...that, thanks to this site, I've met some honestly fabulous people that I never would have even known existed.  And I have had SO much fun with them...my old TOTTM (RIP) compadres, especially.  There are people here that I honestly consider to be "real life" friends.  Some of whom I have met in person...if I ever do settle on one guy...and have that same one guy settle on me...I'm pretty sure Ash will be a bridesmaid at my wedding.  And...some who I may never meet...(if I ever do settle on a guy, I'm sure that Leo will be really happy for me...and if I trip and fall in my wedding dress, I know that I'll be able to count on Jeff to lyrically immortalize that moment to a sweet Billy Joel tune).  At the risk of being TOTALLY mushy...they have made a difference in my life...in more ways than giving 555s.

Also, I think I've gained a creepy stalker in Spaff...but we have to take the bad with the good, right? ;)


:\'(  When you do trip and fall in your wedding dress I swear it wasn't me that tripped you.  :\'(

I never expected that soooooo many people are utterly clueless about the concept of parody. When I tell people I write songs, most of the time they say "Oh cool! What band are you in?", and when I reply "I write parodies, you know, like what Weird Al does", they go "Uh, okay, yeah, well, that's nice. I gotta go feed my cats now. Nice talking to you."

It is very hard now to listen to music for what it is w/o wanting to turn it into a parody. Or worse, a song comes on the radio that I've already done, and I sing my lyrics (or, occasionally, some other parodist's) instead of the original: that tends to annoy people.

Ditto all that, but Red Ant, please understand one thing--it's not that people are clueless on the concept...it's just that they don't want to know about it. They all think it's about Weird Al nerdiness and songs about food.  :-[ There's a certain legtimate artfulness to this craft that very few people realize (and some aspects that *I* never realized or dreamed of until I came here).

Friends, relatives and hangers-on have relied on me to come up with quick ideas for parodies, and some actually admired it when I wrote a parody of their favorite artist with them in mind.

Ditto all that, but Red Ant, please understand one thing--it's not that people are clueless on the concept...it's just that they don't want to know about it. They all think it's about Weird Al nerdiness and songs about food.  :-[ There's a certain legtimate artfulness to this craft that very few people realize (and some aspects that *I* never realized or dreamed of until I came here).



exactly what Agri said

I have categorically stopped telling people about amiright over a year ago, because I instantly lose respect - you spend hours doing what?
People don't uderstand the "legitimate artfulness" as Agri said. 

I used to write for a radio Aussie Rules Football comedy show, and my songs would be sung each week, and people would respect that because they were being performed and became known, but writing parodies for a website just for the sake of it baffles people - you get the "too much time on your hands" comment

I'm sure they think it must be easy to write new words to a song that's already written, so why bother

But as Agri said, there's so MUCH art to it when you get involved.  The challenges of pacing, title subs, hooking the reader in at the start, creating a humorous atmosphere as well as coming up with humorous lines, milking the topic for every comical angle possible (as Spaff and Kristof do), bouncing off the OS in rhythm, feel, and in using its own lines against it, is a huge challenge to do well - and that's forgetting the biggest challenge (or mine at least) of coming up with a worthy idea in the first place - which has legs.  There's nothing worse than coming up with a great idea/title sub and then finding it has no legs.

and I'm convinced that our tiny on-line community in our tiny small corner of the universe is the only people (please grammar-check that) who understand, care, and appreciate the art side of it - so when new talented like-minded writers arrive to expand this little world (like BA Dave, Wolverine, TJC) they need to be welcomed and encouraged - which of course they are because, dammit, we're such lovely people too :)

Every time I do my laundry I sing my parody "I Need To Wash My Pants"  Outside of juggling I enjoy this form of art far more then drawing or watercolor.  It doesnt make as much mess for me to clean eather.  As far as changing my life all that I can say is that I would get the craziest dreams as a kid.  My favorate one was with Captian Hook and Smee in banana chairs.  I don't get dreams like that any more.

A good friend has told me that my soon-to-be-born son will never know the correct lyrics to any song, no thanks to me!  :D

exactly what Agri said

I have categorically stopped telling people about amiright over a year ago, because I instantly lose respect - you spend hours doing what?
People don't uderstand the "legitimate artfulness" as Agri said. 

I used to write for a radio Aussie Rules Football comedy show, and my songs would be sung each week, and people would respect that because they were being performed and became known, but writing parodies for a website just for the sake of it baffles people - you get the "too much time on your hands" comment

I'm sure they think it must be easy to write new words to a song that's already written, so why bother

But as Agri said, there's so MUCH art to it when you get involved.  The challenges of pacing, title subs, hooking the reader in at the start, creating a humorous atmosphere as well as coming up with humorous lines, milking the topic for every comical angle possible (as Spaff and Kristof do), bouncing off the OS in rhythm, feel, and in using its own lines against it, is a huge challenge to do well - and that's forgetting the biggest challenge (or mine at least) of coming up with a worthy idea in the first place - which has legs.  There's nothing worse than coming up with a great idea/title sub and then finding it has no legs.

and I'm convinced that our tiny on-line community in our tiny small corner of the universe is the only people (please grammar-check that) who understand, care, and appreciate the art side of it - so when new talented like-minded writers arrive to expand this little world (like BA Dave, Wolverine, TJC) they need to be welcomed and encouraged - which of course they are because, dammit, we're such lovely people too :)








You know the other thing. . .I've always loved performing parodies, but until I found this site, I never really challenged myself, this site has brought that out in me. . .Now, on top of the performing, I take pride in my writing, and this hobby.  I don't get the deaf ear as much because of the recordings, but the "Too Much Time On Your Hands" has become to me, "We All Have a Hobby" and everyday when I see my listens, downloads, and comments including my name, I don't feel so weird like I did before this site.  Now when I'm at work preparing taxes, I'm working on a parody. . .today I was singing a parody I'm working on of Bat Out of Hell, and another tax preparer came back and complimented me, and I remembered for a second, I'm not at home playing around with my AmIRight challenge. . .it's like a whole new world to me.  When I was a kid, and a teen--I thought I was the only Weird Al fan in the world, and I was the only person who aspired to do what he does, now not only do I feel I'm not alone, but that what I do is talented, appreciated, and difficult.  . . .that was AmIRight and the beautiful people who fill it's doing.

It has utterly destroyed my ability to listen to music.

...without either thinking "these lyrics are c**p", or simply coming up with some more..

The great thing about amiright is that it's proven pretty conclusively that it ain't just me, that there are more of us out there, that WE ARE NOT ALONE!!!

er.. where was I?

Unlike Stu, I often tell people about writing parodies: usually by starting off saying how lyrically awful most songs are (not even most "modern" songs, I mean most songs from every genre), and leading them along the "wouldn't it be great if songs were funnier, wittier, better lyrics, etc." sort of path.  Once they've agreed with that (and face it, who wouldn't agree with that?), telling them you improve on crappy song lyrics is a positive thing ;)

Where do I start? I agree with all the above sentiments exactly (even the ones that contradict each other)

I, like Spaff, can't listen to music anymore without wanting to tamper with the lyrics. Some of my best ideas have been formulated on the drive to and from work. It takes me an hour and a quarter each way, and if I hear a song that I think I can work with, I'll start writing a parody in my head (it's made for some eventful situations involving grannies on zebra crossings!) My significant other is almost certainly totally fed up with my constant mutilation of her favourite tunes ("just sing the bloody right words, will ya?") but tolerates my "hobby". As for others? Responses generally range from mild indifference to...complete indifference. When I won PAOTY, I expected street parades, declaration of a national holiday, and a knighthood. Did I get any of them? Huh?  ;)

The only really positive responses I've got are from the two recorded parodies I've done. I'm now convinced that recorded parodies are the way to go. If people can hear rather than read something, they'll almost always give you more generous feedback. There's no doubt that Spaff is our little site's premier talent, and one of the funniest men God put breath into, but I'm sure that even he'll admit that when Robert Lund does one of those fabulous recordings of his lyrics, they take on a whole new life, and another level of funniness. If you actually read Weird Al's lyrics dry, and if you're honest with yourself, there's probably 20 authors on this site that are better. But when he puts out the records and the videos...BOOM! There ya go!

Having said all that, I'd like you all to give a round of applause and a karma point to BADave, who in his brief time in Amiright, has opened up the gates to recorded parodies more than most would have thought feasible. Dave, you are a true star, dude!

At the end of the day, I LOVE doing this, and even though my potential audience is small, I appreciate each and every one of them more than they know. Peace and love to you all.

K

As the main singer of Styx once said, then somebody probably parodized right as he was saying it, "Is any wonder I have too much time on my hands?" us as parody writers embrace this time by not only "Making fun of songs, which is equivilent to filling in a Mad Libs book" as my a-hole roommate once said, BUT by making new friends, bouncing ideas off of each other, and giving each other writing tips, which isn't only used for these song parodies, but makes us better author's all around.
Contests such as POTM, SOTM, ABC, and many others give us reason to get online in the morning and checking that blue box to see what new comments have been posted on the messageboard, and stalking your own parody seeing what comments you have gotten, and what a-hole just gave you all 1's.
I also agree with Dave, Stuart, and Kristof with the fact that Weird Al makes his name among the nation is not because he was the first song parodist out there (Tom Leher) was much earlier than him, but because he was the first parodist to really get involved in his work making videos, concerts, recordings, television shows, and horrible movies (UHF sucked). If he was just to submit the occasional song parody on a website he wouldn't be much better than the rest of us, but because he took the extra step he made himself famous. I think that if any of us really wanted to push ourselves that hard we could also become as famous as Weird Al and that right there gives us something to strive for.
At first I thought that song parodying was a pretty embarassing hobby since many people were like, "Dude.... You need to get laid, SOON!" And while that may be true, and I'M SINGLE LADIES!  ;) Song parodying is still the best hobby I pretty much had my entire life, and although it is pretty damn nerdy, it takes a certain talent to do what we do, and not everybody has that talent (Although they may say that they do).
So this right here is how Amiright, and song parodying in general changed my life

As well as making a few of the best buddies I have online, though Amiright.com, and the Flashchat which is surely missed.

I don't know if it's changed my life just yet, since I just submitted my first parody here last week.  But I do want to...well it almost seems like plagerism at this point.  :)  The responses of "What?"  "Uh, ok"  "You have too much time on your hands" are all too familiar.

I've always rewritten songs for my own personal amusement, one co-worker who I happened to share one with and she asked me to write one for her, and a couple of friends.  That's been my audience up 'til now.  Most others, either I know they won't laugh, or I've tried and they don't care.  I can play off of something they said, for 5 minutes, and have them rolling.  Give them a song I wrote, and nothing.  Senses of humor are a funny thing, so to speak.  Perhaps Kristof is right, and the songs need to be heard and not just read.

Anyway, with amiright, not only has the audience for my writing expanded, but they're all people who generally "get" what I do and have been doing it (in many cases) for years.  And I'm picking up the "artfulness", and the range, that so many of you use.  You guys can take almost any subject and any song, and work them together somehow.

At first I thought that song parodying was a pretty embarassing hobby since many people were like, "Dude.... You need to get laid, SOON!" And while that may be true, and I'M SINGLE LADIES! 

Let us not forget folks, that Weird Al is married to a lovely woman and has a child. It can happen to YOU!~

When I won PAOTY, I expected street parades, declaration of a national holiday, and a knighthood. Did I get any of them? Huh?  ;)


Pah! Apparently Her Majesty hasn't yet realized the uncanny ring that "Sir Kristof Robertson" has to it!

...of course, then you'd get all bigheaded and demand that all of us address you by your proper title. :P

At first I thought that song parodying was a pretty embarassing hobby since many people were like, "Dude.... You need to get laid, SOON!" And while that may be true, and I'M SINGLE LADIES!  ;)



So you're single, huh Matthias? Photographic evidence suggests otherwise.....

http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/5495/untitledcopysp5.png

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/49/articleimage1144613967czp1.png

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/2624/heatherandpaulatla02copco5.png

:D :D :D

AmIRight doesn't affect my life...it kind of interferes with it! Not that I have much of a life to begin with, but anyway... ;D

It's mainly school and stuff. I'm lucky that I barely get any homework, otherwise I'd never have time to wirte new parodies. A couple of people at school know about my works, including my mate Frogzey (who's commented on a few), my Youth Group leader (who's read 'Jesus' I Am Phrases') and Mr. Russo (who gave inspiration for my name and to do a parody of SexyBack).

Of course, there's my parodies about other people from school, but I'm not tellin' them about 'em ('specially not those two mushy ones :-
Pah! Apparently Her Majesty hasn't yet realized the uncanny ring that "Sir Kristof Robertson" has to it!

...of course, then you'd get all bigheaded and demand that all of us address you by your proper title. :P


Then the rest of us will demand a knighthood! 'Specially Spaff..who needs about seventeen knighthoods by now ;)

AmIRight doesn't affect my life...it kind of interferes with it! Not that I have much of a life to begin with, but anyway... ;D

It's mainly school and stuff. I'm lucky that I barely get any homework, otherwise I'd never have time to wirte new parodies. A couple of people at school know about my works, including my mate Frogzey (who's commented on a few), my Youth Group leader (who's read 'Jesus' I Am Phrases') and Mr. Russo (who gave inspiration for my name and to do a parody of SexyBack).

Of course, there's my parodies about other people from school, but I'm not tellin' them about 'em ('specially not those two mushy ones :-rest of us will demand a knighthood! 'Specially Spaff..who needs about seventeen knighthoods by now ;)

Ok, Maybe I'm behind in the times. . .but Conq. . .

Can you tell me who the heck your avatar is?

AmIRight had made some difference in my life - although I'm not into becoming the next "Weird Al Yankovic" of my home country, the Philippines, I've started writing parodies as a hobby about two years ago, although I've been singing some parody bits since I was little.

AmIRight had made some difference in my life - although I'm not into becoming the next "Weird Al Yankovic" of my home country, the Philippines, I've started writing parodies as a hobby about two years ago, although I've been singing some parody bits since I was little.


Have you ever recorded any?  Sorry, if you've seen me around for awhile, you know any thing with singing/backing tracks and such. . .get my ears ringing

Have you ever recorded any?  Sorry, if you've seen me around for awhile, you know any thing with singing/backing tracks and such. . .get my ears ringing


I've been into recording songs, (I have some good instrumental MP3s, rather than computer-generated MIDIs) but I'm busy right now doing some other stuff...

Ok, Maybe I'm behind in the times. . .but Conq. . .

Can you tell me who the heck your avatar is?


If I may make a guess before The Conqueror answers, I believe that to be Bumblebee, of The Transformers (the eyes being a more comic/anime version than I'm used to).

I think his previous one was Hound...unless that was someone else's.

So you're single, huh Matthias? Photographic evidence suggests otherwise.....

http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/5495/untitledcopysp5.png

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/49/articleimage1144613967czp1.png

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/2624/heatherandpaulatla02copco5.png

:D :D :D


Awesome Kristof, Purely Awesome...

I can only say, I wish

When I won PAOTY, I expected street parades, declaration of a national holiday, and a knighthood. Did I get any of them? Huh?  ;)


I dub thee Sir K. (click on the image if you don't see the animation)

If I may make a guess before The Conqueror answers, I believe that to be Bumblebee, of The Transformers (the eyes being a more comic/anime version than I'm used to).

I think his previous one was Hound...unless that was someone else's.


Both are right! And both are avatars from Lil' Formers, a comic which features chibi versions of favourite Transformers characters (Step-chan will know what 'chibi' means ;)).

Out of interest, Wolverine, I noticed you mentioned Michael Bay in your comment for 'Decepticon Idiot'. Does that mean you're against the new movie? It would suck if you were.

Both are right! And both are avatars from Lil' Formers, a comic which features chibi versions of favourite Transformers characters (Step-chan will know what 'chibi' means ;)).

Out of interest, Wolverine, I noticed you mentioned Michael Bay in your comment for 'Decepticon Idiot'. Does that mean you're against the new movie? It would suck if you were.


I am...setting my expectations rather low for the movie.  The Transformers were MY toys when I was a kid.  They were all I wanted from Santa, they were the only comic books I ever bought as a kid, and Ironhide is still ticked at me for "playing Ratchet" and not being able to put him back together.  I had heard originally that they were going with the originals from the mid-80's when making the movie, and they had cast Peter Cullen as the voice of Optimus.  But...then I started seeing pics of some of them.  I can understand the update in vehicle models in some cases.  The sports cars like Sunstreaker and Sideswipe would be from the 2000's, not the 80's.  Same with the Decepticon jets.  But to mess with Optimus, with Bumblebee, and to do WHATEVER it is that they did to Megatron...


I figure it'll be a good mindless popcorn flick for the summer.  I hope, that these Transformers capture my imagination like the originals did as a kid.  But I'm not holding my breath.

Oh, and going back to the original topic, I thought you'd like to know that I got a perfect on my calculus test...yes, an A+! :D

And I was one of the few who did, too...how many times can YOU say Stephen Stills helped you in math class, even inadvertently? ;)

Oh, and going back to the original topic, I thought you'd like to know that I got a perfect on my calculus test...yes, an A+! :D

And I was one of the few who did, too...how many times can YOU say Stephen Stills helped you in math class, even inadvertently? ;)


Congrats Cat!