2011-2012 Parody Contest!

[seawolf17]

Yep; we've got great stuff up there already.

[ashie62]

I'm ready..pm attigig and then post mine right?

[soupcan]

Ceetar's is a riot.

[Fman99]

Yeah it's hard to argue with any "kill Wayne Hagin" based parody.

On the other hand, I wonder if OldMole will submit in time. He no-show'd against me two years ago.

[nymr83]

Accidentally voted in vic sage vs old mole on blackberry... subtract one from old mole's final total and i'll refrain from voting on that one. (or start a new thread)
thanks

[Edgy MD]

I set the poll to allow you to change your vote, if you see fit.

[Edgy MD]

Am I crazy to think we have a lesser crop of players than usual? Are we using the top 500? The 610 or so who have scored top-30 in at least one season? All 1000 or so?

I mean, Raul Gonzalez and Lee Gutterman? That's scratching some bottom in Round One. Not that folks aren't making lemonade, because they are.

[Frayed Knot]

Just the top 500 as far as players go -- Rauuul & Gutterman both reside in the 400s

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Gene Clines? Cliff Cook?

[Frayed Knot]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Gene Clines? Cliff Cook?

Bottom 50 guys both. Cook may even be gone by this time next year.


A quickie look at the players assigned (ignoring the coaches, mgrs, years, etc) shows a slight skewing towards the back of the list at the expense of the front but close enough to just be passed off as just random chance.
But there are still 15 Top-100 guys out there and 32 from the top 200 (vs 20 bottom 100 and 39 from the bottom 200)

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

The Mole/Sage duel raises a question for me: do rhythmic cheats/errors-- skipping a line, e.g.-- factor into your votes at all? How much?

[Edgy MD]

Certainly. Good scansion matching. True rhymes. This is part of quality.

How much? Can't say. There can be cleverness in displaying the failures as well as the successes.

[Vic Sage]

i vote on the basis of (in declining order of importance):

- how much does it capture the essence of the particular player (or concept) being parodied?
- how funny/clever/thoughtful is the song?
- how close is it to the original song (in terms of structure, rhythm, rhyming pattern, etc.)?
- how much Mets data mining (met info, history and references) does it have?

so i do think fidelity to the original's scancion, rhythmic structure and rhyming patterns matters, i just don't think its determinative, in and of itself. It's a balancing test.

The main thing i DO NOT concern myself with is song choice -- just because i don't happen to like a particular song, or kind of song, or am unfamiliar with the song, shouldn't be a factor at all, as far as I'm concerned, as long as a version of the original song is provided as reference.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I have to admit-- song choice matters to me a little, at least as a sort-of tiebreaker; some songs are lyrically plastic or otherwise rhythmically easier to work with (think "Let it Be" or "Jingle Bells" versus, say, "Bohemian Rhapsody"), and if all else is equal, I tend to favor the guy who went a bit bolder.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, whether you like the song or not, searching for one that will help capture the imagination, serve the subject, and trigger unexpected memory responses from the reader/listener gets points. You know, if you're going to pick a Billy Joel song, picking "You're Only Human" or "I Go to Extremes" may get you farther with me than "Piano Man" or "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant."

Or maybe not.

[Theoldmole]

I'm almost ready to disqualify myself. I can't believe I left a line out.

[Vic Sage]

with regard to song choice -- i guess if it goes to "degree of difficulty", choosing a complex song over an easy one may be a factor to consider. And i'll also give points for the humor/wit/cleverness of a particular choice (i.e, Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds for a player with a famous drug bust, or something like that). But i disagree about giving more credit for obscure songs vs well-known ones. I don't think that matters in the slightest, anymore than genre or style. Giving points to people for digging through b sides and backlists misses the point of the challenge, in my view.

and Mole -- don't let me stop you!

[G-Fafif]

Last time around, each poll was up for two business days (48 hours, give or take weekend overlap) from the time the second of the two parodies was posted. Does that still hold?

[Theoldmole]

Can I get a do-over?

As far as criteria, I think it's all subjective. I'm not even sure I apply the same criteria to two competitions in a row. It's more like "I know it when I see it."

Oh, wait...that's pornography.

Oh, wait...there's a difference?

[G-Fafif]

Edgy DC wrote: You know, if you're going to pick a Billy Joel song, picking "You're Only Human" or "I Go to Extremes" may get you farther with me than "Piano Man" or "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant."

Damn. So much for...

Throwing some strikes
Like Cornejo can
Throwing some strikes tonight
Bruce Boisclair just pinch-hit for Mike Bruhert
And Tom Hausman's shoulder feels tight

[metsmarathon]

unless you really, and i mean really nail it, i give more credit to a difficult song than an easy one, particularly if hte easy song borrowed some of the original lyrics.

and i hope to hell fitting in the rhyming/scansion carries some weight. that's the shit i beat myself up on the most.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Same here. My point in asking the question was... well, yeah, Mole missed a line. But meter or scansion that's completely off throws me almost as much.

[seawolf17]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Same here. My point in asking the question was... well, yeah, Mole missed a line. But meter or scansion that's completely off throws me almost as much.

Someone beat me up over scansion a few years ago, when I thought it sounded perfect in my head. I guess that's why we vote; some people see it one way, some people see it another way. Thing is, you have to bring it EVERY SINGLE TIME if you want to take home the golden microphone.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'm amazed that I was able to win this one year. I have no idea what either "meter" or "scansion" are. I don't think I've ever even heard the word ""scansion".

[metirish]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I'm amazed that I was able to win this one year. I have no idea what either "meter" or "scansion" are. I don't think I've ever even heard the word ""scansion".

I feel a whole lot better knowing that Grim never heard the word either.

[seawolf17]

I still don't know, and I even used it.

[Ceetar]

metirish wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: I'm amazed that I was able to win this one year. I have no idea what either "meter" or "scansion" are. I don't think I've ever even heard the word ""scansion". I feel a whole lot better knowing that Grim never heard the word either.

That's a mansion infested with scabies right?

[seawolf17]

fman and irish knocked out, and MFS62 brings Sandy Alderson to the table and eliminates Ashie's lot. If he wins, he'll take the rest of attgig's list and move on.

[Theoldmole]

I used to do a scansion exercise with my poetry workshop students to get them used to the concept and make them feel a little more natural about it -- to eavesdrop on other people's conversations and write down everything you hear someone say in iambic pentameter. Always grumbling, always kids coming back and saying they couldn't do it, and always nearly everyone ending up by not being able to turn it off -- they kept hearing iambic pentameter all around them.

The problem with this is that it skews your natural social responses.

GIRLFRIEND: Last weekend I had sex with your best friend.

YOU: What? Wow, that's great! last WEEK / end I / had SEX / with YOUR / best FRIEND! I can use that!

GIRLFRIEND: No, listen to me -- I even let him fuck me in the ass.

YOU: Even better! I'm gonna get an A!

[Theoldmole]

Oh, and the reason why it's not hard to write a song lyric that scans, even if you don't know what it means, is that you just follow the bouncing ball. You put your stresses -- beats -- where the beats of the song are.