Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Do you know what Mickey Mouse is whistling?

If not, here's a presentation I made yesterday, complete with the lyrics, and prefaced by a bit of prerequisite knowledge needed to get the big punchline of the third verse.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Animaniacs song parodies I wrote in the 1990s

Decided to present these old Animaniacs-related song parodies I wrote back in the day and still remember — one of The Brady Bunch theme, one of The Beverly Hillbillies theme, and one of American Pie which I had written upon the airing of the final episode.

Pulled some shirts and the 1995 A! calendar out of storage so I could wear or take pictures of them to add visuals as the songs play. Everything else seen in the video actually is on permanent display in our house!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The Case of the Lost Dog

Did you ever wonder what really happened to the "little dog" of famous song? Oh where oh where can he be?

The mystery was solved in the original song from 1864, which I perform for you here.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

I'm on MTV ... sort of

One of Brazil's biggest TV and movie comedians, Marcelo Adnet, did a Yakko's World parody on his show Comédia MTV using my MIDI file version of the tune. It's apparently some sort of "Lost" parody. As I don't understand Portuguese, I'm not sure how it ties in to the opening scenes, unless somehow they're lost in the Brazilian state of Acre, which would make sense given that it's in the rainforest.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Creative juices

I got them flowing again last night by making this -- Brahms' Hungarian Dance #5 in ragtime.



And earlier this week, I finally got around to transcribing the "Piano Rag" song from the Animaniacs episode of the same name. Here I am trudging through it with my meager playing abilities: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpuuXHH_Mu0

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

One is a genius, and both are insane...

What the heck; I'll post this here too.

Sherri Stoner just asked people, for fun, "What are some Slappy cartoons you'd like to see?"

I thought about it at work today, and this short scene coalesced in my head:

SLAPPY is asleep. But she is wakened suddenly by a loud noise somewhat like a jackhammer.

SLAPPY
Oh, for the love of Charlie Sheen...

She rises and moves to her window high in her tree house, opening it. She yells below.

SLAPPY
Hey! Keep it down, will ya! Who do you think you are--

She stops herself as she notices the noise was not from a jackhammer and a construction worker, but some small device operated by BRAIN. Near Brain stands PINKY.

SLAPPY
Sheesh, the labor union must be downsizing.

From the mice's level now. Brain looks up to Slappy's window.

BRAIN
Actually, we are genetically engineered lab mice involved in an intricate plan to take over the world.

SLAPPY
Yeah? Well, I'm a chronologically engineered squirrel involved in a very simple plan of TRYING TO GET SOME SLEEP!

She pulls her head back into her house. Brain, unfazed, prepares to continue working with his noisy gadget. Pinky remains looking up toward Slappy's window.

PINKY
Egad, Brain! I think that was Slappy Squirrel!

BRAIN
Who?

Brain re-activates the device, not really caring for the answer.

PINKY
Oh, I LOVE her cartoons! Zort!

As Brain speaks, Pinky's face, still looking up, becomes alarmed. On "you", he hurriedly moves O/S.

BRAIN
Pinky, how many times do I have to tell you: Cartoons aren't real!

Brain is oblivious both to Pinky's disappearance and to the growing shadow on his head. BLAM! The screen is filled with dust. As it clears, Pinky's head peeks into shot, and we see bits of Brain's gadget as well as bits of wood, wire and piano keys, all surrounding a beaten and battered Brain. He raises his head weakly.

BRAIN
Pianos! PIANOS are real...

Brain collapses.

IRIS OUT

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

The most important question of our time!

I humorously ponder a rather important question I have yet to hear a consensus about...

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Our robot masters have arrived... with ice cream! Yay!



Located at the Tokyo Summer Land amusement park.

It's the song that really makes it. Yasukawayasukawayasukawayasukawayasukawayasukawaku~n!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

MC Pinky in da house yo!

I've had this joke in my head for quite a while, but I always imagine it told by Pinky. So finally, I let Pinky tell it, using Linda's mini Pinky plush who's dressed in overalls and a backward hat, making him MC Pinky, yo.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Keeper sings! and a harrowing tale of bus travel (or lack thereof)

I threw in a bit of vocals and kazoo as I recorded this video during the afterglow party following the 2010 West Coast Ragtime Festival this weekend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6XAA4Rz1vs


The song is a hit from WW1, When Alexander Takes His Ragtime Band to France.

The trip back was a nightmare. Snowing over I80. The bus driver didn't put chains on despite seeing every other vehicle stopped on the road doing so. Eventually, as traffic came to a crawl, it got to the point where the bus couldn't get traction on the ice. He just floored it, spinning the wheels. Tire smoke entered the cabin.

He sat there for 20 minutes, not telling anyone anything, until a CHP officer came up asking why he was stopped in the middle of the road (while traffic was moving along just fine around us). He told the CHP that the bus had broken down.

A big truck pushed the bus to the shoulder, then a tow vehicle towed us over the summit and into Truckee. However, the bus driver still was convinced that the bus was not working. I told him multiple times that it was fine; he just had gotten wheelspin and couldn't go uphill. Now that we were past the summit, the roads were perfectly passable and I was sure the bus could be driven again. He didn't listen.

So we sat in Truckee, in sub-freezing temperatures, for six hours. Greyhound sent a "relief bus" but not from nearby Reno -- from Sacramento. That bus couldn't make it because of an oncoming storm. Another tow driver came by after six hours and told our driver that with the big storm coming in, we needed to get the heck out of there and he should try to move the bus if at all possible.

So, finally, he tried moving the bus. What do you know! There was nothing wrong with the bus after all, just like I had said. We arrived in Reno 6.5 hours late. Because I was catching a cold, I had paid extra to transfer to an earlier bus -- one that should have arrived at 4:25 instead of my originally scheduled bus that arrived at 6:50. But this "earlier" bus arrived at 11:00 -- all due to driver incompetence.

Greyhound couldn't refund my ticket because of the fact I had done the transfer to the earlier bus, so they just wrote me a $75 gift voucher.

For people who were supposed to transfer to another bus, they were stuck in Reno with no place to stay and no more buses leaving until morning. One girl was in tears because it meant she'd still be on the bus while her family was having Thanksgiving dinner. All because of the idiot driver.