The Worms Crawl In

You might be relieved to know...I am not going to shower you with righteous indignation this morning but  I have  made a pop-cultural observation. There is some new lunacy appearing on the horizon.

I was talking to my walking partner a couple of days ago and she was telling me about a trend that is popping up around the Dallas area.  People are dressing up like animals as a social meetup kind of thing. She said that some of the people at her work were talking about it and they can hardly wait to leave work so they can run home and  get their costumes on. (fun?)

As luck would have it, the very next day, I was having coffee here in Kansas City at my local Panera Bread Company, and low and behold the guy in front of me has a sheep "hoodie" on.  I am calling it a hoodie because I haven't a clue as to what else to call it.  The lamb's wool (hopefully faux) hood came over the guys head and shoulders and had ears. This isn't to be confused with those cute little hats like Crabby Pants wears.  This is more like a guy wearing a dead ewe on his head.  It times like this I need Google glasses because I, frankly, don't have the lady balls to pull out my Iphone and take a picture.  To appreciate it you would of had to of seen it. What made this even more fun was the fact my 76 year old coffee buddy said "Oh, look it's one of those people that dress like animals." See, even my older lady friends are more in the "know" than I am.

In order not to be totally devoid of  knowing about any current (albeit bizarre and useless), trends, I do a  little searching on Google and come up somewhat empty handed.  There are numerous articles about a  subculture called  Furry fandom where people dress up as  and anthropomorphize animals, but that has been around since 1980.  So why now...why am I hearing about this twice within a couple of days?  Well, maybe it's because:

A.  I've been living  under a rock.
B.  I am the least trendy person on the planet.
C.  I couldn't give a rat's patoot about dressing up as an animal.
D.  The human race's collective IQ is dropping faster than a rock pushed over by a Boy Scout Leader...oops that's a whole other post.

OR.

E. A very odd song from Norway is stuck in everyone's brain and  is causing some rather bizarre behavior.

BUT before I meander back to the idiotic song that may or may not be prompting people to look like this guy at the mall, let's talk a bit about earworms.

Thought Number One:  Haven't We Been Here Before?

 According to Wikipedia

earworm 

noun

An earworm is a catchy piece of music that continually repeats through a person's mind after it is no longer playing. Phrases used to describe an earworm include musical imagery repetition, involuntary musical imagery, and stuck song syndrome.The word earworm is a calque from the German Ohrwurm

Every so often some music becomes the "song you just can't get out of your head".  This isn't news. What is interesting is that there have been a few recent studies about WHY music lends itself to get stuck in our brain and who is more susceptible to having tunes repeat over and over in our brains.

James Kellaris, a marketing professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Business Administration, has done research on earworms  and he's found that as many as 99 percent of us have fallen prey to them at one time or another Kellaris says women and people who are neurotic, tired or stressed are most prone to earworm attacks. (EXCUSE ME??? Did he just insinuate that women are neurotic?  Or am I just being neurotic?)

Researchers also aren't sure why some songs are more likely to get stuck in our heads than others, but everyone has their own tunes that drive them crazy. Often the songs have a simple, upbeat melody; catchy, repetitive lyrics; and a surprise such as an extra beat or unusual rhythm -- the same factors that made the songs or jingles popular in the first place (like the Chili's, "I want my baby back baby back baby back ribs" jingle, which made Kellaris' list of the most insidiously "stuck" songs).

There are a number of lists that have picked out what songs are the most likely to cause earworms.  Just a few of those that appeared on some of the lists:

• YMCA, (Village People) 
• Who Let the Dogs Out, (Baha Men),
• We Will Rock You (Queen)
• It's a Small World After All (Sherman Bros./Disney Studios)
• Call Me Maybe (Carly Rae Jepson)

Thought Number Two:  The Quickest Way to Commercial Success is to Create an Earworm

Crabby Pants does love to be in the spotlight...even if it's with a psycho.

Remember last year, when the most annoying "earworm" worthy song exploded in the U.S.?
Park Jaesang, a rather unorthodox South Korean that is considered more of a comedian in his own country, brought to us a catchy little number called Gangnam Style.  Park, who performs as Psy (short for psycho) had limited success in South Korea as by Korean standards,  is considered  too old at 34 to be a commercial success, plus  he had been busted for marijuana and had avoided serving in his  country's mandatory military service. His first album got him fined for "inappropriate content" and the second was banned.

Never fear...if all else fails..take it to America. 




Park might of missed the money train in Korea but he managed to catch it in America when You Tube started running  Gangnam Style   which has earned a whopping  1,799,129,117  hits since it's release.  Along with it's Internet success came a lot of exposure and a lot of record sales.  Not bad considering the fact that no one has a clue what the song is about.

But it seems that a lot of Americans couldn't get enough of Psy. The American rapper T-Pain was retweeted 2,400 times when he wrote "Words cannot even describe how amazing this video is.

Which brings me to the "whole animal costume" thing.  The latest version of a earworm taking hold and not letting go is the newest import from Norway What Does the Fox Say.  


The brothers Vegard and Bård Ylvisåker, members of the Norwegian comedy group Ylvis, produced the song and music video "The Fox" to promote the upcoming third season of their television talk show Tonight with YLVIS on TVNorge.  It was meant as a comedic gag.  I guess the joke is on them that Americans will latch onto anything.

WARNING:  PLAY THIS VIDEO AT YOUR OWN RISK!  USE EXTREME CAUTION AS IT MOST LIKELY WILL DESTROY ANY AND ALL OF YOUR GOOD BRAIN CELLS. ADDITIONALLY,  IT MAY LEAD TO THE NEED TO POKE OUT YOUR EAR DRUMS AND SCRATCH OUT YOUR EYES. BE WARNED: YOU CAN'T UNSEE OR UNHEAR IT. 
YOU WILL NEVER GET THOSE 3 MINUTES AND 45 SECONDS BACK. 

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Who Saw That Coming?

Strip Clubs Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

Well...at least that was the case of one Texas man that went to the local strip club for an evening of fun.

 El Paso County sheriff's officials said a 67-year-old man died at an El Paso County strip club Friday night. Robert Gene White, after having received several lap, was asked to pay his tab. Robert Gene was unresponsive.  Not unresponsive in  "I'm going to stiff you on the tab" but unresponsive as "I'm a dead stiff".

Employees tried to perform CPR on White and when that didn't work they called emergency responders. He was transported to an area hospital where early indicators show White died from natural causes.

Now there is a stripper that must really know how to do a lap dance.

Hey, Dude, Control Your Kids Car

It is embarrassing when you are the cause of an accident but it has to be far worse when a video of the "stupid move on your part" goes viral on You Tube.

This is the case for William Whitaker as he was filmed as he over-accelerated  his bright yellow Lamborghini through a left turn and crashed into adjacent cars stopped at the light.

As it would happen, immediately behind the Lamborghini, was a car containing some very amused young people discussing "how the guy was going to fly through the intersection".  As they joke and film the event, they get more than they anticipated.

According to the Wheeling, IL police department Whitaker was cited for "failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident". 





I love that the "movie makers" in the car filming the accident, think it is great that the guy was using his turn signal!  I am seriously thinking I need a dash board cam.


She Really, Really, Didn't Like the Gift

Paige Parkerson has been charged with murdering her fiance and father to her two children,  Clifton "JR" Barkin. The Texas woman repeatedly stabbed JR after receiving a card and flowers for Mother's Day.

Flowers weren't the gift she had in
mind.

According to Barkin's mother, Evetta Wright, she received a call from Parkerson early Monday morning from Paige who told her that she had killed JR and that he was dead. (redundant, isn't it)
Evetta thinks that the reason for her son's death is that Paige wasn't happy with the gifts he had purchased from Walmart.  She was expecting something more lavish. 

According to Paige's Facebook page her favorite quote is "if looks could kill i would be da murder of all my haters."  (really that is what is says...exactly)

Parkerson is being held in the Jefferson County jail on a $75,000 bond.


Seems she can be a murderer (although she said murder) of her lovers as well. 

Taser in Guntown

This week in Guntown, MS, a woman faces charges after coming to Guntown Middle School and causing a disturbance. Michele Lee Eaton came to to "discuss" a disciplinary action taken against her child. (the action did not involve corporal punishment)

Superintendent Jimmy Weeks said she became upset and began to use profanity in the school office.

Weeks says administrators asked her to calm down, but says Eaton continued to get louder and a school resource officer heard her and entered the office.

He says the SRO who is also a Guntown police officer,  asked her twice to calm down, then pulled out his handcuffs to take her into custody.  At this point Michele became even more irate.  (no mention as to what "more irate" means) In his attempt to subdue her, the SRO tasered her. The first taser, however, had little effect on her, so he tasered her again, then placed her into custody.

Guntown Police Chief Michael Hall says Eaton will be charged with disorderly conduct, public profanity, resisting arrest and failure to comply with a law enforcement officer.

Thank, goodness, Guntown, uses tasers instead of guns or Michelle would have been shot for shooting off her mouth.