Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder

26 Sep 2009, 6:38 a.m.

Random TMBG Appreciation

Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2009 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.

While I was in Cambridge, my colleague Travis reminded me that They Might Be Giants' new album Here Comes Science was out (Booga Booga's glowing review had already jazzed me up for it), and he recommended the DVD. I watched a few of its music videos on YouTube ("I Am A Paleontologist", "Meet The Elements", "Science Is Real") and suggested strongly to Leonard that we get the CD/DVD set.

"It might not be premature to say that 'I Am A Paleontologist' is the best song, ever, of any length, genre, or planetary origin," I said, even after he'd ordered. But it's probably premature.

It arrived yesterday, and I'm glad it did. Because I woke up far too early (jet lag), did nearly a full day's work by 1pm, took a nap, and woke up siiiiiiiiick. Chamomile tea, fizzy lemon drink, and the Here Comes Science DVD (followed by a repeat viewing of most of Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns, the TMBG documentary, plus its bonus music videos) were just what I needed. I enjoyed Here Comes Science thoroughly, but that's kind of obvious, so some further thoughts on Gigantic:

Gigantic has no mention of the Animaniacs videos for "Particle Man" and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)." I wonder what proportion of their current cohort of fans first heard them via those videos; I know I did. Gigantic does however feature some lovely self-mockery by Linnell & Flansburgh, including a comment by Linnell on what happens when you've been around so long that your first fans are now in positions where they can commission work from you: I guess we're reaching that sort of Mark Twain late period, when he was the plaything of the rich. Also Linnell mentions Trotsky twice (and I haven't even checked the commentary track yet).

Oh, and raanve, your user icon finally clicked for me!

Comments

Sumana
26 Sep 2009, 6:43 a.m.

(also John Linnell is hot)

Jess A.
http://raanve.livejournal.com
26 Sep 2009, 13:51 p.m.

I go back & forth between which one I think is hotter. ;)

Now that that's out of the way:

1) I think it's pretty funny that my user icon finally clicked for you. ;) Too bad I can't believe that Drinky Crow actually sounds like he does in that little clip in Gigantic.

2) I could talk to you FOR DAYS about which TMBG songs are eligible for the title of Best Song, Ever, of Any Length, Genre, or Planetary Origin. Oh, man. I don't even know where to begin.

3) I am one of those fans that entered at the typical entry point (somewhere around 15/16), and I'm of the fan-generation that basically came in at Tiny Toons.

4) I believe that the Tiny Toons clips are, in fact, on the Gigantic DVD, there is an insane number of extras on that disc, and they may be buried 2-3 extras-menus in deep. But they are there. (I did find it odd that the film itself didn't mention this. But I think the band is of the opinion that these are incidental, not career making, though they acknowledge Flood as their "breakthrough" album.)

5) Yes, I am the fannish sort that is prone to encyclopedic knowledge spewing. I apologize.

6) I am seeing them again in about three weeks, and I am painfully excited, even after something like 15 years of seeing them whenever I got the chance.

Jess A.
http://raanve.livejournal.com
26 Sep 2009, 13:54 p.m.

Shoot, for (3) I meant to say that I came in at the typical age-entry point and did not age out of them. (Obviously, here I am at 32 bloviating about TMBG on the internets.)

Then again, I have yet to age out of listening to "Wierd" Al Yankovic, so take that with the appropriate portion of salt.