'Cause This is THRILLER!

[ladysprite]

Apparently the antidote - for me, at least - for blue moods, mopiness, and the bad-weather doldrums is suddenly needing to learn choreography.

Or maybe it's just the fact that it's impossible to be grumpy and bitter when you've spent the past hour watching the video for 'Thriller' over and over and over again, ten seconds at a time, while alternating between mimicking the steps and trying to jot them down while figuring out how to describe them in a way that you'll recognize and remember, ending up with a sheet of paper covered in passages like:

Claw, claw, shimmy x 4 repeat
Zombie arms - step x3, turn, turn, repeat
Jump, windmill arms, flop and up, flop and up
Groove x 2, turn - repeat
Reach, windmill, air guitar
Stupid hip bob x 4, holla x 4, kung fu x 4
Shamble in a half circle x 8, shamble forward x 10

Not exactly my usual notation, but it works. And, dork-tastic as it is, it's just silly enough to cut through any bad mood. It's like penguins that way.....

Comments

[denimskater.livejournal.com]

Penguin always makes me happy!

[dreda.livejournal.com]

Totally as an aside, and noting that the cat is beautiful, those may be the most stunningly beautiful notes I have ever seen. I may be a geek about this, but I know gorgeous when I see it.

[denimskater.livejournal.com]

Alas, they are not mine, they are my ex-wife's. I'm one of the irritating people whose notes consist of a few cryptic lines like "Eigenvalue may be useful in relating 2D and 3D bounding dimensions, investigate" and other things only tangentially related to the course.

Interesting set of LJ friends we have in common.

[dreda.livejournal.com]

I understand this - my notes are an excellent record of what I was thinking in class, but that is all.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly!

Well, almost exactly. My thoughts actually were:

Ooh! Pretty kitty!
OMG!!!11! Look at those notes! They're gorgeous! Squeeeeee!

Your version is more elegant.

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

I agree on the beauty of the notes, though I'm really puzzled by the choreographic notation on the bottom of the left-hand page. I just don't understand that part.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

So, let's see how we interpret this image. Higher mathematics, a computer, a cat (black and white) clearly stricken with ennui, and salt and pepper shakers...

So, either you have scientifically drained the spirit of the cat to spice up your culinary life.

-or-

The cat has gotten exceedingly bored with your weird-science attempts to discredit the proverb that the leopard cannot change his spots, and when he arises (eventually, probably after a long nap), he'll shake off the coating of seasonings in disgust and walk off.

[kallaneboi.livejournal.com]

What's that neat looking metal bowl?

[denimskater.livejournal.com]

That's a sugar bowl. It contains the usual amount and type of sugar, plus 217% more roundness and 87% more shininess than the accepted standards.

[rosinavs.livejournal.com]

Penguins?

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Penguins are silly, and it's impossible to be depressed or grumpy while watching them.

[pale-chartreuse.livejournal.com]

Jim Henson quote from The Muppet Show "When you can't figure out how to end a sketch, either blow something up or throw penguins in the air."

[sabine791110.livejournal.com]

I did that same notation last fall when I performed a belly dance tribute to Thriller. I felt like a total dork when I was trying to learn it from the video, but the performance was awesome!

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

I am now overwhelmed by the mental image of a flock of penguins doing the Thriller dance.

This is YOUR fault.

[qarylla.livejournal.com]

I want to see an army of pengies doing Thriller! That would be completely awesome.

[ifeedformula.livejournal.com]

Somebody with better skills than I MUST create this and post it on YouTube.

[mamatiger.livejournal.com]

ZOMG, love the icon! -->former President of a local BatB fan club.

Wedding Reception Thriller:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPmYbP0F4Zw

[ifeedformula.livejournal.com]

The text on yours is too small. Can't read it.

The other day I was laid up with an ear infection and in a FOUL mood. Then I started flipping through the cable channels to find something to watch, praying Ninja Warrior was on. It wasn't. I ended up watching a 5 hour BatB marathon instead.

And of course, they only show episodes I considered not the best--the last 4 from before Catherine gets killed off and the first one with what's her face..Catherine's replacement.

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. :)

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

<3 <3 <3

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I think you mean, to her credit.

*sits back and thoroughly enjoys the mental image*

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

Someone HAS to figure out an animation program that can interpret choreographic notation...

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

Hee!

Have you played Plants vs Zombies? It includes a familiar-looking "dancing zombie" in later levels. (And is a super-fun, silly game! Recommended.)

[kitsunesan.livejournal.com]

Oh man, Holly was recently doing the same thing for one of the Sailor Moon Musical songs it was her job to learn the choreography for. She kept coming up with funny names for the moves so she would remember them. My personal favorite was the Creepy Uncle, where you crouch down slightly and double pat your lap. X3

I'm not helping...

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtJRNyPK-lc

...not at all...

[citabria]

Because I'm geeky this way, I'd love to see your notation next to the actual/technical notation for that dance. I suspect yours is much more interesting. ;)

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

If nothing else, the formal version probably does not include a move called "stupid hip bob". :)

[aries-walker.livejournal.com]

What do you do during the parts where they cut away to a zombie close-up, or something?

[mamatiger.livejournal.com]

Pics or it didn't happen. ;) A YouTube star is (about to be) born!

(Also, yay for fending off the blue meanies!)

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Don't know whether you've seen the Phillipine version, and the British version...

[jducoeur]

And now I'm left wondering what the description would look like in Renaissance Italian. (With an ode to zombies as the introductory poem, of course.)

Although I have to agree with previous comments that the world *needs* a version of Thriller danced by penguins...

[thebeardedone.livejournal.com]

On a whim, I went to YouTube and typed in "Thriller penguin". It turns out that there is a computer game called Club Penguin which several YTers have used as the animation for Thriller videos. They're not great, but they are animated penguins running about to the tune of the MJ hit single.

And now I feel dirty.