CURIOUS INDEX, 7/23/08

by Orson on Jul 23, 2008 9:26 AM EDT

Feedback and pain. We bought the Who bundle of songs on Rock Band last night, and have already spectacularly failed out of no less than three of the songs on multiple instruments. IBitePrettyHard, the internet's majordomo of Rock Band drumming, even struggles on the sightread of "Young Man's Blues," which is kind of like saying George Selvie was held to just two sacks by a line of elementary schoolers in a Pop Warner game.

You know a band was preternaturally talented when even the bass parts are impossible. We came down in Icarus-like flames this morning off the bass solo in the live version of "My Generation;" we're typing this with our nose, so nasty were the runs. Then again, we're not hopped up on Peruvian Pep Powder like John Entwistle, so there's always trade-offs.

"Is simply not tenable." The Duke lacrosse case explains much of the extreme skepticism by media even thinking about covering Iowa's sexual assault debacle, but at this point that's not the issue: though the university president Sally Mason says no protocols were violated in the case, the decision to not inform the regents of the two letters sent by the mother "is simply not tenable." Anytime the regents call the university president to actually report on something not involving a balance sheet, though, it ain't good. Without comment from Ferentz or the AD, it looks murkier by the day for Iowa's football program and their ongoing "management crisis."

The Mayor has some suggestions for questions to be asked at SEC Media days, including this pithy query for Houston Nutt:

Houston Nutt: "Assuming for the sake of argument that you will be cast in the role of the Joker in the sequel to The Dark Knight, would you decline an Oscar nomination out of principle or would you follow in Henry Fondas footsteps by accepting an Academy Award nomination for a role in which you essentially played yourself?"

Thanks, T. Kyle. When we're at SEC Media Days tomorrow--which we will be, bright and early so as to catch the spiritual procession that will be Nick Saban's entry--we'll be too busy imagining Houston Nutt in a nurse's uniform and Joker makeup talking to a half-faced Les Miles saying, "Now Harvey, it wasn't personal. I don't want there to be any...hard feelings between us..."

Mike Gundy is still 40! But not for long, since he turns 41 in a few weeks, though he retains his man-ness. Monsieur Volume does not favor these internets, though, unless it pertains to his fine Oklahoma fescue:

Im not a big computer guy, Gundy said. Ive not once in my life been on YouTube. I dont know how to get on it.

I guess you could Google it. Sometimes I Google things. Like fertilizer and stuff that I want to put on my lawn.

This means Mike Gundy is a man who has never seen this, this, or this. We tell you, Mike Gundy: eventually this will hurt your recruiting in the crucial "slow nerd" department. We promise you.

Feed the fever! With blaring house music! Oregon state has a glut of commercials, and Building the Dam sums them up nicely. Our favorite: the "Feed The Fever" ad, which until about 20 seconds in could be an ad for a gay gym, what with all the shirtless men, mood lighting, and lingering shots of oily back muscles. We say "a gay gym" because they look cut and fit, as opposed to "a straight gym," where the guys look bloated and pec-forward, and the women look "screaming-for-help-growing-white-waxy-fur-on-my-skin-anorexic."

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after clicking on all 3 of those youtbube links, i wish i was mike gundy.

by gerry dorsey on Jul 23, 2008 9:30 AM EDT reply actions

should’ve included “What What in the Butt” to complete the south park episode

by swampchomp on Jul 23, 2008 9:34 AM EDT reply actions

No surprise that people get blown away by the Keith Moon and John Entwistle bits. I’ve always thought Pete was underrated.

by OhioDawg on Jul 23, 2008 9:34 AM EDT reply actions

I hear the Muse package for Rock Band can also get insanely difficult. You want tough bass lines? Try Hysteria.

by dudis41 on Jul 23, 2008 9:38 AM EDT reply actions

Clearly Oregon State is trying to get up for the Penn State by competing for the worst commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8b7Faj-_tM

by psuphiman80 on Jul 23, 2008 9:39 AM EDT reply actions

KEITH MOON LIVES FOREVER

by UFJim on Jul 23, 2008 9:42 AM EDT reply actions

Rock Band SUX!!!

/still trying to get past “Don’t Fear the Reaper” on Hard level.

/kill me

by The underrated Sorola Palmer on Jul 23, 2008 9:46 AM EDT reply actions

I finally played Rock Band for the first time about a month ago. I started out doing bass on easy, and figuring that I was ready for the next stage I did medium on “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and totally fucked it up. I decided I could do the least damage by singing.

by Biggus Rickus on Jul 23, 2008 9:46 AM EDT reply actions

I guess you could Google it. Sometimes I Google things. Like fertilizer and stuff that I want to put on my lawn.

Wow. What a moron.

by blon57 on Jul 23, 2008 9:49 AM EDT reply actions

7 & 8:

Guitar Hero is much harder anyway. Case and point: I still can’t beat GHIII on hard while on the other hand I was killing time at Best Buy the other day and tried Nirvana’s In Bloom on expert guitar for the first time ever and got like 96%.

/brushes shoulder off

/then ponders the current state of life… and cries.

by dudis41 on Jul 23, 2008 9:53 AM EDT reply actions

Sir Rick must have angered the gods in a past coaching life. UCLA’s already paper-thin depth chart gets even thinner with a couple of academic miss-steps. I really don’t think the football gods want UCLA to field a team this year…. at all. At this point it’s not unreasonable to expect a meteor to strike UCLA’s first full-team practice.

UCLA is Karma’s bitch.

by CincySooner on Jul 23, 2008 9:57 AM EDT reply actions

whoops forgot the link to #11

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/ncaa/07/22/bc.fbc.ucla.ramirez.ap/index.html

by CincySooner on Jul 23, 2008 9:57 AM EDT reply actions

Orson, kudo’s to you for continuing coverage of the goings-on at Iowa.

Where is Buzz Bissenger on this deal? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

by kt on Jul 23, 2008 9:59 AM EDT reply actions

I call BS on Gundy’s lack of interwebs skillz/

He’s man enough to sit there and watch 2girls1cup without flinching.

by Ryno on Jul 23, 2008 9:59 AM EDT reply actions

Gahhhhh!

Spoiler warnings, dude! Spoiler warnings!

by Darkknight on Jul 23, 2008 10:03 AM EDT reply actions

Please. Gundy, don’t even act like you didn’t watch your “I’m 40” rant a hundred thousand times on YouTube. The only thing he could’ve said that would’ve been more ridiculous than “I’ve never been on YouTube” would be “Honestly, I had no idea that would get so much attention.”

by Doug on Jul 23, 2008 10:03 AM EDT reply actions

totally unrelated youtube video = EXTRA FUN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQTuYo6HmiQ

BITCH U RIDE THE MARTA BUS

by gold man on Jul 23, 2008 10:13 AM EDT reply actions

Having sat on several boards of major corporations, I think the number 1 question asked in board meetings is: What is our liability coverage in the event we are sued because corporate officers commit malfeasance? I would imagine the Regents at Iowa are asking that question themselves right now and are checking to make sure their insurance coverage is still intact. There is alot of CYA going on now in Iowa at the Regents’ level. Doesn’t bode well for the University officials since they serve at “the pleasure” of the Board of Regents. They can’t be too pleased.

by hobeg8r on Jul 23, 2008 10:15 AM EDT reply actions

1. Oh, Mike Gundy, you ARE on youtube, my friend.

by UgasTexan on Jul 23, 2008 10:20 AM EDT reply actions

@18

No amount of CYA is going to play to an Iowa City or Des Moines jury. This was top-down (if by top you mean the athletics department) institutional clusterfuck. And, yes, if I were on the Regents right now I’d be feverishly calling our carrier.

by Der Schatten on Jul 23, 2008 10:38 AM EDT reply actions

You know, 10 years ago a person could get away with saying things derisively about the internet and how it was a place for nerds and such and real men such as Gundy have no time for such nerdness.

But now, it just makes a person sound ignorant. I mean, it always kind of did, but now it’s just pathetic.

by PeteJayhawk on Jul 23, 2008 10:43 AM EDT reply actions

Mike Gundy doesn’t play on the internet, but “2 Girls-1 Cup” has been his screensaver for months…

by Excuse me Stewardess, but I speak jive on Jul 23, 2008 11:48 AM EDT reply actions

I doubt the media learned a lesson from Duke. Iowa just doesn’t have buzz issues (race in the South! privileged white kids and poor black single mother! Jesse!) to make it sexy enough to get pushed by the MSM. It’d get more coverage if the perpetrators were some of those fast white guys.

by Paul Johnson on Jul 23, 2008 12:19 PM EDT reply actions

I’m hearin’ ya on the Who’s music. Try playing some of their stuff on a real guitar. I tried to play some of their “Who’s Next” and “Quadrophenia” tunes from sheet music a few years ago, and by about halfway thru each song, the fingers on my left hand looked like they were playing a game of twister. Yes, Pete Townshend, I know that you’re a songwriting genius, but must you change chords on every freakin’ quarter beat, half of these chords being ones you kinda made up? (Townshend had a habit of leaving notes out of chords).

I don’t even want to comtemplate trying to play Entwistle’s bass lines….

by GeronimoRumplestiltskin on Jul 23, 2008 1:15 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Rock Band.

The Who Rock Band Rule #1: You don’t have it loud enough. No really. Pete lost his hearing for that stuff. The least you can do is bother the neighbors.

The Who Rock Band Rule #2: Beating the hell out of the drums makes it more awesome. Especially on these songs.

The Who Rock Band Rule #3: Find receipt for drums. You’re going to need new ones.

Basically, Keith Moon is my daddy. I’m in awe of him on Young Man Blues. I’d have to start dropping acid just to keep up with his intentions there. Much less the actual execution of that live performance of whoop ass.

I’m through Who Are You on hard. But Young Man Blues mocks me.

/life

PWD

by paulwesterdawg on Jul 23, 2008 1:26 PM EDT reply actions

@25: But there’s no way I’m believing that shit about Bonham’s 45-minute drum solo. You couldn’t handle that shit on strong acid, man.

by Slater on Jul 23, 2008 3:10 PM EDT reply actions

I think this all explains perfectly why I was never a big Who fan, and found the Stones, Beatles, and even Led Zep superior. Too spastic, busy bass, busy guitar, busy drums. Gimme a freaking groove, man.

by Pants McPants on Jul 23, 2008 5:03 PM EDT reply actions

The thing about the Who is that Townsend was an wicked rhythm player, but he did’t really do leads much. As a result a lot of those songs boil down to Ent or Moon playing “lead bass” or “lead drums” to take up some of the musical space that PT left open.

Bonham did some of the same things in Led Zep (Kashmir, for example has “lead drums” towards the end) and Flea will take the bass into the lead role with RHCP, but I can’t really think of another band that had that particular musical dynamic.

It would have been interesting to see what would have happend had the ultimate musical supergroup actually happened. The story is that Daltry punched out Townsend and put him in the hospital at the same time the Yardbirds were breaking up. Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck called up Moon and Ent and they went into the studio. The lineup cut one song, “Becks Bolero” but couldn’t get the singer they wanted (Steve Mariott from Small Faces/Humble Pie). While they were messing around Daltry and Townsend patched things up so Moon and Ent ended up going back to the Who.

by oc phil on Jul 23, 2008 7:15 PM EDT reply actions