Armageddon won't be long..
December 13, 2006 12:21 AM Subscribe
Nuckin' Futs - The JibJab Year in Review
I hate Jib-Jab. I think they produce slick, overproduced, apolitical, lowest-common-denominator, humourless crap.
It's like the kind of thing my parents might like -- if I had clueless, apolitical, middle-of-the-road, scared-of-giving-offence parents.
My real parents though, would just think it was shit.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:59 AM on December 13, 2006
It's like the kind of thing my parents might like -- if I had clueless, apolitical, middle-of-the-road, scared-of-giving-offence parents.
My real parents though, would just think it was shit.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:59 AM on December 13, 2006
All that work, just to make something so middle-of-the-road. What a waste of time.
posted by interrobang at 7:09 AM on December 13, 2006
posted by interrobang at 7:09 AM on December 13, 2006
They've had their ups and downs, but the one about Kerry and Bush just about perfectly captured the actual election. It was simplistic, but so was the election. I can't think of any better summary-in-two-minutes.
This latest one is kind of blurry and unfocused, and doesn't have very good voices. That said, on a technical basis, they're getting quite slick; their animation improves steadily. It's kind of fun to watch just on that basis, but taken as a whole... eh. It's okay. Better than anything I could ever do, but still just okay.
posted by Malor at 7:21 AM on December 13, 2006
This latest one is kind of blurry and unfocused, and doesn't have very good voices. That said, on a technical basis, they're getting quite slick; their animation improves steadily. It's kind of fun to watch just on that basis, but taken as a whole... eh. It's okay. Better than anything I could ever do, but still just okay.
posted by Malor at 7:21 AM on December 13, 2006
I'm with Peter on the Jib Jab makes things my parents (and people who forward jokes via email) would like.
posted by dobbs at 7:25 AM on December 13, 2006
posted by dobbs at 7:25 AM on December 13, 2006
Their time has passed. It like so much of the banal goofy animation relting to politics. Dancing, then tight shot of one celebrity or political figure, zoom out, dancing, repeat. Ugh. This is like something Mark Russell would do.
posted by Pastabagel at 7:30 AM on December 13, 2006
posted by Pastabagel at 7:30 AM on December 13, 2006
I'm pretty sure I didn't even smile or chuckle once during that.
I know for sure, though, that I've pissed better political satire into a snowbank, and this is the first year I've ever lived anywhere with the remote possibility of it ever actually snowing.
posted by loquacious at 7:32 AM on December 13, 2006
I know for sure, though, that I've pissed better political satire into a snowbank, and this is the first year I've ever lived anywhere with the remote possibility of it ever actually snowing.
posted by loquacious at 7:32 AM on December 13, 2006
I'm pretty sure the Google News engine could have generated that entire thing without human intervention.
Even the vertical reflections were so-last-year.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 7:44 AM on December 13, 2006
Even the vertical reflections were so-last-year.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 7:44 AM on December 13, 2006
lame, lame, lame, so fucking lame, plus it has singing kids for fuck's sake.
did I mention lame?
posted by signal at 7:48 AM on December 13, 2006
did I mention lame?
posted by signal at 7:48 AM on December 13, 2006
I'm pretty sure the Google News engine could have generated that entire thing without human intervention.
yet another futuristic dystopia
posted by logicpunk at 7:56 AM on December 13, 2006
yet another futuristic dystopia
posted by logicpunk at 7:56 AM on December 13, 2006
Meh.
posted by gauchodaspampas at 8:02 AM on December 13, 2006
posted by gauchodaspampas at 8:02 AM on December 13, 2006
I loved watching this just so I could understand the context of all these bitter old online personas holding blue pickets signs about how much they hate cartoons.
"JibJab? I hate them, they're too good at animation. Doesn't have that we-barely-even-tried Indie vibe that I'm all about."
Besides the fact that the song itself was a parody of a simple-and-boring Christmas carol that kids have been making up new words for since grade 1, and that most of the attempts at humour consisted of "referring to things" rather than "making insightful satirical comments about things," I did experience some minor satisfaction in seeing the year summed up in well-done Flash. Thanks for posting this, hypersloth. I still like you.
posted by Milkman Dan at 8:11 AM on December 13, 2006
"JibJab? I hate them, they're too good at animation. Doesn't have that we-barely-even-tried Indie vibe that I'm all about."
Besides the fact that the song itself was a parody of a simple-and-boring Christmas carol that kids have been making up new words for since grade 1, and that most of the attempts at humour consisted of "referring to things" rather than "making insightful satirical comments about things," I did experience some minor satisfaction in seeing the year summed up in well-done Flash. Thanks for posting this, hypersloth. I still like you.
posted by Milkman Dan at 8:11 AM on December 13, 2006
I've pissed better political satire into a snowbank
I just engraved that into my office door with a woodburning pen.
posted by docpops at 8:13 AM on December 13, 2006 [1 favorite]
I just engraved that into my office door with a woodburning pen.
posted by docpops at 8:13 AM on December 13, 2006 [1 favorite]
I loved watching this just so I could understand the context of all these bitter old online personas holding blue pickets signs about how much they hate cartoons.
Hey, pal - just who are you calling an online persona!?
posted by loquacious at 8:15 AM on December 13, 2006
Hey, pal - just who are you calling an online persona!?
posted by loquacious at 8:15 AM on December 13, 2006
They've had their ups and downs
I think I missed the ups. in order to do political humor you need two things: to understand politics, or at least be able to figure out what's actually interesting or funny about a particular moment in time, and you need to be funny. They haven't got either and they never have.
but the one about Kerry and Bush just about perfectly captured the actual election.
Was that the one where their Kerry figure did nothing but say over and over again that he had three purple hearts? No, it didn't capture the actual election, it captured what someone who didn't read newspapers or watch the coverage would have told you if you asked him to describe the candidates.
posted by George_Spiggott at 8:16 AM on December 13, 2006
I think I missed the ups. in order to do political humor you need two things: to understand politics, or at least be able to figure out what's actually interesting or funny about a particular moment in time, and you need to be funny. They haven't got either and they never have.
but the one about Kerry and Bush just about perfectly captured the actual election.
Was that the one where their Kerry figure did nothing but say over and over again that he had three purple hearts? No, it didn't capture the actual election, it captured what someone who didn't read newspapers or watch the coverage would have told you if you asked him to describe the candidates.
posted by George_Spiggott at 8:16 AM on December 13, 2006
Yes, thank you, Pastabagel. The Mark Russellization of political humor. The personification of toothless, cornball, "skewer" those "pols" onstage then beg for scraps at the Big Table afterwards, humor. One of public television's great disservices to the public: broadcasting this sub-Lehrer for years.
And those quasi-infomercials for whatever extruded product Suze Orman/Nicholas Perricone/Wayne Dyer/Brenda Watson might be flogging.
But that's another thread.
posted by the sobsister at 8:17 AM on December 13, 2006
And those quasi-infomercials for whatever extruded product Suze Orman/Nicholas Perricone/Wayne Dyer/Brenda Watson might be flogging.
But that's another thread.
posted by the sobsister at 8:17 AM on December 13, 2006
jib jab?! are you fucking serious?
Hay guys has anyone gotten their hands on the new supersweet G3s? I use it for cruising napster but whoa gotta watch-out for that melissa worm guys! omg walter payton died ;_;
posted by naxosaxur at 8:21 AM on December 13, 2006
Hay guys has anyone gotten their hands on the new supersweet G3s? I use it for cruising napster but whoa gotta watch-out for that melissa worm guys! omg walter payton died ;_;
posted by naxosaxur at 8:21 AM on December 13, 2006
Hell, it's sub-Jim Lehrer.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 8:22 AM on December 13, 2006
posted by Saucy Intruder at 8:22 AM on December 13, 2006
I hate Jib-Jab. I think they produce slick, overproduced, apolitical, lowest-common-denominator, humourless crap.
It's like the kind of thing my parents might like -- if I had clueless, apolitical, middle-of-the-road, scared-of-giving-offence parents.
Perfectly said. Except my dad thought they were just hilarious.
Yeah that one about the election was absolute genius. Bush and Kerry are exactly alike? It's just SOOO true!!! After all, as the mating call of the absolute political moron goes, "they're both rich white males!!!11!!!"
Yeah, they also both have ten toes and ten fingers. Do you have a fucking point? Republicans aren't really the problem. I mean they are, but there will always be an opposition. "Liberals" who think this way are the problem.
posted by drjimmy11 at 8:24 AM on December 13, 2006
It's like the kind of thing my parents might like -- if I had clueless, apolitical, middle-of-the-road, scared-of-giving-offence parents.
Perfectly said. Except my dad thought they were just hilarious.
Yeah that one about the election was absolute genius. Bush and Kerry are exactly alike? It's just SOOO true!!! After all, as the mating call of the absolute political moron goes, "they're both rich white males!!!11!!!"
Yeah, they also both have ten toes and ten fingers. Do you have a fucking point? Republicans aren't really the problem. I mean they are, but there will always be an opposition. "Liberals" who think this way are the problem.
posted by drjimmy11 at 8:24 AM on December 13, 2006
I'm pretty sure I didn't even smile or chuckle once during that.
I second that.
Personally, I found Patton Oswald's stand-up joke comparing Bush/Cheney to the Dukes of Hazzard to be funny (joke starts at 2:30).
posted by karson at 8:30 AM on December 13, 2006
I second that.
Personally, I found Patton Oswald's stand-up joke comparing Bush/Cheney to the Dukes of Hazzard to be funny (joke starts at 2:30).
posted by karson at 8:30 AM on December 13, 2006
If you have to say "Funny Video Animation by JibJab" then it can't possibly be funny.
posted by fungible at 8:31 AM on December 13, 2006
posted by fungible at 8:31 AM on December 13, 2006
Patton Oswald has it wrong, Bush/Cheney == Boss Hogg and Roscoe, not them Duke boys.
Seriously, watch an episode, it's scary.
posted by twjordan at 8:52 AM on December 13, 2006 [1 favorite]
Seriously, watch an episode, it's scary.
posted by twjordan at 8:52 AM on December 13, 2006 [1 favorite]
Wait, sub-Lehrer? You don't mean Tom Lehrer, do you? Because drawing on my vague knowledge of 50s and 60s musical satirists, I thought he was often described as "before his time" and "controversial" and "a pretty smart mathematician who made amusing songs on his piano." I guess be wrong. Although I apparently posess a record of his, and the song "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" seems like it would have been pretty funny in the 50s (if you weren't an activist or a prude), and when he sings the periodic table of the elements, I'm pretty sure his lips are moving faster than Blackalicious in Chemical Calisthenics. But I could be wrong. I've been wrong before. I was just wrong this morning (I put cumin in the slow cooker with the roast beef instead of beef boullion), and I plan on being wrong later this evening during dinnertime (I'm going to lie about it). And maybe Tom Lehrer really was just a pathetic piece-of-piss-ass, sub-par musician who is famously considered to have been a terrible experience for humanity and music domalike, and I'm simply far removed from this otherwise common knowledge. Or maybe you're talking about an entirely different Lehrer and I've just wasted the past 6.5 minutes inputting text and links into this too-small-of-a-typing-box while neglecting to insert the desired minimum of one (1) paragraph break.
posted by Milkman Dan at 8:52 AM on December 13, 2006 [2 favorites]
posted by Milkman Dan at 8:52 AM on December 13, 2006 [2 favorites]
Milkman Dan, I think the sobsister was talking about this dork and calling him sub-Lehrer.
I was just wrong this morning (I put cumin in the slow cooker with the roast beef instead of beef boullion), and I plan on being wrong later this evening during dinnertime (I'm going to lie about it).
I fucking hate you so much, Milkman Dan. You feelin' itchy yet? 'Cause I filled all your socks with fiberglass dust and powdered habanero.
posted by loquacious at 9:01 AM on December 13, 2006
I was just wrong this morning (I put cumin in the slow cooker with the roast beef instead of beef boullion), and I plan on being wrong later this evening during dinnertime (I'm going to lie about it).
I fucking hate you so much, Milkman Dan. You feelin' itchy yet? 'Cause I filled all your socks with fiberglass dust and powdered habanero.
posted by loquacious at 9:01 AM on December 13, 2006
Thanks, loquacious. That was, in fact, just what I meant.
posted by the sobsister at 9:04 AM on December 13, 2006
posted by the sobsister at 9:04 AM on December 13, 2006
SO SO SO bad....
posted by mildred-pitt at 9:10 AM on December 13, 2006
posted by mildred-pitt at 9:10 AM on December 13, 2006
Not that it has anything to do with this thread except that someone mentioned him, but Tom Lehrer's musical socio-political satire stands with the best comedy of the 60s. Much of it is still very funny or (sadly) relevant (Vatican Rag, I Hold Your Hand In Mine, Be Prepared, National Brotherhood Week, Who's Next, We Will All Go Together When We Go, etc.). His spoken introductions to his songs are as funny as the songs themselves. I'm particularly fond of the quote "Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize."
The Onion A.V. Club did has interview with him posted here.
Check him out. You won't regret it.
posted by tzikeh at 9:47 AM on December 13, 2006
The Onion A.V. Club did has interview with him posted here.
Check him out. You won't regret it.
posted by tzikeh at 9:47 AM on December 13, 2006
Forgot the obligatory Wikipedia link.
Any man who can write the song "It Makes a Fellow Proud to be a Soldier" and a paper published in The Annals of Mathematical Statistics called "The distribution of the number of locally maximal elements in a random sample" is the man for me.
/Lehrer
posted by tzikeh at 10:02 AM on December 13, 2006
Any man who can write the song "It Makes a Fellow Proud to be a Soldier" and a paper published in The Annals of Mathematical Statistics called "The distribution of the number of locally maximal elements in a random sample" is the man for me.
/Lehrer
posted by tzikeh at 10:02 AM on December 13, 2006
Certainly not their best work.
What mad Jib-Jab funny to begin with was that they were using President Bush as the character. President Bush = Funny. Children = Lame.
posted by drleary at 10:20 AM on December 13, 2006
What mad Jib-Jab funny to begin with was that they were using President Bush as the character. President Bush = Funny. Children = Lame.
posted by drleary at 10:20 AM on December 13, 2006
The only thing funny in that was the end. Here is a slightly funnier clip from them: Big-Box Mart.
posted by internal at 10:20 AM on December 13, 2006
posted by internal at 10:20 AM on December 13, 2006
I can't stand Jib Jab. The worst part is the main stream publicity they manage to get on late night/morning TV shows. Matt Laurer et al telling everyone that they "have got to see what the jib jab guy's have done now!!!" or something like that.
You can refresh yourself with this clip. (Dr. Spock: Cribs. Youtube link)
posted by JBennett at 10:27 AM on December 13, 2006
You can refresh yourself with this clip. (Dr. Spock: Cribs. Youtube link)
posted by JBennett at 10:27 AM on December 13, 2006
Matt Laurer et al telling everyone that they "have got to see what the jib jab guy's have done now!!!" or something like that.
If you are listening to Matt Laurer you get what you deserve.
posted by spicynuts at 10:57 AM on December 13, 2006
If you are listening to Matt Laurer you get what you deserve.
posted by spicynuts at 10:57 AM on December 13, 2006
SN, you're right, but it still get's under my skin. Why are there people like Matt Lauer!?
posted by JBennett at 11:13 AM on December 13, 2006
posted by JBennett at 11:13 AM on December 13, 2006
Matt Lauer exists so you can post on MetaFilter about how hip you are because you aren't Matt Lauer.
Matt Lauer exists so that you can post about how hip you are because you aren't posting on Metafilter about how hip you are because you are not Matt Lauer.
posted by spicynuts at 12:09 PM on December 13, 2006
Matt Lauer exists so that you can post about how hip you are because you aren't posting on Metafilter about how hip you are because you are not Matt Lauer.
posted by spicynuts at 12:09 PM on December 13, 2006
[/remark about how JibJab is just like the Daily Show or Colbert Report or Bill O'Reilly]
posted by Cyclopsis Raptor at 12:12 PM on December 13, 2006
posted by Cyclopsis Raptor at 12:12 PM on December 13, 2006
That suckin' fucks.
jefbla wins. Thread closed.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 12:36 PM on December 13, 2006
Yikes! Sorry about your two minutes. Look at it this way - at least you won't even be tempted to open all the fwd's you get about it.
I thought it was their best since the early stuff, since it summed up the whole year and had decent animation... my bad. *calling to cancel internets between sobs*
posted by hypersloth at 12:39 PM on December 13, 2006
I thought it was their best since the early stuff, since it summed up the whole year and had decent animation... my bad. *calling to cancel internets between sobs*
posted by hypersloth at 12:39 PM on December 13, 2006
Oh, and your comment aside, I hate you Milkman Dan. ;)
posted by hypersloth at 12:41 PM on December 13, 2006
posted by hypersloth at 12:41 PM on December 13, 2006
Their animation was put to its best use on the video for Weird Al's Taylor Hicks parody. It actually made one of Al's less interesting bits more fun.
But a Christmas Pageant motif for a 'Year in Review' bit? Doomed from the start. And the title was false advertising for something far more daring. Lucking fame.
posted by wendell at 1:24 PM on December 13, 2006
But a Christmas Pageant motif for a 'Year in Review' bit? Doomed from the start. And the title was false advertising for something far more daring. Lucking fame.
posted by wendell at 1:24 PM on December 13, 2006
STEWIE GRIFFIN: Oh ho ho! They certainly lampooned the bojangles out of this year. Aren't they a bunch of cagey little bastards...those guys...there. It's just; you know what? It really is too clever. I mean, that sounds like a logical impossibility but in this particular case, no! I believe they've done it!!! They've managed to really just be too clever! Take that, 2006! Oh ho ho! Gotcha goooooooood.
posted by jeremy b at 1:25 PM on December 13, 2006
posted by jeremy b at 1:25 PM on December 13, 2006
i've never been so relieved to read an overwhelminly negative thread about some subject since this one.
posted by localhuman at 4:44 PM on December 13, 2006
posted by localhuman at 4:44 PM on December 13, 2006
Well, Jeremy B, you certainly took them to task for their lameness. I didn't think that anyone could, especially not by referencing a once popular televisual cartoon show - but you went there. I mean, right there - took the chance, and hit that one right out of the park. You got them good.
And by that, I mean, good show, old bean.
posted by cerulgalactus at 10:50 PM on December 13, 2006
And by that, I mean, good show, old bean.
posted by cerulgalactus at 10:50 PM on December 13, 2006
« Older BAD DOG | Masada: The Musical Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by itchylick at 6:58 AM on December 13, 2006