alyankovicVEVO
1 HN recommender · recommended in 6 months, 2020–2024
3:46 · 67M views · Jul 15, 2014
Weird Al Yankovic's 2014 parody of 'Blurred Lines' that scolds common grammar and usage errors, with a kinetic typography video. It is a catchy music video about language mistakes.
HN mostly drops it jokingly in threads about grammar, apostrophes and language, and occasionally discusses the animated video's making.
8 comments from Hacker News
Jarrett Heather is the artist behind Weird Al's "Word Crimes" video released in 2014 (at 48.4 million views now). Word Crimes: this video "Word Crimes" is Weird Al's spot-on parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" with T.I. and Pharrell Williams. I think Weird Al's version is better and more educational than the original -- smart and catchy like a modern Schoolhouse Rock. Blurred Lines: [LINK] Weird Al contacted Jarrett Heather after being impressed by "Shop Vac", his previous work with kinetic text (typographic animation), which he made using animation tools like AfterEffects. Shop Vac: [LINK] This page on Jarrett Heather's web site tells the story and shows the art and technology behind the "Word Crimes" video. He's also published the Animatic storyboard-in-motion that took about 100 hours, to Weird Al's original home-made demo of the song! It's fascinating to compare them, and see how their ideas evolved from storyboard to final video. Jarrett Heather presents: Word Crimes: [LINK] >The Completed Music Video: In November 2013, "Weird Al" Yankovic asked me to direct an animated video for "Word Crimes", a parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" about the supposed abuse of proper language. >The result of 500 hours of work in After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere goes by in 3 minutes, 44 seconds. I hope you find each one of them entertaining. The Animatic: [LINK] >This storyboard-in-motion took about 100 hours. Al signed off on this design on January 25th, 2014, onl
[LINK] [LINK] this video [LINK] [LINK] jcl on April 9, 2020 | parent | context | favorite | on: Jarrett Heather presents: Word Crimes (2014) Love the song and video -- great to see the behind-the-scenes and in-jokes. One thing I'm still curious about is the lyric: "You should never / write words using numbers / unless you're seven / or your name is Prince" -- particularly, whether it was an intentional reference to the movie "Se7en". If it was, it seems like a missed opportunity in the video. DonHopkins on April 9, 2020 | prev [–] Funny, I thought the symbol for The Artist Formerly Known As Prince was informally pronounced and spelled "BRUCE", which is less cumbersome to speak and spell than the official alternative (which is unspeakable unspellable silence). His PR company sent this memorandum around to the press and industry, including step-by-step downloading, installation, and usage instructions for Macintosh and PC, of a special [BRUCE] font with just one unpronounceable [BRUCE] symbol, to be used when referring to The Artist in print. I guess Weird Al didn't get the memo. [LINK] >Why, the ``Bruce'' font? Because someone jokingly suggested that because it was way too cumbersome to say, ``that symbol guy'' or whatever, it'd be much easier to give the symbol a name, and that name should be ``Bruce.'' So there. >[BRUCE] Background: On June 7, 1993, mega-star Prince surprised fans and the entertainment industry when he announced that he was separating from his band New Power Ge
Speaking of heroes who I could care less about: Jarrett Heather presents: Word Crimes (2014) (jarrettheather.com) Archive: [LINK] "Weird Al" Yankovic - Word Crimes: this video >The Completed Music Video: In November 2013, "Weird Al" Yankovic asked me to direct an animated video for "Word Crimes", a parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" about the supposed abuse of proper language. >The result of 500 hours of work in After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere goes by in 3 minutes, 44 seconds. I hope you find each one of them entertaining. Word Crimes Animatic: [LINK] >This storyboard-in-motion took about 100 hours. Al signed off on this design on January 25th, 2014, only 3 weeks after he gave me his homemade "demo" for Word Crimes, which you can hear on the animatic soundtrack. >If you watch very closely, you might notice a gag or two that didn't make it through to final animation or some very subtle changes in the lyrics. HN Discussion: [LINK] MrHeather on April 9, 2020 | parent | next [–] When I first met with Al about this project, I was quick to point out that linguists would disagree with about a third of the "advice" he's giving out. His immediate reply was "WELL THEY'RE WRONG"--really loudly in the "Weird Al" character voice. In my mind the joke is that the song's narrator is a know-it-all character that shouldn't be taken entirely seriously. But on the other hand, a lot of educators have contacted me to tell me they use the song as a learning tool. DonHopkins on
Jarrett Heather is the artist behind Weird Al's "Word Crimes" video released in 2014 (at 48.4 million views now). Word Crimes: this video Weird Al's spot-on parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" with T.I. and Pharrell Williams: [LINK] Weird Al contacted him after being impressed by "Shop Vac", his previous work with kinetic text (typographic animation), which he made using animation tools like AfterEffects. Shop Vac: [LINK] This page on Jarrett Heather's web site tells the story and shows the art and technology behind the "Word Crimes" video. He's also published the Animatic storyboard-in-motion that took about 100 hours, to Weird Al's original home-made demo of the song! It's fascinating to compare them, and see how their ideas evolved from storyboard to final video. Jarrett Heather presents: Word Crimes: [LINK] >The Completed Music Video: In November 2013, "Weird Al" Yankovic asked me to direct an animated video for "Word Crimes", a parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" about the supposed abuse of proper language. >The result of 500 hours of work in After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere goes by in 3 minutes, 44 seconds. I hope you find each one of them entertaining. The Animatic: [LINK] >This storyboard-in-motion took about 100 hours. Al signed off on this design on January 25th, 2014, only 3 weeks after he gave me his homemade "demo" for Word Crimes, which you can hear on the animatic soundtrack. >If you watch very closely, you might notice a gag or two tha
>Because the question is obvious. Who doesn't know Knuth? As for Scott Kim, and the rest, I don't know them [...] Let me get this straight: you were obviously being sarcastic about not knowing Donald Knuth, but you weren't being sarcastic about not knowing the other people you were criticizing. ["I actually (honestly) haven't heard of them." -crimsonlucard] That's some implausibly nuanced retroactively selective sarcasm there! You make as much sense as Trump claiming he was being sarcastic about injecting bleach, but in the same rambling sentence he wasn't being sarcastic about sticking a UV flashlight where the sun doesn't shine. Do you believe him? >[...] and could care less. this video >"I hate these word crimes. Like "I could care less". That means you do care. At least a little. Don't be a moron. You'd better slow down. And use the right pronoun. Show the world you're no clown." -Weird Al