I will be the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing.

Maddy and I ended up in a corner shop at Chinatown today looking at jade. I tried to converse with the ladies at the store in my impeccable Mandarin, that gave way to heavily accented Cantonese. Maddy says I sound so proficient. Anyhoo, I figure I should get in touch with my mother tongue. Seriously.

So today’s video hunt started with a slew (ok one or two) Cantonese songs, but finally I caved in and decided that someone who’s as effectively bilingual as me will do fine. He’s bilingual, but mostly sings in Mandarin.

Ready?

Triviameter: Hard (If you guess it from this first paragraph, congratulations, you’re a bona fide fan, woo hoo!)
Our protagonist today is a pretty handsome fella (by most accounts though I do think something can be done with the nose). He was on track to be a doctor – the perfect SAT scores and all – until he decided music was his calling instead. So he bailed, probably to the chagrin of the family, which still has another couple of genius sons, so no worries there. He seems to like Stevie Wonder, which kinda explains a few of the videos on YouTube of him performing I Just Called To Say I Love You. Personally I prefer vintage Stevie. That song just reminds me of Gene Wilder.

Triviameter: Medium (If you guess it from this second paragraph, you’re doing good. Music buff, you!)
Ok, the dude doesn’t just sing, he composes and produces his own music. In fact, he’s one of his record label’s more important singer/songwriter/producers. He likes baseball, and can often be seen sporting baseball caps. But then again, most Taiwanese boy band brats generally do. When he does speak English, which he does very well, he sports a very East Coast accent. Yes, there is a difference. He does not sound like KF! Thing is, you can’t really expect people to switch languages on and off. I don’t know if it’s simply because we’re not “native English speakers” by definition, but on some of the vids, after speaking in Mandarin, he performs songs in English weirdly, like the Ee’s get too short (feel becomes fil). Oddly enough, he’s not released an English album yet.

Triviameter: Easy Peasy (If you can’t guess it now – dude! Gotta start watching Taiwanese variety shows, yo!)
He was born 17 May, 1976 (International Genius Year!), in Rochester, New York, and he shares the same first name as my cousin who makes me call him Big Al. He picked up Mandarin pretty late in life, but grew up playing the violin. He also plays the piano, and can be seen banging on drums in some videos. (Some fansite lists “percussions” under his “able to play” field. Dude. Anyone can percush!) Arguably his biggest contribution to Chinese pop is incorporating minority Chinese music into mainstream tunes, a style he calls “chinked out”.

Ok. That’s about as much as I know about him.

Gentlemen, start your engines….

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I grew up listening to Herman’s Hermits. My dad liked their cheesy brand of sixties Anglo-pop, I guess. He especially liked the song about the king who beheads his wives.

So quiz 2 is easy peasy, if you’re into sixties cheesy Anglo-pop. Ready?

Triviameter: Hard (If you guess it from this first paragraph, congratulations, you’re a bona fide fan, woo hoo!)
This song was Herman’s Hermits’s only #1 UK hit. It was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King (yup, the American singer and songwriter who performed the song that was used in the Gilmore Girls theme). It’s an upbeat, campy little tune, and like many other songs of the time, sounds like the Hermits sang it after ingesting a couple of happy mushrooms.

Triviameter: Medium (If you guess it from this second paragraph, you’re doing good. Movie buff, you!)
In 1988, it was used in The Naked Gun – specifically the Leslie Nielson and Priscilla Presley music video scene. Peter Doone then re-recorded the song on his own and it hit the adult contemporary charts. Not too bad for a former child actor who joined the band at 15! The week before this song hit #1 on the UK charts, The Kinks‘s You Really Got Me was #1.

Triviameter: Easy Peasy (If you can’t guess it now – dude! Gotta start watching American Idol!)
Ok. Tonight on American Idol, Sanjaya was aching between this song and the aforementioned You Really Got Me. He finally went for You Really Got Me, and he completely lost me. I’m convinced he would’ve done so much better with this one. That said, because he went so far out from his comfort zone (the drippy-sappy-sacchariney-everything-is-fine area), something tells me he’s going to last another week. Help!!

Ok, done. You ready with your guess?

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Still on my music video rampage, though I’ll have to put it in the extended entry section so this page doesn’t overload. Get it? Over-load? Anyway. Here’s a quiz instead.

Triviameter: Hard (If you guess it from this first paragraph, you’re a bona fide fan, woo hoo!)
Anyway. This next song was the first hit single from this performer’s first solo effort. Written and composed by the performer, it’s part disco, part falsetto, totally campy. It hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the week of 13 October 1979, so I guess my folks must have had the radio on almost all the time because I distinctly remember this song. The dude won a Grammy for this song in 1980.

Triviameter: Medium (If you guess it from this second paragraph, you’re doing ok. Music buff, you!)
I’ve never seen the video, and looking at it now it’s totally cheesy. But it was apparently very advanced for its time. This is the first song in which he squeals a whole bunch throughout the vocals, something he does to this very day. In fact, he uses the exact same moves in almost all his videos, though admittedly the groin twitch is getting less and less appropriate on him.

Triviameter: Too Damn Easy (If you can’t guess it now – dude! Get out from under that rock!)
The chorus contains one of the most misheard lyrics ever. At this point if you can’t guess it, here’s the dead giveaway. It’s often misheard to say – “keep on with the fun stuff, don’t stop till you get it up!”

Ready?

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I had to resort to getting a dumb soap opera soundtrack for one song. And according to the people who commented on the YouTube board, I’m not the only one.

Further proof that 8 September is International Genius Day – Aimee Mann celebrates her birthday then too.

All for freedom and for pleasure,
Nothing ever lasts forever.
Everybody wants to rule the world.

I love this song. I even make my phone ring to it.

It was Tears for Fears‘s first US #1 single. Growing up I never knew what the song meant, so now that I actually understand some English, I’m obsessed with it. Lovesit!

This song is so funny and campy. I tried to find the same video on Y! Video, but it linked out to some site called Clevver.com but the quality was much better. If you feel like watching an ad before the video, check it out here.

If you’re too lazy, check out the Scissor Sisters right here.

Next up: the Electric Light Orchestra for even more campy moosic. Yay!

I’m not usually a fan of Beyonce’s but I imagine this could be the Big Why’s ode to me.

I will seek my fulfilment outside of work.

I need to clear out my closet, the apartment and my desk at work.

Also need to a little more Christmas shopping, am missing something for my brother and sister-in-law, although at this point I think I should put a few things together in a hamper. Some cookies, chocolate, jam, coffee, tea, maybe a christmas fruit cake in a basket. Time to go shopping!

I was just minding my own business, listening to my music at work today when I suddenly started to pay attention to Tony Bennett who was crooning so sweetly. He sang me the funniest thing.

I wanna be around
To pick up the pieces
When somebody breaks your heart
Some somebody twice as smart as I

A somebody who will swear to be true
As you did to me
Who’ll lead you to learn that misery loves company
Wait and see

I mean I want to be around
When he breaks your heart to bits
Let’s see if the puzzle fits
So fine

And that’s when I’ll discover that revenge is sweet
As I sit there applauding from a front row seat
When somebody breaks your heart
Like you broke mine

You just gotta love a song like this.