Link Roundup

Oh man oh man oh man...

The new riffs on Code Monkey are great - they fit really, really well. How the heck do you musical folks do that? I can't even ad lib stuff vocally, and I've been singing for years...

I dunno which carries more geek cred, Wil Wheaton or Neil Gaiman, but between the two of them, surely you now have nearly all of the geeks of the world covered...

And I think Greenpeace is about to be taught a very important lesson about "democracy" (sic) and the power of social networking, which hopefully they will actually be willing to learn. Who knows, maybe "old school" activists can go web 2.0 (sic), it might even do them some good...!

If they do choose Mr Splashy Pants, JoCo, you really should write a new set of lyrics and record it for them. I suggest that the main line be along the lines of "chances are your fins are not as splashy as the pair/of very splashy fins that mr splashy pants wears..."

Heck, if you worked with GreenPeace like you did with Valve, you could have another counter culture internet hit on your hands...! (As well as adding to your growing list of aquatic-themed songs...)

"Heck, if you worked with GreenPeace like you did with Valve..."

The fishcake is a lie!

Guess I was slow in sending you the Neil link. Curses!!!

I really think that to get all the geeks of the world in here, we would need a Joss Whedon reference too.

Actually, the whole of geekdom is so large, who knows where it will stop.

Hooray! I was about to send you the Neil Gaiman link as well.
I

love Neil Gaiman, and I also love when 2 geekeries unite.
Well done as always, JoCo.
Also, Comment Section does not like Ascii hearts.

There's also the Flickr group (feel free to add your pics).

http://www.flickr.com/groups/soft_rocked_joco_pics/

Wow. Awesome links. Thanks for the shout-out to the Atlanta crowd. We totally loved you. You should play Savannah sometime, too. I could pack at least half the house with all the JoCo fans in my address book.

Happy belated birthday.

Hi. I haven't posted here before, but I had to say something about how awesome the new stuff in code monkey is. There was always something about Code Monkey that kind of put me off even though the lyrics are genius. Turns out it was the guitar, great riffs, but not enough variety. This is great!

Love the picture! As a closet geek-a-saurus I'm really jealous!

Wil Wheaton claims to be a great fan of JoCo, but I'm getting the impression that it's mostly a manifestation of his Zombie Obsession. I've seen him make tons* of references to Re: Your Brains, and not one to any other JoCo song. Show some love to the other great songs, man!

*Some evidence:
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/wilwheaton/1470708308/
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/wilwheaton/1795079685/
- The aforementioned review
- He recently blogged about Re: Vos Cerveaux
- Probably some more.

Jost: Wil Wheaton was at the last LA show, so there's some evidence on the side of genuine fan.

Also, I think the Still Alive video may be the closest thing we'll get to a JoCo music video...

I can attest that Mr. Neil does listen to your music. He was blaring Skullcrusher Mountain in his office and now has me singing it too.

Sharon (Mr. Neil's Beekeeper)

When you say "Link Roundup" it looks moar like a link dump to me. Come on Jon, the Internets is not just something you dump something on, it's not a big truck!

What an excellent group of links! They left me smiling.

Mr. Splashy pants must win! And I sure hope there are no attack ads or dirty tricks against the clear winner in the whale naming caucus. Mighty fine Halloween Coulton costume. I wonder if guests twere shouting requests all night And to echo, Kiki, yes, come back to Atlanta. This time I'm claiming myself a seat.

Just leaving a comment to say that I have put one of your songs to practical use.

I learned quite a bit from "The Presidents" (and also really wish I had known about you last year when I had to memorize all of the presidents and their terms for a test in my high school social studies class -- would have made things ten times easier) and recently at a Quiz Bowl competition (it's kind of like Jeopardy, just in team form), there was a question asking which president was a Mexican War hero.

Thanks to your song, I knew the answer. Unfortunately, I wasn't playing. Pity. (But I did successfully throw an agonizing "I Know The Answer" fit in the audience when those playing failed to answer the question. It was terrible.)

Thought you might enjoy knowing that.

So, with improved guitar action, is this the sort of thing that might make this song work as DLC for Rock Band? :D

Unfortunately the "Elf Yourself" link only stays valid for a few days after you create one - I had some great ones, too, and they are all gone. Curse you Scrooges at Office Max, couldn't you spare the disk space until at least Dec. 26?

That Halloween is hilarious Her picture looks just like your pictures, only she is better looking. Thanks for the giggle.

@jesss: All we need is a "Grr, arrgh" from the other zombies as "Bob" makes his arguments. Whedon reference: check.

So wait... Neil Gaiman is a JoCo fan? Two of the coolest things ever just fused in my mind.

I don't know if I can take it.

Thanks Rich, I can die happy now

Given that Mr. Gaiman sat just a few rows behind me at tonight's show in Mpls. I'd say he wasn't fibbing.

Great show.

Sorry, Mr. Coulton. I shouldn't have been such a jerk and suggested you sing "Soft Rocked By Me" without having the lyrics memorized. It was still pretty awesome, though.

Here's another great link, possibly even deserving of its own post! :D

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/extras/stillalive.php

It's most wonderful (as are pretty much all of the VGC strips). :D

Yeah, thanks for nothing Abby. I think it turned out OK. At least now I know that I don't know that one...

The Rock Band character could also have been Kenny Loggins. Consider yourself now in the Danger Zone.

http://www.nndb.com/people/879/000024807/

WAIT. Come to think of it, I've never seen both Jonathan Coulton and Kenny Loggins in the same place at the same time...

"Wil Wheaton claims to be a great fan of JoCo"

WTF? First of all, the dude isn't the Celebrity Ambassador of JoCo; can we please not jump his shit *if* he has a favorite song? Are we going to round up all the people who habitually make "Code Monkey" references and force them to learn the harmony parts to "When You Go"? Can we go after that big poser Gaiman and his "Skullcrusher" obsession next?

As far as that goes, I'm pretty sure "claiming" to be a fan pretty much *makes* you a fan unless you are running for office. Trust me, as a Deadhead I have heard my share of "fan-lier than thou" upsmanship and I don't hold with it. We're all on the same side here, brethren and sistren.

Finally, Wheaton has ref'ed other JoCo songs in his terrific culture column at Suicide Girls, "The Geek In Review." As long as we're combing his posts for JoCo Cred, let's be fair. (I'd link, but SG's server is down right now.)

Nothing personal, Jost. It's just that geeks have been piling on Wil Wheaton for years and I don't think it's deserved. He's more than capable of defending himself, but I'd really like to nip even the suggestion of JoCo Fan Snobbery in the bud, because it's a curse of the geek subculture.

OK, I once got laughed at by an audience at a Star Trek convention for not knowing the answer to a trivia contest question, but that totally has nothing to do with my point and I can't believe you brought it up. Don't you people ever forget? Can't you let it go? KHAAAAAAN!!!!!!

"Peaceful Easy Feeling"? OK, nice, good choice, but how about a little Zevon? I'm thinking "The French Inhaler" or "Desperadoes Under the Eaves." Possibly Jackson Browne's "For a Dancer." Or he could just FINISH THE FREAKING BEAR SONG.

...what was I talking about, again?

My comment is awaiting moderation?

Is this because I said the S-word? When did this start?

Just curious... why does Colleen’s lead sheet for “Still Alive” spell the word "glad" (e.g. "I'm so GLaD. I got burned") with the capitalization used by the "Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders" (www.glad.org)?? It's clearly not accidental -- it's written that way twice.

Is there something I'm missing here?

@jack: That's a reference to the character, whose name is GLaDOS in the game. Also, I think that glad.org uses all caps, not a lower case a.

Ah, I see. Thanks. I'm not a gamer, so I had this nagging feeling I was missing a joke or something but was too dense to "get it."