Random gripe

[gnome]

Feel free to add your own random gripes. There just didn't seem to be a good existing topic for this.

mystiqalwolf has become addicted to "Grey's Anatomy" and its spinoff "Private Practice". The shows are tolerable enough in the background while I play Borderlands stuff, but they have one habit that keeps sticking in my craw. It seems like every episode has for background music on some scenes a classic pop hit, only rearranged and slowed down to a mournful dirge.

In every single case, the original song would have fit the scene just as well, or even better. This parade of songs with all the life and passion sucked out of them is driving me nuts. Maybe they should be called "zombie songs". Was the slow version of "Layla" the first one, perpetrated by the original performer, even?

Are these dreary covers cheaper to get the rights for than the original? Or is it a bizarre creative choice?

[sparks]

Money's the measure in this case I should think.

[Nyarlathotep]

Hard to say. Never watched either of the shows you mention, but I have noticed it in other shows. My guess is on "Bizaare Creative Choice" though, as I can't imagine its all that much cheaper to get cover of an old pop song, if its cheaper at all

[Anaxagoras]

I'm sure money is a factor though. May also be a creative choice. The rights for popular songs are expensive and proportional to their popularity. Covers or less popular versions are probably cheaper.

[ed]

The use of Layla is always and without exception a vain wish to be compared to Scorsese in a positive way. As such, it's use is uniformly pathetic.

[gnome]

It got really bad when they took an already slow song and made it SLOOOOWWWWER. It was like the catatonic version of the song.

[Nyarlathotep]

If I time travel back to about the 19th century and get the flu for no reason at all, would that be a random grippe?

[Rob Lister]

I think my 2nd Molar is going. and Katherine Heigl never got naked on that show or any other

[Abdul Alhazred]

Is this the amusing gripes thread? No?

Carry on.

[Malfie Henpox]

I don't have any.

[Doctor X]

--J.D.

[Grammatron]

Are these dreary covers cheaper to get the rights for than the original?

I don't have a source for this handy. But I remember hearing/reading that music rights make up a huge chunk of any TV show/movie budget. I do believe that same source talked about covers being cheaper to use than originals.

[Malfie Henpox]

It's very true. They cost a fortune. I've done a bit of work in the past for radio and TV.

I read an article a while back about an indie movie guy. He was talking enviously about the soundtrack to Guardians of the Galaxy, and how he wished he had the budget to include such tunes.

[Doctor X]

For what it is worth, podcasts from "We are Important Enough to Sue" like a professional sports team will limit the music introduction to a few seconds since, otherwise, they would have to pay for the use of the song. For the rest, it is a matter of whether or not you are found.

--J.D.

[gnome]

Is this the amusing gripes thread? No?

Carry on.

I've told you once.

[Doctor X]

No, you didn't.

--J.D.

[Ben Trovado]

I really don't think the d4s roll that well.

[gnome]

No, they're terrible. They serve two purposes: to technically complete the set of perfect solids that make up the gaming dice (with the exception of the D10)--thus satisfying math geeks, and they make useful caltrops.

If you want actual 1-4 rolls it was probably easier to just roll the D8 and divide by two, round up.

[Nyarlathotep]

Dear outside vendor with whom I worked today,

GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!!! We figured out the document path the last two times we tried to make your software and mine play nice together. I shouldn't have to tell you again and you have to make adjustments every time we run a test.

Toodle-Pipsky,
Nyarl

[Nyarlathotep]

No, they're terrible. They serve two purposes: to technically complete the set of perfect solids that make up the gaming dice (with the exception of the D10)--thus satisfying math geeks, and they make useful caltrops.

If you want actual 1-4 rolls it was probably easier to just roll the D8 and divide by two, round up.

They also serve to display one of my many useless talents. I can spin them like a top on their point. I can also spin a d6 like a top on one of its corners.