Because it's been a while

GQ4: Deguello - Round 2

Deguello - Second Round. And it's still not too late to join in if anyone's interested - the field is wide open.


Submit your answers to mfactorquiz (at) gmail.com by the end of Friday 101708. Each song holds the potential of two points - one point for artist and one point for the song. Answers will be posted on Saturday 101188.

Song number 186:



Song number 187:



Song number 188:



Song number 189:



Song number 190:

Results GQ4: Deguello - Round 1

Well color me surprised. The inaugural round appeared to have been much more difficult than anticipated. The songs were:

• Song 181: Salt'n'Pepa - Push It. What an atrocity this song and this group is/was. They combined early rap efforts (which makes Vanilla Ice look like Ice Cube) with that late 80's early 90's dance moves which looked suspiciously like steps from an aerobic session rotated 45 degrees.
• Song 182: Green Jelly - Three Little Pigs. One-hit wonder from the 90's, but man was this song everywhere. Downtuned theft job off of Smoke On The Water. I take it none of y'all are 90's buffs? I know this song all too well; we used to do it live, sometimes back to back with the aforementioned Smoke On The Water.
• Song 183: Dokken - Dream Warriors. If any of y'all had been fans of "A Nightmare On Elm Street", you'd have found this even without any musical preference towards LA hair metal.
• Song 184: Guns'N'Roses - Paradise City. Y'all found this one. When I recorded it, I discovered that I was STILL sick and tired of playing this song.
  
• Song 185: Iron Maiden - Stranger In A Strange Land. If this song doesn't sound like your typical Maiden tune, it's because it's penned by Adrian Smith. Moreover, I'll take a lot of the blame for y'all not recognizing this, as the guitar and bass frequencies on this recording overlap way too much. Bad mixing, plain and simple.

This means that after the first round - and thus also overall - we've got a winner:

1. Torbjørn (5 points)
2. Anders/Cathy/Sondre (tied at 4 points)
3. ...
4. ...
5. Marius/Pigeon (tied at 2 points)

Congrats to T-bombz and good luck with round 2.

Puff Daddy can't act

We all know that Puff Daddy can't dance

So we have the proof that he can't act neither

Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard gets no respect..

..no respect at all, I tells ya.

Obvious Rodney Dangerfield references aside, there's a piece in VG online about Ødegaard being criticised by his colleagues for getting too much media exposure. During a recent panel debate, there was much outrage upon the very mention of Ødegaard's name, and a general consensus that he was stealing the spotlight away from his colleagues, overextending himself within his field, and even commenting on matters outside the boundaries of his competence profile. A more detailed list of grievances found in the piece looks a bit like this:

• KJRØ does not know the limits of his own knowledge and is thus prone to giving answers and comments which aren't necessarily in sync with neither conventional nor cutting edge wisdom.
  
• KJRØ does not defer to other scientists when approached by media, and thus commits the dual sin of (i) hogging the spotlight and (ii) giving a comment in an "expert" role independent of whether he actually has any knowledge on the subject.
  
• KJRØ gets all the attention from media also when other scientists/experts are present, thus effectively blocking other scientists from appearing/commenting in media.

In an extremely unsurprising turn of events, KJRØ responds that the root cause of this criticism is sheer jealousy. Media also gets it's share of criticism for not bothering to contact other experts - ones that might even have actual knowledge of the field in question. From the fact that KJRØ was in media talking about the LHC and being billed as an expert on the subject, one might envision that journalists use the following approach when trying to enlist expert commentators:

* Yeello; this is Aaron A. Aaronson.
* How ya' doin' this fine evenin'; my name is Jimmy Olsen and I'm a reporter with the Weekly World News of the Day. Your name came up in a search of the phone book, and I'd like to ask you this: Are you by any chance an expert on matters related to climate changes, nanotechnology, comets, black holes, large hadron whatchamacallits and other nerdy doodads?
* Weeelll....I graduated twenty-third of my class from the Department of Auto Sales, School of Hard Knocks. And I subscribe to "National Geographic", 'cause sometimes they've got pictures of topless chicks, you see, and the subscription came free with my "Guns'N'Ammo", "Soldier Of Fortune" and "Monster Trucks and Topless Chicks" triple treat package, so...
* Why; you're practically an expert at everything, Mr. Aaronson. Would you mind terribly if we use you as our expert on pretty much any matter we see fit?
* Sure; why not.

On the other hand, I hardly see how other scientists can be upset at KJRØ because the media calls on him. That's got "Old man shaking his fist at the moon" written all over it. A relevant question aimed at those who bemoan KJRØ taking their spotlight would be: "What have YOU done to popularize your research lately? When was the last time YOU went out of the way to make yourself accesible to the media?" 'Cause one thing is for sure; KJRØ really tries to bring the message of space and black holes and eclipses and other nerdy cosmos things to the general public - not even his worst enemy can deny that.

On the flip side, I doubt that even his best friend would be able to deny that KJRØ absolutely perpetuates the image of the scientist as a total and absolute geek. Add to this the fact that as far as I understand it, KJRØ never got his PhD, and you're left with a pretty sad visage. I am not taking anything away from KJRØ's obvious enthusiasm and genuine interest when I say that I'd rather crawl naked on my belly over broken glass than have him represent me and my field of research. A year or two back, KJRØ was a guest on a "Class Reunion" type of show on Norwegian television wherein two famous or semi-famous people are reaquainted with their classmates and compete to win a party or whatever. Never have Hollywood B- and further down the alphabet-movies been closer to an accurate portrayal of people interested in science than what KJRØ put forth on this show. Stereotype fiesta. And the kicker; a week or so after he appeared on this show, he was on the front page of at least one newspaper complaining about how traumatic it was to meet his former classmates again, as they used to bully him and generally beat teh everloving crap out of him. Mind you; he volunteered for the show....

What can and should be put squarely at KJRØ's door is whether he refuses to refer to people better equipped to answer questions than him, and especially if he does answer well beyond his field of expertise. As for the rest of the complaints in this VG piece, with all the quality and nuance that entails, there's a good solution. See; what you have to do is put KJRØ in a barrel and throw his bespectacled ass into the river or another significant body of water. If the nerd-filled barrel floats, it's evidence for him being a witch. If it sinks and he drowns, KJRØ is innocent.

Final Results GQ3: Mexican Standoff

Teh results are in, and we have a winner. By most accounts, the final round of GQ3 was less difficult than many of the preceding ones. Anyhoo; the songs were:

• Song 176: Nik Kershaw - The Riddle. I always thought Kershaw was a lightweight 80's prettyboi with big hair until I saw him perform his other hit, "Wouldn't It Be Good" on some Norwegian television show a ways back. Dude was really taking command of the stage, sang his ass off and was totally laying down some killer guitar. It's way cool when people exceed your expectations.
• Song 177: Chicago - If You Leave Me Now. Not my favorite Chicago song, but it's a classic AOR hit. Come to think of it, I prefer the solo work of Peter Cetera to Chicago anyways.
• Song 178: Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On. Near, Far, Wherever You Are, I believe that my Ibanez S will forever be tainted from playing this. *Shudder*
• Song 179: Tevye/Gwen Stefani/Any other recorded performance from Fiddler On The Roof - If I Were A Rich Man. Or "If I Was A Rich Girl" in the case of Gwen Stefani's rip-off hit. Meh.
• Song 180: ABBA - The Winner Takes It All. Cool song, and a most relevant title for the final song on the final round of GQ3.

The Bonus point could be harnessed by figuring out that all the five recordings are of the vocal melody of each song. With that in mind, here's how y'all did in Round 8:

1. Cathy/Sondre/Torbjørn (tied at 11 points)
2. ...
3. ...
4. Marius (10 points)
5. Anders (8 points)
6. Pigeon (4 points)

The TOTAL SCORE after 8 rounds then stands as:

1. Sondre (53 points)
2. Cathy (52 points)
3. Anders/Torbjørn (tied at 40 points)
4. ...
5. Pigeon (35 points)
6. Marius (29 points)

Congrats to Sondre who managed to edge out the competition to win The m-factor Guitarquiz 3: mexican Standoff! Long may he reign, etc.

GQ4: Deguello - Round 1

In the spirit of hittin' the ground running, here's the first round off of the next quiz, aptly named Deguello, the meaning of which I'm sure Anders could lecture y'all on until the cows come home.


Submit your answers to mfactorquiz (at) gmail.com by the end of Friday 101008. Yep; that's right - I done changed the day of the deadline, so have your answers in by the end of FRIDAY 101008. Each song holds the potential of two points - one point for artist and one point for the song. Answers will be posted on Saturday 101108.

Song number 181:



Song number 182:



Song number 183:



Song number 184:



Song number 185: