No, actually, I'm doing NaNoFiMo
Nov. 1st, 2011 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elisemSo I considered doing NaNoWriMo and all that, because goodness knows I have a manuscript languishing that is calling me to get back to it... but that's not what I can do right now. Soon, I hope, and I'm getting closer to having enough brain back to do that flavor of work, but right now, I need to be rebuilding my conditioning. (That's a theme right now, and I hope to be making a post about that theme very soon, because I was at Mayo again today and there was more encouraging news - and speaking of Mayo, I'll be back there again twice next week, and again a couple weeks later, and maybe we can clear enough Other Shoes off the ceiling that I won't fear that one or more is threatening imminent droppage. But back to writing....)
So in the interest of getting my writing conditioning back, and because I recently read a novel that made me want to do this, I am doing my own thing: National Novel Filk Month. The thing I read that inspired me to write a filk was UP AGAINST IT by M.J. Locke, a book that really grabbed me. I have a six-verse filk song almost complete, and I'll try to have it done and up for you very soon.
As a placeholder for today, though, have this old filk of mine. I nabbed the text (and Cally's lovely introduction) from here.
Please Note: I have edited the lyrics slightly to match how I sing it these days; the change in verse 7 is important because it's physics. "When we tried diluting it, it sank and wouldn't budge," because putting water on top of a pressure-dependent solid is a Bad Idea, as we found out. There was considerable bailing involved before "we finally got it out of there with fingernails and prayers." Also, I usually leave verses 3 and 4 out for length, but will sing them when it's that kind of party.
OOBLEK IN THE BATHTUB
Words: by Elise Matthesen
Tune: "Crying in the Bathtub, by Nate Bucklin, on a not-yet-released
tape "Butter Side Down"
[Note - it scans nicely to "Monsters in the Night" which is what I
sing it to. Kay Shapero]
First, an introduction by Cally Soukup
Last weekend, at Minicon, I was a witness to what might very well
become a Fannish Legend. It concerns a guy named Greg who was working
for Microprogramming (general wierd stuff, with the watchword "main-
tain plausable deniability", and the motto "ignorant savages with a
certain artistic flair"), and the odd, not to say stfnal, behavior of
cornstarch when mixed with water. Perhaps you've never had the opor-
tunity to play with cornstarch-and-water (herinafter referred to as
Ooblek -- yes, we named it after the Dr. Suess book), but it is amaz-
ing stuff. To make it is simple -- saturate cornstarch with water,
until it's thoroughly wet, but not so wet that there is extra water on
top. Once you've got it, you'll find that if you pick it up and
squeeze it, it is much the consistancy of potter's clay. When you
relax your hand, however, it reverts to something more the consistancy
of ketchup. It seems that it's a pressure-dependant solid. Greg,
maintaining plausable deniability as best he could, snuck into the
Minneapolis in '73 suite with 100 pounds of cornstarch (!), and pro-
ceded to Ooblek the bathtub. With that quantity of the stuff, you can
actually stand on it, if you keep moving your feet, but if you sink,
getting your foot back out is a bit difficult. You're putting pres-
sure on the ooblek above your foot, you see, which binds to all the
other ooblek in the tub... The song which follows is absolutely true
(well, the last two verses are an extrapolation).
OOBLEK IN THE BATHTUB
Words: by Elise Matthesen
Tune: "Crying in the Bathtub, by Nate Bucklin, on a not-yet-released
tape "Butter Side Down"
It was on a Sunday evening when the trouble all began
A guy from microprogramming was loaded with a plan,
And a hundred pounds of cornstarch, and a really evil grin;
He went up to the bathtub and he dumped the powder in.
They say that in a bathtub you can have a lovely time
If you fill it up with Jell-o, especially if it's lime;
Now, Jell-o may be pleasant, but it's obvious to see
That I'm kinda stuck on ooblek, 'cause it's kinda stuck on me.
CHORUS: There's ooblek in the bathtub; the con ain't over yet
It's pleasantly disgusting and it's thick and white and wet.
We know Hotel Security would say it's got to go,
So there's ooblek in the bathtub, but no one's s'posed to know.
We figured that the Radisson just wouldn't understand,
It would only make them nervous if they knew what we had planned.
They're overly protective and they're easily upset,
And they wouldn't grok a hundred pounds of thick and white and wet.
They're pretty good at dealing with the stuff they've never seen,
Like the catapulting lizards, and Amalgamated Spleen,
And the haunted elevator that was full of eerie mist,
But the ooblek in the bathtub would really get 'em pissed.
CHORUS
When you move it fast it crumbles, but it oozes if you're slow;
You can pile it in a mountain, and wait for it to flow.
It's a little bit like quicksand, and it almost swallowed Greg --
By the time you get your ankle out, it's got your other leg.
We know it's kind of friendly, we know it likes to play,
We know that if you grab it it will slowly ooze away.
We know it isn't toxic, it's safe beyond a doubt --
The only thing we didn't know was how to get it out!
CHORUS
We thought of adding water to liquify the sludge,
But when we tried diluting it, it sank and wouldn't budge.
We considered high explosives, but didn't want to be
Responsible for ooblek at escape velocity!
We finally got it out of there with fingernails and prayers,
And assembled a disposal team to smuggle it downstairs.
We sent them to the parking lot to dump it in a heap,
So it won't come oozing back again and get us in our sleep.
CHORUS
So, early Monday morning we went out and looked around,
We figured we should find the place we dumped it on the ground
We found a guy in coveralls whose lips were kind of tight
Standing at the border of a spreading pool of white.
He seemed a little croggled, so politely we enquired,
And he answered with intensity, "It's time that I retired.
"There's a lot of funny messes after which I've had to clean,
"But that the biggest friggin' pigeon that the world has ever seen!"
CHORUS
CHORUS
And I found out at WFC this past weekend that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
matociquala actually found and loved this song before she and I ever met, which croggled me and gave me a goofy squee-across-time kind of moment. Our fandom is folded a great many times, yes indeedy.
So in the interest of getting my writing conditioning back, and because I recently read a novel that made me want to do this, I am doing my own thing: National Novel Filk Month. The thing I read that inspired me to write a filk was UP AGAINST IT by M.J. Locke, a book that really grabbed me. I have a six-verse filk song almost complete, and I'll try to have it done and up for you very soon.
As a placeholder for today, though, have this old filk of mine. I nabbed the text (and Cally's lovely introduction) from here.
Please Note: I have edited the lyrics slightly to match how I sing it these days; the change in verse 7 is important because it's physics. "When we tried diluting it, it sank and wouldn't budge," because putting water on top of a pressure-dependent solid is a Bad Idea, as we found out. There was considerable bailing involved before "we finally got it out of there with fingernails and prayers." Also, I usually leave verses 3 and 4 out for length, but will sing them when it's that kind of party.
OOBLEK IN THE BATHTUB
Words: by Elise Matthesen
Tune: "Crying in the Bathtub, by Nate Bucklin, on a not-yet-released
tape "Butter Side Down"
[Note - it scans nicely to "Monsters in the Night" which is what I
sing it to. Kay Shapero]
First, an introduction by Cally Soukup
Last weekend, at Minicon, I was a witness to what might very well
become a Fannish Legend. It concerns a guy named Greg who was working
for Microprogramming (general wierd stuff, with the watchword "main-
tain plausable deniability", and the motto "ignorant savages with a
certain artistic flair"), and the odd, not to say stfnal, behavior of
cornstarch when mixed with water. Perhaps you've never had the opor-
tunity to play with cornstarch-and-water (herinafter referred to as
Ooblek -- yes, we named it after the Dr. Suess book), but it is amaz-
ing stuff. To make it is simple -- saturate cornstarch with water,
until it's thoroughly wet, but not so wet that there is extra water on
top. Once you've got it, you'll find that if you pick it up and
squeeze it, it is much the consistancy of potter's clay. When you
relax your hand, however, it reverts to something more the consistancy
of ketchup. It seems that it's a pressure-dependant solid. Greg,
maintaining plausable deniability as best he could, snuck into the
Minneapolis in '73 suite with 100 pounds of cornstarch (!), and pro-
ceded to Ooblek the bathtub. With that quantity of the stuff, you can
actually stand on it, if you keep moving your feet, but if you sink,
getting your foot back out is a bit difficult. You're putting pres-
sure on the ooblek above your foot, you see, which binds to all the
other ooblek in the tub... The song which follows is absolutely true
(well, the last two verses are an extrapolation).
OOBLEK IN THE BATHTUB
Words: by Elise Matthesen
Tune: "Crying in the Bathtub, by Nate Bucklin, on a not-yet-released
tape "Butter Side Down"
It was on a Sunday evening when the trouble all began
A guy from microprogramming was loaded with a plan,
And a hundred pounds of cornstarch, and a really evil grin;
He went up to the bathtub and he dumped the powder in.
They say that in a bathtub you can have a lovely time
If you fill it up with Jell-o, especially if it's lime;
Now, Jell-o may be pleasant, but it's obvious to see
That I'm kinda stuck on ooblek, 'cause it's kinda stuck on me.
CHORUS: There's ooblek in the bathtub; the con ain't over yet
It's pleasantly disgusting and it's thick and white and wet.
We know Hotel Security would say it's got to go,
So there's ooblek in the bathtub, but no one's s'posed to know.
We figured that the Radisson just wouldn't understand,
It would only make them nervous if they knew what we had planned.
They're overly protective and they're easily upset,
And they wouldn't grok a hundred pounds of thick and white and wet.
They're pretty good at dealing with the stuff they've never seen,
Like the catapulting lizards, and Amalgamated Spleen,
And the haunted elevator that was full of eerie mist,
But the ooblek in the bathtub would really get 'em pissed.
CHORUS
When you move it fast it crumbles, but it oozes if you're slow;
You can pile it in a mountain, and wait for it to flow.
It's a little bit like quicksand, and it almost swallowed Greg --
By the time you get your ankle out, it's got your other leg.
We know it's kind of friendly, we know it likes to play,
We know that if you grab it it will slowly ooze away.
We know it isn't toxic, it's safe beyond a doubt --
The only thing we didn't know was how to get it out!
CHORUS
We thought of adding water to liquify the sludge,
But when we tried diluting it, it sank and wouldn't budge.
We considered high explosives, but didn't want to be
Responsible for ooblek at escape velocity!
We finally got it out of there with fingernails and prayers,
And assembled a disposal team to smuggle it downstairs.
We sent them to the parking lot to dump it in a heap,
So it won't come oozing back again and get us in our sleep.
CHORUS
So, early Monday morning we went out and looked around,
We figured we should find the place we dumped it on the ground
We found a guy in coveralls whose lips were kind of tight
Standing at the border of a spreading pool of white.
He seemed a little croggled, so politely we enquired,
And he answered with intensity, "It's time that I retired.
"There's a lot of funny messes after which I've had to clean,
"But that the biggest friggin' pigeon that the world has ever seen!"
CHORUS
CHORUS
And I found out at WFC this past weekend that
matociquala actually found and loved this song before she and I ever met, which croggled me and gave me a goofy squee-across-time kind of moment. Our fandom is folded a great many times, yes indeedy.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
The tune
Date: 2011-11-02 02:24 pm (UTC)Nate
no subject
Date: 2011-11-02 09:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-02 11:26 pm (UTC)Re: The tune
Date: 2011-11-02 11:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-02 11:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-03 01:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-03 06:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-26 06:20 pm (UTC)I really like the ooblek song! :-)
I have two quick questions about it for the songbook:
1) What does stfnal mean? (We want to make sure we have the intro right in the songbook.)
Last weekend, at Minicon, I was a witness to what might very well
become a Fannish Legend. It concerns a guy named Greg who was working
for Microprogramming (general wierd stuff, with the watchword "main-
tain plausable deniability", and the motto "ignorant savages with a
certain artistic flair"), and the odd, not to say stfnal, behavior of
2) What copyright year do you want to include for this song?
no subject
Date: 2011-12-26 11:12 pm (UTC)2) Copyright year should be 1992, since it was Minicon 27, according to our handy timebinding experts (http://elisem.livejournal.com/1714057.html), and the song was written soon enough to sing at the Dead Dog party, I do believe. (I remember singing it at Fish that day, I think; so Monday it would have been, what with Fish for lunch and the Dead Dog in the evening.)
I should probably clarify also that I was Greg's boss, since I was the head of Microprogramming that year.
And I'm glad you like it. It was a fun time and a fun song to write.