Saturday, February 13, 2016

The Test 36: TV Themes and Beatboxing

This week on The Test, the gang reunites. We got together yesterday afternoon, after a long week of teaching, and crammed ourselves into my son Ian's bedroom, along with two microphones, and a laptop. We recorded three episodes in a row. The sound in there is sweet-- lots of corners and soft objects to break up the reverb, and the addition of a second microphone really improved what you can hear (it's one of my old condenser mics, connected with a Blue Icicle . . . we're living in the future).

While the quality of the recording is an improvement, and the quality of Cunningham's TV Theme quiz is superb, the quality of Stacey and Dave's brain power is lacking. Stacey waxes philosophically about her malfunctioning mind, and she sounds almost poetic about it: "I can't even remember my memories." I just get angry and indignant and blame having to work a five day week and then claim to have Alzheimer's.

We get our act together and come on strong by the end, however, and finish with an astounding display of verbal prestidigitation. Including some beatboxing.

Check it out, keep score, give us a good rating on iTunes and/or stitcher, and don't be stingy with the points (I'm certainly not).

Also, I bring up an incident which Whitney will recall better, with his elephantine memory. There was a fraternity brother of ours (the O-dog?) who would allow you to diminish the amount of paddling your pledge-ass received, if you could guess a TV theme song. He would only play a few notes of it, on his record player. When I tried my luck, he played the theme from Bonanza or something equally unidentifiable, and I failed to guess it. Then he missed my ass with the paddle and hit me in the hamstring. Ouch. So I could also blame my poor showing on the PTSD that TV theme songs trigger when I hear them in a competitive setting.


28 comments:

rob said...

secrets, apparently less huge than they once were

Dave said...

are we still keeping secrets? i thought we were defunct.

ok, i take it back. no one ever paddled my ass (or missed my ass with a paddle and hit me in the hamstring). never happened.

TR said...

Not four years but a life...I mean 27+ years.

rob said...

tribe looks like crap. glad this game is televised.

rob said...

pour out some chianti and righteous constructionism for antonin scalia

zman said...

Wow. He was our graduation speaker. His son was a year or two behind us. Huge shift in the court's political balance.

rob said...

there are already people on the twitter suggesting that the senate should refuse to confirm a new justice until we have a new president. because, you know, that's what scalia the constructionist would support. baffling and willful lack of respect for the actual constitution and our political system.

zman said...

I'm surprised RBG didn't step down already. In other news, Cypress Grove Chevre's midnight moon is faaantastic.

Danimal said...

Nantz has a new kid....named him Jameson. +1

Mark said...

Introduced TJ and Mrs. Teej to our local bar that serves poutine. They loved it. Because...Poutine.

Danimal said...

The time I walk by a cat box that does not have a steaming fresh smelly turd in it will be a great day indeed.

T.J. said...

Poutine on the Ritz

Mark said...

Boooooooo!!!!

Whitney said...

So what's the consensus - will an Obama-approved justice get through?

Mark said...

Playing Classic Rock Shootout with TJ. Oh. No.

rob said...

it would defy precedent, whit. so, yeah, no fucking chance.

zman said...

He should nominate Hillary.

rob said...

he should nominate himself, let biden finish his term. i'd like to see that, if just for the category five shitstorm that would ensue.

zman said...

I think he'll select a heterosexual white man who was previously confirmed by 90+ votes and has a track record of middle-of-the-road jurisprudence. Ideally this person would be a GW Bush appointee with a resume that includes something like US Attorney experience and private practice representing big corporations. I don't know if such an appellate judge currently exists. One of the judges in a Beastie Boys case hits all of these except he's an Obama appointee in a district court.

rob said...

what do you know about sri srinivasan, z? he's getting a lot of run from legal experts on the tweet machine right now.

rob said...

have i mentioned that i met scalia last year?

zman said...

He checks a lot of boxes but Obama appointed him three years ago so he might not have enough of a track record to shame republicans into voting yes. He's on the DC Circuit, which is where they often look for Supremes, and he was confirmed 97-0. I'm not familiar with any opinions he wrote off the top of my head.

zman said...

These debates would be more fun if they had a special guest debater, someone who dropped out previously and is only present to speak the truth and fuck with everyone else.

zman said...

This is possibly the nastiest debate I've ever seen.

rob said...

you didn't witness the great 'which muscle in the human body is the strongest?' debate of 1989-90. that got pretty heated.

rob said...

aaron gordon jumped over a mascot, nearly hit his head on the rim. i think that's the greatest dunk i've ever seen.

zman said...

Frederic Weis would disagree.

Shlara said...

Scalia's son was a priest at my parents parish a few years ago. I think he has a senior job in the diocese now.

And that was a fun All-star Saturday night.
Gordon should have won for sure.