Filk Songs that are Religious

Here is one of my fav filk songs with a Erisian bent...of course, some would say the "bent" was rendundant....[grin]

ttyl
Farrell

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OBLOIDS

Lyrics: Unknown
Music: "Circles"

In the ages to come when the world is much wiser,
All throats will have only voices that please;
Then no one need shoulder the burden of shame that
They commit and enjoy vocal horrors like these.

Chorus: And around and around and around goes the filk sing;
All things get sung whether written or wrong.
We are the children of the Lady named Eris,
Whose mystery’s known when you listen to our song.

In the dark and dank corners the filk addicts gather;
Eyes wild and tongues loose, they chortle with glee.
Then croon, howl, and babble like a drunk choir of banshees
While dogs, cats, hotel clerks and sopranos all flee.

Chorus

Through East Cons and West Cons and the Wastelands of Marcon,
In the cellars of NASA, Blue Cross and U.C.,
Obloids of the species "Vocalis disruptis"
Appeared like a virus that spread like the sea.

Chorus

Obloids for keeping your enemies distant;
Obloids for clogging the mezzanine hall;
Obloids for stealing new songs for your filk book;
Obloids for singing the paint off the walls.

Chorus

And we who must reach for the notes in the next key,
Turning our backs on all shame and dismay;
Thrive in the aura that our voices provide us,
For some reason most people won’t come our way.

Chorus

Early Adoptor

It's happened again...someone has used a phrase I coined...I came up with the Term the "Slashdot Effect" a number of years ago...don't believe me? Well, go to Slashdot.org, and look up my user number, I'm "farrellj", user number 563...and they are currently well into the 6 digits for user numbers now. But I had to show people this article below as they mention the "Slashdot Effect", and it concerns a Canadian band, and a great spoof of Metalica!

ttyl
Farrell

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4725695,00.html

Word of mouse

How did a Metallica spoof turn into a hugely effective viral marketing campaign for an obscure Canadian rock band? Gary Marshall explains

Monday August 4, 2003
The Guardian

When news of Metallica's latest lawsuit hit the web, music fans across the globe were outraged. Already notorious for their legal action against file-sharing network Napster, the rock band were seemingly trying to stop musicians from using the guitar chords E and F.

Announcing the band's decision to sue the obscure Canadian outfit Unfaith, the drummer Lars Ulrich said: "We're not saying we own those two chords, individually - that would be ridiculous. We're just saying that in that specific order, people have grown to associate E, F with our music."

It was a classic David and Goliath story - obscure, unsigned band picked on by rich rockers - and it was widely reported. As Unfaith singer/songwriter Erik Ashley explains: "Within minutes, literally hundreds of message boards lit up, including those of legitimate music news sources."

It turned up on Ananova and on DotMusic, on MSNBC, MacDailyNews and on weblogs. Industry insiders expressed their outrage in mailing lists, and music fans filled internet message boards with anti-Metallica diatribes. Radio stations played Unfaith's music in anti-Metallica protests, Rolling Stone magazine got in touch, and The Onion sent a message of support.

But they missed one key detail: the story was a hoax. What looked like a bizarre action by out-of-touch rockers was in fact a spoof that within a few hours it had taken on a life of its own.

Like any successful scam, the hoax worked for two reasons: it seemed believable, and it was beautifully executed. Metallica are well known (and frequently vilified) on the net for their legal tactics, and the story was posted on a perfect copy of MTV's news page. Because it looked like a genuine story and was written in the same style as MTV's other news stories, many net users didn't notice that the page was not on MTV's site; it even linked to an official statement on the Metallica website - again, a clever fake.

In addition to making Metallica look stupid, Ashley's prank was an effective piece of viral marketing - something that raised awareness, not through advertising, but through "word of mouse" For now, Ashley's band is the most talked-about on the web. Similar word of mouse has worked with films, services and even salmon. A clever website turned the indie film The Blair Witch Project into a box-office smash, while John West Salmon's inspired adverts - the ones where West's "employees" were attacked by karate-chopping grizzly bears - became an unlikely internet cult. Then there's the success of the free email service Hotmail.

As Justin Kirby, MD of viral marketing experts Digital Media Communications, says: "Hotmail simply added a short line of promotional text at the bottom of every message, and within 18 months signed up 12 million people for a spend of $0,5 m - so that's four cents per sign-up." Kirby describes these successes as "happy accidents" - accidents that marketers are keen to replicate. DMC's client list includes Diesel, Levi's, MTV and Virgin, and its campaign for Mazda is one of the most popular virals on the net.

"The campaign involves a video clip called 'parking' or 'women drivers', which takes an amusing look at one woman's response to White Van Man syndrome," explains Kirby. "It's struck a major chord - it's a universal theme, and it has generated millions of views that we can quantify."

So is successful viral marketing a matter of sticking a funny video on the net? Kirby doesn't think so. "It should be a means to an end rather than an end in itself," he says. "Whether it's a video or a game, it has to be used to generate a buzz that helps shift a product. That's fundamental." It also needs to be considered "cool" by the net community, or it won't work, he says.

Another key technique is seeding, which means getting the clip to the right people. Certain sites are much more influential than others, so, for example, a mention on B3ta.com or Fark.com can help kick-start a campaign. Viral marketing firms make it their business to know which sites work - and which ones don't. "We use tracking technology to see how far these video clips get spread as they're passed peer-to-peer as email attachments," says Kirby. "We've been able to assess which places can generate the most viral spread on the web. It has allowed us to identify which individual places - weblogs, sites, forums and so on - have the most influence."

The most extreme example of this influence is known as the "Slashdot effect": a single mention on technology site Slashdot often results in more visitors than a website can handle. However, Kirby is quick to stress that getting coverage in the right places is no guarantee of success. "Certain people throughout the globe can help kick-start the process - but their influence is diluted after just two generations," he says. "After that, the end-users are judge, jury and executioner."

Seeding viral campaigns may be a science, but creating the content is more of an art. "You never know if something will work until you've tried it," says Kirby. "And it may not happen when you want it to happen." No matter how well-planned the strategy is, if the content isn't up to scratch - or if it simply doesn't appeal to internet users - then the campaign is doomed.

The film clich¿ "nobody knows anything" applies equally to viral marketing: as Kirby is the first to admit, "it can be so hit-and-miss." He warns that marketers should choose their partners carefully: while many advertising agencies will happily offer to carry out viral campaigns, there's a danger of hooking up with the wrong people. "It is difficult for the brands," he says. "The risk is that you get the wrong people to create it - people who don't really understand the culture - they may have created viral material, but have they done any marketing?"

Viral marketing isn't dissimilar to the film business. Big-budget films that seemed like safe bets are frequently outperformed by independent "sleeper" hits, and it's the same online. For every Blair Witch Project there are dozens of films whose carefully planned viral campaigns failed to make any impact, and for every John West Salmon there's a collection of unfunny video clips languishing unloved in a dark corner of the web.

Even the Metallica spoof was a fluke: a quick search of the web uncovers all kinds of Metallica parodies, spoofs and hoaxes, none of which has achieved the same prominence as Erik Ashley's effort. "I never expected the parody to reach as far and wide as it did," he says. "I'm just annoyed that this satire has done more for us in a day than three years of hard work and door-knocking ever did."

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003