You’re the top!

So, this has been in my running/fiddling with code/writing playlist for a while.

Naturally that’s got me thinking I should take a crack at the challenge proposed by Ask Me Another, and update those highly period-specific lyrics:

You’re the top!
You’re a Pixar feature.
You’re the top!
You’re a Whedon creature.
You’re a two-page endnote in a D.F. Wallace tome.
You’re a NASA rover,
A four-leaf clover,
You’re the microbiome.
You’re a dream,
You’re mid-cent’ry style,
You’re the gleam in Don Draper’s smile.
I’m the nominee for the G.O.P.—flip flop!
But if, baby, I’m the bottom, you’re the top!

Yeah, okay, that probably still needs some work. If you can do better, show me in the comments.◼

Nothing in Biology Makes Sense: Music, evolved?

SATB Choral Music Music. Photo by Andy Buscemi.

Over at the collaborative science blog Nothing in Biology Makes Sense!, guest contributor James Gaines writes about the evolutionary context of music-making.

Music is one of the few social constructs that truly permeates human culture, and reasons for this have fascinated scientists and philosophers for centuries. Even Darwin himself wrote on the subject, speculating about whether and how natural selection could explain it. Today, there seem to be three major ideas behind why music evolved.

For a breakdown of those three evolutionary hypotheses, go read the whole thing.◼

Best. Flash mob. Ever.

I especially like the little girl who climbs up onto a lamp post to conduct.

Fun facts about this movement from Beethoven’s Ninth: the lyrics are based on an eighteenth-century German poem that appropriates religious language for Enlightenment ideals; and it’s the anthem of the European Union, which maybe explains why folks are singing along in the video?

Via Jen Graves at Slog.◼

Cheers

Oh, hey, the guy who who did the Public Radio rap sings about other things, including important biological information that will come in handy if you have plans tonight. Or, at least, explain your headache tomorrow morning.

(Via pretty much the entire Internet. I do not personally celebrate the feast of St. Patrick, but this almost counts as a religious connection, right? So I will probably be having a beer or two, thank you.) ◼

“Andrew in Drag”

I’ve resisted the urge to post the video for “Andrew in Drag,” the headline song from the Magnetic Fields’ new album, mainly because it’s NSFW (butts! boobies!). But I’ve heard it several times now, including on the radio this morning, and it just gets better every time.

Also, it’s pretty ear-wormy. So now you, too, can listen to Stephen Merritt’s dolorous singing voice all day, inside your head. ◼