Tell Me All Your Blorbos.

[rionaleonhart]

Went to karaoke again, so I was finally able to belt out the chorus of 'Stacy's Mom', which had been trapped inside me since the song got cut off last time!

My housemate's boss was present for this particular karaoke session and had never heard 'Stacy's Mom' before, so I got to watch his expression of dawning delighted horror as he realised what the song is about.

My other song choices were 'The Call' by the Backstreet Boys, 'Whenever, Wherever' by Shakira and 'Baby One More Time' by Britney Spears, but my favourite was actually someone else's pick that I joined in on: 'Complicated' by Avril Lavigne. I hadn't thought about that song in so long, but it's so much fun to sing!

One member of our party sang 'Memory' from Cats so powerfully I nearly cried, but it was hard to be too intimidated when we were all having so much fun. It also helped to ease the intimidation that we had two microphones, so, unless you picked a song nobody else knew (or, as in the case of that 'Memory' performance, you stunned everyone else into silence), you weren't going to be singing solo.

A person I'd first met at the last karaoke session greeted me with 'Hey! Have you been writing any fanfiction lately?' I explained that I'd got really into Lost and mentioned that my favourite character was Jack. She physically recoiled in horror, then said, consolingly, 'I get it; we're getting to the age where, the grosser the middle-aged man, the more appealing they are.' I had to confess that I'd been this way since I was sixteen.

Am I going to make a habit of this? It's definitely a lot of fun to sing for a couple of hours, then have a meal and chat about fandom with all of the delightful nerds who came along to karaoke. There were multiple people with Pokémon tattoos present. My housemate's boss listened, patient but confused, while the table tried to explain why 5 November is Bonfire Night in the UK and DestielPutinElection Day everywhere else. It was a good day.

(EDIT: Just realised that, during the karaoke, I was the same age to the day as Jack Shephard at the start of Lost. I had a much better day than he did.)

Comments

[simplecoffee]

Truly excellent song choices! You have great taste. :D My girlfriend and I have been very into the original Man from UNCLE TV show this year, and have taken to singing "Robert Vaughn has got it going on!" whenever he's on screen.

Also, if you haven't heard the utterly delightful Stacy's Dad version by Sub-Radio, you're in for a treat!

[rionaleonhart]

Truly excellent song choices! You have great taste.

Ha, thank you!

Robert Vaughn has got it going on!

Excellent! You can also do this with Elton John.

I'm always a little dubious about full 'Stacy's Mom' parodies because they feel unnecessary - the original is so funny already! - but that one is very well done!

[simplecoffee]

It's true, Elton John has got it going on! :D

[wolfy_writing]

Oh that sounds like a lot of fun and a good time out! I would definitely encourage doing it again on at least a semi-regular basis, since you enjoy it so much.

[rionaleonhart]

Thank you! I've already caught myself thinking of other songs I might want to do, which definitely feels like a sign that there might be more karaoke in my future.

[wolfy_writing]

Do it! I think the last time I did karaoke, I belted out a rendition of "Pinoy ako" that was as impressive as it was inaccurate. (Context: https://bigbrother.fandom.com/wiki/Pinoy_Ako.)

[necrophilia]

DestielPutinElection Day

I— What?

[rionaleonhart]

It's November 2020, and the world is tense. The US presidential election was two days ago, but we don't know the result; the votes are still being counted. People are eyeing the United States like it's a bomb. Will Trump be re-elected? Please don't let Trump be re-elected.

Because Covid has shut everything down, distractions are limited; a lot of people have nothing to do but scroll tensely through social media, waiting for news to come out of the US. A single spark could ignite the atmosphere.

Suddenly: news out of the US, a grenade of news, an explosion. It's suddenly the only thing anyone is talking about. Do we know the result from Nevada at last?

No. The penultimate episode of Supernatural just aired, and Dean/Castiel is canon. The absolute last thing anyone expected, and the only thing that could have distracted the entire Internet from the major political event taking place.

It was a weird day, and it kept getting weirder as more news broke - e.g. actual election results - and was immediately conveyed through Dean/Castiel memes. Some of these were rumours rather than actual news; one false story that gained huge traction was 'Putin is resigning'.

Therefore, DestielPutinElection Day.

[necrophilia]

Huh! How interesting.

For me, the day the US election results were announced was also N7 Day (and yes, I do wear my N7 hoodie every year); but not just any N7 Day! It was the N7 Day that the Mass Effect current gen remaster was officially announced. I was incandescent with joy.

(Also, I could have sworn Supernatural ended after five seasons?)

[hamsterwoman]

Huh! I remember all of these events individually (not in Supernatural fandom, but that didn't matter at the time, lol), and of course US election because I actually live here, but had no memory at all of them happening in the same short span of time, and therefore was also stumped by that description.

[deemoyza]

Oh, that sounds like so much fun, and your song selections are awesome!

I've always wanted to try karaoke, but I'm afraid I can't carry a tune to save my life! XD

[rionaleonhart]

I'm delighted that people have been going 'great song selections!' rather than, as I slightly feared, 'what is wrong with you?'

It's good fun! I wouldn't have either the confidence or the skill to sing in front of the general public, but I'm fine when I'm just in a room with friends and there's a general understanding that nobody actually has to be good.

[caramarie]

I am jealous of your karaoke adventures! I have been so deprived lately.

The one time I tried to sing Complicated I realised I didn't know how it went nearly as well as I thought I did.

[rionaleonhart]

I was a little afraid I wouldn't remember it well enough myself; it had been so long since I last listened to it! I slipped up at one point - tried to launch into the final chorus when there was still a verse to go - but it mostly went all right.

I hope your karaoke deprival ends soon!

[i_wish_to_remain_nameless]

I'm glad to hear you were able to meet those other fandom people who do karaoke again.

[rionaleonhart]

Thank you! I love meeting fandom people out in the real world; it's such an instant point of connection, even if you're not in the same fandoms.

[sushiflop]

I can't believe DestielPutinElection Day was even real and I was present for it. I think my favorite meme at the time went something like "turning to election coverage for solace from the tension and drama of fandom reporting."

[rionaleonhart]

It was such a weird experience! Everyone was so tense, waiting for huge news, and then BAM: a completely different, much sillier huge piece of news that nobody expected.

"turning to election coverage for solace from the tension and drama of fandom reporting."

Ha, this is incredible.

[sushiflop]

I FINALLY FOUND IT

[apiphile]

Oh, classics.

'I get it; we're getting to the age where, the grosser the middle-aged man, the more appealing they are.'

Speaking as a gross middle-aged man... ew.

[rionaleonhart]

It was such a heartfelt, misguided effort to comfort someone who'd had a crush on Jeremy Clarkson as a teenager. Generous to assume I'm only just entering my gross middle-aged man phase, but entirely incorrect.

[apiphile]

Yeah you've not... been exactly inconsistent in your tastes.

[scytale]

One member of our party sang 'Memory' from Cats so powerfully I nearly cried, but it was hard to be too intimidated when we were all having so much fun.

:O That is an impressive song to sing! And aww, that sounds like a good karaoke run (and omg at your boss's horror at Stacy's Mom. ;D).

' I explained that I'd got really into Lost and mentioned that my favourite character was Jack. She physically recoiled in horror,

I laughed. ;D And the fandom chatter sounds lovely!

[rionaleonhart]

I'd had very brief exchanges with my housemate's boss before - he occasionally dropped baked goods off at our house when we lived closer to the office, so I'd answer the door to him and say thanks - but this was the first time I'd spent any time with him socially, and 'Stacy's Mom' was the first song of the session. Wait, this is a weird way to introduce myself to my housemate's boss, I thought, but the microphone was in my hands and it was already too late.

(He sang 'Touch-a-Touch-a-Touch-a-Touch Me' from the Rocky Horror Picture Show later on, which helped to rebalance things a bit.)

Can't believe she expected me to have taste when she'd heard my karaoke picks.

[scytale]

I completely missed the fact that it was your housemate's boss, not yours! ;D Ha, shows my reading comprehension, but that makes more sense in hindsight.

Getting baked goods from your housemate's boss sounds lovely; he sounds like a very relaxed boss!

[aestivalis]

(EDIT: Just realised that, during the karaoke, I was the same age to the day as Jack Shephard at the start of Lost. I had a much better day than he did.)

Can you really say your day was better, though? Tell me the truth: how many lives did you save?

(Michael just came stumbling out of the jungle after a ten thousand year absence from proceedings! Lost is saved! Also some other stuff happened and Henry is now "Henry in scare quotes".)

[rionaleonhart]

I'll admit that my performance of 'Stacy's Mom' probably only saved one or two lives at most, but I'll still take the 'karaoke and fandom chatter' side of that deal over the 'being in a plane crash' one.

(I'm so glad Michael's been returned to you!)

[facethestrange]

OMG, there's at least one other person who managed to have never heard Stacy's Mom! I know what it is about though, lol. I just always keep hearing about it on the internet so I assumed it was a classic from the 70s or something, and eventually I learned that it came out when I was 19, so I've been baffled ever since that somehow I never encountered the actual song anywhere. I could just play it on youtube right now... I did. Didn't sound familiar at all (I thought maybe somehow I knew the song separately and the lyrics separately, but nope), but at least I've heard it now! xD

Whenever, Wherever and Complicated = ♡♡♡ One of the best years of my life, 2002. :)

"It's definitely a lot of fun to sing for a couple of hours, then have a meal and chat about fandom with all of the delightful nerds who came along to karaoke."
Sounds like heaven tbh! :D

"Just realised that, during the karaoke, I was the same age to the day as Jack Shephard at the start of Lost. I had a much better day than he did."
Aw, you missed your chance of going to the Island, tho!

[rionaleonhart]

I remember dancing with friends to 'Stacy's Mom' at a wedding and being overwhelmed by fondness for everyone there, so now I have strangely sincere emotional associations with this weird song about having a crush on a classmate's mother.

I'm going to be on a plane in a couple of weeks, so maybe there are more opportunities to visit the island in my future! But, er, I think overall I'm hoping to land safely instead.

[facethestrange]

Aww, yay! I have the most seemingly-unrelated positive associations with the weirdest songs, so I totally relate. ♡

You're clearly too late to visit the Island, being older than Jack, so you'll definitely land safely. :D