(Previous episodes of I, Tube: here. Total: um, ONE. Plus a general intro to this not-quite-a-series-yet.)
Last Thursday night Virginia and I went to see Jonathan Coulton here in the Twin Cities. We’re both fans, and the Varsity Theater in Dinkytown (yes, Minneapolis has an area called Dinkytown — we live in a cartoon), where he played, is a fun space. He and his friends Paul and Storm put on a great show — funny as can be, and filled with delicious snack cakes.
Even if you’re not familiar with Messr. Coulton’s work, you might know his song “STILL ALIVE” from the closing credits of Valve’s popular game PORTAL. It’s a terrific song — very catchy (warning: extreme earworm danger!), and JoCo’s trademark wit is evident even if you don’t know the game’s story. The song is sung at the end of PORTAL by GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System), a passive-aggressive A.I. that directs you through the game… often not reliably.
Here’s the original:
Now it seems everybody-but-everybody wants to be GlaDOS. Below is a sampling of the more interesting You-Tubesque covers of STILL ALIVE, many courtesy of GameSetWatch, which compiled a similar collection of oddities.
Enjoy. Which one floats your boat? Do you even HAVE a boat?
Strange Japanese Woman-Child Version!
Super-Mario version!
What Do We Want? PORTAL!! When Do We Want It? NOW!! …version!
(more after the break —->)
Kurt Cobain Lives! version!
In My Room Version!
Ghost-in-the-Saloon version!
Enjoy My T-Shirt, Mate version!
Guy Who Wrote It version! (with Special Guest Star Bill Gates as He Who Eats Cake!)
And last but not least, the inevitable…
Furry on Harpsicord version!
38 responses so far ↓
1 Neb on May 5, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I like it! Never heard it before. Catchy! Has a good beat and you can dance to it.
However…why is the Furry “still alive”? This is clearly an oversight of some kind.
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2 Hugh on May 5, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Bill, you have no idea how happy this post makes me. Just knowing that you have even a fundamental, basic understanding of what Portal is, I… I could kiss you full on the mouth, regardless of how jealous it would make your wife and Kevin.
Seriously, I’d like to encourage you and everyone reading this to try Portal. Better yet, just buy The Orange Box, which contains Portal and four other games, all of which are among the best ever made (no lie!). The online multiplayer game Team Fortress 2 alone should be right up any MSTie’s alley. At the very least, Mike should enjoy all the PEW PEW shooting.
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Reply from Adam on May 6, 2008:
Seconding this. Portal is fantastic and the Orange Box is one of the best game releases in a long, long time.
Also, I met Mr. Coulton a couple years before “Still Alive” cemented his place in nerd culture for all time. He’s a cool guy, he puts on a great show, and as good as this song is, he’s got some that are even better.
Reply from Hugh on May 6, 2008:
My favorite is “Re: Your Brains”.
Reply from JoshWay on May 6, 2008:
I’m with Hugh! Coulton AND Portal are top-notch.
I thought I was just about ready to outgrow video games. Then Portal came along.
As for JoCo, my favorites are “Millionaire Girlfriend,” “The Future Soon,” and “Drinking With You.”
Reply from Bill Corbett on May 6, 2008:
Hugh, I assume you’ve seen this?
Reply from Adam on May 6, 2008:
Re: Your Brains is good stuff, as is “Mandelbrot Set,” which plays briefly over the closing credits of the video Bill posted.
I’m partial to “Skullcrusher Mountain” and “Future Soon” myself. I don’t know “Drinking With You” though.
Reply from Hugh on May 6, 2008:
Bill, I have indeed seen that. Though, I’m afraid I’ve seen so much horrible World of Warcraft “machinima” that I can’t even handle the good stuff anymore. Still, you could make an “Re: Your Brains” music video using footage of a nude, butter-drenched John Goodman and Jonathan’s awesomeness would still make it bearable.
And Josh? “Outgrow video games”? There is no “outgrow video games”! I will go to my grave with a Super Nintendo controller in one hand and the other hand grossly disfigured with carpal tunnel!
Reply from Bill Corbett on May 7, 2008:
“you could make an “Re: Your Brains” music video using footage of a nude, butter-drenched John Goodman”
Say…
(starts making calls)
Reply from JoshWay on May 7, 2008:
You’re right, Hugh. I’ve repented of my attitude.
And Bill… I can give you the number of a good butter guy. Best in the business.
Reply from Adam on May 7, 2008:
Hey look, it’s Josh Way of “Fun With Shorts” fame! Dude, I love your stuff.
Hugh, you should at least upgrade to a Wii. You can still get your Virtual Console on, and the motion controls might slow the process of limb atrophy.
Reply from JoshWay on May 7, 2008:
Cheers, Adam!
Reply from Hugh on May 8, 2008:
Adam, I’d love to upgrade to a Wii, or any of the new consoles. I’m still stuck on the previous generation, sadly, as I haven’t got the funds to upgrade.
3 Paul (but not Storm) on May 5, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Bill: this is Paul of the aforementioned Paul and Storm. Very glad you enjoyed the show, and you should be glad you didn’t make your presence properly known; as a longtime MST3k fan (my fanclub number had only 4 digits) and Rifftrax-regular-downloader (for lack of a better term), had I known you were you, I would most likely have involuntarily geeked out all over you, which would have been unfortunate for everyone involved. Please drop us a line one of these days so we can pay proper tribute (in swag, praise, whatever), or at least say “thanks.”
Yeah, that Coulton: ain’t he a cuite?
Best,
Paul.
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Reply from Bill Corbett on May 6, 2008:
Thanks for stopping by, Paul! What a great show you troubadours put on. Loved your Gregorian Chant about battling nuns. And the live Rickroll was a stroke of genius, though no small amount of sadism.
Speaking of rolls, you will now be added to our blogroll, which
has the power to create, or CRUSH, as I see fitis just to the right. —->Why? Because
I AM ALL POWERFUL AND CAN DO SUCH THINGSyour songs are funny, and I like funny songs.Thanks again.
4 Katiespana on May 5, 2008 at 9:07 pm
I’m gonna go with the original being my fav… earworms be damned! The Japanese girl hurts my brain and probably fits better under the ‘Japan, can we talk…’ post. Although, furry guy gets points for being awesome AND scary at the same time…
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5 Robyn on May 5, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Aw man…I miss Mario Paint SO MUCH.
Anyway, I’d just like to mention the “Cute Anime Faces” Version of the song from VG Cats, if only because that’s where I first heard it: http://www.vgcats.com/comics/extras/stillalive.php
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Reply from DestyNova on May 6, 2008:
Dag, someone beat me to it. Yesterday. Hahaha.
Reply from Queen Shadowrama on May 6, 2008:
VG Cats was my first introduction to this song too, though I didn’t know what video game it was from at the time. All I knew was that I loved it. I’d since forgotten about it, so thanks Bill for re-infesting me with the earworms!
6 Veronica on May 6, 2008 at 5:52 am
SuperCrazyFun Japanese people!
My sides hurt from laughing, Bill
You know, if that was a 35 year old MAN singing on a jungle gym…, the cops would be out.
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7 Casey on May 6, 2008 at 7:04 am
I… I never wanted to hear that song again… That voice creeps into my dreams… tells me to do things. It will take a marathon of listening to Schnappi to get that devil out of my head.
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Reply from Bill Corbett on May 6, 2008:
Did you ever consider that maybe the things the horrible devil voices in your head are telling you to do are nice things?
Don’t be so kneejerk.
Reply from Casey on May 7, 2008:
… I just don’t like to be told to do anything by any voice that is more frail and quivery than my own.
8 Matt B on May 6, 2008 at 7:12 am
Now I’m even more annoyed that my Bioshock riff didn’t make it into “Batman & Robin.” I’m reasonably sure that Bill at least would have gotten it.
Yeah, yeah. Let it go…
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9 mgroves on May 6, 2008 at 7:14 am
You have stolen my idea to do a regular post of Youtube videos with a unifying theme! How dare you sir, how dare you. I expect full restitution.
http://www.mgroves.com/tagsearch.php?tag=tuesday%20tube
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Reply from Erik on May 6, 2008:
Ah ha, but Bill did his on a Monday!
10 Barry on May 6, 2008 at 7:40 am
The furry one was the only one that didn’t make me die a little bit inside (including the original). I just wish the song wasn’t being played by an apparently nocturnal animal in that one.
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11 Fran in the Pan on May 6, 2008 at 9:46 am
My favorite version of this song is the one I play on the drums on ‘Rock Band’. Does Jonathan Coulton have an opening for a drummer? I can only play 4 circular rubber pads and 1 foot pedal, with visual direction of course. This seems reasonable, right?
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12 Tricia on May 6, 2008 at 10:51 am
I heard this song first time on “Rock Band.” It is my favorite to sing. I’m delighted to know where it came from.
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13 Katiespana on May 6, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Is it bad when you can’t pass your own song on Rock Band?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAgutrkFjBQ&feature=related
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14 RemmieBarrow on May 6, 2008 at 3:18 pm
I would have to say, as songs go, this is not bad. I would rather have this song stuck in my head than any song by Celine Dion.
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Reply from Neb on May 7, 2008:
I second that motion. What a reasonable preference! Her voice is so strident…I’d rather have an earworm than an earache.
Reply from mgroves on May 8, 2008:
Get a kayak!
15 SarahCanuck on May 7, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Shoot. Bill Corbett is turning into my little sister.
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16 MonkeyCheezPants on May 7, 2008 at 7:36 pm
For months after Portal came out, I would absent-mindedly sing this to myself at work. Yeah, I got lots of stares when people picked out the lyrics.
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17 MonkeyCheezPants on May 7, 2008 at 7:43 pm
My favorite bit of Wikipedia trivia on Portal:
Wolpaw further describes the idea of using cake as the reward came about as “at the beginning of the Portal development process, we sat down as a group to decide what philosopher or school of philosophy our game would be based on. That was followed by about 15 minutes of silence and then someone mentioned that a lot of people like cake.”
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18 mooshakes on May 8, 2008 at 7:17 am
here is a delicious way to rick roll someone WITH portal cake
http://www.instructables.com/id/PortalRickroll-Cake/
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19 John H. on May 9, 2008 at 1:24 am
To think I’ve lived to see the day that Bill Corbett linked to a site on which I write a column. I may look tired and subdued, but inside I’m dancing.
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