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Weird Al Premiere Cancelled Due to Net Leak
SilentChris writes "In what's probably a first, AOL cancelled the 'World Premiere' of Weird Al's newest video 'White and Nerdy' due to it being leaked on the internet. Al writes on his MySpace page: 'Apparently, the video has already leaked online, and AOL doesn't feel comfortable doing a World Premiere promotion for a video that a number of people have seen already ... Anyway, it's really a bummer... it would have been great promotion for the album... but hey, life goes on.' As for the video? Arguably Al's best work (but I'm a little biased)."
I've already seen it anyway, who cares about the premier!
[/not trolling]
Isn't that the best premiere a "Nerdy" video can get? Being "leaked" to YouTube, featured on Slashdot?
You can at least download it on google video.
thisnukes4u.net
Posting a direct link to a video on /.'s frontpage.
:)
Al, I think that's damn close to a world premiere right there, and a better class of audience than AOL.
-Styopa
There's a great Wikipedia article on the video containing some of the little things you may have missed.
Weird Al is going to get *far* more promotion via YouTube "leak" and the accompanying promotion. The only one losing in this is AOL, who might have nabbed a few clickthroughs for Classmates.com. Sure, Big Al has to come out and sort of say "wow, that's too bad" but the reality is that he's gonna reap the benefits of not only a free-for-all distribution, but also the publicity surrounding "those darn pirates."
Buck up, Al. You're richer than the rest of us, going to get even richer, and we find you funny despite it all.
"Anyway, it's really a bummer... it would have been great promotion for the album"
I'm sure that getting Slashdotted will more than make up for it.
Sigs are for Terrorists.
Underling: (excited) Hey boss, you know that Weird Al video we're gonna promo? It's been leaked all over the net. There's a lot of buzz! I think it's gonna be a big hit.
.. but .. it's so popular .. we could make a lot of ...
Boss: (annoyed) You mean hackers stole one of our products?
U: Well, not exactly, I mean, everybody's talking about it, this is a great opportunity for promotion. I had this idea for instance, we could let people make their OWN parodies of Weird Al's video and put them up on YouTube with a special tag, then we could give a prize to the best--
B: (more annoyed) What the fuck is U-Tube? A brand of glue? Cancel the premiere of Queer Al's video, that's the only way to show those pirates who's boss.
U: You mean "Weird Al"
B: Hey kid, this is AOL, you think we got this far by being idiots? Now get out of my office.
U: (dejected) yes sir.
If you download the Google videa file (*.gvi) and rename to an .avi, most players will play it.
that link is not only flash but to the wrong video. It is just the music with the penut butter and jelly banana dancing to it.
here is the correct link
Google video does let you download the video. You might be able to play one of the formats.
Did you read his blog?
I'm very sorry to say that the AOL "First View" Premiere of the "White & Nerdy" video has been cancelled.
Apparently, the video has already leaked online, and AOL doesn't feel comfortable doing a "World Premiere" promotion for a video that a number of people have seen already. (I can understand songs leaking, but a video? How'd THAT happen?)
Anyway, it's really a bummer... it would have been great promotion for the album... but hey, life goes on.
So...
I'll be uploading the video to this page shortly. Tell your friends!
It was already 'out there', so he put it on myspace. Order of events.
1) Leaked
2) AOL Cancelled
3) Al put it on his site.
He might have put it on his site either way, but there is no contradiction between leak and wide availability.
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
The original song Chamillionaire - Ridin' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR7-2MxNL7Y
White & Nerdy by Al Yankovic
They see me mowin'
My front lawn
I know they're all thinking I'm so white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Can't you see I'm white and nerdy?
Look at me, I'm white and nerdy
I wanna roll with
The gangstas
But so far they all think I'm too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
I'm just too white and nerdy.
Really really white and nerdy.
First in my class here at MIT
Got skills, I'm a champion at D&D
MC Escher - that's my favorite MC
Keep your 40, I'll just have an Earl Grey tea
My rims never spin, to the contrary
You'll find that they're quite stationary
All of my action figures are cherry
Steven Hawking's in my library
My MySpace page is all totally pimped out
Got people beggin' for my top eight spaces
Yo, I know pi to a thousand places
Ain't got no grills but I still wear braces
I order all of my sandwiches with mayonnaise
I'm a whiz at Minesweeper - I could play for days
Once you see my sweet moves you're gonna stay amazed
My fingers' movin' so fast I'll set the place ablaze
There's no killer app I haven't run
At Pascal, well I'm number one
Do vector calculus just for fun
I ain't got a gat but I got a soldering gun
Happy Days is my favorite theme song
I could sure kick your butt in a game of ping pong
I'll ace any trivia quiz you bring on
I'm fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon
They see me roll on
My Segway
I know in my heart they think I'm white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Can't you see I'm white and nerdy
Look at me, I'm white and nerdy
I'd like to roll with
The gangstas
Although it's apparent I'm too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
I'm just too white and nerdy
How'd I get so white and nerdy
I've been browsin', inspectin'
X-Men comics, you know I collect 'em
The pens in my pocket, I must protect 'em
My ergonomic keyboard never leaves me bored
Shopping online for deals on some writable media
I edit Wikipedia
I memorized Holy Grail really well
I can recite it right now and have y
Beware of the Leopard.
You can download on YouTube too, if you know how.
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
You are absolutely right, we should be offended that someone made a parody of something that is so true. I mean, the gall of some people, making fun of themselves and others. Gay and black people are fortunate that they have escaped the wrath of popular media and comedy. I mean, just imagine it...blatantly gay people being the butt of jokes on a televised series? Oh, Will and Grace. Black people being criticized and stereotyped on public television...oh, sorry, Chris Rock and 90% of the black comedians out there beat you to it.
If we can't look at some of the stereotypes and laugh, then something is wrong. The great thing about disagreeing with stereotypes is that we can then educate people about the fallacies of their own biased and incorrect views. If you think that we are getting a bad rap (pun only partially intended here) from this video, then get out there and say why it is so wrong.
I laugh because I am white and nerdy, but know that I am much more than white and nerdy. I mean, I am tall, and well, I guess that I am just tall, white and nerdy. But still, I am more!
I love a world where you can say "the peanut butter jelly banana" and everyone knows what you're talking about.
Seriously AOL, you have the world premier, this is the reason Weird Al doesn't mind piracy because the people making it a huge issue is the people who control the music. Weird Al wants people to buy his cds and get money to him. AOL wants the "world Exclusive" so they look special.
When is the RIAA and businesses working with them going to grow up. It's not like there wasn't bootlegs of exclusive material before the internet, it's not like there's going to stop bootlegs even if it's never placed on the internet. All they are doing is acting like the spoiled child who was about to get a toy, his friend got one first so when he gets the toy he smashes it because he doesn't want it any more. The problem for that kid is the only person he hurts by doing that is himself, his friend will continue to have the toy, other people might notice from the kids temper tantrum, but in the end his friend will keep playing with his.
The solution to something like this is to do a world exclusive when you get it, not 30 days after the fact or trying to drag it out as long as you can for promotion, you promote it BEFORE the video is finished and once it's done you show it off.
It's just a shame that piracy is blamed for something like this when it's really AOL's fault. Piracy didn't stop AOL from showing it. It's still a "world exclusive" just because some people saw it first. Didn't the execs and people behind the scenes of AOL see it before airing it? (Otherwise it might be a porno that someone accidently mislabeled).
Get a User Agent changer for your browser, set it to something weird (that google won't recognize), and visit the Google Video page again. You'll notice that the download link now sends you an AVI instead.
How many Weird Al Yankovic albums do you own?
[ ] none
[ ] I downloaded a few songs
[ ] 1-3
[ ] 4-6
[ ] more than 6
[ ] all of them, and I could explain all the jokes in "White and Nerdy" and "All About the Pentiums"
I can't be the only one here who would have to check the last option...
0 1 - just my two bits
Somebody probably swiped one from a pre-release stock room and ripped it.
but there are laws against violating copyrights and copying 'protected' media. so your explanation doesn't work.
[rolls eyes]
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Not only is the video/song pretty good, even with this "leak" he's still getting great coverage, or as some have pointed out, even better coverage. Case in point, if the premier had gone off without a hitch most of us wouldn't have even heard about it.
"On a scale from 1 to 10, people are stupid"
Get a User Agent changer for your browser...
Isn't that a somewhat nerdy thing to do?
I heard from Weird Al that if you DO want to buy his music, you should do it from a real store with physical CDs rather then from an online digital licenser.
(This is not meant to invalidate your point!)