If you’re a skeptic, you probably already know about the comedy musician Tim Minchin. He is simply brilliant, writing fantastic music about critical thinking. He was at TAM London and basically owned the place.
Skepchick Tracy King is overseeing the creation of an animated version of Tim’s absolutely fantastic song "Storm", about a skeptic at a dinner party who runs into a woman who believes anything as long as it isn’t real. The song is incredible, and the animation looks to be as well: they just released the official trailer.
It’s notoriously difficult to know if a video will go viral or not, but keep your eyes on this. When it’s finished, it’ll be big.
January 9th, 2010 at 9:12 am
I’d love to see a herb that will completely suppress the pain i get from the 20ish migraines i get a month, until then i will be forced to take the medication that they give me. Of course i know of a herb or flower that would help me, but im pretty darn sure that it is illegal in almost all countries….
January 9th, 2010 at 10:03 am
The perfect storm?
Tim’s a funny bloke – wouldn’t mind seeing more – bet its great.
January 9th, 2010 at 10:11 am
Storm is a really great piece. I love the idea of it being set to animation! The trailer looks great, so I’m sure the whole thing will be great. I will do my bit to help it out. Thanks for sharing this! I would’ve missed it, otherwise.
January 9th, 2010 at 10:37 am
This. Is. Good.
Looking forward to the whole thing.
January 9th, 2010 at 10:46 am
I love the poem already so this animation will be the cherry. Can’t wait to see the whole thing.
January 9th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Most videos that “go viral” actually do so as the result of some additional promotion.
So, here we are then.
January 9th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Looks great! Can’t wait to see it (and post about it) when it comes out…
January 9th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Tim is a genius. I was at TAM London and he completely blew the audience away. He has a real stage presence and an impeccable performance skill.
I think DC and Fraser are doing a fantastic job on this video too! I’ve subscribed to the RSS feed at http://www.stormmovie.net/blog and it looks as if it is going to have some very interesting posts as work progresses.
Tell your friends!
January 9th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
Thanks for posting. So awesome that I now just purchased his album.
January 9th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
[...] (Via Bad Astronomer.) [...]
January 9th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
This is amazing. Maybe adapting the idea to something as easy to swallow as this will get more people to think logically about this sort of thing.
Looking forward to watching the whole thing!
January 9th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Any relation to Nick Minchin?
January 10th, 2010 at 1:31 am
Gold!
The poem is stood on its own, but the animation looks very sharp. Can’t wait to push the movie.
January 10th, 2010 at 6:41 am
Viral? No, I think not.
Videos that go viral generally appeal to 2nd grade mentality. This isn’t astrophysics (note that I didn’t say rocket science… rocket scientists are such prima donnas!), but it is above 2nd grade thinking.
January 10th, 2010 at 7:39 am
I’ve only seen a little bit of Tim Minchin, and I hadn’t seen Storm before, but just checked it out on Youtube after seeing this trailer.
Wow. Briliantly performed and briliantly written.
I’m deffinately going to have to get around to getting more of him.
January 10th, 2010 at 7:56 am
Animation looks really nice thus far. I especially liked how they did the “proved to work” bit. Very slick. Can’t wait for the full piece.
January 10th, 2010 at 9:00 am
@ 14. One Eyed Jack Says:
Viral? No, I think not.
… This isn’t astrophysics (note that I didn’t say rocket science… rocket scientists are such prima donnas!), but it is above 2nd grade thinking.
For some reason, this has me imaging a whole lot of NASA engineers & rocket designers dancing around together in tutus & a doing a swan lake impression ..
January 10th, 2010 at 9:53 am
Drat! They just pulled the video off YouTube this morning.
The Text version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB_htqDCP-s) is still there but you miss his expressions.
January 10th, 2010 at 10:24 am
I just watched the text version. Very entertaining, but I’d have to agree with One Eyed Jack… this isn’t going to go viral. It’s too heady, probably too long, and is basically just a rant against irrationality which I think will probably only appeal to people like those who read this blog and already agree with it. The general public wont care and it won’t change any beliefs.
January 10th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
I love Tim Minchin, the man is a genius! Storm has got to be ranked amongst my personal favourites of his. The animation looks like it’s going to be really phenomenal. Another great one of his about skepticism is “If your mind is too open, your brains will fall out”
January 10th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Hi everyone, thanks for the kind comments!
Brian – if only there were a way of predicting what will go viral and what won’t! If you have the TAM 6 DVD, it contains a talk I do about that very subject. There are certainly no rules about what’s too long (for example the optimum length is meant to be 3min, but another video I did the viral marketing for, Richard Wiseman’s Colour-Changing Card Trick, is 6min long and not at all the sort of content that usually winds up with 3.5million views, but there it is!). In addition, the audio version of Storm has well over 250,000 views on YouTube already, so depending on what your definition of ‘viral’ is, I’d say the material is already an online success. The animation has been so well-received, it certainly can’t be said it it removes anything from the original, but rather that it enhances it.
Whether or not the animation does well remains to be seen, but it does have the backing of a marketing company as well as the support of Tim’s fanbase and pretty much the entire skeptic community, so it has a better chance than just chance alone. The animation community has also received it well, which is a big help (for example it is currently on the front page of motionographer.com).
The measure of success, for us, is not just by the number of views we get, but the content of the feedback, which thus far has been extraordinarily positive. As long as at least some people love it, then it’s worthwhile, whether we ‘go viral’ or not.
January 10th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
I love ‘Storm’, even though it’s the biggest straw-man ever
January 10th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
[...] Bad Astronomy Tags: Alternative medicine, Science, Skepticism, Tim Minchin Share this [...]
January 10th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Man this guy is creepy looking.
January 11th, 2010 at 1:25 am
Oh, neat, I can’t wait to see this! I might have bought Ready For This just for Storm.
…Okay, and the Song For Phil Daoust. And White Wine In The Sun. And this version of Dark Side. And Confessions. …Oh, just buy the album, guys XD
January 11th, 2010 at 8:43 am
I’m viralling this shizzle right now.
January 12th, 2010 at 5:32 am
Update via Tracey on the Storm Blog includes a lot of links. My favourite is Jack of Kent:
http://jackofkent.blogspot.com/2010/01/legal-advice-in-storm-v-minchin.html
Awesome!
January 12th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
I am so gobsmacked by this snippit.
Holy CRAP, what an awesome thing of beauty! The style of the animation is absolutely perfect for the poem. It just follows the free consciousness of the jazz music and the words.
Cannot WAIT until this comes out.
I am currently making a quilt inspired by Storm. It’s so fantastic to see skepticism in the Arts!
November 21st, 2011 at 11:46 am
[...] Author of Bad Astronomy, Dr Phil Plait, discusses the potential for viral success. [...]