Should do one long song and split it into three

September 11, 2015 9:32 PM

Lorde, Flight of the Conchords, Peter Jackson and All Blacks record charity song. Just about every famous New Zealander packed into Neil Finn’s studio for Team Ball Player Thing, a fundraiser for Battens disease research.
posted by spreadsheetzu (22 comments total)

For a slightly different take on the song:

But now there's the All Blacks' Rugby World Cup supporter song. Sneaking in under the guise of charity (written "for the kids, by the kids") it'll bring a tear to your eye.

Wipe it away as you try to forget the fact that we are the most embarrassing country in the world, by virtue of the fact that our mighty All Blacks - we redesign inflight safety videos, chocolate wrappers and milk cartons in their honour, our PM hosts their squad-naming on his big front lawn, drinking laws are changed in a jiffy - are where it is at culturally in this country.

Gotta say, I'm not really disagreeing :)
posted by maupuia at 9:39 PM on September 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

I don't know anything about this disease, or who 90% of these people are or what it is they're on about, but that is a pretty great song.
posted by Flashman at 10:38 PM on September 11, 2015

The full skit is worth watching before you get to the song. Taika Waititi is a national treasure.
posted by h00py at 10:54 PM on September 11, 2015 [5 favorites]

Murray? Present?
posted by shakespeherian at 10:57 PM on September 11, 2015 [9 favorites]

If this wasn't written by Flight Of The Conchords then I'm not, um, someone who I definitely am.

Try a little harder,
Run a little faster,
Fly a little higher,
Score another tryer.
And if you can't do it,
Just keep on, keep on, keep on trying --
Try and kick it into the other
Person... team... ball... player... thing.

posted by Harvey Kilobit at 11:15 PM on September 11, 2015 [3 favorites]

Fantastic. Especially the skit. And Zoe Bell!
posted by greenhornet at 11:27 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

Came for the Team Ball Player Thing, stayed for Feel Inside (And Stuff Like That). The long versions are gold.
posted by Thella at 11:28 PM on September 11, 2015 [4 favorites]

I'll watch anything with the Naked And Famous in it.
posted by zompist at 1:32 AM on September 12, 2015

This is going to send me straight back to Bowie's In Space and of course, Its Business Time. I have no choice.
posted by C.A.S. at 1:33 AM on September 12, 2015 [3 favorites]

THE MAKUTU... is not to be toyed with.

I really should leave.
posted by Sebmojo at 2:20 AM on September 12, 2015

Gotta say, I'm not really disagreeing :)

ah, simon sweetman being a clumsily cynical contrarian, must be a day
posted by Sebmojo at 2:32 AM on September 12, 2015

I never wanted to emigrate to NZ more than right after hearing that. And I've wanted to quite a lot previously. Awesome.
posted by freya_lamb at 2:58 AM on September 12, 2015 [2 favorites]

I thought the song was amusing - but now it just seems like total nonsense. The reason you have never heard of Batten disease according to the Daily Mail is that:
"Batten disease is so rare that it's estimated that only 10 people in the world have it at any one time ".

Seriously?
- All this fuss over 10 people, when concurrently there debates over the hundreds of thousands of refugees landing in Greece, Australia and elsewhere. It really does come across as a crass marketing stunt by the Rugby.

10 people! this is what's wrong with Charity today. It has nothing to do with distributing funds where they can do the "most good" but merely to whoever has the best marketing campaign.
posted by mary8nne at 6:51 AM on September 12, 2015

Oh jeez, I was in a FOUL mood this morning but this video made it unsustainable. Thank you!
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 6:52 AM on September 12, 2015

The more you read about this the more disgusting it seems - Wealthy Amercian film producer has two sick kids, and using his industry connections, ropes in all his wealthy famous friends to convince everyone else in the world to save them. Raises millions of dollars to try and save his own kids. and perhaps 8-9 others in the world who happen to also be sick, although chances are they wouldn't be able to afford the patented cure anyway.
posted by mary8nne at 7:00 AM on September 12, 2015 [2 favorites]

That kid around 3 minutes? Jeremy Renner.

Obvious conclusion: NZ has time travel.
posted by Mezentian at 7:19 AM on September 12, 2015

There's a worrying ethical dilemma here. Some small children are dying from a horrifying genetic disease.

Entire populations of people are being driven from their homes by war. More children drowned in the Mediterranean this week than will ever die from Batten's

Entire nations are threatened with extinction by rising seas.

Species are being eliminated.

But, there really are two or three kids dying horribly of Batten's.. How much should we spend to make sure no more kids die from this hideous, awful disease?

The answer is not zero.

But I have no idea how to calculate it.

I hate hard questions. Time for a snooze.
posted by Combat Wombat at 7:27 AM on September 12, 2015

Combat Wombat: NZ is an island of 4-odd million, has a treaty with its indigenous, and takes in more than its fare share of asylum seekers, compared to Australia if by no other metric.

NZ is doing okay.
posted by Mezentian at 8:07 AM on September 12, 2015

[Combat Wombat]:But, there really are two or three kids dying horribly of Batten's.. How much should we spend to make sure no more kids die from this hideous, awful disease?

The answer is not zero.

Given that it is a pretty severe genetic disorder, (grouped as a Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis) and generally we have a pretty bad track record of curing any such disorders, then the chances of finding an effective treatment for Batten seem... hmm. next to zero. So how much should we really spend on this disease?

How about the same amount you give to all the unfortunate children who just happen to be born in the "wrong" country, and are likely to die from any number of actually curable, treatable disorders that are likely to arise due to say lack of clean running water during their first 6 years?
posted by mary8nne at 8:08 AM on September 12, 2015

Unsurprisingly, the Daily Mail got their stats wrong. According to the NIH about "2 to 4 of every 100,000 live births in the United States" are children born with Batten other forms of NCL. A back of the envelope calculation shows there are probably around 4000 children a year born with the disease world wide. That's still rare, but it's more than a the handful the Daily Mail tries to make it out to be. I knew a kid with Batten disease when I worked for a short time at a school here in the UK. She was in the later stages of the disease and had lost most muscle control, sight, and speech. She loved music and was always humming along with her favourite songs. She had a coy half smile which she would show when she detected that one of her carers or teachers was being a bit goofy. I wondered when she would lose the ability to do even that. I was told that a few years earlier she was an active kid who loved dancing.

It's every parent's nightmare to have your child predecease you. Batten disease is like watching your child grow old, frail, and senile, and then die within the space of a few years. There's a lot of shit the world throws at people and Batten disease isn't the most painful or the most heartbreaking, but it's up there. Researchers trying to raise the monetary equivalent of 60-seconds of airtime during the Super Bowl to fund neurological work that could have potential benefits for both Batten disease and other disorders is something we can refrain from hand wringing about.

Plus the song is fun. And I want to note that my part of the UK was excluded from any well-wishing jinxing, so maybe we have a chance this year.
posted by nangua at 8:22 AM on September 12, 2015 [11 favorites]

Exactly nangua. I had a cousin die of battens. I hope too that we can eradicate war and poverty too but research into rare conditions can also serve to benefit in other ways.
posted by biggreenplant at 9:18 AM on September 12, 2015

Rare diseases aren't rare. That is to say, any individual rare disease is rare, but when you add them all up, a lot of people suffer from rare diseases. And since this attitude of "but why worry about such a small number of people" is so common, actually a very large number of people are ignored, from a research perspective.
posted by OnceUponATime at 7:03 PM on September 12, 2015 [2 favorites]