Comments on: topless

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four panels — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 18:33:23 -0800

A graphical dissertation of Mims' "This Is Why I'm Hot". Consider the reasoning, first, of just "I'm hot 'cause I'm fly": Mims is hot because he's fly. But it raises the question: Does being hot guarantee one's being fly? "You ain't 'cause you not" would seem to clear that up: It would appear that fly and hot are interchangable. If you are one, you are both; if you aren't at least one, you are neither.

By: Fuzzy Monster

Fuzzy Monster — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 18:47:29 -0800

Ironically, he looks cold. Good stuff.

By: DU

DU — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 18:51:41 -0800

LOLEBONICS That said, Venn diagrams are hot like Venn diagrams.

By: Balisong

Balisong — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 18:54:42 -0800

I keep singing this song when the electricians are in the houses I'm working on. Sure enough, every 15 minutes, it comes on.

By: Balisong

Balisong — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 18:57:08 -0800

I'm hot 'cause I'm fly, You 'aint 'cause you're not. This is why, This is why' This is why I'm hot. Catchy as all hell. Not really inspired lyrics.

By: cillit bang

cillit bang — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:01:37 -0800

An actual dissertation on Avril Lavigne's Sk8er Boi.

By: Dizzy

Dizzy — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:06:17 -0800

Abstract please? Don't want to go blind.

By: DU

DU — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:07:49 -0800

OK, so I just listened to the song. Actually, just about 10 seconds of it. That is one dumbass song and it fully deserves the [NOT RACIST] savaging this article gives it. Also, "Mims" is a stupid name for a rapper. But I'm probably biased, since a) I'm aware of the ultra-nerd Forrest Mims and b) my tiny, white, fuss-budgety mother-in-law is nicknamed "Mim".

By: Balisong

Balisong — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:09:09 -0800

OK, I know this is my third post to this thread, but I'm flagging it as Uberlame post 'cause I'm not.

By: timsteil

timsteil — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:11:22 -0800

god bless people with tenure. our lives are much richer because of them

By: rkent

rkent — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:23:20 -0800

HI I'M THE VILLAGE VOICE AND I COULD OVERTHINK A PLATE OF BEANS.

By: amethysts

amethysts — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:46:46 -0800

The whole article is good, but the last sentence is where he tells you the whole point (why the song is hot): "Mere mortals are hot like other people or things; having ascended to a higher plane, Mims is hot like Mims. It doesn't get hotter than that." i enjoyed this article as much as i like this song because, i could somehow feel that the point of the song was about being transcendent, that feeling amused me, but i couldn't articulate it. so thanks for posting this.

By: Ethereal Bligh

Ethereal Bligh — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:49:36 -0800

"'I'm hot 'cause I'm fly': Mims is hot because he's fly. But it raises the question: Does being hot guarantee one's being fly?" If because means something like "is the causal result of" then being fly is not just a necessary cause, but is a sufficient cause of the state of being hot. In this case, being hot guarantees being fly. "'You ain't 'cause you not' would seem to clear that up: It would appear that fly and hot are interchangeable. If you are one, you are both; if you aren't at least one, you are neither." Similarly, using this working definition of because, and assuming the parallelism of the verse intends the full formulation "You are not hot because you are not fly", then being not fly is sufficient cause for being not hot. Therefore being fly is both a necessary and a sufficient cause of being hot. You cannot be hot without being fly. You also cannot be fly without being hot because being fly alone is sufficient cause for being hot. As the author says: if you are one, you are both. Being hot is therefore sufficient cause to be fly. You cannot be one without the other. All of this strict parsing, with or without diagrammatical aid, is contrary to the native language parsing of the verse which does not imply that "fly and hot are interchangeable". Fly and hot are clearly distinct—though related—concepts. Mims's verse has much less meaning if it's a tautology built around the equivalence of hot and fly. The problem, then, is this strict interpretation of the word because as implying sufficient cause. In common native use, because can imply either a sufficiently or a necessary causal relationship. In this verse, Mims intends I'm hot 'cause I'm fly to describe a necessary casual relationship but not a sufficient causal relationship of flyness to hotness. Specifically, Mims is berating the flyless as being not hot because they lack this necessary quality—though they may have other qualities which are necessary to hotness. The moral of this story is that analytical philosophy which parses common language usage is a lame attempt to be clever when it is as fluent in common usage as the flyless are hot. An alternate moral is that the Village Voice are a bunch of wankers.

By: Dizzy

Dizzy — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:54:33 -0800

What?

By: twsf

twsf — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:59:30 -0800

Methinks the author owes a shoutout to Indexed. (Previously mentioned here and here.)

By: ericb

ericb — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 20:10:16 -0800

...it raises the question: Does being hot guarantee one's being fly? "You ain't 'cause you not" would seem to clear that up: It would appear that fly and hot are interchangable. If you are one, you are both; if you aren't at least one, you are neither. It all depends. Where is he in regards to the forces of Cumulative Advantage?

By: Ethereal Bligh

Ethereal Bligh — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 20:13:39 -0800

"What?" Exactly.

By: mmrtnt

mmrtnt — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 20:38:29 -0800

Mims is hot because he's fly... It depends on what the meaning of the word is is.

By: a.

a. — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:38:40 -0800

Ethereal Bligh, you sound like my Introduction to Logic lecturer <3

By: unmake

unmake — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:40:06 -0800

Christ. I thought Forrest Mims had a singing career.

By: Espy Gillespie

Espy Gillespie — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:50:24 -0800

DU, reread the article. It's not at all "savaging" the song. And 'Mims' is the last name of the rapper, Sean Mims.

By: kosem

kosem — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 22:04:38 -0800

The best thing about this song is that it spawned an hilarious Duke diss during the NCAA Tournament.

By: cillit bang

cillit bang — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 22:35:46 -0800

I'd like to think he's named after South Mimms motorway service area.

By: brujita

brujita — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 22:39:36 -0800

My parody so far: This is why I'm hot (x3) I have cubic zirconia in my rotten brown teeth when they crumble out I'll shit grit for a week This is why I'm hot (x3) I have 18 kids by as many baby mamas I can't bother to pay for their pajamas This is why I'm hot (x3) I never use a rubber when I shoot my jizz I have tertiary syphilis

By: hattifattener

hattifattener — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 22:49:22 -0800

Like DU and unmake, I was disappointed that this was not about Forrest Mims III. Who would be hot because he was not adequately heatsinked and his R_θ was too large.

By: keys

keys — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 23:43:39 -0800

Too bad Steve Allen isn't around to give us HIS take.

By: DU

DU — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 04:21:36 -0800

I did read the article. It's an hilarious sendup of what seemed like (I only listened to a snippet) a vapid, self-aggrandizing song. And "it's my real name" isn't much of a defense of a lame rapper handle.

By: hank_14

hank_14 — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 06:12:07 -0800

I'm just saying, the rhyming of jizz and syphilis is actually pretty inspired. Nice work, brujita.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 06:21:24 -0800

And "it's my real name" isn't much of a defense of a lame rapper handle. He also says it stands for "Music is My Savior." I only know this because I saw his video and thought he was wearing a shirt featuring the mascot of the local minor league hockey team. I was wrong.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 06:26:10 -0800

Mims is a lame handle. It sounds like somebody's British auntie.

By: SweetJesus

SweetJesus — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 09:27:23 -0800

You're all just mad cause he's stylin on you.

By: peep

peep — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:01:07 -0800

There is a spreadsheet linked in this blog post which may supplement your enjoyment of the song. I thought it was funny.

By: rush

rush — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:39:45 -0800

Slight nitpick with the article, and in defense of Mims: he does change the beat when he talks about the Bay.

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 13:53:05 -0800

First of all, no one calls it "Frisco" except rhyme-starved rappers, and the only worthwhile MCs living anywhere near Sacramento are in prison. Yeah, y'all keep thinking that.