The Times They Are A Changin' because....

July 16, 2008 6:57 PM

It's Time For Some Campaignin'! [Flash; "e-cards"; et al] via JibJab]
posted by humannaire (29 comments total)

That schtick was hilarious four years ago.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 7:05 PM on July 16, 2008

No it wasn't.
posted by octothorpe at 7:12 PM on July 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

Yes it was.

But now? I was looking forward to this, and I kind of liked it, but they lost me at the skin cancer line.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:17 PM on July 16, 2008

I thought it was okay; I enjoyed the visuals more than the song. The prancing-Obama-with-unicorns part was the only one I really liked.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 7:19 PM on July 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

Bookhouse rule time. Machine Girl [prev]
posted by cashman at 7:51 PM on July 16, 2008

Mr. T's got no time for Jibba Jabba
posted by porn in the woods at 7:59 PM on July 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

Jib Jab's first effort four years ago or whenever that was was Jay Leno humor.

They didn't even made it that high on the comedy ladder this time.
posted by mrnutty at 8:03 PM on July 16, 2008

Yeah, this was so edgy that it appeared on the "Today" show this morning. To be honest, I was impressed by how well the singers imitated their various victims, so points for that, but that still doesn't exactly make this biting satire. It's just the most obvious political joke fodder -- Obama is an empty suit! McCain is old! Bill Clinton's a cheater! (that last routine actually being older than John McCain...) -- put to music. Slick and professional, but ultimately kinda lame.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:13 PM on July 16, 2008

Everyone's mom will email this to them in about three months.
posted by Mid at 8:13 PM on July 16, 2008 [5 favorites]

I dunno.

That scene with Obama was the perfect unicorn chaser for things like suicide by chainsaw.
posted by konolia at 8:13 PM on July 16, 2008 [2 favorites]

That schtick was hilarious four years ago....Jib Jab's first effort four years ago or whenever that was was Jay Leno humor.

Actually, their second animation -- after their initial "Founding Fathers rapping about the Declaration of Independence" -- was eight years ago. It featured George Bush and Al Gore in a rap battle

"The video was one of the web’s first broad based hits and landed on Fox’s MadTV, ABC News, CNN and a host of other national media outlets."
posted by ericb at 8:39 PM on July 16, 2008

I saw this covered on CNN from my elliptical today, in closed-caption, then I heard about it from my fuddy-duddy king-of-unfunny father-in-law figure at dinner. These things lead me to believe this is probably not very good, not best-of-the-web, and that Jib Jab has OFFICIALLY nuked the fridge.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 8:56 PM on July 16, 2008

Know what... I enjoyed it... went to the trouble of uploading a friend's image and putting him in there and then sent it to him. He'll get a kick out of it.
posted by Kattullus at 9:05 PM on July 16, 2008

Yeah, I thought it was a fun few minutes. Will send to Mom.
posted by not_on_display at 10:50 PM on July 16, 2008

Holy shit, I'd totally forgotten about Machine Girl. Is that out in the US yet? I'm going to go look.
posted by Caduceus at 10:56 PM on July 16, 2008

Wait, is there something that Jib Jab making it look stupid would be good? Reality TV or something?
posted by dhartung at 11:11 PM on July 16, 2008

Well, someone has to take over where Mark Russell left off.

OK, maybe someone doesn't have to.
posted by krinklyfig at 11:19 PM on July 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

That scene with Obama was the perfect unicorn chaser for things like suicide by chainsaw.

That's funny. I thought suicide-by-chainsaw was a unicorn chaser for yet-more-US-election-guff.
posted by pompomtom at 11:41 PM on July 16, 2008

Content: pretty boring.

Animation: mind-blowing. Did I miss a few years or something? Is there other Flash stuff being done this well? Or is this traditionally done and then packaged in a Flash container?
posted by Optimus Chyme at 12:01 AM on July 17, 2008

Just regular ole video packaged in a flash container.

I will, however, agree that JibJab's animation budget has gone up tenfold since '04. Pretty impressive.
posted by skammer at 12:57 AM on July 17, 2008

Yeah, it was OK, it had a catchy tune and bright colours and didn't threaten.
posted by mattoxic at 5:41 AM on July 17, 2008 [2 favorites]

Wow, these guys don't care who's toes they step on!
posted by any major dude at 7:02 AM on July 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

I think part of the reason this one wasn't as funny is that the animation was so much better. The previous was hacky and jumpy and obviously a couple guys having fun. This one clearly had a budget, a team of artists, a manager. I don't get the feel that people like me made it, I don't relate to it.

And the jokes sucked. There's that, too.
posted by Harkins_ at 8:10 AM on July 17, 2008

SuperNews >>> JibJab

And Neil Patrick Harris singing about the angst of supervillainy for the win.
posted by Tehanu at 9:24 AM on July 17, 2008

the reason why it wasn't funny is because when you try to be all things to all people you end up being nothing to no one. These guys are so focused on being mainstream and equal opportunity offenders that their end product is milquetoast. SNL suffers the same fate. Have a damn opinion or stay the hell away from political satire.
posted by any major dude at 9:33 AM on July 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

Those clowns in Washington did it again.

What a bunch of clowns.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:35 AM on July 17, 2008

Anymajordude, what I actually lilke about these jibjab cartoons is they are not meanspirited. There is so little of that in politics....
posted by konolia at 11:02 AM on July 17, 2008

I thought it was intentionally less take-THAT-politicians! and more, oh-election-season-so-silly-you've-gotta-love-it.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 11:39 AM on July 17, 2008

Just wanted to stop in and say, yep, just got the email from the parents with it.
posted by starman at 10:23 AM on July 18, 2008