It's not fair - life was good before
November 24, 2006 11:28 AM   Subscribe

If you overdosed on being thankful yesterday, the Birmingham Complaints Choir or the Helsinki Complaints Choir might be an antidote. (YouTube alert) More on complaints choirs.
posted by madamjujujive (24 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Next step: commissioning an opera, The Kvetchiad. (Libretto already written.)
posted by rob511 at 11:44 AM on November 24, 2006


Great find (as always!), madamjujujive - I especially enjoyed theHelsinki choir.
posted by Melinika at 11:48 AM on November 24, 2006


I complain that mjjj's posts always decrease my productivity.
posted by arcticwoman at 11:50 AM on November 24, 2006


My only complaint with this post is that it was too enjoyable.
posted by Ceiling Cat at 11:52 AM on November 24, 2006


This post had better inspire a cortex masterpiece, or even a MefiMusic collaboration...
posted by arcticwoman at 11:54 AM on November 24, 2006


It's like an adult version of the Langley Schools Music Project, but with original lyrics.
posted by Smart Dalek at 11:54 AM on November 24, 2006


This post had better inspire a cortex masterpiece, or even a MefiMusic collaboration...
Great idea - it would be really fun to have a metafilter complaints choir!
posted by madamjujujive at 12:06 PM on November 24, 2006 [1 favorite]


This thread smells of pee!
posted by ColdChef at 12:15 PM on November 24, 2006


I think metafilter itself is the complaint choir.
posted by jouke at 12:44 PM on November 24, 2006


totally, totally great. thanks.
posted by facetious at 1:00 PM on November 24, 2006


Is this the wrong place to ask mathowie for a pony: Meta-Whinge? Then cortex could make it into Meta-Whinge the Musical.
posted by Cranberry at 1:06 PM on November 24, 2006


heh - I posted the Helsinki one to Metachat last week...
posted by altolinguistic at 1:20 PM on November 24, 2006


heh, i saw that helsinki one posted to videosift like a month ago. so so awesome.


i love the "only hiring java programmers" line. SLAYS me.
posted by lazaruslong at 1:45 PM on November 24, 2006


Why is this so moving to me? Thank you!!
posted by basicchannel at 1:51 PM on November 24, 2006


Great find (as always!), madamjujujive - I especially enjoyed theHelsinki choir.

I believe it was posted in the comments of another thread within the last day or two. It very much deserved it's own FPP though.

Nice post.
posted by The God Complex at 2:27 PM on November 24, 2006


I find a lot of Finnish women have a specific national quality of 'teh hotness'. The Finnish language sounds great even though words have too many vowels and the nouns have to many cases.

Finland is a top democracy (#6 compared to the USA at #17 and the UK at #24). The country leans more towards socialism than the USA, and people have a safe though boring life. One national pastime is complaining, and many tend to moroseness which they express by Finland being one of the top tango dancing countries in the world.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 2:54 PM on November 24, 2006


Apparently, elpapacito agrees with you.
posted by leftcoastbob at 3:08 PM on November 24, 2006


I have often considered myself to be an expert complainer; please indulge me while I try my own hand at this fine art form.

I would like to complain about waking up each morning and feeling like I am falling through the floor, as the tide of consciousness washes over me and drags with it all the memories of my sinful life.

I would like to complain about my penis. It is too small, and it has been prematurely weathered by too many sessions of furious masturbation to pictures of Japanese cartoon characters being violated by robots.

I would like to complain about my job. It pays me not nearly enough to live in the style to which I am accustomed.

I would like to complain about the style to which I am accustomed. It is vile and filthy, and people generally do not want to be my friends after coming over to my house and seeing the mountains of trash, empty bottles of liquor and half-eaten slices of pizza that I once considered my own version of the charming bric-a-brac that my grandmother spent years collecting to decorate her home with.

I would like to complain about the looks of disbelief I constantly receive from people when I tell them about my day; about the bar trash I brought home last night only to recoil in horror from the next morning when the Sun's unflattering rays illuminated their face.

I would like to complain about the government. About the pasty men in expensive suits that presume to tell me what I can and cannot do, and what is and is not moral.

I would like to complain about this comment. Even in writing it I know it to be trite and inferior, the product of the scattered mind I woke up with today.

I would like to complain about my scattered mind. For weeks I have isolated myself from the world, and no longer have any notion of what day of the week it is or what time of day it is. The lights in my home have burned out and I spend most of my time scuttling in the dark, my monitor's white hue the only illumination by which I can commit the base deeds I choose to fritter my life away with.

I would like to complain about how much work it seems to be just to be normal. For now, I have given up trying. I believe I will revert to the person I used to be for a while, and find comfort in the familiarity of that foul person.

I would like to complain about complaining. It is unproductive.
posted by kfx at 3:13 PM on November 24, 2006 [3 favorites]


The Helsinki Complaints Choir is overwhelmingly gorgeous. The size of the choir, the power of their voices, the trivilality of their complaints, mixed with the utter passion of them...we all know how they feel, and there's something unspeakably vindicating about hearing a choir shout about it.

But I'd like to complain about the Birmingham Complaints Choir. Complaining is much less attractive on these Brits, who appear too much like they mean it and not near enough like they're enjoying it. And besides, that tiny, ramshackle choir is aaawwwful to listen to.

And I think it's much easier to hear the complaints stream out in another language so I don't have to hear how awkwardly this English-people are bending the complaints to make the verses rhyme.

But thanks so much for posting these, madamjujujive. This is awesome.
posted by Milkman Dan at 3:29 PM on November 24, 2006


*anxiously awaits as MeFites put kfx's whining to music*
posted by ColdChef at 4:06 PM on November 24, 2006


I think kfx's whining would do well mashed up on top of the "Wear Sunscreen" monologue... :)
posted by anthill at 4:23 PM on November 24, 2006


I can't understand how anyone from Birmingham could find anything to complain about. After all, it's not shit.
posted by MrMustard at 7:06 PM on November 24, 2006


I thought they were both amusing, though clearly the Helsinki choir was in a different league.

How come in the pseudo rap/spoken word bit in the middle of the Birmingham version, the black guy is pegged for it? That just seemed so...predictable. I thought that little stretch took away from the performance as a whole...much like the guy with the megaphone in the Helsinki one.

But both were fun, I'm just complaining to hear myself.

I did find the line "why do people only take a stand [online]" to be somewhat thought-provoking.
posted by maxwelton at 7:55 PM on November 24, 2006


Garbage bags that are cheaply made and unforgivably weak

Media outlets using people with disabilities as a form of comic relief

I'd like to complain about people at gas stations, who think nothing of buying lottery tickets while those who have to drive to work stand idly behind them...the same people who think nothing of those around them as they purchase three hundred and eighty-four dollars' worth of lottery tickets, not including scratch-off cards, along with a Western Union money order.

I also want to complain about the little cologne and perfume packets jammed inside magazines. They're sealed inside plastic bags which are supposed to hide the smell, but the odor's so strong, it still wafts through, even onto the pages of the magazine itself, your fingers, and those annoying subscription cards that fall into my soup...

And
Jury Duty
Jury Duty
Jury Duty
Why can't I pay taxes and live in a Duty-Free community?
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:47 AM on November 25, 2006


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