This is by far the most popular video I have ever made. I feel like I blinked and missed it crossing the million view threshold. Pretty crazy for a experiment in jazz sheet music animation. Here are some sweet graphs that describe the response over the past 3 years:
And there’s this neat comment cloud that summarizes the words people use to react in the youtube comments section:
In context, almost all of this praise belongs to Mr. Coltrane, but I’m glad people like the video. I should really make a follow up.
Earlier in the week I was having a discussion about this exceptionally unexceptional name of mine. There were anecdotes about the other Daniel Cohen I went to camp with, and the Daniel Cohens I went to Emerson with, but in the end my friend Jessica, who likes to turn everything into a competition, shocked us all by turning it into a competition.
As one of many, many Dan Cohens, I am immune to being googled, but not Wolfram Alpha’d:
Smackdown.
Combined with the stats on Cohen (surname), there are very probably 75 people alive today in the United States named after or before me, and that number seems a little low. Thankfully, my parents blessed me with a weird and wonderful middle name: Oets.
Googling “Oets” nets you the subtle suggestion that you’ve made a typo attempting to spell “poets,” and after that you’re wading into my family lineage. Uncle Oets is there, and the great grandfather I’m named after. Meanwhile, Wolfram Alpha says:
For the period of 1 year I kept track of my catchphrases. It came naturally, I simply recognized when I was saying something so much that it reached a “catchphrase” level of over-saturation. From there, all it took was a simple excel spreadsheet, some free time, and a willingness to admit that I’m utterly pathetic.
2005 06/01 – “Gay.”
2005 07/23 – “Deal with it. Rock and Roll.”
2005 09/06 – “Heh-Heh. Allllriiiight.”
2005 10/14 – “Booyakasha!”
2005 10/22 – “It was cool, but can you imagine doobie-in’ your funk?”
2005 11/22 – “Hulk SMASH!”
2006 01/01 – “Booyakasha!” (again)
2006 02/01 – “COME ON!”
2006 04/08 – “Oooooh, Racist.”
2006 05/10 – “Fact!”
2006 05/29 – “Snakes on a Plane.”
That’s it, a full year in the life of D. Co’s catchphrases. Looking back on it, I’m amazed that I said some of that stuff with great repetition.
It’s that time of the year again. The time when the sun burns hotter and America retreats to air conditioned theaters en masse. The time when video store clerks and movie geeks have nightly wet dreams.
Summer. Movies. Are. Coming.
Since I’m suddenly all about graphs, here’s one that illustrates a normal person’s desire to see these movies.
A Norm’s Desire to See Summer Movies
A norm wants to see anything that crosses into the blue background. These are the films that are being heavily advertised already. The cinema events that even a suburban consciousness can’t escape.
Compare that to:
A Film Nerd’s Desire to See Summer Movies
Obviously, the film geek focuses on many more movies, but the most statistically significant difference here is the placement of the red “don’t care about” demarcation. A film geek is generally more tolerant of disinterest and is willing to see a larger variety of cinema.
This particular film geek is going to be out a lot of money come September.
Surely, you are aware that Will Ferrell’s schtick is growing tiresome. Kicking and Screaming, Talladega Nights, Blades of Glory… It’s obvious that there’s a formula at work here, and watching Will Ferrell sports movies is going to eventually get tiresome for everybody. It bothers me because it seems like creative executives aren’t being creative, they’re saying, “Hey, let’s give Will Ferrell a funny job and just let him go crazy!”
So going into this movie, we already know a few things about it. We know Ferrell will shout a lot, there will be wacky clothing, and wacky attitudes, and there will be a great supporting cast. Thus, it would seem, came Semi-Pro.
However, this phenomenon, the Will Ferrell schtick, has blossomed to a point where filmmakers can actively combat it or endorse it. Films like Stranger Than Fiction rein him in, while ones like Blades of Glory let him loose. One would hope that a balance could be struck, and Semi-Pro is an odd movie for just this reason. Because while the movie would have you believe that Ferrell’s “Jackie Moon” is the hero of the film, he’s not. He’s actually the antagonist.
After the first act, the Tropics trade for a grizzled, old point-guard (Woody Harrelson) and there’s an odd switch in the film’s focus. Harrelson’s Monix is a complex character, attempting to rebuild a lost relationship with his ex-wife, living off the glory of having played in the NBA (he’s basically Crash Davis from Bull Durham), and he quickly takes over coaching the team, prompting them towards fundamental play and an unlikely winning streak. That sounds like a lead role, doesn’t it?
Farrell’s character does nothing to provide momentum. Instead, many of the obstacles that the team must overcome involve simply getting Jackie Moon to calm down. His passion for the team and outlandish promotions hinder the team more than they help, to the point where the opposing ideologies of basketball, fundamental vs. fun, become the difference between Monix and Moon. In the end, of course, both are needed.
What a strange concept, structurally. It’s almost as if the script was written and then, years later, rewritten to give a minor but humorous character the lead because Ferrell was attached. It’s as if they knew Ferrell would steal the movie, so they preemptively gave it to him. However off-putting this strategy is, it does seem to work. Will Ferrell does his schtick, but is eventually relegated to a supporting cast member as the other characters, most notably Harrelson and Andre 3000, assert themselves on the plot.
There’s a bottom line here, and that is: Semi-Pro is funny. Ferrell hadn’t been really funny in a while, and this is a good comedy. It’s also a great sports movie. There aren’t many good basketball comedies… Celtic Pride… Like Mike… Semi-Pro belongs near the head of the “good basketball comedies” list.
A Graphical Representation of Will Ferrell’s Humorousness over Time
Don’t ask me about the mathematical data used in the calculation of this graph. It’s overly complex, and would take days to explain it to a layman like you. Rest assured, it’s very scientific. Furthermore, the formula contained herein is proprietary and I simply can’t allow it to fall into the wrong hands.
Posted by Dan 
For the period of 1 year I kept track of my catchphrases. It came naturally, I simply recognized when I was saying something so much that it reached a “catchphrase” level of over-saturation. From there, all it took was a simple excel spreadsheet, some free time, and a willingness to admit that I’m utterly pathetic.
Surely, you are aware that Will Ferrell’s schtick is growing tiresome. 
