I feel like I win when I lose

[venta]

I've had a fabulous idea. Everyone likes lyrics quizzes, right ? Well, nearly everyone. But they take time to write...

So, what we need is the self-writing lyrics quiz. But that's not the kind of thing that automated systems are good at. Instead, how about a cooperative effort where everyone does a little bit ? You fill in one lyric in the poll below, you fill in the answer, and by tomorrow we'll have enough for a proper quiz (and everyone will get at least one correct). I'll post it up on Friday afternoon, which is the right and proper time for such timewasting nonsense.

So:

• Be correct. At least have a little google and make sure you've got the words right.


• Don't be too obscure. Even if that band from Brighton are brilliant, don't use a line of theirs if there's not a good chance that a decent number of people will have heard of it.

I expect from the known readership here that we're mostly after rock, pop, indie or gothy stuff. If there's a secret clutch of hiphop fans out there, shout up.

On with the show!

[Poll #1443308]

Comments

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

I would try to think of some lyrics, but all I can think of now is Abba!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Well, there's nothing to stop you going for Abba! Unless you want indie-cool points, of course :)

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

I think my indie-cool cred went away long ago ;)

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Be correct

Aww, shame! I was going to go for a line from Alf Garnett.

[stegzy.livejournal.com]

Trouble with me is I'm big on obscure bands, though not necessarily those from Brighton. Now I know at least 3 people who have heard of my choice but that's not necessarily a good benchmark for me to go on. If you think mine is too obscure I'll change it if you let me know :-)

[venta.livejournal.com]

D'you know ? I have no idea. Thus far, of the entrants, I have been able to answer exactly one question (which, ironically, I believe was intended to be deliberately difficult).

I wouldn't have got yours, but unless the song is a b-side or an album track I definitely don't think it counts as obscure.

[stegzy.livejournal.com]

Not following the "Charts" I wouldn't know if it was a single or not. I do know it was an album track though and they have performed it on telly a few times. Shall I change it? I do have a reserve ;-)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Wikipeida, he say it was a single.

Frankly, I think this quiz is going to be hard. Keep your reserve, if people like this we can always do another one :)

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

if people like this we can always do another one

...and after the first time I think people will have a much better idea of what's easy and what's hard.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

That really is a fabulous idea! (Not that I had any doubt it would be.)

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Interesting idea! I'm very curious to see what the difficulty levels come in at.

(My mind immediately starts to turn it into a game. Each lyric-setter should score very few points if everyone gets their lyric, 0 if no-one gets it, but max points if [say] two-thirds get it. Repeat over about ten rounds.)

[venta.livejournal.com]

I had wondered about that, but I'm not sure if I've got the time to do all the necessary number-crunching at the moment! Hmm. Maybe I could get people to do their own marking as a poll... me and emacs can write polls pretty quickly :)

I think you my have hit on the ideal way to get bateleur really enthusiastic about lyrics quizzes!

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Mm, I like the idea of crowdsourcing the scoring, although I can see it potentially degenerating into involved disputes over technique.

When I was running my old Inspiration game I ended up writing a MySQL app to manage the scoring etc. Which may have been slight overkill.

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that a lyric setter scores whichever number is lower of the number of people who solved their lyric correctly and twice the number of people who solved their lyric incorrectly. None-correct scores 0, 50% correct scores 50%, 66% correct scores 66%, 75% correct scores 50%, all-correct scores 0.

Alternatively, you could run the game so that the setter scores whichever number is lower of twice the number who solved correctly and the number who solved incorrectly, to try to get the sweet spot at 33%. More frustrating, so probably less fun.

I should come up with a lyric now.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Mm, I think that's the right sort of shape, and nice and simple to evaluate. And yes, I agree that 33% would be too dispiriting for players.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I think the former suggestion would be good, but probably not very workable if done as 'crowdsourcing'. To be honest, I suspect nothing will work well that way, because people lose interest (in general) as soon as they've answered the questions.

If I have time over the weekend to crunch the numbers it might work, otherwise I fear we're doomed to languish in scoreless obscurity :)

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

This is one of those times when my long-promised but never-realized app for automatically generating a CSV file from a set of LJ poll results would come in handy. Ah well.

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

Hope you (plural) don't mind, but I'm giving it a go! Just only as a single round.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Not at all. I was considering having another go - with a strongy worded note on the subject of, say, a least making sure the damn lyrics were in English and that people had heard of the bands - but maybe I'll wait for next week if you're doing one this week :)

[rabbit1080.livejournal.com]

Cool!
(My lyric is from one of my favourite songs to program to. Especially on the sort of day when nothing seems to be working :)

[sciolist.livejournal.com]

To make it really challenging, you can do the inverse quiz and suggest an artist/songname and require the hapless punters to provide the 'quotable lyric'!

[keris.livejournal.com]

I tried to think of a song and that was all I got!!

P.S. sorry if you had a belly ache last week, I was staying in Elizabeth and decided to stomp around a bit to see if it was really a town in your belly.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Mercifully, apparently not.

However, if they're using my name then they should all be my subjects and do my bidding.... right ?

[keris.livejournal.com]

I think so, but from my wanderings around the place I'm not so sure you want it... (but if you want to know where there to get your new car resprayed and the dents changed so noone recognises it, I could tell you...)

[triskellian]

Only if you share ;-)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... OK, you can have Tuesday through to Friday dinnertime if I can have the rest.

[ulfilias.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...Can you also guess who on your f-list posted them. Mine is stupidly easy if you know me of old !

[sampiano.livejournal.com]

Don't be too obscure. -- So nothing in Polish then...?

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

Damn, now I've got to think of a lyric. Which I probably haven't used in one of my own lyrics quizzes (although it's been a while since I did one). [grin] And isn't either a) too obscure or b) too easy.

Looking forward to only getting my own question right! [grin]

[venta.livejournal.com]

Submit an easy question! People will be so delighted to be able to answer two you'll become everyone's favourite person :)

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

Submitted! Not sure how easy, though.

Oh, and heard on the radio last night that John Jones (of Oysterband) and Rachael McShane (of Bellowhead) have both released solo albums ... [grin]

[skorpionuk.livejournal.com]

My band have a new album out, woot!

[venta.livejournal.com]

You're in a band!? Exciting! Tell!

[skorpionuk.livejournal.com]

What? No no no... the band in my poll answer! :)
Damn I was speaking shorthand again...

FAO Brrm!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Holy crap, that's obscure! I'd say I'm quite good on that band from that era, but I'd never have got that.

[cuthbertcross.livejournal.com]

um - was that too obscure? It's so hard to tell! (I love that song though)