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JibJab Year In Review Videos, Ranked

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It’s that time of year again: every website is posting “year in review” lists ranking the events of the past year according to their interests: music bloggers rank the best (and/or worst) songs and albums of the year, literary bloggers rank the best (again, and/or worst) books of the year, and I’m sure you get the gist of what I’m saying, so that’s the end of this particular train of thought.

Yesterday afternoon, JibJab released their 2013 Year in Review Video, which I didn’t think was as good as some of their previous efforts. I also learned that they had made a 2012 Year In Review Video – this isn’t surprising per se, but I don’t remember ever watching it before yesterday night (technically, around 11 PM December 21 2013). 

In most cases I would prefer to have some kind of quantitative methodology for ranking things, but this list of every JibJab Year In Review Video is very qualitative instead: instead of ranking videos by views, or reviews, or any other potentially quantitative methodology, I’m ranking them purely by my current opinion of their quality. I will concede that it is entirely possible I may be slightly biased, in that I’ve seen some, if not most or all, of the older ones multiple times. 

What better way to revisit Bush the Younger’s second term and Obama’s first term is there than watching JibJab videos? They’ve only been making them since 2005 (after their 2004 election video starring George W. Bush and John Kerry brought them into the spotlight). At first I had thought that I might have better ways to spend my time, but let’s be honest – I’m nowhere near tired, I was slightly drunk when I started thinking about doing this, and if I hadn’t decided to write this blog post I probably would have spent my time messing around on the Internet in some other fashion anyway.

9.) 2012: The End is Here
It was a tough choice, but my reasons for giving this one the lowest ranking include lack of familarity with this video and the seemingly racist depiction of Mayans as stereotypical bone-in-nose leaf-wearing savages. As previously mentioned, I didn’t even know this video existed until about 2 hours ago. 

8) 2013: What a Year!
This is the newest JibJab Year in Review Video, and I don’t like it as much as their older efforts. Obviously I liked it slightly more than their 2012 video, but other than that I have difficulty thinking of a concise reason to put it above 2012 other than eliminating the possibility of ties.

7) 2011, Buh-Bye!
Tune: “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” (Traditional)

6) So Long to Ya, 2010
Points awarded for Muppet-esque puppetry, but still not as good as some of their earlier efforts.

5) Nuckin’ Futs! – Best of ’06
Tune: Jingle Bells (James Lord Pierpoint)
I had forgotten how funny this one was, but I decided 2009 and 2008 were better.

4) Never a Year Like ’09
Tune: The Entertainer (Scott Joplin)
Maybe I just have a weakness for ragtime.

3) 2008 Year in Review
I don’t recognize the tune, but I’ve liked this one since it came out 5 years ago.

Now that I’ve typed that, I’m wondering how it’s been 5 years since I was a high school senior.

2) 2-0-5 (2005)
Tune: Auld Lang Syne (Traditional, lyrics by Robert Burns)
This is another one of my favorites. I wasn’t a fan of George W. Bush, but so help me I almost miss a Texan accent in the White House. With Obama we just have impersonations of his non-regional accented voice and caricatures of his ears in addition to his being biracial, unlike every one of our previous presidents.

1) In 2007
Tune: We Didn’t Start the Fire (Billy Joel)
Maybe I just like Billy Joel, but this has been one of my favorites probably since its debut. Of course, when there were only 3 JibJab Year in Review videos, there wasn’t nearly as much choice, was there?

Compatibility of MBTI types

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Recently I’ve been doing a lot of reading about MBTI types. I am incredibly tempted to detail the history of personality typing, but for once I’m going to resist temptation. If anyone reading this actually doesn’t know anything about MBTI types or personality tests, there are plenty of other resources that are just a quick Web search away. How many people have Google, Bing, or their search engine of choice integrated into their browser? But I digress. I don’t claim to be any kind of authority on psychology, but a detailed treatment of the history of psychology and personality types is very much outside the scope of this post.

This Buzzfeed post “What’s your Animal Personality Type?” opens with a useful brief description of the MBTI dichotomies. I was going to start writing more about MBTI, but as I already said, that’s a bit beyond the scope of why I wanted to write this post. I’m not exactly sure why I started reading about MBTI recently, but I do know that when I’ve taken online MBTI quizzes before, I usually scored as an INTJ. I’ve noticed recently (here meaning within approximately the last 5 years) that I’ve also started occasionally getting INTP as a result. Maybe it’s all of the reading I’ve been doing on the subject recently, and taking a few unofficial online quizzes, but I currently consider myself to be an INTJ with INTP tendencies.

I’ve seen at least one YouTube video that has said that people get too attached to the four-letter code (e.g., INTJ) without reading about the four functions. The INTJ’s functions are Introverted Intuition (Ni), Extraverted Thinking (Te), Introverted Feeling (Fi), and Extraverted Sensing (Se), while the INTP’s functions are Introverted Thinking (Ti), Extraverted Intuition (Ne), Introverted Sensing (Si), and Extraverted Feeling (Fe). I haven’t done a lot of reading about the different functions yet, but regardless of whether I’m more INTJ or INTP I’m obviously not big on Feeling or Sensing. I think the differences between INTJ and INTP functions are interesting. Ultimately, the differences between INTJ and INTP are probably at least tangentially related to the idea behind this post. The Keirsey Temperament Sorter is similar (if not completely identical) to the MBTI, and calls INTJ “the Mastermind“, while INTP is “the Architect.”

With that out of the way, now to the other half of this post’s title: interpersonal compatibility. More specifically, romantic compatibility. I’ve never had any romantic relationships, which I’m sure this is a surprise considering everything I’ve written so far, and I don’t think I was interested in the idea of dating until I went to college, which probably has some relation to increased personal autonomy and increased availability of intelligent women. I’ve also never been very good at noticing flirting, and generally speaking I’ve had to have someone else inform me that I was being flirted with after the fact. I’d like to think that I might actually notice  if someone flirted with me now, but that would probably require having an active social life instead of sitting in front of my computer, which would in turn require a different work schedule. Anyway, when I was reading about compatibility of MBTI types last weekend, I thought it was interesting to find several different theories. I suppose this only makes sense, though – as I was thinking earlier today, when I was planning on writing this post, biology is messy, and interpersonal compatibility is, to my knowledge, still very much one of those things that we don’t know for certain. As far as we know, we aren’t characters in a computer game programmed with specific traits to follow a specific equation, so opposites don’t always attract and birds of a feather don’t always flock together.

Among the things I think are interesting about MBTI types and different websites is the different estimates for how common they are. INTJs are supposed to be at least one of, if not the, rarest types in the population, and I’ve seen estimates that INTJs seem to number between 1 and 4% of the population. Female INTJs are supposed to be especially rare, apparently.

One site I found cited a couple books on the subject, and said that the best types for a relationship with an INTJ are the ESTJ, INTJ, ISTP, and ENTJ, while a relationship would be possible between an INTJ and a INTP, INFJ, INFP, or ENFP, while the least likely relationship would be between an INTJ and ESFJ, ISFJ, ESTP, ESFP, ISFP, ENTP, INFP, and ENFJ.
The same site said that the best types for a relationship with an INTP are the ENTP, INTP, and INTJ, while a relationship would be possible between an INTP and the ESTJ, ISTJ, ESTP, ENTJ, ENFJ, INFJ, ENFP, and INFP and least likely between the INTP and an ESFJ, ISFJ, ISTP, ESFP, and ISFP.

Another blog I found listed a few different compatibility theories, which I’ll attempt to summarize.
The identical types theory is basically that each type is most compatible with itself, and least compatible with its opposite.
Ergo, INTJs are least compatible with ESFP, and INTP is least compatible with ESFJ.
The opposite types theory is the inverse, and says “opposites attract”, so INTJ and ESFP are most compatible, while INTP and ESFJ are, as you can probably guess, most compatible.
The main cognitive function compatibility theory says that types with the opposite main cognitive function are most compatible. Therefore, INTJ (Ni) is most compatible with ENTP and ENFP, while INTP is most compatible with ENTJ and ESTJ. The secondary function compatibility theory focuses on how the 2nd function of each partner is balanced by the relationship, so INTJ is most compatible with ENTJ, ESTJ, and ENFJ and least compatible with ISFP, INFP, and ISTP, while INTP according to this theory is most compatible with ENTP, ENFP, and ESTP and least compatible with ISTJ, ISFJ, and INFJ.

Compatibility based on tandem processes is based on opposite cognitive functions working together “to create psychological dynamic and balance. There are four pairs of tandem functions: Ne ↔ Si, Se ↔ Ni, Te ↔ Fi, Fe ↔ Ti. According to Keirsey, types who share tandem processes are more likely to get along well and find common grounds for understanding each other.” Keirsey also decided that the S/N (Sensing or Intuition) process had to be shared in this tandem process theory. According to this model, INTJs are most compatible with INTJ (surprise!), ENTJ, INFP, and ENFP, while INTPs are most compatible with INTP (surprise! again!), ENTP, INFJ, and ENFJ. Duniho’s compatibility model is the same as the tandem process theory, except he suggested that the E/I preference had to be the same, which would make INTJs most compatible with INTJ and INFP and INTPs most compatible with INTP and INFJ.

The Love Types model, based on a book titled “Love Types” by Alexander Avila that includes its very own dating website, is an interesting contrast to most of these other models in that it has different compatibilities for men and women of a specific type.
According to this Dr. Avila, INTJ men are most compatible with INTJ and INTP, while INTJ women are most compatible with INTJ and ESTJ (“provided the ESTJ is not a very strong Sensor”). INTP men are most compatible with INFJ, while INTP women are supposedly most compatible with INTJ, ENTJ, and ENTP.

Since 1200-odd words seems long enough for now, I’ll write an additional post later to cover a few incompatibility theories. Maybe I’ll even have feedback!

Character generator idea

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Recently I was suffering from an attack of ennui. I was bored and having trouble thinking of anything to do that sounded interesting. This came in spite of my impending move and need to clean my room, finish the books I checked out from the local library a couple weeks ago, and then the various projects I’m currently sporadically working on or at least thinking about working on.

Then I re-discovered another saved game of Crusader Kings, and I think that my most recent attack of ennui might have passed. Heck, if nothing else, I have a blog I can write on now, right? 🙂

I think I’ve thought about something like this in the recent past, but while at work earlier today I was thinking about writing a program to generate characters for role-playing games or stories. Now that I think about it, I should probably write a post about Crusader Kings II. Anyway, in brief, Crusader Kings II is a combination of a grand strategy game and a role-playing game in which you play as a dynasty in medieval Europe. Technically, it’s medieval Europe and the Near East – modern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. For example, instead of playing as the Kingdom of France, you might play as the Capet dynasty and try to keep your family on the French throne while also trying to put your relatives on other thrones in Europe through marriage, assassination, warfare, and various other stratagems.

In Crusader Kings II, each character has a variety of traits that affect how the AI acts and, in the case of the player, gives you certain events to respond to. For example, if a character is Lustful, they are less likely to remain loyal to their spouse and more likely to, say, have an affair and father or give birth to illegitimate children. Conversely, if a character is Chaste, they are loyal to their spouse, though this has a cost of a slightly lower chance of children.

Before this turns into a Crusader Kings II post, I was thinking about using at least some of the traits from Crusader Kings II in this character generator. I’ve already sort of written a very basic piece of software to generate a basic physical description (hair and eye color, height, weight, and age), which I think could be, at some point, fairly easily combined with software to generate a list of traits that might make interesting characters.

I was thinking each character would probably have three to five traits, which seems like a number small enough to not be overwhelming but large enough to have some dramatic potential. A character that’s Tall, Kind, and Slothful would, of course, be different from a character who is a Cruel, Diligent, Drunkard. I was thinking earlier about somehow having a (pseudo-)random way to generate what list to choose the traits from. A character with only negative traits (e.g., Cruel, Lustful, Drunkard) or conversely only negative traits (Pious, Chaste, Temperate) would, or could, be boring, while a character with a mix of positive and negative traits seems like it would be more interesting.

I was thinking earlier that this idea for a character generation program seems like an indication that either I’ve been playing too much Crusader Kings (which I’ll readily admit is possible) or not enough Dungeons and Dragons. Technically, I’ve only played D&D a few times, and the last time I played any kind of tabletop roleplaying game (in this case, Pathfinder) was last November. I’m hoping to join or find a gaming group once I move, though.

Fortune favors the bold

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I’ve thought about creating a “public” blog for some time. In the past, I’ve had other blogs, but these were usually attached to another social networking website (in the case of Bebo and deviantArt) or were only known to a couple other friends (as in the case of the friends who introduced me to Xanga, LiveJournal, and deviantArt). For whatever reason, I’ve wanted to follow in the footsteps of my friends and acquaintances who have “public” blogs that they link to via Facebook. I’m not exactly sure why I chose today to create this blog, though. I only got about 3.5 hours of sleep last night, and I drank an energy drink several hours ago, so I’m going to blame some combination of sleep deprivation and caffeine, I guess.

Anyway, unlike some of the people I know, I am not doing anything particularly exciting at the moment. I’m not travelling through Southeast Asia, studying abroad in Europe, or serving in the Peace Corps, and I’m not currently trying to start or run a business, though I will be moving later this month and next month I’ll start classes, so that’s sort of exciting, in a “quotidian and unexceptional” rather than “worthy of envy and acclaim” manner. This might be an appropriate usage of #firstworldproblems.

Anyway, enough of my whining. There’ll be plenty of time for that later. For now, I think I’ll end this with a few of my recent obsessions.

Game: Crusader Kings II (Paradox Interactive, 2012) [There will definitely be more on this later]
Song: “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” (Bob Dylan, 1963)
Album: We Are the Pipettes (The Pipettes, 2006)

On the Naming of Blogs

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There are probably several schools of thought regarding blog names. One piece of advice for choosing a username I remember reading in the past involved looking at obscure words, which are definitely among my interests. One night recently after coming home from work, I started randomly thinking about names for a blog and came up with “Peripatetic Dilettante”, which I think would win prizes for “obscurity” and “spelling difficulty”, after contemplating a name incorporating “nomad”. The easiest blog name to spell is probably “A Blog”, or “[name]’s Blog”, or “My Blog”. Conversely, “Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophilia”, or something of that nature, would probably win a prize for “most difficult”, since the ease of spelling a word is generally inversely proportionate to its length. My spelling bee success in elementary, junior high, and high school would be less impressive if everyone found it easy to remember how to spell words.

Anyway, earlier today when I started thinking about blog names, before I actually created this blog, I had come up with “Fanatic Philomath” and “Polymath Aspirant” after finding “philomath” on which this page at The Phrontistery,  a site about obscure words that I hadn’t visited recently. The Phrontistery defines philomath as “lover of learning”, which definitely describes me, I think. The Free Dictionary  A quick Google search revealed that “Polymath Aspirant” had already been taken by a few people, which isn’t terribly surprising but still somewhat disappointing. I think I originally came up with “Fanatic Philomath” because I liked the fricative sound, but I then decided I didn’t like the sound so I looked at some synonyms. “Fervid” and “Fervent” also are fricative, but I didn’t like them as much. Then I thought of “ardent”, which fits and doesn’t sound too silly, for lack of a better term coming to mind.

While trying to think of a WordPress username, I started making anagrams of my name, which was fairly amusing. It’s been too long, apparently, since I amused myself by reading the dictionary and making anagrams. It’s almost like junior high or freshman year of high school all over again!