Disney Princess Poll - Final Results

At long last, we have come to the conclusion of the Nondescript female protagonists in an animated Disney movie, hierarchy not requisite poll. (a.k.a. The Princess Poll).

And the winner is:

The other two princesses are mine. :)

Here are the final results:

1. Belle (Beauty and the Beast)
2. Rapunzel (Tangled)
3. Ariel (The Little Mermaid)
4. Merida (Brave)
5. Cinderella Cinderella)
6. Jasmine (Aladdin)
7. Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)
8. Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
9. Pocahontas (Pocahontas)
10. Mulan (Mulan)
11. Vanellope von Schweetz (Wreck it Ralph)
12. Jessie (Toy Story 2&3)
13. Tiana (The Princess and the Frog)
14. Dot (A Bug's Life)
15. Maid Marian (Robin Hood)
16. Lady (Lady and the Tramp)
17. Perdita (101 Dalmatians)
18. Sofia the First (Sofia the First (television))

Thank you everyone for participating, and I am sure there will be another poll up here, wonder what it'll be about?

Have a great day!

Science Doesn't Know Music

I love it when scientists set out to prove stuff and come up with some really outlandish and silly ideas, and try to back it up by saying that science says this, so it must be true.

A pair of doctors from the University of London recently released their top ten catchiest songs of all time.

Of.All.Time.

Dude, that is pretty awesome that science can determine what we all think of as being catchy.

Dr. Alison Pawley - a musicologist. What is a musicologist you ask? So do I, so I looked up a definition of it...

This is what Dictionary.com says:

musicologist

  

mu·si·col·o·gy

  [myoo-zi-kol-uh-jee]  Show IPA

noun

the scholarly or scientific study of music, as in historical research, musical theory, or the physical nature ofsound.

Origin: 
1905–10; music + -o- + -logy

Related forms

mu·si·co·log·i·cal  [myoo-zi-kuh-loj-i-kuhl]  Show IPA , adjective

mu·si·co·log·i·cal·ly, adverb

mu·si·col·o·gist, noun

Okay, so there really is a science to being a musicologist, who knew? I could have easily dedicated my life to studying music, no problem whatsoever.

I digress. 

Along with Dr. Pawley is her colleague from the University of London, Psychologist, Dr. Daniel Mullensiefen. Together they did a study to find out the ten catchiest tunes of all time and they based their results on the following criteria: 1) Long and detailed musical phrases. 2) Number of pitches in the hook. 3) The singers were male (sexist). and 4) The pitch was noticeably higher.

According to Dr Daniel Mullensiefen's:

Every musical hit is reliant on maths, science, engineering and technology; from the physics and frequencies of sound that determine pitch and harmony, to the hi-tech digital processors and synthesizers which can add effects to make a song more catchy.

We’ve discovered that there’s a science behind the sing-along and a special combination of neuroscience, maths and cognitive psychology can produce the elusive elixir of the perfect sing-along song.

We hope that our study will inspire musicians of the future to crack the equation for the textbook tune.

Okay, so do you want to see what science has determined to be the top ten catchiest tunes, of all time?

• 10. Living on a prayer by Bon Jovi
• 9. Teenage dirtbag by Wheatus
• 8. Brown eyed girl by Van Morrison
• 7. I'm always here by Jimi Jemison
• 6. Ruby by The Kaiser Chiefs
• 5. Monster by The Automatic
• 4. The Final Countdown by Europe
• 3. Fat Lip by Sum 41
• 2. YMCA by The Village People
• 1 We are the Champions by Queen

See what science has done there? How many of those songs do you even recognize? Be honest.

Living on a Prayer is a great song, but I don't even think it is Bon Jovi's catchiest, what about "You Give Love a Bad Name" or "Wanted Dead or Alive?"

Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus - um who? I will admit to having heard the song before, but had no clue what it was until I went to YouTube and listened to it.

Brown eyed girl by Van Morrison deserves to be in the top ten, no doubt.

I'm always there by Jimi Jemison  - most of us have heard it before and never knew it more than the theme song for Baywatch. Yeah, Baywatch.

Ruby by The Kaiser Chiefs, I only know it from Guitar Hero, to be honest. Top ten material though, no I don't think so.

Monster by The Automatic, never heard of it or them before, have a listen...

I still say no.

The Final Countdown by Europe. NO. NO. NEVER, NEVER, NO!

Fat Lip by Sum 41 - I like this song and do find it catchy

YMCA by The Village People - I find this song, like I have always found this song - annoying as all get out. I will have to admit that it is catchy though, but I still don't like the over saturated pop song, and never will.

We are the Champions by Queen. Great song, no doubt about it, but when you think Queen is this the first song you even think of?

Off the top of my head I give you ten more that are worthy of being called the catchiest tune, in no particular order...

1. Chelsea Dagger by The Fratellis
2. Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond
3. RESPECT by Aretha Franklin
4. Shout by The Isley Brothers, performed by Otis Day and the Knights
5. Never gonna give you up - Rick Astley (you're welcome for my not including the video and completely "rickrolling" you)
6. Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO
7. I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor
8. Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da by The Beatles
9. Another Brick in the Wall pt 2 (We don't need no education) by Pink Floyd
10. Barbara Ann by The Beach Boys

Those ten came to me without really thinking too much about it and I'm sure there are more in my head that I haven't shared.

So what am I really saying here? I don't think science has anything to do with catchy tunes and I can pretty much guarantee that you can come up with a different ten than either science or I came up with. 

Please share them all, or just one, of your catchiest tunes in the comments and we'll see how wrong science really is, in this case. 

Disney Princess Poll, final round

Okay, I was going to have this last for two more posts, but thought, "nah, let the people decide it all now." So guess what people? I listened to myself and decided to have both the third place round and the championship round in one final post.

Well there will still be a wrap up post, so I guess this is the penultimate post, right?

We have two red headed princesses fighting it out for third place, while a brunette will battle it out with a blond to find out who really has more fun. So shall we get to voting?

Good.


Third place match:





Championship match, (cumulative) with Belle leading 21-16 currently, so she has a five vote head start:





That's it! Now I leave the voting to you fine readers.

Disney Princess Poll, round seven

Back after an extended time away for another round of voting. Only six princesses remain and after this round there will be four in the Disney Princess Poll.

In the last round we saw Belle defeat Jasmine handily by a score of 20-7.

Rapunzel also had an easier than expected time against Merida by sending her to the loser bracket with a score of 18-9.

Speaking of the loser bracket...

In a battle of two classic princesses Cinderella narrowly beat out Aurora 15-12.

Likewise Ariel defeated Snow White by the slimmest of margins 14-13.

That means that princess Aurora and Snow White have been sent back to their princes to live happily ever after, just without the big crown they would have received had they won this tournament.

This round we will see the elimination of two more princesses and set the table for the final battle.


First up, our two remaining undefeated princesses...





In our first elimination, for this round we have...





And finally we have...





So who will go home, and who will have the edge by making it to the finals first? It's all up to you, so go vote and then go out and recruit friends to help push your princess over the top. I'm only going to have this round open for about 48 hours, so time is ticking away. Because the poll will only register one vote per IP address, if your family wants a say, either add it to the comments below, or email me with your picks and I will add them to the tally.

Thanks again for participating!

Disney Princess Poll, round six

And then there were eight.

Eighteen lovely princesses entered the ring, and ten have been sent back to their castles, heads not hung in shame, but wondering why their fans let them down.

You won't let your princesses down from here on out now will you?

I highly encourage you to recruit your friends that love your princess as much as you do to this site and have them vote. In fact, if you need to include all your family members, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email with their votes.

Okay, enough pandering. :)

Here are the results from round five, which was not as close as I thought it would be in several matches - but what do I know.

Aurora defeated Pocahontas 19-10

Mulan lost out to Cinderella 12-17

Ariel didn't let the sweetness of Vanellope von Schweetz deter her in winning 21-8

and Snow White showed Jessie what a real princess will do by winning 20-10.

So we must bid adieu to Pocahontas, Mulan, Vanellope and Jessie - thanks for playing ladies, you were all great.

This round has four awesome match ups that will get us closer to the grand champion of the Nondescript female protagonists in an animated Disney movie, hierarchy not requisite poll. (aka The Disney Princess Poll)

Enjoy the matches, and vote for your favorite princess so that she can move one step closer. Two princesses will lose for the first time, and two more will be eliminated, who they are is up to you.















Thanks for participating!

Disney Princess Poll, round five

Welcome one and all to round five, of the 

Nondescript female protagonists in an animated Disney movie,

 hierarchy not requisite poll. 

(aka The Disney Princess Poll).

in this round we will be eliminating another four princesses from the tournament of Disney princesses.

Last round we had ourselves some thinning out to do, and saw some of the weaker and more obscure (whatever! it's Disney, dude!) princesses. We had an actual princess lose out to a non-princess from Pixar, actually bother were from Pixar now that I think of it.

Stream of consciousness blogging rocks, doesn't it?

We also almost had a dog beat out a sugary sweet princess from a video game - that would have been a shocker and if there were only two more votes for the canine, well that would have been something. Luckily though, for the princess, my kids liked her more than the dog. 

Results from round four:

Pocahontas - 23

Maid Marian - 6

Cinderella - 20

Tiana - 9

Vanellope von Schweetz - 15

Lady - 14

Jessie - 26

Dot - 3

You can see how far your princess has made it by going here.

Now for this week's match ups, which will also see four more princesses heading back to their palaces empty-handed.

There are your competitors, and they are counting on your votes to get them through to round six, which will feature two more eliminations and two battles of the undefeated princesses.

Happy Voting!

Friday Flash (on Saturday) - Bell Ringer

Church desperately needs a new bell ringer.

Ad posted.

Man answers ad… He has no arms.

How?

Use my forehead.

Hesitant response, thinking of risks…

Okay.

Running start… Face impacts… BONG!

Running start… MISS!

Fall…

Death...

Police called.

Who is he?

Don’t know, but his face sure rings a bell.