The Fingertips Project

The Fingertips Project
Colin Mochrie rocks out on the keytar.
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Information
Author: See below Release Date: June 19, 2005 ▾ File Size: 4.88 MB Duration: 4:33 Complexity: variant Animutatedness: unrated Star(s): Colin Mochrie
Audio Info
Fingertips Artist: They Might Be Giants Album: Apollo 18 Genre: Misc. Language: English ▾

About

An epic animutation collaboration, where 13 flash artists took on the task of creating a montage of animutation sequences to the 21 vignettes that comprise the song "Fingertips" by They Might Be Giants.

Full Author List

• Random Ferret ▾
• Toxic AKA Bob Barker ▾
• Andrzej Banas ▾
• Eric Fleck ▾ (AKA Lurch Poiuyt)
• Neil Cicierega ▾
• Chainsaw Juggler ▾
• Nathew ▾
• Mudi ▾
• Glutnix
• Bill Volk ▾
• Bort ▾
• Keith Stack ▾
• Andrew Kepple ▾

Cast

• Colin Mochrie
• Hulk Hogan
• Zippy
• Alex Chiu
• Jesus H. Christ
• Neil-Bot
• Luigi
• Artemis
• Mark Hughes
• Hamtaro
• Totoro
• Chiyo Mihama
• Homer Simpson
• Cool Spot
• Dancing Banana
• The King
• Jay Jay the Jet Plane
• Random Pokerap Guy
• Muhammad Ali
• Charles Manson
• Randy Savage
• Mike Tyson
• Mikhail Gorbachev
• Jay Leno
• Domo-Kun
• Al Gore
• Ronald Reagan
• George W. Bush
• Gary Coleman
• Larry "Bud" Melman
• Zeeky H. Bomb
• Dopefish
• Randy Constan
• renniD nezorF
• Ren
• Stimpy
• Alan Rickman
• Jerry Springer
• H.P. Lovecraft
• Cthulhu
• Azathoth
• R2-D2
• Boomhauer
• The Cheat
• Swedish Chef
• Beaker
• The Riddler
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Rex and Tex
• Mr. T
• Johnny the Homicidal Maniac
• Johnny Cash
• Po
• Edgar Allan Poe
• Sherlock Holmes
• Drew Carey
• Bilbo Baggins
• Spongebob Squarepants
• Patrick
• Hank Hill
• Matthew Lesko
• Mario
• Tenniru
• Balrog (from Cave Story)
• Chewbacca
• Dave Thomas
• Wesley Willis
• Sora
• Mimi
• Sora
• Mimi (See below for last four entries)
• Andrew Kepple
• Tom Jones
• Conan O'Brien
• Nardwuar
• Bob
• Phil Collins
• Neil Cicierega
• Clint Eastwood
• Morrissey
• John Linnell
• John Flansburgh
• Paul Gilbert
• Terry Gilliam

Notable Props

• Pacemaker

Lyrics

Real Lyrics

Everything is catching, yes Everything is catching on fire (Everything's catching on) Yeah (fire) Everything is catching on fire Fingertips Fingertips Fingertips I hear the wind blow I hear the wind blow It seems to say, "Hello, hello, I'm the one who loves you so" Hey now everybody now Hey now everybody Hey now everbody now! Who's that standing at the window? I found a new friend underneath my pillow Ah-Come on (come on!) and wreck my car! Ah-Come on (come on!) and wreck my car! Ah-Come on (come on!) and wreck my car! Ah-Come on (come on!) and wreck my car! Aren't you the guy who hit me in the eye? Aren't you the guy who hit me in the eye? Please pass the milk, please. Please pass the milk, please. Please pass the milk, please. Leave me alone, Leave me alone! Who's knocking on the wall? All alone, all alone All by myself What's that blue thing doing here? Something grabbed ahold of my hand I didn't know what had my hand But that's when all my troubles began I don't understand you (I don't understand you) I just don't understand you (I don't understand you) I don't understand the things you say I can't understand a single word I don't understand you (I don't understand you) I just don't understand you (I don't understand you) I cannot understand you (I don't understand you) I don't understand you (I don't understand you) I heard a sound I turned around I turned around to find the thing that made the sound Mysterious whisper Mysterious whisper Mysterious whisper Mysterious whisper The day that love came to play I'm having a heart attack I'm having a heart attack I'm having a heart attack I'm having a heart attack Fingertips... Fingertips... I walk along darkened corridors and I walk along darkened corridors I walk along darkened corridors and I walk along darkened corridors

Audio Details

• All segments of the song, except for the last one, are taken directly from the "Apollo 18" album. The last segment ("I walk along darkened corridors...") is from a live performance, and its album version is far shorter and more minimalistic.

Trivia

• The "Ninja vs. Pirate" animation seen during the "Hey Now Everybody" sequence first appeared in Andrew Kepple's animation "Only Superhuman", but its first appearance in an animutation was in HOLY SHIT! NINJAS!!!!.
• The sequence for "Aren't You The Guy Who Hit Me In The Eye?" is apparently based on real-life experiences of Peter Rybchenkov and one of his neighbors shortly before the Fingertips Project started: Peter woke up with a hangover after drinking too much cheap beer (Miller "Milwaukee's Best", known coloquially as "The Beast"), and about the same time his neighbor got punched in the eye.
• The first part of the scrolling message that appears during "I Don't Understand You" reads:
  

"Our world is a strange one. There are many people in it who are not like you. This makes them better. You cannot understand these people because you are not as good as they are. They do not need to understand you because you aren't anything."

The second, backwards part reads:

"I hope you're paying attention. Nothing is worse than being so narrow-minded that you can't even listen to what anyone else has to say. You're a Nazi. Bork Bork Bork!"

• During "I Don't Understand You", two famous mondegreens appear. The first is from an old ballad called "The Bonny Earl of Murray", and considered the origin of the phrase "mondegreen". The second is from the Australian national anthem.
• Tenniru (Previously listed as the green "Knuckles-like character") is not allowed to have a spaceship.
• A few of the scenes have hidden commentary. (Wreck My Car, I Dont Understand You, Heart Attack, and Darkened Corridors)
• The "Blue thing" sequence uses characters from TmfT'S "Zero Wing Rhapsody"
• During the "I Don't Understand You" scene, at the beginning the text below the picture of the guy are the opening lyrics from "Pokemon Ieru Ka Na?", the song from "The Japanese Pokerap".
• Hyakugojyuuichi references in "Aren't You The Guy Who Hit Me In The Eye?" :
  • When the guy wakes up, Colin Mochrie Suns and Jay Jays are floating around his head
  • The guy lives in room 151
• According to the commentary on scene 7, a friend of Andrew Kepple's filmed Kepple in a robot suit smashing up his car. He later incorporated this footage into an animated Lemon Demon music video, When Robots Attack

Hidden Messages

• During "Something Grabbed A Hold of My Hand", the message "Your Zig A Splode" appears as the cartoon fish does.
• During the same scene, near the end the screen shows the message "If you are reading this Superluminal Message then you have just broken the laws of physics. Fix them at once! With duct tape if necessary!

Randomutations

• The guy who may or may not have hit the character in "Aren't You the Guy Who Hit me In the Eye?" is randomized to be either Muhammad Ali, Charles Manson, The Random Pokerap Guy in his Jesus H. Christ costume, or pro wrestler "Macho Man" Randy Savage.
• The guy who appears at the end of the "Whos knocking on the wall" segment is randomized to be Ronald Reagan, Gene Shalit, George W. Bush, Al Gore, Jay Leno, a white cat on the guitar from rathergood.com, Neil Cicierega, Gary Coleman, or Domo-Kun.
• The face that Colin Mochrie feeds himself to in "Darkened Corridors" is either Andrew Kepple, Tom Jones, Conan O'Brien, Nardwuar, Bob, Phil Collins, Neil Cicierega, Clint Eastwood, Morrissey, John Linell, John Flansburgh, Paul Gilbert, Terry Gilliam, or a big circle with the words "Your Photo Here"
• During the "Darkened corridors" sequence, when Colin drags his own body in order to feed the face, an ANIMUTATION HAIKU GENERATOR V.1.51 generates a Haiku at random. Examples of such haikus are :
  • The Cold War Redux: / Subliminal Messages / And Janitors rule.
  • Shumway (by Toxic): / Bearded Oompa Loompa men / To the funny farm!
  • French Erotic Film: / Let our powers combine! Spleen! / Jesus wastes Colin.
  • Leela Doo was great! / Fusion can be dangerous! / Stay in your nerd hole.
  • Seeing J.H.C.: / Who puts TOAST in their toaster? / I put BREAD in mine!
  • JaDa (It's Swedish): / Skal vi hitta på nå't ball? / Sponsors: Kebab King.
  • Mostly Metal Jack- / -et: The Vietnam war! LOL! / Charlies killed Zippy ;_;
  • Miko Miko Nurse!: The sprites of Suzukisan / Battle JamezBond's sprites!
  • Hyakugojyuuich- / i: Found a hobo in my / room. Jay Jay is cool.
  • Chocolate Niblet Beans: / Will Bob get his grove [sic] back? / Here comes Sailor Spoon!
  • HOLY SHIT!!!!! NINJAS!!!!! / Vengeance must be mine! TONGA! / Pirates are better!!!
  • Sting of the Stingray / Beauty is under the sea / Will Smith? What the heck?
  • Wizard Power: So... / What's the music that you used? / New Wave Jacket, noob!!!!!!!!!1
  • Armageddon Ho- / down! It's the end of mankind! / Brought to you by Sprite.
  • Can-O-Swedes: Is it / SWEDEN OWNS YOURFRONTAL LOBE / Animutation?
  • Monster Deer got blammed / Newgrounds really really sux! / And there goes my Nan...
  • Life is Like a Mop: / When will all the madness stop? / The South Pole goes pop!
  • Gellato Choco- / -lato: Exiting dogs, fish, / Forgotten pizza.
  • There could be more...

Secret Pictures

• At the end of "I Hear the Wind Blow", we see a picture of Mei and Chibi-Totoro from the famous anime film "My Neighbor Totoro".
• At the end of "I'm Having a Heart Attack", we see a picture of Sora and Mimi from "Digimon", which, along with the presence of Sora from "Kingdom Hearts" and Mimi from "The Drew Carey Show" mere seconds before, is an oblique reference to the Japanese term for misheard lyrics, "soramimi kashi" (空耳歌詞).
• At the end of the "Wreck My Car" sequence there is a picture of a female newscaster which is zoomed in upon several times in rapid succession. If you pause the film on the second or third zoom-in you'll see Colin Mochrie's head nestled in the woman's bosom. Clicking and holding on Colin will cause a poorly-drawn (and work-safe) nude body appear over that of the woman's.
• After the video, you can go the the 'Artists' menu and click on names for brief bios of the animators. If you go to Keith Stack's bio and click 'next', there is a bio of Davey Crockett. It has a painting of Davey Crockett and the words:

Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee, Greenest state in the land of the free, Grew up in the woods so he knew every tree, Killed him a bear when he was only three.

Davy, Davy Crockett King of the wild frontier.

This is, of course, the first verse of the theme song of the 1950s Davey Crockett TV show.

Awards

• The "Darkened Corridors" scene was awarded two Animucademy Awards: One for Best Scene in a Collaboration and the other for Best Colin Mochrie Cameo.

External Links

• The Fingertips Project on Albino Blacksheep