Best Ok Go So Far

I've been scanning the various Ok Go A Million Ways on You Tube. Ever since the video spread around in the fall of 2005 (not sure how I missed that, but anyway), there's been many a group that wants to do the dance.

Most of the times, the group is four guys. Usually, these are high school aged guys, either for a talent show in high school, or possibly something more Asian. Indeed, the dance appeals, for some reason, to Asians, perhaps because Asians are both geeky and like to dance.

I've seen two all-women groups perform the dance. I've seen some co-ed folks do the dance.

The one I've included above is the best I've seen so far. It's too bad the video is so crappy. There's way too much hand jiggling. The reason it comes closest is the lead guy is the closest to capturing Tim Nordwind's performance. He's even got the bald look and white shoes to boot. He lacks the glasses, the sideburns, but otherwise, does a good job imitating Tim, which is half of pulling off the video.

I just saw one with all four women, but they purposely dress up like guys (I'll include the video at the end). Their impersonation works because, surprisingly, of the hair. If you get the hair right for the three other guys, that's part of getting the attitude right, especially for Damian Kulash.

I'll rattle off a list of things that go wrong when doing the dance. First, to be like Tim, you need to face the camera a lot. At times, the person doing Tim is facing away. You also have to exaggerate the facial reactions because that's what Tim does. People have a problem doing his chicken dance because they put their arms underneath their armpits, when Tim has it closer to his side. Tim impersonators roll their hands, when Tim does more of a shake.

In the circle gun part, some people take steps that are way too big. Again, Tim tends to face the camera, so impersonators take heed.

Many, many people get the Tim bow down wrong, and then the Tim arms up in the air. He has a slow deliberate bow, then pops up joyously, and stares at us. When he rotates in circles, he again, tends to favor us. The dance move with the two guys shortly after that is often not done slowly enough, nor with enough lilt (get up on those tip toes).

There is the push Tim side to side. I've seen ones where I don't believe he's being pushed. Then, when he holds the two guys to the side, they don't seem like they are being supported.

Later on, there is the side by side macarena like move. I've seen guys stand too far apart to do that. You need to be pretty close to each other. Also, people cross their wrists to make too much of an "X", when it's more like one fist in front of the other (this is when the move their arms alternately up and forward).

The fight sequence is always tough, especially the Matrix move. Two keys to the Matrix move. First, Damian is awfully close to Tim. Look at his legs relative to Damian in the video. Second, Tim faces the camera when he ducks under the arm. Some people face up.

The lunge move, which you would think would be easy, doesn't always come out that well. You have to leeean into that move.

There are a few things people seem to nail, however. For example, the Damian impersonator usually does the part where Damian unbuttons his jacket at the beginning. (If anything, the video at the top is weak in its Damian impersonation). Also, when they get in a circle as if they are aiming guns, the guy doing Damian usually gets right that Damian is staring up. There is also the four points hand shake movement (upper right, upper left, lower right, lower left).

Half the groups do the hopping moves all right. Some even hop a bit better than the original.

If I had two pieces of advice, I'd say that some moves need to be slowed down a bit. I know the moves are being done to music, and that dictates a certain pace, but there are some parts that are done too quickly. The second is to pay attention to Tim. He lends weight to the central role, and the lead person has to do the same.

I'm a little surprised that most of the groups are so young. I suspect young teens find it easier to find time to practice and do something wacky than people closer to the ages of Ok Go.

For some reason, the dance almost always elicits quite a response, even if the audience has never seen the original (which is highly likely, given the original made the rounds via Internet video). The women tend to get pretty enthusiastic, probably partly because of the guys dressed up in suit and tie.

Here's the other video that's pretty good, especially in the look. They do mess up the chicken arm movement. It's a much better made video since the one at top was probably somebody bringing a portable video camera without a tripod, where the one below was likely done with a tripod.