User:Sceptre/ws/Storm
| "Sceptre/ws/Storm" | |
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"Storm" is a song by Australian comedian Tim Minchin from his album Ready for This?. Styled as a "nine-minute long beat poem", the song tells of a dinner Minchin and his wife attended with two old friends from Australia, and a fifth recent expatriate who believes in alternative medicine.
Synopsis[edit]
Minchin describes a dinner date at the inner North London flat with two friends from Australia–a physician and an actress–and a fifth guest, a recent expatriate by the name of Storm. Knowing Minchin to be an ornery and argumentative rationalist, his wife and his friends motion towards him not arguing when she starts talking about concepts such as astrology or the nature of the soul. Minchin originally acquiesces, but by the time Storm starts promoting the idea of a pharmaceutical conspiracy that is suppressing homeopathic solutions, he starts arguing back, stating that "by definition, alternative medicine has either not been proved to work or been proved not to work", and that "alternative medicine that's been proved to work" is just called medicine.
Over dessert, Storm alleges that "science doesn't explain love or spirituality", citing the existence of psychic powers and the power of prayer towards her argument. Minchin retorts by stating that psychics are "either lying or mentally ill" and that mediums are "fundamentally sick" for taking advantage of the recently bereaved. Storm claims that Minchin's "faith in science and tests" makes him no different from religious fundamentalists, but Minchin describes such a view as "bullshit", stating that "science adjust its views based on what's observed", and if homeopathy was shown to have worked, no matter how embarrassed he felt, he would "spin on a fucking dime" and defend homeopathy.
Minchin then concludes by praising the idea of knowledge and research, saying that "every mystery ever solved has turned out to be not magic", and that he derives meaning from knowing that due to scientific advances, he can live "twice as long" as his ancestors, allowing him to live more of his life.
Conception[edit]
"Storm" takes its genesis from a short song from his 2006 show So Rock, "If You Open Your Mind Too Much Your Brain Will Fall Out (Take My Wife)", described by Minchin as "a 90-second long refutation of astrology, psychics, homeopathy, and an interventionist God". Minchin drew inspiration from a dinner he and his wife, Sarah, attending in London with an Australian actor and friend of Minchin and another "much more hip and arty" couple. Unlike the song, Minchin did not seek to argue with the woman who would later become the inspiration for Storm, nor did the woman try to argue for anything other than homeopathy.
The first draft of "Storm" was called "Hippy", and was fifteen pages long and started with a short list of pseudoscientific concepts such "psychics", reiki, collective consciousness, acupuncture, and the vaccine–autism link to serve as an outline. The first draft was much longer and angrier, and included lines that would accuse people who promote a dichotomy between "Western" and "Eastern" medicine of post-colonial racism. Minchin then cut the song down for several reasons: first, he realised that a beat poem that lasted over fifteen minutes would "stretch even the most stoic fans"; secondly, he realised that Storm was in danger of becoming a straw man; and third, he was concerned that the song was "too rant" and would lend credence to the criticism of a humanist world view as cynical. The song was then placed near the end of his next tour, Ready for This?
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/06/tim-minchin-poem-storm-the-animated-movie-youtube
Storm: The Animated Movie[edit]
During the Ready for This? tour in 2008, Minchin had an opportunity to perform the song at Robin Ince's Christmas charity concert Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People. A few weeks later, after a Skeptics in the Pub meeting, Minchin attended a dinner that included podcasters Neil Denny and Rebecca Watson, science writer Ben Goldacre, and animators Tracy King and Dan "DC" Turner, who attended the Nine Lessons performance several weeks earlier. Minchin gave King and Turner permission to create an animated video for the song, which was released on YouTube in 2011. The video was accompanied by a printed comic edition in October 2014.
Storm, page 8-11