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Videos

We're NASA and we know it

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
August 15, 2012
Filed under ,

‘We’re NASA and we know it’ parody marries NASA and LMFAO for the best viral video you’ll see today, Washington Post
“The video, which landed (pun intended) on a new video channel called Satire, marries the popular LMFAO hit “Sexy and I Know It” with factoids from the NASA Curiosity mission. It comes complete with shout-outs to Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson. … The team has yet to hear feedback from NASA, although a member of the cast and production team, Anne Ketola, is a former NASA employee. The badges the team wears on their shirts, says Cohn, are actual NASA mission badges.”
Mars Rover’s Discoveries, The Onion
“After completing a difficult landing on the Martian surface last week, NASA’s car-sized rover Curiosity has begun deploying its highly advanced cameras and instruments, which will provide the most thorough data on the Red Planet yet. Here are several of its early discoveries:”

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

25 responses to “We're NASA and we know it”

  1. James Stanton says:
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    Love the video.

  2. Skinny_Lu says:
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    That is absolutely awesome.  The dig at Space X surprised me but I think it was a good statement.  A lot of people are loving Space X, and I am one of them.  

    But they (SpaceX) ain’t in Mars yet.  A NASA robot is.

    Crane lower that Rover, Crane Lower that Rover…

    • Gonzo_Skeptic says:
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       But they (SpaceX) ain’t in Mars yet.  A NASA robot is.

      Give SpaceX $2.5 billion and see what happens.

    • Mark_Flagler says:
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      I expect a SpaceX response any day now. 
      And, between us, I expect Musk to land people on Mars before NASA does.
      And cheaper.

    • Ken Hampton says:
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       Keep in mind that this is a fan video that had no input from NASA at all (aside from the folks making the video using the copyright-free NASA footage).  They actually mixed and matched a whole bunch of stuff that was not quite right, but the end result is still awesome. 

    • shan22044 says:
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      So…one of the mainstay qualities of hip hop is an element of smack-talk or battling. Hence, the dig at Space X.

  3. myth says:
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    Lets be honest, the intent and idea may have been good, but the actual result is kinda crummy

  4. Brian_M2525 says:
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    Very nicely done!

    I didn’t know JPL had a dance troop but they did good.

    Unfortunately its likely to be the last big dance event for many years.

  5. Daniel Woodard says:
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    I think it’s very good… but it doesn’t beat the CERN Rap:
     http://www.youtube.com/watc

    • Daniel L says:
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      Agreed, the CERN one has far better lyrics, music and information. It’s great for both science fans and the general public. This one is sort of shallow and as Susan says, gratuitous … oh wait though, it’s in HD and shows NASA as young and cool and hip, so I stand corrected. If I can grow my hair back I’ll get a mohawk too.

    • JPYeller says:
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      Yes it does:
      CERN video: nerds trying too hard to be hip
      NASA and We Know It Video: hip people making fun of nerds with funnier lyrics

  6. npng says:
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    For some reason this video really works, almost contagiously. 

    At 30,000+ You Tube Satire hits now, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the NASA video hit rate surpass CERN’s. 

    A “well done” to Hudson, Theoharis, Gibson, and Whitehead.  The CERN rap mentioned below is cool though too.  The CERN rap pushes a pile of techno info at high speed – probably with greater effectivity and content than the NASA video.

    But Daniel W, from a simple magnetic attraction standpoint, I think the NASA video really tops the CERN rap.  Also, the NASA video is much HD crisper, the spacecraft insertions are well timed, the editing is great (kudos to Cinesaurus) and the whole NASA cast clicks with synchronicity.  think of it as a shallow, go for it, energetic intro clip. 

    myth, I see your assessment, but if you understand the intent, I don’t think grading it with “crummy” is valid.  If they do a 2nd video and it threads the same way as the 1st video, then I’ll agree with you.  The challenge for a follow-on would be to shift to a “party-dance” theme to a deeper, richer theme, message and content.  Let’s see if they can rise to that level.

    I spent years with Hollywood and other professional video teams back a decade ago working on space / tech related videos. They were real pro efforts, those were the days.  The number of professional video and movie efforts have waned dramatically since then, so things like this are good to see.

    And James S – I love the video too.   NASA n-e-e-d-s this kind of innovation and out of the box flair, badly.  The 30-year olds have the zeal and energy to breed enthusiasm in to this Nation’s future-nasa.  The old foggies are simply too fossilized to make it happen. 

  7. Anonymous says:
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    Just fantastic, NASA could not buy PR like this (in all senses of the words could not).

  8. Susan Keddie says:
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    And they need a chick in a bikini….?  why?  I am not a feminist nut, but I hate this gratuitous crap. Where was the shirtless guy with abs? Ruined an otherwise clever video for me.

    • David_McEwen says:
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       “And they need a chick in a bikini….?” Apparently so. Perhaps she was supposed to be Lady Liberty. 😉

    • barc0de says:
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      It appears to be a reference to “Daft Bodies”, a classic and generally well-known (among the target audience) viral music video, also on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watc

    • Gonzo_Skeptic says:
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       Where was the shirtless guy with abs?

      You can get all the beefcake you want from LMFAO’s original video.  Apparently the box headed bikini chick is a nod to that.

    • Johnhouboltsmyspiritanimal says:
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      she is the MastCam that takes sexy pictures of Mars.

  9. James Lundblad says:
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    Still, even the “7 Minutes of Terror” video doesn’t have the number of views of some of  the kid’s videos like Fred or Annoying Orange. Perhaps NASA needs to reinvent a new Bill Nye The Science Guy for the Youtube generation?

    • Joe Cooper says:
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      That’s not the best of goalposts. The 7 Minutes campaign got pretty much everywhere and I guarantee a lot more people have heard about Curiosity’s entry than have heard of Fred or Annoying Orange, Youtube counter aside. It was all over the news, it was on the Daily Show, my mom here saw it on the BBC. America cheered. Fred? Who the muffin is Fred?

      • James Lundblad says:
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        I agree that 7 minutes is awesome, there’s an MER 6 minute’s youtube that I’ve shown to robotics students which is also great. I was just thinking there is a Nikelodeon demographic that may not be hit by these videos.

  10. F3Victor7 says:
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    That was good, but “Hubble Got U” was better!

  11. Joshua H says:
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    i thought badges were not to be photographed? …security and all that…

  12. Mike P says:
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    sorry but not funny, good, or cool in any way..