Rebecca Mayes Muses: Love Song for Yahtzee

Recommended Videos

littlewilly91

New member
Oct 17, 2008
40
0
0
HERE'S WHY SHE IS ANGRY WITH HIM-

I recall a video where he ended saying he hated women and was nasty about menstruation and wombs eating people, and it was sort of tounge in cheek but also him taking the piss out of his own mindset. He channels the misery, and was pseudo ironically doing the whole comedic tragedy thing with his own feelings of heartbreak and resentment probably. Or he's gay, but you'd only think that if you were dumb. I'm not sure if he said she was a "raging feminist" at some point, but he's certainly thrown that phrase around before.

All this is so tiresome when you write it down instead of leaving it between the lines, it's practically a crime.

If you're a proper Yahtzee fan you can go to fullyramblomatic and click on the archives. He's been active online for like a decade.

At any rate, if there's no response in next week's Zero Punctuation it'll be a cop-out. But I imagine he'll tear her apart way better than she did, because he's good at that, and it's easy to tear apart Rebecca. She's rather out on a limb.

He might marry her afterwards. Like Konnie Hug and Charlie Brooker. But obviously this would require some rapport between them, which we can make no guess at.
 

littlewilly91

New member
Oct 17, 2008
40
0
0
generic gamer said:
frankly this song seems to be mistaking the actor for the character, like those actors who play generic racist cop in a film and get hate mail. I don't doubt this is a joke, the Escapist wouldn't foster discord between it's contributors but it still looks a little petty and spiteful.

It'd be like calling Harry Enfield a bad father after watching Wayne Slob.
So you think Yahtzee as an internet personality isn't at all based upon the man himself? You're weird.
 

littlewilly91

New member
Oct 17, 2008
40
0
0
Skep said:
If these were done by a man or a less attractive looking girl nobody would have given a hoot. Bunch of white knights, all of you.
Lol best put argument in that vein I've seen. But I think this song made some pretty clever points. Exposing the question she sees Yahtzee posing- whenever he is proudly miserable, sardonic, and pseudo ironically mysognistic he is using the format as therapy, like you are self deprecating with your friends in conversation, and asking "is it ok". Well that was mighty fine and a very succinct way of saying something pretty complicated. Anyway, do you think she should feel guilty about the advantages of her image? Come on man. It's a fact of life.
 

MistaSmegheneghan

New member
Jul 11, 2008
31
0
0
llAVALANCHEll said:
MistaSmegheneghan said:
llAVALANCHEll said:
I don't think that Yahtzee is angry at all. If you read his Twitter posts, it would appear that Rebecca actually wants Yahtzee to write a retaliatory song back.
So, she's trolling?
Possibly.
Hm. I only really came in to note that in the video, she looked an awful lot like Lara Croft in ZP style, but I couldn't find a topic search function, and I don't want to read sixteen pages of these crazy opinions that people apparently have just to see if someone's already done the same thing. Buuuut, yeah. Interesting to hear.
 

Maladjusted

New member
Mar 20, 2009
29
0
0
Not to surrender my (admittedly yet to be acquired) reputation for cool, measured judgments devoid of unnecessary gushing, but:

Let's face it people, Rebecca Mayes is what would happen if you took 15 delicate variations on brilliant, talented and wonderful, composed them into a heart-wrenching symphony and then delicately strummed out across a Venetian piazza. At sunset. On the day the war ended and the long ships finally came home, and everyone (like in a Shakespeare comedy) ended up, surviving life's shipwreck and finally coming to see each other face to face, instead of through a glass darkly.

I mean, obviously, LIKE ANY SANE PERSON, I love all of R.M.'s previous songs (especially, "Death and the Spaceship for some reason). But this just...takes the cake, especially because I think this vast, sprawling (occasionally insane) comment thread has to be counted as an extension of the song and its consummate artistry.

I mean, think about it: I, like everyone at the Escapist, love Yahtzee. Forget his whiny, parvenu, resentful detractors and his overzealous 'he said fuck' adolescent fans, he's a wit, a real talent who deserves all the adulation he receives. Consequently, I was delighted (although obviously a -LITTLE- bit jealous) that R.M. was writing him a lovesong, although I thought: how on earth is she going to pull this off?

But, this...she surpasses even my (can't you tell) extravagant expectations. The reason is, not just the song itself, but it's perfect expression of a paradox: on the one hand, I think the criticism is absolutely genuine, and on the other hand, I think she genuinely does like (even love :)) Yahtzee, and appreciate him for his wit &c. This is the 'irony' that I've heard many other commenters talk about. And if you know anything about irony, you know that it's not to be confused with simple lying ("I'm -pretending- to be critcising, but really I don't mean this, that's a joke.) The truth of irony is instead in the eye of the paradox: it's a surface meaning originally contradicted by its 'deeper meaning', but in such a way that you're forced to return to the fact that the surface was, already the truth. Thus, I think that it's a video that manages to combine genuine affection with genuine criticism, without either dimension interefering with each other while at the same time making a great song, and starting the longest discussion thread I've ever seen on the Escapist.

Long live, R.M.

Best,

Mal
 

MasterChief892039

New member
Jun 28, 2010
631
0
0
Ugh. I've always disliked Rebecca Mayes.

I think it's silly to call Yahtzee homophobic and misogynistic. I'm just going to focus on the misogynistic claim though, since I'm a chick and that affects me somewhat;

Yes. Yahtzee makes occasional vagina jokes (especially when talking about the Wii) but let's keep in mind he's trying to entertain the audience, not simply review games. Unfortunately in our society, "female" has become synonymous with "weak" (I believe Rowan Kaiser did an article touching on this called "Hardcore Maleness"), and I'm not saying that this is right, but what's going to make you laugh more? Saying that a weak man is weak, or saying that a weak man is on his period? It's just for a chuckle, and if you have a sense of humor, you'll laugh along with him.

And let's not forget, Yahtzee is constantly pointing out how ridiculous the standard depictions of women in video games are. He's always calling out game companies for sticking cantaloupes on the chests on their female characters, and consistently prefers strong, dynamic characters over mindless kidnapped princesses and overly sexualized killer fembots (hello Bayonetta). Overall I'd say Yahtzee's agenda is actually pro-feminist.

When I first came to this site, I saw a link to Rebecca Mayes' videos and I was like "Sweet, a game-centric site with female presence!"... then I watched her. Not only do all her songs sound exactly the same, but they're only very vaguely about gaming. She doesn't review games with her songs and she doesn't mock them... At most she picks out one aspect of a game to sing about and never goes into detail. To be honest it makes me wonder if she didn't just read a review and regurgitate it into song, rather than actually play the game. I really don't see the point of what she does.

So basically Rebecca, I'ma flip this on you. I think you're the misogynist because you have the power to represent the female perspective on the gaming world through the Escapist, but instead you just embarrass us. Oh, and your Modern Warfare video? Doing laundry while you're supposed to be singing about a hardcore FPS? Yeah, you're really pushing the boundaries of women's rights there lady.

And I know there was an aspect of satire in this video. Yahtzee reviews center mostly around criticism rather than praise and I realize this song attempted to capture that - but Rebecca kept harping on the misogynist thing like she'd made some deep, truthful point. But at no point did it make me laugh, and it made her look like one of those ridiculously sensitive feminists. It all just rubbed me the wrong way.

Now unfortunately I've downed a beer and a half while typing this out and I'm a bit of a liteweight, so I'm somewhat out of commission in terms of relevant debate. I think that about does it anyway.

Oh, and to Susan Arendt and all the other women involved in the Escapist... keeping doin' what you're doin' ladies.
 

Ike Jager

New member
Nov 19, 2009
47
0
0
I got a few things to say about this:

1) Yahtzee most likely won't watch this, since he doesn't watch any Escapist videos as humours go.
2) I can't help but notice that her representative toon in Zero Punctuation is Lara Croft (one of Yahtzee's most hated video game characters).
3) Because of number 2, is she trying to trap Yahtzee into a world of pain due to him ripping on Tomb Raider so much?

Just my personal opinions of course, so none of these could be true. But if I were Yahtzee, I wouldn't go.. I'll just stay at the nicest beaches in replacement.
 

AceAngel

New member
May 12, 2010
775
0
0
I must say, if Yahtzee and Maya every get married and have children, the world will be torn apart from Mini-Yahtzee's, going about and singing about how everything around them is shite...

Lord help us all then...
 

userwhoquitthesite

New member
Jul 23, 2009
2,177
0
0
Why has no one shot this whinging bint in the neck? It seems her only REAL talent is video editing. Still, I'll give her one for some semi-competent Yahtzee bashing. Stop telling this woman she has any musical talent, Escapist, and maybe she'll do something worthwhile with her life. Like become a dictator or open a personal submarine retailer. Who wouldn't want their own submarine at private sector prices?
 

MaltesePigeon

New member
Feb 3, 2010
52
0
0
Maladjusted said:
Not to surrender my (admittedly yet to be acquired) reputation for cool, measured judgments devoid of unnecessary gushing, but:

Let's face it people, Rebecca Mayes is what would happen if you took 15 delicate variations on brilliant, talented and wonderful, composed them into a heart-wrenching symphony and then delicately strummed out across a Venetian piazza. At sunset. On the day the war ended and the long ships finally came home, and everyone (like in a Shakespeare comedy) ended up, surviving life's shipwreck and finally coming to see each other face to face, instead of through a glass darkly.

I mean, obviously, LIKE ANY SANE PERSON, I love all of R.M.'s previous songs (especially, "Death and the Spaceship for some reason). But this just...takes the cake, especially because I think this vast, sprawling (occasionally insane) comment thread has to be counted as an extension of the song and its consummate artistry.

I mean, think about it: I, like everyone at the Escapist, love Yahtzee. Forget his whiny, parvenu, resentful detractors and his overzealous 'he said fuck' adolescent fans, he's a wit, a real talent who deserves all the adulation he receives. Consequently, I was delighted (although obviously a -LITTLE- bit jealous) that R.M. was writing him a lovesong, although I thought: how on earth is she going to pull this off?

But, this...she surpasses even my (can't you tell) extravagant expectations. The reason is, not just the song itself, but it's perfect expression of a paradox: on the one hand, I think the criticism is absolutely genuine, and on the other hand, I think she genuinely does like (even love :)) Yahtzee, and appreciate him for his wit &c. This is the 'irony' that I've heard many other commenters talk about. And if you know anything about irony, you know that it's not to be confused with simple lying ("I'm -pretending- to be critcising, but really I don't mean this, that's a joke.) The truth of irony is instead in the eye of the paradox: it's a surface meaning originally contradicted by its 'deeper meaning', but in such a way that you're forced to return to the fact that the surface was, already the truth. Thus, I think that it's a video that manages to combine genuine affection with genuine criticism, without either dimension interefering with each other while at the same time making a great song, and starting the longest discussion thread I've ever seen on the Escapist.

Long live, R.M.
Are you troll baiting? I'm sorry but I gotta call shenanigans even if I get accused of trolling. You wrote that like you were describing a symphony at Penn's Landing or a play at the Forrest Theater(I'm from Philadelphia, these places are where my concept of high art come from). I mean you're talking about the internet video game songwriter Rebecca Mayes, right?
Talented and funny (not this time imho), but "15 variations on brilliant?"

No one can "strum out" something as complex as a symphony, in Venice or anywhere else on the planet. It requires a talented composer, conductor, and many many talented musicians.

I know, I know, probation or worse. Sorry escapist correctional officer, but I read that post and I just saw in my head a kid walking down a hall in high school with his underwear sticking out. And his name was written on it. I really am usually a nice guy.
 

Glamorgan

Seer of Light
Aug 16, 2009
3,124
0
0
This is hilarious. In Rebecca's last video, she got like 89~ish comments. Now, she does something to do with Zero Punctuation, and she gets over 500. We are all very shallow minded aren't we?
 

ROBOcity123

New member
Mar 7, 2010
99
0
0
I was gonna comment on the song but...nah. It's got awkward lyrics "Is it ok, to be this way", maybe I love the song but not the singer.