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Right, you can't be selective about which nonsense words do and do not qualify.

That being said, I don't see them as a problem. When a guitarist plucks a string, that string doesn't have a literal meaning. Why can't vocals be an instrument sometimes?

What about made up syllables like "sha la la" and "fa fa" and so forth?

No one does that seriously anymore. What is this the early 60s?

Gaga.

I have my doubts that she's doing that seriously, but I stand corrected in that regard.

Define 'seriously'.  

Also, the video for "Man Down" (Rihanna) is playing on my screen right now, and she's doing it -- "rum puh-puh-pum", also "ohhh-woah-waaa" and "ma ma ma"
It isn't just pop singers either -- I've heard this in the Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Kanye, Spoon...

Oh, the New Pornographers ("We End Up Together" comes to mind)

Why in God's name would you bump this?

What about made up syllables like "sha la la" and "fa fa" and so forth?

No one does that seriously anymore. What is this the early 60s?

It happens pretty frequently, in just about every scene.

What about made up syllables like "sha la la" and "fa fa" and so forth?

I didn't know PD banned people.

Also, hai everyone.

Oh! Here's another one: pseudo-philosophical cliches, like "unique snowflake", and "cogs in a machine", that are not delivered with irony. This ruined the new Fleet Foxes for me.

Hmm. Is that done as much? Part of the reason why I was thinking about the California rule is like, take a song that mentions a lot of shit in California, and replace it with references to some other state (I was thinking Massachusetts originally, but for extra humor lets say Delaware). Now, doesn't this song now sound silly? Why are places like California lyricized then?

'California' has good rhythm? I don't know, I never understood that one. California has great weather. As far as I'm concerned, that's it.

And yeah, I hear songs mention neighborhoods in New York all the time. I assume because everyone who's ever lived in New York thinks they're awesome for having done so, so they like to remind us every chance they get. Even the New Pornographers are guilty of this, and they're Canadian. And it's always the neighborhood, not New York itself, because -- "what, you don't know where Williamsburg is?"

Funnier than Palin? Man, I don't know...

Ha! As I recall, most of PD seemed to believe Obama was an exception though.

NO EXCEPTIONS.

Roger - NO EXCEPTIONS.

Also, not so great. The teabaggers jumped on board, and it's not fun anymore, so I gave up caring. Douchebaggery is prerequisite for American politics anyway.

I hate to break the derailment streak, but...

How about name dropping any neighborhood in New York? Especially Brooklyn, Williamsburg, the Village, etc.

Thank you guys for all your responses -- Since this is our last party before we all move out, I decided to use the final episode of (almost) every series proposed, using Windows Movie Maker to slice out dialog scenes, and then string all the shows together. It's turning out to be really cool. If anyone wants to check it out, when I'm finished, I'll upload it somewhere. I might recycle it for another party at some point.

I'm a bit against having something playing during a party, even on mute.  I feel like it takes away from the social aspect of the thing, gets people focusing on the screen.  That's the reasoning behind the scooby doo gang running suggestion - if it's a loop, it's a decoration.  People won't have their eyes drawn to it.

It also occurs to me that showing a loop of Yogi Bear stealing a pic-a-nic basket would have a maddening effect.

I don't think so, it can actually be a pretty good conversation piece depending on how you do it.  Especially if you juxtapose it with completely incongruous music. 

There was this rock club I used to go to where they had a couple of TVs that played random cartoons or old black and white shows on mute while the music was going on.  It basically ended up just being a piece of art, and more often than not it became part of conversations.  I think it's all in the presentation and framing. 

This is what I'm going for. We have two main hangout areas in the apartment, one being the living room that's more relaxed, the other being the dining room, which we convert to a dance floor. We're doing clips from old Olympics in the living room, and I was thinking retro cartoons for the dining room. So it is pretty important that whatever I show is purely background, and nothing that people will end up becoming invested in.

There's a hipster bar near where I live that shows vintage porn and 50's-era toy commercials, both great ideas, but they're associated with a hipster bar...