Breaking the rules

[DrFaroohk]

This again about the karaoke competition I was recently in. I didn't get past the first round but I went to see the semi-finals anyway, and where I was not in it I feel I could be a little more unbiased.

My basic gripe about this, and other things related, is that there were clearly defined rules for this contest which were not observed. The first was the time limit - Every song had a 4 minute limit, and the DJ was instructed to shut the song off after 4 minutes and anyone who didn't vacate the stage was DQ'd.

Ok, fair enough. Except ALL the songs went over 4 minutes. I don't have a problem with 4:05 or 4:10, but when it's 4:30, 4:45, 5:15, etc...it bugs me because there's a lot of songs I didn't choose to do because I was told I could not do them since they were too long, but then there's other people up there singing them. Why advertise rules you're not gonna follow?

The other rule, which didn't really effect me at all, was the contestants must sing from the designated stage area. One guy took it upon himself to leave the stage, and while singing, stroll amongst the crowd and whatnot. Not a big deal, but he got the crowd going a lot, but the rules clearly stated that leaving the stage like that got you immediately DQ'd.

Why post rules you're not going to follow? It'd be like playing in a basketball game where the other team isn't required to dribble but you still are.

[Sarah Valentine]

Yeah, that sounds like a load of crap. I know how much karaoke contests suck, If they didn't want to enforce the rules they should have done an "anything goes" type of contest.

[Andara Bledin]

Did you get a rule sheet for this round as well as the one you were in?

I could see the time limits being expanded for the semi-finals over the preliminary rounds. After all, when you've got far fewer competitors, each one gets more time.

Less so for free-ranging during the performance, however.

^-.-^

[DrFaroohk]

It was the same rule sheet for all the rounds. Also included was stuff like...no contact with the judges at all, no overly-intoxicated performances, no offensive material, etc...

Overall it was a popularity contest I think. You could tell the people that were locals and set up to win when they are greeted with epic cheers before the judge even gets their first name out. If the guy wandering the crowd had been me or someone else not as popular, he'd have been DQ'd immediately.

Ah well, there's always next year. It's a bit of a haul, so our group wants to make a few trips up there over the course of the next 12 months to hopefully elevate our status from "those strangers" to "those guys from far away that are pretty cool."

[insertNameHere]

I'm about to have a conversation with our new co-manager that I will gladly follow the ruling of showing up on time, when the manager starts following the rule of having the schedule up 48hrs before the work week, not posting it 12hrs before the start of the next work week and only then having 2 days done.


The thing about rules is, if nobody enforces them their is no fucking point. Unless, they only care to inform the rules "if they have to". that means to get rid of you. Sure Bubba jumped into the audience but they could argue he was in control. Now he if jumped off the stage and started pissing on people while singing they could refer to the don't get off the stage rule and toss his ass out.

[DrFaroohk]

I would think the rule was there for fairness - another rule was "no props" because to me they want the competition about singing, not about who can get the most drunk people to clap. Coming out and roaming the aisles and getting people's faces is definitely going to "rock" more regardless of who does it and it skews the value of the performance. people will cheer even if you suck.

[Miss_Maple_Leaf]

The first was the time limit - Every song had a 4 minute limit, and the DJ was instructed to shut the song off after 4 minutes and anyone who didn't vacate the stage was DQ'd.

Ok, fair enough. Except ALL the songs went over 4 minutes.

If they were concerned about limiting the length of songs, you'd think they would just do up a list of accepted songs for the contestants to choose from and make sure that none of the songs on that list exceeds the four-minute mark.

It's weird that they would put a time limit on the songs and yet let some people pick songs that are obviously too long to qualify for that rule.