Shufflin

I was sitting around tonight, listening to some Malaysian music on YouTube and reading the very end of The Three Signs of a Miserable Job... What? What do you mean "Why?" Because every book needs a sound track. That's why. When I found this. Supreme Youngster at the Digi Shuffle Showdown.

At first I thought I was watching some sort of Dance Dance Revolution contest. And really, I think that's what it is - just without the mat. But the more I watched, the more I realized this is something Ming should do. Ming...if you form a Shuffle Crew (of which I am not a part) and perform at Town Hall in front of all the other employees, I will personally lobby to get you corporate sponsorship for outfits.


But I think you should do a holiday shuffle. So I guess I'll amend myself - if you perform in Town Hall OR in the cafeteria or cafe.com for the corporate holiday party, I will find your crew t-shirts, even if I have to pay for them myself.


The concept of a Shuffle Crew is very confusing, because there just isn't a lot of information about the origin of shuffle crews on the web, or why there are so many of them in Malaysia and Melbourne. But I realized there is at least one parallel in American culture with which I am familiar, the 1985 Bears doing the Superbowl Shuffle, during which they specifically refer to themselves as a Shuffle Crew.


And you can backtrack the Bears shuffling to "shuffle" by disambiguating on Wikipedia and the keyword "Melbourne" quickly catches your eye if you've been staring at YouTube Shuffle Crews throughout the early evening. This explains everything: "The Melbourne shuffle is a style of dance, which originated in the late 1980s in the Melbourne underground scene. The basic movements in the dance are a fast heel-and-toe action with a style suitable for various types of electronic music. Some variants incorporate arm movements."

"The shuffle has spread to Malaysia and in Brunei Darussalam and there have been "Shuffle Competitions" and "Shuffle Meetups" held in Malaysia and Brunei.

Shufflers have taken their art form and self-expressive dance style overseas and are a regular sight to be seen at rave parties in the UK, Germany, Malaysia and also Thailand, where shufflers can be seen shuffling on the beaches of Koh Phang Ngan during the Full Moon Beach Party. The internet has also been a factor in spreading knowledge and interest in the shuffle."

What would I do without the web. Wombles. Shuffle Crews. I am three times smarter than I was at the beginning of last week.