Generational Wha…? Paul Anka Find his Teen Spirit

Some one help me get up off the floor… Interesting take on Nirvana’s hit.

UK Mac

Heheheh… here are some of my favorite Comedians (Mitchell and Web from That Mitchell and Web Look and Peep Show) in a Mac Ad UK style. I was going to save this for Friday but, oh well. You can watch the whole series here.

Friday Funny – What’s Happening

I suppose it’s funny only if you remember this show from the 70’s.

Remember that episode when Re-run taped a tape recorder to his chest before they went to the concert? I actually think there’s a meme about that conversation somewhere.

Original Intro

Spoof of the Intro

Nostaglia Pop Culture Playlist from the 70’s

Every now and then you need a taste from the past. Here’s a look into the music and television shows that I remember from my childhood.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=32A86294B3C9114B

Image Therapy Musings: Tekkonkinkreet and our ability to laugh

I drove by the Movie theater on 21st and saw that they were playing Tekkonkinkreet. I posted something on this earlier this month, and I have to say, I think this was probably one of my favorite movies out this Summer. The images were just visually stunning. There was a good deal of violence, so I wouldn’t recommend it as a kid flick for very young children. The play on light vs. dark was actually a little refreshing. It’s nice to be reminded that you can’t have one without the other and that light and darkness as concepts, moods, states of mind depend on each other. You cannot always live in one vs. the other.

The backgrounds, colors and details reminded me of the packaging from items from the Chinese Grocery store we used to frequent when I was a very young child. I think it was one of the few or only Asian grocery stores in town at the time… I think I just dated myself. I always felt really comfortable in there despite the fact that it seemed dark and confusing.

I was able to see the Simpsons movie as well. Despite the fact that I did feel like I was in the theater watching an extended episode or a string of episodes on a DVD, I did enjoy it. Who can pass up on the superb humor of the Simpson’s writing cadre? It was a nice way to end the work week: with laughter. I know it’s easy for us as a species to get all hung up on our ability to build magnificent cities, engineer impossible buildings or create works of art, but I think the ability to laugh and appreciate the comedic truly sets us apart from any other creature in the planet.

Why are we geared to laugh? Does it provide the same kind of physical release or satisfy an appetite like eating or sex? I’ve always felt that laughter is like exercising the heart. If you loose your ability to do this there’s a life or spirit in a person that may loose it’s radiance and ability to cope with all the darkness in this world. Look at all the cultures and social groups in our past (and even present) which really seemed to have a hard time with lightening up.  Can you imagine what life was for the Calvinists.  It’s kind of hard to find humor in things when you live under the guidance of the notion that you’re either doomed or you’re not (though most people are doomed*) or that human beings by nature are depraved and fallen creatures. You know if I was born a 16 or 17th century Calvinist I’d emmigrate from Switzerland  to Holland right away… either that or work hard and look forward to death because it would probably be a cake-walk compared to the hell on earth that they built. They’re always painted and drawn in art as if their tidies are in bunches.

*If that were the case and people were all doomed… I’d break out the pack of Gitanes and open a bottle of Pernod and say… “What the hey.”

Some related things:

• Comedy Defined on ThinkExist
• Wikipedia on Comedy
• The Amazing Powers of Laughter

Friday Funny – IT Crowd and the Mighty Boosh

These shows came out a bit ago, but I’ve been in the mood for office humor because I work at home. If you haven’t seen this yet… I got this show as an X-mas present last year (we have an all region DVD). It was one of my most treasured scores that year . Rumor has it that Richard Ayoade (Moss) is actually slated to be in the US version of the show. I used to work in IT (sort of)… so it’s kinda funny.

An IT Crowd site: http://www.theitcrowd.co.uk/

If you’ve already seen the “IT Crowd”…. here’s the Mighty Boosh, my favorite UK comedy troupe, in one of my favorite episodes “Nanageddon.”

Links posted on my other blog:

http://natknits.wordpress.com/2007/07/20/nanatoo-the-knitting-demon/

Friday Funny – The Wind

Friday Funny – Human Tetris

You may have seen this already, but when I saw it I nearly died laughing. Though it’s not up to “Japanese Silent Library” par. Only Japanese guys can really get away with wearing Jerry Lewis chunky glasses:

Friday Funny – David Tennant Teaches English

For all you Dr. Who fans. Every teacher has had a smart ass in their class at one point and time.  Catherine Tate is wonderful as the student.

Sorry bout that the BBC took that copy down.

Try this one:

Confession: about swearing at work

Funny I can swear all I want in my office since I work at home. But reading something on Bob Sutton’s blog today triggered a memory about my old workplace. On the first day of my last job I came into my new office. Naturally, being located in overly-PC corporate suburbia usually the safest bet in behaving appropriately is to remain low-key and just observe. It seemed that acting any differently might get you noticed in a bad way. At least this is how I felt about working in a leviathan of suburban-based corporate environment.

But on that first day… I walked pass my neighbor’s cubicle and suddenly heard a flurry of expletives come from his mouth while he was on the phone (with some one he was familiar with, I assume). Suddenly I felt a good deal of tension melt away from my shoulders… I let my gut relax. Why did I suddenly feel like I was okay with this and immediately felt okay with working there?

Maybe because here was someone actually just being himself. If he felt comfortable, more then likely I could too. That and it gave me the first laugh I’d had in a few months while working there.

I’m not saying that all people would be familiar with hearing bleep-bleep-bleep, but I have to say sometimes it’s the only way to express how you’re feeling at the time.

As Bob Sutton notes:

We teach our Ph.D. students at Stanford in the Center for Work, Technology and Organization who do ethnographies of the workplace that using foul language is sometimes necessary for providing accurate and realistic descriptions of what people say and how they feel.

No it’s not appropriate to swear all the time. And one person’s observation that it’s kind of funny or cool doesn’t mean that it’s okay for everyone to start using foul-language. But then again I think that’s what we have problems with in general as humans who are always looking for rules and guidance systems. Some of us (maybe most of us) think we always need to stay strict to them no matter what. Loosen up, try to set the expectation that people should behave appropriately to each other. If someone’s uncomfortable with language or behavior the environment should be set up where they feel comfortable enough to state this without being abrasive.