Some photos and general ramblings on a No TV Wednesday
I'm a bit out of breath from sprinting through life just now, so apologies for the odds-and-ends approach. But it is something. First, a few photos that have been hiding in my phone for a few months:
An ad for an energy drink native to Canada:
We actually took them up on the deal. It wasn't terrible. Neither did it have any fur in it.
Really? You want to name your company after yourself? You sure about that?
I was sitting on my couch the other night when this guy ambled across my apartment, strolling casually from the kitchen to the dining room:
I went over to investigate, as it was the biggest damn spider I'd ever seen inside. He was completely unperturbed by my presence, which is always a bit unnerving, as bugs are supposed to be scared of you. He felt the wrath of my shoe shortly thereafter.
So if an olive loaf is made with olives...
The art gallery across the way had on display some classroom exercises in 3-D cardboard sculpture. Whoever made this one is secretly my soul mate. One day we will live in joyful, OCD symmetrical bliss:
I suspect that the aforementioned artist/soul mate also works at World Market in the Chair Stacking department:
Not to be outdone, a friend and I made a stack of our own late this summer. Please consider the degrees of difficulty: rounded bottom of an empty beer can, rounded bottom of an empty beer bottle, plastic cup with ice in it, outdoor venue with crosswinds. The stack actually went several items higher, but I don't have a photo of that at the moment.
And second, and completely unrelated to anything else:
Ever historically-minded, I've been thinking lately about a sort of line of inheritance of American comics. It starts with Pauly Shore, is passed on to Chris Elliot, then to Tom Green, Andy Dick, and now Sarah Silverman.
(This is obviously not a line of which I think highly.)
Major traits of the line: Primary reliance on being either deeply offensive, relentlessly irritating, or both. Pervasive commitment to acting unaware of previous trait. Short life in the public eye followed by near-total obscurity. I suspect Ms. Silverman's relatively attractive exterior will keep her around for a bit longer than average, but the whole deal is a one-trick-pony, and it won't last.
Other submissions to the above line? Or objections to who has been included? I know that at least one of you is out there going, "Hey, what gives, bro? Lay off Encino Man, buuuuuuudy!"
posted by Tyler @ 9:42 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Actually, I don't agree with the inclusion of Sarah Silverman for the following reasons:
1) She's already been around for 10ish years (I remember reading a profile of her in some entertainment magazine in college)
2) While the other "comedians" on the list seem to revel in stupidity, SS is relatively intelligent
3) She's freaking hot
Admittedly, some (most) of her humor ranges from pretty offensive ("As a teen I was raped by my doctor, which is bittersweet for a Jewish girl") to REALLY offensive ("I told my black boyfriend that I was only dating him for his big dick. He looked horrified, so I told him 'I don't want you to think I'm racist; I want you to think I'm skinny"). And, I think she has peaked and is on the downside of her career (both of those jokes are pretty old).
But, I think she's still funny. I laugh at her jokes. The other guys on the list inspire you to laugh at them, or what they do to others, not at their jokes. The jokes are the thing.
I think that's exactly the point I'm getting at: they all inspire you to laugh at them, as though they don't know they're being funny/irritating/offensive. That's the whole joke. Yes, she does it in a slightly more intelligent manner than the previous comics mentioned (and I'm not even totally convinced that Pauly Shore belongs on this list, but I can't think of anyone better pre-Chris Elliot.), but it's still the same approach. And I think it's boring. It deliberately keeps the audience away from the comic, and I would argue that that severely limits the potential. Comedy that says, "you know what I mean?" is more engaging than comedy that says "look how weird and offensive I am." Or at least it's more engaging to me. But of course, I'm right.
I clicked over here to make a comment about the fact that you think that Sarah Silverman is attractive only to find that Wyatt has already commented that she is "freaking hot"! I don't get this at all! I think she is unattractive to the point of verging on hideous. Equine face with general thick hairyness doesn't do it for me. Maybe I'm just an ignorant gentile philistine, I don't know.
Well, more attractive than Pauly Shore and Chris Elliot, anyway.
The point is more that people (see: Wyatt) consider her attractive, and this will extend her career somewhat.
1) I'm not Sarah Silverman's biggest fan or anything, but I don't think she belongs in a list with the likes of Pauly Shore and Tom Green. Yes, she's totally offensive, but her comic timing with lines like "You can't smell yourself" and "...Joe Franklin raped me" has earned her my respect.
2) Also...she is hot. End of story.
3) I worked at World Market the summer before college, and I had to stack the chairs like that once. It took forever and made me want to shoot everyone in the face. (For some reason, my suggestion to "just throw them in a big pile in the back of the store" fell upon deaf ears.) I hope that heightens your appreciation of their symmetry.
You put a non ugly girl in a room full of poo droppings and gorillas and suddenly that non ugly girl starts to look attractive. Put that same non ugly girl in a room with attractive women and she looks like a hairy horse face. Women in comedy is a room full of poo droppings and gorillas, of course she looks good....... for a comic.
Big brother you should at least have put up the warning: LITTLE SISTER PLEASE SKIP THIS NEXT PHOTO DO NOT LOOK ANY FURTHER!!!!
COOKOUT JENGA!!!
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