Robot Chicken

I realize this TV show doesn't really follow my internet humor trend, but I was watching clips on YouTube so I thought I'd make the stretch. Robot Chicken is a late-night comedy skit show on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. I'm fairly certain it was designed for high school and college students who like to stay up late watching TV. While, most of the time, I don't understand the humor of the jokes and therefore dislike the show over-all, I really like some of the satire skits. My favorite example of this is the Star Wars episodes. Having not watched the actual show, I'm not certain how many actual episodes it was (I believe at least 2 half-hour shows), I've found quite a few of the individual Star Wars skits. The best thing about these episodes is that, while they do reference the original movies, you don't really need to be a fanatic to get the jokes and find them funny.



For those that don't know the movies, this skit references a scene where Han Solo flies his ship through a giant asteroid. But like I said, aside from the actual scene setting, the skit doesn't directly reference Star Wars at all.



Boba Fet is the bounty hunter hired to capture Han Solo, the cryogenically frozen statue he's talking to (but you probably could have figured most of that out yourselves). While I didn't find this clip nearly as humorous, I still found it funny, and I didn't need any Star Wars backstory.



Most of these skits need not be explained, with the exception of the man and woman in bed. The man is Luke Skywalker and the woman is Princes Leia. The reference here is that the two discover at the end of Episode VI that they are brother and sister.

I think part of the reason that Robot Chicken is so good at making their satire skits so easy to understand is that most of their other skits are very random. They keep the skits short because they are the equivalent of stand-up's one liners. They don't require setup or backstory, and this holds true even in their satires. The simplicity of these skits is what makes them easy to laugh at, and thus makes them so funny.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

So I decided to go see a showing of 30 Days of Night last night since I wanted a change in the mood of the movies I saw. And even before the movie began, I saw what I thought would be the next great comedy. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story has the set up to be a huge hit, since it is written by Judd Apatow, who’s been associated with hits such as Superbad and Knocked Up, and Jake Kasdan. It has a huge cast of decently well known actors such as Jack Black (Nacho Libre, King Kong), Justin Long (Waiting, Accepted), and John C. Reilly (Talladega Nights).

Walk Hard is about Dewey Cox (played by Reilly) and the roller coaster ride that was his musical career. During his career, Dewey sleeps with 411 women, marries three times, has 22 children and 14 step kids, and stars in his own television show. While going through his, he builds an enormous amount of very influential friends from Paul McCartney (Jack Black) and the Beatles to George Harrison (Justin Long). Despite getting hooked on every drug known to man, he eventually finds a way to kick his addiction and becomes a national icon with his songs that influence the entire nation. Maybe he’ll find a way to settle down and earn the love of his long time backup singer, Darlene, played by Jenna Fischer (Blades of Glory).

I can’t wait for this movie to come out on December 31. Anything that Judd Apatow has touched lately has turned to gold and there isn’t any reason to believe otherwise right now. However one little thing concerns me a little, in all of Apatow’s other films he worked with essentially the same cast. It’ll be interesting to see how the new actors that he’s working with react to the script and how they’ll develop chemistry with each other.

I like it old school.

About a week ago, I was reminiscing about my childhood with some friends. I have never felt so old in my life. I always thought I would wait until I began forgetting things before I tried to remember them. But I digress. The topic of childhood cartoons came up in this conversation. Some true classics were thrown out there, like Loony Toons, Road Runner, Thundercats, Spiderman, and so on. While these are all amazing in their own right, the best (in my opinion) is Pinky and the Brain.
What I have spent the last week doing is watching any Pinky and the Brain that I was able to get my hands on. Go ahead and take a gander at some of those. The difference between Pinky and the Brain and most of the other cartoons mentioned above is the age level content. I remember watching it as a kid. I understood the main plot, but some things escaped me. I still found it funny because two mice trying to take over the world and failing disastrously is amusing to me.
However, the cartoon is funny even now because of all the political and cultural references that escaped me as a child. In one episode, Brain founds a country called 'Brainania.' He goes to the US for a foreign aid check. Pinky points out that Branania is not a place, but Brain relies on the fact that no American is good at geography. This strikes a chord with me because my knowledge of the map is woefully flawed. He basically starts a war with the US, but wins because no one will admit they can't find Brainania on a map, and you can't go to war with a country if you can't find it. If only that had worked with Iran. (Please don't leave a comment about that, it was a joke and I couldn't care less about it. Much appreciated.) Also, Brain is discussing the terms of financial aid with the president(Bill Clinton at the time the episode was made), and Hilary Clinton takes over the negotiations, adding on the fact that the US needs a place to dump nuclear waste. When the deal is over, Mr Clinton says, "I don't know what you're talking about, but it sounds real smart. I like to be part of things." One again, political satire that was way over my head when I was seven.
I wish more shows were made like this. Real thought was put into this cartoon. It has attraction for kids in the form of Pinky, who is the epitome of the imbecile. It also has an appeal for a slightly older crowd in the witty satire, historical references (once Brain tried to be Napoleon), and the ever-popular poking fun at the current leader of the free world. Most shows, not even merely cartoon but all types of shows, have no real thought put into them. They try to be funny using weird voices or crossing over into taboo topics(albeit slightly). Its the same with Disney movies. The older ones have some thought put into them, with all sorts of hidden innuendo that is completely above any child, but every adult catches it right away. For anyone who is unsure of what I mean, watch Hercules. There are some many undercurrents that no child will catch, but anyone above the age of eighteen will laugh at.
I don't know why Pinky and the Brain stopped making new episodes, but I want somebody to bring it back. I like it old school.

I Could Never Be Your Woman Preview

After being released overseas in Spain and Belgium during the summer, I Could Never Be Your Woman is finally on the verge of being released here in the United States. I Could Never Be Your Woman has also been released in Brazil, Greece, and Taiwan in recent months. I Could Never Be Your Woman stars Michelle Pfeiffer, who’s been in Scarface and Grease 2, and Paul Rudd, who’s had roles in The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up , and Reno 911: Miami.

Michelle Pfeiffer stars as Rosie, an aging television producer who’s had no luck in the area of love. However she finally finds what she’s looking for in the form of a much younger man, played by Rudd. All while this is going on, Rosie’s teen daughter starts to think whether or not that strange tingling feeling that she gets when she’s around a handsome local boy is what everyone calls love. Throw Mother Nature and her powers into the equation and it all add up to one interesting story line.

Well this really sounds more like a romantic movie with comedy thrown in. It also doesn’t sound too appealing but at least it’s more appealing than all of the other children’s comedies that are also coming out around November 9. Reviews of the movie from the foreign releases have stated that the story line struggles and is severely lacking in the comedy department. They have even gone as far as saying that the movie was very painful to watch. If you’re looking for a good romantic comedy this probably isn’t it, otherwise it’ll be a better use of your money to see American Gangster which comes out a week before, or just watch a movie from your DVD collection.

No More Onscreen Reunion for Carrey and Diaz

Well so much for a Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz onscreen reunion. The two super stars were planning on their first reunion on the big screen, since their appearance in the 1994 hit The Mask, in the upcoming dramedy A Little Game Without Consequence from Focus Features. The two have both pulled out less than a month before filming was set to begin on the movie. Rumors have been circulating that the two actors left the movie because of the usual creative difference between the actors and the director, Gabriele Muccino. Specifically they weren’t very happy about the latest version of the script written by Muccino.

A Little Game Without Consequence is based on a French play by Jean Dell and Gerald Sibleyras, which follows a model couple who pretend to separate and find out that their friends didn’t think that they were good together anyway. Carrey and Diaz originally signed on under the condition that the script be rewritten to fix problems in the third act. However the rewriting done by Muccino turned out to be completely different from what Carrey and Diaz expected. Apparently producers also had a problem with the revised script, they wanted a more commercial feel to the plot. Following Carrey and Diaz out the door was Muccino.

Reports have said that James Schamus is taking the latest rewrite of the script hoping to put the movie back on track. This movie is just another step back for Jim Carrey who has struggled recent with his movies. His last comedy Fun With Dick and Jane bombed in theatres, and he has hit snags in his upcoming projects. Both of his projects were abandoned by Paramount before they could get off the ground. Used Guys, which would have paired Carrey with Ben Stiller, and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, were both cancelled mostly because of rising costs for both movies and script problems. Hopefully Jim Carrey will be able to bounce back soon and prove how good he actually is.

Bean – The Movie: The New form of Slapstick Humor ?

If you compare the movies or plays that come under the broad genre of comedy in today’s generation with those of the early nineties, it will clearly become evident that the word “comedy” has transitioned into being something completely different today.

According to me, one thing that this transition has managed to change completely is the face of Slapstick humor and the way it is made use of in today’s world.

Today, slapstick along with sarcasm, dominates the virtual humor community. Evidence to this can be witnessed over at Humor-blogs dot com , the main portal of the e-Humor community. At least eighty-percent of the humor blogs that this website links to are partially, if not completely, based on sarcastic or slapstick forms of humor in some way or the other.

Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia states that,

“Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated physical violence or activities (e.g., a character being hit in the face with a frying pan or running full speed into a wall). The style is common to those genres of entertainment in which the audience is supposed to understand the very hyperbolic nature of such violence to exceed the boundaries of common sense and thus license non-cruel laughter”.

I think that the above definition relates completely to the modern form of slapstick humor.

If one was to talk about this form of humor in the past, Charlie Chaplin, without a doubt, would have to be an unforgettable example. He was surely a legend of his time.

To exemplify the old form of slapstick humor, following is a small clip featuring Charlie Chaplin, titled “Table Ballet” from You Tube.

This clip was considered to be a pure genius in the past. They called it the “Dance of the rolls”. There is a very little chance that someone who is accustomed to the present day form of slapstick humor, would be able to make out anything relating to humor from this clip. What was taken to be funny in this clip in the past was the fact that Charlie Chaplin used two forks and two potato rolls to depict two legs and make them move in a dancing sort of fashion.

However, If you were to show this clip to a person today, he/she would probably draw nothing related to humor from the clip. Heck, I think that even if Charlie Chaplin was alive today and had was accustomed to the present day slapstick flicks like the Bean series, he wouldn’t have taken another look at that “Dance of the Rolls” Clip(I find the clip to be highly un-amusing as well :-/).

The present-day form of slapstick humor is reflected in Rowan Atkinson’s famous film, Bean: The Movie.

Bean: The Movie was released back in 1997 and went to gross over $230,000,000 (two hundred and thirty Million.. yea yea don’t count the zeros) worldwide. This posed to be a huge ass achievement for the film as a whole because of the fact that it was made on a comparably lower budget of $22 Million (comparably?@!#?!@#! ). The hype generated by this film could entirely be contributed to the fact that the Mr. Bean Shows on TV (animated and the one where errr..its not animated) were a great hit amongst all the viewers and successfully created a large fan base for Rowan Atkinson.

The Plot of this film revolves around Mr. Bean who is a security guard at the London Art Gallery. Each and every employee at the museum is tired of him. He is on the verge of getting fired. In order to get rid of him for a while, the museum advisory board decides to send him to an Art Museum at Los Angeles, USA as a renowned British Artist in order to talk about their latest acquisition “Whistler’s Mother”.

Starting from the scene where he bursts open a vomit-bag full of puke on a passenger, Ensuing is a series of events in which Mr. Bean gets into one mess after another and continuously scrambles to cover up for the mishaps caused by him.

Although the storyline isn’t that appealing, this movie poses to be quite humorous at times (I stress.. “at times”). Rowan Atkinson uses quite a few elements to make certain parts of the movie very funny. The elements range from not talking at all to making various weird facial expressions that leave the viewer somewhat amused.

When I consider the above elements, it leads me to the conclusion that Mr. Bean is quite possibly a modern day form of Charlie Chaplin. However, the way in which Bean relies on physical comedy and grunting, is completely different from that used by Charlie Chaplin during his time.

The Slapstick Humor in this movie is kind of modernized, if I was to put it in one word. It is hard to explain what I mean here. For Example, some instances in the film that reflect humor would be-

When Mr. Bean bursts a paper bag full of puke onto a sleeping passenger in the aircraft,

When he wets his pants by accident in the washroom and tries to dry them using the dryer(you have to see this scene to truly understand what I mean).

When Mr. Bean doesn’t know that the mirror in front of him in the interrogation room is two-way and he starts making weird gestures.

These are some of the instances that reflect the type of slapstick humor that is made use of in this movie. Although there are many more scenes like this, they all make use of the same kind of acts to achieve Humor.

After seeing this movie, there were several questions that seemed to perplex my mind is. In order to sum them all up – Is this the Modern form of Slapstick Humor or is it a completely different genre of Humor?

This Question my friend, is for you to answer.

The Most Expensive Comedy Ever Made?

Things may have just gotten worse for the Hollywood suits who allowed Evan Almighty to be made and released. The executives at Universal Pictures are hoping for a turnaround in the performance of the movie. Looking at the rate that Evan Almighty is burning through their budget, the movie is on track to becoming the most expensive comedy ever to be released, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The sequel to the 2003 hit Bruce Almighty has Steve Carell reprising his small role in Bruce Almighty as Evan Baxter. According to the Los Angeles Times, Evan Almighty has faced many problems that added a lot of extra money on to the price tag for the movie. One problem they encountered was bad weather in Virginia while they were filming in March. This poor weather forced producers to add 11 days to the filming schedule. The three massive arks that the construction teams had to build also didn’t help the price tag of the movie. Another problem was created by the animals that were used throughout the movie. They were often uncooperative and very hard to control causing the need for extra time to get the shots that they wanted for the movie. In cases where they couldn’t get the necessary shot, expensive visual effects were used to fill in the film.

Initially the movie was thought to have an estimated budget of $140 million to $160 million. But after the movie finishes in theatres, the budget could be closer to $175 million. However with marketing and distribution costs, the figure is thought to be closer to $250 million, not the typical budget for a comedy. However the studio continues to stand behind their movie and say that it was worth it to make the movie. But we’ll see if they actually benefit from making the movie.

Here Come The Holiday Comedies

And here comes the annual run of movies based around the holiday season that usually comes out around Thanksgiving. The one that is released first out of all of these movies is Fred Claus. This holiday based comedy stars Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, and Kevin Spacey and is rated PG for mild language and some rude humor. Fred Claus is directed by David Dobkin who worked with Vince Vaughn on Wedding Crashers, a movie that was viewed as a great success.

Growing up was always for challenge for Fred Claus, played by Vince Vaughn, he was stuck in the virtual nothingness of the North Pole, while also constantly being compared to his perfect younger brother. As hard as Fred has tried, he could never live up to the high standards set by his brother, Nicholas, played by Paul Giamatti. Fred eventually became a repo man who stole everything that he repossessed. However, his deceitful past eventually catches up with him and he gets thrown in jail. Despite the objections of his wife, Nicholas bails out his brother under one condition; Fred must pay off his debt by making toys for his brother. There is just one problem, Fred continues the antics he’s become accustomed to and jeopardizes Christmas for everyone around the world.

And yet another comedy made for kids. There is nothing particularly exciting about this movie. It will likely just turn out like all the other holiday movies that are made for children, Fred will initially ruin Christmas for everyone, then he’ll see the error of his ways and do something miraculous to save Christmas. There isn’t anything special that really draws me towards this movie. Although one thing that made me give it a second look was Vince Vaughn working with the same director from Wedding Crashers. It’ll be interesting to see if they can achieve their past success again. We’ll have to wait until November 9th.

The oldest joke

It's story time, boys and girls. Gather around, and hear about the best comedians ever. These guys, one specifically, have the best jokes ever. They may sound stupid now, but these guys created them. Nearly all of their jokes fall into the category, "The oldest joke in the book."
I'm talking the Marx brothers. Groucho Marx to be specific. That is a picture of him. Now you're probably wondering where you have seen this guy before. You know those fake glasses that have the big nose, eyebrows, and mustache? Yep. Those are replicas of the face of Groucho Marx. Throughout his career, he created 15 movies along with his siblings. He also had a long and successful solo career. (Thank you Wikipedia. If you want some more details, click here. It's his biography.)
Grouch Marx was a master of witty comments, quick one-liners, and improv(ad-libbing). One of his most famous quotes is, "I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know." Another great moment is in the film, "A Night at the Opera." Groucho is writing up a contract with another man, (his brother Chico), and the dialogue is brilliant. The whole contract consists of lines like, "The party of the fist part, being the party of the first part, shall henceforth be know solely as the party of the first part." The second part is the exact same lines, but replace the word 'first' with the word 'second'. After that, neither agent(the Marx brothers) can agree on anything in the contract, so they just begin ripping parts off the contract. They each end up with a contract barely large enough for an entire sentence to be written on.
He also had a lot of success as the host of the T.V. show You Bet Your Life. The show first aired in 1947. It was a mixed interview and quiz game show. The greatest pull to the show was the existence of a secret word. This word would be decided before the show, but none of the contestants would know the word. Before any contestants came on stage, the word was revealed to the audience. If a contestant happened to say the secret word, all sorts of hulabaloo would go off on stage. Then a duck with one of the Groucho masks would fall out of the ceiling with a $100 bill in its bill.
Now, how many of you are familiar with the laugh tracks on all of your favorite sitcoms? Yeah, thats what I thought. Well, you know when they have that killer joke or crazy burn where the laughter is completely ridiculous? I thought so. Want to know where they get the audio for that laugh track? Bingo, Groucho Marx. During one show, Groucho asked the contestant how many children she had. She replied nineteen. When Groucho asked why, she replied, "Well, I just love my husband." Groucho replied, "I like a good cigar, but I take it out once in a while." (once again, Wikipedia comes through). The remark was too risque to be aired at that time in history, but the laughter that ensued is still used today for the biggest jokes.
This great man had weak health later in life. He got pneumonia and died on August 19, 1977. His legacy is great, and the shadow he has cast is huge. Even Bugs Bunny has impersonated Groucho Marx. Some albums by Queen are named after Marx Brothers films. He even has part of the Hollywood sign (the big one in Hollywood, on the hillside, that says Hollywood) dedicated to him.
When our generation reads his jokes or watches his movies, most of us give a chuckle but don't really give anything a second glance. What we don't realize is that Groucho made a new style of comedy. I can't even imagine what comedy was before him. Before Groucho was stuff like Charlie Chaplin, which isn't funny. Everyone was just mesmerized by the moving pictures. What I want you to do is to go to Groucho Marx's wikiquote page and read all of them. These are the classics of comedy upon which I feel the empire of laugh has been built. Groucho built the foundation, leaving a steady base for others to build upon. In my opinion, there would be no comedy without Groucho Marx and the Marx brothers. We would be stuck watching black and white films in which people walk funny and have top hats. Thank goodness for Groucho.
The End.

MySpace is for stalkers, Facebook is for friends...

For those of you who (like me) say that Facebook is somehow different from MySpace in that stalkers only use MySpace and not Facebook, I have another video from College Humor (the makers of "If Business Meetings Were Like Internet Comments"):



This video doesn't have much to do with anything like the last one I found did, but it is a bit funnier in my opinion. I think I can pick 3 favorite lines:

"John set fire to your cat (6:31 pm)" flies past the screen about 1 minute in.

"Casper just sent me 3,000 toilet paper rolls?" says a confused Ashley about those (stupid) gifts that you can send people on Facebook.

"Your just a person, Facebook is a website," says Ashley when Casper tries to convince her of who he is.

I love her implication that a website is not only more trustworthy, but more important than a human being. It really hits the point home that people get way to into Facebook; I know several people who's favorite saying is, "it's not official until it's on Facebook." I don't mean to put down Facebook too much, it's a great site to keep up with when your bored. It's also a good way to keep in touch with distant friends, but College Humor does a good job of showing how far it's gone lately.

And now, we finally have an explanation for the line "Too close for missiles, I'm switching to guns" that I keep seeing on Facebook.

The Humor of Blogging

A few weeks back, a friend of mine showed me this video entitled "If Business Meetings Were Like Internet Comments." Not two months ago, I probably would have found this video mildly amusing at best, but after posting on a blog myself for a while and seeing how comments can go on other blogs, I couldn't stop laughing:



Like I said, the humor itself is not all that funny; but then again, neither are the blog comments that they mock. Not to get into too serious of an issue or anything... but I was reminded of an article I read by Joel Spolsky called "Learning from Dave Winer" about the hindrance of web commenting. Spolsky references another author, Dave Winer, in his argument that web comments should be permanently disabled. As soon as the meeting starts we begin to see the "dribble of morbid, meaningless, thoughtless comments," that Spolsky refers to. Despite a perfectly respectable and important agenda, the meeting is immediately shot to hell by the commenter's ability to actively respond. I'm happy to say that this hasn't been much of a problem on this blog, but then again, each post on this blogspot only gets an average of one or two responses. I have, however, seen plenty of blogs by now whose intelligent messages are quickly drowned in succeeding mind-vomit.

The best thing the video does is show us the people who are making the comments. These are people in business suits or dress shirts making comments that 13 year olds would make anonymously. This is perfect due to a comment that Spolsky makes about how little he cares about these people who make these exact same anonymous comments. "[They're] not even human to me," he claims. "[they're] anonymous." Except here they're not anonymous in this case. We see that they are in fact, respectable looking business men and women.

Despite this, it doesn't seem that the video has the most pro-commenting message. In the end the guy running the meeting gives up and storms out after having accomplished nothing. I'm not even certain that the creators intended to persuade for or against blog comments, but they seem to make a fairly good case against it and it's hindrance to productivity.

Oh yeah, and the worst thing the video does (or rather the makers of the video) is create a second video just like it. It says the same jokes and really isn't worth watching, but it's only fair to make it known that there is a sequel.

For those who love the moustache

So it's been a while since I have posted, it's either a mix of writers block or pure procrastination. I am hoping at least a little bit of both. Anyways, I want to go over a good ol' classic film that is funny no matter how many times you have seen it. Be it the beginning car scene or the meow game, it always finds a way to put a smile on your face. Before I delve further into this amazing piece of comedy film, I think I should probably give those that have lived under a rock a little insight into what the movie is in it's absolute essence.

First off, the movie starts off with hilarity. The scene is three pothead teenagers in a old Ford Mustang smoking pot when cops pull up next to him. At that point, they freak out and drop the joint, then proceed to feed a bag of pot and shrooms to their friend in the back seat, bad idea by the way. Long story short, they are caught but ultimately let off through some other events. You know what? Just go see the movie. There is too much to explain in this movie and would take up at least half a page or more to break it down. So let's move on shall we?

This, to some people, would be best seen while high out of your mind. But I think it is fine as it is with the plethora of rude, crude, and low IQ jokes. I think it is best seen with a group of guy friends just hanging out. If I were Ebert or Roper, I would give this movie two thumbs up for comedy value, probably a 8 out of 10 for actual worthiness of plot line which overall is lacking since it very drug oriented and the good guys do not come out on top at all, plus in the end it looses the majority of its humor, like during the drunk driving scene. There is in this movie though one memorable scene which will forever be referenced by people for years to come. That being the scene at fast food restaurant and The line, "Just get a large Farva." And Farva then proceeds to say, "I don't want a large Farva." So now people go places and order either a liter of Cola or a large Farva. By the way, liter is French for give me some (Explictive) cola.

Colbert Finally Throws Name Into White House Race

Well it’s been a long time coming. Stephen Colbert has finally put his name in the already crowded race for the presidency in the next election. Colbert made the announcement on last night’s episode of his Comedy Central show, among a flurry of red, white, and blue balloons. Before making the announcement on The Colbert Report, he appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart saying he was only ready to consider running for the presidency. He portrayed himself as an Average Joe on The Tonight Show by pulling out a bale of hay and a bottle of beer. He also said that his final announcement would be made on what he called a more prestigious show, which later turned out to be his own. The bestselling author was able to mock the standard approach to the White House with his recent book tour. He claimed to be running in South Carolina, one of the more important early primaries, and only South Carolina.

I have no idea… I can’t really tell if he’s actually being serious on this. He has continuously refused to disclose his final decision; now that he has no one can tell whether or not he’s actually serious. It doesn’t help that he stated that he was running under both the democratic and republican party. He also stated that possible running partners include Putin, Huckabee, and Colbert. That doesn’t clarify it either. Colbert also was not available for comment after his announcement, so we’ll just have to wait for him to break character, which rarely happens. If Colbert is actually throwing his name into the race for the White House, he just threw a huge wrench into a very crowded race. But it does make for something interesting to keep up with.

They Couldn't Come Up With A Better Title Than Bee Movie?

What the hell is wrong with the world? When there is a movie about a bee suing the entire human race because they take so much honey, you know that there’s something clearly wrong. Granted that Bee Movie is a DreamWorks Animation SKG production, which has a very good history with animated movies such as the Shrek series and Over The Hedge. It appears that it has generated a lot of hype with its star studded cast which includes Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, and Renee Zellweger among many other stars.


The basic plot of the movie circles around Barry Bee Benson (Seinfeld, also wouldn’t it make more sense if the initials were B.E.E.?), who has just graduated from college and has only one career choice in mind, honey (No, I’m not calling you honey). On his first trip out of the hive, Barry makes the big mistake of talking to a human, a florist name Vanessa (Zellweger). However by talking to Vanessa, Barry finds out that humans have been stealing and eating the bees honey for centuries. He then proceeds to sue the human race and wins the lawsuit, getting all of the honey back. But this victory comes at a price; it causes all the bees to lose their job and starts to kill the plant life.

Where do I even start? I’m kind of in shock that there is a movie about a bee suing humans for honey. The whole idea for this movie is just pointless. The whole plot just doesn’t sound funny at all, like I can’t put into words how bad this sounds. However in the end people will go see it because of the ridiculous cast. I mean there has to be something good about the movie if so many stars signed on for the movie, right? However there were other stars such as Uma Thurman and Robert Duvall who were attached to the project, but dropped out for unknown reasons. I guess we’ll see why on November 2.

unFunnyCyclopedia

I was doing a little research to try to find a new web comic, and I ended up finding a Wikipedia satire page. The format is exactly like Wikipedia, except it's more directed towards fake news articles than actual information - a lot like The Onion. One such article that caught my attention, yet has nothing to do with a current event, was an interpretation of an instant messaging conversation into old-English. The post attempts to dissect a simple IM conversation in a witty way, but for an article posted October 13, 2007, it certainly doesn't seem to provide any fresh jokes about IM language.

As with most funny interpretations, basically anything that restates what's being said comically, the interpreter's explanation for each line of conversations is about 50 times longer than the actual conversation. Ok, that's cool, but we've all seen that before: like the japanese cartoons that that have been translated into English, only there are 10 lines of subtitles for what sounds like 2 words. So I suppose it's witty at best, but I wouldn't give it any more credit than that since its old wit.

It also introduces user hotchick43 as a lonely middle-aged male who is craving attention. Now I won't make a big deal about the whole "online stalking is a real problem today" issue, cause I can handle a bit of heartless humor, but whoever wrote the article completely leaves the fact behind when he starts translating the conversation. This just makes it seem even more like an assembly of old jokes thrown together.

Now I hate to bring this up because I've posted a bit of material that has no real point, but the question I kept asking myself as I looked at it was, "what does this have to do with anything?" Usually something like that would have a bit of a punch-line at the end, or at least something to make me say, "oh, that's why I kept reading." Instead he changes topic to how he wants payment for something he posted on a free encyclopedia: clever.

I won't be completely critical though, I found two of the pictures rather funny, but that's because the pictures were able to make the same joke without wasting 5 minutes of my time.


"More than two people can engage in "Instant Messaging". Despite these men's expressions, "chatrooms" as they are called, are exhilarating places."





























I just don't see why those two pictures needed the rest of the post to go along with them. You can check out some of the other articles on UnCylopedia, but it doesn't seem like any of the other articles are much better. I'm not sure if it's like Wikipedia in that anyone can make an article, but if that's the case it certainly explains a lot.

Norbit - The Assasination of Humor ?

I have always found quite a few of multiple Oscar awards winner, Eddie Murphy’s movies to be quite funny but bizarre. The most recognizable Eddie Murphy movies would have to be The Nutty Professor parts I and II. The Nutty Professor series became a huge hit after its debut through the latter half of the 90s.Eddie Murphy plays a fat professor in both of the movies. Although one can manage a good laugh from both the movies, certain aspects of each of the two movies certainly did their part in re-defining the word “Bizarre”.

According to Wikipedia the free Encyclopedia:

“Bizarre is a word which means strange, weird, or completely out of the usual or expected.”

Eddie Murphy can be seen multiple characters in the Nutty Professor Series.Some scenes from these movies push the word ‘Bizarre’ to its limits. For example, half-way through Nutty professor one, there is a scene in which the Professor’s(Sherman’s) family has dinner together. Although I found the scene to be funny, what was bizarre about it was the fact that Eddie Murphy played 5 of the characters on the table out of 6. It is quite tough to put what I really mean, into words.

So I reckon that you would be better off in experiencing the Bizarre-ness of the scene for yourself.

(courtesy of You Tube)

As Mark Twain said, “Each and everything has its limits”.

The movie ‘Norbit’ seems to have pushed the combination of Bizarre-ness and Humor beyond its limits and this has resulted in the assassination of Humor that the writers expected this movie to reflect.

Norbit was released in the first-quarter of 2007. Although the movie received overly negative reviews from the critics, it opened as #1 in the box-office and went on to gross over $30 million in its opening weekend (Reference).

Plot:

The storyline of this movie revolves around Eddie Murphy (Norbit), who is seen playing multiple roles again (wow). After being abandoned as a baby, by his birth parents, Norbit was raised in an orphan home run by a racist and blatant Asian man called Mr.Wong (played by Eddie Murphy). Norbit has a rough childhood. After being picked on throughout his childhood, Norbit is befriended by Rasputia, an obese girl(also played by Murphy). Rasputia puts stop to Norbit being picked on by other kids by ‘taking care’ of them.

As time progresses, Norbit ends up marrying Rasputia although he doesn’t love her. He is forced to work at a construction company that is run by Rasputia’s bully-like brothers. He is not at all happy with his current life. However, Norbit is given another shot at happiness when his childhood sweet-heart Kate (played by Thandie Newton and not Eddie Murphy….phew, for a change!) returns to buy the orphanage from Mr.Wong. Apparently, Norbit isn’t over Kate just yet!. Ensuing is a series of events in which Norbit tries to get something going with Kate and goes up against Rasputia’s three brothers and Kate’s fiancé, who want to turn the orphanage into a strip club.

Conclusive Analysis:

Although this movie debuted at number one in its opening weekend and grossed over $90 million in total, it received negative reviews from the audience due to the fact that it could not live up to the hype had been created during the pre-release events. Eddie Murphy was seen in the Movie ‘Dreamgirls’ right before the release of Norbit. The fact that Dreamgirls was a hit might have contributed to the hype generated by norbit as well (since both of the movies had the same leading actor). Plus, it was an ‘Eddie Murphy’ Movie..so it was kinda pre-destined that hype and audience would come running automatically.

I saw this movie on a long flight about 3 months ago. Since I had a lot of time on my hands, I started to think what this movie was really about and what kind of stuff the writers tried to incorporate into the script in order to try and make the movie funny, even though their attempt resulted in faliure.

The tagline of this film was “Have you ever made a big mistake ?”. Ironically, I think that this title applies to the makers of this movie as well. There are scenes within the movie that would lead one to the conclusion that the very existence of this movie is nothing but a scratch in the name of humor. I think that the primary joke of this movie is on its characters. For example, Rasputia is obese. She is impatient, mean and hard to control. She can’t fit in her car, her breasts honk the horn of her car. She jumps in one of those air-filled castles at the carnival and kids fly out if it. In short, this part of the relies on the low level fact that if you’re fat then you’re also a horrible bitch(Rasputia).

If you enjoy low level humor like this, then you are bound to enjoy this movie. However, I Refuse to laugh on a fat woman who breaks a bed while having sex, even though the scene is intended to be funny. The movie also makes fun of Asian people (Mr. Wong) be potraying them as people who indulge into domestic violence with children( in some of the opening scenes where Mr.Wong handles the kid-norbit).

I was drawn to the conclusion that the face of humor is indeed, changing. In the Nutty Professor series, although we laugh at the body make-up of the various characters and mock them along with their way of talking, at the same time we know that they are good people inside. This movie fails to do so and I think that this is the main shortcoming of the movie.

I don’t know what else to say about this movie. I got a few laughs out of it, but in the end it was just a plain horrid piece of crap.

I don’t know why this always happens in the end.

This leads me back to the same question that I have been trying to examine in my last three posts.

Any “Comedy” movie that I see today, although I might find it to be funny(so may you), some questions pop up in my head relating to the way in which the movie tries to achieve humor.

What kind of Humor lies in mocking the physical attributes of a person?

What kind of humor does the mocking the way people talk hold?

What meaning does the word “Humor” reflect in today’s society?

On a more broader note, Why do we need to use mockery as a tool of humor?

Whatever happened to the light hearted comedy that everyone could enjoy?

Is this the new face of Comedy, or is it the path leading towards its assassination?

As usual,

The question my friend, is for you to answer.

highAgain out.

Tyler Perry’s latest project is movie that has generated a lot of buzz among audiences a day after its release. Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? has given single people and couples alike a movie that they can all laugh about. Generally everyone who has seen the movie so far has really enjoyed it.

Tyler Perry’s third film as a director and fourth film as a writer has audiences around the country dying from laughter. An adaption of Perry’s hit stage play of the same title involves eight married college friends who go up to the beautiful snow covered mountains in Colorado. The story circles around these eight college friends. Dianne (Sharon Leal), who continues to focus on her career even though her husband, Tyler (Tyler Perry), becomes continually frustrated with the relationship.
Psychologist Patricia (Janet Jackson) and husband Gavin (Malik Yoba) have a hidden tragedy revealed, along with the constantly arguing Angela (Tasha Smith) and Marcus (Michael Jai White) yet still find a way to love each other. The final regular attendees of the week long trip Sheila (Jill Scott), who has struggled with her own self image stemming from her emotionally abusive husband, Mike (Richard T. Jones). Along with the regulars there are two new additions this year to the trip, Trina (Denise Boutte), who supposed to be Sheila’s girlfriend but is sleeping with her husband and Troy (Lamman Rucker) who has put his career on hold for his sick father. Expecting the weekend to relaxing as the previous one were, the relaxing mood is shattered, making each couple question the validity of their marriage after the infidelity of another couple is revealed.

It sounds like the storyline is very well developed after adapting it from the stage version. All the secrecy going on between the couples makes the situation very intriguing. The public seems to have enjoyed thus far, so something about the movie was done right. I generally haven’t been a fan of the Tyler Perry movies but this is the movie that may change my mind on them.

Woohoo! Another Steve Carell Movie

It looks like Dane Cook is jumping right back on the horse after a disastrous performance in Good Luck Chuck alongside Jessica Alba. However this time Dane is playing second fiddle to the one and only Steve Carell in the upcoming comedy Dan In Real Life.

Steve Carell plays Dan Burns, a popular family advice columnist and single dad, runs into a beautiful woman named Marie in a bookshop and falls in love with her. However when he shows up at his parents’ annual get together, he finds out that she is the same amazing girlfriend that his brother, Dane Cook, is about to introduce to the family. As the weekend progresses Marie and Dan attempt to hide the natural chemistry that they developed, but there is no way to hide the mutual attraction. This attempt to hide the attraction between the two eventually leads the family into awkward yet hilarious situations. But Marie and Dan fall in love despite the very interesting weekend.

Oh boy, I just don’t know on this one. On one hand you have Steve Carell, one of the funniest men alive, and on the other you have Dane Cook, who has just disappointed throughout his acting career. Steve Carell is just plain flat out hilarious. No matter what, he always finds a way to make people laugh. Previous performances in The 40 Year Old Virgin and Little Miss Sunshine have thrust him into stardom and made him one of the most demanded actors in Hollywood. However bad Dane Cook was in previous performances, directors are still casting him in parts for their movies. He may still be getting parts mainly because of his popularity with the younger audiences since all movies are just trying to make money. Although Dane won’t need to shine this time, he should be able to do enough to compliment Steve Carell. I’m still skeptical about how good he can be after the atrocity that was Good Luck Chuck, no matter how small or big his role will be in this movie. I guess we’ll just have to wait until October 26, won’t we?

I intend to live forever, or die trying

I know last time I said that violence isn't funny. Goes to show that the best of us must eat our words on occasion. I just watched Tom and Jerry. Yes, I was watching cartoon network. Only slightly ashamed to admit it. Hey, I don't judge you. Back up off me. So anyway, I decided that some violence is funny. Those cartoons by Don Herdzfeldt weren't funny. Pointless violence just doesn't do anything for me, but violence with a point does due to the reason that it is not pointless.
The episode I caught today started out in the usual way-Tom chases Jerry. Surprise! They do all sorts of fun stuff, like eating dynamite, getting hit with frying pans, and other such timeless antics. But here is where it got awesome. They ended up on a pool table, and Jerry dove into one of the pockets. Tom stuck his hand in after him and they came out another corner. This tomfoolery continued for a minute or so, at which point Tom started hitting the pool balls into the pockets. He never hit Jerry. Poor Tom. Swing and a miss.
Anyway, Jerry grabbed the bridge stick (thats the one with the pointy-crown type thing at the end) and threw it at Tom. Tom swallowed it and became long and skinny. Then Tom hit a line of balls at Jerry, which then chased him around the table like a train, defying all laws of physics. The whole cartoon does, but this in particular struck me as improbable. Then Jerry jumped over Tom, and the pool balls flew down Tom's throat, which extended and had six lumps in it.
There is more, but now I'm bored.
I just wanted to throw this out there for several reasons. First, I'm old school. Word to your mother. Don't forget it. Second, cartoon violence should be exactly that: cartoonish. The problem with Don Herdzfeldt's cartoons is that nothing was clever. It was like, "That guy got stabbed. Now he got shot. Done. Next?" With Tom and Jerry, the violence is crazy. It's like, "Tom just swallowed so much dynamite that he expanded to three times his size. Oh no, it's gonna blow! Quick Tom, burp it out! Aw, too late. Next time you'll get Jerry. Never give up dude. Reach for the stars." And yes, that is exactly what went through my mind, and because I generally say what I think, I said that. Call me sane now. Third, where did Tom and Jerry go? It was taken off the air when I was six or seven. Now it's back. I missed them so much. Where did they go? I just have this to say to whomever brought them back, "Thank you. Thank you. A thousand times thank you. Can you bring back the original Power Rangers? You know, the Mighty Morphin' ones. Not this new time traveler stuff. No good." If you just read this whole post, your IQ is probably below 125. If it wasn't, it is now. Go get a friend to read the next post to you. Peace out, and if you get a chance to drop an anvil on someone from on top of a cliff, do it. They'll be fine. Trust me.

Disappointment For The Heartbreak Kid

Ben Stiller’s new movie had very slow start this weekend, although it was expected to be a huge hit. The Heartbreak Kid was supposed to mark the reunion of Ben Stiller with Peter and Bobby Farrelly, nine years after making the smash hit There’s Something About Mary together. Experts predicted an opening weekend income of $20 million, however it actually only took in an estimated $14 million for the remake of the 1972 movie. However it did take the number two spot on the income list, finishing behind The Gameplan. A DreamWorks spokesperson said that the studio was very disappointed over the review, attributing the weak performance to overly harsh reviews that pegged the movie as misogynistic, crude and mean-spirited. As opposed to the reviews of audiences at advance screenings who thought the movies was hilarious. The Heartbreak Kid’s performance landed it as the least successful movie this year created by DreamWorks. With a production budget of $60 million, the movies needs to stay strong for another couple of weeks to fully make good on the production budget.

The comparisons between The Heartbreak Kid and There’s Something About Mary don’t bode well for the more recent release. Based on the difference in price tickets, There’s Something About Mary pulled in about a million more viewers on the first week than The Heartbreak Kid. Also the recent release also only made around $300,000 more than the 1998 hit. The Heartbreak Kid also opened in a couple thousand more theatres, which just shows how much the movie struggled with audiences this time around.

Ali G : IDH – Keeping it real or flushing it down the drain ?

I have often, come across movies that make use of Razor sharp dialogues and interesting storylines in order cast an impressive spell on the viewers. Quite a large number of movies that I have seen in the past have left me wondering, thinking about the various things that the script of the movie tries to convey to me. The end story here is that each and every movie is related to a particular “Genre” and what it tries to reflect into the viewer’s mind is somewhat, if not entirely, related to its genre.

Then there are certain movies which try to take things too far and end up being either train wrecks or Super hits. Such movies can either hit or miss, depending upon the viewers apprehension regarding the movie or some past history related to the subject that the movie is supposed to depict.

Ali G: IDH (In Da House) makes all the efforts it can in order to humiliate itself in the name of its genre that is supposedly supposed to be “Humor”.

Ali G : In Da House debuted back in mid 2004 and received mixed reviews from the world wide audience. The movie never even got to the cinema screens in quite a few countries due the fact that the censor boards were successful in working their magic again. The movie was released on DVD in USA and UK in later half of the same year.

Plot:

The movie revolves around Ali G , who is treated “roughly” by his dog in the opening scene. Ali G is the leader of the West Stains(a middle class white neighbourhood in England) Massive, who are a bunch of wannabe west side gangsters. If you aren’t a hip-hop fan and weren’t in the scene in the early 90s, I find it to be my duty to enlighten you that the West Stains Massive’s main rivals are the East Stains Massive (this reminds me of the tu-pac & biggie era!).

Ali G runs a scout group at a leisure center. When he finds out that the leisure center is going to be closed, he sets out to protest and brings himself to the attention of the Chancellor(after the chancellor spots him outside his office, handcuffed to a railing and semi-nude). The Chancellor thinks that Ali G can play an important role in his scheme to replace the Prime minister of the country. The Chancellor convinces the Prime Minister to let Ali G(political puppet) stand in the local Stains elections for their party as the “Voice of the youth”(the chancellor thinks that Ali G will end up embarrassing the party and the Prime Minister will be forced to resign resulting in him being the new Prime Minister of the country).However his plan backfires as Ali G’s “Keep it real” proclamation takes the country by storm and he becomes a popular Parliament Member in the country.

Ensuing is a ludicrous series of events in which the Chancellor tries to take the popular Ali G down in order to make his scheme, to become the new Prime Minister of England, successful.

Conclusive Analysis:

First of all, if you were expecting some political satire from this movie, it isn’t meant for you to see.

I had seen this movie a couple of times and had seemed to thoroughly enjoy each and every bit of it (being a vary niice Sacha Baron fan). However as you might have noticed, In my last two posts, I have tried to question the kind of humor that is being made use off in such movies.

Ali G and his buddies make use of a ghetto lingo in this movie. It was kind of hard to understand what they were saying at first but I got accustomed to it after a while.

I think that the plot of this movie is just a low level excuse; the real motive being, cracking sex, and marijuana jokes. I found this movie to be massively obsessed with oversized penis, masturbation, drugs, porn, breasts, sexual intercourse and cross dressing.

In the midst of this movie, all the topics seem to be open for discussion. From exploiting the federally confiscated goods such as porn movies and drugs to rejecting “ugly” looking immigrants..this movie seems to take the joke too far.

I don’t think that there is anything more that I can analyse from this movie, its just a weird comedy which some are bound to love while the rest find it to be a humiliation in the name of genuine humor.

According to me, this movie was an unsuccessful try to transfer Ali G from the small screen to the big screen (The Ali G show to the movie). This being solely due to the fact that this movie lacks the risky edge that Sacha Cohen took on the Ali G show. In an attempt to make up for this, juvenile and unfledged humor has been made use off in this movie. This movie abandons the confrontational humor that is made use off on the Ali G shows and emphasizes on Ali G’s idiocratic nature to a much larger extent.

Quite a few people are bound to get offended by this movie due to the various aspects this movie is obsessed with (rejecting ugly immigrants, sex, porn, drugs & etc.).

As I said earlier, this movie is not meant for everyone. Many jokes fall flat and rest revolve around the same theme of “crude” humor.

Although I do not respect (R.E.S.T.E.C.P! Do ya even know wha it spellz? ) the type of humor used in this movie, I couldn’t help but laughing at times.

This leads me back to the same question that was raised in my previous post.

Which direction is Humor headed in today’s world?

I would say that Humor is headed downhill at a rather fast pace. However, Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion. I have a feeling that the form of humor is evolving, but what is it transitioning into?

Does this movie keep “Genuine” humor real or does it make all the efforts it can, in order flush it down the potty seat?

Again

The Question my friend, is for you to answer.

Bucky Goldstein

Deadpan rocks. It takes a special person to be able to pull off a successful deadpan routine. How on earth does somebody make hundreds of people laugh, but not laugh themselves? The best deadpan comic I've seen is Steven Wright. He is full of one-liners. He will throw in the occasional paragraph long joke, but he never has a full story. Just quips.
Check this video on youtube. It's probably the best one of his that I have seen. He thinks of things that no one ever should.
"It's a good thing there's gravity, or birds would just stay up there when they die."
Honestly, how does anyone think of that. Ridiculous. Still funny though.
I did find one story of his, which I find hilarious. It's done by other people, so they took his audio, and gave it a cartoon. It's called, Steven Wright: on a bus. Perhaps this isn't really funny, but as a Jewish cowboy myself, I can hope. I can hope.
Check those videos out. I hope you like them. Enjoy your weekend and come back fresh on Monday. Peace out, y'all.

The Comebacks Preview

Oh boy, here we go again. Another movie is coming out using the highly popularized Scary Movie formula. The idea of creating a movie based off spoofs of other movies seems to be a good idea on paper but doesn’t always translate to a successful movie. Just look at Date Movie. Also the idea of a movie spoofing other movies seems to be getting worn out. The Scary Movie series has become less and less interesting but still manages to get some laughs. Date Movie was an absolute atrocity and should give the customers who went and saw it back their money. And the latest in the line of spoof movies, Epic Movie, wasn’t that much better. However, The Comebacks offers some(by some I mean a little tiny bit) hope for this struggling genre.

The Comebacks is a movie of spoofs of sports movies however it also offers a resemblance of a storyline. Some movies that are mocked in The Comebacks are Rocky, Remember the Titans, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, and Invincible among many other sports movies. The movie centers around Coach Lambeau Fields, played by David Koechner, and his pursuit of removing the loser label that he’s had for years after being known as the worst coach in the history of sports. He attempts to redeem himself by taking one last shot as a coach. However the team turns out to be a bunch of misfits who don’t know the difference between a football and a lemon. As the team improves using Coach Fields unorthodox approaches (the spoofs), Fields starts to realize that he isn’t a loser.

I’m actually pretty excited for this movie to come out. Although I will be a little cautious since it is using the overused Scary Movie formula, there will be some changes since it is from different producers. You may have heard of a movie they previously produced called Wedding Crashers. Yes the one with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. So let’s just say they are already off to a good start (depending on how much you liked Wedding Crashers).

If worst comes to worst, we're screwed!

Did anyone actually find those cartoons by Don Hertzfeldt funny? More to the point, did he actually expect anyone to use those cartoons to promote and advertise their product? What I saw was maybe suitable for commercial breaks during Cartoon Network's adult swim program, but certainly not for anything else.
The fact that some of these are considered funny by a significant portion of the community makes me cry. I checked. About half the people I showed those cartoons to laughed. I am disappointed in America. I realized that we aren't stuck up snobs like the French, nor do we have the whole iron rod for a spine like the British, but I was under the impression that we had more class than that.
Granted, a balloon hitting a kid in the head is kind of funny. But when the whole scene degenerates into mass chaos and death, it stops being funny. Now I am not saying I was offended or anything else really. Perhaps that was the problem. I felt nothing for that piece of so-called comedy. I chuckled the first time the kid got hit. That was it. Nothing else.
In order to create laughter, some other emotion must first be involved. Very rarely is anything funny just because it is. When a guy gets hit in the groinular region, it's funny to any other male watching because somebody got hurt, and it wasn't you. When you laugh at a racist joke, it's not because the joke is funny, it's because you flat out cannot believe that what you just heard, someone said. In public. Where other people might hear them. Idiot.
I guess the main bullet point of this post is that comedy requires emotion. Not good emotions necessarily, but emotions nonetheless. Without emotion, the audience doesn't respond. If the audience doesn't respond, it might as well be non-fiction. Which is boring. Just so we're clear.

Good Old Product Review

An awesome form of humor that can be found online today (more easily found online than anywhere else) is the rant. Usually comprised of sarcasm, cynicism, and a large portion of trash-talking, the rant can be applied to a plethora of topics. One man, known online as Maddox, who has mastered the art of the rant, frequently shares his opinion with the rest of the world on The Best Page in the Universe. His latest rant reviews the iPhone, a new Apple product that everyone seems to be in love with (or doesn't have). Needless to say, the iPhone doesn't score as high on his awesome meter as it has on the rest of the world's.

He begins the review in a slightly abnormal way, putting his thesis statement right in the title of the post: "The iPhone is a piece of shit..." It's short and to the point, and the expletive foreshadows the tone of the following piece. Next he speaks directly to his fans who have no doubt asked him whether or not he will be purchasing his own iPhone. He introduces his current Nokia E70 as the main reason why he will not be switching. The rest of his post uses a compare and contrast method to point out the flaws of Apple's new phone as well as showcase the features of his E70.

My personal favorite part of the review is his "non-biased, side-by-side comparison of some key features of each phone." Here's a guy who, in 10 years of posting, has yet to make a single unbiased comment (when the opportunity for an opinionated one exists). Of course, his comparison is anything but unbiased, but you have to give him credit for the features he chooses to list: "Screen turns into a smudgy piece of shit after a few minutes of use... Holds your phone hostage to Apple..." etc.

I think it's the merciless insults flying around that make Maddox so funny to me. It gets back to my original post where I said that people love to laugh at the expense of others. I'm sure if I had an iPhone I'd take this a little more personally, but as it is I can just laugh at those that do.

Also, I did not mention the "your face" joke as the second part of the title. The "your face" joke is the last years joke that never went out of style, while never actually being in style. I'm not going to try to explain it; some people find it funny, while others don't. As I'm sure Maddox would agree, the proper use of the joke is saved strictly for those with a more mature taste in humor (or for those who scored above 125 on the IQ test...).

Maddox doesn't always review things like he did on this post, but he certainly always has something to rant about. If you liked this review, he's got 10 years of material you'd probably like as well.

Serious content: You may consider finding more sources before making a decision for or against purchasing either of these phones. While Maddox states emphatically that this is a matter-of-fact, unbiased review, it would not hurt to do some extra research.

Movie Preview: Lars and the Real Girl

Anyone remember who Ryan Gosling is? Well I sure didn’t until I had to look him up on Wikipedia. For those of you who remembered who he was, congrats you get a cookie. For those of you who didn’t remember, he was the actor who starred alongside Rachel McAdams in The Notebook. (Don’t lie… you all know you’ve seen it) Well seeing as how he basically fell off the side of the earth after his performance in The Notebook, I was surprised to see his name come up again for an upcoming comedy.


Gosling plays the role of Lars Lidstrom in the upcoming movie Lars and the Real Girl. Lars is a shy guy who generally likes to keep to himself and not draw any attention. He has allowed his emotional problems keep him from having fun and enjoying his life. But after years of keeping to himself, he invites Bianca over, a girl that he met over the internet. Lars then introduces Bianca to his brother, Gus, and his brother’s wife, Karen. Everything sounds good right? A guy is breaking his old habits and finally opening up. But that’s not exactly the case…. Well Gus and Karen don’t exactly know what to say to Bianca and Lars, because well Bianca is a life size sex doll. Not knowing how to react to Lars believing that Bianca is a real person, Gus and Karen consult the family doctor, who explains that Lars created the delusion by himself, but she can’t figure out why. Since she doesn’t know why he created the delusion, so she tells Gus and Karen to play along with it.

Just the thought of a movie involving a sex doll makes me interested by the movie. People constantly make references about sex dolls in movies, but finally someone actually based the movie’s plot. I can’t wait to see this movie because of the very original plot although it is loosely based on the French movie Monique but I don’t understand French so it’s original to me. I feel like this is going to be one of those low budget movies that turns into a complete hit with the public.

Can Vegetarians Eat Animal Crackers?

George Carlin is probably best known for his “Seven Words You Can’t Say on TV” skit. What most people forget is the fact that he is also a master of the English language. If you doubt me, check out this video titled, “Modern Man.” This is the greatest example of the ins and outs of language. If you want to look at exactly what he says, click here. (The quote is about halfway down the page).

Carlin is old. I don’t mean that in a bad way, it’s just fact. The man has been around forever. But that’s the great thing about him. His comedy comes from experience. He can make the jokes about life, about decisions that screw you in the long run, even when they seem like a good idea at the time. He has been around for a lot of history in this country. His best material comes from a satirical commentary on the development of the country. My personal favorite quote of his is about the American Dream. After expounding on the faults of the government, the corruption of power, and the old idea of the rich grow richer while the poor grow poorer, he says, “The reason they call it the American Dream is: you have to be asleep to believe it.”

He may not be the most positive or charming of people, but his points are valid. He may be satirical, cranky, even completely insane, but he makes you think about things. He is never funny just for the sake of laughter. His comedy is aimed at starting action. He forces us to question the things we take for granted. Why does progress usually come at the expense of something else? Why do those in power seem unable to deal with responsibility? Why do we care about the meaning of life? According to Carlin, the meaning of life is to not die.