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.
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.
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.
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 isa 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.
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.
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 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.
