Disney's Avatar?

I recently saw Avatar and must say I enjoyed it. But that doesn't mean I don't think this "review" of the film isn't funny as hell.

Proof the Web3.0 will be a smashing success:

Like customization? How about personalized beer bottles (via SILYP).

Complaining as Art

I laughed so hard reading this letter to the president of Virgin airlines that people looked at me funny as they walked by my office. Totally worth it. Rumor has it the airline has offered him a job in culinary quality control. (via Coudal).

Funny Doesn't Belong There

I often find myself trying to come to terms with my love of rhetoric; to the point that I try to find traces of this love littered throughout my entire life's narrative. One such trace, I tell myself, is my lifelong love of the cover song and the remix. Since I was a kid, I have always enjoyed the playful cover or parody--like the Lemonhead's "My Name is Luka," Dynamic Hack's "Boyz in tha Hood," or even Alien Ant Farm's "Smooth Criminal."

So, I tell myself, this clearly expresses an early appreciation for the kairotic dimensions of context. I appreciate a playful re-appropriation. I also can appreciate it as a deconstructionist--something that alerts us to silent norms, to expectations. Such an alert must be respectful, even while playful. For instance: laughing at a funeral. The laugh at a funeral might defy social convention, but it does so (hopefully) as light-hearted remembrance and as painfully playful nostalgia. It manifests the often neglected cliche: a proper funeral celebrates a life rather than mourns a death. So, you can laugh at a funeral. You cannot order a pizza.

I think the playful cover song, one self-conscious of its recontextualization, represents this kind of properly un-kairotic laughter (to borrow DDD's term). This laughter attempts a self-consciousness tempered by obligation--to the original, to the moment, to something other. All this came to mind today thanks to Mxrk's sharing the Jim Lehrer piece:

Sure its too easy, but its still funny

I normally don't waste time with Bush bashing, its sort of like challenging a sixth grader to a steel cage match, but this shit is too funny.

New Course on Rhetorical Theory [Fake]

I usually leave the political comedy commentary up to others, but I had to share this. Via the Blogora (via 23/6):

Biden Debate Training

That was a direct quote.

Wait...what

The Pats are comfortably handling Miami so I'm surfing the web for comics (following a conversation at lunch last week). For some reason I need to share this with the world [you can click on the post title to see the original over at xkcd.com]:

Happy holidays. No, really. I mean it.

Birthday Card

This is making the internet rounds.

Proof positive that I am an internet nerd: I find it quite funny.

Another Quick One

I don't think we can be friends if you don't like this one:

Powerthirst Sports Drink Spoof - Watch more free videos

Oh, one more thing: the Celtics are in such a dismal place that Kevin Garnett, who hasn't sniffed the playoffs in recent memory, is refusing what (in theory) would be a pretty good trade. Paul Pierce would be the talented wingman that Garnett's never really had in Minnesota. Those two players would make the Celtics a legitimate contender in the East. Oh well. I still think we'll end up trading our #5 pick to the Blazers for Randolf (that way Conley can be united with Oden and the Celtics get another low post player to match up with Jefferson).

Poirot Takes the Case

I awoke this morning to a terrible scene:

Immediately I took a quick survey of the damage:

I conjured the spirit of my favorite Belgium detective... he immediately instructed me to locate the origin of the crime:

Next, I investigated the body of the victim. The injuries were severe. It seems the killer, or killers, took pleasure in their work.

With a sleuth's eye, I took a quick look around at the suspects:

1. Molly, guilty lab hiding behind the sofa, unwilling to look anyone in the eye. Despite her seemingly innocent look, she makes a living chewing everything in sight... (yesh... dat's profiling dads, ish not good")
   
2. Zizek, the usual suspect, brazenly returning to the scene of the crime, a piece of cushion under his paw. As a puppy, he was nicknamed "The-Destroyer-of-All-Things," had he returned to the days of his youth? (ya, I make da cushion perfect, no? Now it is more German?)
   
3. Tree, who knew anything about this strange house guest? Had she chewed before? Had the Santos' unwittingly invited a murdered into their midst? (Don't yet have a "voice" for Tree... adding to her mystery...)
   

My instincts told me the truth would "emerge" in time... no dog can hold it forever, and when nature's duty called, the Poirot in me would be there, checking for traces of cushion...stay tuned