Humor As Art

Paul Vs. George

2009-06-05T08:31:00.003-04:00

When I met George Cox he was producing an auto-documentary while at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1999. At that time, it was the most interesting thing happening at the school that I knew of. I kept a safe distance to study George's behavior and artistic approach, I admired it. George and I had few intimate moments, I mostly sat back and awwed at what I was witnessing. Analogous to viewing this video, the cognitive responses are similar to those days at the Museum School.

The closest I came to living like a George Cox was when I rode my bicycle across the country; only a marginal fraction of what the George Cox experience could be.

George runs his own production company now: Cogs Industries. I ran into him about 3 years ago, he was thinned haired, still wiled eyed, but still spit fired. I don't know where he is. The city of Boston now has just memories and social sporadic residue of his occupancy. But Cogs Industries is out there still, and you too can keep an eye on his on goings as they are always fascinating and more interesting than the life you are living.

Oh, Dem Watermelons by Robert Nelson

2009-06-04T21:46:00.000-04:00

From UBUWEB

Watermelons was commissioned by the San Francisco Mime Troupe as a short entertainment to be screened during intermission for its rather infamous 1965 Minstrel Show (Civil Rights from the Cracker Barrel), which assaulted racial stereotypes by wildly exaggerating them -- as performed by (mostly white) performers in blackface, yet. A relative latecomer to filmmaking, the 35-year-old Nelson had just begun fooling around with the medium, mostly in collaboration with then-wife Gunvor Nelson. To make Watermelons he drafted talent from the Mime Troupe and alma mater Mills College, where he'd also found a young composer named Steve Reich, later known (to his occasional annoyance) as the father of minimalism, and thus the person to be blessed or blamed for subsequent fellow travelers Philip Glass and John Adams.

Reich's raucously repetitive choral arrangement of a Stephen Foster oldie (in which a slave mourns his deceased master) adds another satirical dimension to the color visuals, which direct the campus era's mood of anarchy and impudence toward the watermelon. Aiming to explode stereotypes and their symbols, the film finds melons used as bombs, footballs, baseballs, shooting targets, even as sensuous love objects. Watermelons are cut-and-pasted onto existing images (from Superman to a NASA missle) and sometimes animated there, à la Terry Gilliam's Monty Python 'toons. Fruits are chased by white male hordes, then turn around (via the magic of reverse projection) to chase them in return."

James O'Brien dies?

2009-05-02T07:52:00.000-04:00

A Message from the Blogger:

A lot of people who googled my name this week have been writing me and my family thinking I died. I assure you I'm alive and well, and although my name is often associated with the word humor on the internet, this James O'Brien is not me. It appears that the O'Brien name, though does carry a certain culture weight in the realms of humor. Google is an authority on such connections and the evidence is here in this link. Please there is no cause for any more alarm. I am still alive, and MY humor is still JUST as contagious as THIS James O'Brien who is dead now.

http://www.freep.com/article/20090426/NEWS08/904260692?imw=Y

James O'Brien dies; his good humor was contagious

Starting others off on the right course -- both mentally and directionally -- was all in a day's work for James O'Brien.

A retired General Motors Corp. employee who worked as a starter at the Pine Trace Golf Club in Rochester Hills for the past decade, Mr. O'Brien was known by many for a sunny disposition that often proved contagious to those around him.

A Troy resident and veteran of World War II, Mr. O'Brien died Wednesday at Beaumont Hospital in Troy of cardiac arrest after complications from surgery. He was 83.

"He had the most amazing outlook on life and touched so many people's lives in a positive way," said his son, Kevin O'Brien. "You could be experiencing the worst possible day of your life until you ran into him, and after one of his inspiring pep talks, your whole attitude had changed for the better."

Born in Chicago, he graduated from Birmingham High School and served with the Marine Corps during World War II in the Pacific theater of operations.

After the war, he went to work as a Lifesaver candy salesman. He married Elaine Cross in 1949.

His career with GM Fisher Body began in 1951. He spent his entire career as a production analyst, responsible for overseeing various aspects of assembly-line operations for the company until his retirement in 1986.

A health and fitness buff, Mr. O'Brien's daily routine included weight lifting and calisthenics, as well as walking 5 miles each day with his wife. The couple also enjoyed ballroom dancing.

Beside his wife and son, survivors include daughter Maureen Windel; five grandchildren; one great-grandchild; two sisters, and a brother.

Visitation is from 2 to 8 p.m. today at A. J. Desmond & Sons Funeral Home, 2600 Crooks, Troy, with a scripture service at 7 p.m.

A funeral mass will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Hugo of the Hills Church, 2215 Opdyke, Bloomfield Hills. Visitation will precede the service at 9:30 a.m.

The body is to be cremated.

Contact JOE ROSSITER: 313-222-6594 or jrossiter@freepress.com

Going too Far Corner: Facebook

2009-02-28T21:30:00.000-05:00

Facebook has gone too far with it's advertising claims lately. I was just browsing my facebook when this ludicrous advertisement came on for teeth whitening. Now, I've seen a lot of hair brained facebook advertisements in my day, but this one takes the totem.

Let's think about this though, it says, "Dye your face skin a darker shade!" Won't that make the rest of your body look ludicrous? The extremes people go through to make their teeth look whiter is beyond me. In this post-conservavative, neo-liberal, post-racist America, people might even take the results of the procedure the wrong way.

How to Pronounce Things by Michael Gibbons

2009-02-27T20:13:00.000-05:00

Best Oscar Speech

2009-02-24T12:45:00.000-05:00

It sucks when you make a joke then no one gets it. It happened to Kunio Kato when he won the Oscar for his animated film. Or - they didn't want to offend his accent.

Old Jews Telling Jokes

2009-02-21T19:26:00.000-05:00

My dad can tell a story. But he’d prefer to tell a joke.

Storytelling is a Jewish tradition. You’ve probably seen Fiddler on the Roof. Whenever they ask the Rabbi a question, he tugs thoughtfully on his beard and says “let me tell you a story.” Then they sing.

Jokes are like stories, but shorter and funnier. Old jokes tend to have a stigma, but they only last if they’re good. Some of the best ones provide a window to the culture of a bygone era. They can reveal the concerns of a generation or even the generation before. Anxieties of coming to a new country, of prospering, of assimilating, of having families, of fearing and worrying about, well, everything. Humor was and is the ultimate anti-depressant.

My father gathered twenty of his friends to share their favorite jokes. We set three rules for the production: the joke-tellers were to be Jewish, at least sixty years of age and they were to tell their favorite joke – the one that always kills.

Here, you will find them, Old Jews Telling Jokes.

http://www.oldjewstellingjokes.com/

David Letterman interviews

2009-02-13T21:28:00.000-05:00

Joaquin Phoenix on Late Show w David Letterman Feb 11 2009

Crispin Glove on Late Show w David Letterman July 28 1987

Andy Kaufman on Late Show w David Letterman

Christian Bale takes David to the Dentist

2009-02-12T21:37:00.000-05:00

A Rare Music Video by James Arthur O'Brien

2009-02-02T21:37:00.001-05:00

Click to Play

I made digital music some time ago. I made a video to go along with it. This is copyright heavy. I better not catch this on a New Balence commercial or anything. I'm risking a lot by throwing this up on the internet. I do it for my audience. Please respect my art.

Elevator Phone Sex from Second City

2008-12-05T08:58:00.000-05:00

In this reporter's opinion, the video would be nothing without the reactions from the guy behind the caller.

Who Needs A Movie? Fred & Sharon

2008-10-04T11:09:00.000-04:00

Some of Fred & Sharon's creative work. Go to http://fredandsharonsmovies.com for more

What is Comedy?

2008-09-22T07:15:00.000-04:00

From their post on YouTube:

A long-forgotten 1951 classroom film from Medium Large's educational library ("Bake Your Way to Marriage!" "How to Cripple a Bully" "Polio: God's Judgment Against Gays" ), this short exposes the chilling, horrifying, alarming truth about comedy in a fun, fact-filled format. The movie was made possible with a grant from "Buick: The Cadillac of Cars."

Written, drawn and directed by Francesco Marciuliano. Edited by Sara Benincasa.

http://www.medium-large.com

http://francescoexplainsitall.blogspot.com

Amateur Creampie by Karl Stevens & Gustavo Turner

2008-08-17T13:33:00.000-04:00

Banana Slips on a Human

2008-08-13T06:25:00.000-04:00

There is so much going on here in terms of humor. The first thing that comes to mind is the obvious frame shift. The shift may come late after the banana falls, realizing that it has slipped on a human. This then creates the association of parody on the timeless slipping on a banana peel joke. Added associations for more comic effect are the suitcase and umbrella the banana is holding. This frames the banana in our world which Echoes the theories of Henri Bergson:

"You may laugh at an animal, but only because you have detected in it some human attitude or expression. You may laugh at a hat, but what you are making fun of, in this case, is not the piece of felt or straw, but the shape that men have given it,--the human caprice whose mould it has assumed. It is strange that so important a fact, and such a simple one too, has not attracted to a greater degree the attention of philosophers. Several have defined man as “an animal which laughs.” They might equally well have defined him as an animal which is laughed at; for if any other animal, or some lifeless object, produces the same effect, it is always because of some resemblance to man, of the stamp he gives it or the use he puts it to."

Food is no different. Now with the rise of analytical comedy, a lot of weight is put on laughter in the question, "Why am I laughing at this?" which leads to "Why was this video even produced?" which may lead to another frame of laughter. The incongruity of the scenario lends itself extreme to the release of laughter. Banana's slipping on humans doesn't make sense, and this is a basic form of laughter that even the youngest human can cognitively understand.

The Arnold Palmer

2008-07-14T16:02:00.000-04:00

Click To Play

The Avante Garde is Funny

2008-05-11T14:52:00.000-04:00

Great article on a visit from Tony Conrad.

The Avante Garde is Funny.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

2008-04-27T16:29:00.000-04:00

A scene from Joe Gibbons' Deadbeat (1986).

Click To Play

Analyzing the 2 hunters joke

2008-04-24T01:24:00.000-04:00

Jared Medeiros "The Newlyweds"

2008-04-17T10:42:00.000-04:00

Click To Play

Jared Medeiros "Go Get Your Mule"

2008-04-17T10:35:00.000-04:00

A few years ago Jared Medeiros released (on the internet) a few videos that remade some old media. The remakes are filled with humorous subtlety thats speak about the mediums they're emulating. These are some of the most honest, creative, timely remakes on the internet. And we know how swamped the internet is with remake culture. This is one of the few times I support remake culture in art.

Click To Play

Inciting Humor

2008-04-15T09:51:00.000-04:00

In regards to the Jews developing humor in German Culture, refer to the book Inciting Laughter by Jefferson
S. Chase.

I haven't read it. It's on my "to read" list.

Addressing the Germans (English translation)

2008-04-15T00:25:00.000-04:00

Click To Play

Addressing the Germans

2008-04-14T23:36:00.000-04:00

This website reaches a lot of the intellectual
community. One of those communities is
called Germany. Recently, I have had numerous
hits from numerous towns in the great country
of Germany.

I always wish to show my appreciation for anyting
that deserves my appreciation. I felt this warrants
that appreciation. Here is a video addressing the
German population that has found interest in the
research done here.

Click To Play

Jared Nielsen

2008-03-20T00:11:00.000-04:00

Jared Nielsen