Monday, November 21, 2005
Long Title Watch
A couple posts ago, I mentioned the progressive lengthening of book titles, but provided no examples. Here's one I just ran across:
"Now I Can Die in Peace: How ESPN's Sports Guy Found Salvation with a Little Help from Nomar, Pedro, Shawshank and the 2004 Red Sox"
C'mon. That's ridiculous. It's wholly unnecessary. If you insist on a subtitle, how about "How ESPN's Sports Guy Found Salvation". Maybe the publishers thought that might be taken too seriously, but why not "How ESPN's Sports Guy Found Salvation with a Little Help from the 2004 Red Sox"? I feel like I've already read the whole book after just reading the subtitle.
"Now I Can Die in Peace: How ESPN's Sports Guy Found Salvation with a Little Help from Nomar, Pedro, Shawshank and the 2004 Red Sox"
C'mon. That's ridiculous. It's wholly unnecessary. If you insist on a subtitle, how about "How ESPN's Sports Guy Found Salvation". Maybe the publishers thought that might be taken too seriously, but why not "How ESPN's Sports Guy Found Salvation with a Little Help from the 2004 Red Sox"? I feel like I've already read the whole book after just reading the subtitle.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
A Moment of Silence
I think we need to observe a moment of silence for the passing of George Carlin. Well, not the actual man, but rather for the passing of his career as a revolutionary comedian and social commentator. In fact, not only should we all observe a moment of silence, but I wish he had observed 75 minutes of silence, instead of the drivel that I watched the other night on HBO.
George Carlin's had an amazing career. I discovered him when I was in middle school. At the time, I was likely drawn in by his expert us of expletives. Of course, I knew plenty of cuss words by then, but there was something masterful about how he punctuated his point perfectly with them. As I continued to listen to him, I found him engrossing on a more intellectual level. He was a master of dissecting the English language, and analyzing why people said what they said. He used that language skill in many different ways - he used it to entertain, but also to understand the meaning behind them meaning of what people said. Because of this, he was able to be brutally honest, cutting to the core of whatever it people's words were saying about them when they were talking about other things. He was brutally funny, and revolutionary, and had a big part in forming my sense of humor. If you read this blog, you can probably tell that I'm a stickler for semantics and meaning, and I do believe that what people say is critically important - I think a large part of that comes from listening to Carlin in my formative years.
The routine that cemented him in the pantheon of great comics is the "Seven Dirty Words". Not only does it stand the test of time, but because it caused such a legal stir at the time (he cursed on the air during the day), it resulted in a slew of court cases, in which the seven dirty words are quoted in legal documents. Now that's a triumph, and completely subversive. For instance, read this document, and note how the words are explicitly identified. They're now permanently written in the annals of American legal history. Brilliant! But the routine itself is excellent. For example (not for the squeamish):
"Now the word twat is an interesting word. Twat! Yeh, right in the twat. Twat is an interesting word because it's the only one I know of, the only slang word applying to the, a part of the sexual anatomy that doesn't have another meaning to it. Like, snatch, box and pussy all have other meanings. Even in a Walt Disney movie, you can say, We're going to snatch that pussy and put him in a box and bring him on the airplane. Everybody loves it. The twat stands alone, as it should."
Crude? Yes. Irreverent? You bet. But also intelligent. Now imagine a routine like that, except not intelligent at all, and you get his most recent garbage. I guess I shouldn't complain: He stayed good for quite a while - all the way from the 70's to probably the mid-90's. In the mid 90's, I started to notice a decline, but his still had moments of brilliance. For instance, on "Jammin' In New York", from 1992, he had one of my all-time favorite bits of his. It's regarding Airline Announcements (for the most part). Here are some highlights:
- People like to sound important. Weathermen on television talk about ‘shower activity.’ Sounds more important than ‘showers.’ I even heard one guy on CNN talk about a ‘rain event.’ Swear to God, he said, “Louisiana’s expecting a rain event,” I thought, “Holy shit, I hope I can get tickets to that!”
- That’s another complaint of mine: too much use of this prefix ‘pre-,’ it’s all over the language now, ‘pre-’ this, ‘pre-’ that. “Place the turkey in a pre-heated oven.” That’s ridiculous, there’s only two states an oven can possibly exist in, heated or un-heated! ‘Pre-heated’ is a meaningless fucking term.
The whole bit is here, although it's even better when you hear him perform it. Also, I'd like to note that for the most part, the routine is clean. When he does curse, it's because it's funny. For instance, above he says " 'Pre-heated' is a meaningless fucking term." Sure, he could have left out the "fucking", but it nicely punctuated the punch line. A good use of the word, and not egregious. It also emphasizes the absurdity of the whole thing. Good comics don't needto be crude to be funny - they use "dirty" words as an effective tool in their ample repertoire of language.
It was sad to watch him fade away. "Jammin' In New York" was probably his last great album, and even that album had a lot of unnecessary silliness on it at the end. Subsequent albums had moments of hilarity, but for the most part he ranted about how stupid everyone is, over and over again. And when his routines weren't funny, his cursing just seemed stupid. Furthermore, where he used to be subtle and subversive, he was just overly blunt.
The best stuff he's done in the past 10 years is probably his material related to religion. Now, partly I like it because it nicely sums up some of my beliefs about how religion originated, and partly because it's just funny. But it's interesting to note that he's forced to make overt points about religion, whereas in his more skilled days, he'd imply those points - more subversive, and funnier. (He has a lot of early material about being Roman Catholic and attending Catholic school. Nonetheless, here's one of my favorite recent bits:
"Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it, religion has actually convinced people that there's an INVISIBLE MAN...LIVING IN THE SKY...who watches every thing you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten special things that he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish where he will send to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry for ever and ever 'til the end of time...but he loves you."
Good stuff. Not subtle, but still solid. He still does cut to the quick at times. He has another routine (here) about how we only need two Commandments, not ten. When discussing "Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbors' Goods", he says it's stupid because "Coveting your neighbor's goods is what keeps the economy going!" Funny! True! But then he keeps going: "Your neighbor gets a vibrator that plays 'O Come All Ye Faithful', and you want one too!" Why? Why keep going? It's so much less funny and unnecessary. *Sigh*
So, I think to me, it's much easier to pretend that George Carlin is dead. He lived a decent life, endured some hardship, and was a brilliant comedian. It's a shame he got hit by that truck in 1999. We'll miss you, George. Thanks for the memories.
George Carlin's had an amazing career. I discovered him when I was in middle school. At the time, I was likely drawn in by his expert us of expletives. Of course, I knew plenty of cuss words by then, but there was something masterful about how he punctuated his point perfectly with them. As I continued to listen to him, I found him engrossing on a more intellectual level. He was a master of dissecting the English language, and analyzing why people said what they said. He used that language skill in many different ways - he used it to entertain, but also to understand the meaning behind them meaning of what people said. Because of this, he was able to be brutally honest, cutting to the core of whatever it people's words were saying about them when they were talking about other things. He was brutally funny, and revolutionary, and had a big part in forming my sense of humor. If you read this blog, you can probably tell that I'm a stickler for semantics and meaning, and I do believe that what people say is critically important - I think a large part of that comes from listening to Carlin in my formative years.
The routine that cemented him in the pantheon of great comics is the "Seven Dirty Words". Not only does it stand the test of time, but because it caused such a legal stir at the time (he cursed on the air during the day), it resulted in a slew of court cases, in which the seven dirty words are quoted in legal documents. Now that's a triumph, and completely subversive. For instance, read this document, and note how the words are explicitly identified. They're now permanently written in the annals of American legal history. Brilliant! But the routine itself is excellent. For example (not for the squeamish):
"Now the word twat is an interesting word. Twat! Yeh, right in the twat. Twat is an interesting word because it's the only one I know of, the only slang word applying to the, a part of the sexual anatomy that doesn't have another meaning to it. Like, snatch, box and pussy all have other meanings. Even in a Walt Disney movie, you can say, We're going to snatch that pussy and put him in a box and bring him on the airplane. Everybody loves it. The twat stands alone, as it should."
Crude? Yes. Irreverent? You bet. But also intelligent. Now imagine a routine like that, except not intelligent at all, and you get his most recent garbage. I guess I shouldn't complain: He stayed good for quite a while - all the way from the 70's to probably the mid-90's. In the mid 90's, I started to notice a decline, but his still had moments of brilliance. For instance, on "Jammin' In New York", from 1992, he had one of my all-time favorite bits of his. It's regarding Airline Announcements (for the most part). Here are some highlights:
- People like to sound important. Weathermen on television talk about ‘shower activity.’ Sounds more important than ‘showers.’ I even heard one guy on CNN talk about a ‘rain event.’ Swear to God, he said, “Louisiana’s expecting a rain event,” I thought, “Holy shit, I hope I can get tickets to that!”
- That’s another complaint of mine: too much use of this prefix ‘pre-,’ it’s all over the language now, ‘pre-’ this, ‘pre-’ that. “Place the turkey in a pre-heated oven.” That’s ridiculous, there’s only two states an oven can possibly exist in, heated or un-heated! ‘Pre-heated’ is a meaningless fucking term.
The whole bit is here, although it's even better when you hear him perform it. Also, I'd like to note that for the most part, the routine is clean. When he does curse, it's because it's funny. For instance, above he says " 'Pre-heated' is a meaningless fucking term." Sure, he could have left out the "fucking", but it nicely punctuated the punch line. A good use of the word, and not egregious. It also emphasizes the absurdity of the whole thing. Good comics don't needto be crude to be funny - they use "dirty" words as an effective tool in their ample repertoire of language.
It was sad to watch him fade away. "Jammin' In New York" was probably his last great album, and even that album had a lot of unnecessary silliness on it at the end. Subsequent albums had moments of hilarity, but for the most part he ranted about how stupid everyone is, over and over again. And when his routines weren't funny, his cursing just seemed stupid. Furthermore, where he used to be subtle and subversive, he was just overly blunt.
The best stuff he's done in the past 10 years is probably his material related to religion. Now, partly I like it because it nicely sums up some of my beliefs about how religion originated, and partly because it's just funny. But it's interesting to note that he's forced to make overt points about religion, whereas in his more skilled days, he'd imply those points - more subversive, and funnier. (He has a lot of early material about being Roman Catholic and attending Catholic school. Nonetheless, here's one of my favorite recent bits:
"Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it, religion has actually convinced people that there's an INVISIBLE MAN...LIVING IN THE SKY...who watches every thing you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten special things that he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish where he will send to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry for ever and ever 'til the end of time...but he loves you."
Good stuff. Not subtle, but still solid. He still does cut to the quick at times. He has another routine (here) about how we only need two Commandments, not ten. When discussing "Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbors' Goods", he says it's stupid because "Coveting your neighbor's goods is what keeps the economy going!" Funny! True! But then he keeps going: "Your neighbor gets a vibrator that plays 'O Come All Ye Faithful', and you want one too!" Why? Why keep going? It's so much less funny and unnecessary. *Sigh*
So, I think to me, it's much easier to pretend that George Carlin is dead. He lived a decent life, endured some hardship, and was a brilliant comedian. It's a shame he got hit by that truck in 1999. We'll miss you, George. Thanks for the memories.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Stuff
Whenever I have no big event that compels me to write a real post, but I feel I've been neglecting my blog, I put together a collection of random observations. I suppose most bloggers don't contrain themselves to only writing a lot at a time, but I'm not most bloggers. I like to have meaty posts. Mmm...meaty.
- Speaking of the Simpsons, while it may seem that I'm obsessed, I'd like to point out that I haven't watched a new episode of the Simpsons in a couple of years. I wanted to watch the Halloween episode that was just released, but forgot about it. Oh well. I don't think I've outgrown the show; rather, I think the show has gotten significantly crappier, which is sad.
- I read a lot of book reviews (and have been trying to read more books in general), and I've come to one conclusion: Book titles are getting longer. It seems they try to summarize the entire book in the subtitle, especially non-fiction books. I don't have many examples at the ready, but the next time you are in a bookstore, stroll over to non-fiction, and take a look at the titles and subtitles. It's a bit strange.
- We had a housewarming party this past weekend. It was fun, but quite tiring. We finally decided to hunker down and get the house in shape, figuring that if we waited until after the holidays, all would be lost. So, we did a lot of cleaning over the past month, and a little furnishing. But we're finally completely unpacked, which I think is a major accomplishment. Our party was 5 hours long, because we wanted to have it open-house style. We had neighbors, friends, and family stop by, and all in all, I think it was a good time. But I was basically giving "house tours" nonstop, and didn't really get a chance to talk with people for more than 5 minutes at a time. Still, I'm glad we had it, because we're quite proud of our house, and wanted to share it with the people we care about. If you haven't yet visited, we have a whole guest room waiting!
- Now that the house is mostly set, we can refocus on wedding planning. Today is our negative six month anniversary. We've been registering for gifts over the past couple of weeks, because we sent out our save-the-date cards recently and wanted there to be stuff on the registry if people decided to start looking. I'm of two minds about all of these formalities. On one hand, I think it's a bit silly. But I can also see why it's practical. For instance, save-the-date cards have an obvious purpose, because if you wait until the designated invitation-sending time, people may have already made plans. I'm still not sure why you're not supposed to send out invitations until relatively near the wedding date. Maybe people will forget otherwise?
- The other formality is the whole registry thing. Of course, I realize that most wedding presents are for the bride anyways, which is fine. I've never been a fan of registrys, as I've always thought that the purpose of giving gifts is not just to give people stuff, but to put thought into it and make it a personal experience. It's the effort that matters, not the merchandise. So registering seems to take a lot of the personalization out of gift-giving. But then, for a big event, it kind of makes sense. Plus, if people are going to give you house/decorative stuff, most likely they're not going to be able to judge your taste, get everything to match, etc. So, we register. It's kind of fun, but also kind of tedious. Basically, you have to make a whole lot of design decisions at one time, so it's time consuming. And it's tough to remember what you have, and how it's all going to fit together. But we've tried to take it in stages, and register for some fun stuff.
- Santana and Clemens should have won the Cy Young. Pujols and Ortiz should win the MVP. Cox and Scioscia should be Managers of the Year. The voters are morons.
- I'm watching the Redskins beat the Buccaneers right now (28-21 w/ 5:19 left in the 3rd), and it's pretty impressive that they've become a force once again. It's been a long time. They brought back the legendary Joe Gibbs, and were unimpressive last year. Everyone thought we were just overhyping Gibbs, but his previous stint as the coach was quite magical. I kept saying that we needed to give him a year to get his stuff together, and apparently that's all it took. If they win this game, they'll be 6-3, tied for first in the division. The Skins ar efun to watch again. DC's definitely a football town, although maybe eventually the Nats will catch up. As long as the Orioles stink, the Skins being good is some solace.
- I can't remember the last time I went and saw a movie in the theaters. Let me ponder...The Wedding Crashers? Maybe that's it. What's sad about that fact is that I love movies, and really do enjoy going to the theaters. But I'm not going to just randomly go to theaters for no reason. And I have Netflix and a nice TV, so I'm not missing too much, I imagine. Anything good out there I'm missing? I don't think so.
- The one movie I am going to see soon after it comes out is Harry Potter. I've decided that it's gotten to the critical mass in pop culture that I'm neglectful if I don't catch up. I've read the first four books, and watched the first two movies. (Gotta watch the third movie before I see the fourth, although reading and seeing everything in such a short span can be a little confusing.) Maybe I'll write a post about them. They're about as good as I expected them to be, which is unusual. I figured they'd be pretty solid, and I was right. I don't love them, but think they're definitely worth reading. The first two movies were a bit underwhelming, though, but I've heard the third is the best.
That's all I've got for now. Randomly, during the week, I'll have thoughts about things I think I should add to my blog, but always seem to forget them. I figure if they're important enough, I'll eventually remember them.
- Speaking of the Simpsons, while it may seem that I'm obsessed, I'd like to point out that I haven't watched a new episode of the Simpsons in a couple of years. I wanted to watch the Halloween episode that was just released, but forgot about it. Oh well. I don't think I've outgrown the show; rather, I think the show has gotten significantly crappier, which is sad.
- I read a lot of book reviews (and have been trying to read more books in general), and I've come to one conclusion: Book titles are getting longer. It seems they try to summarize the entire book in the subtitle, especially non-fiction books. I don't have many examples at the ready, but the next time you are in a bookstore, stroll over to non-fiction, and take a look at the titles and subtitles. It's a bit strange.
- We had a housewarming party this past weekend. It was fun, but quite tiring. We finally decided to hunker down and get the house in shape, figuring that if we waited until after the holidays, all would be lost. So, we did a lot of cleaning over the past month, and a little furnishing. But we're finally completely unpacked, which I think is a major accomplishment. Our party was 5 hours long, because we wanted to have it open-house style. We had neighbors, friends, and family stop by, and all in all, I think it was a good time. But I was basically giving "house tours" nonstop, and didn't really get a chance to talk with people for more than 5 minutes at a time. Still, I'm glad we had it, because we're quite proud of our house, and wanted to share it with the people we care about. If you haven't yet visited, we have a whole guest room waiting!
- Now that the house is mostly set, we can refocus on wedding planning. Today is our negative six month anniversary. We've been registering for gifts over the past couple of weeks, because we sent out our save-the-date cards recently and wanted there to be stuff on the registry if people decided to start looking. I'm of two minds about all of these formalities. On one hand, I think it's a bit silly. But I can also see why it's practical. For instance, save-the-date cards have an obvious purpose, because if you wait until the designated invitation-sending time, people may have already made plans. I'm still not sure why you're not supposed to send out invitations until relatively near the wedding date. Maybe people will forget otherwise?
- The other formality is the whole registry thing. Of course, I realize that most wedding presents are for the bride anyways, which is fine. I've never been a fan of registrys, as I've always thought that the purpose of giving gifts is not just to give people stuff, but to put thought into it and make it a personal experience. It's the effort that matters, not the merchandise. So registering seems to take a lot of the personalization out of gift-giving. But then, for a big event, it kind of makes sense. Plus, if people are going to give you house/decorative stuff, most likely they're not going to be able to judge your taste, get everything to match, etc. So, we register. It's kind of fun, but also kind of tedious. Basically, you have to make a whole lot of design decisions at one time, so it's time consuming. And it's tough to remember what you have, and how it's all going to fit together. But we've tried to take it in stages, and register for some fun stuff.
- Santana and Clemens should have won the Cy Young. Pujols and Ortiz should win the MVP. Cox and Scioscia should be Managers of the Year. The voters are morons.
- I'm watching the Redskins beat the Buccaneers right now (28-21 w/ 5:19 left in the 3rd), and it's pretty impressive that they've become a force once again. It's been a long time. They brought back the legendary Joe Gibbs, and were unimpressive last year. Everyone thought we were just overhyping Gibbs, but his previous stint as the coach was quite magical. I kept saying that we needed to give him a year to get his stuff together, and apparently that's all it took. If they win this game, they'll be 6-3, tied for first in the division. The Skins ar efun to watch again. DC's definitely a football town, although maybe eventually the Nats will catch up. As long as the Orioles stink, the Skins being good is some solace.
- I can't remember the last time I went and saw a movie in the theaters. Let me ponder...The Wedding Crashers? Maybe that's it. What's sad about that fact is that I love movies, and really do enjoy going to the theaters. But I'm not going to just randomly go to theaters for no reason. And I have Netflix and a nice TV, so I'm not missing too much, I imagine. Anything good out there I'm missing? I don't think so.
- The one movie I am going to see soon after it comes out is Harry Potter. I've decided that it's gotten to the critical mass in pop culture that I'm neglectful if I don't catch up. I've read the first four books, and watched the first two movies. (Gotta watch the third movie before I see the fourth, although reading and seeing everything in such a short span can be a little confusing.) Maybe I'll write a post about them. They're about as good as I expected them to be, which is unusual. I figured they'd be pretty solid, and I was right. I don't love them, but think they're definitely worth reading. The first two movies were a bit underwhelming, though, but I've heard the third is the best.
That's all I've got for now. Randomly, during the week, I'll have thoughts about things I think I should add to my blog, but always seem to forget them. I figure if they're important enough, I'll eventually remember them.
