Guy Ben-Ner's Moby Dick

The breath of fresh air Humor As Art as been hoping for. Guy Ben-Ner continues a long standing tradition of humor in art through personal examination. Moby Dick is a low-fi, creative remake of the literary masterpiece - shot in Ben-Ner's house and starring himself and his children in the leading roles. Using clever set design, as well as stop motion editing Ben-Ner creates a compelling piece of video art.

This kind of video art rolls back to the essence of the medium. In the day of "high definition" 24p filmic quality digital movie making, Moby Dick (and other pieces by Guy Ben-Ner) are amongst the visionary pioneer humorous video artists Wegman, Rosler, and Kuchar; this is the reason HUMOR as ART (this website) exists.

This videos exemplifies several properties in the humor spectrum: incongruity theory, disposition theory, frame shift theory, as well as relevance theory.

http://www.cca.org.il/guy-ben-ner/

A Post from my iPhone

During preperation for a child's two year birthday party, my girlfriend was icing the cupcakes; traditional vanilla and chocolate became a deeper meaning in my hum(an)(or) subconscious.







A Wrong Turn in Harlem


I quickly titled it to catogorize the photograph as Humor in Art.

- Posted from my iPhone

Paul Vs. George

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

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?

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

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.

Best Oscar Speech

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

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

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

A Rare Music Video by James Arthur O'Brien

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.