Irony In The Post-9/11 Age: Comedy And Tragedy As 'Very Strange Roommates'

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/09/03/140150115/irony-in-the-post-9-11-age-comedy-and-tragedy-as-very-strange-roommates

Humor analysis in a Post 9/11

Comedy Since 9/11: Comics Reflect On What It Took To Get New York Laughing Again

http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2011/sep/05/comedy-911-comics-reflect-what-it-took-get-new-york-laugh-again/

DVblog

This site (and this link specifically) has a category 45, which is their humor category.  The videos are fine art-a-plenty and are categorized by specific topics.  I love this site and so will you.  A great resource for humorous  quicktime video and fine art video in general.

http://dvblog.org/?cat=45

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.

Banana Slips on a Human

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 Avante Garde is Funny

Great article on a visit from Tony Conrad.


The Avante Garde is Funny.

Patrick Rock

Iggy Want to Fuck

nice...

Patrick Rock
Rock's Box Gallery

Judging by what Patrick Rock's artist statement: "I am not prepared to make a statement at this time." leads me to believe the work is open for interpretation. Which is the way great art should be, and Rock's work leaves enough for us to contemplate in the short amount of time he gives us in his videos? performances? videotaped performances? The lines are not defined, nor should they be. Rock's work breaks form in a lot of traditions of humor, performance art, and video art which is why the work stands out. It's an honor to have his video pieces on this site, as I've been admiring his work, nearly, once my foot landed in Portland. He's an Oregon native who studied in San Francisco only to come back to Portland to start his gallery Rock's Box. If you're an artist coming back to Portland, starting your own gallery is in my opinion "doing it right".

Danzig's Book Collection (J.O'B ReMake)

Click To Play

Glenn Danzig gives us a tour of his high profile book collection.

Click to Play

James A. O'Brien gives us a tour of his high profile book collection.

Bob Dylan

Barbie's Audition - Joe Gibbons

This tape is also found on http://www.illegal-art.org.

From Creative Capital:

Joe Gibbons is recognized as a groundbreaking filmmaker in experimental autobiography. His more than thirty films include Unnatural Acts (1975), Going to the Dogs (1980), Hellhound (1995), and Final Exit (2000). He has been recognized with fellowships and awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Black Maria Film and Video Festival, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities. He has recently screened his work at the Rotterdam Film Festival, the Whitney Biennial, Museum Of Modern Art, and on PBS. He is a 2001 recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship.


Joe Gibbons