Radical Transparency

(in case the other blogs need a friend)

Tags



 
Posts filed under

comedy

January 05, 2009

Laugh, Always

After spending the past two weeks surrounded by our cousins and overflowing with the goofiness we inspire in each other, my sister and I decided last night that we need to keep heavy doses of uncontrollable laughter in our lives forever. 

No adult seriousness.  Never.

There is tragedy everywhere.  Tragedy in the mundane.  Tragedy in comedy.  And we should feel it and acknowledge it.  That's compassion. 

But there is comedy everywhere too.  Comedy in tragedy.  Comedy in pain and fear and death and anger.  And feeling that and acknowledging it is not taking things too seriously, remembering that, whether or not you take it as deep as Bill Hicks did, it really is just a ride.

We figure all we need are the right people around to help us find the funny.  And the occasional return to Step Brothers for inspiration.
Comments [0]


November 10, 2008

Ready to ROCK (or ready for bed)

My lead developer told me in an email this afternoon that he is a ninja.  Which is exciting.  For him.  And for The Carrot Project.  I think.

I read the email again a few minutes ago, and I thought of realultimatepower.net.  Most people have seen Real Ultimate Power, right?  In college, drunk and/or stoned, late at night?  If you missed it or forget, get drunk and/or stoned some time, and have a look.  It's a classic.

I think someone first showed it to me in 2002.  I wish I could remember who.  I do remember that I coudn't get enough.  And I definitely remember when the movie scripts first came out.  They absolutely knocked me over.  Tears.  Screams.  Pains in the stomach.  Exhaustion.  Wailing guitar in the background.

And I still think it's brilliant.  That facts section on the first page gets me every time:

1.    Ninjas are mammals.
2.    Ninjas fight ALL the time.
3.    The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.

There's something about that grammar that I absolutely love.  And I also love that when I copied that text over from Real Ultimate Power and pasted here, both instances of the word Ninjas disappeared.  White font.  Attention to detail.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that I'm curious about the historical significance of Real Ultimate Power. Significance in terms of the disproportionate prominence of ninja conversation in our lives.  And significance in the development or direction of whatever it is we call internet humor.

Did Real Ultimate Power change the world, albeit ever so slightly?  I think it did.  And I 100% totally seriously predict that someone will write a PhD thesis on it someday.

Comments [0]


November 08, 2008

A New Fear

But, today, we woke to find ourselves in a world where a child might grow up not fearing the unknown.  I don't know about