Heebeedee funnee happidee horbdee postee!

OK, if you got that, we’re good. If not, here’s a quick primer:

…I don’t know about you, but I feel much better.

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Seriously, the replenishment people came through like champs, the leggings are on their way, and all’s right with my little world once again. Of course, the warehouse people could still take issue with my polybags, but I have a backup plan. To wit: I care nothing for such petty matters as employment, for I have this day uncovered the GREATEST POP-CULTURE MASHUP EVER IN THE HISTORY OF STUFF.

Hint: Star Wars: Episode IV was filmed partly in England, yeah? And the Muppet Show was also filmed in England, right around the time the ST phenomenon was peaking…

Oh yes, my friends, they did. Luke, the droids, Chewbacca, and the Princess Leia… sort of. That’s where the Pigs in Space crossover comes in.

Why there hasn’t already been an Internet shrine erected to this half-hour of film, I have no idea. To think, all those poor souls out there scarred for life by the Holiday Special… perchance I can bring a new hope into their trembling lives. (‘New hope’, see what I did there? Just made that up now. Dang, I’m good.)

But do you really care/When you’re a marmoset?

I may have mentioned this before, but I have a deep and abiding fondness for the Sesame Street song about marmosets. Out of all the thousands of songs they played on the show, repeated over and over again, this is the one whose lyrics I learned by heart. Occasionally, to this day, i break out singing them in public. I cannot explain this; apparently, I was a weird kid. This is the view Shoemom endorses anyway.

Later, as all good little weird kids did pre-Nicktoons, I graduated to The Muppet Show. I frankly had no idea who most of the guest stars were, but the worldview of Henson & co — as definitely distinct from what’s happened to his creations since his death — I grasped instinctively and wholeheartedly. Just the other day, in fact, I taught Shoesis the proper way to cavort — and she turned out to be a model student. There may be hope for our relationship yet.

The Seven Days meme: Day Seven (and one-half)

day 01 | a song
day 02 | a picture
day 03 | a book/ebook/fanfic
day 04 | a site
day 05 | a youtube clip
day 06 | a quote
Day 07 | whatever tickles your fancy

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Heh, oops. Got so interested in picking a new theme…

At any rate, as a fitting capper for the week, I present the following, in its entirety, from Shoemom’s old LP of The Smothers Brothers (think ethnic!). Although the album as a whole was a great inspiration, I can safely say that this is the particular track that spurred my lifelong love of 50’s/60’s comedy:

Dick (humming tunelessly): "Soap, soap, soap, soap, soap, soap, soap, soap…"
Tom: "Dick… what are you doing?"
Dick: "Oh, about eight bars."

The Seven Days meme: Day Six

day 01 | a song
day 02 | a picture
day 03 | a book/ebook/fanfic
day 04 | a site
day 05 | a youtube clip
Day 06 | a quote
day 07 | whatever tickles your fancy

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I don’t say I’ve got much of a soul, but, such as it is, I’m perfectly satisfied with the little chap. I don’t want people fooling about with it. ‘Leave it alone,’ I say. ‘Don’t touch it. I like it the way it is.’

—Joy in the Morning (US: Jeeves in the Morning), P.G. Wodehouse

Sometimes, Alanis, it really is ironic.

I love this Pearls comic first because, as is so often the case with comic strips one loves, I can relate. So much.

 

Seriously. I have been kicked off two fan forums, chatted on ESPN during the Chicago-Green Bay game, participated in fan fights on TWoP and spent several months cruising the comics blogosphere (remind me to tell you about the ‘Spider-Man doesn’t enrich my mind, thus is a miserable waste of ink!’ crowd someday).  I want somebody to manufacture this thing and sell it on late-night informercials for $19.99. I am assuming it will come with a special FREE! extra-soft banky for edit wars on Wikipedia.

Which leads me to the second reason I love this strip: Because some people actually pored over the second panel and came up with a Magic-Eye style ‘F—‘ . (Just to save you time, it’s in the lower right-hand corner – that’s actually a ‘# rock‘ after panel compression.) Then — this is the part I love more than anything else — they called their papers and made a stink about it. And the papers dutifully wafted it over the masses. Leaving an utterly baffled cartoonist in their wake.

Self-fulfilling self-references are wonderful things.

Sometimes, you just have to give in to the glee.

It’s not so much that this strip is hilarious (although it is) as that, y’know, Rat in a teeny Edwardian topcoat and topper? Making him look like some sort of wee postmodern HG Wells-esque mad scientist? ADORABLEST FREAKING THING EVER.

(BTW, I should really start crediting my source for these! Thanks jfboyd over on the Pearls LJ comm, subscription to which I highly recommend for your daily dose.)

Some days you REALLY need to get to Sesame Street…

OK, so today has been totally Made of Fail for reasons that make me feel crumby just considering typing them, and after that last post I figure a little demonstration of my ongoing connexion with reality wouldn’t hurt anyway…in other words, it’s past time to bring on more glee. With extra spoonfuls of chocolate syrup and maybe some marshmallow fluff on top.

1) This one’s with rj_anderson in mind 🙂 Apologies for the sound, which I believe is a little off towards the end, but the imagery is amazingly gorgeous anyway:

2) That the gag is telegraphed a mile away doesn’t mean it’s not totally awesome.

3) “Ernie…what are you doing with those glasses of water?”: Probably the all-time E&B masterpiece.

4) Yep, it’s another of Kermit’s newsflashes gone hilariously wrong – now with bonus alien-invasion action!

Everybody’s crazy but me and thee/and sometimes I’m not so sure about thee…

Every so often, when I’m in the mood for the sort of satisfying browse through nothing much that may well be the Net’s greatest contribution to mankind, I open up the Urban Legends Reference Pages and start hitting the Randomizer button. That most of the whacky facets of human nature contained therein turn out to be products solely of human imagination in no way detracts from the good time. In fact, I’d highly recommend the exercise to anyone with a creative block.

Also collating a bunch of favourite articles turns out to be a great idea for a quick’n’gleeful blog post:

http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/lemmings.asp – That time Disney murdered dozens of cute little fuzzy animals in search of the perfect shot. No, really.

http://www.snopes.com/luck/choir.asp – The day the church furnace exploded in Beatrice, Nebraska…killing exactly nobody from the scheduled choir practice. I don’t care what denomination if any you are, this is one severely freaky true story.

http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/1500.asp – No, the ‘Anne Hathaway’ email isn’t true, but the debunking provides a wealth of interesting medieval lore anyway.

http://www.snopes.com/history/hoaxes/sawingny.asp – Which was the real hoax – that a couple of guys actually convinced hordes of Manhattanites to saw the island in half, or that they convinced so many people to believe they did?

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/onstage.asp – Complete list of people who’ve died onstage or -screen.

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/pentagon.asp – If you ever run across one of the surprising number of people who still believe the 9/11 Pentagon plane crash was all a U.S. government plot, here’s a comprehensive debunking guide.

http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/radio/uncledon.asp – Short version? The ‘That oughta hold the little bastards!’ legend never happened. Well-nigh exhaustive version? This article.

http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/ozcoat.asp – A second-hand coat bought for a Wizard of Oz character turns out to be startlingly appropriate.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/asylum/fbipizza.asp – “Yes, this is the psychiatric hospital. Yes, we’re all FBI agents. Yes, that’ll be twenty large pizzas with everything. What’s so hard to grasp here?”

More Bob & Ray-related glee!

So, ah, yeah, in the course of rummaging around for the clips in yesterday’s post…well, look at it this way: the more Bob & Ray clips, the less Bob & Ray observational verbiage, thus an exponential increase in glee all round, eh?

Besides which, this clip happens to be a source of Very Special Glee for yours truly, on account of I had no idea it even existed until it was released this month. Turns out that back in 1968 freelance producer David Jacobsen, thoroughly charmed by B&R’s unique way of making funny, spent an afternoon documenting it for posterity. (And no wonder; if the clip below is any indication, in person they came across as less an act than an oddball shared introversion. Rather like those twins that develop their own private language – the urge to crack the code must’ve been nearly irresistible.)

The result was dubbed – at their suggestion – Bob & Ray: An Award Winning Film. Unfortunately, never mind awards, it didn’t even find a distributor. So Jacobsen stuffed the footage in a closet…and has now pulled it out just in time for me to have backed up my allowance for, like, years on this iPod thing. Major loss of glee there.

Meanwhile, though, there’s this promo excerpt, which may be the only comedy footage in existence to be interesting more for what’s not there than what is:

Glee forever!

So there’s been some discussion re: the Take Back the Glee movement on LJ.

I am highly in favour of this whole idea, and not just because the icon attached to that post? Totally my phrase. Just saying. But no, I’ve actually been a firm believer in glee ever since I first encountered the concept in about grade five or so. If for no other reason than that it’s just such a fun word to bat around. To the point where saying it aloud several times running actually induces the state it describes. No, really, give it a try.

*pause*

Not bad, eh? I also recommend wandering around going ‘quack’ for awhile. Or ‘squeak’. Squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak…

[ahem] Right, yes, glee production. While I have no severe traumas to bounce back from – yet, anyway – participation in the movement does seem like a good way to get out from under the dark(ish) cloud of my last post. Clearly, the blogging gods demand sacrifice. Besides which, it fits in neatly with my new YouTube-posting habit.

(Yeah, I know, I know. Next week: I report in breathlessly on how I’ve learned to make my own mood icons!)

Anyhow, for now I present two clips that bring me much personal glee, in the hopes that they may spread some further:

1) Bob & Ray, ‘Champion Low Jumper’ – C’mon, you know I had to. It may help (sorry, guys) that this isn’t a video per se; it’s a recording from their Broadway show, of one of their most famous routines. The screwball logic is just…so…logical.

2) Sesame Street, ‘La La La Song’ – One of the simplest and sweetest of the original Bert & Ernie clips…incidentally, ‘linoleum’ is a really fun word to say, too.