September 2010
2 posts
Hipster Hitler →
Very good. Yes.
Doug Stanhope's take on stand-up →
Following my first ever live, Stanhope stand-up experience on Saturday, I sought out more info. One controversial guy, he certainly gave his world view on life, love and our fair Isle.
Interestingly, reflecting on his more meaningful routines in the past, he mentioned it didn’t make a difference what he said as it didn’t make any difference. Nothing changed.
Cynical and...
August 2010
4 posts
Hackney Hipster Hate →
Following on from the fashion-themes I’m currently exploring, here’s a cracker…
Serious funny business by BBC Arts Editor Will... →
The rise and fall and rise again of stand-up comedy.
July 2010
1 post
Woot CEO letter →
June 2010
19 posts
McSweeney's critique typography. →
A genius move to integrate typography into the mainstream. Nicely realised. Well done that man!
Twitter mines out many gems. This one care of @espiekermann and @dwell.
Pencil Integration
Pencil Integration, a blog by Tom Johnson. I came across this while browsing the Twittersphere, and enjoyed his pressing plea for the use of humour and satire in story-telling. It’s certainly a skill, and not one I’m finding so easy to explore.
A restaurant critic to keep an eye on →
This is perfect. The sort of inane critique I like. What are my chances of communicating in this way to the testing group? Quite a challenge, surely. Isn’t it always?!
Via Jay Rayner and Twitter - of course. Now… back to work.
If only I had the hard cash... →
Reprieve putting on a Comedy Special tonight! Good to see fellow Stoke Newingtonite, Stu Lee, participating. Damn these empty pockets.
Everyone, including John Darkow, is having an... →
Via @dcagle and Twitter.
NEWSARSE agrees with me →
Lembit Opik and stand-up comedy? Just no.
The Conflicted Existence of a Female Porn Writer...
My somewhat limited literary vocabulary hasn’t stretched to porn DVD reviews thusfar. But here, Lynsey G. discusses ‘Fake Nails and Faux Lesbians’.
McSweeney’s is another excellent find. Lots more here to mine out, no doubt.
May 2010
34 posts
To print or not to print?
Perhaps a change of plan.
Now considering an online approach to the writing examples for my test groups. Simply put, it offers more diversity in terms of further reading potential. Statistics of click-throughs could potentially demonstrate garnered interest in the writing, becoming an additional testing barometer and an easily identifiable way to gauge Focus Group interest in the written design...
Delightful BP username twitter parody →
“Everyone can watch a programme or play, or read a book, or eat a meal. Everyone...”
– @litherland drew me to this quote in the Guardian by TV columnist, Lucy Mangan. Great that humour is once again acknowledged as a key player in criticism!
“Pain is humour.”
– Interview with Miriam Elia, 25th May 2010, Lemon Monkey, N16.
“You can’t learn to write jokes.”
– Interview with Miriam Elia, 25th May 2010, Lemon Monkey, N16.
“Which does Randazzo (who began his career in conventional journalism) think is...”
– From ‘The Onion prepares to transfer its newspaper satire to television’, The Guardian, 24th May 2010. Sarfraz Manzoor gleans illuminating insights from Onion Editor, Joe Randazzo.
Gawd bless royalty →
David Mitchell makes sense of Prince Charles’ stance on the Chelsea Barracks.
“Laughing together is one of the most swift, charged and effective routes to a...”
– A National Joke, Andy Medhurst (2007).
Thanks to @glinner - what poignant timing! →
A comic strip about our favourite surgeon/researcher, Andrew Wakefield. Love the mix of styles. Much to ponder.
The best parody ever? →
A fab way to make a point. You’ve got to love the Yes Men.
Cultural Diversity - Understanding your audience →
Interesting…
Bruce Dessau on our love for Larry David →
Bah! Such a shame not to have seen Larry David in April.
Still, there’s an excursion to the Curzon Soho tomorrow night for a Q&A with the ‘American: the Bill Hicks Story’ directors. Thanks Paul Wright for drawing my attention to that. Hope to report back with something of noteworthiness…
More satire for us to chew on →
“The implication for studying laughter is clear. Laughter is not the outward...”
– Laughter and Ridicule - Towards a Social Critique of Humour, Michael Billig (2005). From the Chapter, Bergson and the Function of Humour - What Bergson Didn’t Write.
Henri Bergson’s Laughter - An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic (1900) has been considered by many to be one of the...
NEWSARSE →
A compelling, cleverly parodied environment for satire. I wonder how the BBC feels about the design and function here. A little too familiar perhaps?
“Each community has, within limits, its own particular ways of being funny and...”
– This in-depth analysis of humour by Stephen Leacock called X.—Have the English any Sense of Humour? in his book, My Discovery of England (1922), creates persuasive arguments on many key points. Not only, perhaps unsurprising, similarities as well as differences between cultures, but also the...
“When the mouth is open for laughter, you may be able to shove in a little food...”
– Humor Studies professor, Dr Virginia Tooper comments on stand-up in The Naked Jape - Uncovering the Hidden World of Jokes, Carr & Greeves (2007).
“When the time comes where there literally is no ability to extract laughs from a...”
– Stand-up comedian, Albert Brooks’ thoughts on extracting laughs. From the Naked Jape - Uncovering the Hidden World of Jokes, Carr & Greeves (2007).
Design criticism has strived to be taken seriously for decades. Still arguably perceived as a contemporary subject matter and without the...
WatchNow then, what are my chances of getting Stefan Sagmeister involved in a touch of stand-up?
This addition is concerned with happy design, so may not be focussed on the humour subject matter per se, but humour is of course, inextricably linked to happiness, so thought it should be added.
Besides, it’s not every day a famous designer speaks in such a light-hearted manner, and provokes...