South Park Extra credit.

The gay episode of South park was Ridiculous. Wait which episode was the gay one...... There was like 10 of them. Ill write about the queer eye one where all the males start embodying the gay stereotypes and Kyle is left all by himself to play football. The women begin too like the men as metrosexuals but get angry after a while when all the men just focus on themselves. We later find out that the Queer eye crew is a bunch of crab people bent on taking over the world (how they plan on doing this I dont know). The women kill the crab people and the producer, devastated over the loss of his stars, changes they show to Latino fashions..... and then everyone stats acting latino (sitting on the front porch in saggy jeans and an only top buttoned plaid shirt with a white T under, "want a cervaza")

This makes a good point as the queer eye guys arent really helping anyone. They just turned their individuality into a novelity much like De La Croix did in BAMBOOZLED. How is taking a men and turning them metro helpful for anyone. It only leads to identity crisis and divorce. The queer eyers (?) sold out as they turned Gay into a prodcut for the american market. In contrast with the gay Simpsons episode, while homer tries to "straighten Bart out", the men of South Park embrace the Metro style themselves. Why do people have to sell out in order to help inform the world of their culture. The whole idea of pride is to be happy with yourself, not to be happy you turned however many bored housewives husbands into fake copies. I like how they all became Latino at the end of the episode as it shows how we constantly take the minorites of the U.S. and market them through clothing and furniture in order to make people delude themselves that we accept them. "i love the latin community, my maid Rosalia is one of my closest colleagues." The episode where Mr Garrison tries to get fired for being Gay was interesting as well. The kids had to attend a "Tollerence" concentration camp where they lived much like aushiwitz and made macaroni art work. Like most South park episodes, it ends with an important speech from someone, in this case Mr. Garrison.


Mr. Garrison: Tolerant, but not stupid! Look, just because you have to tolerate something doesn't mean you have to approve of it! If you had to like it, it'd be called the Museum of Acceptance! [the audience looks on] "Tolerate" means you're just putting up with it! You tolerate a crying child sitting next to you on the airplane or, or you tolerate a bad cold. It can still piss you off! Jesus Tapdancing Christ!
Randy: He's right. Our boys didn't hate homosexuals, they just hated the way this asshole was acting.
Gerald: We'ge gotta get our boys back! [gets up and rushes out]
Mr. Garrison: [relieved] Ogh! Okay, so now can I PLEASE get fired and get my 25 million dollars?!

It seems that we are learning through shows like queer eye, to tolerate these people because "they are so courageous" but it loses all meaning of their individuality by them selling out. Very complicated.

Extra credit

I would have to say that I was first exposed to Dark comedy at the age of 4. I saw a film that most parents dont show their kids called The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I kind of have a musical family and my parent used to attend the late night screenings wwhen they were younger so the thought. "hey, let's diversify our children by exposing them to transexuals through song and dance numbers....... " My sister and I watched it many times as it became one of our favorite films and we didnt comprehend the obvious sexual overtones of the film. We bought the Tape so we could listen to it on the way up north, and while most families sang the campy classics "the wheels on the bus" or "Are we there yet.", we would sing "T-t-t-t Touch me" and "Saturday Night" (my favorite). Lets just say it was interesting at stoplights we we were next to the cleaver family staring in shock at the words a 4 year old dressed up like Donald Duck was singing. I now do theatre (not of the RHPS caliber) and i think it might have something to do with this movie. Now that doesnt mean im going to go out in fishnets or anything, but it makes you realize how much those little things when you are younger can shape who you are today.

Today I am obsessive about dark comedy. There is just something about it the speaks o me a lot more than any other type of comedy. It reflects life in such a way that satire and slapstick cannot even compare. One of the best feelings in the world is to be able to laugh at the bleak, pathetic and hopeless. I remember being at a funeral and when my brother in law spoke and made everyone laugh, it felt so inappropriate but right at the same time. To me that is the definition of Dark comedy. Laughter at a funeral.

Funny for some people. Traumatic for me.

OK. This is the story of my freshman year roommate (yes. one of those stories). He would probably like to remain anonymous, but for the sake of storytelling we shall call him, Josh Weaver of Plymouth, Michigan.

I found out who my roommate was 2 weeks before school started. I looked him up on facebook and we seemed to share a lot of similar interests. We called eachother to set up what we should bring (TV, Playstation, futon, etc.) and prepared for the year. I remember showing up to Henry Hall with my sister and after signing 30 pieces of paper, we walked to the last room at the end of the hall: 342 Henry. I walked inside to find that he and his family had already arrived and were setting up his side of the 10 X 16 foot cell. There stood the 5'6 chubby gutted, popped coller prep type oafish manchild with a goatee under his slack jawed grin. We had to attend the FYE seminar and we talked as we walked down to the valley dorms. He asked me a couple of questions that seemed strange like what drugs i have done and how many people i had slept with. Kinda odd for just meeting him two hours prior to that moment.

There was something that seemed a little off about him.... something I could not put my finger on. He had sort of this Michael Scott way about him, both a little too eager and childlike. Two prominent feature I found about him was his open mouth breathing (imagine a more pathetic Darth Vader) and his nightmare inducing eating habits (many a crumb would fall from his mouth as i listened to him literally inhale while eating and moan at the deliciousness of chips/popcorn/ham sandwich). He liked to be shirtless or wifebeatered at all times of being in the room, which was slightly uncomfortable for my friends in the room. I mentioned he was like michael from the office because he would try really hard to be that witty and goofy guy 24/7 (saying things like "that's what she said" or quoting "the ladies man". Speaking of a ladies man, he also believed he was the master flirt and tried to assemble a women's powderpuff game the first night (he even made a t shirt with a sharpee and a white Tee.) and later in the year tried to make a 'Women of Henry Hall' Calender which connects to this story. He also liked borrowing my clothes and hats which bothered me but I'll get to the main point of this story (sorry there is a lot of repression about this subject)

A couple weeks after I moved in, my girlfriend and I had been out at a party, and decided to head home as we desired Jimmy John's. We walk into the dorms and flash our ID to the RA's at the front desk who glared at us conspicuously as we tried to open the door as fast as we could. As we head to her room (she lives below me) we decide that JJ's deliver will take a long time at 1 AM so we go up to my room to get some ramen to help pass the hunger pains of our shriviling stomachs. I hear several voices in my room, which I assume are "Josh's" friends, and open the door. I look at several kids sitting on my futon (2 girls, 3 guys) and then quickly double take at the TV's image of two girls performing intimate coital actions upon each other. Josh stands up and quickly turns off the TV. And then my girlfriend and I just freeze for several seconds, possibly minutes (I believe I might have become unstuck in time at that moment as I replayed the scenario in my head several thousand times) [REFER TO BOTTOM PICTURE FOR A (somewhat) CLOSE PORTRAYAL OF MY EXPRESSION]. "Josh Weaver" quickly apologized and as we begin to deliver oscar worthy dialogue (fucking Forest whitaker had to take our award.
-"Sorry, we were just watching something"
-uhhh. it's OK, you were. just watching. porn. with several other people. on my futon.
(pause)
We just came to get some food and powdered lemonade...
-Oh, Ok. Well sorry bout that. I was going to wait until later in the year to tell you guys this but...
-(cringe)
-(confidently, with his gee shucks smile) I'm a Porn director. I was just showing these guys this movie I made. I won several amateur awards for it. Best editing and best girl on girl scene.
-(pause with wide eyes that would match to that of a looney tunes character)
- And I did it all without my parents finding out.
- Oh (nervous laughter) tha... that's nice.
- Do you guys want to come in and watch it.
(long Pause)
- Wow. I'm kind of too drunk for this right now (more nervous laughter as I look at the uncomfortable faces of futon lounging patrons of the adult entertainment viewing audience. They look just as weirded out as my girlfriend and I do )

Yeah. I'm gonna (point with my thumb). just gonna. sleep in her room. enjoy the.... uh.. (i just shut the door at that point)

We are no longer desire food at that moment as we walk down the hall in silence with panicked eyes locked towards eachother.
We get to my girlfriend's room and as soon as the door slams, we simultaneously switch between the words "WHAT", "OH MY GOD" and "OH MY GOD, WHAT THE FUCK!". After fives minutes of these particular word choices, we begin to laugh (I sorrowfully cry on the inside) and discuss what just occurred. We had told several of our friends about the situation, and long story short, it turned out to be an awkward year of uncomfortable silence and and similar situations. There were one too many times where I walked in too fast into the room as he slammed down his laptop and pulled up his gym shorts. Enough said.


I hope one day to write a book about this experience and be featured in Oprah's book club. Except I am not making this up like that million little pieces guy. The shit really happened.

Wilde Vs. Shaw

It all comes down to this.......... I gotta go with Wilde. Shaw's Pygmalion is nothing compared to Wilde's work. I had read Dorian gray when I was younger and I loved it. Shaw just doesnt do it for me as his stories arent as original as Wilde. Maybe it is becaause his stories have been done over a thousand times. About every decade their is a "new and original" film idea about a girl changing er ways through the help of her male companion who falls in love with her. In the seventies, it was Educating Rita, the eighties it was Pretty Woman, the nineties it was She's All That, and this decade it is Never been Kissed. Yet women love it.

Wilde does have that weird thing about quotes though that Monty python points out. But he managed to keep it up his entire life as his last words were "either the curtains or I have to go (followed by a gurgling sound)". His writing embodies that English wit that was the victorian age. His snotty upscale persona spoke through his stories yet he managed to stay comical about it the whole time. The importance of being earnest recreated the mixed up identity storyline that Shakespeare had perfected long ago. I liked this story because he seems to be mocking the "tie up the lose ends" plot twists in a satirical way. "Wow it turns out I didnt lie so all is resolved as I am Both Earnest and Ernest as well. Hooray!" Shaw just seems to fall flat with his stories as Pygmalion just dragged on and on as Eliza goes through her metamorphasis.......


This is unrelated but Wilde is currently singing for a band called The Strokes now..........

Watch Your step. There is a child there.

I said this in class but I cant help but think that this movie would have been much better if David Lynch had directed it. The dead horse, prostitutes, the angry little person (Abe), stomping on children, etc. that stomping children. My experience in Hollywood wasnt quite like this but i guess it was dark times in the depression (except that doesnt explain the dead horse). Hollywood was such a prominent entity at this time as it provided comfort for the U.S. as it suffered from the depression. Yet this book showed how people flocked to the most exclusive society on earth to pursue their dreams of escaping poverty. Their is a belief that you begin to lose yourself in Hollywood (which we see in Homer), but I always believed that was because Hollywood would change you with money and fame. This book demonstrates that it can change you even before you break onto the Fame scene.

The film seemed really seemed to ruin the book in a way yet I have to say when I first read the part where homer torounces Adroe, I was confused and had to read it several times. But the movie made it perfectly clear, which i have to say was disappointing because the chaos I read on the page was a lot more interesting than the film. I cant stand child stars so that was a little bit of a victory for me. I wouldnt go as far as saying I want to crush Dakota Fanning but there is this urge to want to freak out on child stars and there parents especially. We see the effects that Hollywood has on the Youth and it never turns out pretty. I think about the Little miss susnhine pageant and I get disgusted at how people do this to their kids. They lose their childhood for their parents pathetic pipedream of reliving life through their kids. and their money. Dakota Fanning tries to be this intelligent and domestic adult ( which is parodied on SNL with Amy Poehler) and it is just so comical because you wonder why she isnt playing with bubles and barbie dolls. But kids say the darnest shit. Something needs to be done about this as more and more Lohans come forward and lower Hollywood to an even worse position.


P.s. Why is Donald Sutherland in all these films we watch?????

I feel the same way buddy......... Rough day......

PICK FUCK!

Does anyone else realize the big joke in the film about the Tracy's banner looking like a big giant "PICK FUCK" (especially on the cupcakes)? I heard that Alexander Payne specifically put her posters in all caps to make it look in that way. The movie is far superior to the film to me because of the great symbolism A. Payne uses throughout the film. The Book just lacks any deeper meaning then what is explicitly written on the page, and without the movie, this would be a very dull story.

The film captures so much more in the characters and storyline through great subtley. I love the battle of Coke Vs. Pepsi because it is a goofy analogy, and much more interesting than the Bush/Clinton/Pierot Election. At the beginning of the film, Tracy mentions Coke is Number 1. Mr. M is later drinking a pepsi when he gets the idea to have Paul run for office. If you watch the film again you will see countless references to the cola wars, especially when Tracy gets shot down or runs into problems with the election (most of it is Mr. M's doing). Another reoccuring motif is that of temptation leading to a fallout, in the form of, what else, Apples. (Fruit always get a bad wrap in films, i.e Godfather and Oranges). Mr. M makes an analogy with democracy with apples and oranges to the semi retarded Paul Metzler to convince him to join the election. Also after the affair is commited, Mr. M is under an apple tree when he gets stung. And let's just get it out of the way that neither Mrs. M or Linda were attractive at all.........

Why couldnt more stuff like this be included in the book??? The movie captures those people we all knew in high school and gives them this great depth which made it even more comical as we peer into the lives of these strange individuals. We all have felt like Mr. M at times with those people in High school (though not as extreme) and the book fails to give the connection with Mr. M's character that Ferris Bueller gives us in the film. Reese Witherspoon does this amazing job of being such a........sorry to say it.... wait im not going to say it because their are feminists in the class, but it rhymes with the word bunt. There is no other way to describe her. She embodies the relentless politician/know it all/closet slut that the book cannot, or rather does not translate to the screen. Why can't more films do what A. Payne did for Election? I dont know. But their are several films I like better on screen than in pages

1. Election
2. Fight Club
3. Trainspotting and Clockwork Orange (hard to read you need a codex to read through the book)
4. Thank you for smoking
5. Any story in the bible

The ending in the film is also much better.....

Slaughterhouse 5

I had often heard about Slaughterhouse 5 from my mom and various high school teachers who all claimed it was a classic. To me classics arent always the most interesting thing to read (Great expectations or The tale of two cities), yet when I finally read it, it redefined what I thought about "classic" literature. I was expecting something completely different which made me come to appreciate the story even more. It was disorienting (which paralleled Billy's own disoriented timetraveling life) and a compelling read.

The time travel aspect interested me very much. How would you act if throughout your life you would blink your eyes and open them to see your future or past all over again. Would you panic and try to fix the mistakes of the past? Or would you become this zen-like objectivist much like Billy? Since none of us will probably ever experience an event like this, then it is safe to say we will never know. The paradox I talked about in class was "the Predestination Paradox". If Billy was predestined to go back and forward in time at random points of his life, then no matter what he does, he will not change history but rather fulfill whatever he is supposed to do (it is usually irony at its best). Though most films dealing with this scenario are much more drastic (Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure), Billy goes through time not to save the world, but just as a result of aliens intervening in his life. The science fiction element of the story is a Macguffin as it is unimportant whether it is real or not.

We, as the reader, are unsure whether the narrator is reliable about Billy. If Billy goes through time at any given moment than who knows how long he has been a time traveller. He could be trying to change history for years but is unable to change his life in a Back To The Future Style sort of way. That could be the reason he is the same solomn tone throughout the book, his body is there but his mind (in a metaphysical sense) is not. When he stands and is almost shot it seems as though he is trying to change his fate, despite his knowledge that he will die much later in his life. He is imprisoned in this time conundrum and he eventually becomes the Tranquil and reserved Billy that we all know. He can only change himself as he goes through time. He cannot change what goes on around him, only his personality and outlook on what I guess you can call a life. He accepts his fate to be unable to change what goes on in the world around him. To me Billy is like a Zen Master and has accepted his eternity of life (as he can never truly die as he will only wake up in his past) and simply put, he just is. He has no other option but to live this way.

i think for anyone to try to figure out all of the philosophical kinks of this story would be ridiculous as there is just no way. But it definately makes for a good story.......