Deja Fu

There are times when the Internet makes you want to run screaming from the room, clawing at your eyes.

There are times when the Internet is almost sublime.

This is one of those latter times.

Garfield Minus Garfield has a simple premise: remove Garfield from his own strips. What remains should be nonsensical and, most of the time, would be. With the main character absent, all elements of story should collapse. But what happens when you do it to a comic strip which has no story? In the words of the site’s creator:

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb.

Go. Go now. Revel in the black humor which arises from the corpse of the most non-offensive creation in existence.

-K

Here we are with another set of videos making the rounds.

You’re going to need background for this one. Jimmy Kimmel has a running gag on his show where he apologizes to Matt Damon because they ran out of time. The joke, of course, is that Matt Damon was never scheduled to appear and that he’d never be scheduled at the end. They even went so far as to bring Damon on one time, where Kimmel apologized for running out of time and Damon lost his temper, swearing at Kimmel repeatedly.

The next move came when Kimmel’s girlfriend, Sarah Silverman, debuted this video on Jimmy Kimmel Live! along with its shocking revelation.

Now that’s hilarious. However, Kimmel decided to strike back on his post-Oscars show. It is a worthy example of revenge done right, taking the original gag and just pushing it right over the cliff’s edge.

Just classic.

(FYI – Just in case the names of the videos weren’t clue enough, they aren’t exactly safe for work, unless you work from home.)

-K

Where do I begin?

First, you need to know what LOLCAT is. You probably do, but just haven’t seen the term before. If you’re confused, click the link, read the article and then come back. We’ll be waiting here.

Finished? Ok. We can move on.

Before the development of the printing press and the Protestant Reformation, the Church used to have strict rules about translating the Bible into any language other than Latin (or Greek). For the most part, translations into a “vulgar” language was prohibited, which meant English, German, French, etc. There are copies of vulgate Bibles still in existence, but it really wasn’t in the best interest of the Church to have just anyone producing a translation. Something might get mistranslated and then you can imagine the confusion. Better to just stick with the Latin, which was transparent to national boundaries. Just ask William Tyndale.

So my first thought upon find out a group of people were translating the Bible into LOLCAT, I had the title of this post and more than a few laughs. At first blemish, I know most people would think the whole thing is a sign of extreme disrespect, but consider the opening of Genesis, Chapter 1:

Boreded Ceiling Cat makinkgz Urf n stuffs

1 Oh hai. In teh beginnin Ceiling Cat maded teh skiez An da Urfs, but he did not eated dem.

2 Da Urfs no had shapez An haded dark face, An Ceiling Cat rode invisible bike over teh waterz.

3 At start, no has lyte. An Ceiling Cat sayz, i can haz lite? An lite wuz.4 An Ceiling Cat sawed teh lite, to seez stuffs, An splitted teh lite from dark but taht wuz ok cuz kittehs can see in teh dark An not tripz over nethin.5 An Ceiling Cat sayed light Day An dark no Day. It were FURST!!!1

6 An Ceiling Cat sayed, im in ur waterz makin a ceiling. But he no yet make a ur. An he maded a hole in teh Ceiling.7 An Ceiling Cat doed teh skiez with waterz down An waterz up. It happen.8 An Ceiling Cat sayed, i can has teh firmmint wich iz funny bibel naim 4 ceiling, so wuz teh twoth day.

9 An Ceiling Cat gotted all teh waterz in ur base, An Ceiling Cat hadz dry placez cuz kittehs DO NOT WANT get wet.10 An Ceiling Cat called no waterz urth and waters oshun. Iz good.

If you can laugh at Christopher Moore’s Lamb and you like the LOLCAT pictures that pop up on the internet, then you’re going to enjoy this. It’s even a reasonably accurate translation.

And you know, even though I can be a grammar snob, for some reason, I find LOLCAT dialect to be hilarious. It just hits me square in my center for absurdity appreciation.

-K

Memes. They’re everywhere.

I usually hate these kinds of things. Jason attempted to drag me into one with the “Five Things You Didn’t Know About Me,” which I manage to dump on another forum I visit frequently. However, this time around it sounds interesting. The idea, of course, is to read one book a week for a year. It’s an audacious undertaking, to say the least.

There are, of course, multiple strategies one could employ to fill the quota: short books, young adult books, and any Michael Crichton novel. Novels are usually easier to read and quicker than non-fiction, genre fiction easier to read than “literature,” so forth and so on.

I haven’t quite made up my mind if I’ll try the whole thing, or maybe just a subset like 26 books in 52 weeks. I will be making a seperate page using the Now Reading plugin that can be used to track my progress. Hopefully that won’t prove to be too difficult.

Intimidating? You bet. I haven’t tried to read at that pace since I was in college. On the other hand, this will be a good opportunity to not only increase my reading, but as I review the books, my writing as well. At any rate, it will be interesting.

-K

Wow. Two posts in one day. You may want to check for falling sky.

So several people have forwarded this little exercise to me. Now, because I’m such a laid back, trendy sort of guy, this is just the kind of thing that I will jump in and post. (Stop laughing. I mean it. Stop.) No, I don’t really get into these little quizzes, or bits of self-revelation, but in this case, the novelty got me.

The idea is that you pick up your iPod, or Zune, or laptop, or whatever you use to play music these days and let it randomly pick the songs for you. For each song, there is a header. So when I tried this little time waster, here’s what I got:

Opening Credits: We Work the Black Seam – Sting

Waking Up: Lightning Crashes – Live

Falling in Love: Disappointed – Morrissey

Fight scene: Fun Time – Peter Murphy

Breaking up: Down – Stone Temple Pilots

Getting back together: Cheap Wine – Dayroom

Secret Love: Hey There – Dayroom

Life’s okay: Sunny – Morrissey

Mental breakdown: In Another Life – Semisonic

Partying: Slice of Life – Bauhaus

Long night alone: Enjoy the Silence – Depeche Mode

Final Battle: His Circle and Hers Meet – Peter Murphy

Death Scene: Jumping Someone Else’s Train – The Cure

Credits: I Believe – R.E.M.

I honestly don’t know what to say that “Disappointed” winds up being my theme for falling in love. I think it might have to do something with the Final Battle though.

-K