Posts from April 2008

Yet another incident in a long string of violent, horrible behavior from the owner of the India Mahal restaurant, this time involving a young mother with 6-year-old and a baby in her arms!

Read the story and please, please, please pass it along to everyone you know. If you have a blog, post a link to the original story. This kind of behavior cannot be tolerated.

(via Shiny Distractions)

It’s called the Tenori-on. It was created by Toshio Iwai, the same guy who created Electroplankton for the Nintendo DS. Here he is using it to perform “My Monkey” at the Triple Door in Seattle this last weekend (I didn’t go to the show ’cause of Fools Play):

(By the way, the woman he’s singing with is sweetafton23, a very talented and funny singer/ukulele player)

I think it would kick ass to own one of these instruments, if only they didn’t cost quite so durned much. Though I imagine it would be better off in the hands of Tangentbot. I bet he could K some serious A with it.

(via Jonathan Coulton)

I thought this was pretty funny (marginally NSFW):

(via Dustin Weaver’s Livejournal)

This is probably the funniest piece of Engrish I’ve seen in a while:

(via engrish.com)

For those of you who missed Fools Play Improv last night, you missed something a li’l incredible.

More then 10 years after it went off the air, Under the Mailbox Theater was back! In Fools Play form!

That’s right, John Griffin, host of UtMBT, hosted last night’s episode of Fools Play. There was a mailbox and everyone’s favorite sourpuss, Bill the Mailman. There were even cameos by Mr. Speederbike and the Postmaster General! There were a whole bunch of Fools Play characters who originated in UtMBT, including Jerry the Spy, Horace & Cecil, and Dr. Daniel Poddleoppoly (sp?).

We learned what happened after the show ended: John left the mailbox. He and bill had a falling-out, which caused Bill to go “upriver” and found a utopian society (of, it turned out, paper cutouts of John’s face). Dr. Daniel Poddleoppoly gave John some insightful advice about the situation, including, “You can leave the mailbox but still bring the mailbox with you,” and, “There is a hole inside of you that only a mailbox can fill.”

Bill the Mailman got some sense beat into him (literally) by the Postmaster General, and he and John finally made up after all these years. John concluded by hoping that they helped the audience to find the mailboxes within themselves.

The show was a huge hit. We’d love to be able to perform Fools Play: Under the Mailbox every so often, because it’s a great format. It was totally awesome (dude) to go back and revisit something else that is having its 15th anniversary (!!) this year. Yes, I started performing a weekly, improvised, sketch-comedy stage show AND producing a weekly, scripted, sketch-comedy TV show when I was 15 years old. How the Hell did any of us have time for that?

Mario Theme Played with RC Car and Bottles
It sounds impossible, but just watch the video.

(via Wynn Ryder)

So apparently these two Russians did extensive polling of Americans to discover our tastes in music. They then compiled the results and created (with the help of musician Dave Soldier) one song that statistically was the song that Americans most wanted to hear… and one that was statistically what Americans least wanted to hear. From the article:

“…over an accompaniment of bagpipe, tuba and accordian (statistically, America’s least favorite instruments), an operatic soprano (our least favorite type of singer) raps (ditto) about cowboys (ditto). Their research indicated that the most hated lyrical subject is holidays (disliked by 33%), so the song is suitable not only for Christmas, but Easter, Labor Day, Veterans’ Day, and Halloween. These interludes are introduced abruptly by a children’s chorus (“Hey everybody, it’s Yom Kippur!”), who couple their refrains with cheerful commercial messages. By the end, the subject has shifted to human slavery and genocide. The whole thing, going on for nearly 22 minutes (the least favorite song length), is as impossible to ignore as a car crash.”

When I listened to The Most Unwanted Song I nearly wet myself; I was actually crying with laughter. It is truly one of the most spectacular pieces of music I have ever heard. I also thoroughly enjoyed The Most Wanted Song, with its absolute over-the-top blandness and inanity of lyrics (including an over-abundance of “baby”). I thought both were hilarious. Go on. Click those links. Listen for yourself and then decide for… yourself. Here’s some more info (and a link to buy a CD of the songs).

(via tangentbot, in a round-about way)