Why is my sense of humour so off?

Why do I find this idea funny?

(And please forgive my crude mock-up of the concept.)

Maybe those of you who have been reading this blog for a while won't find this surprising, but it seems to be a pretty common occurrence that most people aren't the least bit amused by the non-jokes I find chuckle worthy.

Presumably the trend will continue in this instance?

Gwynn-eh-a Pigg

A few days ago I couldn't stop thinking about "Gwynn-eh-a Pigg."  It was stuck in my head and I didn't know why.


Fortunately, after a few days of thinking and speaking this phrase I remembered the source - an episode of the Kasper Hauser Comedy Podcast.

Shortly after coming to this realization I remembered another episode of their's, this one dealing with spicy pony heads and I couldn't help but think it might be something that Kirsten would like.

He talk-sings the hell out of the anthem

I am not inclined to call myself a big William Shatner fan, but I did find this pretty amusing for an NFB production (an attempt at humour).



[Embedded video]

A Few Quick Notes 529

-We are in the midst of another beautiful day in Halifax. Amazingly, even though it has been sunny all day the puddle outside my window (which was featured in yesterday's video) has still not dried up.

-I am now down to a shameful 4 for 32 in this year's RUTRTW contest. I guess all of this year's Dal luck when to the girl who won a car the other day.

-I have been spending far too much time following a variety of Canadian politics types on Twitter. The problem is that as reporters are reporting on things from the field one can basically watch stories as they break and as the various parties respond to them. One can easily have an entire day sucked up without really accomplishing more than gaining a familiarity political brouhaha of the day.

-Last night Neil and I attended our final DAGS meeting of the year, and this was after we had already attended our union's AGM. Talk about a day full of large-scale meetings.

-Neil and I will be heading over to our local Yuk Yuk's tonight to see Graham Clark of Stop Podcasting Yourself fame. I am curious to know if I will be the only bumper/MaxFunster in the audience tonight?

Though Neil isn't much of a MaxFunster or a bumper, tonight's show will mean that he is something of a Stop Podcasting Yourself completist in that he will have seen both Dave and Graham perform live in Halifax. Presumably one of the few people in the world to have accomplished such a feat?

-I should either get back to work or start making dinner. Probably the latter in this instance.

Funny thing I saw today

I really enjoyed this fake ad/ad parody made by Mark Little, a local comedian and sketch group member.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

[Embedded video]

A Few Quick Notes 477

-Though not particularly wet, today was definitely quite grey and cold. Not surprisingly, it seems that we might be in for some more snow in the coming hours/days.

-In my previous post it was mentioned that today I attended a talk given by Liberal MP Siobhan Coady. I should have mentioned that this talk was one of several today given by Liberal MPs. It seems that the Globe and Mail has already reported upon the talk given by Bob Rae. As strange as I found it to be a part of a campaign-style speech, I think that I find it even stranger to have been party to a nation-wide communications strategy on the part the Liberal party.

-I have decided to go for the turkey: three public lectures in three days. Tomorrow's lecture subject is South Africa's role in the world.

-For dinner tonight I made a pretty less-than-satisfying chicken stir-fry. Unfortunately, I still haven't been able to pin-point exactly where things went wrong.

-Because he Jesse Thorn asked nicely and because it is one of the most engaging interviews I have heard on his show in a while (and this isn't to suggest that there has been a shortage of engaging interviews) I feel that I should mention the recently released The Sound of Young America episode that features an interview with Judd Apatow (of Hollywood fame).

The Sound of Young America


[Embedded audio]

-I guess I should try to read a few more pages of this transition to democracy/democratization stuff before I call it a night.

A happening 24 hours in Halifax

Yesterday afternoon Neil and Rebecca returned to St. John's for a week of high-level math and family fun. Almost as soon as they left the peninsula I put myself in extrovert mode and started attending a series of public performances.

I started things off with a nice comedy show.

Several weeks ago I noticed that our neighbourhood blues bar, Bearly's, plays host to a weekly Wednesday night comedy show called Laughter Burner. What made me really want to give this show a shot was that it is hosted former Stop Podcasting Yourself guests, Dylan Rhymer and Ben Mills.

After several weeks of conflicting squash sessions, I was finally able find myself free on a Wednesday evening last night. Not only was I free, but I was also able to talk Jeannette into attending the show with me. At about 8:00 we made our way over (as that was the advertised starting time), though it turns out that we were there quite a while before things started. Actually, I am pretty sure that we were the first people there for the show (though there were a few others in the bar for standard bar related activities). Fortunately we were able to pass the time with a friendly discussion about the qualities of the actors who have portrayed James Bond and the relative merits of their portrayals of James Bond.

The show, which consisted of a number of short acts puntucated by draws for crappy prizes, was great. Aside from the hosts, we were also both particularly taken with the final act of the night, Peter White, a fellow sufferer of kidney stones. Though neither Jeannette nor I was lucky enough to win one of the sets of sub-par prizes (which always include a sample of cheese), we were both convinced that the show was worth our time and worth visiting again. Hopefully we will be able to make it again next week (or at least to another show in the near future).

Much to my surprise, the live performance theme was continued today when I met Jeannette (who provided the following photos) for lunch and we happened upon a jazz band performing next to the ferry terminal. After a few minutes we started to get the sense that the band we were seeing, 6:20 Jazz Lab from Mobile Alabama, was something of a religious group. The emphasis on spirituals was quite striking, as was the fact that the band had a "drama department." It seems that the drama side of the group was used to provide either dancers or costumed characters to match the theme of the song.



Based on some Googling, I got the sense that this band is in town for a number of Christianity-themed performances. Unfortunately I couldn't find a proper website for them, or a real explanation about what they were doing on the waterfront today.

Alongside this group, and seemingly somehow related to them, was former major leaguer Bernie Carbo. At the time I had no idea who Bernie Carbo was, or why he might be manning a personal appearance stand next to the Halifax harbour.



After I returned to the apartment I was able to learn that Carbo, most famous for his pinch hit home-run for the Boston Red Sox in game 6 of the 1975 World Series tied the game and preceded Carlton Fisk's game-winning 12th inning home run, suffered from a number of addictions before finding solace in Christianity. It seems that Carbo, after becoming a hairdresser, now spends much of his time with church related activities.

While hunting down information about Carbo and the 6:20 Jazz Lab I happened to swing by the TD Halifax Jazz Festival website and see that there was a free Klezmer performance at 2:30 this afternoon by the Halifax group Der Heisser. Because I didn't have anything scheduled for this afternoon I decided that I would try to swing by the jazz festival main tent and take in some of this show. Though I didn't stay for the entire show (it was a little hot for me), I did really enjoy the part of the show that I saw.

These three performances were really quite useful as I was once again able to confirm that I am really only interested in seeing performances that are indoors and that have proper seating. Having to brave anything less than ideal conditions really impedes my ability to enjoy a performance. That being said, I am considering attending another free jazz festival performance tomorrow afternoon.

A Few Quick Notes 439

-As mentioned in the last post, today has been quite rainy and overcast thus far. To make matters worse, there has even been some suggestion that we may be in for thunder and lightening later today. Sounds like fun.

-We had our third Ultimate game of the season last night. Like our game last week, we were beaten pretty easily. Actually, we were really trounced in last night's game. I still don't know what happened, or how we lost so badly, but it almost seemed as though we barely even got a chance to touch the disc.

-On Thursday we went to a stand-up show at our local Yuk Yuk's comedy club. While the headliner wasn't my favourite, the show was generally quite enjoyable.

-Apparently the Canadian navy is in the midst of celebrating its 100th anniversary. Because of these celebrations quite a number of foreign naval vessels (and their sailors) are in port. This has meant that for the past number of days the place has been infested with foreign sailors, many of whom appear to be in their early twenties. One of the strange upside of this seems to be that some of the bars showing World Cup soccer matches seem to have more nationals for many of the matches than they might otherwise have had. Yesterday while walking down Spring Garden as the England-Germany match was about to start I heard what must have been a few dozen British sailors singing in one of the local sports bars (though I presume this rather jubilant mood was brought to a rather sudden halt due to both the English team's goal deficit and because of bad officiating).

-I should get going, I have to head to school to drop a few things (including library books) off.

A Few Quick Notes 420

-After a beautiful day yesterday, we are again in the midst of a rather overcast day today. Hopefully the forecast rain does not actually make an appearance.

-Yesterday Peter and I went to MEC and then Point Pleasant Park. In Point Pleasant Park we went to my favourite beach area and threw rocks for what must have been at least an hour. Eventually things devolved from skipping and accuracy to the throwing of big rocks.



These things made quite impressive splashes.

-Last night I attended a retirement party for one of the professors in the political science department. About 45 minutes after we arrived the grad student who gave me a ride left meaning that I was the only student in attendance for most of the night. On the whole the event was quite pleasant. The house where the event was hosted was absolutely amazing (it was huge and perfect for parties). It was also fun to talk to a few of my professors and get a chance to talk to some of their spouses.

-Peter and I are hoping to attend a Picnicface sketch show at Joker's Comedy Club tonight. I am really looking forward to this as I have been hoping to see one of these for almost as long as I have been in Halifax.

-I should go get some breakfast and coffee.

I thought I posted this months ago

A few years ago I happened to end up in the Ship Pub in St. John's during a one-off comedy/performance art event. One of the more memorable performers of the night was Joel Hynes, who performed a piece that really ran through quite a number of Newfoundland and St. John's landmarks.

A few months ago I found an online MP3 version of the same piece, if you are interested in St. John's/Newfoundland comedy and don't mind F-bombs consider checking it out here.

Blog-off Score

Neil: 0
Cameron: 39

A Few Quick Notes 361

-Today was a near-perfect Fall day. It was cool, but perfect for walking, and clear. The only aspect of today's weather that may mar its near-perfection is that it seems possible that we could have frost tonight.

-As some of you will have likely seen, earlier today we posted a survey. So far the response has been pretty good. If you haven't taken it already and are interested in checking it out just head here.

-My father is in town for the weekend to attend a meeting. While looking through some of the schedules that he forwarded to us I noticed that the conference planners had made plans assuming that the family members of the principle attendees would also be attending. With this knowledge in hand I suggested to my father that he might try to snag us an invite to the dinner and comedy show tonight. Not surprisingly, he was interested in seeing if this would be possible.

Almost immediately I realized that I likely wouldn't be able to attend even if my father was successful as I would have school work to do (which I am actively avoiding at the moment). It turned out that Neil and Rebecca were free and were able to take advantage of the invitation to the event.

-A few days ago I read that MUNSU lost close to $100 000 on its September Snoop Dogg show. In the following days CBC carried the story and confirmed the size of the loss. Sadly, I am not particularly surprised that this show wasn't a success for MUNSU. Hopefully this loss isn't too problematic for them.

-For a few days it seemed that Gadhafi would be making a quick visit to St. John's. Now it seems that he won't be pitching his tent in St. John's, which I think is rather unfortunate. I guess such a visit isn't particularly appealing when you know that the foreign minister will be there to give you a lecture.

-I guess I should try to get back to reading I keep referencing.

Beans, where are you?

For some reason while reading the Globe and Mail this morning I happened to read the Review and Sports section a little more thoroughly than usual and came upon an article by Russell Smith (whose work I tend to like) about a relatively new blog called Look At That Fucking Hipster. The site consists of photos of hipsters that have been given humorous captions, many of which I found incredibly funny (but maybe that is because of my time in Montreal).

On a related note, a few days ago I was talking with a friend about the recent influx of hipsters in Halifax. It seems that between October 2008 and now the number of students who I might classify as hipsters has really grown. When I was here in 2008, while I still lived in Montreal, one of the things that I found quite appealing about the place was the more limited hipster population. Unfortunately by the time I made it out here Halifax seemed to have caught up with Montreal, or at least come close in some regards (they still don't have as many hipster bars or events). I am kind of curious to see what the return of the student population in September will bring with it.

A Few Quick Notes 307

-Eventually today turned into a pretty nice day. Unfortunately, I haven't managed to spend quite as much time outdoors as I would have liked, and when I was outside things were a little less than perfect. Hopefully it will be even nicer tomorrow and I will have an opportunity to head outside (maybe even to Point Pleasant Park).

-Neil and I attended the Halifax Comedy Festival event International House of Comedy last night in the Schooner Showroom at Casino Nova Scotia. Our main justification for going was to see Dave Shumka of the podcast Stop Podcasting Yourself. I was also quite interested in seeing John Wing and Reggie Watts. A number of other comedians were performing along side these three (Natalie Gray was another of those that we saw last night).

Neil and I were particularly impressed with Mr. Shumka, and generally the first half of the show. I am not sure if it was because I was tired or if the performers in the second half of the show generally weren't as good, but I definitely didn't enjoy it as much as the first half. I guess the good thing is that I have learned that I don't quite have the stamina for ten performers in a row (or maybe I was just tired).

-Moments ago I returned from the grocery store. My main justification for the trip was to pick up some chicken that was on sale. I quickly learned that they were out of the particular item that I was looking for. Given that the sale had been on all week and the store was to close in less than half an hour I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Maybe I will eventually learn not to leave things until the last minute, though I think that this is doubtful.

-We had more beans for dinner tonight, this time we went for white kidney beans. I was particularly pleased with this batch. I think that adding a half pound of bacon to the mix really helped things along.

The more we have beans the more Neil and I are of the opinion that we really don't have much reason to stray from black beans. I guess once we get through the 6 or 7 pounds of other types of beans we can stick to purchasing black beans (though I don't think that I would mind white kidney beans once in a while). I also think that we might consider trying navy beans again, for some reason I imagine them to be somewhat similar in texture and flavour to black beans (though I don't know why I might think this).

-A few days ago my sister's school, Brother Rice Junior High, was set on fire by a local arsonist. Though the damage wasn't catastrophic, it was enough to close the school for a month. Obviously they had to come up with a plan for students for the next month.

Just today the plan for the displaced students was announced. It seems that these students will be sent to another school for the coming month. The catch is that the Brother Rice students will be doing the afternoon/evening shift while the original students get the morning shift. This is going to be quite a bummer for everyone involved. I imagine that most of the Brother Rice students will be quite glad to get back to their old school as quickly as possible.

I guess what I find funny about all of this is that when I was my sister's age I can't imagine anything that I would have wanted more than for my school to catch on fire and close for some period of time. Though as my mother pointed out today, there is likely nothing that I would have disliked more than having to be bussed to a new school for a month. As luck would have it, I avoided having to face such a circumstance (though I did mange to luck out and get a multi-week teachers strike for the end of grade six).

A Few Quick Notes 271

-After yesterday's above zero temperatures, today's below zero temperatures have had the somewhat unwelcome effect of turning large sections of the city into ice sheets. Unfortunately, it seems that a number of the city's sidewalks seem to be presently located below these ice sheets. Aside from this, and occasional blasts of cold wind, things were pretty nice today.

-On Saturday I finally prepared some beans/legumes in my new pressure cooker. The preparation of such dishes was why I was given the pressure cooker in the first place.

For my first attempt I decided to go with a lentil soup recipe from the cookbook that came with the device. Not only was the soup relatively straightforward, basically just vegetables and lentils, it turned out quite nicely. Even Neil and Rebecca seemed to think that it wouldn't be too bad if we had it again. Hopefully I will be able to try a few more such dishes in the coming days and weeks.

-For those of you who are into comedy podcasts, episode 46 of Mike Schmidt's The 40 Year Old Boy is great. As far as I am concerned, the highlight of the show is the extended story about Mike going to Lake Tahoe with a friend to run a sports gambling system that the friend devised. As one might expect of 20 year-olds try to pull something like this off, it quickly went south and Mike and his friend were soon forced to fend for themselves in a relatively unknown city.

-On Saturday night our Ultimate team was once again smoked, though we did manage to hold things together for the better part of the first half. As usual, we really let things get out of hand as the game wore on.

-A few days ago I noticed that one of the recipes on the same page as a biscuit recipe that I frequent use was a recipe for "Cowboy Coffee Cake." For some reason I found this name rather tempting and have been trying to come up with a reason/time to make a batch.

After finishing dinner this evening I felt that the time had come and that I would try to whip up a batch of Cowboy Coffee Cake. Now that it is out of the oven I can't quite understand why they tried to associate with cowboys, it looks like pretty standard coffee cake as far as I can tell. I guess I should try a piece while it is still warm.

-This morning I removed the 'stache (olibama) that I acquired on Friday. I was pretty sure that its presence wouldn't endear me to the class to whom I had to give a lecture this morning.

Blog-off
Cameron: 11
Neil: 0

The laughs never stop

Earlier tonight Neil and I were talking and I mentioned that 'Cameron' is as close as I am likely to get to 'romance.' Neil responded by suggesting that 'dyslexia' is as close as I am likely get to 'daily sex.'

A Few Quick Notes 224

-Today, like the past few days, has been quite nice. The sky is clear and the wind relatively low. The temperature, though it has dropped since I first arrived, is still quite pleasant, particularly if one is walking. Unfortunately, it seems that rain has been forecast for this weekend (at least I don't have to go walk to school on either of these days).

-Thinking of school, it has really been keeping me busy the past few days. Actually, to a large extent, the large quantity of reading and writing which I have been expected to do has been keeping me away from recreational activities (including blogging).

The notable exception to this trend was a trip to Yuk Yuk's that Neil, Rebecca, and I took last night. We decided to head back to see Kyle Radke, a comedian we saw on our first trip there a few weeks ago.

Just like on our previous visit, the evening was hosted by a local comedian who did some performing before each of the acts. The first two acts of the evening were from Halifax while the third was from New Brunswick. I think that all three of us weren't as impressed with the third act of the night, but that may just have been because he was quite clearly targeting his jokes to the middle-aged members of the audience.

As was the case on our first visit, all three of us really enjoyed Kyle Radke's performance. While there was some duplication of material (as one would expect) the show was consistently funny and entertaining. The material we hadn't heard before was great and was interspersed with some of the stuff we had heard, giving it a new context so that it didn't feel stale.

-I finally got around to baking some bread today. Unfortunately, my batch wasn't quite as large as I had hoped it would be. Some how I ended up with only three loaves, instead of my intended four. The bread is also not quite as sweet as usual, though that is mainly because I didn't put as much sugar as usual.

-Our neighbours, one of whom is also a political science student, will soon be moving out of their apartment. In preparation for the move the started to sell some of their belongings a few weeks ago. Neil and I took the opportunity to buy a few things, including a pair of end tables, some wine glasses, and a bookshelf. We were able to take possession of most of the item immediately, but we had to wait on the bookshelf as it was filled with books (this wasn't a particular problem as we didn't have an immediate need for the bookshelf).

Today we finally took possession of the bookshelf. Now that I have the item I really don't know where it will go. I guess I originally intended it go to in my room, but now I am not sure if I really need another piece of furniture, particularly one that is so large. Anyway, I guess I will have to figure something out sooner rather than later as I can't leave it in the middle of my bedroom for much longer.

A Few Quick Notes 218

-Though this morning started out looking as though it would be more rain and overcast skies, things managed to clear up by about 1:00 PM. Unfortunately, clear skies don't mean no humidity, so I am still sweating away.

-Last night Neil, Rebecca, my father, and I made our way over to the local casino. The idea was to take advantage of several deals Neil had scoped out. One of the deals gave us a $20 discount on our restaurant bill while the other deals meant that we each had $5.00 worth of slot machine credits.

After we eat a very late dinner we moved our operation over to the 2 cent slot machines. Soon after we started playing I managed to enter some kind of bonus round and accumulate all kinds of extra credits. This allowed me to play until after everyone else had busted and still cash out with $5.00.

While I had an enjoyable time hitting the pleasure button I am pretty sure I won't be a regular casino visitor, and certainly not without some kind of similar inducement.

-Earlier this afternoon I baked Neil's birthday cake. Right now I am working main course. Unfortunately our plans for steak fell through when we found that the store had sold out of our desired cut. Luckily we were able to quickly come up with a good fall back plan, cheap pork chops.

-I had my first day of class today. So far things seem to be going well. I was particularly pleased to learn that it doesn't look as though I should have to buy a book for this class. Apparently many of the readings will be made available through an online service (which I will have to investigate shortly).

-Later this evening Neil, Rebecca, and I will be heading over to a local comedy club to take advantage of more birthday and student related deals. If all goes according to plan we will only have to pay a total of $12.00 in admission fees. I guess the great unknown is the price they are planning on charging for drinks (particularly as this is not the cheap beer night). As far as I know this will be the first time any of us have gone to a comedy club.

If this experience is positive I may try to head back for some of the sketch comedy or the amateur night (my preference being the cheap beer night) as each of these have relatively low admission fees.

-I forgot to buy the paper today. Maybe I will need to get my subscription going in the very near future.