Ah, politics…

“Hey Hilary, we think you need to appeal to the local people more. Why don’t you go out and drink with ‘em?”

“Well, alright, let’s do it.”

That woman takes a shot of whiskey like a pro. I salute you, Hil.

Rock on

This is Dan, the drummer for my rock band Trenchant.  He’s no Ringo, but he works just as well.

The Onion – NY’s Classiest News Source

While going through publishing companies and sorting which ones I should start inquiring about internships, the thought hit me to look at The Onion. Now for those of you who don’t know, The Onion is a satirical newspaper that twists actual news into hilarious articles. This particular article, appropriately titled “Fuck Everything, We’re Doing Five Blades” made me laugh so hard, coffee nearly squirted out of my nose. As sophisticated as that sounds, I had to share on here so that you too can shoot your morning cup of joe out of your nostrils. While I clean myself up, enjoy the article.

To give you a taste, one of my favorite moments was, “…I’m telling them to stick two more blades in there. I don’t care how. Make the blades so thin they’re invisible. Put some on the handle. I don’t care if they have to cram the fifth blade in perpendicular to the other four, just do it!”

Fuck Everything, We’re Doing Five Blade, By James M. Kilts

Sydney’s point of view

 Oxymoron – New York Auto Show

If you need a giggle

While taking a 20 minute internet browsing break from working on my midterms in the library, I just happen to come across these pictures.  Don’t ask me how.  I just did, ok.

I’ve been having a bit of a rough week and they brightened my day.  I’d like to share in the wealth.

Click here.

I have more respect for Vanity Fair

This article was emailed to me from my friend Ray (thanks bro!), who knows I like to write about women and comedy.

The article itself is really interesting, especially about the changing face of women in comedy. No longer do they have to play the trashy, drunk, retarded female character (even though it can still be kind of funny if not overdone) in order to get laughs. Being funny and sexy is the new trend! This has both pros and cons. Pro – women don’t need to wear window curtains to get a laugh (think Carroll Burnett and her Gone With The Wind skit). Con – Is this a necessarily healthy female image to promote? I’ll dissect this more later on. But for now, enjoy the piece on my home-girls Tina Fey, Amy Pohler, Kristin Wigg, Maya Rudolf and (not so much) Sarah Silverman.

Who Says Women Aren’t Funny? By Alessandra Stanley

One last note – how hot is this picture? These women worked hard to become so successful. One day, (hopefully) there’ll be a picture like this of me and my own funny crew – my Brooklyn sisters Jess, Jenn and I, rockin the comedy scene.

Smart Writing

Just out of curiosity, how many people watch an episode of the Simpsons and then watch it again with the commentary? I know that’s how a few different friends and I spend our Friday nights…we’re writers and people who appreciate the genius behind good quality comedy that goes beyond visual humor.

Anyways, after re-watching a Simpsons episode (4th season, of course. It’s when Conan O’Brien signed on.) I realized that good comedy, I mean, good screen writing is extreme intelligence in a flashy package. To tweak a real concept into an exaggeration requires one to really think outside of the box.

One of the best examples I can think of is not a favorite episode of the Simpsons or South Park, but rather the children’s t.v. show SpongeBob SquarePants. Steven Hillenburg, the creator of SpongeBob, graduated from Humboldt State University with a degree in natural-resource planning and interpretation with an emphasis on marine biology. After three years of teaching marine biology at a different university, he pursued a master’s degree in experimental animation at CalArts. A nautical sponge that lives in a pineapple? A crab with a whale for a daughter? A plankton that wants to steal the recipe for hamburgers? All of these ideas came from this same marine biologist? You bet your Krabby Patties they did.

To be able to take regular, everyday notions and present them with a new perspective takes skill and creativity.  It doesn’t happen overnight, and there are plenty of funny concepts that overshoot the ’smart’ funny idea or fall flat because it is too dumbed down.  Hopefully, more people like Steven Hillenburg, Matt Groening, Trey Parker and Matt Stone will be around to not only make us laugh, but to make us think.

Back to the notepad

Last night, over hawaiian pizza with jalepenos, a good friend and I discussed life in general and the key to being happy with yourself.  Realizing your own value and being aware of your worth will get you to where you want to be.  It’s when you aren’t aware of what you are capable of that gets you exploited by others, whether it be good or bad. 

And this epiphany isn’t easy to come across.  There’s no set time as to when you should discover it – I just turned 20 and I honestly haven’t had that realization yet.  My friend is 23 and he just had it, which is partially why he was telling me about it.  It’s empowering, because you have confidence in your own skills and knowledge. 

This all comes back to me and my comedy writing.  I’ve put it aside because of school, helping to produce a benefit, writing for a play and helping edit a book.  I need to crack back down on my writing – how can I have confidence in my skills if I don’t put them to work?  I took the train home last night with a million thoughts zooming through my brain and the second I got home, I sat down and wrote out the skeleton of a skit. 

Before I get back to writing some more, my friend told me something that seems fitting to end this particular post;

“Look at it this way.  You have creative ideas now…but that just means that you’ll have more ideas.  And you’ll aways have more ideas in the future.  Don’t get hung up on just one – keep writing.”  

Thanks James.

Going too far

 

     How far is going to far?  In comedy, there’s a fine line between a brilliant line and appearing to be a complete asshole in front of an audience.  Personally, I find this specific area interesting because it cannot be clearly defined AND it differs for neither man nor woman. 

There’s a trait among comedy writers – GOOD comedy writers – that really allows them to do what they do best.  Every single one of them has a shameless dark side, an ability to make a joke in the darkest of situations.  The best example I can think of comes from an interview with Tina Fey I once read.  In it, she stated that the very next day following Steve Irwin’s death, she walked into the Saturday Night Live writers room “…and people were already cracking jokes about it.”  While jokes and cracks like that obviously wouldn’t make it onto the air, it’s that perspective on everything that gives comedy writers that ability to be funny. 

What do we decide is offensive and what is simply a joke?  Can we laugh at a one liner about K-Fed but frown on a joke about Barak Obama?  Is there a way to tell what is considered ‘going too far’?  Sensitive subjects vary from person to person, but in general include deaths, tragic accidents, funerals and other various situations where things are not the best….for a set amount of time.  There is such a thing as bringing up the subject too soon, where audiences are not yet ready to laugh at things like Hurricane Katrina.  I’m not sure what the time limit is, but once the green light is on, it’s like shopping at Target the day after Thanksgiving – an absolute flood.

This whole issue of whether or not one’s joke is crossing the line is all part of the package of being a writer.  It’s a constant learning experience, and one that you can only learn from trial and error…hopefully, not so much error.  Otherwise, you might not be such a successful writer.

Back to work

Now that I’m back in California, I’ve returned to work at kids camp.  I’ve forgotten how much I like working with kids, being in New York has turned my soul black.  You can get them to believe anything (“Yup, I’m 25,” says my 43 year-old co-counciler) and they think you are the shit, the coolest person on the planet, the end-all-be-all in awesome people they have met in their lifetime.  And being a camp councilor, I get to take part in the fun part of childhood – making animals with pipe cleaners, painting figures, creating Gak with glue and starch, endless games of Sorry and eating sugar cookies that you’ve decorated with an entire tube of frosting.  It’s a good time and I can’t believe I’m getting paid for it…and I’ll probably be sick of it in about 3 more days.  If only the magic could last.