This piece is full of so much soul and feeling. You can't help but be moved... even if you don't understand a word of what they're saying. It's also such a well referenced piece in pop culture and you shouldn't be surprised if you've heard it before. I've included another video below that shows some of these references.
According to Wikipedia: Vesti la Giubba (Put on the costume) is a famous tenor aria performed as part of the opera Pagliacci, written and composed by Ruggiero Leoncavallo, and first performed in 1892. Vesti la Giubba is the conclusion of the first act, when Canio (Pagliaccio) discovers his wife's infidelity, but must prepare for performance as the 'show must go on'. It is often incorrectly referred to as "Ridi, Pagliaccio", the first words of the chorus, which is the most famous part of the aria.
Monday, February 18, 2008
The Clown Opera
Monday, February 4, 2008
Why I Fired My Secretary
Last week was my birthday
and I didn't feel very well
waking up on that morning.
I went downstairs for breakfast
hoping my wife would be pleasant and say,
'Happy Birthday!',
and possibly have a small present for me.
As it turned out,
she barely said good morning,
let alone
' Happy Birthday.'
I thought...
Well, that's marriage for you,
but the kids...
They will remember.
My kids came bounding down stairs to breakfast
and didn't say a word.
So when I left for the office,
I felt pretty low
and somewhat despondent.
As I walked into my office,
my secretary Jane said,
'Good Morning Boss,
and by the way,
Happy Birthday ! '
It felt a little better
that at least someone had remembered.
I worked until one o'clock ,
when Jane knocked on my door
and said, 'You know,
It's such a beautiful day outside,
and it is your Birthday,
what do you say we go out to lunch,
just you and me.'
I said, 'Thanks, Jane,
that's the greatest thing
I've heard all day.
Let's go !'
We went to lunch.
But we didn't go
where we normally would go.
She chose instead at a quiet bistro
with a private table.
We had two martinis each
and I enjoyed the meal tremendously.
On the way back to the office,
Jane said, 'You know,
It's such a beautiful day...
We don't need to go straight back to the office,
Do We ?'
I responded,
'I guess not.
What do you have in mind ?'
She said,
'Let's drop by my apartment,
it's just around the corner.'
After arriving at her apartment,
Jane turned to me and said,
' Boss, if you don't mind,
I'm going to step into the bedroom
for just a moment.
I'll be right back.'
'Ok.' I nervously replied.
She went into the bedroom and,
after a couple of minutes,
she came out
carrying a huge birthday cake ...
Followed
by my wife,
my kids,
and dozens of my friends
and co-workers,
all singing 'Happy Birthday'.
And I just sat there...
On the couch...
Naked.
Sacralicious
Sacrilegious + delicious = title of this post. (Simpsons)
I didn't find much funny about this trailer until I heard Samuel L. Jackson's final outburst. Is it me or will there be a trend in portraying god as a famous black actor... Morgan Freeman in Bruce Almighty, now Samuel L in this weirdo film hehe.
Either way, I am a huge fan of religious parodying because I believe people sometimes take religion too seriously. This may result in the occasional embarrassing conversation or, at the other extreme, a holy war - which is an oxymoron that demeans both the "holy" and the "war" aspect of the phrase. I feel that one can get a better understanding of their faith if they were to take it less seriously. Does that make sense? I really don't think I'm saying what I'm thinking... Ok, enough preaching, I really just wanted to show that stupid trailer.
Religion is easy. Math is hard.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Navigating the Internets
So I guess this means Arcade of the Scribe lies just west of Wikipedia. Nice. This'll be a short post, mostly to point you guys toward one of my favorite webcomics, XKCD... yes, I know it's a bit engineering-geeky, but it's fun anyway. Blog Out.
Knock Knock
"Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed.
"The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps: ‘My friend is dead! What can I do?’ The operator says: ‘Calm down, I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.’
"There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says: ‘OK, now what?’"
I admit, it's not that funny. BUT, the data doesn't lie; overall, people love this joke. Yesterday I promised that I would deliver something more serious. And, here it is.
Psychologist Dr. Richard Wiseman - University of Hertfordshire - conducted the Laughlab Experiment as a scientific hunt for the world's funniest joke. Well, his team found it after reaching out to the global community. Dr Wiseman said the joke was interesting because it had global appeal. He said that jokes sometimes work for different reasons. He said that jokes "sometimes make us feel superior to others, reduce the emotional impact of anxiety-provoking situations or surprise us because of some kind of incongruity. The hunters joke contained all three elements" (full article).
I think it's a stupid joke... but I did find it funny that "Germans - not renowned for their sense of humour - found just about everything funny" (full article).
There are plenty of funnier jokes out there, so how about this idea. Share a joke with fellow readers below as a comment!
Now here is a Monty Python clip that many of you may recognize. Who's up for some 10 minutes of British comedy?
Friday, January 4, 2008
Benny Lava
change of pace... This blog had 7 serious posts since induction so how about one to make you laugh or shake your head no... a hopefully interesting post this weekend... I promise
Hope you enjoyed this 4th of Jan You Airy
