Amusing: August 2008 Archive Page

Wondermark

 

I need a new office chair.

A short comedy sketch that emphasizes the importance of finding the right editor.

A thirteen-year-old girl posing as a record executive on MySpace has lured several bands to Los Angeles with promises of a record contract. -- BBspot

The concept is good, but the writing doesn't sustain the joke. The reason The Onion is so good is that the articles not only make the joke, but they do it completely within the form of good journalism. 

A good journalist would know that the (fake) news is that a Fonix Cat bassist has accused a teen of luring the band to Los Angeles; or, that the teen was charged with a fraud or kidnapping.  Instead, the article just states that the teen did it.  There are no quotes from imaginary police officers, no indication of what charges have been filed, and no statement from the defendant's laywer.

It's that kind of attention to detail that makes me print out an Onion article and hang it on my office door.

Once when I needed to entertain my daughter while we were driving somewhere, I said, "Let's pretend that, rolling along outside the window, there was a little ball that would pick up trash and boxes and trash cans, and that as it collected items it got bigger and bigger, until it was picking up houses and buildings, and that there was happy music playing that sounded like this (I hummed a bit), while hundreds of citizens called out for help that would never come."

Her little eyes got really wide.  

She was very quiet for the rest of the ride.

(Thanks for the e-card, Karissa.)

McSweeney's:

Horatio thinks he saw a ghost.

Hamlet thinks it's annoying when your uncle marries your mother right after your dad dies.

The king thinks Hamlet's annoying.

Laertes thinks Ophelia can do better.

Hamlet's father is now a zombie.

Thanks for the suggestion, Mike. (Twitter would probably catch the back-and-forth spirit of a drama a little better.)