Funny Strange is Lori Culwell's blog

Franz Kafka Musical

Oh my God....I can't stop singing this song.  This is the "Home Movies" cartoon guys doing a short musical based on Franz Kafka.  This is so something I would do, if I knew how to animate, write music, and all that kind of stuff.  In fact, I've been meaning to learn Flash, so I can bring to life the hilarious "Derrida vs. Heidegger" cartoon series I worked on a lot in grad school.  This will have to do for now.

Sing it!  "I've got little tiny bug feet....I don't even know what bugs eat...."

McGyver Would Never Fly Today--Literally

I was thinking about this recently in light of recent trips to New Orleans and New York.  I bet if someone pitched McGyver right now as a series, it probably wouldn't get picked up, and this is an example of how we as a society are not as progressive anymore.    Somehow, I don't think the concept of a man who can make, for instance, a bomb out of a tampon and a gum wrapper would be produced in our post 9/11, you can't bring your toothpaste on the plane atmosphere.

It's still a good idea for a character, I'm just saying if I were a studio executive green-lighting a series right now, I think I would pass on this one. 

I'm Sure He's a Really Nice Guy

But seriously, this is a name you change.

Animatronic Man Makes More Money Panhandling Than Homeless Guy Right Next to Him

This is a little confusing to comprehend at first, so I've included a photo.

There is a Savon Pharmacy right down the street from my house. In preparation for Halloween, they put up this six foot tall robot-type man who looks like a mad scientist. Every time a person walks into or out of the store, he says something like "I've got a fun game we can play....it's called fun with electricity," and other mad scientist things of this nature. This is probably very annoying to the people actually working in the store, but that's beside the point.

This is the part I think is truly absurd: Animatronic Mad Scientist Guy has a plastic beaker in his hand, like he's going to do an experiment. About ten days ago, we noticed that people had started throwing money into the beaker, like a quarter, or some pennies, or whatever. Then more people started doing it, and now by the end of the day, Mad Scientist Robot Guy has at least $2 or $3 in that beaker. This baffles me. Why are people giving money to a fake mad scientist? Do they have any concept of where that money might go? Are they tipping the guy for bugging everyone?

To compound the absurdity of this situation, there is a REAL LIVE homeless guy that stands out in front of this Savon all day long, going "spare any change?" To which the answer would be:

"no, I can't spare any change, I just gave my change to the FAKE ROBOT GUY standing right in front of you. I think it's more worthwhile to give money to a fake person than to give it to you, since at least I know he's not going to spend it on $2 jugs of wine, then sit in front of the Savon for yet another day, prolonging the horrible rut that you're in. At least it makes me laugh to see that other people have also giving to Fake Mad Scientist Guy, to ponder the strangeness of this situation. In fact, I have more faith that Fake Mad Scientist Guy is going to get his act together, come to life, and get a job than I do that you're going to do anything productive with my spare change. And that, my friend, is why I am giving it to him and not you."

Or something like that. I've never given change to either of them.

The Mustache Song

This is John McCloskey's contribution to internet culture.  Thanks John!

The Mustache Song

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YlB1nCmcJIk

Sketch Comedy

A long time ago, a few friends in LA were trying to get a sketch comedy troupe together.  Here's one of the mildly hilarious short sketches that made it!  A special shout out to Ashley Powell and Kathryn Feller for their excellent work on this.  Ahhh...snap!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wdA6Zu7-cM

You Need This

What could be better than a nice mousepad with a photo of Stephan giving the "This Guy" to Big George?

Nothing.  Nothing could be better.  Get it in a jaunty yellow messenger bag! 

The Bonus Round

Think what you want about the death penalty—all I know is that, if they have to use an extra shot of potassium chloride to kill you, that doesn’t seem fair.  If you live through the first shot and it doesn’t stop your heart, you should be able to walk out of that jail.  You got the death penalty and survived, dude.  That whole “extra shot” thing just seems like overkill (no pun intended).  Besides, the guy was blind and deaf.  How is he dangerous anymore?  Is he going to order a hit with Braille?

Lou Reed is Cozy

So, my friend Daniel works for Richard Foreman’s theater company the Ontological in New York, and we went to see the new show a few weeks ago when we were there.  The show is called “Zomboid!” and it’s actually pretty good, but a more thorough analysis must come later.  What I must share now is an evolving phenomenon called “Lou Reed is Cozy."

Lou Reed, as you may know, used to be in the Velvet Underground…you know “Take a Walk on the Wild Side,” “Pale Blue Eyes,” and a lot of other songs about being a junkie and living in seedy New York City in the 1970’s.   I guess in my mind, in person this guy would be so grizzled and edgy, dressed all in black, covered in tats, and hiding all the secrets of his rock and roll past in his wrinkled, leathery face.  Also, he’s either married to or in a long, long term relationship with performance artist, Laurie Anderson, which in my mind makes him even cooler.  What do they talk about when they go home?  Fascinating.

Anyhow, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson were seated right in back of us in the theater.  This time they were in a place where I could actually turn around and get a good look, so I did.  And, lo and behold, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson were dressed in what looked to be Old Navy Performance Fleece.

I’m contemplating whether this can be one of those things where they’re so cool they can get away with looking frumpy, because they simply don’t care what you think, when Stephan leans over and says “The King and Queen of the New York Avant Garde are cozy.”  This pushes me over the edge.

Also, this is the third time in a row that Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson have been seated behind us at a

New York

show.  This happened several years ago at the Ontological, then again in

Brooklyn

recently.    Really, this is happening so frequently, I go up to Laurie Anderson after the show and say “didn’t we see you the other night in

Brooklyn

?  We must have the same taste in theater,” to which she smiles and replies “See you tomorrow night!”

Such a clever response that for a moment I forgot that The King and Queen of the New York Avant Garde looked like they could be my parents.