October 25, 2011
Duck Amuck is a surreal animated cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. The short was released in early 1953 by The Vitaphone Corporation, the short subject division of Warner Bros. Pictures, as part of the Merrie Melodies series. It stars Daffy Duck, who is tormented by a seemingly sadistic, initially unseen animator, who constantly changes Daffy’s locations, clothing, voice, physical appearance and even shape. Pandemonium reigns throughout the cartoon as Daffy attempts to steer the action back to some kind of normality, only for the animator to either ignore him or, more frequently, to over-literally interpret his increasingly frantic demands. Mel Blanc performed the voices. It was directed by Chuck Jones with a story by Michael Maltese. The film contains many examples of self-referential humor, breaking the fourth wall.
According to director Chuck Jones, this film demonstrated for the first time that animation can create characters with a recognizable personality, independent of their appearance, milieu, or voice. Although in the end, the animator is revealed to be Daffy’s rival Bugs Bunny (who famously declares ‘Ain’t I a stinker?’), according to Jones the ending is just for comedic value: Jones (the director) is speaking to the audience directly, asking ‘Who is Daffy Duck anyway? Would you recognize him if I did this to him? What if he didn’t live in the woods? Didn’t live anywhere? What if he had no voice? No face? What if he wasn’t even a duck anymore?’ In all cases, it is obvious that Daffy is still Daffy; not all cartoon characters can claim such distinctive personality.
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October 24, 2011
Tommy Westphall is a minor character from the drama television series ‘St. Elsewhere,’ which ran on NBC from 1982 to 1988. Westphall, who is autistic, took on major significance in the show’s final episode, where the common interpretation of that finale is that the entire St. Elsewhere storyline exists only within Westphall’s imagination. As characters from St. Elsewhere have appeared on other television shows and those shows’ characters appeared on more shows, a ‘Tommy Westphall Universe’ hypothesis was developed where a significant amount of fictional episodic television exists within Tommy Westphall’s imagined fictional universe.
The Tommy Westphall universe hypothesis, an idea discussed among some television fans, makes the claim that not only does ‘St. Elsewhere’ take place within Tommy’s mind, but so do numerous other television series which are directly and indirectly connected to ‘St. Elsewhere’ through fictional crossovers and spin-offs, resulting in a large fictional universe taking place entirely within Tommy’s mind. In 2002 writer Dwayne McDuffie wrote ‘Six Degrees of St. Elsewhere’ for the Slush Factory website, the earliest version of the hypothesis to be found online. In a 2003 article published on BBC News Online, ‘St. Elsewhere’ writer Tom Fontana was quoted as saying, ‘Someone did the math once… and something like 90 percent of all television took place in Tommy Westphall’s mind. God love him.’
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October 24, 2011
A plot hole is a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story’s plot, or constitutes a blatant omission of relevant information regarding the plot. These include such things as unlikely behavior or actions of characters, illogical or impossible events, events happening for no apparent reason, or statements/events that contradict earlier events in the storyline. While many stories have unanswered questions, unlikely events or chance occurrences, a plot hole is one that is essential to the story’s outcome. Plot holes are usually seen as weaknesses or flaws in a story, and writers usually try to avoid them to make their stories seem as realistic as possible. However, certain genres (and some media) which require or allow suspension of disbelief are more tolerant of plot holes.
Writers can deal with plot holes in different ways, from completely rewriting the story, to having characters acknowledge illogical or unintelligent actions, to having characters make vague statements that could be used to deflect accusations of plot holes (e.g. ‘I’ve tried everything I can think of…’ to keep critics from asking why a particular action was not taken). The nature of the plot hole and the developmental stage at which it is noticed usually determine the best course of action to take. For example, a motion picture that has already wrapped production would much more likely receive an added line of dialogue rather than an entire script rewrite.
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October 23, 2011
An innuendo [in-yoo-en-doh] is a baseless invention of thoughts or ideas. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called insinuation), that works obliquely by allusion. In the latter sense, the intention is often to insult or accuse someone in such a way that one’s words, taken literally, are innocent. It is an indirect remark about somebody or something, usually suggesting something bad, mean or rude. The word is often used to express disapproval.
The term sexual innuendo has acquired a specific meaning, namely that of a ‘risque’ double entendre by playing on a possibly sexual interpretation of an otherwise innocent uttering. For example: ‘We need to go deeper’ can be seen as both a request for further inquiry on any given issue or a request to go deeper into an orifice. Alternatively the more simple changing the pronunciation of a word in order for it to sound vulgar e.g. innuendo to ‘in-your-endo.’
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October 23, 2011
A pub quiz is a quiz held in a public house (or pub for short). Origins of the pub quiz are unclear but there is little evidence of them existing before 1970 in the United Kingdom. Pub quizzes (also known as live trivia, or table quizzes) are often weekly events and will have an advertised start time, most often in the evening. While specific formats vary, most pub quizzes depend on answers being written in response to questions which may themselves be written or announced by a quizmaster.
Generally someone (either one of the bar staff or the person running the quiz) will come around with pens and quiz papers, which may contain questions or may just be blank sheets for writing the answers on. A mixture of both is common, in which case often only the blank sheet is to be handed in. Traditionally a member of the team hands the answers in for adjudication to the quiz master or to the next team along for marking when the answers are called.
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October 23, 2011
A factoid [fak-toid] is a questionable or spurious (unverified, false, or fabricated) statement presented as a fact, but without supporting evidence. The word can also be used to describe a particularly insignificant or novel fact, in the absence of much relevant context. The word is defined as ‘an item of unreliable information that is repeated so often that it becomes accepted as fact.’
The term was coined by Norman Mailer in his 1973 biography of Marilyn Monroe. He described a factoid as ‘facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper,’ and created the word by combining ‘fact’ and the ending -‘oid’ to mean ‘similar but not the same.’ ‘The Washington Times’ described Mailer’s new word as referring to ‘something that looks like a fact, could be a fact, but in fact is not a fact.’
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October 23, 2011
The Liberal Arts is a curriculum of seven subjects, the first three of which are called the trivia (grammar, rhetoric and logic). Its literal meaning in Latin could have been, ‘appropriate to the street corner, commonplace, vulgar.’
In medieval Latin, it came to refer to the lower division of the Liberal Arts (the other four were the quadrivium, namely arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy, which were more challenging). Hence, trivial in this sense would have meant ‘of interest only to an undergraduate.’ The meaning ‘trite, commonplace, unimportant, slight’ occurs from the late 16th century, notably in the works of Shakespeare.
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October 20, 2011
Tactical frivolity is a form of public protest involving humor, often including peaceful non-compliance with authorities, carnival and whimsical antics. Humor has played a role in political protests at least as far back as the Classical period in ancient Greece. Yet it is only since the 1990s that the term tactical frivolity has gained common currency for describing the use of humor in opposing perceived political injustice.
There is no universally agreed definition as to which sorts of humorous protest count as tactical frivolity. Generally the term is used for a whimsical, non confrontational approach rather than aggressive mocking or cutting jokes.
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October 19, 2011
After Dark is a series of computer screensaver software introduced in 1989 by Berkeley Systems for the Macintosh, and later for Windows. Following the original, new editions were introduced including ‘More After Dark’ and ‘Before Dark,’ as well as editions themed around licensed properties such as ‘Star Trek,’ ‘The Simpsons,’ and Disney. The screensaver modules were often noted for their intertextuality, such as the flying toasters appearing in the Fish screensaver, and the cat from Boris screensaver appearing in the Bad Dog screensaver.
Of the screensaver modules included, the most famous is the iconic Flying Toasters which featured 1940s-style chrome toasters sporting bird-like wings, flying across the screen with pieces of toast. A slider enabled users to adjust the toast’s darkness and an updated Flying Toasters Pro module added a choice of music: Richard Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ or a flying toaster anthem with optional karaoke lyrics. Yet another version called ‘Flying Toasters!’ added bagels and pastries, baby toasters, and more elaborate toaster animation.
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October 19, 2011
Birth control glasses, officially called GI glasses, are eyeglasses issued by the American military to its service members. At one time they were officially designated as ‘Regulation Prescription Glasses,’ or RPGs. This was commonly said to mean ‘Rape Prevention Glasses’ due to their unstylish appearance. The glasses are relatively thick frames made of brown translucent plastic, with a thin metal wire extending down the center of each of the earpieces.
The shape of the corrective lenses is nearly rectangular, with rounded edges, and a slight diagonal angle adjacent to the integrated nose pieces. This design reflects a specification for durability at the lowest possible cost. There are two designs available for female and male soldiers who require prescription eye wear.
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October 18, 2011
Plop art (or Plonk art) is a pejorative slang term for public art (usually large, abstract, modernist or contemporary sculpture) made for government or corporate plazas, spaces in front of office buildings, skyscraper atriums, parks, and other public venues. The term connotes that the work is unattractive or inappropriate to its surroundings – that is, it has been thoughtlessly ‘plopped’ where it lies.
The very word ‘plop’ suggested something falling wetly and heavily in the manner of excrement — extruded, as it were, from the fundament of the art world, and often at public expense. Plop art is a play on the term pop art. The term was coined by architect James Wines in 1969. Wines was critical of the failure of much public art to take an environmentally-oriented approach to the relationship between public art and architecture.
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October 16, 2011
The Tinkerbell effect is a term describing things that are thought to exist only because people believe in them. The effect is named for Tinker Bell, the fairy in the play Peter Pan who is revived from near death by the belief of the audience.
Claimed cases include: private property; the value of a nation’s money in a fiat system; the value of gold; civil society; and the ‘rule of law.’
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