February 17, 2011
A castell is a human tower built traditionally in festivals at many locations within Catalonia, Spain. At these festivals, several ‘colles castelleres’ or teams often succeed in building and dismantling a tower’s structure.
The tradition of building castells originated in Valls, near the city of Tarragona, in the southern part of Catalonia towards the end of the 18th century. Later it developed a following in other regions of Catalonia and, since 1981, when the first castell of 9 levels of the 20th century was built.
Posted in Games, Humor, World |
Leave a Comment »
February 16, 2011
A zombie walk is an organized public gathering of people who dress up in zombie costumes. Usually taking place in an urban centre, the participants make their way around the city streets and through shopping malls to a public space (or a series of taverns in the case of a zombie pub crawl) in a somewhat orderly fashion.
read more »
Posted in Art, Drugs, Humor |
Leave a Comment »
February 16, 2011
The Comic strip switcheroo was a series of jokes played out between comic strip writers and artists, without the foreknowledge of their editors, on April Fool’s Day 1997. The Switcheroo was masterminded by comic strip creators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, creators of the Baby Blues daily newspaper comic strip.
Posted in Art, Humor |
Leave a Comment »
February 16, 2011
The Spassguerilla (fun guerrilla) was a grouping within the student protest movement of the 1960s in Germany that agitated for social change, in particular for a more libertarian, less authoritarian, and less materialistic society, using tactics characterized by disrespectful humor and provocative and disruptive actions of a minimally violent nature. Events organized by the groups included such actions as attacking politicians or the police with custard pies. One of the main proponents was Fritz Teufel, sometimes referred to as the political clown of the Extraparliamentary Opposition.
The lack of respect for traditional, ‘bourgeois,’ ‘repressive’ forms of authority and ritual, countered by irony and humour, was typified by Fritz Teufel’s reply when told to stand for the judge at a trial: ‘If it helps the search for the truth’ (Wenn’s der Wahrheitsfindung dient). The forms of provocative and disruptive protest invented by the Spassguerilla were later adopted by the peace movement of the 1980s[4] and later by youth protest movements in the reunified Germany. Similar forms of disruption have also been adopted by Cyberspace activists (‘hacktivists’).
Posted in Humor, Politics, War |
Leave a Comment »
February 16, 2011
Buy Nothing Day (BND) is an international day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists. Typically celebrated the Friday after American Thanksgiving in North America and the following day internationally. It was founded by Vancouver artist Ted Dave and subsequently promoted by ‘Adbusters’ magazine in Canada. The first Buy Nothing Day was organized in Vancouver in September 1992. In 1997, it was moved to the Friday after American Thanksgiving, also called ‘Black Friday,’ which is one of the 10 busiest shopping days in the United States.
Outside North America and Israel, Buy Nothing Day is the following Saturday. Adbusters was denied advertising time by almost all major television networks except for CNN, which was the only one to air their ads. Soon, campaigns started appearing in the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Austria, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, France, and Norway. Participation now includes more than 65 nations.
Posted in Humor, Money, Politics |
Leave a Comment »
February 12, 2011
Borscht Belt, or Jewish Alps, is a colloquial term for the mostly defunct summer resorts of the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York that were a popular vacation spot for New York City Jews from the 1920s through the 1960s. The name comes from borscht, a beet soup that is popular in many Central and Eastern European countries and was brought from these regions by Ashkenazi Jewish and Slavic immigrants to the United States, where it remains a popular dish in these ethnic communities as well.
read more »
Posted in Humor, Language, Money |
Leave a Comment »
February 12, 2011
The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear was a gathering which took place on October 30, 2010 at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.. Led by Jon Stewart and an in-character Stephen Colbert. The rally drew about 215,000 people, according to aerial photography analysis, and was a combination of what initially were announced as separate events: Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity and Colbert’s counterpart, the March to Keep Fear Alive.
Its stated purpose was to provide a venue for attendees to be heard above what Stewart describes as the more vocal and extreme 15–20% of Americans who ‘control the conversation’ of United States politics. News reports cast the rally as a spoof of Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally and Al Sharpton’s Reclaim the Dream rally, while Stewart said it was not.
Posted in Humor, Politics |
Leave a Comment »
February 11, 2011
Mitch Hedberg (1968 – 2005) was an American stand-up comedian known for his surreal humor and unconventional comedic delivery. His comedy typically featured short, sometimes one-line jokes, mixed with absurd elements and non sequiturs.
Hedberg’s comedy and on-stage persona gained him a cult following, with audience members sometimes shouting out the punchlines to his jokes before he could finish them.
read more »
Posted in Art, Humor |
Leave a Comment »
February 11, 2011
Karl Pilkington (b. 1972) is an English author and former radio producer. He is best known for producing and co-presenting The Ricky Gervais Show on Xfm London between 2001 and 2005; and for the subsequent podcast series and HBO animated television series. He was also the subject of the Sky1 travel series, An Idiot Abroad, which was also presented in the United States on the Science Channel. The New York Times ran an article about The Ricky Gervais Show describing Pilkington’s behaviour as a well-executed deadpan routine.
Posted in Art, Humor |
Leave a Comment »
February 10, 2011
Disco Demolition Night was a promotional event that took place on Thursday, July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois, during which a crate filled with records was blown up on the field. It was held during the doubleheader baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. During the climax of the event, rowdy fans surged onto the field, and a near riot ensued. It would ultimately prove to be one of the most notable promotional ideas and one of the most infamous since ‘Ten Cent Beer Night’ in Cleveland in 1974. The event was the culmination of a popular backlash against disco music.
Posted in Art, Humor |
Leave a Comment »
February 10, 2011
A spite house is a building constructed or modified to irritate neighbors or other parties with land stakes. Spite houses often serve as obstructions, blocking out light or access to neighboring buildings, or as flamboyant symbols of defiance. Because long-term occupation is at best a secondary consideration, spite houses frequently sport strange and impractical structures. Spite houses are much rarer than spite fences. This is partially attributable to the fact that modern building codes often prevent the construction of houses likely to impinge on neighbors’ views or privacy.
Probably the most famous spite house was the Richardson Spite House in New York City at Lexington Avenue and 82nd Street. Built in 1882 and demolished in 1915, it was four stories tall, 104 feet (31.7 m) long, and only five feet (1.5 m) wide. Joseph Richardson, the owner of the plot of the same dimensions, built it after the owner of the adjacent plot, Hyman Sarner, unsuccessfully tried to purchase the land. Sarner considered the plot useless by itself and offered only $1000; Richardson demanded $5000. After the deal fell through, Richardson had an apartment building constructed on his land. It was a functional (albeit impractical) apartment building with eight suites, each consisting of three rooms and a bath.
Posted in Humor, Money |
Leave a Comment »
February 10, 2011
Flipism is a pseudophilosophy under which all decisions are made by flipping a coin. It originally appeared in the Disney comic ‘Flip Decision’ by Carl Barks, published in 1953. Barks called a practitioner of ‘Flipism’ a ‘Flippist.’ In the comic book, Donald Duck meets Professor Batty, who persuades Donald to make decisions based on flipping a coin at every crossroad of life. Donald soon gets into trouble when following this advice. He drives a one way road in the wrong direction and is fined $50.
Posted in Humor, Philosophy |
Leave a Comment »
The Daily Omnivore 