Social media experts Baratunde Thurston and Deanna Zandt answer questions about how to behave in the digital age. This week’s topic: When a person has hundreds, perhaps even thousands of friends on Facebook, what’s the rule for wishing them a happy birthday?
http://www.npr.org/2012/10/15/162963623/social-media-advice-when-to-wish-happy-birthday
Tagged with deanna zandt baratunde thurston npr facebook social media funny
A spam phone call from John who I attempt to seduce in a hotel and I persuade to sing to me.
I get one of these every 2 days so have decided to waste their time and record them. More spam answered at http://www.brucelawson.co.uk/spam-letters/
http://archive.org/details/SpamCallJohnSingsAboutLifeInsurance
Tagged with spam telephone funny cold caller twitter:user=brucel
Vampire pumpkins and watermelons, Here Come The Blobbies, Tortellini, Slipper
Tagged with citation needed wikipedia comedy funny
November 20, 2009 By the time a headline makes it to the front page of The Onion, it has already beaten out up to 800 other headlines vying for the same spot of treasured comedic real estate. So the headlines that made yet another cut — to be featured in The Onion’s latest book, Our Front Pages — are pretty much the cream of the satirical crop.
The ironically self-important tome (it’s more than a foot tall) promises to entertain readers with "21 Years of Greatness, Virtue and Moral Rectitude" culled from the archives of America’s Finest News Source.
Onion story ideas are generated headline first, Onion editors Joe Randazzo and Joe Garden tell NPR’s Renee Montagne.
"The headlines come from long periods of desperation, boredom and a fleeting panic that we have to get our assignment done in time for the Monday meeting," explains features editor Garden.
Seeing stupidity everywhere can quickly become a full-time job.
"I’ve even talked to writers who’ve told me that it’s an obsession," says Randazzo. "Nearly everything that they see, think or do gets instantly reframed into this kind of headline."
Click to see the post-Sept. 11 issue of The Onion. (NOTE: Includes language that some readers may find offensive.) So The Onion’s stories end up running the gamut from observations about the little injustices of everyday life (Chipotle Employee Just Gave Guy In Front Of You More Rice) to sobering commentary on global events (Hijackers Surprised To Find Selves In Hell).
(Garden says he initially thought that the hijacker headline — which appeared in the issue of The Onion that came out immediately after Sept. 11 — was "too pandering," but it turned out to be a popular and "cathartic" story.)
The Onion’s post-Sept. 11 issue led with the headline U.S. Vows To Defeat Whoever It Is We’re At War With. It ran alongside Not Knowing What Else To Do, Woman Bakes American-Flag Cake and Hugging Up 76,000 Percent.
There are no truly untouchable topics, Randazzo says. But if the editors choose to tackle a sensitive subject, they try to make sure they aren’t "just making jokes about horrible things with no context or no point or no heart."
As for whether The Onion has a moral or political ax to grind, Randazzo doesn’t think so.
"I would not say that we are a group of Republicans, but I don’t think we’re a group of really left-wing liberals either," he says.
It’s equal-opportunity mockery, really, Randazzo explains: "We see something … and say, ‘Well, that’s kind of stupid. They’re acting kind of stupidly here. We should make a joke about that.’ "
In the fifth episode of the [Citation Needed] Podcast, we examine the Powers and Abilities of Godzilla, take a behind the scenes looks at the editorial turmoil of the magazine Dog Fancy and pitch a new Bruce Lee movie, The Dragon Lives Again. Plus, Paul Sabourin of Paul and Storm stops by to discuss how it feels to have one of your songs mistaken for a Frank Zappa song.
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Cala Boca Galvão. Is it the new Lady Gaga single? A campaign to save an endangered South American bird? A runaway Twitter meme? The Berkman Center’s Ethan Zuckerman and IMPRENSA editor Igor Ribeiro explain.
http://www.onthemedia.org/episodes/2010/06/18/segments/156254
Cosmological History for the MTV Generation.
Lyrics here: http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~dhw/Silliness/rap.lyrics
The Internet Is Made Of Cats. This is FACT and also science. We have written this educational song on the subject. It is wonderful and will also make you clever.
Introducing the Fireland Podcast.
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James Lileks deconstructs the Monster Mash from The Diner, located about eighteen and a half minutes from wherever you happen to be.