The ridiculous, the sublime, and redemption

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I have always liked musicians and artists who don’t take themselves too seriously. A week ago I stumbled across this video on youtube.

The “Sad Clown with the Golden Voice” is Mike Geier, performing here in his “Puddles” incarnation. Big Mike says he is 6 feet 8 inches tall. Puddles is one of his characters, and he does a show called “Puddles Pity Party” where he sings sad songs. But he is an actual clown.

In this video he goes on stage at an Eels concert and tries to disrupt the show, even punching the lead singer. (it’s an act) He is a bit of a troublemaker. I like that. And I like his singing.

He reminds me of another clown. Harpo Marx. Harpo was a mischievous imp who chased women and stoled hats. He was always up to no good. Except when he played the harp. Then he was an angel.

When Harpo plays music, he is transformed. He is redeemed.

Harpo is a clown par excellence. His character is wild and uninhibited. If he were that alone, it would okay. He would still be funny, but a bit less memorable. Playing the harp revealed his depth and beauty. That is what makes a great clown.

Charlie Chaplin made fun of the world, but he also strove to find depth and beauty.

Do any animated characters fit this description? If you think so, please mention them in the comments. Thanks.

New Mickey Mouse short: O Sole Minnie

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The Walt Disney company is creating new Mickey Mouse shorts. Considering how terribly protective Disney is about it’s classic characters, it’s a bit surprising. The shorts have a fresh visual style which I mostly enjoy.

However, I find the new shorts unsatisfying. Here is the latest release on youtube:

The problem I am having with these new shorts is that Mickey is hapless and ineffectual. In the above short, he wants to impress Minnie, so he goes through some spectacular efforts, and fails. His exertions allow him to travel through impressive layout design, but achieve nothing. If it weren’t for Minnie showing up at the end, on her own, it would just be loser comedy.

I have had the same feelings about the other shorts I have seen.

Since it’s almost halloween, here is another one, “Ghoul Friend”. First, I was a little confused with the title. It’s a play on the term “girl friend”. So I was expecting to have a female in the story. But the ghoul, while being a funny zombie version of Goofy, isn’t a girl. It’s a small issue, but it threw me off a little, and you don’t want to do that to your audience. Especially when your short is under 4 minutes long.

While I enjoyed the several funny run cycles they put together for these two characters, that’s pretty much all I enjoyed about it. Mickey can’t fix his car without the zombie Goofy’s help. If Mickey just yanked a bone out of Goofy’s arm, fixed his car, and then escaped, I would have found him more of a comic hero.

This not the kind of character that people come to love. They sort of feel sorry for him.

Digital Jackass

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I stumbled across this video of clips from a skateboard game. It takes advantage of numerous glitches. It’s bizarre and fantastic. While not “art” there is some sort of creativity going on here. It’s brutal slapstick perfromed by a digital double in a surreal world.

The creator starts with his least favorite and goes up the list to his favorite, so it steadily gets better.

A note about “Gravity”

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gravity-movie

Here is an interesting quote about the new film “Gravity” In an interview with Rene Rodriquez of the Miami Herald, director Alphonso Cuaron referred to a silent film comedian.

I was channeling Buster Keaton when we made Gravity — the single through-line story in which there is a lot of humanity and emotion, but everything is conveyed through physical action. We just wanted to put on a really good show.

I haven’t seen Gravity yet, but the more I hear about it the more interesting it becomes. I’m always glad to know film makers are still learning from Buster and the other greats of early cinema.

This song makes everything funny

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Or maybe not.

The song is “Yakety Sax” and is most famous from it’s use by Benny Hill.

Youtube users have done exhaustive testing of the theory that it makes everything funny. I watched quite a few.

“Saving Private Ryan” with “Yakety Sax” is not funny.

It has to be scenes with a chase or at least lots of running. This one turns the music off when cutting away from the running. Which makes it funnier when it comes back.

And it has to be sped up. Playing it over normal or slow motion won’t work.