Look Up

It is said that sheep may get lost simply by nibbling away at the grass and never looking up. That can be true for any of us. We can focus so much on what is immediately before us that we fail to see life in larger perspective.

Donald Bitsberger

A Week of Comedy

This week, I again indulge myself in watching videos of several stand-up comedy routines. They were videos of the following comedians:

• Ricky Gervais - Live : Politics
• Bill Connolly - Live in New York
• Lewis Black - Red, White & Screwed and Back in Broadway
• Rex Navarette - Hella Pinoy
  
• Bob Saget - Comedy Central Roast
• 

I liked the performance of Ricky Gervais in his routine. It was funny and i could understand most of his subjects even with his British accent. I had difficultly before understanding British shows before because of their twang. I am used to hearing the American accent. This is the first time I watched his stand-up performance and I liked it a lot. I also liked his performance in the movie Ghost Town, one of my fave movies.


As for Bill Connolly, I had trouble understanding his routine because of his Scottish accent. I can only undertand a few segments when he speaks slowly but when he's on a roll, I get lost.


Lewis Black is one of the comedians I can identify with. His routines are usually delivered as rants and I liked them. I can see myself in his routine because I usually rant my observations at home or in the office. I tend to express views that are not usually said in public. By the way, they are not crude or obscene, they're just observations about people and society in general.


Rex Navarette is a Filipino comedian who's routines usually talk about Filipino customs and Filipinos living abroad. I can get most of his jokes but in "Hella Pinoy", his routine is not so refined. Maybe, he's better seen live.


I first heard of Bob Saget as a comedian in the documentary "Aristocrats". He was described as a comedian's comedian who's routine is usually composed of foul ideas. But of this video that I got, he was being roasted by his peers and he only got to speak for a few minutes. I'm still searching for a copy of his videos.

Beifeld's Law

The probability of a young man meeting a desirable and receptive young female increases by a pyramidical progression when he is already in the company of (1) a date, (2) his wife, (3) a better-looking and richer male friend.

Ronald H. Beifeld

Why So Serious?

Prudence is known in the serious, which is more accredited than the ingenious. He who is always joking is never a real man. We equate them to liars in not believing them. It is never known when they talk with sense, which is the same as their not having it. There is no bigger snub than the continuous wittiness. They win fame as humorists and lose their reputation as wise men. Cheerfulness must have its moment; the rest of the time is for seriousness.

Baltasar Gracián, Manual Oracle, XVII Century

Spirit of Magnanimity

He drew a circle that shut me out -
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in.

Edwin Markham

Hungry for Meaning

Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter, so that the world will be at least a little bit different for our having passed through it... What frustrates us and robs our lives of joy is this absence of meaning... Does our being alive matter?

Harold S. Kushner