Friday, January 20, 2006

[Random] Long Time, No Post

To say that I have been a bit over-worked this week.....

I'm sure that it's some sort of understatement, and I would normally try to insert a seemingly witty gloss, but frankly my mind has shut down almost entirely.

A bit of news though; my boss's boss's boss gave me confirmation today that they are transferring me to the prefecture board of education for next year. Meaning: Sayounara, beloved Asahi. Bai bai, gigantic castle-house. I shall be moved to a different school and a different town.

I know it will probably be for the best, and I will look back in gladness (hopefully), but at the moment I just don't see it. I already miss this place, and I'm still going to be here for another half-year.

Anyway. I'm not dead yet.

In other news, a little bird told me that Kris and Lindy have been filming the pilot for a new sketch comedy show. According to Lindy, it's in the format of Kids in the Hall, with a Monty Python pace and South Park sensibilities. Which is setting the bar quite high.

There's a teaser trailer on the site, but it doesn't show much, which worries me a bit. Pacing is so important in comedy, and it's so often done poorly. Remember Kelsey Grammer Presents: The Sketch Show? Horrible, horrible timing.

It's not enough for something to be humorous. It has to be timed properly. If the humor doesn't come fast enough, it isn't funny. The Sketch Show was WAY too slow.

Here's an example of what I mean. Picture this setup: some people are talking, eg, in class or a meeting or working on some problem. Some guy says "...you know what I don't get?" That's the setup. (And if you read Bash, you know where I'm going with this)

On The Sketch Show, the "punchline" would be one of his friends saying "laid" and then another saying "respect". One at a time, to be SURE that you heard and understood each line. It might have been humorous, but it wasn't very funny.

No, you need to have everyone in the room talking at once, over each other, shouting out answers. "Laid!" "Respect!" "Good grades!" "Jokes!" "Decent haircuts!" "Raises!" "Ooh! Love from your parents!" (everyone goes "Oooh!"), each person trying to top the others.

Our brains are complex, and can handle a lot of simultaneous input. There's an upper limit, of course, but there's also a lower tolerance limit. Below that level, the stimuli comes so slow we lose interest.

Anyway, since the teaser on www.throbosho.com doesn't have a full clip from the show itself, we just have to wait...

I hate waiting.

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