Friday, April 5, 2013

Funny Friday



Cheer up dude, it's time for Funny Friday. . .



The following joke came up in discussions last Wednesday night with Wayne, a member of our trivia team and a subscriber to Bytes. I said that I would post it in Funny Friday for him. . . 

A businessman flew to Vegas for the weekend to gamble. He lost the shirt off his back, and had nothing left but a quarter and the second half of his round-trip ticket -- If he could just get to the airport he could get himself home. 

So he went out to the front of the casino where there was a cab waiting. He got in and explained his situation to the cabbie. He promised to send the driver money from home, he offered him his credit card numbers, his drivers licence number, his address, etc. but to no avail. 

The cabbie said, "If you don't have fifteen dollars, get the hell out of my cab!" So the businessman was forced to hitch-hike to the airport and was barely in time to catch his flight. 

One year later the businessman, having worked long and hard to regain his financial success, returned to Vegas and this time he won big. Feeling pretty good about himself, he went out to the front of the casino to get a cab ride back to the airport. Well who should he see out there, at the end of a long line of cabs, but his old buddy who had refused to give him a ride when he was down on his luck. The businessman thought for a moment about how he could make the guy pay for his lack of charity, and he hit on a plan. 

The businessman got in the first cab in the line, "How much for a ride to the airport," he asked? "Fifteen bucks," came the reply. "And how much for you to give me oral sex on the way?" 

"What?!!! Get the hell out of my cab." 

The businessman got into the back of each cab in the long line and asked the same questions, with the same result. When he got to his old friend at the back of the line, he got in and asked "How much for a ride to the airport?" The cabbie replied "fifteen bucks." 

The businessman said "OK" and off they went. 

Then, as they drove slowly past the long line of cabs the businessman gave a big smile and thumbs up sign to each driver. 


Rowan Atkinson has the ability to make monologues fascinating and very funny. Last week I posted the one about the minister addressing the congregation about the miracles of Jesus. Here is another very funny one entitled Drunk English in Indian Restaurant. It can be viewed by clicking on the following link: 




Indian waiter: 

Good evening, gentlemen. No, no, no. That’s no problem. Come in, please. Although, shh shh, although, perhaps if we could keep that delightful singing down a little bit. Oh dear! Obviously plenty of refreshment at the football game. No, no. Come in, do. No, no. That table is reserved. And, it is also a table for two people. Perhaps, perhaps this table might be more suitable for… nine. 

If you’d like to step this way, gentlemen, please. Ah! Dear, let me help you up, sir. No, no, it is a tricky bit of floor, that. Er, deceptively flat. 

If you would like to take a seat. Er, yes, or perhaps….. on the chair.

There we are. Right, now, what would anybody…? Quiet! Quiet, quiet, gentlemen, please. What would anybody like to drink? Nine pints of lager. Er? Eighteen pints of lager. Eighteen pints of lager! 

Now, if you’d just like to take a menu. Just pass those round. There…. and one for you, sir. Oh dear, there we go! Straight onto the floor. Here, let me pick it up for you. Oh, and again. I’ll tell you what. Try and grip it, sir, on either side, between the thumb and the four fingers. If you grip, it won’t always fall on the floor. I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we just put it on the table? Here, let me rest it against your friend’s… head. 

There we are! There, that should be fine. Right, now what would anybody like to eat? Erm, oh, it is a lamb dish, sir. Yes, marinated lamb in coconut, with a cream sauce. Very nice. No, not "fucking hot", sir. It is a… how can I put it? It is a medium spiced dish. Oh, well in that case, no, in that case you want the Bombay duck. No, no, duck, duck, duck. Oh, I see, it was your little joke. Very funny. Well done, well done everybody on that one. That was very good. 

No, it is the sheekh kebab that is like two little… turds. The shami kebab is a sort of a mince and onion rissole. A bit like cow-dung, sir. Yes, but in smaller portions, in fact. 

Ah, Raji, thank you. If you’d like to put the drinks down. 

Well, can we move your friend? Yes, perhaps if we just roll him. Perhaps if we just roll him out of his cutlery…. and into the mango chutney. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine there. 

Thank you, Raji. 

Now, would anybody like any raita? That’s a kind of a yoghurt dip, sort of onion and cucumber. Yes, look, I think we’d better wake up your friend here. Well, no he’s not just having a little nap. He’s having a little nap face down in a pitcher of beer. He’s going to drown. Well… Oh dear! No, no, don’t worry, sir. Much better out than in. Don’t you worry about it. Don’t you worry about a thing. That just leaves all the more room for your… chicken curry, thank you very much. 

Do you know what your friend here might like to eat? 

Hello? What would you like to eat? A hot dog. Okay, I’ll see what I can do. So let me just go back on this, please. We want a cucumber raita, an onion raita, a paperback raita, but I’m presuming that’s a joke. Four meat curry, one Bombay duck, four rice, four sharmi kebab, and a hot dog. And anything else for starters? Just some poppadoms and salad and yoghurt and shit. 

Okay, I’ll see what I can do. Although I’m not sure you’ll be needing that last item, as you all seem quite full enough of shit already! Raji ! 


The Limerick Spot:

There was an old man
From Peru, whose lim'ricks all
Look'd like haiku. He

Said with a laugh "I
Cut them in half, the pay is
Much better for two."





Thursday, April 4, 2013

More Recycled Junk Elephants



Concluding a series of pics of elephants sculpted from recycled materials.

Previous posts about the topic:
Robotic elephant that transports people on tours in France, made of recycled wood and metal:



Recycled metal:


Recycled furniture:


Now why does that remind me of Picasso's Bull's Head?



As said previously, some are better than others:


Newspaper:

Cardboard:



Coca cola and other drink cans:




A worker removes a plastic sheet from an elephant sculpture as he sets up an exhibition at Hiriya recycling park, built on the site of a former garbage dump, near Tel Aviv April 1, 2012.  The exhibition was of animals made from recycled Coca Cola cans.


From recycled junk sculptor Leo Sewell:





Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Down, Down . . .




My young fellow, Thomas, hates the Coles commercial, the “Down Down, Prices are Down” one. 

So, of course I have been playing it continually on my mobile phone to annoy him. The funny thing is that I have now become attached to it, it grows on you. 

For the benefit of local and overseas Byters, here are some comments: 
  • The ad features, the 1960’s Brit band Status Quo singing revised lyrics to their 1974 hit “Down Down”. 


  • Here is the advertising version: 

  • And the original, this clip from 1975: 

  • The website Mumbrella, which reports on media, marketing and entertainment matters in Australia, has a story about Status Quo’s reincarnation as advertisers. It can be read at: 

  • What I liked were some of the comments by the public at the end of that article: 
When you get to their age I guess as long as there is a nice big cheque you’ll do anything. Love to know how big the cheque was??? 

I wanted to hate this but it is done with just the right amount of tongue in cheek piss-taking that it works. 

I could also think of worse songs to be stuck in my head for the rest of the day. 

I know where I would like to put the big red hand 

Bad enough to be good enough!! 

These people must be stopped….! 

So bad it’s brilliant. And it made me smile. 

Where do you get one of those handmade Coles guitars from??? 

Next Kiss will come out singing “we’re the fresh food people” 

I noticed this is shot in THE Abbey Road Studios.
Proving that absolutely anything recorded there comes out brilliantly.
Love it. 

So, I’m British, I’m Gen X and I will do everything in my power to avoid Coles from this day forth. 

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS “SO BAD IT’S GOOD”. 

NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I”m not even going to watch it …. so they can’t count me as a hit on You Tube. 

I guess the studio had ramps so they could get the band’s wheelchairs in. 

The only people who could say this is in any way good are people who are somehow involved with its creation. Utter poop. A pox on all their houses. 

I have burnt my Status Quo collection. The shame, the shame…. 

  • Watch it for yourself and see what you think. 

By the way... 

Originally called the Spectres, after forming in 1962, they changed their direction, style and name in 1967 to Traffic, later Traffic Jam to avoid confusion with Steve Winwood’s band, also named Traffic. In late 1967 they again changed their name, this time to The Status Quo. Their manager had seen the words Quo Vadis and liked it so they played around with it until they came up with The Status Quo. The suggestion is that they didn’t know what it meant. In 1969 it became simply Status Quo. By 1970 they had again changed direction, leaving behind the psychedelic music and Carnaby Street fashions in favour of hard rock/boogie and faded denims/T shirts. Since then they have had 60 hits in the UK, more than any other rock group, 22 having been Number 1’s.


Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Tuesday Pics




Van Gogh's Starry Night - Variations, Parodies and Applications

Part 1



My son Thomas sent me the above pic by mobile phone. 

It started me thinking about other depictions and applications of Van Gogh’s famous painting Starry Night. This is the original, painted in 1889, which depicts the view outside his sanitarium room window at Saint-Remy-de-Provence at night, although it was painted from memory during the day: 


The Dutch title of the work is De Sterrenacht, meaning The Starry Night and although it has become one of his most famous works, it was not highly regarded by Van Gogh himself. He wrote to his brother Theo in respect of the bundle of paintings sent by him which included Starry Night:
“In all this batch I think nothing at all good save the field of wheat, the mountain, the orchard, the olives with the blue hills and the portrait and the entrance to the Quarry, and the rest says nothing to me, because it lacks individual intention and feeling in the lines.” 

Melanie Lee’s analysis of the work can be read at

According to her: 
"The fact that he had painted this from his mental image may have contributed to this piece having such a strong sense of great mental dislocation and emotional intensity. One almost feels as if he was hardly able to contain his feelings and that all his angst and passion seem to have spilled onto this piece. The moon and stars seem so huge that we feel that the sky is about to fall in on us. The cypress bush, a usually inconspicuous and solemn funeral plant seems almost sinister as it confronts us right smack in front of the picture. It's as if Van Gogh was creating his own kind of reality and chose to emphasise objects he felt were important to him even though this resulted in perspectives being distorted. 
The painting seems to be seething with life as the fluid brushstrokes give the impression of movement. In particular, it's the night sky that seems to be the life force of this piece with its bursting dynamism. It seems as if galaxies are in motion and that the stars would plunge into the sleepy town at any moment. The stars and the sky seem to possess such great emotional intensity with its variety of strokes and colours all merging together to form a spiral-like mist in the centre."

Here are same variations, parodies and applications of Starry Night

I have previously posted an item about a hardware store owner who made a mural of the work using doorknobs and door plates: 

That item can be read at:

Tattoos: 





Bottlecaps: 


Pie Charts: 

Beautiful!

Mosaic: 



Death Star:


By the Way Moment:

Van Gogh painted a scene in 1888, before the breakdown that had him institutionalised, reminiscent of Starry Night. That work is called Starry Night Over the Rhone:


It has been observed that as Vincent's mental condition deteriorated, his paintings began to feature more swirls and bright lights with strong auras.  Witness, for example, one of his last self portraits, painted near the end of his life, showing a mind being held in check only by a sheer effort of will against external pressures and forces:



Monday, April 1, 2013

Monday Quote




“I love youse all."

- Jeff Fenech 

Australian boxer Jeff Fenech was born in Marrickville, New South Wales, in 1964. A street thug who made good in the boxing ring, he was known as The Marrickville Mauler. Upon his retirement in 1996 he had had 33 fights for 31 wins (21 by knockout), 2 losses and one draw. He had also been the holder of 3 world titles and has been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Defeating Thailand’s Samart Payakarunin a 1987 title fight, and in the process beating him to a bloody pulp, Fenech declared to the crowd “I love youse all.” It became the little Aussie battler’s catch cry but was later also used to satirise and ridicule him. In that same post match public utterance, Fenech declared 
"With 12,000 of the most beautifullest people in the world cheering me on, it’s hard to feel pain." 
By 1999 Fenech no longer loved youse all. Bemoaning that he wasn’t being given sufficient recognition, he stated that
"I hate the way we are as Australians, we are just a jealous, sick race of people who do not want to give credit when others have done something good. Jealousy is worse than cancer, jealousy is worse than AIDS, jealousy is the worst thing in the world."
In 2009 Fenech was involved in an argument with his bestie and subsequently commented that 
“We’ve been having an argument for the last couple of weeks and I went over there to really try and fix things up and Peter was a little agitated still and said a few things and we got into a grappling motion and all of a sudden Peter threw a couple of punches. I threw one and I tried to punch Peter just in the chest to try and wind him or something but it kind of rebounded off his chest and hit him in the mouth. I’m getting several stitches put into my hand and hopefully my friend is alright and hopefully we can get it fixed up today and I can go over and help him.”