Meeting With Alan 4

This Wednesday, Alan and I tried a change of pace, abandoned the library, and met in Market Square instead.  I was optimistic, hoping that a change of setting would help the flow of conversation.  I was surprised when he had two of his friends along.  After introductions, I learned that one of his friends was originally from Taiwan, and the other was also from China.  Though the shy side of me was quaking in fear just a bit, I decided to make the best of the situation.

The main topic that I wanted to discuss was how humor in China is different from humor here.  To this end, we spent a lot of our time exchanging jokes.  Most of Alan and his Chinese friend’s jokes were actually riddles.  The first one they told, which I’m pretty sure I’ve heard sometime before, went like this:

“Nathan’s father has three sons.

The first is named Son One

The second is named Son Two

What is the third son’s name?”

Of course, the answer is Nathan.  Most of their joke-riddles were like this, requiring an answer from the person hearing the joke.  I’m definitely not used to that.  To me, jokes are fairly simple.  They may be clever, but they are usually told by one person to another.  I've always tended to put riddles in a separate but related category.

The most surprising thing that happened, by far, was when I asked, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” and neither Alan nor his friends knew the answer.  Before this, I had thought the joke was completely universal, and had never met anyone aside from small children who had never heard it before.  I must admit, my shock made me a bit slow in getting around to telling the punchline, but when I told them, they all laughed fairly hard, and I was astounded once more.  I don’t even remember the last time I got a laugh out of that joke, because it is so overused here that it is really just a springboard for variations.

This experience actually made me think a bit more about the joke.  The punchline is so obvious that it makes the listener feel silly for whatever guesses they had been making.  I suppose that this is an example of a downward cognitive shift.  I’m still trying to come to terms with people thinking of this joke as genuinely funny.  I wonder if Alan has told any of his other international friends this joke, and if so, whether they had heard it before.  I hope that he has been able to get a couple chuckles out of it, at least.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get to the other side.

Senseless Acts of Comedy

After a long week of classes, and before a long weekend of homework, my brain needs a break.  This is why, on Thursday nights, some friends and I make a habit of going to see Senseless Acts of Comedy (SAC), where we can sit down, relax, laugh for an hour, and temporarily forget about the everyday stresses brought on by classes, tests, papers, and homework.  Senseless Acts of Comedy is a student improve troupe, and they use several different types of humor that I especially enjoy.

A form of humor that is commonly used in SAC, though not present in every game, is physical humor.  A particularly good example of physical humor is a game called “Puppets,” which was played last night.  In this game, the improvisers are permitted to say whatever dialog they please, but each is assigned an audience member to move them by positioning their arms and legs.  Each improviser may not move themselves, and must find ways to work the position their audience member puts them in into the scene.  I think this game is especially funny because the actions of the improvisers are disconnected from their words, which causes an incongruity that is often amusing.

Senseless Acts of Comedy members are also good at setting up the audience to expect one thing to happen, and then making the opposite happen.  The cognitive shift from expectation to a different reality results in laughter.  An example of this sort of violation of expectations occurred last night.  Two improvisers were on stage, one sitting on the floor and one standing, and another improviser was narrating the scene.  The narrator told the audience that one of the characters in the scene was half dog.  The audience, of course, expected the improviser on the floor to play the half-dog character, and so we were surprised when the improviser who was standing up made a barking sound.  We were wrong, but it wasn’t a disappointment; instead, it was only funny.

The improvisers also get laughs through irrational reactions and exaggerations within scenes.  A game that they often play that makes use of this sort of humor is called “stunt doubles.”  In this game, two improvisers portray characters struggling with an everyday task, such as laundry, and whenever the characters need help, they call in their stunt doubles, who expand the everyday task into an epic struggle, and solve the problems in a bigger way than necessary.  For example, they might use a fire hose to put out a candle.  This is an unexpected, irrational, and exaggerated response to an everyday situation.  We laugh both because we know better and because the concept itself is funny.

Some of the jokes heard at Senseless Acts of Comedy toe the fine line between what is humorous and what is offensive.  Some of these jokes are funny because they push boundaries.  Others, however, may not seem as funny in any other situation.  I believe that the social importance of laughter plays a huge role in how funny the SAC shows are.  As we have discussed in class, people are generally more likely to laugh out loud in a social setting.  This is why the jokes are funnier with an audience of a couple hundred people than later if you try to repeat them to a friend.  It is also why I, as an audience member, sometimes find myself laughing at jokes that I may not usually thing are amusing.

I, personally, think that Senseless Acts of Comedy is hilarious, and a great way to de-stress each week.  I also believe that everyone should give it a try at some point during their time at TCU.  Some shows are better than others, but they’re all fun.  Through physical humor, wacky characters, and exaggerated movements and actions, they make me laugh every time.

Success: Spring Break Blog 7

Slaughterhouse-Five: Chapters 7-10 and Overall Impression

I think that, at some point, I would like to pick a day and read this book in its entirety, all in one sitting.  I’m curious about how I would feel about it after reading it that way.  I’d have to wait a few years first, and let the details of the story fade.  Even then I would still be influenced by my memories of the first time I read it.  Nonetheless, I feel like I may appreciate it even more that way.  Though I understand that breaking it up into pieces was a necessity for this class, I can’t help but feel that the first few and last few chapters need the middle three to be complete, and to have the impact that they were meant to have.  That said, I still quite enjoyed Slaughterhouse-Five.

The last four chapters in the book fill in the remaining holes in our knowledge of the life of Billy Pilgrim.  The bombing of Dresden occurs at last, and Vonnegut lets us see the impact that it has on Billy later in life, connecting the dots between his symptoms and his wartime experiences.  Reading this part of the book was simultaneously satisfying, in that I finally knew the whole story, and depressing, in that the story itself isn’t a happy one.  At one point, the book briefly switched back to Vonnegut’s perspective and told a bit more about his trip back to Dresden.  I think that this is important because, otherwise, one could easily become too wrapped up in the tale of Billy Pilgrim to remember that the story is connected both to Vonnegut’s life and to our world in general.

Slaughterhouse-Five could have been a very difficult book to read.  Had it been a straight autobiography that only told of the horrors of war, I probably would have cried through most of it, and then promptly tried to forget as much of it as I could.  I don’t like to read sad things.  I can’t think of many people who do.  This is where comedy and the absurd come in.  I think that Vonnegut understood this, and so he wrote a book that people could enjoy reading without losing the core message.  By interspersing the images of war among absurd alien stories and unrelated events, Vonnegut was able to create something that people would want to keep reading, without losing sight of what he really wanted to say.

Towards the beginning of Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut promises that it will be an antiwar book.  In my last blog over this book, I mentioned the backwards war movie as an example of these sentiments.  Now, however, I think that Professor Rumfoord, Billy’s hospital roommate, illustrates Vonnegut’s feelings towards war even better.  I think that Rumfoord is intended represent the wartime state of mind, or something to that effect.  His opinion that “people who are weak deserved to die” is harsh and unsympathetic, and causes the reader to dislike him instantly.

This book is, in my opinion, filled with great quotes.  So, to conclude my last blog about it, I’ll just leave you with this:

“Still—if I am going to spend eternity visiting this moment and that, I’m grateful that so many of those moments are nice.”

Spring Break Blogging Challenge: Blog 6

Wild Wild West

I must say, when it comes to movies and music, I love things that can’t be classified into just one specific genre.  This is why Wild Wild West, which has been classified as a steampunk western action-comedy film, is right up my alley.  It has both physical humor and clever wordplay.  It is, however, very unique and doesn’t appeal to all audiences, hence its 21% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a website on which a perfect movie would be rated at 100%.

For those who are unfamiliar with this movie, have a link to the trailer.

The general idea is that the characters of Will Smith and Kevin Kline are forced to team up and overcome their differences in order to stop Dr. Loveless, the evil, legless ex-Confederate general played by Kenneth Branagh.  Absurd steampunk technologies appear, and awesomeness ensues.

Physical Humor

Kevin Kline plays an eccentric inventor, and much of the humor in the movie stems from the unexpected use of his gadgets.  Everything from a flying machine to a pool table trap to a closet full of disguises lead to amusing antics. 

Banter

Jim West (Will Smith) exchanges clever banter with Dr. Loveless throughout the movie.  Much of the humor comes from subtle puns and jabs, rather than outright insults.  In my opinion, this makes the banter even funnier than if it had been comprised of overt insults.

Comic Relief

In an alternate universe, Wild Wild West is a serious movie.  Fortunately, we don’t live in that universe.  The constant joking, banter, and physical humor keep the movie light.  Suspension of disbelief is definitely necessary to enjoy Wild Wild West.  Fake science abounds, and there is a lot of joking in situations that would otherwise be very serious.

Wild Wild West is a unique movie that combines several genres and several types of humor.  Between the technology that the viewer wishes really existed and the jokes that don’t stop coming, it keeps me interested and amused from start to finish.

Spring Break Blogging Challenge: Day 5 (belated)

Meeting With Alan 3

As usual, Alan and I met in the computer section of the library.  This was a pretty short meeting, but I’ll relay what I can.  This time, we talked about famous Chinese tourist destinations.  Some of them were similar to things we have here in the United States, but others were different.

One thing that surprised me was that China, too, has a Grand Canyon.  It is very different from our Grand Canyon.  The climate is much greener, unlike the desert in Arizona.  He also showed me pictures from Crown Cave and Reed Flute Cave, which reminded me slightly of Carlsbad Caverns.  The lighting in the pictures of these caves, however, is multicolored, and gives the caves a surreal look.

A city that Alan has visited is Guilin.  The area around Guilin is known for its scenic views.  In fact, the picture on the back of the 20 Yuan bill is a drawing of scenery from the surrounding area.  Note to self: ask more about Chinese money in the future.  I realize now that I know very little about it.

Alan has also visited the island of Hainan, a very popular tourist destination for those who live in mainland China.  It has many things to do, including nature reserves, beaches, ports, and historical sites.  It reminds me somewhat of how Hawaii is seen by much of the United States; a getaway from the ordinary.

I promise that I’ll get back on schedule and have seven blogs by the end of break!  Speaking of which, I hope everyone is having a great spring break and had a great Pi day (3/14)!

Spring Break Blogging Challenge: Day 4 (belated)

Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapters 4-6

The first three chapters of Slaughterhouse-Five introduced me to a few segments of Billy Pilgrim’s life, and piqued my interest.  The next three have exceeded my expectations; as the pieces come together, I find myself more and more engaged in Billy’s adventures.  One particularly interesting aspect of Vonnegut’s storytelling is that, since Billy time travels, the reader learns of many events before they actually occur.  I find myself, every now and again, thinking “Spoiler Alert” about something that has been mentioned in passing but not yet fully explained.  I would like to use this blog to discuss a few moments that have especially stood out to me, some of which are humorous, and some of which are not.

Backward war movie

Vonnegut states in the first chapter of this book that it is an anti-war book, but I believe that this is one of the most effective anti-war scenes thus far.  Billy sits down to watch a late-night movie about war, only to come unstuck in time and watch the movie backwards.  He describes things such as the Germans using miraculous machines to suck all of the shrapnel and bullet holes from American planes, and Americans taking fires from German towns, putting them into capsules, and shipping them back to the US to be dismantled, “so they would never hurt anybody ever again.”  This scene is somewhat painful to read, as the sheer innocence of it contrasts so sharply with the realities of war.

Tralfamadorian books

All in all, I feel like Vonnegut’s description of the Tralfamadorian books are something like what he was aiming to accomplish in writing this book.  The “brief clumps of symbols separated by stars” in the Tralfamadorian books parallel the short sections in this book, which are separated by dots.  Furthermore, the alien books are supposed to be comprised of many unrelated moments that, when put together, form something greater than the sum of the book’s parts.  I believe that, although all of the moments described in this book are related (in that they are all taken from the life of Billy Pilgrim), they too are supposed to form something greater than the sum of their parts.  This is the real reason that Billy is unstuck in time.  Vonnegut needed to be able to jump around, to juxtapose joy and sorrow, peace and war, solemnity and absurdity.

“It will never be bombed.”

A British prisoner assured the Americans, who were to be sent to Dresden to work, that Dresden was of no military significance, and that the Americans need not worry about bombs.  This example of dark irony is somewhat chilling, as the reader knows the fate of Dresden—that it will be bombed, and that many will die.  The optimism instilled in the American prisoners by the Englishman is merely false hope.  It is humorous in that the reader knows something that the characters do not, but it is hardly the sort of humor that one would laugh at.

These are only a few of my favorite moments in the book so far.  I found myself making note of page numbers and quotes often as I read, and I paused several times while reading to simply reflect on what Vonnegut was really saying through a given scene.  I am looking forward to reading the rest of Billy Pilgrim’s story.

Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.

Spring Break Blogging Challenge: Day 3

Slaughterhouse-Five Chapters 1-3

So far, most of our readings for this class have been fairly lighthearted.  Even if not everyone found them funny, they were still fairly light readings that weren't too deep in nature.  Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is definitely breaking this pattern.

Most of the humor in the book so far comes from irony, with a bit of the absurd sprinkled in.  After the first chapter, which jumped between random events in Vonnegut’s life that led up to the publishing of this book, the story follows a character named Billy Pilgrim who, as we learn, is (or at least believes that he is) “unstuck in time.”

In World War II, Billy is a chaplain’s assistant who is assigned to a regiment that is destroyed before he even meets the chaplain he was supposed to assist.  In the aftermath, he is left wandering behind German lines with a few other survivors, and is eventually taken prisoner.

Interspersed with the story of Billy’s wandering and imprisonment are scenes from his life before and after the war, which he seems to relive at random.  This is the reason that Billy thinks himself to be “unstuck.”  We also find that after the war and an airplane accident that caused him head trauma, Billy began to tell papers and radio stations that he had once been kidnapped by an alien race, the Tralfamadorians, and shown the secrets of life and time.

Every time someone dies, or someone dead is mentioned, Vonnegut uses the Tralfamadorian phrase, “So it goes” as something of a sidenote.  I believe that there is a bleak, weary sort of humor in the use and overuse of this phrase.  The redundancy of the expression highlights just how much death is in this book, while also making it seem mundane.  The implication that the depressing is also the ordinary causes a slight shift in understanding that is too sad to be considered especially amusing, yet too incongruous to be overlooked.

The irony of Billy’s story is similarly dark.  There are several points at which he should logically be the one to die, but someone else winds up dying instead.  One example is when the two capable and seasoned soldiers abandon him and another incompetent man behind enemy lines, Billy and the other are taken prisoner, while the two soldiers are soon discovered and shot.

Furthermore, after Billy was the sole survivor of a plane crash, his wife died of carbon monoxide poisoning while he was still recovering in a hospital.  The cognitive shift here is from the good news that Billy has survived to the horrible news that his wife dies while he is away.

Thus far, I have enjoyed Vonnegut’s writing style, despite the darkness of his story.  The interwoven tales about Billy keep one from becoming too bogged down in the depressing details, and the absurdity of the bits about Tralfamador contrast nicely with the solemnity of Billy’s experiences as a POW.

So it goes.

Spring Break Blogging Challenge: Day 2

Meeting with Alan 2

For our second meeting, Alan and I met in the library again.  We met at the computers in the loud section of the library, so that I could see pictures of what he was talking about and understand better.  This was especially useful as, after we made the standard small talk, asking how each other’s week and classes were going, the main topic of our conversation was the types of food that Alan usually eats at home, and how it differs from the food that is usually served in America.

First, we talked about general concepts.  I remembered from our previous meeting that he didn’t care much for American food and didn’t like cheese.  I asked whether he usually eats out or at home in China, and he told me that he usually eats at home because restaurants are less healthy and tend to use more salt and oils than he prefers.

Next, we looked at pictures of foods that different regional cuisines in China (there are several) are known for.  The foods that he pointed out as things that he would typically eat at home came from the Anhui cuisine.  I took note of some of the things that he showed me that he liked, including:

A pork dish with peach-based sauce

A dish that looked like a sort of soup, with egg, ham, mushrooms, peas, and some other vegetables

I was somewhat surprised when he also pointed out crispy fried chicken that looked much like what I would expect to find in a restaurant here in the United States.  It looked much more familiar than anything else that he had shown me.

The meeting was still pretty awkward, but I found myself coming out of it with hope that we’re slowly finding some common ground, and that maybe our conversations will eventually be able to flow a bit more naturally, instead of just like an assignment.  I’m crossing my fingers here, and trying to think of ways that I can help that happen.

Spring Break Blogging Challenge: Day 1

That beast called procrastination has reared its ugly head.  Here I sit, wondering where half the semester has gone, and why I don’t have more blogs done (shouldn't they be writing themselves or something?).  Thus, I have challenged myself to write a blog a day over the course of Spring Break, seven blogs in total.  Some will be reflections on my sense of humor and humorous experiences, others will be about meetings with Alan that I have neglected to write about, and at least one will be a reflection on my readings for class.  Here goes nothing.

I've noticed, over the years, that I tend to have a more dry, sarcastic, and biting sense of humor than many of my peers.  I find myself constantly having to do a mental double-check on my jokes to ensure that they won't be taken too seriously.  Many of (what I think are) the funniest things I say tend to be delivered straight-faced.  Soon after I first befriend people, I try to make a point of warning them that anything that I say that sounds harsh is probably sarcasm, and that if I become harsher in my jokes, it means that I'm growing more comfortable around them, not that I've stopped liking them.

It’s this sense of humor and this tendency to use sarcasm as a means of showing that I enjoy someone's company that led me to spend the entire first month or two of my time with my roommate flatly saying “No.” to nearly every question she would ask me.

“Would you like to head to dinner with me?”

“No.”

“Hey, can I borrow a-”

“Nope.”

“Do you need anything from the store?”

“No.  Wait!  Crap.”

Fortunately, she caught on within a couple days that I would wait a couple seconds after my initial (sarcastic) “No” to provide my actual response, usually in the form of handing her what it was she asked for or getting ready to go somewhere without any verbal confirmation.  I was amused, and I like to believe that she was too, once she understood what was going on.  Regardless, we're still friends, so I don't think she minded too much.

My other TCU friends, however, don't spend as much time with me, and are still working on understanding my humor.  Recently, when another of our friends was in the room, my roommate and I had a mock-argument over something silly (I believe it was who is more bothered by the clicking noise that our thermostat makes), and the non-roommate friend became uncomfortable and asked us to stop fighting and yelling at each other.  It was an interesting perception, as neither I nor my roommate had the slightest idea that our conversation could ever be taken seriously.  I suppose that it was the tone of our voices that led to that impression, but I'm still not quite sure.

Despite the strangeness of my sense of humor, I've been lucky enough to find some other people who share my enjoyment of sarcasm, dry wit, and fake arguments.  I still have to watch myself around most people, but it's good to know that there are those I can have a laugh with in my own way.