“Attack the Block” (2011) is a British sci-fi/horror/comedy written and directed by Joe Cornish. The plot takes place in London on Guy Fawkes night following a teenage street gang who, with the help of neighbors, drug dealers, a nurse and college student, hatch a scheme to save their city from an alien invasion. The film was produced from the creators of Shaun of the Dead and features a cameo by Nick Frost as well as a stand-out lead performance (and film debut) by John Boyega who later played Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
“Jammin’ in New York” (1992) was Carlin’s 8th HBO special and was a performance he considered a career-best. The constant stream of jokes and wordplay are kept at a rapid pace throughout the show but the true highlights are his incisive commentary on the government’s war-like tendencies which bookend this classic.
If you enjoyed Jammin’ in New York, you should also check out “It’s Bad for Ya” (2008), his final album and HBO comedy special. Some of the most memorable and enduringly truthful moments of both performances are still widely shared as video clips and meme quotes.
It’s Bad for Ya can be viewed in it’s entirety here:
“Tere Bin Laden” (2010) is a Bollywood comedy written and directed by Abhishek Sharma. Pakistani pop star Ali Zafar stars as Ali Hassan, a TV reporter for a low budget news station in Karachi. Determined to find success in America despite previously being deported after being mistaken for a terrorist, he hatches a plan to raise funds for a fake ID with a sensational video using Noora (Pradhuman Singh), a dimwitted chicken farmer who happens to be a convincing Bin Laden lookalike. The plan rapidly spins out of control when it gets the attention of US government officials and the Pakistani intelligence agency. Though some gags dependent on regional references and wordplay may be lost on western audiences, much of it is broad enough to transcend cultures (especially bits mocking the paranoid and xenophobic post 9/11 milieu). Not surprisingly, the film was banned upon release in the US and several countries in the Middle East including Pakistan. The sequel Tere Bin Laden: Dead or Alive was released last February.
Rather than post a prank (which can all too easily be mistaken for “news” in today’s increasingly absurd media landscape) here’s a random assortment of intentionally funny clips:
The hypothesis behind The Walk of Life Project is that “Walk of Life” by Dire Straits improves the ending of any movie.
It certainly seems to work for The Shining, ideally the version depicted in this trailer:
An imaginary friend is forced to consider retirement when his creator/best friend starts to grow up.
The members of a fourth-grade class pull an innocent April Fool’s Day prank on their teacher that accidentally kills her. Fearing jail time, they set out to cover up the murder before their D.A.R.E. officer shows up for his weekly lesson.
Just in time for the 4th of July, here’s a compilation of classic material from three of the funniest American social critics reminding us of what nationalism is all about:
America stands at a crossroads. Income inequality, climate change, politics, and so on combine to form one of the greatest challenges in our history. And yet, while I believe we have an opportunity to make progress, I also know that such progress will never happen until Americans come together into a very big circle and talk about it.
This is critical. For real social change to occur, the entire nation must somehow assemble in a gigantic circle and discuss the issues that matter most.
The only question is, how to do it? I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have all the answers. To start, where can we find a big enough venue for the circle? How can we ensure that everyone speaks loud enough to hear each other? Is it better for everyone in the circle to sit or stand? Should the circle include all 314 million Americans or only those of voting age? Will convicts be allowed in? What about those who are deaf or only speak Spanish?
I do know this much, though: We’ll need a lot of space, enough that everyone can have a direct line of sight to whoever’s speaking. We’ll need infrastructure: waypoints stocked with food and water, systems for healing the sick members of the circle and disciplining those who refuse to participate, jackets in case part of the circle has to go through the Rocky Mountains, and T-shirts with American flags on them to build morale and to make the circle look more patriotic.
Of course, I have yet to address the biggest elephant in the room: Where will President Obama be, relative to the circle? Some might assume he should be directly in the center, but it is incumbent upon us as citizens to consider other options, such as having him run around the outside of the circle or fly from place to place in a helicopter. Actually, this could be one of the very first topics we discuss in the giant circle.
Make no mistake: America doesn’t need to be sitting in this big circle sometime next year. America needs to be sitting in a big circle today. America needs to be sitting in it yesterday.
We hold the future in our hands, so let’s not back down now, not while we have all the momentum of history on our side.
There’s not many humor sites that skewer American culture as adeptly and consistently as The Onion. I recently delved deep into their video archives where I found a few gems (marginally more absurd than reality):
Whoops. That last clip was actually from MSNBC. Maybe they’re trying to compete with The Onion?
After the Crash 