Philosophy
My Fellow Comedists,
I've been working my way through Robert Solomon's piece on the Three Stooges. The short people LOVE the Stooges, while TheWife cannot stand them. This would not seem unusual. There is clearly an age and gender divide in Stooge appreciation. But is this indicative of a larger sense in which the Stooges' work is time limited? The Stooges are clearly an artifact of the Depression era when life itself was rough, especially for immigrants without access to education. But in that ability to represent over-the-top reactions to adversity do they touch something deeper in the human condition? Is there something timeless about the Stooges or are they temporally located? Will they become less and less funny to each passing generation of adults? Will they always be funny to kids?
Live, love, and laugh,
Irreverend Steve
- Do We Pass The Funny Down To Our Kids?
My Fellow Comedists, Some speculative comedist sociology this weekend. Are you more likely to be funny if you come from a funny family? Is the funny something biological that some folks have and others don't? Is it something we get from our environment?...
- Is A Sense Of Humor A Virtue?
My Fellow Comedists, Thinking about a paper at today's Lighthearted Philosophers' Society meeting. Is a sense of humor a virtue? Is a sense of humor a necessary part of a well-lived human life? If you do not have an appreciation for things funny,...
- Begat: Odd Family Connections
Today would be Josiah Wedgwood's 281st birthday. Known best as the potter who revolutionized the industrial production of pottery, but was also Charles Darwin's grandfather. There are a lot of unexpected familial relations both by birth and marriage....
- The Big Unit
A foot is twelve inches long because that was the size of the King's foot. A rod is six and a half feet long -- methinks the King was a liar. The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm, named after the Bavarian researcher Georg Ohm. The quantity...
- Feast Of Saint Rube
My Fellow Comedists, This weekend is July 4th, not only the birthday of the United States of America and our own Gwydion, but also cartoonist Rube Goldberg. A native of San Francisco, he attended Berkeley and worked for a short period as an engineer before...
Philosophy
Are the Three Stooges Timeless?
My Fellow Comedists,
I've been working my way through Robert Solomon's piece on the Three Stooges. The short people LOVE the Stooges, while TheWife cannot stand them. This would not seem unusual. There is clearly an age and gender divide in Stooge appreciation. But is this indicative of a larger sense in which the Stooges' work is time limited? The Stooges are clearly an artifact of the Depression era when life itself was rough, especially for immigrants without access to education. But in that ability to represent over-the-top reactions to adversity do they touch something deeper in the human condition? Is there something timeless about the Stooges or are they temporally located? Will they become less and less funny to each passing generation of adults? Will they always be funny to kids?
Live, love, and laugh,
Irreverend Steve
- Do We Pass The Funny Down To Our Kids?
My Fellow Comedists, Some speculative comedist sociology this weekend. Are you more likely to be funny if you come from a funny family? Is the funny something biological that some folks have and others don't? Is it something we get from our environment?...
- Is A Sense Of Humor A Virtue?
My Fellow Comedists, Thinking about a paper at today's Lighthearted Philosophers' Society meeting. Is a sense of humor a virtue? Is a sense of humor a necessary part of a well-lived human life? If you do not have an appreciation for things funny,...
- Begat: Odd Family Connections
Today would be Josiah Wedgwood's 281st birthday. Known best as the potter who revolutionized the industrial production of pottery, but was also Charles Darwin's grandfather. There are a lot of unexpected familial relations both by birth and marriage....
- The Big Unit
A foot is twelve inches long because that was the size of the King's foot. A rod is six and a half feet long -- methinks the King was a liar. The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm, named after the Bavarian researcher Georg Ohm. The quantity...
- Feast Of Saint Rube
My Fellow Comedists, This weekend is July 4th, not only the birthday of the United States of America and our own Gwydion, but also cartoonist Rube Goldberg. A native of San Francisco, he attended Berkeley and worked for a short period as an engineer before...