Did I Miss the Punch Line?

   I really enjoyed the readings today about the fashion senseless man and the Tip-Top Club.However neither, especially the radio one, struck me as particularly funny.  When I first read the radio story I kept waiting for the punch line, when I finally got to the end I had an empty feeling that perhaps I just missed something, which is possible, but for the life of me I can not figure out what it is. The story was a good one and I could see the irony between the positive point of the show and how its listeners actually react poorly to a new host, but this still did not make me laugh. Perhaps the story was more of a parody on radio shows, the industry, and its devoted followers but I could not really get into that side of it.

   What I did gain from the radio story was more a sense of inspiration.  I actually liked the idea of a "news" show that focused on a community and finding joy in stressful everyday life.  This is a great contrast between typical news shows that seem to point out all of societies flaws. Before the Club got hostile and cultish I really like the flow of the story. Perhaps because I was inspired by the first part, it stopped me from finding more humor in the second half because I took it too seriously. Either way, it left me entertained and refreshed but I would not say amused.

   The next story was much more funny to me, although not quite laugh out loud.  The story itself was so human, talking about the insecurities all people face with fashion and their external appearances.  I enjoyed this story because it was relatable and realistic. I wouldn't say the story had wit, but it certainly had honesty, which made it that much better.  I loved the imagery and silly rhymes for all the fashion don'ts.  The crazy clothing choices the man makes throughout the story and all his self doubt and depreciation were definitely amusing.  I especially loved the butt enhancing pants and catheter. Each fashion fail was a story of its own that ultimately led to the full circle completion of the story. I really enjoyed how blunt the narrator is and the way he shares all his misfortunes and internal thoughts.

   One of the things that was best for me was the reliability of this story.  As a woman I have certainly struggled with body image issues and bad fashion decisions. There have been many a time where some over the top body enhancing product or crazy clothing item has been tempting for just a moment.  My mom also happens to be great at the same game the narrator's sister plays where she convinces you that you NEED some silly item.  Keeping up with fashion is a task all of its own and I have definitely felt behind before.  I was a tomboy in elementary school and did not figure out how to dress myself properly till my Junior year of high school.  Even today I find myself fighting Texas fashion with my California senses which often gets me made fun of.  Clothing and fashion will always prevail to be ever changing and demanding and the way this story combined all these problems into a very personal narration definitely kept me amused.

Conversation Partner Meet #4

   Today I got to meet with Bandar again. We both talked about our weekends and our break. I told him about my trip back home to California and we discussed the weather for a bit.  I talked about how I liked sunny days with a blue sky in comparison to the gray overcast Texas has been having lately. Bandar disagreed, saying that he enjoys the gray sky and that he had visited Seattle once and that he really liked the weather there. 

   I asked if he had success getting a car in Dallas the week before but he told me that the man selling the car was asking for too much money.  He explained that there are frequent car auctions in the area and how he might go to one of those.  We discussed cars some more and he talked to me about why he likes European and Asian car companies so much better than American.  I told him about the Acura my family owns and he explained that Acura does not exist where he lives so he would not be able to get service on the car or parts for the car if he shipped it back home with him.

   Later he asked me how my classes were going. I told him about how I was struggling in my Spanish class and he was surprised that TCU had a significant foreign languages department.  He asked why Spanish was so difficult when many of the words were close to English and I explained that it had been a long time since I had taken Spanish and I was lacking in my basic knowledge.  He then empathized with me, talking about how he had learned English at a private school when he was young but that there was a long time between then and TCU where he didn't have much practice or training.  I talked about this class for a while and how professors make a big difference in learning experience. This he also empathized with.  He told me about a teacher who had travelled the globe teaching english and how they were so much better at understanding accents and respecting the variety of culture among the students. It is always really cool to hear how the different perspectives between students can still be so similar.  Bandar feels that learning is mostly something he does on his own though, and that teachers are just there to help.  He strongly suggested I find someone fluent in Spanish to converse with, just like he does with me.

Whoops - Meeting With Bandar (3)

    I met with my conversation partner again last week but completely forgot to write about it till now so here it goes.  We met up earlier than usual and sat down at our usual spot in front of 1873.  He told me about how he was going to be traveling to Dallas that afternoon to check out a car he hoped to buy.  I talked about my new car, a mustang, and we both got to share our appreciation for nice cars.  He said that he was looking for a used luxury car but that many of the cars he had tried out were in bad condition.  One of the phrases Bandar says a lot when he dislikes something is "no way." He described a Lexus he had tried that was gross and gummy, "no way, no way," he told me. 

     Later we talked more about his family and about his parents.  I learned that his mother used to work in an education department but that she no longer works. This was funny because my mother didn't work before but now she works an office job at a University.  He joked to me that his mother now spends all her time asking when he is going to get married.  He explained that it is common for people to get married early on where he lives but that he is here to study and is in no rush to get married.  I empathized with this because Texas is very different from my home in California with its views on marriage.

    Neither of us had big plans for the weekend at the time so I talked to him about my living situation last year and how hard it is to share one room between two people at times.  Somehow we got on the topic of my roommates and how I was one of the youngest.  He laughingly told me he felt very old when he found out I am 19.  We both agreed that it is good to travel and experience the world now before different responsibilities and difficulties arise later in life.

    I asked him more about how his classes at TCU are run and where he takes them.  He told me about how he was struggling with some of the English language rules and spelling.  All letters/characters are pronounced in Arabic and so he does not understand why some of our words have silent letters.  He then went on to tell me he had to write a brief paper about our meetings that day and that he misspelled my name "Shlby." I laughed as he explained the conversation that him and his teacher had after she told him it was wrong.  He also explained that people from his country see everything very logically and that when teachers say "because" as an answer it frustrates him a lot.  "How am I supposed to learn if there is no rule?" he asked me. I agreed that the English language is very unfortunate and then we talked a bit about my last name, which is japanese.  It was a pretty good meeting and although I was tired I think we both managed to get a few good laughs in.

Well... He Tried His Breast

Yay for bad puns to start off my second reading blog post...

This evening's readings from The 50 Funniest American Writers was enjoyable but unremarkable.  I was going to start questioning Andy Borowitz's sense of humor but I have a feeling that some of the stories he chose for the book are a bit over my head in the realm of literacy, wit, history, and intellectuality. However, as a whole, I have found at least one of the stories from each assignment to be significantly more entertaining than its companions.  This evening that story happens to be Nora Ephron's "A Few Words about Breasts."  I think I tend to find many of the stories relating more specifically to women to be the most funny.  Perhaps it is because, as a woman, I find them very relatable.  It is one of those instances where the surprising truth and honesty of something is what makes it so laughable.  

Specifically in this story I found myself relating to the turmoils of womanhood and growing up as a female.  This story was spot on, from first bras, to the competition of "developing," to sharing experiences with a mother who is in a completely different realm of thinking.  Although many of my personal experiences differ from the author, there were many moments of truth.  Like the author I had a best friend during my youth who "developed" faster than I did and made everything a competition, growing up included.  Laughably, unlike the author, I was terrified of bras growing up and it was my mother doing the encouraging while I was usually grimacing in discomfort. Despite my many different experiences from the ones in this story I think it still holds a bit of truth for every girl.

I really appreciate the variety the book has to offer overall.  Politics, gender, culture, satire, irony, and many other forms of humor all play into the different stories this book holds. For every dry or confusing story I am still able to find one that amuses me.  In reading this book I have found that often the stories that make me laugh the most are not those that involve incredible cognitive shifts, but rather those that surprise me with their total honesty and relatability - the stories that break social courtesy and talk about the unspoken taboo of real experience. This relatability is what makes me laugh because I can not only understand the joke or humor, but I can completely get it because I have experienced something similar. As I apply this to my own life I find this true in listening to comedians also.  The jokes that really get me are usually the ones that point out some unrealized or unspoken truth.  That being said I think that knowing this can perhaps be a way for me to find humor in every day situations, by addressing the human qualities of my struggles.

On a bit of a last note in the story by Ephron she goes to visit a city known as Palos Verdes Estates which is where I went to school and I lived in the neighboring city right on the edge of PVE known as Rancho Palos Verdes, small world...

Bandar: Meet Number TWO

   Today I got to meet up with my conversation partner again! We sat outside 1873 and drank hot coffee while sweating in the heat, go figure. We got to talk a lot more about humor and laughter. I asked what people did for fun where he lived and if there were movies, since I am considering becoming a film major. He told me that there are no movies, alcohol, casinos, or entertainment in his country because of their strict rules.  He explained that you had to travel 3 hours for any sort of fun and compared it to driving to Huston just to see a movie. This surprised me a lot and he went on to explain that is why he has travelled so much, because there is so little to do there except work. He also made a joke that because it is so hot and "fiery" outside there is no place to walk, "if you want to walk you go in circles inside your house," he said, to which we both laughed.

   Continuing with the topic of movies though he asked if I had seen the movie "Dictator" by Sacha Cohen from this year.  I told him no and he explained how the movie made fun of Libya and its leader.  I asked him if he found it offensive and he laughingly told me that a lot of the content was actually realistic and that the leader was actually that crazy so, to him, the movie was funny. Then I asked him if people still joked around and had fun in the work place at least and he said that they did.

    Another story that made both of us laugh is when Bandar explained that the teachers recommend the students go to coffee shops and listen to other peoples conversations to improve their listening.  One day he was leaning back in his chair and people asked him if he was trying to listen in on their conversation.  At first he said no and told them he was just playing with his chair (at this point he acted it out and we both laughed) but then admitted he was listening because he was learning English.  They invited him to join their table but because they were talking so quickly he had a difficult time keeping up.

    Towards the end of our meeting time a lady walked up advertising a blood drive that was going on in the BLUU auditorium.  Bandar read the sign for the blood drive out loud and asked what that meant.  I explained that the blood would be used in hospitals for patients who needed it, to which he promptly responded that he would give blood. I was surprised at his eagerness but it was simply yet another learning experience for both of us.

First Meeting with Bandar!

      Well I can certainly say that this whole "conversation partner" thing has been a very different experience than what I expected.  After two weeks of scheduled appointments, cancelations, and busy days, I finally got to meet with my conversation partner at a table outside of 1873.  In all honesty I was expecting a shy person of hispanic or asian decent around the age of 20.  In reality my conversation partner is a laid back 30-year-old from Saudi Arabia who has had a conversation partner in the past, so our meeting was nothing new to him.  Although we did have instances where communication was difficult, he was not uncomfortable talking, asking questions, and answering them.

      We talked for a bit about TCU, business, and where he comes from.  I was amazed to learn about the heat his home area receives. He told me that only about two months of the year were cool, while the rest was like summer with temperatures commonly going over 115 degrees! He also explained to me that families are bigger there and that he was one of six siblings, three brothers and three sisters.  When I told him I lived in California he asked me if I lived close to San Diego because he has traveled there before and that is where is brother is attending business school now.  He had visited Los Angeles before which is close to my home town and wondered why would ever want to go to Texas with all the universities and great weather in California.

      Toward the end of our conversation time we began to talk about things that really interest both of us.  He has travelled all over the globe through North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. I asked him about his favorite places he had gone and he recommended that I had to go to Brazil during "Carnival" to see all the crazy people and just how beautiful the area is.  Another place he recommended was Sicily because of its diversity of people, cultures, and ethnicities. I got the feeling that he really enjoys a youthful and partying lifestyle after he told me more about Carnival and how he drinks tequila to get through the 15 hour plane trips on his way back home.  He also has owned and rode horses so when I mentioned the equestrian team we got to talk about the differences between the different types of horses and how American horses are different than the thinner, more elegant Arabian horses. 

      Overall I was very surprised at how well traveled and laid back my conversation partner was, but I had a fine time talking to him and laughing about cars, horses, and travel. I don't know what we will talk about next but I am interested to see how the next seven meetings go!

Really?

My reporting professor sent us this link, it makes me laugh but its one of those overlapping classes moments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwXF7_19VGM