Humour
Category archives for Humour
Restaurant Engrish
Posted by Martin R on June 9, 2011 “Lie Fallow” means “in your spare time, without a prior appointment” in Engrish. Everybody loves Engrish, the surreal dialect of English found on signs, in menus, on clothing etc. in the Far East. Much of it seems to stem from blind over-use of dictionaries, where the non-Anglophone user picks one of the possible translations of…
Spring is Here, Life is Skittles & Beer
Posted by Martin R on March 27, 2011 I was reminded of this timely song when discussing an odd 7th century burial at Norsborg with my friend Dr. Ing-Marie Back Danielsson. The buried individual has been murdered, which triggered the association.
Cthulhu Tract
Posted by Martin R on March 1, 2011 Jack Chick is an insane Christian cartoonist. Howard Phillips Lovecraft was an atheist horror writer who wrote about people being driven insane. In Fred Van Lente and Steve Ellis’s brilliant 2000 tract, Chick and Lovecraft are made one. Thanks to Kalle Bäcklander for the tip-off.
Sanity Claws
Posted by Martin R on January 1, 2011 I seem to be on a poetry roll here, kids. When I was 14, Citadel Miniatures put out a small run of a novelty pewter miniature named Sanity Claws: a tentacled menacing monstrosity for the festive season. And now Norm Sherman of the Drabblecast, whom I do not hesitate to call a genius and an…
And the Earl of Dalkeith’s Wreath Was Very Pretty Too
Posted by Martin R on December 25, 2010 When I turned 25 my friend Sanna gave me a little poetry anthology that I have since treasured. Kathryn & Ross Petras’s Very Bad Poetry (1997) is a lovely read. One of the versifiers most voluminously represented there is W.T. McGonagall (1830-1902). After quoting his words, “The most startling incident in my life was the…
“Do You Need A Fish?”
Posted by Martin R on November 26, 2010 A Gambian moment. We’re in an extremely dilapidated taxi that has stalled at the roadside, just a stone’s throw from Tanji village’s main taxi hub. Before getting into the car, my wife and I had to haggle for ten minutes with the drivers assembled there under the dull gaze of the village idiot. And then…
Arthurian Romance in the Gritty Field
Posted by Martin R on October 31, 2010 Thanks to Dear Reader Kate L.
Surrender to Your Darkest Dreams, Kids, in Church
Posted by Martin R on October 22, 2010 Last night I attended Junior’s school concert in the church of St. Catherine in Stockholm. Here are some of the lyrics sung by the 13-14-year-olds in front of the altar. Because the world is round it turns me on Because the wind is high it blows my mind “Because”, Lennon & McCartney And Night-time sharpens,…
Absurd Tractor
Posted by Martin R on October 3, 2010 A buddy and namesake of mine has a father who is a literature scholar. He wrote his thesis on absurdist drama, Beckett and Ionesco, that sort of thing. This influenced his son’s vocabulary. Once about 1970, when the scholar was out on a walk with his little boy in a stroller, they passed a large…
