Quotes: Louis C.K. Analyzes Why Fart Humor is Funny

We apologize, once again, for a reduced quantity of blogging over the past few months, and general decrease since the golden years of itwaslost. (It's been a bit busy over here, & other contributors have many other exciting projects going on.) However, to ease back into more regular serious bloggifying, I wanted to start with Louis C.K.'s amazing analysis about fart humor from last night's Daily Show with Jon Stewart: "Let's break down a fart for a second," he said, and then listed on his finger:

1. It comes out of your ass.
2. It smells like poop because it's been hanging out next to it for a long time.
3. And it makes a little trumpet noise when it comes out.

He then summed up, "You don't have to be smart to laugh at farts, but you have to be stupid not to." Stewart made some comment that most explanations of jokes strip the joke of its comedy, but this one only enhanced and deepened the understanding of the phenomenon. I propose that this should be published as an appendix to Sigmund Freud's "Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious" (Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewußten, 1905), which I've been told contains many unfunny jokes.

Socks with Sandals goes all the way to the top

At Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity last October, there was a man with a sign saying "Socks with Sandals" which I posted here. This is a cause I chauvinistically support. A picture was floating around the Huffington Post that showed George W Bush on vacation when he was president (it was in response to "should the President dress like this?" bullshit about Obama's casual wear in Hawai'i.) Look closely, I believe our movement has a new messiah. He's not only wearing crocks with socks, but the socks have the presidential seal on them!

I hereby Spearhead the Initiative to Introduce a Special Department of Socks with Sandals as a Special Sub-Department of the Department of Fashion (with Grainne's approval of course.)

Special Comment: Salman Rushdie should be more flexible with his grudges

The Daily Beast reported today that Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie criticized Jonathan Stuart Liebowitz for having Steven Demetre Georgiou sing at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear last Saturday. (I use their real names, not for political or racial reasons, but for silly reasons.) Jon Stewart had the artist former known as Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam has apparently dropped the 'Islam' because five of the five letters spell 'Islam', and some Europeans & Americans have islamic allergies) sing his beautiful song "Peace Train" before it was interrupted by Stephen Tyrone Colbert ("I will not ride that train") & John Michael "Ozzie" Osborne singing "Crazy Train."

Yusuf, when he was a fresh convert to Islam in the '80s, stupidly said he'd support the fatwa death sentence placed on Rushdie after he published The Satanic Verses. (As a side note, did you know book stores in Berkeley were bombed because they carried that book?) (Also, if you haven't read it, The Satanic Verses is a pretty dense postmodern novel containing many positive Muslim characters, and the scenes inspired by the life of the Prophet are in a feverish dream by a delusional character, not at all a simple direct criticism of Mohammad.) Today's 62-year-old Yusuf is a different man than the enthusiastic convert thirty years ago, and he's become a face of moderate peaceful Islam, and one of the handsomest beards on Earth or beyond. Witness this lovely performance of Peace Train at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony honoring Muhammad Yunus in 2006:

Sir Salman, as someone who still has a fatwa on your ass, you should know better about holding grudges!

"NARWHALS": New Favorite Signs from Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity

This is real. And here are a few more ideas I had for rally signs that I never put up:

And here are some featured in the epic Huffington Post slideshow of rally signs that made me feel good:

That last one is a personal campaign of mine. And here! I'm thrilled to see someone was either inspired by my sign suggestions (I proposed "Protect the Third Amendment! No More Quartering!") or came to the same idea independently:

Unrelated plug: Friends Around the Campfire's Stuck Home Syndrome now available as a $5.99 digital album. Narwhals!

"Protect the Third Amendment!" Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity - Protest Sign Suggestions

The Huffington Post commissioned signs for Jon Stewart's forthcoming Rally to Restore Sanity. I sent in a half dozen, so far only one has been added to their 144-deep slideshow, but here's the rest:

There's other good ones at the huffpost here. Here's Stewart's original announcement of his rally, including some splendid sign suggestions:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rally to Restore Sanity Announcement
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity