Category Archives: Humour

Iconoclasm

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This bold new installation at Wimpole Hall asks difficult — some would say provocative — questions about the role of traditional art forms in a modern world.

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Echoing the delayed gratification of the wrapped Christmas gift, the artist seems to imply that the projection of the sculptor’s immediate intent onto the viewer’s consciousness is, in itself, best understood as an ephemeral dualism.

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The exhibition runs throughout the winter, and there is no charge for admission.

In memory of Douglas Adams

For ‘Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy’ fans…

I noticed that we had an old touch-tone phone sitting on a shelf, and since it’s many years since we had a landline, I’ve been sitting here cleaning it with isopropyl alcohol before giving it away to a charity shop. I’m not doing a very good job.

Then a terrible thought suddenly struck me. For a brief moment, I have become a Telephone Sanitiser.

And probably a second-class one, at that.

Take a Pew

Alan Bennett’s wonderful sketch ‘Take a Pew’ may resonate with fewer and fewer people as time goes on, but for those of us brought up on the sermons of the Anglican church, it’s still hilarious.

There are many different recordings of it out there, but none of them, I think, is quite as polished as the one I remember on an old comedy compilation album from the 80s. After extensive searching, it appears that this never made it online, and in fact, never made it beyond LPs and cassettes. I would have been happy to purchase a copy, but was unable to do so.

So, after finding a second-hand copy of the cassette from an online retailer, digging my old cassette desk out of the loft and giving it a good vacuum, and connecting it through a USB audio interface to my Macbook, I offer it here for your enjoyment.

(Download)

Always look on the dark side of life

I love these nihilistic security questions from Soheil Rezayazdi…

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Thanks to Rory C-J for the link.

Tilting at windmills

I love this understated phrase from the ‘Information for visiting pilots’ on the website of Caernarfon Airport:

Runway 02/20 at Caernarfon is now permanently unlicensed due to the installation of two 152’ amsl wind turbines approximately half way down the runway.

Conjures up some wonderful mental images.

“Go on Bob, time it just right… Oh, and roll as you go through…”

The fens are alive with the sound of moosic

Yesterday we attended a rehearsal of the famous Grantchester Bovine Acapella Trio.

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Actually, they were trying to reach this particularly tasty tree which was growing just a bit too far out over the river.

Things you thought you knew

Neil deGrasse Tyson is just superb. This video has (a) some ads that pop up that you’ll want to dismiss and (b) a microphone glitch early on so you’ll need to wait until he swaps mics. But trust me, it’s worth the effort.

The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra?

Amazing what technology can do with music; what it could do, even back in 2008…

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Thanks to Adrian Higgs for the link.

A more amazing grace?

I would like to propose a revision to the traditional blessing, which is a little more optimistic, but still covers all eventualities.

For what we are about to receive
We are most truly thankful.
May the Lord make us even more so.
  (Above all, if we need it,
  After we receive it.)

Always look on the dark side of life

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Lovely cartoon from Brevity.

Spotted on Facebook a while back. Shared in the free world.

The Grapes of Wrath

From ‘Art Roflmao‘. Lovely.

Star Wars as a Ken Burns documentary

A very nice short video from the Washington Post.

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(Scroll down linked page for video)

© Copyright Quentin Stafford-Fraser