New Site!

Pardon me while I direct you all to a new blog type place to find my ramblings, or more so well thought out things. Shorter comedic bits and such that work better on the new site rather than here. So go and follow me there please!

http://kevintumbles.tumblr.com/

An Open Rebuttal On The Importance Of Humor

Recently for my online Story Telling class we had to do the following assignment worth 5% of our grade:

We said earlier that a "Strange Attractor" is something unique and compelling. Discuss what you feel is unique and compelling about yourself that would be an attractive asset to the entertainment industry and how you plan on marketing and/or highlighting that asset to prospective employers as you seek to begin or advance your career.

This was my response:

I feel that an attractive asset I have is a good sense of humor and an ability to make people laugh (I'm a hard worker too, but that's not the focus here). If you can get someone who doesn't like you to laugh, you're already winning them over. A good sense of humor also leads to a good sense of recovery in the sense that it's quite easy for me to laugh at myself or a mistake I've made. The world's a funny place, you just have to look at from the right angles.



Other attractive assets include but are not limited to:


-My face


-My apparently soft hair

Now this response got me a 100%, however this is how the teacher responded to it:

Not many industry professionals would care about your face and soft hair, would they? Humor is good in a movie but rarely on the mind of someone about to hire someone else in such a competitive industry. Time to get serious about how you are going to stand out amongst all the others that want to do the same thing (or close to it) as you in the entertainment industry.

As far as my grade is concerned I have no problems. But being someone who takes comedy seriously I felt a strong urge to address his response.

First allow me to address the question and expand my response. Essentially we’re asking, “What makes you stand out?” Now I don’t have some amazing life story of trials and hardship to fall back on, I wasn’t raised by bean farmers and then tried to make it in the big city. Let’s face the facts, everyone says they are dedicated and that they work hard, but if everyone says that it doesn’t really help you stand out now does it (no offence dedicated-hard-workers). And if these are in fact prospective employers then odds are they haven’t seen you work yet so they have no basis on how honest you are when it comes to working with someone.

So what’s something that helps you stand out? Well for me it’s humor; if you can get an honest laugh out of someone then they’re going to remember you. And that’s what this is about isn’t it?

Now lets think about this statement: “Time to get serious about how you are going to stand out amongst all the others that want to do the same thing (or close to it) as you in the entertainment industry.” Again, I’m entirely serious when I say people will remember you if you can make them laugh, especially if there are people who want to do what you can but other than working hard they just don’t stand out that much.

The plan isn’t to stand out by walking into an office and being a goofball. You can get people to laugh in a serious situation when given the opportunities and be taken seriously. Don’t believe me? Watch Conan O’Brien’s interview on 60 Minutes, he throws some jokes in from time to time, but he knows when to be serious. This isn’t like when Robin Williams goes on any talk show and starts joking about every possible thing.

A lot of times funny people will get a bad rep for not taking things seriously, which I mostly attribute to the “Class Clown” section of high school superlatives. Rarely is the Class Clown the funniest kid in school, but actually the most obnoxious student who’s not afraid to talk back to the teacher and get some cheap laughs as a result. (I never got Class Clown, but because of this realization I’m not bitter about it).

Continuing to dissect things backwards: “Humor is good in a movie but rarely on the mind of someone about to hire someone else in such a competitive industry.”

Well of course it’s not on their minds! Unless they’re hiring comedy writers it’s not hardly relevant. So again I stress, this isn’t rapid-fire comedy (Callback to the Robin Williams statement). This is something natural that just works its way into a conversation or interview. If you can get them to laugh, when you leave the room odds are they’ll be thinking, “I liked that guy.”

Now it’s time I called attention the Joke I intentionally inserted at the end of my statement:

“Other attractive assets include but are not limited to:


-My face


-My apparently soft hair”

Funny? Maybe. I thought it was to some degree, because really… what the hell is an “Attractive Asset?”

I didn’t open with this, nor did I insert it half way through, in fact with the exception of “(I'm a hard worker too, but that's not the focus here).” It’s the ONLY joke I made. Appropriately at the end after I had finished making all serious statements, (plus it seemed wrong to talk about a sense of humor and have nothing to prove its existence).

Here was the very first thing my teacher wrote in his response: “Not many industry professionals would care about your face and soft hair, would they?”

That’s right the first thing he brings up is the joke. And I’m 92% sure that no one’s dumb enough not to get that it was a joke. So here’s my argument, if I need to get serious, if humor is in no way going to help me get a job, why is my only joke in my response the element that sticks out above the rest?

The State of Illogical-Cast:

http://tinyurl.com/illogicalcast

Ok, so listening to this should somewhat explain the delay in episode 2. Brad and I are hoping to sit down tomorrow, but his health is in and out, and my schedule isn't entire known at this point. But we'll explain the massive delay then.

Illogical-Cast Promotion!

I spent the maybe 3 hours working on this 1 minute promo... if you ask me, it kinda kicks ass:

Illogical-Cast Promo! - watch more funny videos

Illogical-Cast

I don't know why it took me so long (a day?) to blog about this, but it's pretty big! Behold! Illogical-Cast!

A podcast featuring myself and Brad Rosen, as well musical arrangements by Luke Moorman

Click the Link to download and send feedback to illogcalcast@gmail.com

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=367272818

This is what I've been reduced to :/

I Eat it so you don't have to: The KFC Double Down

Census Complete!

I got my census form weeks ago, but I finally filled it out.

Kevin, why did you take so long to fill out the census?

Well, to my understanding you can't lie in a government study, and the census frequently asks me who is living in my house as of April 1st 2010. If I filled the census out earlier in the march I could be sending in misleading information. How do I know that someone won't come and live with me only for the day, or that I won't take in an orphan or March 31st?

So today, I realized the date, looked around my apparent, and quietly said to myself "nope, just me." got the form and filled it out.

Christians Against Healthcare Reform

If there's one thing that makes me want to scream "What The F--k!?!" It's Christians against Healthcare Reform. Here's the thing, I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, I don't believe in Church since that can corrupt people more than any other institution (and that's a whole different blog post, but I figured I'd let people know where I stand before I go off this topic).

I know this post is going to be controversial, but it's something I need to put out there, so deal with it.

Christians claim to be a loving people. People who walk around saying things like "Love Thy Neighbor" and "What Would Jesus do?" Okay, so maybe they don't say it, but a lot of them wear it. This is what's so puzzling to me, people who preach that we should help the needy and attempt to live their lives in a Christ-like manner would rather see people die of an easily curable disease than see this nation "fall to socialism." Healthcare reform isn't some grand scheme to turn this "beautiful nation" into The United Soviet Socialist Republic.

This isn't the McCarthy era! The problem is not only are people not caring about the needs of others, their putting an illogical fear instilled in them by right-wing brainwashers, politicians, Fox News, what have you.

For Christ's Sake OPEN YOUR EYES! There are people in this country who have diseases but can't afford to be treat or have been royally screwed by their healthcare provider. I fervently remember a story of a woman who sprained her wrist but was refused coverage because it was a pre-existing condition (Some one tell me how the hell that makes sense). Health Care reform will make sure this type of instance doesn't happen again, and will ensure that those who can't afford insurance will still be able to get the help they need.

Christians preach to put God first in life. Personally I think this all wrong, as god is an omnipresent being, you can't really put something that's not tangible a head of people around you and you shouldn't. Keep the people you love close to you, because they may not always be there (and apparently some christians prefer it that way). To deny someone healthcare because "it's socialist" Are putting their country ahead of people in need. Get this, a country is only an idea, a concept that everyone happens to agree on, people united by invisible lines. The people are real, the people are dying, "America" will be fine. Get your heads out of your asses!

Also using the constitution doesn't help your argument, as I direct you to a slightly older document. The Declaration of Independence, where people are ensured LIFE, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To deny a man healthcare is to deny him life.

Bring me a sick man, a sick homeless man and tell him (and me) that he doesn't deserve treatment, that he doesn't deserve to be healthy. Why? because he can't afford it. And I will in turn show you an ungodly man.

An analogy for you readers.

The passing of the healthcare bill is like when Facebook changes it's layout, people will bitch a lot in the beginning, then they'll forget about it and realize it was probably all for the best.

A thought...

I should become a campaign manager for politicians with weird/funny names. Consider the following:

Elect John Boehner: Big Boehners, Not Big Government

Now I've heard it's probably pronounced Bayner, which makes sense since I don't see a "Congressman Boner" escaping my keen radar for so long. But so what, sure it may be pronounced Bayner, but it's still just a fancy way of spelling Boner. And if the one didn't use a voice over or only saw said slogan on a pin or t-shirt, it would work just as well.

So why settle for something like this potential politicians? Well lets be honest, not many people pay attention to congressional elections. So when people randomly decide who to vote for, are they going to elect the guy named John Bayner who ran on a campaign of anti-liberal, small government, truck drivin, home townness? Or John Boehner, who ran under the same principles but had an edgy and clever campaign. Especially with young voters, who will they remember? Bayner or Boner?

So politicians, regardless of political agenda, if you have a funny name and are looking for a campaign manager leave me a contact me, and soon you'll be sitting in the political seat of your dreams.