ThatGuy Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 53 minutes ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said: More trivialities as the bodies pile up. LOL... Now a gotcha over Scrabble? btw - What is the gotcha? That a dictionary for Scrabble exists? LOL Here's a quick story. Merlin and I are in the the Amazon jungle. As we walk along, swatting the bugs, I see something threatening rustling about in the leaves. Then I see it. ME: Run, Merlin! There's a leopard over there. It's staring at us. MERLIN: Oh, my. MSK is in South America where leopards do not exist. He might be referring to a jaguar. A jaguar does exist here, but leopards? Knowing MSK... ME (running): Run, Merlin. For God's sake! Run! MERLIN: Everything is a leopard to MSK. (self-satisfied laugh) Oh my, oh my... ME (further away): Run, goddamit! The wildcat is coming right at you! MERLIN: Now it's a wildcat. When MSK is wrong, notice that he always changes the subject and runs away. The jaguar springs. Merlin is hear from no more. Michael It's like talking to Sheldon Cooper... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatGuy Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 Add to the "But BLM/Antifa isn't about Marxism" files (and let's see how many "gotchas!" we can garner): “If you mass-arrest all the antifa people they will be running the entire prison system inside six months.” “If you send a bunch of left-wingers to jail they’re going to be one of the only groups in there that are smart, ideological, and organized going in. They’re gonna have the ethnic gangs quoting Kropotkin after a week or two. You’ll end up with a hardened revolutionary core.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted September 19, 2020 Author Share Posted September 19, 2020 3 hours ago, Ellen Stuttle said: Right on! (Now watch Merlin try to copycat with a flop of a parody.) Ellen, And watch William egg him on. One day William might learn to use the reactions for something more intellectual than manipulating OL posters. One can refine taste, but one cannot teach it. Still, one can hope... Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted September 19, 2020 Author Share Posted September 19, 2020 On 9/17/2020 at 5:58 PM, Michael Stuart Kelly said: It looks like the whole Marxist infiltration of the USA school system is going to take a serious fall. LOLOLOL... I don't have time to make an image compilation, but if you want to see what makes this really funny, type the following into a search engine and look at images: antifa riot female mug shots Michael 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 On 9/19/2020 at 12:08 PM, ThatGuy said: Add to the "But BLM/Antifa isn't about Marxism" files... TG, We can add this one. Wow. Double wow. Triple wow. Now that is propaganda. It used a rusty nail to hammer a Marxism sign right on the forehead of Antifa. Michael 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merjet Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 On 9/19/2020 at 11:01 AM, Michael Stuart Kelly said: More trivialities as the bodies pile up. LOL... Now a gotcha over Scrabble? btw - What is the gotcha? That a dictionary for Scrabble exists? [Lots of blah, blah, blah, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, with no intellectual substance.] What a big flop!! You were fooled by a margay. I’m still here, bs-er. On 9/19/2020 at 11:10 AM, Ellen Stuttle said: Right on! (Now watch Merlin try to copycat with a flop of a parody.) Ellen Ellen is wrong again. ... ThatGuy: "It's like talking to Sheldon Cooper..." Oh, it’s that fawning, Goofy-like guy from the peanut gallery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatGuy Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 8 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said: TG, We can add this one. Wow. Double wow. Triple wow. Now that is propaganda. It used a rusty nail to hammer a Marxism sign right on the forehead of Antifa. Michael They know we're catching on (never mind the useful idiots...). Time to go into gaslighting mode. But too late. We all saw it (again, never mind the useful idiots...) https://thepostmillennial.com/exposed-blm-quietly-scrubs-anti-american-marxist-language-from-its-website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmj Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 From wiktionary: "Noun peanut gallery (plural peanut galleries) (historical) In the nineteenth century, the cheap seats at the back of a theatre or in the upper balcony.[1] (historical) The upper balcony in racially segregated venues such as a theatre to which black patrons were restricted.[2] (idiomatic) Any source of heckling, unwelcome commentary or criticism, especially from a know-it-all or of an inexpert nature. May also now refer to general audience response: "Let's hear it from the peanut gallery." Enough already from the peanut gallery; if you think you can do a better job, go right ahead. Synonyms (upper balcony for black patrons): nigger gallery, nigger heaven (both of which are dated and offensive) See also groundlings, nosebleed seat References ^ This sense of the peanut gallery as an undesirable but available place to enjoy a performance is illustrated in Robert Ames Bennett's Western novel, "Into the Primitive" (NY: A.L. Burt, Co. 1908), p.280: "But give me a chance to hear good music, and I’m there, if I have to stand in the peanut gallery." ^ Listening to America: An Illustrated History of Words and Phrases from Our Lively and Splendid Past by Stuart Berg Flexner (1982; Simon and Schuster; ?ISBN, 9780671248956), page 438 Peanut gallery was in use in the 1880s, as a synonym for nigger gallery (1840s) or nigger heaven (1870s), the upper balcony where blacks sat, as in segregated theaters." Is your smiley on the fawner or from whence he came ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 On 9/19/2020 at 10:10 AM, Ellen Stuttle said: Right on! (Now watch Merlin try to copycat with a flop of a parody.) Ellen, I have another story. Merlin is held at gun point by a bandit. The bandit tells him he has two hours to write a story, otherwise he will be killed. Merlin expires after two hours. 3 hours ago, merjet said: I’m still here, bs-er. And that's a problem? Try this. Write a small story like I just did without doing a lame-ass copycat thing. Betcha can't. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 4 hours ago, merjet said: What a big flop!! You were fooled by a margay. This is one of the reasons I don't give Merlin much of a chance to create a story that makes sense. A margay is just a little bit bigger than a pussy cat. How on earth does that make sense in the story I told? It doesn't. Only a big wildcat does. (Big scary predator is the image.) Like a leopard or jaguar or tiger or lion or something like that. Leopard Jaguar Ellen was right about Merlin doing lame-ass copycat parody flops. If one is to copycat, at least one should get the cat's size right. Especially if the story calls for it. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 On 9/15/2020 at 11:00 AM, Michael Stuart Kelly said: Russ Vought is the Director, Office of Management and Budget. A huge thank-you to Chris Rufo. I hope he hounds this Marxist critical race garbage into cultural extinction. There are a few others on the way. Click here to see the whole Twitter thread. There are about 11 tweets or so in it. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 Chris Rufo blowing smoke from his pistol. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted September 22, 2020 Author Share Posted September 22, 2020 Here is how stupid the left is right now. First this happens. Boy did they all chortle and snark. Gay slurs and everything. Man did they have fun. Then this happened. I have a feeling there is more than bark here. You can't always tell with Lindsay Graham because he loves to bluster, then do nothing. But this time I would bet on it being real. I think Lindsay is pissed and actually put some of his own political capital into this to help Mitch McConnell. And the left? Aren't they the geniuses? I mean why not piss on the guy you need to influence right at the time something big is about to pop? You know, the guy you might even have a chance to influence because he's so inconsistent? Right, geniuses? Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merjet Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 23 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said: [To me] Try this. Write a small story like I just did without doing a lame-ass copycat thing. Betcha can't. Michael MSK is walking with ThatGuy. Walking towards them is a black guy, average height, wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt and BLM cap. Feeling trumpian but not brave, MSK says in a low voice, "Here comes a useful idiot Marxist." ThatGuy says, "Absolutely!" MSK didn't believe the guy coming could hear him. Surprise, it's Mike Tyson. MSK and ThatGuy spend the next few days in a hospital. https://www.msn.com/en-xl/sport/other-sports/mike-tyson-takes-a-knee-to-support-black-lives-matter-movement/ar-BB15dZEU During a recent interview, Tyson said his "definition of fun" involves broken eye-sockets, broken jaw, broken rib[s]. https://www.insider.com/mike-tyson-previews-roy-jones-exhibition-broken-eye-sockets-fun-2020-8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merjet Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 18 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said: I don't give Merlin much of a chance to create a story that makes sense. [Blah, blah, blah.] Duh! It seems MSK has failed to grasp that incongruity is the basis of much humor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellen Stuttle Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 2 hours ago, merjet said: https://www.msn.com/en-xl/sport/other-sports/mike-tyson-takes-a-knee-to-support-black-lives-matter-movement/ar-BB15dZEU Are all the sports icons idiots - or panderers? I'd thought that Mike Tyson was reputed to have some intelligence - and not to be a panderer. Ellen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted September 22, 2020 Author Share Posted September 22, 2020 4 hours ago, merjet said: MSK is walking with ThatGuy. Walking towards them is a black guy, average height, wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt and BLM cap. Feeling trumpian but not brave, MSK says in a low voice, "Here comes a useful idiot Marxist." ThatGuy says, "Absolutely!" MSK didn't believe the guy coming could hear him. Surprise, it's Mike Tyson. MSK and ThatGuy spend the next few days in a hospital. Merlin, That's better than I thought you would come up with. Lame, but much better than I imagined you could do. Why lame? Your protagonist doesn't have agency. His obstacle is an accident (a Deus ex Machina), not anything where he can make a choice. The technical storytelling term is "passive protagonist" and it is a reason screenplays and novels are not accepted. Stories that are accepted have an active protagonist who has volition and acts or not act by choice in relation to the obstacle. (This is taught in countless books on writing.) The gist of your story is two guys are walking along saying something, someone who takes offense to what they are saying overhears them and beats them up. Something happened to them by accident. It's the same variety as I went to get a glass of milk from the refrigerator, then slipped and fell. Not much of a story. Keep plugging, though. At least the bandit doesn't kill you today. That's something to celebrate. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted September 22, 2020 Author Share Posted September 22, 2020 4 hours ago, merjet said: Duh! It seems MSK has failed to grasp that incongruity is the basis of much humor. Merlin, I don't know what humor has to do with what we were talking about, but quoting Wikipedia doesn't make you funny. In this one, the bad guy would have wasted you. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted September 22, 2020 Author Share Posted September 22, 2020 6 hours ago, Ellen Stuttle said: Are all the sports icons idiots - or panderers? I'd thought that Mike Tyson was reputed to have some intelligence - and not to be a panderer. Ellen Ellen, I don't follow sports, but I keep hearing about Tyson wanting to fight in public again. Retired sports celebrities tend to do publicity stunts in that situation. If he was doing the political thing, I would say he was pandering, but I think his gesture was more personal. After all, he went to jail when he was on top of the world. That tends to piss people off. Tyson still loves President Trump, though. So the public is just going to have to deal with the cognitive dissonance. So long as Merlin is keeping it all about Merlin On another point, you mentioned Merlin doing lame parody flops and imitating what someone says without a minimum of creativity. He was better in this case, but he still did the lame imitation thing. Why was he better? Because he learned the setup-payoff template from me and used it. He would never own up to learning that from me, but it's true. Here is where he learned it. On 8/28/2020 at 5:56 PM, Michael Stuart Kelly said: Merlin, Good. Now repeat after me. Setup, payoff. Setup, payoff. Setup, payoff. Setup, payoff. Setup, payoff. Setup, payoff. Setup, payoff. That will make the joke clear and sometimes even funny. Granted, not all quips are formally set up like a joke is, but they need to be implicitly set up, otherwise they will fizzle and often people will not even know they are quips. The setup is essentially misdirection. You make people anticipate one thing, then hit them with something else that has a hook in the setup, but has a distance from real-life danger. For instance, the following is not a joke, but it is humor and works the same way. A person getting shot is generally not funny even when the setup is an observer expectation of the person not getting shot. However, dorks trying to literally embrace a dangerous armed enemy while going on about peace and love, then getting shot, can be quite funny (in a dark kind of way) if we are irritated by their constant condescension and we are distant from the dorks. (In fact, the movie Mars Attacks! was nothing but this kind of humor.) We kinda expect them not to get shot because of the many times enduring their condescending preaching at us, even when we simultaneously know that people with guns and ill intent shoot others. If one of the dorks is a brother or friend, however, there is nothing funny about it. Regardless of explicit or implicit setup, the pattern "setup --> payoff" and distance from real-life danger never changes for humor to work. Even slapstick. Michael Notice that I was talking about humor in that post. Merlin came out of nowhere just now trying to do a gotcha or whatever else was bouncing around in his skull--but it was about humor. Why? Because humor was the point of that post, not the point of what we were talking about just now. He went back to this post of mine to make sure he got a basic storytelling pattern right, but, try as mightily as he might, the Urge To Gotcha was just too big for him. At least he got the setup payoff-idea right in his little Tyson story. There is a setup (two guys walking and talking and another guy approaching). And a payoff (violence). Now, where was the lame imitation? Easy. He used my story outline of two guys walking and suddenly encountering danger, then violence happening that is not shown--only the outcome is given. Couldn't he have done a different kind of story? Or at least done a fight scene? Of course he could have. He just doesn't know how yet. Not at this point. Especially since he is trying out something new and all of his past attempts at storytelling, the ones I have seen so far, come solely from monkey-see-monkey-do. Not a very interesting monkey, either. Like I mentioned above, he fucked up the protagonist, which is why his story seems off even though a celebrity and violence are thrown in. He hasn't learned how to do a protagonist right yet. (He still would never credit me, but I bet he gets better at this after my blasts for fucking up the protagonist. In other words, I bet his protagonists start getting some agency and making choices about the obstacle when he tries to create other stories. That's OK by me, too. I'm all about making the world a better place. That's my prime motivation. Not winning grubby gotcha games--although I will play at times for amusement.) Benjamin Percy's parody Incidentally, a passive protagonist is why so much artsy-fartsy literature is boring. One creative writing guy I studied (Benjamin Percy, who actually likes him some artsty-fartsy at times) has a cute parody about it--a real parody, not a monkey-see-monkey-do flop. (I paraphrase:) A guy is at a table drinking coffee. He is unhappy and in a contemplative mood. He gets up from the table and slowly goes to the window. Staring out at the horizon, he notices clouds approaching. Oh, the coffee. He turns around to go back and get it. He has an epiphany. The End Or, we can do a Merlin ending. A guy is at a table drinking coffee. He is unhappy and in a contemplative mood. He gets up from the table and slowly goes to the window. Staring out at the horizon, he notices clouds approaching. Oh, the coffee. He turns around to go back and get it. He has an epiphany. Surprise. An ax murderer shows up. Now the guy is in pieces. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmj Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 Well, the guy is in pieces sure, but can you really say murderer? That lumps in a justified hacking death , categorical dissonance? and how big is the handle, could be a hatchet ? ( some people call it a sling blade , hmmm) 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted September 22, 2020 Author Share Posted September 22, 2020 14 minutes ago, tmj said: Well, the guy is in pieces sure, but can you really say murderer? That lumps in a justified hacking death , categorical dissonance? and how big is the handle, could be a hatchet ? ( some people call it a sling blade , hmmm) T, Damn, I miss the laugh reaction. That one deserved it. Michael 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellen Stuttle Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 1 hour ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said: If he was doing the political thing, I would say he was pandering, but I think his gesture was more personal. After all, he went to jail when he was on top of the world. That tends to piss people off. But if Tyson's gesture was personal, personal about what? A thug? Ellen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellen Stuttle Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 1 hour ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said: Notice that I was talking about humor in that post. Merlin came out of nowhere just now trying to do a gotcha or whatever else was bouncing around in his skill--but it was about humor. MSK wrote (re Merlin): "...or whatever else was bouncing around in his skill...." HaHa! Even if you fix it, I've saved it for posterity. Ellen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 Lindsey Graham: Yesterday morning, a mob of protesters screamed, blared horns, and pounded on the front door of my house in Washington because I dared to say that the Senate should do something that has been done many times before: appoint a Supreme Court Justice in an election year. Welcome to “Wild Cities” from PBS featuring the narration of George Page, Stu Irwin, Sigourney Weaver, and David Attenborough. If they can invent a way to knock out an elephant with a dart, why not knock out the Antifa types with darts? Tear gas shouldn’t be used if it will harm or bother an innocent bystander, so our preferred method of quelling violence is to arm the police with tranquilizer darts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted September 22, 2020 Author Share Posted September 22, 2020 1 hour ago, Ellen Stuttle said: MSK wrote (re Merlin): "...or whatever else was bouncing around in his skill...." HaHa! Even if you fix it, I've saved it for posterity. Ellen, !!#@x-%^*& Drat and damnation! No wigging out of that one. I fixed it in my original post at least... But, you know... Skill kinda works... Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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