Back to Basics

Today's joke was left in the Starbucks just across the road from Marischal College which is handy for having a look at the development of the new and obviously much needed council offices. Much better use of my council tax than, for instance, picking up the rubbish or fixing the roads a bit.

This branch of Starbucks is also nice and handy for the Vue cinema on Shiprow where I was going to watch Burke and Hare with Clare. An enjoyable enough film but more an exercise in cameo spotting (Bill Bailey + razor = a completely unrecogniseable man). That it wasn't a genius film is something I should not be disappointed about, this kind of career droop is fairly excusable in John Landis, he'd have to make some pretty terrible films in order to eclipse my affection for An American Werewolf in London, The Blues Brothers and Trading Places.

Another director/writer who has almost reached the end of the plank as far as I'm concerned is Kevin Smith, I adored his films from Clerks which I saw subtitled in Paris and made me happier than I can tell you about the possibility of making films for nothing, with your friends and a smart script (not that I have done that but I'm happy that the possibility exists) right through to Jersey Girl which I still thought was a decent film, especially in light of the sort of rewrites that must have been necessary to boot his best mate's ex-girlfriend out of the flick without seeming too hasty.

Then came Miri and Whatsisname Make an Abysmal 'Comedy' and some awful Bruce Willis film. The twin graphs of Kevin's film career where cost and quality are plotted against time looks like a fish's tail, draw it out and see for yourself. Complaining aside, I've got six films, two live Q&As and a great interview with Stan Lee to watch and bask in the light of a great talent and a funny, funny man. He still writes great stuff too, it's only the films that have lost their soul.

I'm yet another fanboy bitching and not making anything better, I suppose.

So, in the spirit of classic and simple callbacks to a happier time, here's today's joke:

Pretty ironic to be criticising John Landis and Kevin Smith in the same blog post as I take credit for leaving that in a public place, eh?

Again, for the photographically challenged, here's the text:

What is brown and sticky?

A stick.

Awesome, I love the childishness of that joke with its fascination with pooh and wordplay. I can't take credit for it, obviously, and I've known it for so long I don't know who could but if you know that someone definitely originated that joke then please do let me know.

This is the first joke I've left in a coffee place and I hope someone picks it up and looks here to see what the hell someone is doing leaving stupid jokes around the place.