Friday, January 12, 2007

tin pj's

I am not a comic. I’m more like a stand-up philosopher. It may be hard for general audiences to distinguish the two, but my role is just a little lower on the social scale than the comic because no one in his right mind would pay money for stand-up philosophy. Still, I am acquainted with the inner workings of what makes something funny, and occasionally I will try to explain some of the rules for your edification.

The intended audience will kill a joke if they don’t get it and make someone explain it. They kill the funny person when he tells the truth and they think he’s making it up for effect. Such a thing happened to me; can you believe it?!!

Here’s the rule: If the speaker says something totally ridiculous or impossible, it's a joke. If the speaker says something that sounds unlikely, but it doesn’t make you burst out in laughter, it is probably not a joke; hold back the laugh.

Quiz: Suppose I say, “I wear a suit of armor for pajamas.”

Response: Obviously a joke; you must laugh.

I say, “Seriously.” (more laughter)

At a departmental breakfast, I said that I used to paint murals. They laughed. It was not meant to be funny. I felt like I had to make some quick phone calls and get proof faxed so that I can get the appropriate ooh’s and aah’s.

My former director and art teacher, Kathy Kozan is doing some fascinating work these days. I loved painting the hard-to-reach places, so the guys called me “Spider Man.” I wonder if she remembers me.

9 comments:

Lara said...

So do you sleep standing up?...

Seriously, if you studied under Ms. Kozan then I won't laugh when you say you've painted murals. Her work is incredible!
AMM

L.L. Barkat said...

Absolutely awesome art! (Hey, catch all those a's?)

I'd love to see a copy of some of your work. Definitely another side to you! (Is this a plea to be invited to Soul Per Suit? I don't know if they let guys in to the girls groups, though. Maybe you could start your own group! Boys to men, and so forth.)

Craver Vii said...

Let me quickly point out that while I considered myself to be a good artist at the time, I am far from the caliber of artists Ms. Kozan has on her present team. That’s not false humility; these people are professionals who are experts in particular fields, whereas with me, I liked to paint, so she let me work high on the scaffold where I could do the least damage. It’s okay; I loved every minute of it!

Being an artistic dwarf doesn’t keep me up at night (in my armoroo’s). I find a lot of pleasure in seeing God pour out His gifts in people like our friend LL Barkat and this Bible study she’s talking about.

(I feel a devotional thought coming on…) The tricky part is to appreciating the beauty that God works in the people you see and deal with every day. I must have racked-up a mountain of sin in not appreciating a few people the way I should (like Mrs. Craver and our little munchkins), and consequently, not appreciating God the way I should, because it is He that has put us together as a family, and it is He that has uniquely gifted each one of us.

Anonymous said...

Ok, so do you wear a suit of armor as pajamas? ...and if you do ..what does THAT say about you?...and if you don't...what does that say about you that you would use that as an example? Just wondering.

and REALLY - you painted murals? Unfortuantely, I might believe the pajamas before the painting!

(:-)...I say it again...(:-)

Martin Stickland said...

I like your suit of armour, they were quite the fashion here in little old England a few years ago but dainty silk and lace took over due to the fact that after a hard days battle the Knights found it ever so hard to get off the floor after drinking lots of ale!

Craver Vii said...

Well, martin, I'm bringing it back in style, 'cause in the next couple of weeks, we plan on building two suits of armor. One for me and one for my younger son. Cardboard, duct tape, and maybe aluminum foil, if we want to get fancy. I doubt that we'll do helmets... probably just neck-to-knees.

Oh, and he won't be touching the ale.

Llama Momma said...

I didn't know you were an artist! You should hook up with "For Now"...she's an artist too. Ask her about the calendar thingy she's been painting. Just don't look at January 1...Mrs. Craver would not be pleased with January 1!

Craver Vii said...

lm, I'm afraid to ask...

Anonymous said...

OF COURSE I remember you “Spider Man”....or "Spidee" as the other guys sometimes called you. In fact, I was talking about you just last week! We were moving scaffolding to a restaurant site and someone asked me why there were "spiders" painted on the underside of the scaffold planks. I had to tell the newbies all about the “Spider Man”. I relayed several stories, including the time we were painting a 40 foot high exterior mural in Uptown and were cleaning up after an exhausting day. A sudden rain had washed away most of our work and I was crabby, cold and feeling defeated. I looked up when you and the other guys came around the corner with upside-down plastic oval paint buckets on your head, mimicking guitars with rakes and shovels, singing "We are DeVoe...". I laughed so hard I cried. You always had a positive, "can-do" attitude and were a GREAT member of the painting crew. By the way... you DON'T give yourself enough credit, since you ARE a good artist.
Your former art teacher...Kathy Kozan