Waiting for the anzac biccies to cook

[alias_sqbr]

..but they're looking a bit goopy :( EDIT: they taste ok :)

Well, I survived my first week of full-time work, during the Crazy July Holidays no less. Today I was doing a show, and the computer doing the powerpoint presentation crashed meaning I had to captivate the audience using only my amazing powers of description ("Imagine I'm a shark about to eat a seal...") Of course someone pointed out I could have just restarted it... I'm such a doofus :) Luckily the kids actually seemed to enjoy it!

A question that struck me: if you videoed comedians and then played them back to people with the sound off/who didn't speak the language, would they still be able to tell who was funny(*)? This occurred to me as I was pondering how much audience response is based on tone/energy etc.

Doing mine would be dull, so here's the haiku meme for my favourite pair of Harry Potter fangirls, made by the ever amazing Grahame:

Haiku2 for potente-potions
weather fie upon the stupid cyclone system up the coast all hail
@ aboutmylife.netblogger.comblogs.gnome.orgblogspot.comdeadjournal.comgreatestjournal.comlivejournal.commyspace.comspaces.msn.com
Created by Grahame

(*)As judged by people watching the video with the sound on who do understand the langauge.

Comments

[infamyanonymous.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, I think they would be able to tell. Not with the sound off, mind, unless it's Jerry Signfield, who gestures to the audience when he makes a funny.

Well done for salvaging the presentation! You poor, poor Scitech staff.

[bigmathsgeek.livejournal.com]

Anzac biccies are supposed to be goopy, it's only the ones in shops that are hard and firm and stuff, REAL Anzacs bend.

[infamyanonymous.livejournal.com]

Naww, REAL Anzac biscuits should double as a weapon, like dwarf bread. They were supposed to withstand the test of time, overseas travel, and battle.
Cookies are goopy, it's an American thing.

[(Anonymous)]

But it's the golden syrup that makes them bendy and stuff... besides, most American cookies seem to be hard, not soft and floppy. I think we need to find an expert.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzac_biscuit

Doesn't help us, but it's cool :)

[bigmathsgeek.livejournal.com]

that above me, by the way, is me... I love not paying attention and believing that my lappy is sufficiently competent to know where it stores its COOKIES...

[kadeton.livejournal.com]

Obviously your cookies are goopy as well...

[alias_sqbr]

Ah but it wasn't the biccies I was complaining about (which were not so much goopy as squishy) but the batter, which as a result fell apart and stuck to my fingers more than normal.

Also, and I mean this in the nicest way, who are you? I first assumed you were just some random ljer but your profile seems to imply I might know you... I mean it's cool, just curious :)

[bigmathsgeek.livejournal.com]

oh no, they're not meant to fall apart, they're ment to bend and fold like a fruit roll-up.

I'm not sure if there's any reason we should know each other, per se. There are some areas of cross-over I can see, but I think that's more coincidence than conspiracy... after all, you're UWA, I'm Murdoch, it's very much a matter of "two households, both alike in dignity" kinda stuff :)

OTOH, are you suprised that a person with the name bigmathsgeek was magnetically drawn to your posts? Personally, I'm feeling pretty random, or at least, pretty pseudorandom.

[alias_sqbr]

Fair enough. S'just we sandgropers are such a minority on the net I tend to assume any I bump into can't be at random :)

(Sorry for glacial reply, work+sick=ignoring email)

[bigmathsgeek.livejournal.com]

Technically, of course, I'm not a sandgroper, I'm an import from Tassie :)

[nico-wolfwood.livejournal.com]

Shark! eating seal! *hides* well done on the presentation anyway. You always seem to be able to get away with stuff like this, especially with kids. They just look at me like I'm being an idiot. Which I am. And isn't this the second time your computer has broken during a presentation? I'm noticing a trend here...

On the comedian thing - I did read somewhere that a bunch of non-english speaking people at a Billy Connolly show found him absolutely uproarious (as observed by the woman who later became his wife so maybe that doesn't count)

And you pimped my blog! *blinks*

[alias_sqbr]

Aha! So I was right.

The computer breaks down every now and then (unsurprising given how many different people fiddle with it) my problem is learning how to reset it on the fly, I tend to just battle on without it which is not the optimal solution :)

[kadeton.livejournal.com]

Billy Connolly barely speaks English anyway. :P

I'm pretty sure there have been studies done, which included showing people footage of American presidents giving public speeches. Apparently the non-English-speakers thought it was hilarious.

[shrydar.livejournal.com]

I nearly burned my first ever batch of anzacs as I didn't know they remain goopy until they've cooled.

[alias_sqbr]

Man did it take me FOREVER to learn that about biscuits. I can be very dense sometimes :)

[(Anonymous)]

Hey, Billy Connolly speaks Scottish, not English, exactly. There's a difference. And as far as I'm concerned, American presidential speeches are fairly amusing even if you are a fluent English speaker! If you listen to the actual words, it just gets scary.
Mmmm. Cookies, biscuits...
Hungry now.

Thankyou for the Haiku!
Go to blog for custard recipe!
Mandragora