Possibly My Favorite Exchange From This Weekend (aka How Much Of a Twisted Son Of a Bitch Are You?)

We just got back from Crypticon, which is one of the year's highlights for me. And now I will present to you my favorite exchange from this weekend.

Nick and I walked past the table for Arsenic Lullaby, and one of the gents at the table said to Nick, "Hey, you look like you've got a twisted sense of humor! Come here! Do you think things that are strange and wrong are kind of funny?"

Nick and I looked at each other. I tried not to laugh too hard. There are a whole lot of inappropriate things that make us giggle, and so he allowed that yes, he does have a dark sense of humor. The other gent at the table looked at me and asked if I was a little bent in the head as well.

YES.

We were both handed a copy of the 10 year book, already opened to short pieces that would gauge how twisted we were. We read the pieces, and I got a good chuckle out of the one I read. This encouraged the gents at the table to select other pieces for us to read. I read one near the end about the boogie man. It made me laugh until I cried. The second gent turned to the first and said, "Dude, I think you asked the wrong person."

THE END

*facepalm*

So, a hypothetical question that I posed last November has become less hypothetical.

So, hypothetically, who keeps giving these not-funny, talentless hacks money to make movies?

That really wasn't a hypothetical question, was it?

HYPOTHETICS!

With Darkness as an Ally (Part 5)

The original part five was proving damnably difficult to write (and still remains unfinished) so here is Part 5 v. 2.0.

The antihero of Part 5 v. 2.0 is not dark, brooding, and sinister. He's not even murderous. And the weird thing is that he seems to have this knack for saving the day. After a fashion.



If you embiggen the image, you get a pretty good idea of the nature of this character. It is, of course, none other than Rincewind the Wizard (Wizzard?) of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. I mentioned that Rincewind has a knack for saving the day. But his real talent lies in staying alive and knowing when to run like hell.

I first started reading the Discworld novels in high school, and I even started right at the beginning with The Colour of Magic (which is as near to the beginning as makes no nevermind). It was just some random book that I picked up at the library, unaware that there was a hilarious and wonderful series building up behind it, and I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't really like it the first time through. My forays into the world shaped like a disc were put off until, a few years later, I came across Interesting Times in another library, unaware that it was several books down the line in this same hilarious and wonderful series. And this is when I realized how hilarious and wonderful it all really was.

Limiting the exploration of Rincewind's character to those two books is shameful, but I have to admit that they are the ones I remember the best. And really when it comes right down to it, Rincewind is simply a coward, always more frantically concerned with his own life than anything else. It's much more fun to share a few of my favorite "Rincewind-isms":

Few problems can't be solved with a scream and a good ten yards' start.
The best defense against threatening danger is to be on another continent.
I want my life to be dull and uninteresting. I'm afraid it'll be short.

As protagonists go, it's not very inspiring stuff. It's not very dashing to imagine a bedraggled figure screaming in terror and making a mad dash for freedom, but dashing isn't always what we're in the mood for anyway. And the fact that Rincewind is often paired up with other unusual characters seems to really make the outstanding traits of everyone shine. The way they all play off one another does great credit to Terry Pratchett. But really I think the ultimate answer to why Rincewind is such a phenomenal character is the fact that he's just plain funny. Such an unheroic individual being constantly thrown into wild and outlandish scenarios is extremely entertaining, and so we're there with Rincewind every frantic step of the way.

I should also add I got the above image of Rincewind from the Liverpool Museums webpage.