Good evening, Sports Racers. It's Monday, December 18th. Knowledge says I've been watching too many episodes of The Show with Ze Frank and Knowledge is right.
I started with Episode 1 (03-17-06) on Thursday and just finished watching Episode 100 (08-08-06). For those who like analysis, each episode is approximately three-minutes long. That means I've watched 300 minutes of the show. Averaged over five days, I've only watched sixty minutes of Ze a day. (I included the word only in the previous sentence to make myself feel better about this growing timesink.)
At my current pace, I'll be caught up with the show on Saturday, which will either be a great achievement or very sad.
The show is smart, current, interactive, intimate, crass, and silly. Ze Frank is appealing because one can see he revels in creating and playing with the medium. His appeal also stems from the fact that he reminds me of Stan Laurel for some reason. It probably has less to do with his toilet humor and swearing and more to do with certain facial expressions and his messy hair.
As someone who isn't tech savvy, I find it heartening to know he produces his show with only a basic video camera and (relatively) simple software like iMovie and GarageBand. When I watch him, I'm almost inspired to try my hand at podcasting. Almost. The only things stopping me are reality and a general lack of talent.
I will end this post with one of Ze's songs. He wrote it in response to criticism from a viewer who chided him for wasting time talking about evolution and intelligent design instead of giving the audience a tour of Cannes. The song is called "Anti-intellectualism". You can hear it near the beginning of his 05-05-06 episode. Here are the lyrics...
Let's watch the monkey dance
Anti-intellectualism
Make fun of the South of France
Anti-intellectualism
I found these balls
They're made of brass
This little bathtub
Smells like ass
Look!
A see-through wall of glass!
Anti-intellectualism
Let's watch the monkey dance
Anti-intellectualism
Make fun of the South of France
Anti-intellectualism
I bet this bike goes really fast!
Oh, and Joel, kiss my ass!
Anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-anti-intellectualism
That's classic Ze Frank, a guy who's thinking so we don't have to.
