Last Friday, while I was recovering from my midnight movie sojourn, redheads around the country were being attacked as the result of a Facebook posting that declared November 20th “Kick a Ginger Day.”
Believed to be inspired by an episode of “South Park” on Comedy Central, the posting brought some serious hurt down upon students with red hair in Los Angeles and Vancouver who were kicked repeatedly as they walked down the halls.
I have never felt so left out of anything in my life.
I have red hair. I’ve been a natural red head for almost 10 years now, and last Friday, I was out and about in the neighborhood in plain sight several times….but no attacks. Not even a suspicious following by someone with a lead pipe or tree branch.
Do these “Ginger Day” celebrants discriminate against people who have to buy their hair color? That seems hardly fair. It’s still red. Or are they such cowards they only pick on small children? Scared of what will happen when an adult ginger opens a big can of whoop ass on you, huh?
Well, you should be. Fake hair color or not, red heads are a force to be reckoned with, and should never be ignored.
Especially now that we have our own holiday.
Praise be!
I expected to be shocked by “The Book of Mormon,” the new Broadway musical by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
And I was… in an unexpected way.
There are a couple of potentially offensive moments — one in song, one in shall we say ‘visual representation’ — but last night’s audience was game for both.
The show definitely takes its shots at Mormon history and traditions, getting a lot of laughs from the story of Joseph Smith and his golden plates. But the humor, while mocking, is never cruel.
What was unexpected was how much affection Parker and Stone display for the Mormon missionaries at the center of their story. Elders Price and Cunningham are sent to Uganda for their mission and are immediately confronted by poverty, AIDS, warlords, scrotal plagues and more.
Yes…scrotal plagues.
Naive and ill-prepared, uber-Mormon Price has a crisis of faith and schlub Cunningham rises to the occasion in unconventional yet successful ways.
The tone reminded me a bit of the movie Stuck on You, the Farrelly brothers winner about two conjoined twin brothers starring Greg Kinnear and Matt Damon. I worried the film would make fun of the two; instead, it celebrated how their differences made them more uniquely able to succeed in the world.
“The Book of Mormon” has the same charm, the same heart…just more four-letter words.
Above all, it is outrageously funny, with sight gags galore, none of which I will reveal because that would totally blow it. The musical numbers are so clever, and the dance sequences manage to be huge and hilarious at the same time.
“The Book of Mormon” just may be the best musical on Broadway.
Now that I didn’t expect.
→ 1 Comment
Posted in Broadway, Comedy, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Movies, Religion, Television, TV
Tagged AIDS, Broadway, C-word, comedy, commentary, conjoined twins, entertainment, F-word, Farrelly brothers, Greg Kinnear, Humor, Joseph Smith, Joseph Smith and the golden plates, life, Matt Damon, Matt Stone, Mormon history, Mormon missionaries, Mormon religion, Movies, offensive language, plagues, poverty, religion, sight gags, South Park, Stuck on You movie, Television, The Book of Mormon musical, Trey Parker, TV, Uganda, warlords