On 09/15/2011 05:09 AM, turquoiseb wrote: > ...is a laugh track. You know, that canned laughter that they used to > insert into TV sitcoms. The outbursts of cleared pre-recorded laughter > never really gave the impression that the show was being filmed in front > of a live audience, because even an idiot could tell it was canned. It > always seemed to me more designed to tell the audience what parts of the > show were supposed to be funny (even if they weren't), and thus when > they should laugh at home. It was like remedial education for the > laugh-impaired. > > I always wanted to take a really terrible episode of one of those shows > and re-edit it, putting the laugh tracks in completely different places. > Instead of inserting them after the punchline of a bad joke, I'd throw > them in when there was an outbreak of bad acting. Or really lame > dialogue. Or in completely inappropriate moments, as in this clip from > Pulp Fiction: > > http://www.dula.tv/watch.php?file=pulp-fiction-with-a-laugh-track.flv > <%20http://www.dula.tv/watch.php?file=pulp-fiction-with-a-laugh-track.fl\ > v> > > That's what FFL needs in my opinion, a laugh track. It's gotten so > serious around here lately, what with all the politics and the ad > hominem and the posturing and the self defensiveness. I think adding a > laugh track would be just the ticket. > > As I imagine it, the outbursts of canned laughter would occur at random > intervals. You'd be in the middle of reading some heavy conspiracy > theory or political screed, and suddenly there would be the sound of > laughter, as if some astral audience reading over your shoulder had just > cracked up. Or you'd be reading someone's oh-so-earnest attempt to sell > you a "right" belief of fix one of your "wrong" ones, and again the > laugh track would go off. According to my theory, the random outbursts > of laughter would remind the readers that it was OK *to* laugh at random > outbursts of seriousness, and at themselves for ever taking them > seriously. As a result, goes my theory, there would be fewer serious > replies, as fewer people got their buttons all pushed. > > How 'bout it, Bhairitu, or the other programmers here? Can you whip up > an app that lives in the background as you're reading or writing to FFL > that randomly laughs at you from time to time? I think it would be a > useful utility. :-)
FFL is *just* a chat group and hardly worth such efforts. It's really *not* that important in my daily life. It's more like a corner bar you drop into now and then or a water cooler at a very *freaky* company. I only did the Post Count utility because Thunderbird unlike "LookOut!" (Microsoft insider name for Outlook) couldn't give me a count of my posts though Thunderbird NOW has that capability. It started as a C utility and I rewrote it in PHP because of PHP has a class to handle mailbox files and headers (latter all that is needed for a post count). Fact is, I don't need a laugh track because I am usually laughing as I post something to FFL. ;-) BUT, I've always thought *this* should be the theme song for FFL: :-D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5znh58WITU8
