Knowing the Formula

Writing advice will often tell you that you have to know the formula in order to break it. Nothing makes that rule clearer than comedy does.

As I mentioned last Thursday on National Grammar Day, without an appreciation for the rules of Grammar, we wouldn’t have the basic framework to understand why LOLcats and Oddly Specific signs are funny.

Sometimes the humor isn’t in twisting “the formula”, it’s in exposing it… as in these examples, presented for your viewing and listening pleasure. Enjoy!

* Tribune’s banned words, all in one sentence.

* The definitive Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer. (youtube link. requires sound.)

* The definitive boy band song: Title of the Song by Da Vinci’s Notebook. (requires sound. Yes… as songs often do! *cough*) If you like their music, please consider purchasing it.

(Part of Da Vinci’s Notebook tours these days as Paul and Storm. Insert gratuitous plug here. They’re worth catching, if you get a chance!)

* And The Onion reports: Nation Shudders at Large Block of Text. WASHINGTON—Unable to rest their eyes on a colorful photograph or boldface heading that could be easily skimmed and forgotten about, Americans collectively recoiled Monday when confronted with a solid block of uninterrupted text. (click link for the rest of the story!)