Saturday 13 November 2010

QI: Can you believe they put an arse on the moon?


"CONSPIRACY" ARSES NOT AS APPEALING AS "NORMAL" ARSES!!


Thanks to idle, wholly unscripted comedy banter the truth can be at last be known!

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stephen doesn't believe in the clitoris either, he thinks it's a feminist conspiracy theory

Stef said...

Well, I'm convinced

If they were any real conspiracies the BBC would tell us about them

I've also decided that I think Alan Davies is less of a wanker than I thought before I watched this

gyges said...

Curiously,

if they had gone to the Moon,

got back,

and found that the photographs had not come out properly, eg radiation damage or such,

the pressure to fake the photographs would be enormous.

Further, if they were fake, it wouldn't necessarily mean that they hadn't gone.

Stef said...

the photos look pretty dodgy to me but, like Mr Fry, says there's a plausible counter for anything a sceptic might come up with

there always is

even when the sceptic is right

my big problem with apollo is that it's been 40 years since the landings and no-one's apparently been back since, or is likely to in the forseeable future

that's the difference in time between the wright brothers and jet fighters, which is a little strange

but Stephen would no doubt have a perfectly plausible and witty riposte

Stef said...

actually, instead of c**ting around with apollo why don't Stephen and the boys have a good chortle about the ludicrous conspiracy theory about how the central bankers are ripping our collective throat out

or the one about the BBC being nothing more than mechanism for transmission of state propaganda

i'm sure Fry could have a right old giggle over the ludcicrous notion that MI5 vets BBC presenters and productions

it'd be a fucking laugh riot

Stef said...

still, looking on the bright side, it's clips like this which prove that the BBC isn't dominated by champagne socialists with a point of view narrower that a midge's bum crack living privileged lives off their share of the state propaganda tax

The Antagonist said...

I've also decided that I think Alan Davies is less of a wanker than I thought before I watched this

Ditto. Still can't believe my surprise either.

or the one about the BBC being nothing more than mechanism for transmission of state propaganda

Conspiraloons the world over watching and listening to BBC News Reports have been chuckling heartily at the amount of recent coverage in which the BBC refers to TV and radio channels in other countries as Country X's (X being China, Iran, N. Korea, etc., etc., anywhere that's not here or there) "State broadcaster".

And not a jot of irony to be detected anywhere.

The Antagonist said...

actually, instead of c**ting around with apollo why don't Stephen and the boys have a good laugh about the ludicrous conspiracy theory about how the central bankers are ripping our collective throat out

A shitload of free Apple kit and lots of free everything else on top of a stonking set of pay packets from a bunch of sources (many TV tax-payer funded) wouldn't be nearly quite so appealing if that weren't how the world happens to be run now, would it?

Stef said...

"Ditto. Still can't believe my surprise either."

The function of the Davies persona is, of course, to provide the spectacle/ lesson of the funny little working class man starting to say his funny little working class things before being put down by the clever, witty Oxbridge types

it's worth noting that he's always quite submissive about being belittled and patronised

he knows his place

exquisite work, really, exquisite work

gyges said...

Interesting that Fry doesn't seem to have any negative capability when it comes to the discussion.

However, as an arty type one would've thought that he'd know all about Keat's ideas.

Perhaps he could pinch a book on the subject.

The Antagonist said...

^ If it's on the card, it must be true.

gyges said...

"The function of the Davies persona is, of course, "

The other day I was wondering whether or not Fry is as esteemed as he is because, a) he's Steven Fry; or, b) he's some clever talking ponce and any clever talking ponce would've fitted the bill.

If, at the beginning of his career, he'd been hit by a bus; would someone else have appeared with a similar sort of persona? As though Fry had never existed.

gyges said...

"If it's on the card, it must be true."

Remember Noel Edmonds telling us about 'cake'?

Stef said...

... though obviously I'm a little disappointed that someone as witty and intelligent as Mr Fry would spout the 'If there were big conspiracies they'd be so big we'd find out about them' fallacy

which is a roundabout one of claiming that all crimes beyond a certain size have been identified and solved

which is a peculiar thing for such a brainy chap to claim

The Antagonist said...

Related....

ACCORDING TO BAUDRILLARD, what has happened in postmodern culture is that our society has become so reliant on models and maps that we have lost all contact with the real world that preceded the map. Reality itself has begun merely to imitate the model, which now precedes and determines the real world: "The territory no longer precedes the map, nor does it survive it. It is nevertheless the map that precedes the territory—precession of simulacra—that engenders the territory" || Baudrillard is not merely suggesting that postmodern culture is artificial, because the concept of artificiality still requires some sense of reality against which to recognize the artifice. His point, rather, is that we have lost all ability to make sense of the distinction between nature and artifice.
...
Media culture. Contemporary media (television, film, magazines, billboards, the Internet) are concerned not just with relaying information or stories but with interpreting our most private selves for us, making us approach each other and the world through the lens of these media images. We therefore no longer acquire goods because of real needs but because of desires that are increasingly defined by commercials and commercialized images, which keep us at one step removed from the reality of our bodies or of the world around us.

Introduction to Jean Baudrillard, Module on Simulacra and Simulation


Cue discussions about 'documentaries' and 'news' that interweave 'reconstructions' and fabrications seamlessly into 'narratives' of one kind or another.

The Antagonist said...

Remember Noel Edmonds telling us about 'cake'?

A fine example of someone talking nonce sense, if ever there were one.

Stef said...

@gyges

don't get me started on the Brass Eye links

Stef said...

oh no, I'm off

Phil Collins talks nonce sense

Stef said...

and you would have thought that someone as well read as Fry would be aware of the fact that organised crime networks were immune from investigation by the FBI for the better part of 50 years, because J. Edgar 'Call me Dolores' Hoover argued that it was ludicrous to believe in the existence of such a nation-wide 'conspiracy'

whilst merrily investigating and fabricating imaginery conspiratorial networks of his own

in a cocktail dress

Stef said...

"The other day I was wondering whether or not Fry is as esteemed as he is because, a) he's Steven Fry; or, b) he's some clever talking ponce and any clever talking ponce would've fitted the bill."

Whilst pondering the Fry construction, one thing to throw in the mix is the question 'what has he actually achieved with all these talents he is allegedly blessed with?'

I've just pasted a couple of links to some of Chris Morris' work for example. Work which is funny, thought-provoking and as timeless as such things can be in this day and age. And Fry ..?

His work is the kind of stuff that passes through your mental excretory system a nanosecond after you've heard it

He's more of a buffoon that, say, Alan Davies ever could be

The Antagonist said...

Lots of tweets? Indoctrin... er ... Educating the TV viewing nation?

gyges said...

"'what has he actually achieved with all these talents he is allegedly blessed with?'"

Good point.

Will apply the assay to others over the next few days.

Stef said...

oooh negative capability

I like that

The Antagonist said...

And, as if by magic, this appears.

gyges said...

Further thoughts on the clip shown.

From Paulo Friere's, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed"; an introduction by someone called Richard Shaull has,

"There is no such thing as a neutral educational process. Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facillitate the integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes 'the practice of freedom', the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world."

So Stephen.

Which side of the 'or' did that performance lie on? The former or the latter?

Were you facillitating the younger generation into the logic of the present system? Or did we see the practice of freedom where the audience were asked to deal critically and creatively with reality?

Mmmmm.

Fry's Bullshit Delight said...

Did some one mention faked photographs?

The Antagonist said...

@gyges - don't know if you're familiar with this, but Postman/Weingartner's Teaching as a Subversive Activity is worth a read.

PDF here.

The Antagonist said...

For £13.50, you'd have to be a fucking mug.

Stef said...

I fashioned my own with the aid of a green Sharpie (biro wouldn't work) yonks ago

arthur conan doyle said...

"Did some one mention faked photographs?"

that looked shopped to me

Stef said...

"Or did we see the practice of freedom where the audience were asked to deal critically and creatively with reality?"

do turkeys vote for christmas?

as I recall, in V for Vendetta Fry played a repressed homosexual TV presenter who made a sad living peddling nonsense on state-controlled television

that must have been a tough role to perform

Stef said...

"Or did we see the practice of freedom where the audience were asked to deal critically and creatively with reality?"

back to Chris Morris again

The Daily Star said...

She's a big girl now

Lesson of the Day said...

The fact is that if you say "THE FACT IS" before spouting any load of old bullshit, the load of old bullshit immediately becomes THE FACT to which you have just referred.

The fact is that that is a fact.

Fact!

gyges said...

Antagonist, thanks for the link to the Postman's book. Will read in due course.

paul said...

If any consumer product can match the horror of this, I'd like to see it

paul said...

as I recall, in V for Vendetta Fry played a repressed homosexual TV presenter who made a sad living peddling nonsense on state-controlled television

But then he rebelled and it all turned right as I recall

stef said...

"If any consumer product can match the horror of this, I'd like to see it"

but not everyone agrees

Mr. Clive D. Wallace (UK) writes...

Hear hear. Just been to see Stephen Fry at Cambridge Corn Exchange. There is no way he is evenly remotely smug and to call him boring shows a total lack of intelligence. Mr Campbell obviously does not have the ability to understand the complexities of the man.

I haven't seen so many negative comments about a negative Amazon review since someone had the temerity to suggest the iPod Touch was a bit shit

paul said...

Wasn't sure about the turning off the engines bit, VTOL is a tricky business anywhere, and turning off the engines would make for a pretty bumpy landing on a spacecraft with no suspension.

paul said...

"'what has he actually achieved with all these talents he is allegedly blessed with?'"

Who could forget this masterpiece

stef said...

"Wasn't sure about the turning off the engines bit, VTOL is a tricky business anywhere, and turning off the engines would make for a pretty bumpy landing on a spacecraft with no suspension. "

If you're referring to the Naza Mars project in the other post, it's worth remembering that Hubertus Strughold was on the team. He could always be relied on to rustle up a few volunteers

stef said...

"Who could forget this masterpiece"

VCRs of that masterpiece did, however, serve as a useful courtship aid during the mid-1990s, enabling young women of child-bearing age to test the commitment of potential suitors

usually to destruction

paul said...

And this is the film industry they are trying to destroy

paul said...

The film deals with themes of friendship, marriage, fidelity, materialism, and coping with death and loss.

Take that, Bergman!

paul said...

Wasn't sure about the turning off the engines bit, VTOL is a tricky business anywhere,

I was referring to apple's representative on earth's refutation of the lack of landing blast up there on the moon.

Unlike the he great hawker harrier

stef said...

By some exquisite synchronistic twist of fate, Peter's Friends was indeed written by Bergman

that would be the other one

stef said...

I was referring to apple's representative on earth's refutation of the lack of landing blast up there on the moon.

Hubertus was on that team too. No doubt the potential pitfalls of hurtling onto the Lunar surface in a metal box had been ironed out on some spare Polish POWs they had lying around

paul said...

And then used the remains for this