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Elizabeth Fais

Category Archives: Humor

REAL Cat Burglars Steal Dogs’ Beds

24 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Animals, Cats, Dogs, Funny Videos, Humor

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Cat Burglar, cats, Dogs, Elizabeth Fais, funny video, Humor

Cats that Steal Dogs’ Beds

Last week I ranted did a post about the unfairness of the “scary cat” stereotype society has heaped on felines. Basically accusing cats of being villains. Or worse, pure evil.

Well … cough, cough … it appears this stereotype may– in some part — have been earned, much as I hate to admit it.

The following documentary is harsh, if not heartless. These felines shamelessly steal dogs’ beds, and then brazenly flaunt the stolen entitlement. But true to the Underdog characters we love, some canines fight back. It’s hilarious to see the lengths that some dogs go to to reclaim their prized cushions of comfort.

Cats stealing dogs' beds



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Scary Cats ~ Fiction & Felines

18 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Cats, Funny Videos, Humor, Movies

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

cats, Cinderella, Elizabeth Fais, Fiction, Lady and the Tramp, Lucifer, pet peeve, Scary Fun, Si and Am, stereotype, Villains, Walt Disney

Cats and Their Bad Press in Fiction

Have you ever wondered why cats are often portrayed as villains, the thug, or evil — or minions of evil — in fiction and film … even cartoons? There’s Lucifer, the villain cat in Walt Disney’s Cinderella and Si and Am in Lady and the Tramp. Those are two of the happiest movies ever. And the cats are villains! Don’t even get me started on the old Tom and Jerry cartoons.

You’ll hardly ever see a main cat character like this:

Orange kitten peaking out from behind barrel

No. It’s usually something more like this:

Hissing cat in a tree

This time of year especially brings out the negative imagery for our feline friends. What with Halloween’s stereotypical witches and black cat companions. [images from morguefile.com]

So…I was thrilled when I found the following montage spoof on “scary cat” scenes in movies.

Scary Cat Montage


What’s your “fictional” pet (no pun intended) peeve?

Inquiring minds want to know!


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“Comedy Comes From the Heart” & Other Tips From the Fabulously Funny

06 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Fiction, Humor, SCBWI, Writing

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

Comedy, Ghost Buddy, Hank Zipzer, Henry Winkler, Humor, LA13SCBWI, Lin Oliver, SCBWI, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Writing

A Workshop with Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver

This year’s SCBWI Summer Conference in Los Angeles (August 1-5) was the ultimate blend of inspiration, guidance, and professional advice for children’s authors and illustrators. All the workshops were amazing, but one was particularly memorable for its advice and inspiration: Comedy Comes from the Heart, with Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver.

  • Henry Winkler is an actor, producer and director, who is best known for his role as “the Fonz” in the 1970’s television series “Happy Days”. Though he is quick to tell you that he’s most proud of writing books for young readers.
  • Lin Oliver is the co-founder of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, a long-time television writer, and a well published children’s author.

LinOliver_HenryWinkler_LA13SCBWI

Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver are two of the funniest people on the planet. Put them together in the same room and it’s no wonder things spiral virally into the hilarious.

This dynamic duo teamed up to write 17 books in the Hank Zipzer: World’s Greatest Underachiever series, and have completed four books in the Ghost Buddy series. They are both are hilarious, and they know how to translate that humor onto the written page. You can read my review of Ghost Buddy ~ Zero to Hero here.
Hank Zipzer and Ghost Buddy covers

The Do’s and Don’ts of Writing Comedy

Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver earned their Fabulously Funny street creds on the page as well as the screen. They know what works, and what doesn’t, when it comes to comedy. Here are some of the comedic secrets they shared with us:

  1. Write what makes you laugh. If you think something is funny, someone else will think so too.
  2. Write what you know is true. Don’t try to write what you think will be funny for a particular audience. Young readers know when humor is not authentic.
  3. There are different types of humor, such as character humor, physical humor, observational humor. Write the type of humor that works for you, what you think is funny.
  4. What makes you laugh the most, also makes you cry the most. Good comedy always has a cringe-worthy (pathos) moment.
  5. Write from your own experience. Mine your own life for “most embarrassing” moments.
  6. You have to love the character you’re putting in comedic jeopardy, or else it comes off as being mean. You want your audience to laugh with the character, not at him.
  7. Good comedy must have tension, just like good drama.
  8. Specific details are almost always funnier than generalizations. For example: Principal Zumba has a mole. Or… Principal Zumba has a mole shaped like the statue of liberty that looks like it’s doing the hula whenever he talks.
  9. Don’t edit yourself on the first draft. Go with your first impulses. Craft the humor afterward.
  10. Use improv to get into the character’s voice. Henry Winkler showed us how a slouch and a tilt of the head, brought out “the Fonz” in his voice.
  11. Titles are very important to young readers. Take the time to craft a terrific title.
  12. “Trying” to be funny is a formula for death. Write down 25 things that made you laugh, then analyze each instance for the elements that made it funny.

Henry Winkler embellishes an explanation for the audience [photos by moi]…

Henry Winkler acts out advice to writers

The following advice from Henry Winkler was particularly inspiring:

There’s many ways to do things. You have to be courageous enough to do things your way.

For information on some of the other amazing workshops at the LA13 SCBWI Summer Conference, you can read the official SCBWI blog.


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The “Dog Days” Get a Royal Makeover

29 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Animals, Dogs, Humor, Summer

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Al Pacino, Bulldog, Butterfly, Canis Major, Dog Day Afternoon, Dog Days, Dog Days of Summer, Dog Star, Elizabeth Fais, equinox, Greeks, heliacal rising, precession, Romans, Royal Makeover, Sirius, Summer

Ah, the lazy days of summer…

Bulldog and butterflySummer’s almost over and I haven’t done an official “summer” blog post, yet. It just seemed wrong to let the season that’s known for strawberries, road trips, fairs, amusement parks … and so much more … slip by without an official shout out.

This post will set things right.

Last year I tipped my hat to historic roller coasters, the ultimate “summer” experience. This year I wanted to do something different, to turn a summer standard on its ear … or nose, as the case may be.

The “Dog Days” of Summer

What is up with that expression, anyway? I mean, seriously. It never made any sense to me, so I did a little research…

I discovered that Dog Days refers to the sultry days of summer, which in the Northern Hemisphere is July and August. I also learned that the Dog Days go back to Greek and Roman times. The Romans associated the hot weather with the star Sirius, also known as the “Dog Star” — the brightest star in Canis Major (Large Dog). That’s because originally, the Dog Days marked the time when Sirius rose just before, or at the same time as, sunrise (heliacal rising). This is no longer the case due to the precession of the equinoxes.

Back in the 1800’s, the Dog Days took a dark turn. People believed the Dog Days were a time of great evil, when the sea boiled, dogs went mad, and people went flippin’ nuts. Hence, the title of the film “Dog Day Afternoon” starring Al Pacino.

Bulldog and butterfly

Personally, I think the Dog Days are due for a royal makeover. I vote for happier, friendlier Dog Days…like the puppy in following clip. How about you?

The Bulldog and the Butterfly


6th YAppiest Giveaway! “The Infects” by Sean Beaudoin

30 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Book Reviews, Humor, monsters, YAppiest, Young Adult, Zombies

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Apocalypse, Bloody Funny, Elizabeth Fais, Horror, Humor, Quentin Tarantino, Sean Beaudoin, The Infects, YAppiest Day on Earth, YAppiest Giveaway, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombie Rules, Zombies

17 YA AUTHORS + DISNEYLAND = THE YAPPIEST DAY ON EARTH!

YAppiest Day on Earth icon

If you couldn’t make The YAppiest Day on Earth, never fear! The YAppiness keeps rolling with epic read giveaways by each of the 17 authors.

This is the 6th YAppiest Giveaway! For a chance to win, see “Here’s How”. For a complete list of upcoming giveaways, go here.

“The Infects” by Sean Beaudoin

The Infects, by Sean BeaudoinThe Zombie Apocalypse is here. Just ask Nero…

Life’s been rough on seventeen-year-old Nero. His mother left him and his younger sister with his unemployed father, who insists that Nero pay rent. Hence his night job at the chicken factory, while trying to finish high school during the day. Then there’s the direct-dialog feed from The Rock (yes, that Rock) in his head, which doesn’t help his self-esteem. No wonder he can’t bring himself to ask Petal–the girl of his dreams–out.

Things can’t get much worse, or so Nero thinks, until a freak accident at the factory lands him on an Inward Trek wilderness outing with a bus load of other juvenile delinquents. Nero sinks even lower when he sees Petal on the girls’ juvy bus heading for the same patch of wilderness, because he knows it’s because of what he did. Nero’s nightmare turns into the real deal on their first night at camp, when his counselors turn into the flesh-eating walking-dead, and a few of his fellow inmates become late night snacks.

Zombies. Sure, Nero’s seen all the movies. But it takes witnessing the gory carnage up close to process the reality. Blood spurts and flesh flies as the survivors run into the woods, with a horde of not-so-shambling monsters on their tails.

Nero quickly realizes that these zombies are faster than the ones in the old movies, and can reason too. Thinking zombies are never a good thing. Drawing from their horror-flick savvy, Nero and his fellow survivors develop a list of Zombie Rules. Unfortunately, it takes more than zombattitude to keep ahead of the baddass biters.

Bloody Funny, with an Ending You Won’t See Coming

I was never a big zombie fan until NOW! The Infects won me over, with its quirky, irreverent characters slinging wickedly funny dialog as fast as the furious plot turns. In addition to the clever tongue-in-cheek dark humor, The Infects delivers characters we can’t help but care about and root for.

My problem with the old-school zombies is that they’re dumb as dirt, slow as slime, and about as cohesive. Oh, and they lack that certain je ne sais quois the other classic monsters have. Old-school zombies are all moaning and groaning rotting flesh, no smart surprises or witty repartee.

The Infects changes all that, taking a traditional horror story, turning it on its head, then spinning it around just for kicks. As with any horror story worth its claim to the genre, there’s plenty of blood and gore. But The Infects dishes it up with such over-the-top style, that you half expect Quentin Tarantino to step into the picture. Similar to Tarantino’s filmatic style, The Infects succeeds in morphing a standard genre to create a new one. Hollywood, are you listening?

The Rock’s unsolicited commentary in Nero’s head is another genre-bender example that is flat-out hilarious. Better still …  there’s an honest payoff for The Rock in the end. Unfortunately, that’s all I can say without risking a serious spoiler. And you would hate me if I ruined the ending for you. It’s that good.

You’ll have to settle for this snippet from Goodreads:

…a savvy tale that’s a delight to read—whether you’re a rabid zombie fan or freshly bitten.

I’m the second one. Freshly bitten, and hungry for more. The jury’s still out on whether there will be a sequel, but I’m hoping so.

Want to win an Author Signed Copy?

For this riotously awesome book, I have a special treat for one lucky winner… An author signed copy of The Infects!

Sean Beaudoin autograph "The Infects"

Here’s how to win…

NOTE: The FREE giveaway of a copy of this book is open to residents of the United States and Canada only, due to shipping costs. My sincere apologies.

  1. Leave a comment on this blog by midnight, July 7th (1 entry).
  2. Tweet about this giveaway, including #yappiest in your tweet (1 entry).

I’ll tally the entries and choose a winner at random, then announce it on this blog on Wednesday July 10th. Good luck!

Stay tuned for more YAppiests Giveaways!

Book Covers for Giveaways


“I Love Lucy” and the Social Media Treadmill

08 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Humor, Social Media

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Anatomy of an Illness, Elizabeth Fais, Elizabeth S. Craig, Humor, I Love Lucy, Lucy and the Chocolate Factory, Mystery Writing is Murder, Norman Cousins, Social Media

Remembering the “ME” in Social MEdia

If you blog long enough and are active on Twitter, Facebook, Tumbler, and insert-social-media-platforms-here, while still trying to meet your own writing goals, and balance the demands of a full-time job, family, or both… You’re bound to reach a point when the more you do seems to accomplish less and less. Watch for it, because it’s sneaky. And it’s a sure sign of impending burnout.

Burnout can happen to the best. But only if we let it.

Elizabeth S. Craig, wrote a wonderful post (on her Mystery Writing is Murder blog)  titled, Doing What We Can. In another post she offers 7 Tips for Controlling Social Media Time.

Lucy and the Chocolate FactoryI’ve found another way to keep the social media craziness in perspective, though. Laugh about it. Nothing provides a better reality check than finding the humor in a stressful situation.

The old adage, “laughter is the best medicine” is true. It worked for Norman Cousins (as described in his book, Anatomy of an Illness) and I’ve found that it works for me too.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve done my share of stressing over “doing more” on social media. But the other week I finally realized the frame of mind all that stressing put me in, and it looked a lot like Lucy in the chocolate factory … except without the calories or the silly hats!

So today I invite you to sit back and laugh, chortle, giggle, snicker, and outright guffaw with me at the absurdity of stressing over the social media treadmill by watching the following clip…

Lucy and the Chocolate Factory


What helps you to cope with social media overload?

Sharing is caring!


Shakespeare: The Rom-Com King

23 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Humor, Rom-Com, Shakespeare

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Bardacious, comedies, Elizabeth Fais, Reduced Shakespeare Company, Rom-Com, Romantic Comedy, Shakespeare

Happy Bardacious Birthday!

Fireworks heartsToday is Shakespeare’s 449th birthday! If you missed last year’s Bardacious Birthday post on YA-spin adaptations of his plays, you can read it here.

This year I wanted to do a celebratory shout out for Shakespeare’s happy plays … the romantic comedies. Rom-coms, in the current vernacular

Shakespeare’s comedies are my favorites, shallow (but happily so) as that may be. Though I’m not alone, if you consider how long they’ve been hits … 400+ years!

When I was researching my post, Rom-Coms ~The Lighter Side of Love, I came across an article that claimed “Shakespeare was the first [author] to make rom-coms popular.” I don’t know if that’s true. But it sounds true, so I’m going to roll with it seeing how it’s his birthday and all.

The following is a list of Shakespeare’s comedies. I’m sure you’ve heard of at least a few, and maybe even seen a movie of one or two:

  • All’s Well That Ends WellMidsummer's Nigh Dream movie poster
  • As You Like It
  • The Comedy of Errors
  • Love’s Labour’s Lost
  • Measure for Measure
  • The Merchant of Venice
  • The Merry Wives of Windsor
  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  • Much Ado About Nothing
  • Pericles, Prince of Tyre
  • The Taming of the Shrew
  • The Tempest
  • Twelfth Night
  • The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  • The Two Noble Kinsmen
  • The Winter’s Tale

Forsooth! Formulaic or Fantastic?

I may be a huge Shakespeare comedy fan, but there are some who insist his comedies are formulaic. That he even “borrowed” the formula and used it over, and over, and over again. Whatever.

I love Shakespeare’s comedies for what they are — witty and fun. In their time, they entertained nobility and the uneducated common folk. In the same theater. No small feat, breaching a target audience gap that wide.

How now! A 16 Play Mashup!

Shakespeare was a man of his time, and if he were alive today he’d embrace the humor and whimsy of our modern world. Enter the mashup. It’s popular in today’s music, why not plays? The following mashup of Shakespeare’s 16 comedies was contrived by none other than the raucously irreverent Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC), creators of the Othello Rap…

The Comedy of Two Well Measured Gentlemen Lost in the Merry Wives of Venice on a Midsummer’s-Twelfth Night in Winter; or Cymbeline Taming Pericles the Merchant in the Tempest of Love as Much as you like it for Nothing; or Four Weddings and a Transvestite

Trust me. You don’t want to miss the performance of the comedy mashup…

Reduced Shakespeare Company ~ 16 Comedies in 4 Minutes!


The Science of Fun

27 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Fun, Humor, Inspiration, Science

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Elizabeth Fais, Odenplan, Piano Stairs, Science of Fun, Stockholm, The Fun Theory, Volkswagen Initiative

The Fun Theory

Yes, I’m happy to say there is such a thing. The Fun Theory follows the simple premise that…

Making something fun is the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better.

In Odenplan, Stockholm, The Fun Theory was applied to stairs in order to entice people to exercise, rather than riding the escalator.

Piano StairsThe exercise we get by taking the stairs (instead of the escalator) makes us feel better. But how many people follow that common-sense rule? The short answer: Not many.

Here, The Fun Theory challenge was to get more people to take the stairs by making it “fun”.

  • The tactic: Turn a regular staircase into a Piano Staircase. Just like in the movie Big, except the piano keys are real stairs.
  • The results: 66% more people took the Piano Stairs (rather than the escalator).

The Fun Theory works!

The following video demonstrates The Fun Theory in action. See how a little ingenuity creates “fun” that improves lives.



What chore would you want to make FUN?

Who knows? You could become the next Fun Theory winner!

If you do a search on Fun Theory, you’ll find other amazing examples of the Science of Fun at work!


Rom-Coms ~ The Lighter Side of Love

09 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Humor, Love, Rom-Com

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

David Arquette, Drew Barrymore, Elizabeth Fais, Gary Marshall, Leelee Sobieski, Michael Vartan, Never Been Kissed, Rom-Com, Romance, Shakespeare

???????????????????????????????????????Shakespeare was the first writer to popularize the Romantic Comedy (Rom-Com) with A Midsummer Night’s Dream and his other comedies. Who knew?

The invention of moving pictures brought back the Rom-Com craze, reaching new heights in the 1930’s and ’40s with such screwball comedies as Bringing Up Baby, Some Like it Hot, and It Happened One Night.

Rom-Com fever faded away for a few decades, then made a big comeback in the 90’s with Pretty Woman, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and While You Were Sleeping to name just a few.

One of My Fave Rom-Coms: Never Been Kissed

NeverBeenKissed4Some people wish they could go back to high school, knowing what they know as an adult. Twenty-five year-old copy editor Josie Geller (Drew Barrymore) gets the chance to do just that, with the opportunity to nab a story on the state of America’s youth for her Chicago paper. The only problem is, Josie was a total geek in high school, which her brother Rob (David Arquette) reminds her of … along with her nickname: Josie Grossie.

Josie has no choice but to enroll in high school and face her nerdy demons. But sheNeverBeenKissed2 soon learns that the seven years since her graduation didn’t bring her any closer to coolness. She quickly befriends Aldys (Leelee Sobieski) the bookish mathlete, and gets her handsome English teacher Mr. Coulson’s (Michael Vartan) attention by reciting a romantic except from Shakespeare in class. While Josie is geeking out, a rival paper scoops the underage drinking and teen promiscuity story, and Josie’s boss is livid.

To land the story that will save her job, Josie sets out to infiltrate the cool girls’ clique, only to end up making a bigger fool out of herself in front the cool kids and her English teacher at a local club. She’s left branded as a Loser. Literally.

NeverBeenKissed3Rob, the ultimate Cool Dude, hears of Josie’s latest escapades and intervenes by enrolling in high school. True to form, Rob instantly becomes Mr. Popular, giving Josie the street creds she needs to win over the cool girls and get Guy — the hottest boy in her class — crushing on her. Sparks start to fly between Josie and her English teacher, and as her feelings deepen for Mr. Coulson, her boss turns up the heat, demanding a defamatory article on inappropriate relationships between teachers and their students.

The path Josie takes to acing her story with integrity, and winning the guy of her dreams, is as empowering as it is satisfying.


What’s Your Favorite Rom-Com?

We all have at least one Rom-Com we love to watch (over and over). I have several. In honor of Valentine’s Day, come clean and shout it out!

Don’t be shy.

To know you (and your rom-com fave) is to love you.


Why Writing is Like Baseball

26 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Baseball, Humor, Writing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

A League of Their Own, Baseball, Damn Yankees, Elizabeth Fais, Geena Davis, Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell, Tom Hanks, Writing

If you’ve stopped by this blog recently, you’ll remember that I’m currently under a self-imposed deadline to finish the revision of my Young Adult (YA) novel.  Now, I admit that I tend to get a little punchy at this stage of a long-haul. But no, I haven’t gone completely around the bend. Yet.

NoCryinginBaseball5

“There’s no crying in baseball” scene from A League of Their Own

8 reasons why writing is like baseball

  1. Writers are in a League of Their Own.
  2. The publication process is a team effort — writer, critique partners, agent, editors, graphic designers.
  3. It’s an American (and a whole lot of other cultures too) dream — seeing something we’ve written in print.
  4. Personal history (backstory) affects baseball players as much as it does our characters. Take the players’ personal issues in Bull Durham that stop the game with a prolonged huddle on the pitcher’s mound.
  5. You need a tough hide to survive the slides. Rejection isn’t pretty. Or easy. Ever. And it’s part of the process.
    LeagueOfTheirOwnSlide
  6. You’ve gotta have heart to make it in the industry. An entire song in Damn Yankees can’t be wrong.
  7. Shoes are optional. Shoeless Joe Jackson set the precedent there. Would Damn Yankees  (Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Mo) lie? I don’t think so!
  8. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it rains. But it’s fun, goddamit!

I write because the “hard” is what makes it Great!


What about you? Why do you write?


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