The Coloring Book

The Coloring Book
Author: Colin Quinn
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2015-06-09
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 1455507601

From former SNL "Weekend Update" host and legendary stand-up Colin Quinn comes a controversial and laugh-out-loud investigation into cultural and ethnic stereotypes. Colin Quinn has noticed a trend during his decades on the road-that Americans' increasing political correctness and sensitivity have forced us to tiptoe around the subjects of race and ethnicity altogether. Colin wants to know: What are we all so afraid of? Every ethnic group has differences, everyone brings something different to the table, and this diversity should be celebrated, not denied. So why has acknowledging these cultural differences become so taboo? In The Coloring Book, Colin, a native New Yorker, tackles this issue head-on while taking us on a trip through the insane melting pot of 1970s Brooklyn, the many, many dive bars of 1980s Manhattan, the comedy scene of the 1990s, and post-9/11 America. He mixes his incredibly candid and hilarious personal experiences with no-holds-barred observations to definitively decide, at least in his own mind, which stereotypes are funny, which stereotypes are based on truths, which have become totally distorted over time, and which are actually offensive to each group, and why. As it pokes holes in the tapestry of fear that has overtaken discussions about race, The Coloring Book serves as an antidote to our paralysis when it comes to laughing at ourselves . . . and others.

Humor, Seriously

Humor, Seriously
Author: Jennifer Aaker
Publisher: Crown Currency
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2021-02-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0593135296

WALL STREET JOURNAL, LOS ANGELES TIMES, AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER • Anyone—even you!—can learn how to harness the power of humor in business (and life), based on the popular class at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Don’t miss the authors’ TED Talk, “Why great leaders take humor seriously,” online now. “The ultimate guide to using the magical power of funny as a tool for leadership and a force for good.”—Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of When and Drive We are living through a period of unprecedented uncertainty and upheaval in both our personal and professional lives. So it should come as a surprise to exactly no one that trust, human connection, and mental well-being are all on the decline. This may seem like no laughing matter. Yet, the research shows that humor and laughter are among the most valuable tools we have at our disposal for strengthening bonds and relationships, diffusing stress and tension, boosting resilience, and performing when the stakes are high. That’s why Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas teach the popular course Humor: Serious Business at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where they help some of the world’s most hard-driving, blazer-wearing business minds infuse more humor and levity into their work and lives. In Humor, Seriously, they draw on findings by behavioral scientists, world-class comedians, and inspiring business leaders to reveal how humor works and—more important—how you can use more of it, better. Aaker and Bagdonas unpack the theory and application of humor: what makes something funny, how to mine your life for material, and simple ways to identify and leverage your unique humor style. They show how to use humor to rebuild vital connections; appear more confident, competent, and authentic at work; and foster cultures where levity and creativity can thrive. President Dwight David Eisenhower once said, “A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.” If Dwight David Eisenhower, the second least naturally funny president (after Franklin Pierce), thought humor was necessary to win wars, build highways, and warn against the military-industrial complex, then you might consider learning it too.

The Golden Age Comedia

The Golden Age Comedia
Author: Charles Ganelin
Publisher: Purdue University Press
Total Pages: 438
Release: 1994
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 9781557530868

Drawing on the groundbreaking Spanish scholarship and editions of earlier generations and relying on research conducted in Spanish archives, this pioneering group of English-speaking scholars offers a new treatment of familiar material. The editors yoke together widely varying critical practices, including incisive New Critical readings and far-reaching explorations that draw on the most current European critical thought. In addition to these more strictly literary studies, there are interdisciplinary essays focusing on seventeenth- and twentieth-century reception and the social makeup of the comedia audience. The whole thus presents a balanced picture of the many ways in which the comedia can be viewed, and the contributors complement each other's work in often surprising ways, illuminating the same corpus from a number of perspectives.

A Comedian's Guide to Theology

A Comedian's Guide to Theology
Author: Thor Ramsey
Publisher: Gospel Light Publications
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2008-03-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780830745302

Thor Ramsey (hereafter known as the Jon Stewart of the theological world) defends the essentials of the Christian faith in this volume of comedy for the thinking person. Armed with only a laptop and a rapier wit, he defends the inspiration of the Bible ("all Scripture is inspired by God"—in other words, when you tell someone off, quote the Bible), the doctrine of total depravity (calling someone out for their sins is a tricky business, especially if you don't know how to operate a bullhorn), and the supremacy of Christ (or why Thor's God is bigger than your god), along with a host of other essential doctrines of the Christian faith. Packed with funny stories and hard-hitting truths, this comprehensive collection of biblical insights and personal anecdotes will surprise readers, destroy their misconceptions and leave them wanting more. For readers looking alternatives to the conversation of traditional faith, or those who have a taste for fearless (and hilarious) honesty, A Comedian's Guide to Theology will permanently change how we all look at Christianity—or at least offer a good-hearted shove out of the box (or back in the box, if that's where you need to be). "What a supreme pleasure to read a book that I find powerfully honest, theologically kapow dead-on, and incredibly and ACTUALLY funny funny funny funny! This book is so brilliantly funny and dead-on that if I weren't a very mature Christian I might be jealous." —Eric Metaxas, New York Times best-selling author of Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, and former editor of The Yale Record.

The Human Edge

The Human Edge
Author: Greg Orme
Publisher: Pearson UK
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2019-11-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1292267909

The world is spinning so fast it’s difficult to keep up. Two hundred and fifty years ago the Industrial Revolution replaced our arms and legs at work. The fourth Industrial Revolution is now replacing our brains. This technological shift is engulfing organisations and people. It’s challenging the very essence of what it means to be human. Daily news headlines pose existential questions that used to belong in the pages of science fiction: Will a machine take my job? Are we becoming cyborgs? What happens when super computers become self-aware? If we can’t compete with artificial intelligence, what’s left? Innovation guru Greg Orme provides a helpful, funny and supportive shove in the right direction. He explores the skills you need to survive and thrive in a world of artificial intelligence. He urges you to stop competing, and instead do things machines can’t. To become a more human, human. This is a practical toolkit to master three intrinsically human ‘super powers’: 1. To ignite your innate CURIOSITY in a world of accelerating change... 2. To rediscover your CREATIVITY to produce an avalanche of game-changing ideas... 3. To develop CONNECTIVITY to kindle the passion, persistence and insights to successfully engage fellow humans to turn human creativity into business innovation. These career-enhancing capabilities have been identified in Orme’s work with business managers and organisations across the globe. They draw upon the latest psychological and neuroscience research, the unique philosophies of successful entrepreneurs, the practises of the world’s most innovative companies, as well as the habits of great artists, designers and scientists. The full text downloaded to your computer With eBooks you can: search for key concepts, words and phrases make highlights and notes as you study share your notes with friends eBooks are downloaded to your computer and accessible either offline through the Bookshelf (available as a free download), available online and also via the iPad and Android apps. Upon purchase, you'll gain instant access to this eBook. Time limit The eBooks products do not have an expiry date. You will continue to access your digital ebook products whilst you have your Bookshelf installed.

Modern Romance

Modern Romance
Author: Aziz Ansari
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2016-06-14
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 0143109251

The #1 New York Times Bestseller “An engaging look at the often head-scratching, frequently infuriating mating behaviors that shape our love lives.” —Refinery 29 A hilarious, thoughtful, and in-depth exploration of the pleasures and perils of modern romance from Aziz Ansari, the star of Master of None and one of this generation’s sharpest comedic voices At some point, every one of us embarks on a journey to find love. We meet people, date, get into and out of relationships, all with the hope of finding someone with whom we share a deep connection. This seems standard now, but it’s wildly different from what people did even just decades ago. Single people today have more romantic options than at any point in human history. With technology, our abilities to connect with and sort through these options are staggering. So why are so many people frustrated? Some of our problems are unique to our time. “Why did this guy just text me an emoji of a pizza?” “Should I go out with this girl even though she listed Combos as one of her favorite snack foods? Combos?!” “My girlfriend just got a message from some dude named Nathan. Who’s Nathan? Did he just send her a photo of his penis? Should I check just to be sure?” But the transformation of our romantic lives can’t be explained by technology alone. In a short period of time, the whole culture of finding love has changed dramatically. A few decades ago, people would find a decent person who lived in their neighborhood. Their families would meet and, after deciding neither party seemed like a murderer, they would get married and soon have a kid, all by the time they were twenty-four. Today, people marry later than ever and spend years of their lives on a quest to find the perfect person, a soul mate. For years, Aziz Ansari has been aiming his comic insight at modern romance, but for Modern Romance, the book, he decided he needed to take things to another level. He teamed up with NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg and designed a massive research project, including hundreds of interviews and focus groups conducted everywhere from Tokyo to Buenos Aires to Wichita. They analyzed behavioral data and surveys and created their own online research forum on Reddit, which drew thousands of messages. They enlisted the world’s leading social scientists, including Andrew Cherlin, Eli Finkel, Helen Fisher, Sheena Iyengar, Barry Schwartz, Sherry Turkle, and Robb Willer. The result is unlike any social science or humor book we’ve seen before. In Modern Romance, Ansari combines his irreverent humor with cutting-edge social science to give us an unforgettable tour of our new romantic world.

Through Human Love to God

Through Human Love to God
Author: Pamela Williams
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 149
Release: 2007
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1905886403

Dante and Petrarch are two of the world's greatest love poets who convey the story of their emotional, intellectual, and religious life in part through a story of human love. The focus here is not so much on the myriad symbolic values and associations of Beatrice and Laura but rather both on the attitudes of these two poets to sexual desire in order to throw some light on the character of their human love and on the status and value they give to human love in the context of their Christian lives.For all the stark contrasts between them, Dante and Petrarch have been often compared, for they write in a common literary, classical, and Christian tradition. The comparison generally leads to the conclusion that Dante describes his human love experience as positive and constructive whilst Petrarch's experience of love is negative and destructive. My intention here is not to polarize their views in this way, but rather to identify the different yet positive and highly original value both poets attribute to human love. More than fifty years ago, Etienne Gilson claimed that Peter Abelard turned to loving God in the way that Heloise had loved him, with the disinterestedness which she claimed in loving him and which she accused him of never understanding in loving her. It is the general argument of this study that Dante and Petrarch, as well as leaving their original mark on the treatment of love in literature, have insights into religion, personal to them, which can be likewise characterized by examining their attitude to human love and the story of their personal loves. There are many more aspects to their Catholicism than are examined in these essays. The discussion here is of that part of their faith which grows out of, is coloured by, or at least can be explored, through their human loving.

The Dark Side of Stand-Up Comedy

The Dark Side of Stand-Up Comedy
Author: Patrice A. Oppliger
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2020-04-10
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 3030372146

This book focuses on the “dark side” of stand-up comedy, initially inspired by speculations surrounding the death of comedian Robin Williams. Contributors, those who study humor as well as those who perform comedy, join together to contemplate the paradoxical relationship between tragedy and comedy and expose over-generalizations about comic performers’ troubled childhoods, addictions, and mental illnesses. The book is divided into two sections. First, scholars from a variety of disciplines explore comedians’ onstage performances, their offstage lives, and the relationship between the two. The second half of the book focuses on amateur and lesser-known professional comedians who reveal the struggles they face as they attempt to hone successful comedy acts and likable comic personae. The goal of this collection is to move beyond the hackneyed stereotype of the sad clown in order to reveal how stand-up comedy can transform both personal and collective tragedies by providing catharsis through humor.

A Comedian and an Activist Walk into a Bar

A Comedian and an Activist Walk into a Bar
Author: Caty Borum Chattoo
Publisher: University of California Press
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2020-03-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0520299779

Comedy is a powerful contemporary source of influence and information. In the still-evolving digital era, the opportunity to consume and share comedy has never been as available. And yet, despite its vast cultural imprint, comedy is a little-understood vehicle for serious public engagement in urgent social justice issues – even though humor offers frames of hope and optimism that can encourage participation in social problems. Moreover, in the midst of a merger of entertainment and news in the contemporary information ecology, and a decline in perceptions of trust in government and traditional media institutions, comedy may be a unique force for change in pressing social justice challenges. Comedians who say something serious about the world while they make us laugh are capable of mobilizing the masses, focusing a critical lens on injustices, and injecting hope and optimism into seemingly hopeless problems. By combining communication and social justice frameworks with contemporary comedy examples, authors Caty Borum Chattoo and Lauren Feldman show us how comedy can help to serve as a vehicle of change. Through rich case studies, audience research, and interviews with comedians and social justice leaders and strategists, A Comedian and an Activist Walk Into a Bar: The Serious Role of Comedy in Social Justice explains how comedy – both in the entertainment marketplace and as cultural strategy – can engage audiences with issues such as global poverty, climate change, immigration, and sexual assault, and how activists work with comedy to reach and empower publics in the networked, participatory digital media age.