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ChumBucket
Chum Bucket. Having been raised by an outdoorsman, I knew what a chum bucket was. In case you don't here is Webster's on it : 1. animal or vegetable matter (as chopped fish or corn) thrown overboard to attract fish.
Now you know.
The page is a three column layout, which is not my favorite. I feel all that stuff on both sides is a bit distracting to the main attraction, which should be the writing. But it is well organized and everything seemed to be in working order.
I was amused though by the goofy guy with bugs in his teeth at the top of the page, and was starting to look forward to some fun. My hopes were dashed pretty quickly however as I began to read the entries.
It took me a while, but I finally found an entry that explained a little about where our author was coming from. If I were you, I would read this entry first: Saturday 02.07.04 [12:15 am] .
Here he states his desire to become a stand up comedian. And it sounds like he has had some experience with it too. He also describes a little of his philosophy of comedy. After performing with a group of other people, it sounds like he had an epiphany. He describes it thusly: "It was the realization that most of the people on this planet aren't aware of what surrounds them. I made it my lifetime goal to show you."
He compares himself to several comedians, George Carlin among them.
Now, to the writing itself. While I give him credit for an active imagination, (he is very clever at making up names for imaginary diseases for one thing) I am afraid that he spoils his brilliance by being shockingly crude and insulting.
I am no student of humorists, but I can think of two who have been able to pull off this tightrope kind of humor. George Carlin is one, and Don Rickles the other. But you have to admit, that even they go too far sometimes. George is a New York curmudgeon on steroids. He's grouchy. He's cranky. He's pessimistic. But he's not MEAN.
Now I will admit that what is funny to one person is offensive to another and that we are talking about subjective stuff here. But the reason I am delving so deep into this, is that the author of this blog thinks that you have something to learn and he is here to teach you.
He says:"Nothing is sacred in comedy folks." Which is a quote from a response to someone who commented on his blog. Well, I disagree. (and so did many of the people who commented.)
What is sacred, is the connection between you and your audience. It is a delicate balance that you enter into when you listen to or read comedy. I feel that our author has chosen a comedic path that, no matter how breathtakingly honest it may be, will probably not resonate with a wide audience. The insulting style, the crudity, and the just plain meanness of it, ceases to amuse pretty quickly. Contempt for your listeners, will never draw them into your circle. Without an audience, there is no comic.
It wouldn't be honest of me to say that there is absolutely no humor to be found on this blog, because I DID laugh a few times. But overall, I ended up feeling abused by the content, and the delivery.
And there's nothing funny about that.
This site was reviewed on 2004-06-23 by yetzirah.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
yetzirah felt that ChumBucket deserved a rating of 1.
This is a very clever guy. He submitted his site for review then changed the URL. Bright huh? I’m English so maybe Chum means something different in the US, but here in the UK it means the stuff Mr Chester’s dad wasted in creating this guy.
The site is simple and straightforward enough. A good looking banner and left and right side panels containing an about me link, contact details and the usual archives and links to other blogs. There is also a drop down menu with a link to his more “satirical” pieces. Some of the links work; some don’t - for instance the chance to add his button to your site thankfully doesn’t.
The actual web log is easy to read; black text on white with a comments facility and a good use of pictures. There are no links from the text.
There is a calendar in the right panel which misdirects you around the site. I tried February 5 and came up with June 7. February 27 fetched nothing and June 7 brought forth June 10. There is also no home page icon which is a drag.
The site showcases the “twisted comic mind of Bob Chester”; a scholar of comedy. These are his descriptions. His posts contain foul mouthed, infantile, moronic comedy at its worst. He takes the piss out of everything with little skill and very quickly finds the lowest common denominator. Bin Laden, New York Yankees, Vikings, Mexicans, karate, the origins of alphabet soup, black people who don’t fit a stereotype, Jesus and Michael Jackson are all targets of his ill aimed wit. The Michael Jackson post is particularly offensive and unfunny.
I usually read a web log through, but stopped and went out before resuming as I thought a different frame of mind might enlighten me to Mr Chester’s way of thinking. No luck. I stopped shortly after starting again. The latest post contains a beautifully written piece concerning Michael J Fox. Mr Chester’s own words can sum up his work much better than any criticism I could make and I quote…”Do you think he knew what Parkinson's was before he got it? I don't think so. One day he couldn't stop shaking his latte expresso all over himself. Then he ran down the street screaming "Doc! Doc! I can't keep my food in my mouth!" Until that happens to me, I was wondering if you could stop fucking telling me about it. There are only so many times I can think "Holy shit, I wouldn't want that at a dinner party", before I change the channel.”
Mr Carter actually states in his profile that we could join him and “Watch as his sense of your humor grows greater every day.” Welcome to the addiction. If that’s the case - where’s the nearest rehab? I can give it no more than a half out of five for the design.
This site was reviewed on 2004-06-23 by Duween.
They felt this site belonged in the Humor category.
Duween felt that ChumBucket deserved a rating of 0.5.
2 reviewers gave ChumBucket an average rating of 0.7500
Site Stats
Site Category: Humor
Reader Rating: 1.7083 based on 6 votes
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