Foolish and boring. How can you lose?
Parody is easy, though you wouldn't know it from how much bad parody there is out there. All it takes is a knack for mimicry and a facility for jokes. But what's tricky is parody with a clever underlying premise -- something that skewers the target right off the bat, and makes all the jokes cohere. For instance (if I do say so myself), What if Dave Eggers wrote the Harry Potter books?
Now you're already aware that our man Francis knows his way around a clever parody. So once you know that his birthday is April Fool's Day, you can pretty much expect him to celebrate by asking himself a question like, What if BoingBoing was actually BoringBoring? Dull has never been so entertaining.
An appreciative response, and lots of mirrors, here.
Comments
"What if?"
Posted by: Jim Treacher | April 1, 2005 11:48 AM
I can tell it's good parody; however, since I don't read BoingBoing the only way I can tell that is that it's by Francis Heaney.
And I have to confess here and now that it had never occurred to me till I saw that little button ad that "Holy Tango" was an anagram. I know, I know.
Posted by: Vance | April 4, 2005 4:43 PM
Thanks for the vote of confidence in my parody abilities, Vance. I am in fact but one of the three people behind the site; lots of backstory about the project is up at my blog today.
Posted by: Francis | April 5, 2005 5:02 PM