Tales of Mere Existence

My sister introduced me to this YouTube series a while ago and was instantly hooked. Unfortunately due to other factors in life, I didn’t really get a chance to start watching them until recently. This animated series was created  by Lev Yilmaz. “Tales of Mere Existence” is a first-person narrative tour through the occasionally mundane, always hilarious, thoughts of a young man on the edge.

“Topics include: what makes him horny (those choker necklaces women wear), how he feels about his successful friends (great guys he loves and would like to drive off a cliff), what he has worried about in his life (“that I would never see that Barber of Seville Bugs Bunny cartoon again,” “that one day kids will find Aerosmith as boring as I always found Elvis,” “that I will one day be the old guy at the party.”)

Lev does everything — the writing, the production and the vocal narration. The latter is hard to believe when in Lev’s company and listening to his normal, maybe even a little sweet, speaking voice.

Lev’s alter ego sounds world-weary, and maybe little bitter, as his gravelly voice drones his narrative.” – credit

He has gone on to produce merchandise for his growing fan base which include DVDs, t-shirts, prints of his comics and books. His narrations and perceptions of his surroundings never fail to make me laugh and lift my mood when needed. Although the animations are short, the point comes off fairly clear and it is a continuing series. I highly recommend that you not only watch but that you subscribe as well if you have a YouTube account.

For those looking for more, check out his website Ingredient X Entertainment

Passive Aggressive Notes

“For the purposes of this project, we’re using a pretty broad definition of “passive-aggressive” that roughly correlates with how the term is popularly (rather than clinically) used. As the New York Times wrote: “The classic description of the behavior captures a stubborn malcontent, someone who passively resists fulfilling routine tasks, complains of being misunderstood and underappreciated, unreasonably scorns authority and voices exaggerated complaints of personal misfortune.”

That said, many of the notes found here aren’t really passive-aggressive even by our generous standards. Some of these notes are really more aggressive in tone, and some of them are more passive — polite, even — but for the most part they share a common sense of frustration that’s been channeled into written form rather than a direct confrontation. It’s barbed criticism disguised as something else — helpful advice, a funny joke, simple forgetfulness. After all, as Dr. Scott Wetzler, a clinical psychologist and author of Living with the Passive-Aggressive man, observed: “A joke can be the most skillful passive-aggressive act there is.”” – WTF?

I’m sure you’ve encountered your fair share of people in your lifetime who have so utterly annoyed, aggravated or angered you but , for one reason or another, you were unable to unleash the wrath within you. What can you do then when a face to face confrontation isn’t within reach? Why, reach for your pen and paper of course because nothing get its across better than words. This hilarious site features some of the best passive aggressive notes out there for every occasion: parking failures, stolen stuff, incompetence at work..etc. The length that some people will go through to try and make their point across is both terrifying and funny. I tried to find a favorite of mine to post but all of them are just as interesting as the next so I highly recommend you take a look at the site!

P.S. Even I’ve written a passive aggressive note that would be worthy enough to post on here. Unfortunately the person it was intended for was probably too drunk to ever post it onto here. I’ve also been a recipient of a passive aggressive note though it did err to the side of polite and informative than sarcastic and aggressive.

A Sign of Intelligence

I’m sure many of you have read/seen this before but I thought it’d be nice to share it anyways for those who may not have. It’s certainly something that continues to come up in my life, whether through word of mouth, emails or links. Enjoy!

Professor : You are a Christian, aren’t you, son?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor : So, you believe in GOD?

Student : Absolutely, sir.

Professor : Is GOD good?

Student : Sure.

Professor : Is GOD ALL – POWERFUL?

Student : Yes.

Professor : My Brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?

(Student was silent)

Professor : You can’t answer, can you? Let’s start again, young fella. Is GOD Good?

Student : Yes.

Professor : Is Satan good?

Student : No.

Professor : Where does Satan come from?

Student : From…GOD…

Professor : That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this World?

Student : Yes.

Professor : Evil is everywhere, isn’t it? And GOD did make everything. Correct?

Student : Yes.

Professor : So who created evil?

(Student did not answer)

Professor : Is there Sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the World, don’t they?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor : So, who created them?

(Student had no answer)