Making Mii of Canadian Newscasters (now with pictures)

Now Peter Mansbridge and Gloria Macarenko can box!

There’s been a new Nintendo out a little while now, you might have heard. One of the chief features is being able to make these little charicatures of yourself or other people and have them actually appear in the games you play, either as the player’s character, or people in the background. These little guys are Mii. One can be seen here and you can make your own on a flash based mock up here (although the one on the Wii is much better).

I was bored last night, and having seen people make Mario, Luigi, Hitler, Ghandi, Bush, the cast of The Big Lebowski (Lebowskii?), I was at a loss as to how to capture something original, and at the same time something more personal. Something reminded me that I grew up in a household with only one channel, the CBC. The rest is history.

I set to work creating Peter Mansbridge, Wendy Mesley, Rex Murphy, Gloria Macarenko, and Tony Parsons of Global. I stopped only because it was around 1:00AM at this point. I can’t wait to boot up Wii Sports and have a tennis match between Parsons and Mansbridge.

Who else should I make? George Stroumboulopoulos? Ian Hanomansing? Ken Finkleman? Why can’t I think of any women? What other newsworthy Canadians am I forgetting to fill the stands of my boxing ring with?

CONCEPT: 5/5 – For me this has been the most entertaining use of the Mii creator yet.

INNOVATION: 4/5 – I may have the world’s first Rex Murphy Mii. Unless someone at the CBC has a Wii.

SATISFACTION: 3/5 – Mansbridge’s look of reserved yet mildly hopeful despair was hard to capture. Also the jowls.

EXECUTION: 4/5 – Tony Parsons looks amazing, however.

FUN FACTOR: 5/5 – I feel like I’ve found a piece of the Canadian Identity. Thanks Nintendo.

OVERALL: 9/10 -I promise I’ll post some pictures when I am able to somehow capture their likenesses. (Sorry about the picture quality, taking pictures of a TV is a bad idea in most cases)

The Seven Year Joke

My Grandpa told me a joke that I assume took me the longest period of time taken to ‘get’ a joke ever

I’ll cut to the chase. I don’t know how long ago it was, but it was long enough. Seven seems like a good number. My Grandpa once said to me, after I had been particularly sassy, “Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.” Now, I have no confirmation, and I refuse to do research for any of these posts, but this may be a quote from Oscar Wilde. Wilde would have delivered the joke and then promptly flipped off the Queen while making it look like he was eating a sandwich, or made a laughing hyena cry, or died, or something equally dramatic. My Grandpa only looked a little disappointed when I rejoined, “Sarcasm is the only form of wit.”

As I was walking to work today, for some reason I was thinking about this exchange. I suddenly realized that my Grandpa was being sarcastic when he’d said that, making it what it surely the highest form of wit, irony. My reply would also be nearly as witty as his initial jab, except that I was like 15 and I meant it. I don’t feel bad that he looked a bit disappointed in me, because that seems to have become his thing recently.

It turned out to be very funny to me at the time. Maybe it’s not, and surely not any more now that I’ve laid it all out. But I just couldn’t wait another seven years for you to all suddenly burst out laughing during your morning commute. So, apologies.

CONCEPT: 4/5 – Not a bad joke, I thought.

INNOVATION: 3/5 – Not sure! It might not be my Grandpa’s invention at all! But I’ll give him the benefit, he said it to me, and I’d never heard it before.

SATISFACTION: 5/5 – Rather than be ashamed it took me so long to find this funny, I’m extremely satisfied I remembered it at all.

EXECUTION: 4/5 – Long term jokes are a sort of an art form, I’m sure.

FUN FACTOR: 4/5 – Not the best I’ve ever heard, but extra points for effort.

OVERALL: 5/10 – Despite my enjoyment, I doubt anyone else will find it nearly as funny. In fact, making you have to listen to my recounting is probably much less entertainment than what I got out of it. For this, I’m tilting the scale to be more realistic. And arbitrary.