Alright, I must be dumb, but I don’t get it. What’s so funny? Yes, a hefty kid moving around like he’s a Jedi… so What special effects/sounds? I didn’t hear/see anything. Am I looking at the right link? Yes, I saw both. They don’t seem any different to me. shrug
oh come on… you don’t see the humor in a fat kid running around like a jedi?? ON TAPE???
If this kid ever drops the Jedi thing in favor of pipe bombs and guns . . .
that’ll be funny . . .
Reap what you sow, man . . .
Well, I’m laughing with him, not at him. And on that level, it is funny, because he’s so intense…rather like Mr. Rilch and Friend were at that age, according to what they tell me.
I just think it’s a bit skeevy that, as I noted upthread, the remix isolated the one shot where he lost his footing. His first go at it was actually the most “successful” (I don’t know how you judge this kind of thing). But I’m not putting him down.
No offense, Rilchiam - I don’t doubt your sincerity at all - but I’m sure that makes a no difference to this kid. I’m also sure that the “with not at” argument is the first refuge of people who don’t want to acknowledge how cruel their behavior is.
Okay okay—but I am not being cruel! I was one of Those kids, at his approximate age—people laughed when I walked into a room, for gossakes. I’m not about to do the same thing to someone else. All I see there is a kid who has some privacy for once, and is acting out his fantasy.
Yes, I recognize the irony in that statement; his privacy has been severely breached by the circulation of this video. But it was a private moment at the time, and I can see it in his face. It is possible that he has the strength to rise above whatever crap he’ll get because of this.
(Although I’ll express sympathy in advance, for other kids who just happen to be overweight Star Wars fans, who aren’t this kid, but are going to be compared to him, loudly and rudely, at every opportunity.)
Signed,
Waldo’s Sister.
Yeah - but the point is that his fantasy has been put out there for the whole world to see. You may identify with the kid acting out his fantasies of being a space-hero, but can you not imagine what it must be like for that fantasy to be made public? To be the focus of ridicule for not just your school-mates, but the entire world? Including, I might add, adults.
It’s safe to assume that with his looks (and apparent interests) his social life wasn’t all that great to begin with. Can you imagine for a second what sort of hell his life must be right now? I can tell you it’s busting my gut.
Chalk me up as another who identifies with that kid. In high school, that was me. Same build, same hair cut, same colour hair. I swear, that kid could be my twin. So, am I laughing with him, or at him? Well, with him. In all honesty, I found the video rather cute. I view it much like Rilchiam does.
Is that safe to assume though? Really, all we know about this kid is what we have seen on this video. Perhaps he is a socially awkward teenager, with few or no friends, just acting out a fantasy. Or, perhaps, this was part of a larger video project. Maybe he is an aspiring Chris Farley, and was doing this for laughs. I don’t know, and if anybody has more info behind this video, I would like to hear it. I will admit, the first scenario that I posted, which is a rehash of what you have posted Misery, is very likely, but so are the others. We just don’t have all of the information.
Now, because we lack this information, does it make it right to find humour in this video? In other words, if you find it funny for what ever reason, does that make you a mean spirited individual? I don’t think that it does. If you put the kid down for what he is doing, or what he is, then that would be mean spirited. But the video is humorous on other levels as well, in my opinion. I can only speak for my self, but the humour for me derives from he body motions towards the end of the video. It is, as I have said, like he is pretending to fight off a swarm of bees. I’m a sucker for physical comedy. The humour isn’t because he is fat; a skinny kid would’ve been able to do exactly the same thing, and still elicit chuckles. It’s not due to some perceived “nerdly patheticness”, because, as I have said, I don’t see what he is doing as being either of those things, mostly because I do what he is doing every time I hold a broom.
Of course, I only speak from my personal POV, but that’s my two cents.
He could have been one of my friends in high school, but I’d have laughed at him then for videotaping it. Not doing it, but taping it. The kid’s no Jedi, that’s for sure.
I thought better of you people.
All of you who said, “I’ve done worse, so what’s the big deal?” and “That’s just a part of growing up.” are missing the point. I know you mean well, but you’re not helping.
Those of you who expressed sentiments like “He probably doesn’t have much of a social life anyway.” make me sick.
I was that kid. He even looks like I did at that age. Yes, I did dumb things. Yes, I was a geek, and I got the only personal affirmation I was ever going to get from my parents and my fellow geeks.
I turned out okay, and so will this kid. It’s entirely possible that he won’t be the chubby kid with limited social skills for the rest of his life. He might be insanely popular when he’s 35. Like me.
The SDMB has always been a place where I could come to read, and lately participate in, intelligent adult conversation.
Some of you people are trying to turn it into a high school playground. I’m disgusted by this thread.
In short, read what Emperor Penguin wrote again.
Try this one
It’s open source, does wmv, and supports a decent list of platforms (you don’t say what you do use…). It gave me (OS X) an error about not finding a codec, but played the file anyway.
Nothing is worth buying a Dell for.
Okay, so what is the point? I’m getting lost here.
In that it was good post, worthy of the SDMB, or that it was a shining example of the high school playground mentality?
[sub]I’m not being a jackass, I’m just not too sure how you felt about my post. In the interest of a continued dialogue, I figured clarification would be best.[/sub]
Well, it’s just my point, for what it’s worth.
I did geeky stuff when I was a kid. If I had had acces to the AV room at school I might even have taped some of it, just to see myself on TV.
At that time, anybody who got the tape would have limited options for distribution. At most, they could have made a few copies and had viewing parties with their friends. It wouldn’t have gone very far beyond my town. When I went on vacation with my family, nobody in the resort town knew what I had done, and I could relax.
This has been disseminated around the entire world. People around the globe are pointing and laughing, and it’s going to continue for months.
Hell, some jackass already added effects.
It’s a big joke that’s going to persist, and the poor kid won’t be able to get away from it.
It’s not funny.
It was a good post in the sense that it came from the heart.
YMMV
I think we’ve beaten “lets laugh at the fat kid being a Jedi” thing into the ground.
I’m still curious about the “special effects” I could not see nor hear anything different between the videos in the respective links. What was different? I didn’t hear any sound effects at all? Just that “clattering” noise that sounded like somthing hitting against a hollow metal tube (which I assume is coming from the baton [or whatever it is], the kid is using like a light sabre).
I must be really stupid this week 
I didn’t piss my pants seeing that poor fat kid moving like he’s a jedi. I don’t see him funny, well, a little funny but not to make me piss my pants.
Mmm, but I got a serious suspicion that he knows he is funny and that ridiulous maneuvers are intentionally ridiculous. Maybe is a troll in video, dont you think?
I don’t think for a second that laughing at him is cruel. I can totally identify with him because, like many of the posters in this thread have said, I was that kid in high school. I was one of 3 people that voted for me for the student government, if that gives you any idea of my popularity in high school.
Look, the video is funny as hell, and I suspect that this kid probably saw it as funny at the time, especially if he watched it himself. I did stupid stuff like that, even taped some of it, and always thought I looked funny, or even dorky. I have serious doubts that a kid in that kind of shape thought that he was making an ultra-cool demo tape of his karate stylings.
That said, his peers will probably be very cruel to him for some time to come, which is sadly a part of growing up. Has anyone ever done something dumb enough to have a school laugh at them? I have. It sucks, but oddly enough someone always comes along and saves you by doing something equally stupid.
Exgineer, do you recall the thread when we were trading dorkisms about where to meet and what to do, including the Robotech film fest? That was me in high school, but I laugh at it now.
In the end, IMO, it’s okay to feel a little bit sorry for him, but I hardly think that laughing at him is base enough to be considered “high school mentality.” If it is, then any joke or laugh at anyone’s expense is equally childish, and I expect everyone to refrain from laughing in the future.
Both versions are linked at Waxy.org, Freyr. Look for the link entitled special effects and lightsaber noises.