February 22, 2007

• im in ur big top killing ur cl0wnz
• Next on the list, mimes.
• everyone's a critic.
• It could have been me were I possessed of a more homicidal bent. I always found circus clowns to be not that funny and even as a kid I sensed the creepy, seedy adult that usually was lurking behind the greasepaint.
• I want to know what gag they'd just done. The waterbucket filled with confetti?
• This would have been even more awesome had the killer shot ten more clowns, and stuffed all the bodies into a tiny little coffin.
• Does nobody else find this terribly sad? The friends I have who've trained as clowns are some of the coolest people I know. To be a touring performer playing to audiences of "mostly poor Colombians" has to be a pretty stressful, draining life; you'd need to love your craft a lot to do it. And someone shot them for it.
• Police are looking for a getaway car with 25 occupants.
• As Krusty would say, "Woooahhh, tough crowd" But as PA says, just doing their job, entertaining the kids. Bummer.
• p.s. I don't find clowns creepy, but I once got very upset at a circus because one clown was being picked on by all the other clowns. They were tripping him up (BOING, kettle drum), chucking glitter over him as water (wwwooooOOOP! swannee whistle) etc. The clown looked very sad, but the crowd still laughed.
• Pallas Athena, I'm with you. It's too easy to go for cheap humor on this one. Nobody deserves to be killed while doing their job, and it's a sad commentary on the Internet that folks feel so free to make jokes about it. Life is cheap and humans are brutal. Some of the above comments show an indifference to life that is ice-cold and disturbing.
• I thought it was more bizarre than funny when I posted it, although I guess a certain element of humor is unavoidable.
• Oh it's funny, it's just sad too. The horror of man's inhumanity to man is constant. If we were to be serious about it all the time, there wouldn't be much joy in the world. I'm not suggesting callous laughter at all victims' expense, here. Just sayin'.. er... help me out someone.
• Some of the above comments show an indifference to life that is ice-cold and disturbing. OK, now you went and made me feel horribly guilty. You are right that this is a tragedy even if clowns were involved and my averse childhood reaction to a particular couple of seedy clowns should not have overshadowed that sad fact. *thoroughly chastened*
• I don't feel guilty. Sorry, that's just the way I am. Sure, it's a really bad thing that happened, and I do not condone clownicide, but sometimes when death raises its ugly head, it tells us a joke at the same time. We laugh because it's absurd, because it didn't happen to someone we know (or us), and like muters said, in the midst of life, we are in death. Sometimes it happens in a slightly funny way. Will we not be laughing at the Darwin Awards now either? Because those people are still dead and had loved ones. *throws bucket of glitter over kinnakeet*
• If they were truly clowns at heart, they would want us to laugh at their expense.
• EXACTLY!!!!
• Generally speaking, kitfisto, Darwin Awards winners were actually engaged in ill-advised pursuits at the time of their demise. And yes, I do laugh at same, and heartily. However, the clowns were DOING THEIR JOBS. NOT the same thing. I guess I just can't find humor in a brutally violent act, especially one that occurred (I'm guessing) in front of young people who are now permanently traumatised by it. When we as a culture begin laughing at random acts of violence, as opposed to the absurdity of life's unpredictable twists, we have become hollow beings indeed. *Sighs, picks glitter out of curly wig, adjusts ruffled collar and spotted costume over bulletproof vest, wipes away greasepaint teardrop*
• Coulrophobia. Some people really hate clowns.
• What those clowns ^^^ said. Sometimes we have to laugh at death. Sometimes we need to hit death over the head with a giant mallet, or spray seltzer down its pants. Sometimes death rides around on a tiny bicycle and wears big pants. When death throws the pie of doom in our faces, are we not meant to laugh and enjoy the creamy goo? I think I've made my point.
• Monketfilter: sometimes when death raises its ugly head, it tells us a joke at the same time.
• Will no-one think of the children?
• Monkeyfilter: laugh and enjoy the creamy goo
• It was funny that Elvis died on the shitter too. I stand by what I've said. *trips over massive red shoes*
• Fascinating read, Kro!
• I feel a Kitfisto painting coming on.
• 
• When we as a culture begin laughing at random acts of violence, as opposed to the absurdity of life's unpredictable twists, we have become hollow beings indeed. We are the hollow monkeys We are the stuffed monkeys Leaning together Headpiece filled with bananas. Alas! Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass Or rats' feet over broken glass In our dry website. kamus without form, the_bone without conscience, Paralysed goetter, sqiudranch without motion; This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a whimper but a bang.
• Let's pretend for a moment that I spelled squiddy's name correctly, shall we?
• Can't sleep now...
• Quick question: is there anyone on the internet who LOVES clowns? Cuz I did, when I was a kid. I thought they were great. I was on the local Bozo show affiliate, playing stupid games and laughing when Bozo-12 honked my nose and asked me if I walked to school or carried my lunch. The clown car gag still gets me (HOW DO THEY DO IT? No, wait, don't tell me.), and I love the idea that behind the makeup and under the wigs are some genuinely joyful people who get up everyday wanting to make children laugh. Am I the only one? C'mere, look at this flower.
• Well, my uncle is a clown. And I love my uncle. So that makes two of us.
• HOW DO THEY DO IT? I won't ruin it for you but will offer one tantalizing clue- one word: Tardis!
• "... so why don't you?" Warning: Creepy as all get out.
• Monkeys I dare not meet in dreams In Hope's dream kingdom These do not appear: There, the monkeys write Posts in a vertical column There, in a tree swinging And comments are In the wind's singing More distant and more solemn Than a fading quonsar. Let me be no nearer In Hope's dream kingdom Let me now assume Such deliberate personas PA, kinnakeet, kitfisto In a post Behaving as the id behaves No wiser--
• Yes, in this case, it's actually the children I'm thinking of. Scarred for life about the circus, I'm afraid. On a lighter note... "why shoot clowns?" Well, who knows, maybe they were really bad?
• Wonder what drug those kids in the Gary Lewis & the Playboys clip are on. That IS creepy.
• Life is cheap and humans are brutal And if we didn't laugh at the human race, we'd be weeping non-stop.
• Wonder what drug those kids in the Gary Lewis & the Playboys clip are on. But the little girls' white gloves were all kinds of adorable.
• .
• Well, you know, these clowns were killed in one of the more violent regions of the most violent country in the Western Hemisphere. Their deaths are sad and absurd, and that absurdity makes us chuckle - until we start reading about the violence that pervades the country, the lack of respect for life, the complete insanity that is the country. Andres and Rony (who, by the way, was only 18 years old) are a couple victims more of the violence, pain and disregard for life that racks the country.
• You know, the more I think about it, if they had to die at least they went out doing something they probably loved, and making people happy.
• More information [in Spanish]. Camilo, if you've got a better source I'd love to see it - I'm limited to what I can find through Google Translate.
• I have never been more conflicted at death since my own father's.
• Arf.
• I knew a feller from Columbia who told me that when driving there, you do not stop an an intersection unless to do otherwise would cause an accident, because violent carjackings are a fact of life.
• Well, I love Colombia, but it is true, It is a violent country. A gorgeous, beautiful, incredibly rich and diverse country, where all the urban legends are true. I think it was best said by Garcia Marquez when he received the Noble prize,and said in his speech: "I dare to think that it is this outsized reality, and not just its literary expression, that has deserved the attention of the Swedish Academy of Letters. A reality not of paper, but one that lives within us and determines each instant of our countless daily deaths, and that nourishes a source of insatiable creativity, full of sorrow and beauty, of which this roving and nostalgic Colombian is but one cipher more, singled out by fortune."
• I like clowns. Well, I like to mock clowns, which is probably ok with them. Hate mimes though. I'd slug a mime in a heartbeat.
• *begins speaking*
• *Gets out of invisible box*
• HONK HONK! *pulls Gookie in indignation, gets restrained by Chico*
• *slowly throws invisible cream pie*
• *digs up Marcel Marceau's Greatest Hits CD*
• Classic stuff, kamus!
• *walks with the wind*
• *stands there, doing nothing*
• Is that a Key Mime Pie, roryk?
• How appropriate are these lyrics? Isn't it rich? Are we a pair? Me here at last on the ground, You in mid-air. Send in the clowns. Isn't it bliss? Don't you approve? One who keeps tearing around, One who can't move. Where are the clowns? Send in the clowns. Just when I'd stopped opening doors, Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours, Making my entrance again with my usual flair, Sure of my lines, No one is there. Don't you love farce? My fault I fear. I thought that you'd want what I want. Sorry, my dear. But where are the clowns? Quick, send in the clowns. Don't bother, they're here. Isn't it rich? Isn't it queer, Losing my timing this late In my career? And where are the clowns? There ought to be clowns. Well, maybe next year. And the joking is funny. Even more, it's a coping mechanism for all the downers in the world. I'd say stop chiding people for laughing at funny things when we can find them in this tight-lipped and anal-retentive world. When Sonny Bono skis into a tree, the way in which we imagine it occurring is funny, but the event is tragic when you're close to it. Don't try to be close to everything. You'll end up committing suicide after farting in a crowded elevator because of the staggering implications. And that's hillarious.
• And the joking is funny. Even more, it's a coping mechanism for all the downers in the world So true. I felt really awful about making my (admittedly-in-dubious-taste) clown joke after reading PA's and kinnakeet's comments, until I remembered that I always and without fail metabolize pain through jokes.
• Ooooh yeah! Sonny Bono and the tree. That made my top ten list of stupid ways to die. Plus, you know, Sonny Bono? I just couldn't render the sad. But, ok, Clowns. Clowns are creepy, not funny. That's why I like them. They try to freak you out up close. They have faces under that happy makeup that can be seething with rage and sorrow. They are the least subtle demonstration of emotional conflict. And they do it professionally! They should not be shot under any circumstances. Too Greek. I still hate mimes, though. *dodges invisible pie by standing still, doing nothing*
• Suspect Arrested in Clown Killings
• 'Walter Bautista, 21, who goes by the alias "My Fish," was being held on charges of murder and trafficking in arms, a police statement said.' My Fish??? This has to be some sort of lost in translation error.
• Yeah, and "Justice for the Assassins of Laughter"? Must be wrong. Clearly a mistranslation of "A hit in the face with a big red shoe for the Assassins of Laughter".
• Walter Bautista, 21, who goes by the alias "My Fish," was being held on charges of murder and trafficking in arms, a police statement said. "My Fish"? "Mi Pescado"? This is one of those details in a story like this that kind of makes one think that there just might be a consciousness greater than ours, a god if you will, and that she has a wacky, totally fucking absurd sense of humor.