POTLUCK!!!

We would like to host a Potluck on Saturday, February 28th, 2009. A Potluck is a dinner party where each person brings some kind of food or drink for all the guests. If you are interested, we would like you to make some food from your home country that everybody can try.
If we get enough people interested, we will set a time and give directions to the house. It will be a time to relax and have fun with other people from class. Please let us Hope to see you there!

Introduce Yourself

When I ask students the question "what is something interesting about you" they think it is difficult to give an answer. Maybe the reason is that everybody thinks of themselves as just a normal person. Every ELI student has had the experience of traveling to another country to study. This is interesting. Anyone who has experienced two cultures has had something interesting happen to them.
I want to know more about each of you. If you can't think of anything, just write about what you do during the day.
For example:

Monday through Friday, I wake up at 6:00 AM and ride the bus into Spokane. While I am on the bus, I listen to my iTouch. I work at Spokane Community College in the morning. In the afternoon, I ride the bus back to Cheney and work at the Writers' Center until evening. I have some dinner, and I read and write at night. On the weekends, I like to sleep and visit with my family and friends.
The cold weather makes everything more difficult. There is no sunlight when I wake up or finish work. I have been sick twice this quarter, and that also makes things harder to do.

Now I want to read about each of you. Leave me a comment. Feel free to talk about anything.

Poker

Just like a casino, we ran a couple tables of card games. The first, and easiest (in my opinion) was blackjack or "21." The difficult part, I'm guessing, is learning all the jargon (or specific vocabulary) to play the game. If I want a card, it would be a "hit," if I just want one more card and to double my bet, it's "double down." If I have pairs and want to play two hands, it's a "split." And if I'm happy with my cards, I just want to "stay." Each particular occupation or group has very specific language, even if it is just a simple card game.
More complex, was Texas Hold 'Em. Knowing what "hands" (or group of cards) beat what other hands was the most difficult part of that game. Also, I think we all saw that luck plays a big part into how the game turns out. No matter how much you understand a game, or how much effort you put in, luck often determines the winner.
At one of the tables was five card draw. Again, the difficulty is knowing what hand beats what other hand. I think the order goes like this:
High card
1 pair
2 pair
3 of a kind
Straight
Flush
Full House (2 of a kind, 3 of a kind)
Four of a Kind
Straight Flush (with Royal Flush being the highest)
Because I received no responses to the last blog entry, and we are still talking about games, I still want to know what kinds of games do you play. What specific language (or jargon) goes with those games? Do you play with family or friends? Do you have any special rules (also known as "house rules"). Let me know anything about any games.

Spoons

Spoons is played with a standard deck (or decks) of cards and a number of spoons. The spoons are placed in the center of the playing area, so that all players can reach for a spoon. The total number of spoons is one less than the number of players.
Each player is dealt four cards with the object of drawing and discarding cards one at a time until a four-of-a-kind is acheived. After the initial deal, the dealer takes a card from the top of the deck, either replaces one of his/her cards in hand or passes the card to the player at the right. If the dealer does replace a card, the card that was previously in their hand is passed to the right. The dealer repeats this as fast as possible, and soon all players should be picking up and discarding cards. The player to the dealer's left creates a discard pile to be used in case the deck runs out.
The player first achieving a four-of-a-kind may then grab a spoon. When this happens, all the other players, regardless of cards in hand have to also grab a spoon. The player left without a spoon is eliminated.
An alternative rule rewards letters to the losing player (like a game of HORSE in basketball). If a player doesn't get a spoon, they get a letter, starting with "S" and are eliminated when they spell S-P-O-O-N-S.
Players can also "bluff" and reach for a spoon, trying to get another player to touch a spoon. If you touch a spoon without having four-of-a-kind or another player having four-of-a-kind, you will get a letter or be eliminated.
For those of you who played this game, what did you think of it? What other card games do you play? Do you play card games (or any other games) with your families and friends? What is your favorite? Let me know your thoughts on games.

Body Language

Not only what we say, but how we say it and what we are doing when we say it say a lot. Does that make sense? What I am trying to say (actually, write) is body language and facial expressions are used a lot in communication.
Going back to the silent movie film clips we watched, we could understand the humor through what the people were doing. Even Mickey Mouse as Steamboat Willie used facial expressions. Even the whistles on the steamboat in Steamboat Willie had facial expressions. This is all part of body language.
When Buster Keaton falls through the hole in the roof and the woman in the bathtub yells at him to get out, we understand the emotion and expression even though no one is talking. This was before sound...even before color.
Body Language is also called Non-verbal communication and comedians, to give one professional example, need to master it. The little things we do are called cues (or visual cues) that let others know what we are thinking, expressing, trying to communicate, even if we ourselves are unaware of what we might be doing. Sometimes we exaggerate to make something seem funny. We cue a friend or audience to let them know they should laugh.
What I would like to know this time is...what visual cues, non-verbal communication, facial expressions, or body language do you use to express or say more (than just with words)? Is there any body language that is specific to your culture? What examples did you see in the clips we watched - or - what examples have you seen in other shows or movies? Just a few things I was wondering.

Pie in the Face

For those of you who watched the comedy clips, most liked the 3 Stooges Pie Fight. The 3 Stooges are famous for being dumb, but obviously their humor still makes modern audiences laugh.
The "Pie-in-the-face" gag was featured in film as early as 1914. The Keystone Cops (who were clumsy policemen chasing a burglar) featured it regularly. The comedy duo Laurel and Hardy had a giant pie fight in their movie "The Battle of the Century." It is rumored that over 4000 pies were used.
Other comedians, like Charlie Chaplin, have used the pie fight, and even cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny use the gag. But "pieing" hasn't been used just for laughs. Pieing has also been used to make political statements, and if it is done to someone who doesn't like it, it can be considered assault! So remember, if you are going to throw a pie at someone, make sure they have a good sense of humor, or you could get in trouble.
J told us that sometimes people are hit with a pie in the face on their birthday. I was wondering, though, what other pranks (funny tricks you do to people) are popular with you and your friends? Have you ever done the pie-in-the-face to trick someone? What do you do to have a laugh or make other people laugh?

Humor

Not all humor translates from one culture to another. Early humor was meant to be understood by a lot of people, and this was done by using "physical" humor. In the earliest movies, sound could not be used, so comedians had to use their body to do funny things.
Comedians like Charlie Chaplin are famous around the world because no language is needed to understand what he is doing. Most of the time, he is just acting silly, but he was very good at doing this.
Cartoons often imitated violent, or "slapstick," humor. Like the movies, early cartoons were silent (just with music in the background) and a physical type of comedy worked well.
Slapstick humor was used often by the 3 Stooges. They would resort to very basic forms of comedy, like the "pie-in-the-face" routine. Often, they looked like living cartoon characters themselves.
Television had sound when it first began, so it could use language as comedy. Some television stars still resorted to using physical and slapstick humor, however. Lucille Ball is an example of someone who still used physical humor, although she had the convenience of sound.
But I want to know what you think is funny. What type of humor or comedians do you like and why? What are your favorite funny movies or TV shows and why? What do you think makes something or someone funny? I want to know your opinions.