Monday, February 16, 2009

Life according to Fred....

It's generally understood around this house that if you make a reference to literature or social norms pre-WWII, I'm bound to follow most of the conversation. History, or bits of it, is my thing. It's my comfort zone, and allows me to ignore much of modern life, in the same way that I can bounce my head along to the rhythm of Soulja Boy, blissfully unaware of the lyrics.

So I've just recently joined Facebook, a huge leap for a recluse such as myself. My husband and daughters insisted it's another important modern social contact. (I'm not convinced yet, but I fought my cell phone acquisition as well. Convenience, I get. But with the convenience comes the time-suck. When do all these twelve-posts-a-day people read?)

And now, because all I watch around here (besides NCIS) is kid's TV, I understand (thank you, iCarly) who Fred is. So I trotted over to YouTube and found him...and found him...and found him. Does the boy go to school? Seriously, I'm not sure. Maybe he's home schooled. Where does he find the time to post all those videos? And who the heck are the millions of people watching them? And why is it entertaining?

He's cute. He's charismatic. He's obviously caught the eye of Disney, so I'd imagine the world is his for the taking, provided he's got a bit of level-headed adult guidance. But...he talks in a high pitched voice, and runs from cabbages.

I'm wondering if the reason I don't get Fred is the reason I don't get Monty Python, but think Taming of the Shrew is a scream. Somewhere along the line my modern gene was definitely skewed.

What's funny to you?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not doing Facebook. Not yet anyway. I've had about a dozen people try to drag me into it, and I'm just not ready. So maybe that's why I don't know who Fred is?

Gillian Layne said...

Actually, Fred is a Youtube phenomenon. I don't understand how youtube launches ordinary people into stardom, but it does.

Stephanie J said...

It's the complete ridiculousness of Fred that's entertaining! It was about a year or so ago that I discovered Fred and proceeded to watch a bagillion of his videos. I have not once thought about going back to watch and completely forgot about him until just now but I was entertained.

I find so many things entertaining. It's almost embarrassing to admit! Sometimes I question whether I'm 23 or 12...!

Gillian Layne said...

No worries, Stephanie. I watch Phineas and Ferb and Avatar on Disney with my kids and probably enjoy it more than they do. And I am (ahem) a tad older than 23... ;)

Marnee Bailey said...

I had no idea who Fred was until you mentioned him. But I guess now I do!

It's amazing how people make themselves famous sometimes....

Gillian Layne said...

Isn't it, though? And now I find HarperCollins has this "authonomy" page, designed to flush out yet more talent. Hmmmmm....visions of Avon Fanlit floating through my head.