What is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

You start the morning believing that you live in a friendly universe. One that makes sense, has a order to things and is, in general, a safe place. Then you get whacked in the eye by the ¼ inch jack of your headphones. I was going to plug them into my computer so I can watch an episode of Angel with out disturbing my roommate. The cord pulled tight and then, THWACK! right at my eye. Ok, it hurt for a second. I felt more stupid then hurt. Less than 5 minutes later I touch my eyelid and feel something the size of a large almond. I go look in the mirror and I find that I have a mutant growth on my upper left eye lid. After icing it, I now find that it is slowly turning black and blue. Greeeaaat!

Einstein said the biggest difference to the quality of your life will be whether you think we live in a friendly universe or an unfriendly universe. I think this morning is an example of the fact that we live in a universe that laughs at us. For all the grandeur of space, stars, black holes, colliding galaxies. . . .it’s still all bugger down here on Earth! So where does this bring me to? SPAM. Lots of it. What am I talking about?

Saturday, I went to go see SPAMALOT, the new musical based on Monty Python’s “The Search for the Holy Grail.” It was SOOOO damn funny. I haven’t laughed like that is a long time. My friends and I went to see the matinee. I would have stayed for the evening so as well. To those who know me, they know that this was a play written for me. To those who don’t know me, I have been a huge Monty Python fan since I was 15 or 16.

In the beginning it was just listening to CD recordings of their sketches and movie scenes. Then, it was trips to the video store to rent episodes of “The Flying Circus.” Then, there were the movies. “The Life of Brian”, “The Search for the Holy Grail” and “The Meaning of Life.” Then came the memorizing of scenes. I became disturbingly skilled at recreating the voice of an old English woman. (“There’s some nice filth down here, Dennis. Oh, how do you do sir?”)

I even got my friends into Monty Python. My best friend, my complete opposite, even loved Monty Python. I don’t think there are any mild Python fans. It’s like the band Rush. You either love them or you don’t get them and don’t understand why so many people find them funny.

Like Midnight Oil with Australia, Monty Python introduced me to many things British. Many of their jokes critique British society at the time. So it forced me to learn the context of the jokes so I could get them. That only made the jokes funnier beyond just the absurdity of their sketches. The Pythons used the absurd to skewer all the pillars of society from family to religion to politics to history and myth. Nothing was sacred.

So to understand me, or at least one aspect of me, you need to understand Monty Python. I even did a lecture on the music of Monty Python for one of graduate music history classes. Their influence is far and wide. Everyone from the Muppet Show to Tenacious D. With songs ranging from “The Penis Song” to “Never Be Rude to an Arab” to "Sit on My Face" to“Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” their music (most written by Eric Idle) drew from many styles from classical to burlesque. While laughing to their songs, I didn’t realize that I was absorbing such great music. (To all the Python fans reading this, I know I now have gotten “Always look on the Bright Side of Life” stuck in your head just by mentioning it.)

Well, I need to go take my ex-parrot back to the pet store. After I eat my crunchy frog candy, of course. Now I know that I need to watch out as I walk to the store because horrible death awaits me with sharp, pointy teeth. But I am not worried. My coconuts are fast and I have my holy hand grenade.