HA HA - April Fools!
Is April Fool’s Day still really relevant? In a world filled with Punk’d and Improv Everywhere do we still need this one day dedicated to mediocre jokes? On a web where I already have to worry about being Rick Rolled, do I need to be concerned about bad redesigns and fake news stories?
Anil Dash doesn’t think so, but Michael Arrington disagrees. I imagine that in 1957 Spaghetti Trees on the BBC was actually funny and confused a lot of people. I still laugh that the people of Boston were gullible enough to believe the Mayor was Dead as reported by a bunch of Shock Jocks . Think Geek still does a good job at coming up with some funny products, but now its become expected of them to do so. I have serious doubts that anyone really believes they can buy a Betamax to HD-DVD converter. Google seems to have sci-fi on the brain this year, with not 1 but 2 time travel related New Products along with a new partnership with Virgin to debut in 2014.
Now we’ve got legitimate news sources confirming rumors and starting rumors along with CNN covering Careerbuilders Top 10 April Fools’ Work Pranks . This is a ridiculous list that includes everything from:
- boring items - Rigged the boss’ chair to drop suddenly during a staff meeting
- to impossible stunts - Shrink-wrapped everything in a co-worker’s cubicle
- to the just plain mean and hurtful - Called the electric company, used a co-worker’s name and told them he was moving so the electricity got turned off at the co-worker’s house
Those are just examples that I’ve found in the past hour of being awake. Most of them feel just uninspired. It has the same feeling as the guys who show up to a Halloween party wearing a feather boa and their girlfriends clothes and think they’re dressing in drag.
I’m sure more will be revealed throughout the day. Is it worth it though? Is anyone finding humor in these things? Is anyone planning on pulling a joke today?
Written by: chad
April 1st, 2008 at 10:38 am
while i do find some amusement in clever reworkings of standard webpages (today, gmail is advertising their new “send email back in time” feature), most of the time it just feels forced or mean-spirited, and therefore not funny.
April 1st, 2008 at 10:40 am
I think April Fools day is for pranksters like Christmas/Easter is for Catholics. It’s a day for you to be observant even if you aren’t during the rest of the year!
April 1st, 2008 at 11:29 am
The problem I see is that everyone expects something huge. Someting that will outdo all the years past. I don’t think that is what April Fools’ Day should be about. It should be the little things we do to eachother. Little fun pranks or jokes that get a lugh or two out of you and the victim and possibly a group of friends later. Of course, the “I’m pregnant” thing still seems to work on most guys…
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:19 pm
I’ve never really gotten into April Fools’ Day, and I suspect there are two reasons.
One is that I am extremely gullible, and therefore a perfect target for AFD gags. And let’s be honest… these pranks are only fun for the prankERS. That is a selfish reason though.
My other reason is that, more often than not, it just seems so darn mean-spirited. The point of AFD jokes seems to be about making another person uncomfortable and then getting to say, HAHA fooled you! U R DUM!” and then feeling superior. Okay, well, I do like that last part.
Ande it’s not that I am devoid of the joys of good old-fashioned schadenfreude! At all. But not mean-spiritedness for it’s own sake.
Hm, I think I tangented. I believe I was supposed to be talking about whether AFD jumped the shark or something. Whatever. Conclusion: you’re all mean and I’m going home.
April 4th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I agree with Dani. I love humor and think I have a good sense of it; however, anything mean-spirited dampens my fun.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I’m big on company April Fools pranks.
http://www.google.com/tisp/index.html
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/moltencore/