"Life's a laugh and death's a joke it's true. / You'll see it's all a show, / Keep 'em laughing as you go. / Just remember that the last laugh is on you..."
"For life is quite absurd / And death's the final word. / You must always face the curtain with a bow. / Forget about your sin. / Give the audience a grin. / Enjoy it. It's your last chance, anyhow..."
Over at a film odyssey (check out that beautiful logo!), movie blogger and "Fight Club" Opening Shots contributor Robert Humanick mashes up two movie mash-ups from YouTube, both set to Eric Idle's uplifting, send-'em-out-whistling curtain number from the great "Monty Python's Life of Brian": "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." The first cuts footage from Mike Judge's "Office Space" to the tune, providing encouragement to disheartened cubicle gnomes with martyr complexes the world over.
The other uses footage of Idle singing the song in "Life of Brian," intercut with gruesome footage from Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." Either way, it's a revelation.
The song has always held a special place in my heart ("Suicide squad, attack!"), so seeing it superimposed over both a film I love and a film I loathe has only increased my adoration of it. My friends and I can barely make it through the Python of the Christ video without dying of laughter - this already being after Mel Gibson nearly killed us with the movie itself.
Thanks for the recognition. Been reading your stuff for years, and it's been great that you've finally gotten your own independent blog.
I'm brewing some more opening shots entries upstairs. Hope to have some sent in within the next few days.
I'm a big fan of Monty Python, and of LIFE OF BRIAN in particular, but for me the definitive "Passion" mash-up is the Benny Hill one. Damnably funny stuff.