I want to share this cute TED Talk with you. Toward the end of the presentation, the bald presenter takes out a ukulele and plays it in a terribly funny way. I don’t know if my saying that qualifies as a spoiler (and thus I need to officially provide you with a SPOILER ALERT), but if it does and I do need to, then I sincerely apologize for not having done so in the appropriate way and at the appropriate time.
My point is really to write about the ukulele because it reminds me of my own boyhood. For some reason I have no ability to fathom at this time in my life, I wanted, when I was maybe nine years old, a ukulele so badly that I could taste it—even though I never would have actually taken a bite of its wood if offered to do so. But that’s beside the point. More to the point is this: I asked my parents to get me one for Christmas.
Due to the nature of parenthood, most mothers and fathers will do all manner of silly things including going to a music shop and spending real money to buy a thing that looks like a guitar that was born prematurely, which is exactly what my mom and dad did. I remember it came in a little case and included a pick that looked like it was made of felt. The instrument held my interest for maybe three months which was long enough for me to realize two things. First of all, I had absolutely no musical talent whatsoever, and two, playing a ukulele, even though the instrument had been popularized by Tiny Tim, one of the greatest weirdo performers of all time, was one of the most boring ways a person could spend five minutes or ten minutes or whatever time one happened to spend strumming its four strings.
Once this realization came to me, it went back into its case and resided there until it died the horrible death of suffocation.
OK, so none of my story has anything to do with the video, but that shouldn’t keep you from watching it.
Thinker Boy: Blog & Art 