Computers inspired by computers inspired by kittens inspired by kittens

Ugh. I wanted to find that cute and appealling, but I guess it's never to early to instill and encourage the dislike and trivialization of women in the computer industry. "How are you, pretty lady?" and "eww, eww, eww" really made me disappointed for that little boy.

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#8 posted by Doran

, February 18, 2009 8:02 AM

FTW

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#9 posted by kaiza , February 18, 2009 8:09 AM

This is what happens when you bring up kids on ICanHazCheezburger, without the actual understanding of what makes it funny (incorrect grammar and spelling). Soon enough this kid will be attempting to gain access to 13+ websites.

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#10 posted by Anonymous , February 18, 2009 8:12 AM

Loved the original; this one... not so much.

Why?

a) Felt forced and unnatural

b) Went for easy, obvious, cliched jokes

c) Lacked the charm and innocence of the original version

d) Sure seemed like it was written by an adult

All-in-all, a pale imitation of the original

(at least that's what my five-year-old daughter said).....

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#11 posted by Bender , February 18, 2009 8:12 AM

I chuckled.

Try to grow a sense of humor people.

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#12 posted by TVC15 , February 18, 2009 8:15 AM

@ #6: Two words: Lighten up. It's a little kid. Get a sense of humor.

@ #2: Ummm...what cave have you been hiding in for the last week? Get a clue.

Overall, this was a rather limp-wristed re-take on the "kittens" one, but seriously, people - take it for what it is and stop being so damned cynical!

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#13 posted by Davidget , February 18, 2009 8:19 AM

Gretchen, stop trying to make fetch happen! It's not going to happen!

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#14 posted by edison_carter , February 18, 2009 8:19 AM

tvc - yeah I suspect they have not already noted the Kittens meme. In response to that, I think it was alright.

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#15 posted by Lauren O

, February 18, 2009 8:22 AM

"How are you, pretty lady?" and "eww, eww, eww" really made me disappointed for that little boy.

The "eww, eww, eww" struck me as the typical "girls have cooties" reaction for a kid his age. There's a good chance you'd get a similar reaction from a girl to pictures of men in a book that mostly had pictures of women.

The one I found troubling was "I'm talking to someone's wife." Poor kid can't conceptualize a woman as an employee, even a secretary. She's just "someone's wife." Not that the book is really helping him out there. I suppose it's too much to hope that a parent has told him that one of the reasons this book is silly and fun to mock is that it makes it seem like women are only good at looking pretty and can't be good at computers.

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#16 posted by nanner , February 18, 2009 8:24 AM

@#8 i don't think the kid made up the dialogue. it seems 100% scripted by his folks to me.

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#17 posted by erniepan , February 18, 2009 8:31 AM

Is this real life?

I feel funny.

Is this gonna be forever?

(Nuh-uh! Don't touch it!)

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#18 posted by ChunkyMonkeyBrain , February 18, 2009 8:32 AM

ehmm...can we just let this mildly entertaining meme die a natural death now?

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#19 posted by nehpetsE , February 18, 2009 8:37 AM

i agree. scripted. not a wonderful thing.

In 30 Years boingbong will be the refrigerator with the grand kids drawings on it.

This is boingboing. Inspired by boingboing.

The way that children learn humor through reverse engineering, mimicry of form with out understanding the underlying principals of funny is a rich topic for exploration.

But not like this.

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#20 posted by noen , February 18, 2009 8:45 AM

Cute and funny. Clues for the Clueless:

Kittens, inspired by Kittens!

kittens, inpired by David after the dentist

Kittens, inspired by Christian Bale

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#21 posted by 13strong , February 18, 2009 8:45 AM

Parents:

STOP PUTTING WORDS IN YOUR CHILDREN'S MOUTHS.

Also:

OTHER PEOPLE DO NOT FIND YOUR CHILDREN AS CUTE AS YOU DO.

It seems like those two things can never be said enough.

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#22 posted by vespabelle , February 18, 2009 8:53 AM

he's no Christian Bale, that's for sure.

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#23 posted by Oren Beck , February 18, 2009 8:54 AM

Escher's Hands?

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#24 posted by blueelm , February 18, 2009 8:56 AM

Kittens was cute, but I thought this was kind of boring. The whole thing that makes it cute is the originality of the things kids say. This sounded like a bunch of failblog commenters talking through a six year old.

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#25 posted by ZoopyFunk , February 18, 2009 9:06 AM

Yep, fail. Extremely unoriginal.

@19 - Correct. Other peoples kids are boring.

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#26 posted by nixiebunny , February 18, 2009 9:07 AM

The scary thing is that I could name nearly all of the computers shown in the book!

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#27 posted by stuckinkiel , February 18, 2009 9:22 AM

@19 @23 - Yep, other peoples kids are especially un-cute when their parents are trying show them off as cute. Eww eww eww.

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#28 posted by fataltourist , February 18, 2009 9:23 AM

That book looks pretty awesome. I searched for "computers" in the books section on Amazon. Time to start going through the 677,724 results.

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#29 posted by Jasonclock , February 18, 2009 9:31 AM

"Maths" stands for Mathematical Anti-Telharsic Harfatum Septomin.

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#30 posted by Keir , February 18, 2009 9:35 AM

@22 yep the kittens one was cute because it was funny AND it was the sort of things a kid would really make up.

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#31 posted by cycle23

, February 18, 2009 9:36 AM

Interracial dating! BOW WOW CHICKA WOW WOW!

but seriously, that made me lol a lil. IN MY MOUF!

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#32 posted by EH , February 18, 2009 9:37 AM

...so you can drive while you drive

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#33 posted by mdh , February 18, 2009 9:40 AM

Comments, Inspired by Comments!

"I don't get it"

"Is this thing on?"

"Your momma's so fat...."

"Your sppelling stinks"

"I hate Cory!"

"Fail"

"^^ fail FAIL"

"Is this going to be forever?"

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#34 posted by bbonyx , February 18, 2009 9:43 AM

I love computers as much as I love kittens, but this one didn't do it for me as much as the original.

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#35 posted by 23d , February 18, 2009 9:47 AM

This video was made as a spoof of the kittens video which has been enjoyed and quoted for days around our house since we watched it. My son and I were having fun and did not intend to offend anyone, especially not any woman in the computer industry as my wife, his mother is one.

For those that are curious about the book it is named
Computers An Illustrated History by Christian Wurster.

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#36 posted by Brettspiel , February 18, 2009 9:49 AM

BoringBoring.net

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#37 posted by pauldrye , February 18, 2009 9:57 AM

Now we just need to reference this back to David Choo's item about haters and the circle of life will be complete!

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#38 posted by ZoopyFunk , February 18, 2009 10:07 AM

Brett, I hope you have your flame retardant suit on, and all your vowels in a safe place. The almighty hammer is swift around here.

23D, good spoof, but maybe a bit too soon. Or a bit too directed - you can hear your wife giving directions...IMO, that killed it.

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#39 posted by Anonymous , February 18, 2009 10:20 AM

This video really needed some spoilers. The woman talking to the child during the video led me to the same thoughts as comment 19. Kids being genuine and personal about a project that they were inspired to do on their own is funny, cute, and enjoyable. Parents putting words into the mouth of a child that doesn't understand what he is saying is brutal to watch. Speaking of things that are brutal to watch, this was vaguely reminiscent of some American Idol auditions and performances. Kids should live along with their (the kid's) dreams and their parents should support them, but not invade their personality, just encourage that personality to come out.

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#40 posted by prefixmag , February 18, 2009 10:30 AM

Definitely prefer the original

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#41 posted by Anonymous , February 18, 2009 11:10 AM

I don't think this is a "spoof" as it did not mock the original work.

I was going comment that this FAILs b/c kid was obviously coached . But I remember when Will Farrel coached a 2-yr old to swear as a landlady and that was funny. So coaching has nothing to do with it.

I think the problem is that we expect it to be either funny or cute or both. It cannot be cute , b/c cute things are genuine . The coaching makes it not cute. It's also not funny b/c humor requires something unexpected. But much of this stuff about computers are expected.

So FAIL.

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#42 posted by key , February 18, 2009 11:13 AM

Oh no. I've been waiting a month and a half for 2009's meme. Please tell me it's not "Videos of kids showing unfunny books while saying unfunny things written by their parents."

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#43 posted by cycle23

, February 18, 2009 11:16 AM

I could totally hear Harmony Korine telling Herzog what time it is in Julian Donkey Boy, too... Totally killed it for me.

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#44 posted by slida , February 18, 2009 11:17 AM

Whoa, what's with all the meme-hate today? This wasn't cute like the little girl one, but I thought it was pretty funny. I find this particular meme pretty fascinating, it's a step up in depth from the lolcat. This is a creative medium that's not limited to humor or cuteness. It's a form of poetry.

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#45 posted by Purly

, February 18, 2009 11:20 AM

@ #10: No you misunderstand my "I don't get it". I get the references, but I don't get why it's funny.

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#46 posted by Stephen , February 18, 2009 11:33 AM

This comment thread reminds me of conversations with people who can't stand the old Dr. Who and thing the crappy new Dr. Who is pretty good.

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#47 posted by radiostar , February 18, 2009 11:46 AM

my fav! part is the Bamb chick-a boww wow!!

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#48 posted by thebulfrog , February 18, 2009 11:47 AM

Video, not so good. Video title, absolute genius.

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#49 posted by 13strong , February 18, 2009 11:49 AM

STEPHEN:

The new Doctor Who IS crappy, isn't it? I absolutely don't understand why everyone likes it so bloody much.

Can't believe whatsisname Moffat is writing the Tintin film...

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#50 posted by Jane Kansas , February 18, 2009 11:55 AM

This kid was fed many of his lines. Meh.

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#51 posted by axl456 , February 18, 2009 12:00 PM

Fail inspired by Fail..

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#52 posted by franko , February 18, 2009 12:07 PM

firstly, i actually thought this was funnier than the kittens one. and i love kittens.

secondly, was that ray walston from my favorite martian talking to "someone's wife"??

and thirdly, the new dr. who is NOT crappy. and i have been watching them since the mid 1970s. before this latest reboot, i was a die-hard tom baker fan.

fourthly, there is no number four.

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#53 posted by mdh , February 18, 2009 12:18 PM

I get the references, but I don't get why it's funny.

At this point YOU are why it's funny.

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#54 posted by Anonymous , February 18, 2009 1:48 PM

I made your mom funny.

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#55 posted by O3 , February 18, 2009 2:59 PM

@33: A slight tweak to your list!

Comments, Inspired by Comments!

"I don't get it"
"Is this thing on?"
"Yr mmm's s ft...."
"Yr sppllng stnks"
" ht Cr!"
"Fail"
"^^ fail FAIL"
"Is this going to be forever?"

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#56 posted by Anonymous , February 18, 2009 3:11 PM

The Internet is going to collapse under the weight of its self-references. Getting to be like if Charlie Kaufman wrote sketches for House of Buggin'.

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#57 posted by swaggin , February 18, 2009 3:49 PM

Not funny ...

Elements of what the child is saying (whether coached or not) concern me as a parent ...

Basic research shows that this was sent to Boing Boing by the maker of video ...
Can only assume is was made by father using child ...
In an attempt to gain subscribers/viewers for his YouTube channel ...
Exploitation perhaps?? ...

And finally ...
A waste of page space on this site ...
As this video is not a wonderful thing.

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#58 posted by oohShiny , February 18, 2009 4:12 PM

aw come on guys, what is this, a YouTube comment thread? surely we can set the bar a little higher. maybe it wasn't the most "wonderful" thing i've ever seen, but it made me laugh a little, and that's gotta count for something.

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#59 posted by rhys , February 18, 2009 5:31 PM

the only thing that makes this at all interesting is that it is evidence of the strong effect that the first kibk vid has.

kibk is a mysterious force. it shouldn't be sullied by hack imitators.

pepper and chips,

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#60 posted by siradambeck , February 18, 2009 5:47 PM

I wanted to hate it, but I still laughed.

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#61 posted by Bender , February 18, 2009 6:30 PM

I love all the serious analysis that's been written to defend opinions of fail. I look forward to graduate papers on the subject.

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#62 posted by ridl

, February 18, 2009 6:47 PM

Made me laugh.

Obviously a project of the boy and his parents. He came up with some lines, they helped him come up with others, they wrote some zingers of their own for him to deliver. So what? I have no problem with parents being creative with their kids. In fact, I have very fond memories of writing stories with my parents active participation. If we could have stuck those stories up on a bulletin board for the whole world to read, I would have begged for them to do it.

Hell, even if some parents did write every word in a skit and their kids acted it out for youtube, if the kids enjoy themselves I still wouldn't use "scripted" as a pejorative. Things kids do spontaneously don't have any greater value for me than those that they collaborate on with adults.

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#63 posted by Godfree , February 18, 2009 8:39 PM

MDH @33 FTW.
RIDL, I agree. Kids + parents playing around with a videocamera = win.

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#64 posted by robulus , February 18, 2009 9:19 PM

Computer Space Cabinet.

Was some kid talking and pointing at pictures around the photo of that sweet, sweet Computer Space Cabinet?

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#65 posted by AzzaMcKazza , February 18, 2009 10:50 PM

I enjoyed that SO much more than the kittens video - which I found annoying and precocious.

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#66 posted by robulus , February 19, 2009 12:19 AM

Is that Joanna Lumley leaning against the Computer Space Cabinet?

Which, incidently, "utilizes no microprocessor, RAM or ROM. The entire computer system is a state machine made of discrete 74 series TTL logic elements. Graphic elements are held in diode arrays".

Sweet.

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#67 posted by mindpimp , February 19, 2009 11:53 AM

What a horrible patronising child. I feel really sorry for the author of what at "I LIKES COMPUTERZ!" first glance seems to be a pretty interesting book. Get the shovel. When the cops ask, you've never seen the kid and I was with you all day.

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#68 posted by HurfDurf , February 19, 2009 12:19 PM

Better than kittens, methinks.

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#69 posted by Chris Griswold , February 21, 2009 10:45 AM

Eh.

Written by adults.

Uninteresting, lacks spark.