BobHarris.com - I Unexpectedly Find Myself Standing Uncomfortably Beside a Nude Man With Magic Oranges From Spain

Books! Actual books!

"A rollicking ride of intellectual discovery and emotional growth... his comic timing never fails"

-- The Wall Street Journal

"Pulls you in like a good sports story"

-- The New York Times Book Review

"Endearingly frank... jubilant... lighthearted and fast-paced"

-- New York Newsday

"A surprisingly touching memoir"

-- Entertainment Weekly

"Snappy and informative"

-- Associated Press

"Effortlessly funny and informative... tender, human, and very wise... A must for anyone who loves Jeopardy!, or has ever seen it, or is breathing."

-- Joss Whedon, creator, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"I haven't seen Jeopardy! since I was a kid, and yet I was charmed and amused by Bob Harris's fascinating and surprisingly suspenseful book. Through sheer force of personality, he takes this brainy TV show and makes it funny and easy to relate to."

-- Ira Glass, creator and host, This American Life

"A surprisingly intimate, entertaining book."

-- Orson Scott Card, 4-time Hugo Award winner, author of Ender's Game

"Funny, enlightening -- and just might help you win a million bucks on Jeopardy!"

-- A. J. Jacobs, author of The Know-It-All

"A masterful job of describing the feel of Jeopardy! in the heat of battle... I knew Bob was a great guy and a fantastic Jeopardy! player. Now I've found that he's also a wonderful writer. I think I'm starting to hate him."

-- Brad Rutter, top money-winner in Jeopardy! history

Books I'm Getting

Who Hates Whom:
Well-Armed Fanatics, Intractable Conflicts,
and Various Things Blowing Up —
A Woefully Incomplete Guide™

“Revelatory... Harris's sly wit and infectious curiosity make understanding world chaos fascinating... witty, horrific, and necessary.”

— Boston Globe

"Brave... irreverent... charges into the thick of the globe's myriad simmering wars... hilariously relaxed."

— New York Observer

"Only Bob could make a user’s guide to our increasingly hostile world this absorbing, this breezy, and—ultimately—this hopeful.”

— Ken Jennings, author of Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs

“Fascinating, enlightening, and surprisingly: NOT TOTALLY DEPRESSING. A gimlet-eyed look at the world we endure that’s also suitable for enjoying with a gimlet.”

— John Hodgman, author of The Areas of My Expertise
and correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

"All three [presidential] candidates should read all three of these [recommended] books, but McCain gets first crack at Bob Harris's "Who Hates Whom“... a lighthearted overview of the insurrections and civil wars in the world today."

— Steven Pinker, author of The Stuff of Thought, in the New York Times Book Review

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I Unexpectedly Find Myself Standing Uncomfortably Beside a Nude Man With Magic Oranges From Spain

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Thursday, 06 September 2007

My buddy Scott Bateman has a deliciously deadpan sense of humor that just kills me. Lately, he has been having a straight-faced field day animating (and, in a truer sense, reanimating) offbeat bits of found audio.

One of his latest is this reinterpretation of "Magic Oranges From Spain," an ancient audio clip promoting the Iberian citrus crop, wherein the world "oranges" seems to take on entirely new meanings.

Scott sometimes re-uses various images from previous cartoons -- including, in one of this one's early scenes, me, from the Trebekistan clip to your right. So suddenly, I'm enjoying the clip, and then there I am, too, next to the giant nude man with the Magic Oranges. Odd, I must say. Wasn't in my DayPlanner, but that's life in the big city, I guess.

This is a bit like when somebody sent me that clip of a guy giving out Free Hugs in Australia, and I turned out to be in it, an event I barely remembered. Only, well, giant nude subway guy doesn't get a hug. Even despite having Magic Oranges from Spain.

Lots more of Scott's bent genius here. Don't miss Andrew WK's advice for the unbalanced Japanese guy who the plays the GHEE-tar here.