A-ril 1 2025 - the Non-Joke Day of the Decade

 

Jokes and joking only work when people know each other and trust each other.  Isn't it so uncomfortable to be in a U.S. economic war and think we can enjoy a joke together.  This makes things difficult. And then, the notion of "real fun" has been fading.  McDonald's and various brand do these things for publicity and sales.   Maybe luxury companies think distraction is a good strategy for the current situation.  A Mercedes vertical car, a McDonald's "McGettigan's" opening the Ibn Battuta gate (in Dubai), and Sofitel announced a spa membership that comes with a yacht - that's in Dubai, too.  I guess Dubai doesn't need to think much about the U.S. economic war.   The BBC asked if we are too suspicious now for a prank  They reference the spaghetti from trees story that has been heralded for 68 years.  Well, that is after the Second World War in 1957, when things were calmer than in the previous decade.  They indicate that one year the Guardian ran a pull-out guide to a fictional Indian Ocean island. This doesn't seem so funny in 2025.  We could easily wake yup with every ocean being renamed "America."  or "Trump."  And then everything has changed - now with social media, all kinds of fake stories abound every day, making it April Fool's all the time - and not a fun one.  "Silly you to believe that story!"  Or "There really is a pedophile ring at a pizza shop in New York!" Welcome to the thousands of instagram, youtube and facebook posts that google is displaying - 35 pages of them, with their concluding message:  "In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 328 already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included." I must have just scrolled through over 3,000 stories.  And that's my April Fools 2025.

I found this picture taken in 2011 - it is a reflection in front of the Canadian Tire store.  They didn't pave the parking lot very evenly, and it was quite the lake for a week or so. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Apr 1 2024 - April Fool's All Year

 

It makes me wonder why April Fool's is only one day.  It could be a surprise all year long with some special trigger.  Because big brands and companies would love to have such great publicity all year long.  I am surprised they haven't figured out a way to do this.  Or maybe once a year is expensive enough for the tricks that they invent. Here are the examples from USA Today:  7-Eleven has hinted at a possible prank product: In addition to new Lemon Lime, Green Apple and Sweet Orange flavored 7-Select sparkling waters, out now with partner Miracle Seltzer, there's a fourth flavor coming April 1: Big Bite Hot Dog. Will Big Bite Hot Dog sparkling water be sold? Its availability will be announced April 1. However, some reporters were sent a can of the drink. USA TODAY can confirm that it definitely smells like hot dog water and has a smoky aftertaste. Krispy Kreme:A special doughnut deal for April Fools' Day - you have to click on the link so we'll leave this one for another time. Da da decoder - Infant equipment site BabyQuip has its own language-bridging lark: the “Baby Translator” app, to decode your baby's secret language. An AI-powered plush doll - Custom stuffed animal maker Budsies already makes selfie plush dolls with a built-in voice recorder. It's April Fools' spoof: Artificial intelligence-enabled dolls that "come programmed to learn everything about you and to become your new best friend." There's a lot of these at the site HERE.   I  enjoyed today's picture ion the day n the Globe and Mail.  It showed reporters who joked Jack Layton and his white moustache by all wearing white paper moustaches.  These little species tulips were at the Royal Botanical Gardens rock garden back when it was primarily a tulip festival, and then dormant all summer.  Now it is an all-year garden of delight.  I do miss the tulip festival.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

April 2 2021 - More Fools

 

Who made fun yesterday? April Fools' Day 2021: Duolingo toilet paper, Velveeta skincare and more pranks Most brands gave 2020 a pass for April Fools' jokes, but Lego, Monoprice, the Canadian Space Agency and others are having fun this year. A deadpan documentary-style marketing video from Porsche introduces a joke option for a patina paint that'll make your expensive sports car look like it's been sitting in a field for thirty years.  Here it is. Here's one for the ski fans. Aspen Snowmass introduced Après Skis that go from the slope directly to cocktail hour. A classy advertising video highlights the joyful absurdity of the product, including a stylish high-heel variation. With toilet paper shortages still lurking in our recent history, toilet repair brand Fluidmaster is offering an evergreen solution: the Emergency Wiping Rock. "Leveraging technology from simpler times, the Emergency Wiping Rock is available in both petite and grande sizes and features either smooth or coarse grit levels," the company says. There's lots more entertainment HERE. I liked the Duolingo toilet role that teaches you a new language - the translated phrase in the picture is: I have this onion,  and I am going to use it.  The three-ply Duolingo roll turns your bathroom into a classroom.    Our picture today is whatever you call a four panel work.  A polyptych  is the generic and a quadriptych is the four panel. It is motion blur of the birch tree trunk around the corner.  All those pretty colours are the lawn, red brick house, and yellow Muskoka chair out front. Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

The Spaghetti Harvest Celebration Day!

Before we find out if there are any amazing April Fool's Jokes today, let us revel in the past. Here is the link at CNN telling us their top ten April Fool's jokes of all times.  Number 1 on the list is pasta growing on trees.  It is a BBC joke from 1957 showing the Swiss spaghetti harvest.  This has been ranked Number 1 by the Museum of Hoaxes.  The Museum's listing is HERE. This is the pinnacle of the year for this website and its day to shine.  At this site you can read the top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of all time, or find out the early modern hoaxes from 1500 - 1700, Hoaxes of the 1990s, Television hoaxes, Journalists hoaxed, and so on. They are listed by decade - all kinds of listings and stories. After the Swiss spaghetti harvest, the Instant Colour TV of 1962 is the second joke - tv viewers in Sweden were advised to pull a nylon stocking over their tv screen and the images would appear in colour. I liked the Taco Liberty Bell hoax of 1996, in which the Taco Bell Corporation took out a full-page ad that they had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it to the Taco Liberty Bell.  "The best line of the day came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale. Thinking on his feet, he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold. It would now be known, he said, as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial". Look out for our hoaxes today - and all completes by noon.