Smurf's up! or, I Wonder How Long It Took to Work in that Laborious Pun

They're Smurf a Fortune [BBC Magazine] The Smurfs celebrate their 50th birthday this week with a feature-length movie and new television series in the making. But what makes the blue goblin-like creatures so popular?

"The series wasn't just about sweet looking elves," says Mr Mechem. "Pierre Culliford wanted it to highlight things like racism and promote tolerance.

"The fact there was only one female Smurf in the village was used as a way to highlight and promote discussion about women's role in society and sexism."

However, these levels of complexity were lost in the television series, he believes.

What an amazing article. I have no particular affinity towards the Smurfs, aside from a brief but passionate obsession with the techno remix of the theme song in middle school, and I will never begrudge anyone else's passions, but there's something hilarious and wonderful about the half-ironic affection of the article.

And also...

Jacks of Science - Unintentionally Inappropriate Science Papers

The Annals of Improbably Research are always a great source of laughs. Most of which are comedic in a sad way because somehow scientists are getting research grants for absurd things like pouring out caffienated beverages on stuff when you are a poor student surviving mostly on a diet of caffienated beverages.

However, there exists another rare specimen of comedy in scientific literature: unintentional innuendo. To appreciate this low-brow/high-brow LOL-mashup, it helps to fall into a sweet spot of ignorance wherein you don't quite know the definition of a particular term in the given context, but you confide in the fact that the research is peer-reviewed so you know it can't be as it sounds!

Teehee. Surprises in viscous fingering.