Shark Punching Centre's Boxing Day Event!

Summary:

A holiday season GOI-Format-J article

Shark Punching Centre's Boxing Day Event!

Boogey_Man23 02 Jan 2019 06:36

This idea was already posted as an article, and it failed. Let's talk about it.

So,

1) "Boxing Day - the Day after Christmas! Boxing Day takes place on December 26th and is celebrated in a few countries; mainly ones historically connected to the UK (such as Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand) and in some European countries."

2) "Boxing is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves, throw punches at each other for a predetermined amount of time in a boxing ring."

The joke is that the Shark Punching Centre would naturally combine these two things into their own festive season celebration. Beyond the pun which the whole idea is based on, the execution included a modified set of rules for man-vs.-shark boxing to take place in a swimming pool (which mostly favoured the human fighters over the sharks), and a fight card which indicated that all the SPC agents won all the fights by 1st round knockouts (this one-sided display of shark pummelling still gives a massive morale boost to every member of the SPC in attendance).

Before I jump to conclusions myself on why this wouldn't work, please may I have opinions from others? Thanks!

Re: Shark Punching Centre's Boxing Day Event!

sirpudding 02 Jan 2019 08:02

I'd like to see some more depth or nuance to this for a Centre format.

I think the SPC formats that succeed do so mainly because they combine clever world-building, taking an absurd premise completely straight but still running it to gonzo extents, and a sense of the horror in imagining the lives of people whose entire existence is based on a typographical error.

If I were to explore this concept, I might start with the religious origins of the holiday among the BotCoG.

Last edited on 02 Jan 2019 08:14 by sirpudding Show more

Re: Shark Punching Centre's Boxing Day Event!

UraniumEmpire 04 Jan 2019 17:16

My biggest problem with the original draft was that it wasn't funny. 1226-J's biggest draw was the pun at the center of the article, which is something I actually missed because:

1. I am an American¹.
2. As a jew that's basically burnt out on Christian hegemony, I try to forget about Christmas' existence in the first place.

Point is: the whole joke can't just be the pun, or if it is, it has to be short and sweet. I think a gradual escalation of the SPC's holiday practices, ending on some nightmarish "war on Christmas" joke would serve well in that regard.

Footnotes

1. aquarium drinker

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… and I'm not Robert Frost.

Re: Shark Punching Centre's Boxing Day Event!

Boogey_Man23 07 Jan 2019 16:35

Thank you, sirpudding and UraniumEmpire, for your input.

I see more clearly now some of the issues which may have resulted from trying too hastily to post this. I did want to keep it short and sweet, but didn't take the time to refine the content to its best potential. It also wasn't until after posting that I learned Boxing Day isn't really as universal as I always thought, so I had a skewed perception of how obvious that gag would be and didn't frame it well.

So I think expanding on this, in terms of world-building and immersion to the situational absurdity, is the best way to improve. And perhaps being more overt about the whole 'Boxing Day' premise itself. This is part of what I thought might have been wrong, but outside opinion is necessary to know I'm focusing on the right things moving forward.; thanks again for your feedback.