Gad-Boodness

Posted by Melanie in Ask Me Anything | 3 comments

The Question:

I was never very keen on Mrs. Kindt (our high school history teacher), but I also have to admit I wasn’t a particularly good history student. However, she said something one time that really stuck with me. She was discussing two political principles that are commonly presented as polar opposites. (I’ve forgotten the exact topic, unfortunately.) She argued that while the two were, indeed, opposing viewpoints, one could actually become the other if taken to a far enough extreme. Rather than thinking of the two things as a bar magnet, she suggested a clock instead. I thought that was a fascinating idea.

Let’s say, for example, we wanted to use the clock model to describe whether something is good or bad. Assume that 12:00 PM represents the absolute best. 3:00 PM would be good, but not great. Things that are perfectly mediocre would be plotted at 6:00 PM. 9:00 PM would be crappy, while things that are horrifically terrible would be found at 11:59 PM.
Bad, of course, is diametrically opposed to good, but viewed through the clock model, something could be so bad that it becomes good (The clock would roll over to 12:01 AM and suddenly fall into good territory).  That bizarre area would be a counter-intuitive subversion of good and bad: gad-bood.
I’ve thought quite a lot about this, and I’m sure people can come up with many examples of gad-boodness.

This clip, in my opinion, is a wonderful example of gad-boodness:

It’s a promotional video for a neti pot. I’m disappointed to report that it has been edited; the original ended with the creepy non-blinking robot doing stretching exercises to ensure that all of the snot gets out of her head. True story.

The video is so bad it is actually good.

Importantly, gad-boodness has to be created by accident. Satire, for example, can’t be gad-bood. Satire intentionally amplifies and exaggerates, but that is very different than organically grown gad-boodness.

After that lengthy preamble, here is my question: can you give me some examples of gad-boodness? (Any subject is fine: songs, books, movies, art, etc.)

P.S. – Some clever person with too much time on his hands made an “insane edition” of the video: 

Randall Parish

My Answer:

I have enjoyed thinking about this ever since Randall asked this question.  For those who don’t know, Randall is my brother.  When I said, “ask me anything,” this is what he came up with.  Gotta love little brothers.  He makes sure my sense of humor doesn’t ever evolve.  I laughed out loud with the Extreme Neti Pot video.  And I have spent the last three weeks considering the concept of gad-boodness.

I’m not sure if you will enjoy thinking about this as much as I did, but if you find yourself thinking about gad-boodness later and come across examples, I hope you will share them here.  So bad it’s good.

I thought I would look for examples in several categories.  It is amazing how much gad-boodness there is out there if you look.  Here’s a few examples I found.  I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

In the art category:

This guy had a homemade camera and took pictures of unsuspecting women.  He has achieved some critical acclaim as well as being banned from the local swimming pool–clearly so bad it’s good.  I only post my own photos or those in the the public domain so you will have to click here to see his photos and a picture of him.

Click here to read the story:  The Reclusive Peeping Tom Photographer and his Cardboard Camera

In the food category:

Any doughnut made with bacon.  Any burger made with doughnuts.  Is this really food?  But popular because it’s so bad it’s good.  Gad-bood burger.

Picture of a Luther Burger and fries I made at home. It is comprised of lean beef, beef bacon, swiss cheese and a grilled Krispy Kreme doughnut.
by Arlan Arthur
Work is in the public domain

A Luther Burger, or doughnut burger (among several naming variations), is a hamburger or cheeseburger with one or more glazed doughnuts in place of the bun. These sandwiches have a disputed origin, and tend to run between approximately 800 and 1,500 calories (3,300 and 6,300 kJ). (Wikipedia)

Need I say more?

1500 calories?

In the music category:

There are numerous examples of these but I’ll go with a Star Trek theme.  The videos are as gad-bood as the singing.   I think anything sung by Leonard Nimoy or William Shatner probably falls head first into “Gad-boodness.”  Check out these two lovelies:

In the news category:

Finally, I was surprised to find an example of “gad-boodness” in the news.  However, these graphics are so bad, they have  become entertaining.  I know because I have watched them over and over.

This is a news broadcast about  a dog in New Zealand who bites car tires–especially law enforcement.  This video is fantastically gad-bood and it makes Mel laugh every time.

So, raise a glass to gad-boodness and things so bad they are good.  I suppose the corrolary is bood-gadness, that is things so good they are bad.  Makes me think of people who are so sugary sweet I can’t stand them.  Definitely so good they are bad.

Thanks,  Randall, for an interesting topic–it was fun for my brain!

Melanie