sureshot

Last night was great: Kentucky Derby Winner Mine That Bird, wearing a mink snuggie, watching restricted NFL coverage. Cost: $4.8 million.

The title of this thread is ridiculous.

Such is life.

So upholding the basic tenets of the First Amendment of the Constitution gets you labeled an activist these days. Interesting.

Since when are corporations considered to have the same rights as individual citizens? Does a Corporation have a 2nd Amendment right to bear arms? If so, wouldn't it be subject to a background check to determine sanity? How about training in the proper and safe handling of firearms? Can a Corporate Charter be capable of hitting a target with a gun? Can a Corporation receive a death sentence, or be incarcerated? Waterboarded?

Do you guys read his blog? Its seriously some of the consistently best writing on the internet, bar none. For example:

His reminisces about food

Admitting his alcoholism, and experiences in AA (one of the most powerful columns I've ever read)

His scathing, not so subtle flaming of Ben Lyons

Some hilarious, sobering, and beautifully written shit and you're not likely to hear it from a more genuine guy. I think the loss of his speech has given him a renewed voice in writing.

Do you guys read his blog? Its seriously some of the consistently best writing on the internet, bar none. For example:

His reminisces about food

Admitting his alcoholism, and experiences in AA

Some powerful and beautiful shit, and you're not likely to hear it from a more genuine guy.

Saturday is truly awful.

I do believe there is a chance that the carp will not multiply in LM in big numbers. Thanks to the zebra mussel, another invasive species, the waters of Lake Michigan hold much less biomass than before. I recall in the mid 1990s being amazed that I could actually see more than 5-10 inches into the water. Now you can see down 10-15 feet. Since the asian carp are primarily plankton eaters, I believe there simply isnt enough food to sustain a large population. I'm no biologist so who knows. At the very least, it will be interesting to watch what happens.

Yea, the mussels have really done a number. A lot of people remark on the clarity of the lake as if its a good thing. The truth of the matter is its a clear indication that the lake has really been devastated.

Closing the locks will do nothing this late in the game. Besides, all it takes is one numbskull to dump a bucket of them in the lake (which, for all we know has already happened).

When it comes to knowing when to drop the shtick, Letterman is great, but I think Craig Ferguson is better. There's a 12 minute video on youtube of one of his "monologues" where he talks about how he won't make fun of Britney Spears, then goes on to talk about his alcohol addiction, and how he tried to kill himself before he finally got sober. That, and his episodes where he just talks about his recently deceased parents, is powerful stuff.

Fergussen's show is absolutely fantastic. At first I just associated him with the Drew Carry character and never gave his late night spot much thought (I really didnt expect it to last). But after catching a couple episodes and starting to watch, I've walked away impressed. What he's doing really feels unique, and he really seems to thrive in the show's intimate setting. I especially like the quirky little "pre monologue" he does before the formal introductions.

It's called reading his whole post.

I agree that current events comedy dosent typically hold up long. Im sure Stewart/Colbert will look dated in 15 years when theres a completely different political landscape (although Stewart has only gotten better w/ age). But Leno's current events stuff isnt even funny NOW. It dosent twist or turn it to a different angle, or shine a light on the absurdities...it's not biting. He brings nothing to the table. Its just cheap, cornball jokes. Maybe thats what people like about him. I just think its lame.

And he's a godawful interviewer on top of it. He's completely incapable of having meaningful, engaging discussions outside of whatever talking points he's fed. Nothing he says feels genuine...he dosent get angry, he dosent get emotional- its a constant flatline. Howard Stern's description of him being a "robot" is completely spot on. Letterman on the other hand is an incredible interviewer...one of THE best. Letterman knows when to get serious and drop the schtick...his monologue after 9/11 was one of the most emotional things I've ever seen. I can't say Leno has ever moved me in a similar way.

As far as Conan goes, he's a completely different ballgame. Obviously his nerdy brand of humor won't appeal to everyone, but I think this past week has shown that when he has nothing to lose (and not in fear of the network), he's brilliant. NBC just had to give him a chance (and no, 7 months is not a long enough time frame to establish yourself in a new slot). NBC wanted Conan for his young audience..thats what they got. And its not his fault that their prime time lead-ins blow, either.

How old were you in the late 70s?

Its called Youtube. Good comedy stands the test of time (just look at the Marx Brothers, Laurel/Hardy, or Charlie Chaplin). I dont have to have been alive at the time to have an opinion. Again, if someone has clips of him while he was "funny", I'd be happy to check them out. And thats not even my point. For all I know he was the worlds most brilliant comic. But he's not now, and now is what matters. Leno's shtick is 15 years past it's sell by date.

Have you ever seen old Leno stand-up footage from before he got The Tonight Show? He was seriously funny, and his material was fairly edgy. Back then, there were very few comics who could "blow him away without even trying."

 

It's all those years of lowest-common-denominator network-approved humor that turned Jay into what he is now. But once upon a time, he was great.

I keep hearing people say this, but the few clips I've seen of him back in the day (i.e. on Carson in the late 70's) are just as uninspired as what he's doing now.

Maybe he really was funny in his club days. The fact remains, the Jay people are clamoring over now is most certainly not that same individual.

But it's easy for many, especially younger people, to jump on the rich old guy who tells supposedly lame jokes (I'm really getting annoyed at this notion that Leno isn't funny anymore. Yes, maybe his STYLE is dated....he tells jokes the same way he did 20 years ago....but his jokes, in my opinion, are like they've always been.)

Leno's brand of comedy has always been white bread, braindead garbage. Always has. Why millions of Americas still tune in to see tired played out cliches like Jaywalking or "headlines" is something I will never understand. The dude is NOT funny, and its an insult to the truly funny guys/gals working the club circuit who could blow him away without even trying. His sell by (assuming he ever had one) expired a LONG time ago. But judging by the top albums/movies/tv programs in this country, its obvious dumb is what people want, and until they wake up and demand better, its exactly what they'll get. Count me out.

a post from the band he was beefing with, a couple days before his death:

"He tried to attack us with a chainsaw after throwin around wads of money and burnin 20s and askin us if we thought he was a sellout but he was so fd on coke he couldnt even turn it on then he hit me in the face with a disco ball full of sand and cracked my nose open and kicked us out of his house after he invited us there to stay there and i was all bloody and my friends slashed his tires it sucked He was smokin coke out of a skull bong and freebasin and had 50 grand in his closet"

Airiel- The Release

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds- Moonland

Hot Chip- Bendable Poseable

Dismemberment Plan- Back & Forth

O'Rang- Nahojek, Fogou

Grinderman- Grinderman

Yo La Tengo- Little Honda

Wilco- Ashes of American Flags (5/19/2004, Ottos)

The Bambi Molesters- Bombora

M. Ward- You Still Believe In Me

The Flaming Lips- One More Robot Symphony

Ambulance Ltd- Anecdote

Mouzon' Electric Band- Everybody Get Down

Stars Of The Lid- Slight Of The Childproof

Neko Case- Blacklisted

The Jesus & Mary Chain- Taste of Cindy

Sweet Trip- Sept

John Coltrane- Your Lady

Jasper, TX- Black Sheep, Pt 1

Flying Lotus- Beginners Falafel

i wasnt by any means a huge fan, but i caught his set at pitchfork a couple years ago and thoroughly enjoyed myself. very sad.

When I was young, every time the plane would land, the passengers would applause for the pilot! Good landing!!!

Thats awesome. Now of course, you'd be applauding the computer.

My boss puts difficult clients on mute when we're on conference calls and chews them out, unmuting to respond to their questions. Over the course of several decades, she has apparently had a few accidents, but she keeps this practice up undeterred.

The mute button always makes me paranoid...you can never be TOO sure. I know some people who have had some awkward moments due to that.

I work for an internet marketing firm, so everything here is very tech-savvy and we're required to use the internal IM system whenever we're at our computers. Its such a different culture than my old job when that sort of thing would possibly get you in trouble. Everyone here brings their laptops into meetings and shit...Im kind of indifferent to the whole thing. The IMs are actually nice in that they seem to cut down on the number of massive email strings.

I always loved it when people who were sitting right next to me messaged me. That would be OK if they were writing something that couldn't be said out loud, but that was rarely the case.

At my prior job there was this one old school guy whose primary job as far as I could tell was to annoy the living shit out of those around him and collect a big paycheck. Funny in small doses, but most certainly a headache when sitting across from you. Anyway, he had a habit of calling co-workers on the phone to discuss orders and whatnot...who sat a couple desks over or were in a adjacent offices. You could literally hear both sides of the conversation b/c they were so close. I found it hilarious and utterly pathetic at the same time.

Seriously, if the guy has any integrity whatsoever, he'll just retire.

He dosent, and he wont.

snore.

I can't believe I didn't even know Hum was playing again. Was it a one time thing or are they back? You'd Prefer An Astronaut gets a lot of play on my ipod.

It was a one time thing as far as I know. 2 sold out shows at the Double Door for New Years Eve/ New Years Day.