As you may imagine, this pleases me

Bravo, the "arts film" network, is showing Saw and Saw II next week.

Ways to cheer yourself up

When you feel like nothing, say, "Thank god I'm not Andy Dick."

(unless Andy Dick happens to read this. In which case: Dude. You've got to stop going to the dark place...)

Countdown to Bristol Palin's next baby, in five, four, three, two...

Bristol Palin Vows Not to Have Sex Again Until Marriage

2Trons2

This is--allegedly--a track that Daft Punk has written for the Tron sequel.



I'm not lovin' it (but I'm not hating it either). It'll always be hard to top Wendy Carlos's score to the original Tron for me--I consider it a still-astonishing gem.

If I were inclined towards conspiracy theories, this would be...(edited w/addition)

...fodder for a doozy. As I was watching the last Tonight Show w/Conan O'Brien, in the last five minutes, my screen suddenly froze, and then went black.

ETA: Thank god for YouTube. This is what I missed.

You ran right into it...full speed.

From the AP:

Obama also said the [health overhaul] legislation has "run into a bit of a buzz saw" of special interest opposition and partisan politics.

Yes, you did, Mr. President. Still, The Washington Monthly says, and I agree:

Pass the damn bill.

Scott Baio is a tool.

Exhibit C.

How bizarre

After weeks of wrangling between "Tonight Show" host O'Brien and NBC, the network today announced that it and O'Brien are officially parting ways.

"Under terms of an agreement that was signed earlier today, NBC and O'Brien will settle their contractual obligations and the network will release O'Brien from his contract, freeing him to pursue other opportunities after September 1, 2010," NBC said.

September 1, 2010?

My 39th birthday?

I might think of this as a kind of present, but I'd rather have one of Conan's millions (Just one. That's all. I'm not greedy.).

The sonofabitch did it again!

Remember my observation of a few days ago that people are taking shots at Jay Leno for (allegedly) unprofessional/and or unethical behavior, and all he seems to have to fire back are personal attacks?

Yay...

I love this song, but never found a video for it till now. This is somebody's school project, not "official," but...



...they did a nice job.

Yeah, I'm not quite sure you've got a good bead on that, Jay

Blisteringly funny.



Dave may not have a dog in this fight, but I got a couple...

And good luck with that

From Drew Westen:

It is a truly remarkable feat, in just one year's time, to turn the fear and anger voters felt in 2006 and 2008 at a Republican Party that had destroyed the economy, redistributed massive amounts of wealth from the middle class to the richest of the rich and the biggest of big businesses, and waged a trillion-dollar war in the wrong country, into populist rage at whatever Democrat voters can cast their ballot against.

We have competing ideas in a democracy -- and hence competing parties -- for a reason. To paper them over and pretend they do not exist, particularly when the ideology of one of the parties has proven so devastating to the lives of everyday Americans, is not a virtue. It is an abdication of responsibility.

Voters will come to blame you for not having solved a problem you didn't create, and you will allow the other side to create an alternative narrative for what's happened (government spending, deficits, big government, socialism) that will stick. And it will particularly stick if you make no efforts to prevent it from starting or sticking.

...the White House missed the point. The issue isn't about right or left. It's about whose side you're on. In Massachusetts, the voters believe they know. It's now up to the President and his party to convince the American people otherwise.

Cuckoo! (edited w/additions & links)

Mark Evanier is a good guy and has had some good things to say about what he calls "the whole Jay/Conan/Dave/etc. squabble." I don't always agree with him--for one thing, he likes Jay as host a lot more than I do--but that's not necessary. Today he offers these thoughts (excerpted and commented upon below)

One of the intriguing things to me about the whole Jay/Conan/Dave/etc. squabble is how folks are reacting to it, generally taking the side of the guy they find funniest and working backwards from there to explain how he's the good guy in the war.

For my part, I've long liked Conan and Dave, especially, more than I like Jay--as a host. I'm part of the minority--Ken Tucker and Patton Oswalt are others--who thinks that for all The Tonight Show has made Jay rich and famous, it's killed him absolutely dead as a stand up comedian. And he used to be one of the finest.

None of that, however, is why I've "taken the side" of Conan. If it were just that, I think I'd have said something like "Well, I do prefer Conan, but what the hell, he'll land somewhere safe and comfortable."

I don't think Jay is necessarily a bad guy, and Conan certainly isn't. NBC? Different story. They're the ones who, like the dog with two bones fabled in song by Devo, couldn't just make their choice and ride with it. They picked at one--they licked the other--they've gone in circles.

ETA: It's being reported that a "sticking point" in O'Brien's current negotiantions with NBC involves his staff. Many if not most of whom uprooted their lives to work on The Tonight Show, and who aren't getting 20-odd million to walk out the door marked exit.

According to a "source", O'Brien wants to be sure they all get good severance packages of their own.

Back to Mark, he also argues that one (BIG) reason Conan was given the time he needed to get better and fall into a rhythm on Late Night, time he hasn't been given on Tonight, is because of:

Lorne Michaels is, of course, the man who gave the world Saturday Night Live, which is one of the five-or-so greatest success stories in the history of broadcast television. Carson aside, he was the person who most intimidated (i.e., frightened) the suits at that network. And he was the man who plucked Conan O'Brien out of utter obscurity to host that show and Michaels also served as its Executive Producer. I don't know how often, if at all, he had to fight to keep Conan on the air. But I'll bet you that now and then, when someone suggested dropping the new kid, one exec there turned to another and said, "Hey, if you want to cancel him, you call Lorne and tell him he had a lousy idea!"

Now, I don't have any inside info on this but it is a fact that Mr. Michaels is uninvolved with The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.

I have even less inside info than Mark, but I suspect he's absolutely right about this. It's been apparent to me for some time that Michaels is an 800-pound gorilla around NBC.

(That's how he kept 30 Rock on the air, I think, even though it isn't and never has been a hit.)

I could agree with this 100%, except for one thing...

I don't think they're ever gonna wake up.

This is kind of hypnotic, in its way

Dapper Monocle Fun
Originally uploaded by Diamond Geyser

if you wouldn't mind, tap on the comments line down there to the right and introduce yourself.

Say!

It's time for my semi-annual "tell me who you are" post, which goes a little something like this...

Yo, all you homeboys and girls out there!

I'd just like to know a little bit about who you are and where you came from. Or what you like or not about the blog.

So...Tell me anything and everything you want me to know, or you think I might like to know about you.

A few suggested questions to answer follow. Use as many or none of them as you like. This is strictly for my own curiosity-I'm not conducting a demographic survey or anything.

When and how did you find my blog?

When you're not reading this blog, what are you trying to do with your life?

And how's that going for you?

Where did you grow up, and where do you live now?

Children?

Pets?

Sick of the Saw references yet? (If yes, it's only fair to warn you, the VI DVD will be out on the 26th, so it's going to stay engaged with my head for a while yet).

Team Conan or Leno?

The bright side of Canada: What is it?

Why haven't you seen The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus yet?

Have you commented on my Facebook page? Don't you think you should?

Would it surprise you to learn that I just read an "oral biography" of Jerry Garcia?

Are you a gifted, appealing young actress reading this blog in secret just to see what I've written about you? If so, it's okay--I won't tell.

This is the saddest headline I've ever seen.

Leno gets support from staff...

Meanwhile, Conan gets support from people he doesn't employ.

Good question.

Pictures of my cats

I forgot I had those shoes...



I'll never forget the cat, though.



Siouxie, patrolling for rustlers.