Steve Dyer

cuteconfusedbunny:

bearpigman:

BACK THE FLYING FUCK UP HERE IS THAT COMIC CALLED ‘JIMMY HAT’? JESUS

IN THE BOTTOM HE’S BEING STRANGLED BY A MECHANIC ARM. HOW DO YOU NOT REALIZE THAT?

OH MY GOD

Stephen King dissects his favorite opening line from literature:

With really good books, a powerful sense of voice is established in the first line. My favorite example is from Douglas Fairbairn’s novel, Shoot, which begins with a confrontation in the woods. There are two groups of hunters from different parts of town. One gets shot accidentally, and over time tensions escalate. Later in the book, they meet again in the woods to wage war — they re-enact Vietnam, essentially. And the story begins this way:

This is what happened.

For me, this has always been the quintessential opening line. It’s flat and clean as an affidavit. It establishes just what kind of speaker we’re dealing with: someone willing to say, I will tell you the truth. I’ll tell you the facts. I’ll cut through the bullshit and show you exactly what happened. It suggests that there’s an important story here, too, in a way that says to the reader: and you want to know.

A line like “This is what happened,” doesn’t actually say anything–there’s zero action or context — but it doesn’t matter. It’s a voice, and an invitation, that’s very difficult for me to refuse. It’s like finding a good friend who has valuable information to share. Here’s somebody, it says, who can provide entertainment, an escape, and maybe even a way of looking at the world that will open your eyes. In fiction, that’s irresistible. It’s why we read.

Joe Fassler collected the favorite first lines of nearly two dozen authors here. Jonathan Franzen’s pick:

Someone must have slandered Josef K., because one morning, without his having done anything bad, he was arrested. —Franz Kafka, The Trial (Franzen’s translation)

The method of the whole novel is here in a nutshell. You think you’re being introduced to the persecution of an innocent man, but if you read the chapter that follows carefully, you see that Josef K. is in fact doing all sorts of bad things in his life. If you then go back and reread the first sentence, it becomes significant that the very first impulse of the narrator (who is aligned with Josef K.’s point of view) is to blame somebody else.

For a contrast, check out the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, which rewards horrendous first sentences. This year’s winner:

She strutted into my office wearing a dress that clung to her like Saran Wrap to a sloppily butchered pork knuckle, bone and sinew jutting and lurching asymmetrically beneath its folds, the tightness exaggerating the granularity of the suet and causing what little palatable meat there was to sweat, its transparency the thief of imagination.

For when you need to shred more than paper:

One commenter suggests:

Now throw one of those machines in that machine.

Update from a reader:

I did a bit of a double take when I saw today’s MHB, mostly because I’ve seen it before … sort of. It’s the exact same video, only in reverse:

Now it’s a miraculous machine that can make anything!

Another offers:

Today’s MHB isn’t all that impressive once you’ve seen an entire car shredded:

via

Al Gore seems to have an ally:

Dr. Eugene McCarthy is a Ph.D. geneticist who has made a career out of studying hybridization in animals. He now curates a biological information website called Macroevolution.net where he has amassed an impressive body of evidence suggesting that human origins can be best explained by hybridization between pigs and chimpanzees. Extraordinary theories require extraordinary evidence and McCarthy does not disappoint. Rather than relying on genetic sequence comparisons, he instead offers extensive anatomical comparisons, each of which may be individually assailable, but startling when taken together. Why weren’t these conclusions arrived at much sooner? McCarthy suggests it is because of an over-dependence on genetic data among biologists. He argues that humans are probably the result of multiple generations of backcrossing to chimpanzees, which in nucleotide sequence data comparisons would effectively mask any contribution from pig. …

When I asked McCarthy if he could give a date estimate for the hybridization event, he said that there are a couple broad possibilities:

(1) It might be that hybridization between pigs and apes produced the earliest hominids millions of years ago and that subsequent mating within this hybrid swarm eventually led to the various hominid types and to modern humans; (2) separate crosses between pigs and apes could have produced separate hominids (and there’s even a creepy possibility that hybridization might even still be occurring in regions where Sus and Pan still seem to come into contact, like Southern Sudan).

This latter possibility may not sound so far-fetched after you read the riveting details suggesting that the origin of the gorilla may be best explained by hybridization with the equally massive forest hog. This hog is found within the same habitat as the gorilla, and shares many uncommon physical features and habits. Furthermore, well-known hybridization effects can explain many of the fertility issues and other peculiarities of gorilla physiology.

It is not yet clear if or when genetic data might support, or refute, our hybrid origins. The list of anatomical specializations we may have gained from porcine philandering is too long to detail here. Suffice it to say, similarities in the face, skin and organ microstructure alone are hard to explain away. A short list of differential features, for example, would include, multipyramidal kidney structure, presence of dermal melanocytes, melanoma, absence of a primate baculum (penis bone), surface lipid and carbohydrate composition of cell membranes, vocal cord structure, laryngeal sacs, diverticuli of the fetal stomach, intestinal “valves of Kerkring,” heart chamber symmetry, skin and cranial vasculature and method of cooling, and tooth structure. Other features occasionally seen in humans, like bicornuate uteruses and supernumerary nipples, would also be difficult to incorporate into a purely primate tree.

Update from a reader:

As usual, PZ Meyers takes apart this crackpot theory.

Buzzfeed has a photo essay—"36 Photos from Russia That Everyone Needs to See"—that will bring anyone who hasn't been paying attention to the situation in Russia up to speed. And Harvey Fierstein's opinion piece in Monday's NYT offers a great summary of Putin's escalating anti-gay pogrom:

Just six months before Russia hosts the 2014 Winter Games, Mr. Putin signed a law allowing police officers to arrest tourists and foreign nationals they suspect of being homosexual, lesbian or “pro-gay” and detain them for up to 14 days.... Earlier in June, Mr. Putin signed yet another antigay bill, classifying “homosexual propaganda” as pornography. The law is broad and vague, so that any teacher who tells students that homosexuality is not evil, any parents who tell their child that homosexuality is normal, or anyone who makes pro-gay statements deemed accessible to someone underage is now subject to arrest and fines. Even a judge, lawyer or lawmaker cannot publicly argue for tolerance without the threat of punishment.

These anti-gay laws come after years of escalating attacks on gay pride events and LGBT people in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Moscow's city government has banned pride parades for 100 years; in St. Petersburg a small group of LGBT-rights demonstrators was attacked by a violent mob earlier this summer. These attacks are not new and they're getting worse.

Gay and lesbian Russians living in the United States are calling for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Games, which are taking place in the Russian city of Sochi:

The group is calling for a boycott of the games, saying the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is not safe in Russia—and they hope even those who are not gay will support the ban. “LGBT people in Russia are scared, they live in fear, and we want people to be aware of the issue. If they feel strongly about human rights they should boycott the Olympics in Sochi,” said Nina Long, co-president of RUSA LGBT, a Russian-speaking LGBT organization based in New York. “We really want the LGBT community to know it’s unsafe to travel there."

It is unsafe for gay people to travel in Russia: this week four gay Dutch tourists were arrested for spreading "gay propaganda" in Russia.

Most of us weren't planning to go to the Olympic games in Russia this winter, of course, so we wouldn't be able to participate in a boycott if one got off the ground. And there are good arguments to be made against boycotting the Olympics in Sochi. Outsports opposes a boycott. And Patrick Burke, co-founder of the You Can Play Project, an organization for gay athletes and their straight allies, makes a solid argument against a boycott:

In 1968, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar refused to play in the Olympics as a protest against the treatment of blacks in America. The same year, Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood on a medal stand, gloved fists in the air, as a protest against the treatment of blacks in America. History remembers the athletes who showed up.... To send the strongest possible message of support to the LGBT community, we must send our athletes—those who are LGBT, those who are LGBT-supportive, those with LGBT family members or friends. Let them show that champions stand strong with their teammates and training partners. Send our openly LGBT and “publicly pro-gay” athletes and let them compete. Let them win. Show the world that there are elite LGBT athletes who are not afraid to be themselves, on and off the playing field. That the majority of the world’s finest athletes support their LGBT teammates, coaches, and opponents by treating them as equals in competition.

If there isn't a boycott—if gay and pro-gay athletes compete at the Olympics in Sochi this winter—there must be a protest during the Sochi Olympics that is as powerful and indelible as Tommie Smith and John Carlos's protest during the Mexico City Olympics. It should happen on the medal stand while the world watches.

But boycott or no boycott there is something we can do right here, right now, in Seattle and other US cities to show our solidarity with Russian queers and their allies and to help to draw international attention to the persecution of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, trans people, and straight allies in Putin's increasingly fascistic Russia: DUMP RUSSIAN VODKA.

Here is a list of Russian vodkas currently available in the US: Dovgan, Gold Symphony, Standart, Hrenovuha, Kauffman , Kubanskaya, Moskovskaya, Narodnaya, Pyatizvyozdnaya, Putinka, Rodnik, Ruskova, Russian Standard, Shustov, Starka, Stolnaya, Youri Dolgoruki. The two best known Russian vodkas? Russian Standard and Stolichnaya.

Matt Fikse-Verkerk, a strategic communications consultant here in Seattle, has been calling queer bars in Seattle to find out if they serve Stoli, the most iconic brand of Russian vodka. (Matt also created the image above. The image is currently my Twitter avatar—why not make it yours?) Every single gay bar whose manager Matt got on the phone told him that they were serving Stoli. Purr, The Cuff, The Lobby Bar, Madison Pub, Bottleneck Lounge, C. C. Attle's, Changes, the Crescent Lounge, Diesel, and R-Place—they're all serving Stoli. It's a good bet that the Seattle Eagle, Neighbours, the Wildrose, Pony, and the rest of Seattle's gay bars are serving Stoli too.

Seattle's bars, gay and straight, must dump Stoli. Seattle's drinkers, gay and straight, must dump Stoli.

Some are arguing—based on Stoli's outdated Wiki page and the claims being made by Stoli itself—that Stoli isn't a Russian vodka. "Presently the internationally distributed version of Stolichnaya is not a Russian vodka but is distilled and bottled in Latvia," Stoli's Wiki page currently (and erroneously) reads. "In 2009, William Grant & Sons signed an agreement to distribute Stolichnaya in the USA, taking over from PepsiCo." That's old news. On January 1, 2014, Stoli becomes a Russian vodka again. William Grant & Sons will no longer be distributing Stoli in the United States at the start of the new year:

William Grant & Sons and SPI Group announce that their current contract for the importation, distribution and marketing of Stolichnaya Vodka in the United States will not be renewed when it expires on December 31, 2013. The decision is a result of SPI Group’s desire to manage its portfolio of brands directly; SPI Group will therefore be establishing its own importing company in the United States during 2013, commencing operations on 1st January 2014.

The SPI Group—which will be distributing Stoli in the USA before the Olympic games begin this winter—is owned by Yuri Scheffler, one of the 100 richest men in Russia. Stoli is a Russian vodka.

DUMP RUSSIAN VODKA.

If you drink a Russian Vodka like Stoli, Russian Standard, or any of the other brands listed above, switch to another brand from another country, or even a local brand from a local distillery. Stoli is the iconic Russian Vodka and it's returning to Russian ownership in 2014. Other brands like Russian Standard should also be boycotted. Do not drink Russian vodka. Do not buy Russian vodka. Ask your bartender at your favorite bar—gay or otherwise—to DUMP STOLI and DUMP RUSSIAN VODKA.

Own a gay bar in Seattle? Stop serving Russian vodkas.

Tweet your support using the hashtags #DUMPSTOLI and #DUMPRUSSIANVODKA. And tell you friends about what is happening in Russia and ask them to DUMP STOLI and DUMP RUSSIAN VODKA.

Here is a PDF of a terrific two-sided flyer, created by Matt, that you can print out and distribute. Here's a PDF of another DUMP RUSSIAN VODKA graphic created by Matt.

More soon.

UPDATE: Chicago's biggest gay bar announced tonight that they are no longer selling Stoli or any other Russian products. Windy City Times:

Sidetrack today said that it would be removing Stolichnaya Vodka and other Russian products from their shelves. The decision comes in the wake of Russia's implementation of oppressive anti-gay laws last month.

"I had been following the various news reports about what was going on in Russia," said co-owner Art Johnston. "It's hard to believe that they could carry out and enforce that kind of a law, but they did." He added that there was no way he could in good conscience continue to serve Stolichnaya or any other Russian products at the nightclub. Businesses that imported and distributed Stolichnaya for Sidetrack have been huge supporters of the LGBT community, Johnston said. "They've always been quite responsive to us, so it's not a move that we take lightly."

The ownership of the Stolichnaya name was the subject of international litigation for many years. In 2012, it was returned to the Russian government. A statement Sidetrack posted on its Facebook page noted the irony: "Very soon the Russian government itself, which bans positive portrayals of LGBT people, may be the beneficiary of the goodwill earned by Stoli's distributors and bars over the years."

The Call, another gay bar in Chicago, posted this sign tonight that reads, "Proudly serving non-Russian vodkas." Seattle's gay bars should follow Sidetrack and The Call's lead and stop serving Stoli or other Russian products.

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robotindisguise:

4gifs:Super cannonball. [video]

This Sunday at 9, MTV is premiering four back-to-back episodes of a brand new sketch show called Hey Girl. Head written by Julie Klausner (How Was Your Week) and directed by Michael Showalter,  Hey Girl is coming from a network with a pretty good track record for sketch comedy (The State, Human Giant) and it features a talented all-female cast that includes Sara Schaefer, Shelby Fero, JC Coccoli, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Wong, Emily Axford, Esther Povitsky, Laura Willcox, and more.

MTV also ordered two comedy pilots for shows called Faking It and Happy Land today.

(via The Comedy Bureau)

xgingerbiscuit:

This is why I love Rob Delaney.

Compare this map on social mobility:

With this:

A reader observes:

An interesting thing to note about the map: the deep red areas in the South are the so-called “black belt,” the majority African-American counties that remain devastatingly poor. Note that the other deep red areas – northeast Arizona, southern South Dakota – are majority Native American. Interestingly, the white south – Appalachia, Cajun Country and the area around the Gulf, the Florida Panhandle – is not red at all.

To me, it says less about Red State politics (though it still does, indirectly) than it does say about how much harder it is for poor people of color to have a chance to succeed. The Red States seem pretty good about taking care of their white, GOP brethren, even the poor ones – that’s why you’ll note Utah is so mobile.

Also, note the impact of the oil boom in the Dakotas and Wyoming – the turquoise colored counties that go up the spine of Montana/the Dakotas/Wyoming that suggest the huge amount of money that has been pumped into the economies there.

There is one thing I am craving during this heat wave.

And I mean, besides a margarita.

All I want are crisp, fresh things. Like fruit and shrimp and stuff like that. Sort of salads, but not really. Since you know how I like my salads. More like melon and milkshakes and things that are water-packed and ultimately cool me down.

If I’m being honest, I really just want popsicles but keep forgetting to buy them and have been too lazy to make my own. Plus… it would probably be physically impossible of me to not accidentally on purpose drop some booze into the popsicle mold.

The thing is though that when it comes to beverages, one healthy habit I was born with was to freaking love water. Like, LOVE it. Most days it is all I crave and all I drink. I love it plain, even from the tap. It rarely bores me. I don’t like bubbles. I even remember leaving dance classes when I was younger (we’re talking like 8 years old) and just wanting a giant glass of water and nothing else. I believe that it’s the universe’s way of making up for my asinine adoration of things like bacon and cheese. Oh, bacon cheeseburger with ice water to drink? Automatically healthy. Jessica justification.

So that’s why a marg isn’t the number one thing on my mind. I like to drink those in addition to my water but since I perspire like a man, I’m better off chugging a gallon of water THEN getting my salty rimmed tequila drink on ice.

Needless to say, these quesadillas certainly don’t mind a margarita as an accompaniment. The shrimp is marinated in beer so an ice-cold Corona will do the trick too. The quesadillas are also stuffed with mango and tomatoes and are just… refreshing. Well you know, as refreshing as a quesadilla can be. If you have one of those electric griddles or skillets then you don’t even need to turn on the oven. I freaking love mine. We use it constantly.

Oh and I paired it with some quick guacamole that’s mixed with a little heat. So good.

And then I sat in the air conditioning for the rest of the night so I didn’t melt into a giant puddle. Am I one of those people who wants it to be summer all year round and then the minute that it is summer I complain about it being summer? Yep. I am.

Summer food wins.

©2012 How Sweet It Is

Bill Hader has joined the South Park writing staff full-time for the show's upcoming 17th season. Trey Parker revealed the news at Comic-Con yesterday evening while speaking at a panel for the upcoming video game South Park: The Stick of Truth with co-creator Matt Stone. Hader, who was nominated for an Emmy yesterday for his final season of Saturday Night Live, recently moved to LA.

Hader has actually been involved with South Park for years. He began working as a creative consultant for season twelve in 2008. Hader became a producer on the show the following season and has received an Emmy win and an Emmy nomination for his work on South Park, along with the rest of the staff. His commitment to Saturday Night Live has kept him from working on the show full-time, but he can now join the writing staff since he left SNL in May. Season seventeen of South Park begins airing September 25th, and unlike previous seasons, it'll be one big 10-episode chunk instead of two smaller spring/fall blocks of episodes.

Check out a video below of Hader and Trey Parker in the recording booth from the South Park documentary 6 Days to Air:

A reader writes:

I have read The Godfather. Once. While I agree with  some of Mr. Ferraro’s points on the substance of the story, it is the writing that should instantly disqualify it from being anyone’s candidate for “greatest American novel.” Sloppy, juvenile, repetitive, rambling, indulgent, oblivious to the ghosts of Shakespeare and Proust face-palming their way through every page. I boggled at the number of times Mario Puzo went out of his way to describe the unclenching anal sphincter of a mobster in the throes of death, like it was his favorite bit of trivia (I feel for his party guests). And not even the film adaptation – a classic, indeed – could make any damn sense of what Michael was up to during his year in Sicily. This trash makes Stephanie Meyer’s oeuvre seem downright tolerable. If we’re going to nominate it for anything, how about the next eight or nine Poseur Awards?

Another piles on:

I found Prof. Ferraro’s pick LUDICROUS.  Aesthetically speaking, The Godfather is a disaster.  Terrible prose, rioting metaphors, ham-fisted plotting.  It’s my go-to example of a terrible book that made a wonderful movie.  Here’s a typical passage:

Luca Brasi was indeed a man to frighten the devil in hell himself. Short, squat, massive-skulled, his presence sent out alarm bells of danger. His face was stamped into a mask of fury. The eyes were brown but with none of the warmth of that color, more a deadly tan. The mouth was not so much cruel as lifeless; thin, rubbery and the color of veal.

There’s more where that came from – so much more. I feel that either Prof. Ferraro was deliberately provocative, or has somehow confused the book and the movie.  He offered this as something to sit next to Lolita, for God’s sake!

And another:

By happy coincidence, I picked up the novel and read it a couple of months ago.  I love the movies (I and II).  I can’t pass one up when I’m flipping channels.  But the book is really awful.  Coppola took the good parts, transcribed them literally, and made them much better with that fabulous cast and magnificent ambience.  But the stuff that didn’t make his script (subplots about Johnny Fontaine’s drunken Dino-like sidekick and the size of Sonny’s girlfriend’s vagina) are preposterous and wretchedly written.

I’m glad Mario Puzo developed the myth, but even more glad that Francis Coppola turned it into something magic.

important idea of the day. via

Before we start, let me say that I know there are many that will take issue with Janeane Garofalo’s inclusion in this series and understandably so. She is, after all, one of the architects of the so-called “alternative comedy” movement and despite a lower profile compared to her 1990s heyday, still commands quite a bit of respect from the comedy community and continues to perform throughout the country as well as appear in film and television.

However, there are those within the comedy community who, to this day, take issue with Garofalo’s reliance on notes on stage, not to mention the many people who abandoned her idiosyncratic style of comedy during her foray into the realm of political activism during the George W. Bush administration. Sprinkle in a healthy dose of lazy sexism and you have a comedian who, despite being instrumental in practically re-inventing the form of standup comedy, receives little of the accolades that she deserves.

Watching this old clip from what looks to be the early 1990s, we see many quirks and mannerisms that were new to standup comedy at the time. An attitude that seems aloof on stage as well as a naked honesty about how the act is going as she runs through her bits, breaking down the wall between performer and audience member in a way that is vulnerable as well as courageous. Garofalo playfully chides the audience for laughing at a bit; claiming that the applause break she receives “broke off my pacing…I am not used to any kind of positive reinforcement.” Later, after she flubs a joke, Garofalo admits that she messed it up, making a nervous little jump onstage.

All in all, it is an absolutely charming performance, though Garofalo lacks the kind of discipline we generally associate with standup comics on television. However, this performance represents a new way of approaching comedy the sprung from the alternative comedy scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s in Los Angeles and New York City. It was an approach that was personal and casual, inspired by the punk rock and indie musicians of that time. Garofalo was part of a scene of young comedians who put that DIY ethos into practice setting up comedy shows outside of the mainstream club system, eschewing mannered performances in an effort to take comedy to a place that provided more verisimilitude than ever before.

During this time, Garofalo also embarked on a successful acting career. She appeared in the influential 1990s comedy shows The Larry Sanders Show and The Ben Stiller Show, which ultimately led to a stand out role in the Gen-X film, Reality Bites, and she proved that she could carry a film in The Truth About Cats and Dogs. She's proved that she can be a charming and irresistible screen presence, but also showed that she could do drama as well, appearing in 24 as well as Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (which she awesomely disowns on Todd Barry’s podcast).

However, it was during the early 2000s that mass audiences cooled on Garofalo, mostly due to the way she was often portrayed in conservative media as being a kind of left wing harpy as she became more vocal about her opposition to the direction the country was moving in at that time. It is unsettling that of all the Hollywood liberals that were vocal about the war in Iraq how much the right wing media outlets like Fox News concentrated on Garofalo. It speaks to a certain intolerance on the right towards women who are outspoken and critical of conservative ideology. Even as recently as 2009, long after Garofalo’s pinnacle of celebrity, Fox News sent a reporter to ambush her at a comedy show for calling the majority of Tea Party members racist.

This is simply puzzling. While David Cross, a similarly vocal alt comedian with about the same level of celebrity, has been way more vocal and inflammatory in his critiques of right wing ideology, places like Fox News have never confronted him as voraciously as they do Janeane Garofalo. In Todd Barry’s podcast, Garofalo also states that conservative men hassle her pretty regularly because, as a waifish woman standing at just over 5 feet, they can.

This speaks to a certain amount of sexism inherent in Fox News’ portrayal of Garofalo as a “bitter liberal”, twisting her words and actions to promote the conservative idea that if you are a woman who does not have children and a husband to take care of you then you will end up “bitter” and “angry.” I believe this image of her has taken root in many comedy fans, as it is not uncommon to find reviews of her standup shows, such as this one from the Toronto based comedy website third-beat.com, that admit to attending her shows with some trepidation not knowing what to expect. Will they get the shrill, preachy caricature painted by Fox News or the loveable alt comic from the 1990s?

The answer, as anyone who has caught her act recently knows is decidedly the latter. Not only is Garofalo not quite the preachy liberal that audience members expect, she has only gotten better as a standup in recent years. Garofalo admits to a certain amount of aloofness onstage early in her career, but attributes it mostly to stage fright. As a performer today, Garofalo is more animated, quicker, and tosses out absurd asides while barreling through bits.

Janeane Garofalo’s comedy is not polished or perfect. This is something that is appealing about her as a performer; there is a sense of danger in her performances that is vital to an electrifying comedy show. She goes on tangents that don’t seem to lead anywhere then hits on a moment that's cathartic for the audience. I've had the chance to see her perform a couple of times in New York City and must say Janeane Garofalo is great at finding that moment.

Far from being cold and angry, Garofalo seems warm, friendly, and vital in her special, If You Will. The show aired on Epix in 2010 and Garofalo was typically game to skewer everything in her path, yet the subject she returned to the most was herself. This image of her as political activist has become so ingrained in the 21st century version of Garofalo that it is easy to forget she is one of the great self deprecating comedians.

It's a shame that Janeane Garofalo’s politics have overshadowed her standup. Not only was she instrumental in creating a comedy scene that was not dependent on the rigid expectations of mainstream clubs, creating an atmosphere for comics to take chances, but she also helped redefine what standup comedy could be. She's always spoken honestly and intelligently and exposes her heart to the audience in a way that is funny and true. In many of the recent articles written about Janeane Garofalo, they asked, “where has she been?” and the answer is she has been out on stage, making audiences laugh and think with spot-on social commentary and intimate confessions. She has been there, some people just stopped looking.

Liz Cheney is running for Senate:

Larison wonders what her candidacy is trying to accomplish:

It goes without saying that there is nothing wrong with challenging incumbents, and launching intra-party challenges can be an important means to hold politicians accountable when they ignore their constituents or cease to be effective advocates for the people that put them in office. The obvious flaw in Cheney’s challenge is that Enzi has done nothing to anger voters in Wyoming or conservatives nationally. Other than trying to re-establish the Cheney family in Wyoming politics, her candidacy serves no purpose.

Friedersdorf reviews her record:

Liz Cheney hasn’t just embraced the objectionable actions and positions of neoconservative Republicans. She has also earned an independent reputation as someone who participates in weak, laughable, and even scurrilous attacks on ideological opponents that can only cast doubt on her judgment and moral character. The weak, laughable attacks are often aimed at President Obama, of whom I am often critical. But even people who hold Obama in low esteem can’t help but feel embarrassed on behalf of commentators who discredit themselves by making absurd claims like, “He’s unwilling to go after the terrorists that are threatening the nation.” To deny Obama’s willingness to go after terrorists is to be deeply ignorant, ideologically blinkered, or a liar. None of those qualities is desirable in an aspiring U.S. Senator.

A TPM reader expects her to lose:

I think Liz Cheney just made a fatal career move. Having lived in WY for 35 years, I do not believe that Liz can beat Enzi. I think this is going to cause all kinds of hard feelings in Wyoming because this kind of disrespect to a man who has done nothing to deserve being disrespected in this way will simply not sit well. It’s a very east coast kind of move (think Cory Booker) and will only serve to remind people that Liz Cheney has absolutely no real history in Wyoming.

She also seems to have forgotten a very basic element of the WY electoral process, i.e., we have same day voter registration and Democrats routinely turn into Republicans when they walk into the polling place for the primary and then switch back to Democrat on their way out. Personally, I’ve done this at least 4 or 5 times and I will surely do it again next year. Democrats often do this simply to meddle in the Republican primary, often to vote for the most conservative crazy in the field. But this time, I am sure a lot of Dems will happily switch just for the joy of voting against Liz Cheney.

What a joy it would be to see this pro-torture talk radio pugilist soundly defeated. But she’ll have neocon money. And her Daddy’s rolodex.

There’s a special place in my heart for Joanna Rohrback, AKA the Prancercise® Lady, which is why I enjoyed the New Times’s profile of Rohrback. Some things:

• She says that people should use the ® symbol whenever writing about Prancercise® due to legal reasons.

• She used Craigslist to find a designer for the cover of her book—26-year-old Eric Gzimalowski (“She wanted clouds and fields and horses. And at the center of the idyll, she directed Gzimalowski to superimpose photographs of her squeezed inside spandex and anklets, mid-Prancercise®.”) Gzimalowski was paid $150 for his design (Rohrback knew better than to ask a designer on Craigslist to do free work.)

• She went through some really dark times, and when she was asked how she survived, she said: “It was credit cards and savings.” A long-time friend says that Rohrback’s father, who was an attorney in New York, died young and left her enough money to live on, though Rohrback denies that.

• She says John Mayer tricked her when Prancercise® was used in his music video, “Paper Doll.” But she says she was paid a “substantial amount.”

Illustration: Tim Gabor for New Times

George Meyer’s late-’80s humor magazine Army Man had a staff that went on to fill the ranks of The Simpsons, SNL, and The New Yorker.  James Folta scans old copies of “America’s Only Magazine” and marvels that it isn’t more well-known:

[W]hat makes Army Man‘s humor so relatable is that many of the pieces are pointedly critical and, like much great humor, evidently reflect the writers’ frustrations. The jokes land with more honesty and truth as a result. … It’s the density of the jokes that makes them more than just a quick laugh. They are able to pull in large ideas, universal gripes, and pain. This universality and relatability is what would make the Simpsons one of the greatest shows of all time. …

In the age of Twitter, it can be tempting to compare Army Man‘s short, punchy humor to tweets. But unlike Twitter, Army Man has no chaff. This is the power of an editor with a strong vision. Meyer chose the funniest of funny. Careful attention is given to each joke but also to the unity of the absurdist, off-kilter voice. With Twitter and democratic or algorithmic organization, the steading hand of an editor is lost. Meyer’s editorial guidance makes Army Man more than what it would appear to be.

The magazine’s success would be its ultimate downfall.

One of Army Man‘s biggest fans was producer Sam Simon. When Simon needed to quickly pull together a writing staff for the first season of The Simpsons, he opened a copy of America’s Only Magazine and hired George Meyer, Jon Vitti, and John Swartzwelder. Later, most of the masthead of Army Man would end up writing for The Simpsons. Which was great for The Simpsons, but it doomed the magazine. Meyer didn’t want to sacrifice the quality of either by trying to juggle his attention. So after just three issues, the magazine stopped.

Army Man‘s ranks also included Jack Handey, Andy Borowitz, and Bob Odenkirk.

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David Rakoff's novel Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish is released today. Unfortunately the wonderful David verbed one of those things wrongly himself, and so can't be here to laugh at your reviews, but he'd definitely want you to buy it from a small independent bookstore or quite possibly steal it.

The post "A novel in rhyming couplets narrated in iambic tetrameter? Why not?" appeared first on The Awl.

In 2007, Kanye West starred in a comedy pilot following a fictionalized version of his life that was modeled after Curb Your Enthusiasm. He even had longtime Curb/Seinfeld producer Larry Charles working on the show as a writer/producer alongside fellow producers Kanye West and Rick Rubin, but HBO opted not to pick it up. The pilot for the untitled series has gone unseen until this week, when this clip from the pilot, featuring Kanye West visiting a Make a Wish child, was discovered on YouTube. Here's Charles talking about the show five years ago:

"What Kanye West said to me the first time, he said, ‘I'm the black Larry David.' That's the first thing he said to me. So it's like a Kanye and Curb show, it's kind of improvised about the situations and stuff. It was really good, but again I think it was too hardcore for HBO. Also, HBO's management shifted, but HBO doesn't have a good track record when it comes to black shows and I felt like that may have had something to do with it also. I don't see a lot of shows about that experience at all. This was very entertaining and we showed it to a lot of people. People gave it a very good response and it seems to be on the shelf right now. The management has shifted at HBO so we're waiting to see … he's so much funnier than people realize. Even the whole being full of himself stuff is a joke to him and he likes to play that of being like, you know, Kanye. And he's kind of a brilliant guy actually."

(via Vulture)