The hard working web lunatics at Nerve and IFC have compiled a list of their 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time. While such lists are rife with idiosyncratic inaccuracies and in perennial peril of becoming obsolete, I have to say this one is pretty good. There’s a lot of SNL, but also a healthy spattering of [...]
Anyone else a little bit freaked out about the food riots in Egypt and Haiti? People are justifiably peeved that average world food prices have gone up 40 per cent since mid-2007, and are doing what hungry, desperate people have done since the beginning of time- burned stuff. This is only the thin edge of the [...]
Oh, Interweb. Thou art a boundless source of amusements. So, some well-meaning fellow named John DiGaetani put together a fine book about Richard Wagner‘s gloomy, interminably long and possibly brilliant Ring Cycle. Good for him. Unfortunately, he gave it the title Penetrating Wagner’s Ring, setting off a veritable festival of double entendre on Amazon.co.uk. Check [...]
So, General Petraeus gave his assessment of security in Iraq today, and I can’t help but think it’s a bit optimistic. Check out this slide from his presentation (via Danger Room): Uh, Basra is ‘transitioned’? Seems to be an awful lot of shooting there recently for an ‘Iraqi Controlled’ territory. And if the definition of [...]
Interesting research out of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine this weekend. Apparently, monkeys that rank low in social status amongst their peers are way more likely to hit the sweet, sweet blow than their high-status counterparts when placed in stressful situations. Scientists involved in the study claim the findings will help improve how we [...]
The NYT published an edifying article yesterday revealing how BLOGGING WILL KILL YOU! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP BLOGGING RIGHT NOW! OK, not really. They actually published an interesting piece on how the pay-per-click online economy is pushing some ‘professional’ bloggers to pull crazy hours and eat terrible food. But for some reason, journalist Matt Richtel decided to package [...]
Today is a magical day that come but once a year. It brings joy and love and sticky moral dilemmas. And while there may not be a jolly fat man in a red suit, there is a taciturn craggy man in a blue uniform. And there was also a fat man for a while, after Lee [...]