or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
June 28, 2004
Polite
Part of having good manners is knowing what not to do. And the New York Times has very good manners. So when they run a gigantic article about Lula, the President of Brazil, and the prospects for change in Latin America, they knew not to mention certain things. Like:
1. That the article was running fifty years to the day after the overthrow of the Guatemalan government by the U.S. Maybe that was the New York Times' own private joke. Funny!
2. Anything more than vague references to the 1964 military coup in Brazil. Really, you can't even tell there was a coup. There's no hint that Brazil ever had a non-military government pre-64. The article gives the impression that it had always been that way until recently.
3. The US involvement in the 1964 coup... which of course was modeled on the 1954 Guatemalan coup.
So, please do not bring up any of these subjects. You don't want to be rude, do you? No, you don't. Be polite like the New York Times, and there's no need for anyone to understand a single thing about life on Earth.
Posted at June 28, 2004 11:06 AM | TrackBack
