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
August 23, 2006
BEST OF
One of the frustrating things about blertgs is that no matter how sparkling a post may be, it soon scrolls down into oblivion, to be forgotten by everyone except the person who wrote it. Or in my case, often including the person who wrote it.
So I'm going to put links here to a bunch of posts I feel should be saved from time's all-devouring maw. Please tell me if you think I'm missing something particularly splendid.
Funny
Women Find It Really Hot When You Hate America
Venn diagram-based comedy
Sexy Sexy Satan Sex
Another Venn diagram
The Left And Death, Sittin' In A Tree, G-E-N-O-C-I-D-E
Has The Left fallen half in love with death?
George Tenet's Resume
What it sounds like
A Short Play Starring Christopher Hitchens
Stop the taunting, and let's have a real debate!
We Were All Wrong That Charlize Theron Wanted To Bear My Children
It's terrible when we all get something wrong
I Request A Transfer To A Less Bizarre Planet
Vote Ed Pugh!
My First Acts As Pope
Pope Pope the Popey
They Only Understand Force
Who only understands force?
In My Culture, We Cut Off Books' Spines And Put Them On Spikes As A Warning To Others
An anthropological comparison of censorship
Non-Funny
Today Is The Fourth Anniversary Of An Enormous Opportunity
September 11, 2005
There Is No Santa Claus
What progressives should understand about the mainstream media
I Demand You Say What You're Interested In
I struggle to explain my worldview
Let Me Get Incredibly Pretentious For A Second
An important, often-overlooked aspect of the internet
"Keep People In The Mood Of Suffering"
Hezbollah and the Republican Party hit on a winning strategy
Hands Off Social Security! v2.0
Q&A on Social Security
How America Works
A funeral program, explicated
Tom DeLay And His Funny, Funny Friends
"Stomping Out the Reds"
A Funny Little Story About The Media
I meet a big-time journalmalist
Come Over And Help Us!
The historical roots of the Iraq war
I Am So God Damned Honest
I defend Donald Rumsfeld for the first and hopefully last time
Thank You, Rosa Parks
When she died
Being Right Isn't As Much Fun As We Anticipated
A look back at an open letter from February, 2003
Bush And Nixon In A Photo Finish
A comparison of Bush and Nixon's approval ratings
OF COURSE Ahmadinejad Sounds Like Cindy Sheehan
And OF COURSE Bush sounds like Shirin Ebadi
What We Think About When We Think About Iraq
Why people believe crazy things
"Heart of Darkness": Prescient Masterpiece of World Literature, Or Airy-Fairy Egghead Nonsense Like All Books Everywhere?
What Joseph Conrad knew about Trent Lott
Don't Make Me Come Over There And Be Generous To You
The Iron Law of Generosity
This is somewhat irrelevant to your post, but I couldn't help it. The BBC reported the following about the Chavez opponent:
"And many say his policies - which include using the country's oil-wealth to set up a debit card system of state benefits for the poor - are reminiscent of the populist style of President Chavez, precisely the kind of politics that many are trying to get away from."
(The link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5267952.stm?ls)
I would like to know who are the 'many' who oppose taking care of the poor. It seems to me they are not the citizens of Venezuela. What do you guys think?
PS. Every single article I have read so far (both in the NYTimes and the BBC) about Chavez has been negative. But I would like to reassure everyone that there is no class-war; the super-rich and the rich are in an intimate love affair with the poor.
Posted by: Dimitria at August 23, 2006 11:58 AM
Dimitria, chavez is buddies with castro who as we all know is filled with commie-cooties, and they rub off when socialists get together to decry the evils of capitalism, you know.
Posted by: almostinfamous at August 23, 2006 01:31 PMbtw, i would like to pat you on the back for some damn fine writing, but you seem to be doing it well enough yourself =P
and i have no idea why my comments go into moderation each time. i apologize for that extra piece of work.
Posted by: almostinfamous at August 23, 2006 01:58 PMalmostinfamous, good point. We cannot tolerate a bunch of commies here in the land of the free:)
Posted by: Dimitria at August 23, 2006 02:11 PMbtw, i would like to pat you on the back for some damn fine writing, but you seem to be doing it well enough yourself =P
Well, if I don't do it, who will?
Keep in mind here that what I'm really asking is "who will pat me on the back at least once every 17 seconds?" which is the frequency I require. Sadly, the only volunteer for this critical job is me.
and i have no idea why my comments go into moderation each time. i apologize for that extra piece of work.
I don't get it either, but you're far from the only one. Indeed, it happens to me.
Posted by: Jonathan Schwarz at August 23, 2006 02:12 PMSchwarz, you're going to get me fired from my job, posting all this material! Since I am incapable of multitasking, I will be unable to do anything else until I make my way through the entire collection.
I am enjoying the reading, however...
Posted by: joe_christmas at August 23, 2006 06:29 PMJonathan,
You have said others have written everything that you wanted to write about but these are great, I laughed so hard the neighbors called the sheriff. Seriously I don’t really recall seeing anyone write with your style which I find unique, a rare commodity in any era.
Jonathan, this is an excellent idea. However, it still doesn't save them from the fearsome maw. Perhaps you should sidebar them under best of. That would be cool.
Of course, how you do that isn't exactly clear to me. But I'm sure there must be a way...
Posted by: roger at August 23, 2006 09:39 PMAnd yes, Dimitria, there is also a Santa Claus!
The rich are so in love with the poor that they condemned that nasty commie rat Hugo Chavez because he provided cheap heating oil to low income Americans who otherwise would have frozen to death last winter! That bastard! This cut deeply into oil company profit's which keep getting more enormous and outrageous.
But, as their commercials tell us, they are giving that money back to their customers by investing it new and different energy resources! I'm sure we'll see their brand new solar-powered car very soon on the market right here in the Land of the Fleeced and Home of the Slaves!
Posted by: JLaR at August 24, 2006 05:17 AMJLaR, my apologies for not bringing up all these great things the rich do for us. Great job.
Posted by: Dimitria at August 24, 2006 10:43 AMJon:
You forgot a few. There was that one where you announced that HOSS! was ready for us to buy copies. Then there was the one where you explained your strange multimedia comedic ambitions. Then there was the one where you apologized for voting for Nader in 2000. Then there was the one where you wondered if Tom Tomorrow was ever going to make you an official co-blogger.
You're lucky I keep track of these things for you.
Posted by: Sully at August 24, 2006 12:01 PMI like the Joseph Conrad and "How America Works" pieces too. I also like the giraffe in the kitchen piece(I think it was the 1st or 2nd "nice liberals" item.
But don't forget your 9.11.2005 piece. Maybe you haven't mentioned it because the Bushies keep recycling the same BS you refer to from that post.
Posted by: Jonathan Versen at August 24, 2006 09:19 PM
