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
October 22, 2006
We Will Survive
By which I mean, this website and me. The site has a recurring problem that begins with a recurring problem at my hosting company, which makes it impossible to upload things. Somehow that erases the front page of this site. Yet when the hosting company fixes its problem after a few hours, the problem here remains.
The meta-problem is that if this happened every day, I'd remember how to fix it. But instead it happens every six months or so, which is enough time for me to forget and thus have to figure it out all over again. Curse you, universe!
Anyway: congratulations to Bob for yet another nice review of Prisoner of Trebekistan...this time in a tiny, obscure publication called the New York Times:
Harris has been, among other things, a stand-up comic, and it shows in his book, in lively phrases and an ear for the incongruous...He is a skilled storyteller, and the play-by-play he provides for his various matches pulls you in like a good sports story.
The one strange thing is the reviewer is disappointed that, as presented in Trebekistan and Ken Jennings' book (reviewed at the same time), "Trebek and his staff are without flaw." Bob makes it clear contestants can't say much about the people running Jeopardy! because they barely meet them. There are actual reasons for this; i.e., to prevent accusations of collusion and fraud. It would be a problem for the show if during his winning streak Jennings had been going on luxurious Mediterranean cruises with Trebek and the people who write the clues.
Posted at October 22, 2006 11:11 PM | TrackBackIt would be a problem for the show if during his winning streak Jennings had been going on luxurious Mediterranean cruises with Trebek and the people who write the clues.
Our journalists can be bought, our teenage pages may be sodomized by Congressman, but goddamnit, Alex Trebek shall remain forever pure.
Yes indeed, we will survive.
Good to have you back, Jon.
Posted by: Cal at October 22, 2006 11:37 PMI'm not being patronising, as it took me a long time to realise the importance of this, but I suggest you write down *exactly* what you do at every stage, then when you've finished type up in neat what the procedure is. Then put it somewhere you can find it (e.g. email it to to yourself and don't delete it).
Posted by: techie at October 23, 2006 05:42 AM"Then put it somewhere you can find it (e.g. email it to to yourself and don't delete it)."
AND print it out on a sheet of paper. Heck, many sheets of paper, scattered in various locations. :-)
It's great to see the blog back in action.
Posted by: JustZisGuy at October 23, 2006 06:45 AMBetter tattoo it on your chest, like that weird guy on tv.
Posted by: abb1 at October 23, 2006 08:33 AMKen Jennings shouldn't go on cruises with Alex Trebek, but it's OK for Dick Cheney to go duck hunting with Scalia while a case is pending.
Nice post, and one more item for the folder documenting our current madness -- ethics are more important for a TV game show than for the people running the country.
Posted by: Whistler Blue at October 23, 2006 12:17 PM
