.
.
Yes, there is stuff on the internet that doesn’t suck.
In other quirky entertainment news, from io9:
Super Clyde, the CBS comedy pilot in which Rupert Grint gets rich and decides to become a superhero, is getting an actor worthy of its Batman-spoofing concept. Stephen Fry will be playing the butler who helps Grint’s Clyde with his crimefighting quest.
Deadline reports that Fry will be playing Randolph, the butler and sidekick to young Clyde. Clyde is a meek fast-food worker who comes into a fortune and decides, taking his cues from Batman, to become a superhero. But given the comedic nature of the show and Fry’s prior butler experience, their relationship may be less Alfred-and-Bruce than Jeeves-and-Wooster….
What else is on the agenda for the start of another week?
raven
The best news I got this morning was that the Illini-Colorado game is at 4:40 so I won’t miss it!
NotMax
Nothing much happening.
Which is a Good Thing.
Cassidy
We could all pontificate on how irresponsible it is to get drunk and pass out at 16 and shamelessly offer your vagina to innocent football players, forever ruining there lives by making them rape you. Then we would all be qualified to be journalists.
Hal
I still like listening to NPR on my commute to and from work, and when I can, I like to listen to Tell Me More with Michel Martin, but for the love of Ira Glass, she keeps having as a guest Mary Kate Cary, a hack-tacular former Bush speech writer who adds nothing to the show except what I guess is the both sides do it mantra NPR has apparently decided to adopt.
She dismisses every legitimate complaint against the GOP as the media making up stories and once compared a joke Louis CK made about Sarah Palin to Rush Limbaugh’s attack on Sandra Fluke as a way of saying liberals have said horrible things too. Except that Louis CK isn’t an unelected leader of the dems, but never mind that. She makes me want to throw my radio out the window, and really makes an otherwise interesting show hard to listen too.
Although I have to say that her “Why Romney Will Win” article still makes me laugh. The title alone is giggle inducing.
Hal
@Cassidy:
I wish those kids were stoner special ED students just to see how spectacularly different some of the sympathy reactions towards those two would have been. Still, I won’t be surprised if both of them aren’t playing football again one of these days.
NotMax
@Cassidy
Ooh, harsh.
Has the term “Takin’ an Akin” slithered into the gutter sector of teenage slang yet?
Villago Delenda Est
Shit, all you have to do is be fathered by the right media personality, and you’re in! The only merit that matters in our media “meritocracy” anymore.
Sarah, Proud and Tall
That gave me goosebumps. Thanks AL.
nancydarling
AL, are you aware that Linda Ronstadt did an album, “Cristal: Glass Music Through the Ages”?
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=2758422
Also, Ben Franklin’s connection to the glass harmonica is fascinating history. Purcell, Mozart and others wrote music specifically for it.
Poopyman
I’m on the hunt for Cole’s mustard.
Linda Featheringill
@Poopyman:
Where would you hide if you were John’s mustard?
Steeplejack (tablet)
I’m wondering if my car is still parked down the street. My neighborhood has parking by permit only, in the form of plastic tabs that hang from the rear-view mirror. Can’t remember if I attached mine when I came in last night. (It’s slightly annoying to leave on while driving.) I hope my memory lapse means it’s an automatic habit now and not “You did forget and now the parking Gestapo has towed your car.” Ugh. Not a good way to start the week. At some point I’ll get dressed and go look, but I’m still too fragile right now to sustain the ragegasm that might ensue.
Poopyman
@Linda Featheringill: I would have lept from the counter and rolled under the table.
It’s Day One of my layoff, I’m in the DC suburbs, it’s snowing, and I’m not in a car.
I’m having a good time.
JasonF
They’re advertising Jake Tapper’s new CNN show on MSNBC. That’s weird.
Also, Jake purports to be interested in comic books in the end. As a long-time comic book fan, I’m both intrigued and incredulous.
Xenos
@Linda Featheringill:
My vote is for ‘behind the breadbox’. Amazing how crap falls back there…
The Thin Black Duke
Whenever I have one of those grim days where I think that the forces of Good are outnumbered and outgunned by the monstrous evil of the GOP, the idiotic stories I’m hearing about CPAC make me–hopeful.
For example, Mitt Romney actually made a speech where he hallucinated about “taking our country back.”
It’s amazing. After the electoral ass-kicking he got, Romney still doesn’t get it. And I bet you the President of the Lucky Sperm Club is going to run again in 2016.
Please proceed, Republicans.
Chyron HR
Super Clyde sounds great. I predict it will run for three episodes before being replaced by a reality show about people who shoot at ice pilots.
ETA: The show should be called “Ice Pirates”. You can pay me by cash or check, CBS.
Linda Featheringill
@Poopyman:
Enjoy your vacation.
the lost puppy
Haven’t been around for a while. Anything newsworthy on CPAC other than the usual self-loathing closet gays looking for some strange?
Valdivia
going to see my doctor for my toe which thankfully seems to b e still attached to my foot.
also–one of my 16 year old cats seems to be on his last days. He has been sleeping in a corner of the sofa without really moving for the last day. So I am taking him to the vet. He has been such a good loyal companion. He will be very sorely missed.
Steeplejack
@Valdivia:
Caught up on old threads last night. Will send you an e-mail later.
jibeaux
@Chyron HR: Exactly. Adore Stephen Fry, but I can’t imagine he comes cheap enough that it won’t occur to them to replace it with yet another reality show. Real Strippers of Atlanta or something.
Poopyman
@Linda Featheringill: I want to, but it could be (too) short. Somebody already wants me in for an interview tomorrow. Now I’m getting nervous.
Ash Can
I’m waiting for John’s inevitable post telling us that he found his jar of mustard this morning on the cabinet shelf right where he thought he had left it, except not in the exact spot, just an inch or so to the left, and that it didn’t have a brown label like he thought it did, but a blue one, and that he hates all of us and we can all go to hell.
Linda Featheringill
@Valdivia:
I’m wishing peaceful travels to the old dear.
And hugs to you.
Valdivia
@Steeplejack:
no problem!
OzarkHillbilly
Laughing at drunk stupid rednecks with guns.
The gunshot badly mangled Malespini’s finger, but didn’t remove the ring, police said.
And just for the record, I am a redneck, I have over imbibed on occasion, I do have guns, and I have done some extremely stupid sh!t in my life, but never all 4 at the same time (yet… I am only 54 so there is still time) Also, when I got divorced? I used dish detergent to get the ring off my finger.
Ash Can
@Valdivia: All the best to your elderly kitty and you.
Valdivia
@Ash Can:
Thanks. Our sweet Jinvah is a quiet lovely boy, it breaks my heart being in such pain, if it is his time, after a long happy life, then we need to let he go. But it’s hard.
Elizabelle
We have a beautiful frosting of snow in Northern Virginia. That was nice to wake up to.
And, now have IndiePlex and RetroPlex movie channels on the cable lineup.
Caught the last 30 mins of “Grand Theft Parsons” about Gram Parsons’ roadie and friends stealing his body for cremation in the desert, as he would have wished. Kind of cool indie flick. Johnny Knoxville plays the roadie.
Made for better early morning viewing than Morning Joe. Too much deficit vigilante. Never tune them in any more.
Elizabelle
@Valdivia:
Best to you and Jinvah. 16 is a good long run, and they are all irreplaceable.
bemused
I’m having a an ongoing discussion with a few rightwingers on a pretty simple premise that shouldn’t be that controversial or ideological. Ha!
Me: It doesn’t matter which msm you follow, Fox or the “liberal” media, none of the big boys are going to give us the news we need to know, actual facts and stuff. We have to vet what msm tells us or more importantly, what media won’t talk about. Research other news sources. Don’t just trust, verify.
Rightwingers: My team is better than your team. Just look at Fox ratings. WE’RE NUMBER 1. Totally ignoring and oblivious to the central point I’m making.
I need some other idioms than “you’re missing the fucking forest for the fucking trees” or “that fucking flew right over your fucking heads” to shout at the moon.
OzarkHillbilly
@Valdivia:
Glad to see you are still with us. Sorry about your friend.
jeffreyw
@bemused: I suppose that FTFY would go right over their heads as well.
Valdivia
@Elizabelle:
thank you. yes, he is one of a kind!
@OzarkHillbilly:
I am here. And no gangrene!
Thanks again for your tips yesterday and your words about my little old boy.
Elizabelle
@Valdivia:
Jinvah’s a wonderful name.
A cat would choose it for him or herself.
Ecks
Lovely music video, but that guy on the bottom left needs to get with the program. He clearly isn’t as talented as the other band members.
Schlemizel
kid picked up a DUI this morning. He thought he was OK & he only had 12 blocks to drive but he has a busted tail light & it was 1AM on St Paddys Day. Blew .08 so today we have to get his car & a lawyer.
You lecture them & show them examples of others screw ups and you think they get it but no, kids screw up just like you did on occasion. SIGH
Valdivia
@Elizabelle:
an old friend of mine named both of the brothers. The other’s name is Sissu which is a finish word for ‘strength of spirit’ being able to survive a long cold winter. It suits him.
Corner Stone
@Schlemizel: Glad no one was hurt. Beyond the “don’t do these stupid things”, the main lesson is to tell them, “If you fuckup and do something stupid, never, ever consent to blow.”
Respectfully refuse the tests, surrender your license and shut the fuck up.
bemused
@jeffreyw:
I’m finding out that pretty much everything flies over these guys’ heads. I have to hand to rightwing media. They flushed out the most cognitive impaired misanthropes from their caves and gave them a national platform to vent their rage and prejudices. They are really convinced that they represent the views of the majority of Americans. They love the affirmation they get from rightwing media which is a lot more fun than sitting on their favorite bar stool muttering to the other wingnuts at the bar.
Schlemizel
@Valdivia:
nitpick – its “sisu”
There were a bunch of Fins in my old neighborhood.
MaxxLange
I used to work with a guy who played this thing – usually called, I think, the glass harmonium. He was getting work playing it. He told me that after every 2nd or 3rd gig, someone would come up to him and tell him earnestly that he was killing himself and that he had to stop before it was too late. . It turns out that poisoning was a concern when these things were made from leaded glass (my friend had made his own, it was fine), but also there was a time when people thought that its eerie sound proved that it was a satanic instrument, and that the Devil would claim you if you played it.
bemused
@Schlemizel:
Beat me to it.
Sisu also translates to fortitude, guts. With Finns, there is a fine line between sisu and stubbornness. ; )
The mispronouncing of the word sauna drives Finnish Americans crazy. It’s pronounced sow-na not sanna. I surprised that the word sauna was pronounced correctly on one of the ads for that insurance company with Flo. What amused me was how one of the guys with his pants on fire really put a Finnish emphasis on the word sauna, “It’s like a s-o-w-na in here”.
Roger Moore
@Corner Stone:
Might I also suggest that “12 blocks is short enough to walk” might be another good lesson to add to the mix? Having a neighborhood tavern that’s close enough to walk to is a great way of avoiding a DUI.
Elizabeth
Re good stuff on the internet: Can’t stop watching ‘Thrift Shop‘, which has over 170,000,000 views, as well as it’s vintage-style stylish cover. Catchy,fun, and found via my college kid, of course.
here
and here.
Schlemizel
@Roger Moore:
Yeah, I’m not particularly understanding on the issue. drunk driving is attempted murder.
Ronzoni Rigatoni
@Corner Stone: Absolutely correct. We usta win about 98% of those cases where there was no physical evidence. ‘Course you can lose your license for a considerable period if you do it often enough. Of course the 2nd, you do it often enough maybe you shouldn’t be driving, ever!
Maude
@Roger Moore:
#46
Even scooting on your ender is better than driving.
@Corner Stone:
#41
I used to say that and people were horrified, I tell you, that I would suggest such a thing.
You are, of course, right.
Want some broiled flounder with that mac and cheese?
gelfling545
@Linda Featheringill: My vote is the car. I sent my granddaughter to get a sack of cat litter out of my trunk & she came in to ask me in the usual smart-ass teenage way if I knew that I had a pound of cheddar cheese in the trunk. Naturally I said that according to current food storage best practice the trunk was the place for cheddar.
Corner Stone
@Roger Moore: Depending on where you are those 12 blocks could get you killed, but on the whole I agree. Better choices could have been made.
But I’m not one to lecture on it as we grew up talking about how we put it on “auto-pilot” to get home last night. And thought that was just the funniest gosh damned thing each time we said it. Bunch of idiots.
Villago Delenda Est
@Schlemizel:
Perhaps this will be one of those major emotional events that changes a life, for the better. Some can only learn by doing.
Corner Stone
@Ronzoni Rigatoni: Kid I grew up beside is now a Sergeant of a large area LEO in the Greater Houston Metro Area. Loves to tell me about his drunk driver stories.
Gets them in a room, turns the camera on, does his schpiel and waits, and they all refuse to say anything. For about 90 seconds.
“Hell yeah I had a couple! What’s the big fruckin problemses with that? Guy can’t have a chaser with the guys before he headsh home to the old lady?!”
He says it’s like they love to tell, and none of them can help themselves.
Corner Stone
@Maude: Not really a big fresh fish fan. I don’t know why really. I used to enjoy it and I still looove sushi and sashimi. I’ll still take the M&C though, he says hopefully.
Roger Moore
@Corner Stone:
Well, booze is notorious for impairing judgment as well as coordination. That’s the reason they tell you to give up your keys before you start drinking; your ability to recognize your impairment goes down at least as fast as your ability to drive. Your ability to keep your mouth shut around the police follows the same general trajectory.
Cris (without an H)
Is Grint playing an American? If so, is his accent going to be as convincing as Hugh Laurie’s?
(I watched about eight episodes of House before I realized I was seeing the guy from Fry and Laurie.)
burnspbesq
I’m hiding under the desk, trying to avoid being buried by the avalanche of “I was against the Iraq war before you were Nyah Nyah Nyah” op-eds and blog posts that are surely coming this week.
Eric U.
@burnspbesq: blog posts maybe, but how many people are writing op-eds that are celebrating the 10 year anniversary of being against the war? Krugman? Anyone else? If so, it’s a short list, not a good career move.
And rubbing people’s noses in it probably isn’t a good way to get published even today. I expect a reprise with video of a lot of explosions.
Persia
@Roger Moore: Yep.
2/5 of all fatal booze-related car crashes are St. Paddy’s weekend. I’m glad the kid’s okay.
jon
This is a necessary thing to include in any discussion of the Stephen Fry series. Jeeves and Mr W____ of G____ City in the United States manage in one of the tales to come to an understanding, with usual difficulties. Alfred is away on vacation while many important decisions are made.
shortstop
@Ronzoni Rigatoni: There is an enormous shared space on the Venn between repeat DUIs and alcoholics. Voluntarily doing an alcohol screening is a better approach than formulating a strategy for beating the rap the “next time.”
Mnemosyne
@Schlemizel:
I’m assuming you gave him a fatherly clout on the back of the head when you picked him up just for being such a dumbass as to attempt to drive on one of the two nights of the year when the cops are actively looking for drunk drivers (with New Year’s Eve being the other).
Hopefully he will have learned his lessons that (a) he may not be the best judge of his own sobriety and (b) a taxi is much cheaper than a DUI ticket and traffic school.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack (tablet):
In the interest of closure: I did find my car still parked down the street, and I had remembered to hang the parking permit last night. Huzzah. All is well.
shortstop
@Mnemosyne:
Uh, fortunately, he’s indicated that he gave the kid a clout on the head for the important part: the death-baiting act of getting behind the wheel after drinking. Whether the cops were out in force and what legal punishment he might receive as a result is hardly the big issue.
Mnemosyne
@shortstop:
Since the justice system is (rightly) taking care of the “got behind the wheel of a two-ton vehicle while drunk” part with fines and license suspensions rather than leaving it to parental punishment, I didn’t think that Schlemizel needed to concentrate on that aspect and could point out a few other issues apart from the legal ones. As in, “Take a cab next time, dumbfuck,” which is not usually something the cops will tell you while they’re arresting you.
dance around in your bones
@Poopyman:
Late (as usual) to this thread but I just found a loaf of rye bread behind the refrigerator that had inexplicably disappeared the other day. We thought the dog had eaten it.
The fridge is too hard for me to move by myself and I can’t poke it out with anything I have tried so far. It may just sit there and mold until the end of time.
Denali
I too have found pork chops in the trunk well past their due date.