Bee has an unerring instinct for revealing the absurd.
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.
Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.
Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.
I really should read my own blog.
The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.
There is no right way to do the wrong thing.
Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.
“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”
If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.
“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”
Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.
I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.
Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.
Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.
“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickel?”
Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.
Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.
Good lord, these people are nuts.
Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.
I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.
Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!
He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.
Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.
An unpunished coup is a training exercise.
Paul in KY
Samantha is a treasure!
redshirt
Speaking of guns, new Captain America: Civil War trailer is out.
I’m a huge nerd so this has got me far too excited. I’m more hyped for this movie than Star Wars.
Brachiator
@redshirt:
I mentioned this in the previous thread.
Oh hell, yes!
Marvel has just won the Superhero v Superhero movie. Cause when you get down to it, the upcoming Captain America movie treads similar ground to Batman v Superman. Hell, it retreads a lot of the X Men movies.
But still. Damn!
NickM
I thought my contempt for narcissistic contrarianist Camille Paglia could know no greater depths. Until she pretty much endorsed Trump in Salon, the perfect outlet for her. TLDR: Fascist policies can be suffered to enjoy fascistic masculine brio. I won’t bother linking. I hope this is the end of seeing her published anywhere but I’m afraid it won’t be.
Probably not the last piece of this hideous type; plenty of Italian and German “intellectuals” simultaneously looked down upon and were thrilled by their fascist movements in the beginning, too.
redshirt
@Brachiator: Marvel’s earned it – these characters and stories have been building for 8 years now. DC saw the $$$ and is now forcing a similar effort but all into one film. I’ll go see Superman v. Batman as my nerd code demands, but I don’t have high expectations.
Whereas I am giddy for Civil War.
Brachiator
@NickM:
What?
Camille Paglia reminds me a bit of Ann Coulter, someone who is always angling to say something outrageous to get media attention. But when I see either of them, I always think, “just why is it that anyone thinks you have something significant to say?”
WarMunchkin
I encourage everyone here to read or skim this 20K word article written about PBO’s foreign policy views in the Atlantic.
Barack Obama is the greatest thing to ever have fortuitously happened to a country that, quite frankly, just doesn’t deserve it.
gene108
The thing to remember about the NRA is there are 5-10 other gun rights groups in the USA, with thousands to hundreds-of-thousands of members each, who all view the NRA as a bunch of liberal squishes and sell outs.
There’s a level of violent, malicious, craziness this country, which gets masked all too often by politicians and the media.
Technocrat
@redshirt:
Wait, was that T’Challa or Catwoman? :))
Also a big fan, going to see this opening weekend.
redshirt
@WarMunchkin: We don’t deserve him especially in how he’s been treated. It’s shameful.
Hopefully, history will look back at us as morans, and rightfully place BHO as one of the best Presidents ever.
Brachiator
@redshirt:
I’m not sure that Marvel has earned anything. But they have been lucky and done a lot of things with a knowing eye. They have an overall strategy, but also knew how to take advantage of an opportunity to get a certain character (for those who did not look at the trailer, yet).
We can do the Snoopy dance together.
gene108
@redshirt:
I need to catch up on my comics reading…vaguely familiar with the Civil War story line…but I have not actively been reading comics for 20 years (a hobby which can get very expensive very fast).
I also find it interesting they put the Avengers / SHIELD story arcs into Captain America movies, rather than say Thor or another Iron Man.
I am also disappointed they did not make another Incredible Hulk movie.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
‘”and now you teach kids how to walk to gym class… without getting shot”
I have been quickly convinced that Samantha Bee should’ve got TDS. I was never a huge fan when she was a correspondent, I thought she was pretty good, and the takedown of The Five was brilliant, but Jason Jones (her husband) and Jessica Wiliams were both funnier, and I think A Whitney Brown was the best of all time. But Trevor Noah’s kind of meh and SB seems to knock it out of the park at least once every show.
Seems to me a lot of TDS alums have done their best work after leaving, most obviously the Colber(t) of the Repor(t), but also Steve Carrell, who I never liked on TDS. Oliver was plus good on the show, but he’s great on his own. Dan Something– bald guy who plays the incredibly nasty congressman on Veep, I’ve seen him in a couple of things and he’s a really good comedic character actor.
Thoroughly Pizzled
@Brachiator: DC always works better in animation, maybe because Marvel heroes are inherently more “realistic.” The DCAU is magnificent.
@NickM: Why is she still alive?
gene108
@redshirt:
I am looking forward to Superman v Batman, mainly because I really enjoyed the comic book version.
Brachiator
Gawker is having fun with this story about President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:
I’m Lovin’ These Pics of Two Friends!
Commenters are having fun as well:
japa21
@Thoroughly Pizzled: Well DC is full of cartoon characters.
Oh…you didn’t mean Washington, DC.
Felonius Monk
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
Because god is punishing us?
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think it was incredibly stupid of Comedy Central not to offer Bee the show, but that said, she’s probably better off striking out on her own anyway.
Brachiator
I’m reading somewhere that the Right to Rise Superpac spent $119 million to help Jeb! get the GOP nomination.
Money well spent. Next up, Ru Ru Rubio.
Felonius Monk
It never ends.
redshirt
@Brachiator: They’ve earned the conflict by developing the characters and stories. These heroes fighting each other is a logical progression of what’s been happening – for example, there’s been tension in almost every interaction between Stark and Rogers since they first met. DC has rebooted Batman, again, and while it makes sense that he would be distrustful of Superman at first, and hence a fight, they’re also throwing in a multitude of other characters so they can launch Justice League movies and spinoffs. It might work, but I bet it fizzles.
redshirt
@gene108: The movie Civil War is not really tied to the comics version except for the conflict between Stark and Rogers as the respective leaders of two camps. If you’ve seen the other Marvel movies you know all you need to follow this story. Especially the last Captain America movie, Winter Soldier.
JPL
@Brachiator: CSPAN will cover the arrival for the state dinner starting at 6:15 pm.
raven
The Other Chuck
@gene108: Hope it’s just the visuals you’re excited over, because it’s by Zach Snyder.
Brachiator
@redshirt:
Actually, I don’t think they have reasonably made Stark the voice of the establishment. And the William Hurt character seems to come out of nowhere. But these are minor quibbles. I get a sense that they have done very well in prior movies in setting up which characters will side with Cap, and who will side with Stark.
DC may be trying to do too much too soon. For me, they have failed to establish who this Superman is and how he relates to his adopted home world. They will have to cram in a lot of explanation along with new characters. If it were me, I would have had Diana Prince (not Wonder Woman) appear in the earlier Superman movie.
And it’s funny. The Marvel movies are the work of a committee, but still often work creatively. On the other hand, I am just not that impressed with Snyder as a creative force, and am not sure that he has served Batman and Superman well. The DC movies should be a slam dunk, but with each new trailer, my reaction has been, “Nope, still not convinced.”
Germy
The notorious RBG has a new book coming out:
http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/03/finally-ruth-bader-ginsburg-publishing-a-book.html
The Other Chuck
@gene108: There’s also dozens of other white supremacist groups in this country even more loathsome than the KKK. And other than the RNC, they’re all rightfully vilified by almost every person when they become aware of them. Start with the NRA and the disdain will spread.
Old Dan and Little Anne
I think Trevor Noah has been a fantastic replacement on TDS. He makes me laugh every night. I find Samantha Bee funny as well. I’m glad Noah got the spot, though.
Brachiator
@redshirt: BTW, have you seen Zootropia yet?
The Other Chuck
@Brachiator:
That’s a nice way of putting it. Another way is Zack Snyder makes Michael Bay look like Woody Allen.
geg6
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
Of all the things I’ve seen comic book nerds say, this might take the cake.
FYI: Yes, I hate comic books, I hate Marvel especially and I have no love for DC either. And the entire bunch have completely ruined the movie business, pretty much making it very likely I will never step foot into a movie theater ever again (as always, with exceptions for anything Star Wars). That said, my dear BIL is the world’s biggest comic book nerd and I love him. So I don’t hate the nerds like I do their past time, but I have found that they are pretty clueless to how they sound to the rest of humanity.
daveNYC
@Betty Cracker: I thought there was some timing issue there. Bee and/or her husband were already in with TBS for some shows by the time Stewart decided to retire.
kindness
Ahhh! This talk of Camille Paglia made me lose my appetite (it’s lunch time out here in Left Coast Land).
On the other hand, it’s a good time to go over Sainted Molly Ivin’s take on her:
Molly Rips Camille a new one.
@Old Dan and Little Anne: Samantha’s show is great but let’s not forget she’s doing a half hour a week vs 1/2 hour 4 nights a week. Way different.
redshirt
@Brachiator:
I don’t think Stark represents the voice of the establishment per se, but rather as an egomaniac who will do anything because he thinks it’s right. He went from a character mocking congress and declaring that he’d “privatized world peace” to a guy suffering PTSD and convinced he needs to save the world himself (Iron Man 3, Ultron), almost destroying the world in the process. Stark doesn’t trust himself anymore and that’s why he’s for oversight. Cap, on the other hand has gone from gung ho do anything superiors tell you soldier to a man who overthrew the world’s biggest spy agency because it was in fact taken over by an evil organization. He’s no longer set to defer to authority.
Plus, the central conflict of Civil War is going to be over Bucky, since he is technically a mass murdering super-criminal, but he’s also Cap’s best friend. That personal stake is what will drive the conflict between the two men and thus the two teams.
WarMunchkin
@redshirt:
And that’s when I learned PBO was batting for team DFH the whole time.
redshirt
@geg6: Well, it looks like you’re never going to the movies again, since Marvel, DC, and Star Wars movies will be coming out 2-4 times a year every year for at least the next 5 years, and probably longer.
Brachiator
@geg6:
Actually, they sound pretty good to the rest of humanity, especially to those of us who don’t see a hatred of comic books as meaningful.
And “completely ruined the movie business?” Fie! Fie, I say!
redshirt
@Brachiator: Also, while there is no doubt a committee in charge of Marvel Studios, one man is the leader behind the creative vision – Paul Feige. I’m not sure who is counterpart at DC is, if they have one.
gene108
@The Other Chuck:
Guess I am glad I do not know, who Zach Snyder is or what other movies he’s done…
redshirt
@Brachiator: No, that’s not in my wheelhouse. It’s getting stellar reviews though.
I live 1.5 hours away from the nearest movie theater, so I only go rarely, i.e. only for comic book movies.
The Other Chuck
@geg6:
Well, they tend to not pen such haughty patronizing drivel as this, so there’s one for the nerds.
Betty Cracker
@daveNYC: I thought she turned it down at first, but then I read somewhere that Bee was surprised not to be asked, which sounds like she was passed over. But no matter, it all worked out.
redshirt
@WarMunchkin: I’m not ashamed to save I love Barack Hussein Obama. I really sincerely wish he could continue on as President, but since he can’t, I am intensely eager to find out what he does next. He’s got decades more on the world stage to make a difference.
redshirt
@gene108: Zach Snyder has come to be known for bombastic visuals and light stories. That said, I like his work a lot.
The Other Chuck
@redshirt: If only Sucker Punch’s story were “light” rather than “thoroughly detestable in every way imaginable”. Yet somehow he still made the Big Boss Fights dull as fuck. I really have seen videogames do such scenes better.
Hard to argue against the visuals he did for 300, but it’s been done and copied, and he doesn’t have any new tricks up his sleeve. That and people are going around even today thinking Sparta was some kind of proto-democracy. Ask the Helots how enlightened they thought Sparta was (though that much isn’t Snyder’s fault I admit)
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: I was never crazy about Samantha Bee on the daily show, but I heard recently that she had been offered the daily show and had declined. Not true? But I hear that on the internet!!!
Never mind – just saw your comment at #43.
redshirt
@The Other Chuck: Tell me again why that movie was so horrible? I’m not sure if I’ve seen the whole thing through but all I can recall is it was a trippy fantasy movie possibly played out in the mind of a girl who’s locked away in a mental institute? How wrong did I get that?
The visuals were interesting. NAZI’s with dragons?
geg6
@geg6:
And I want to make clear, I was laughing as I typed this. Not trying to be a too sour note, just find it all too funny.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WarMunchkin: This will also cause some confusion among Andrea Mitchell’s regular cribbage partners.
Obama went on to say that the belief in the possibilities of projected toughness is rooted in “mythologies” about Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy.
“If you think about, let’s say, the Iran hostage crisis, there is a narrative that has been promoted today by some of the Republican candidates that the day Reagan was elected, because he looked tough, the Iranians decided, ‘We better turn over these hostages,’ ” he said. “In fact what had happened was that there was a long negotiation with the Iranians and because they so disliked Carter—even though the negotiations had been completed—they held those hostages until the day Reagan got elected. Reagan’s posture, his rhetoric, etc., had nothing to do with their release. When you think of the military actions that Reagan took, you have Grenada—which is hard to argue helped our ability to shape world events, although it was good politics for him back home. You have the Iran-Contra affair, in which we supported right-wing paramilitaries and did nothing to enhance our image in Central America, and it wasn’t successful at all.” He reminded me that Reagan’s great foe, Daniel Ortega, is today the unrepentant president of Nicaragua.
and he goes on to bring up Lebanon (in a passage I think Goldberg should have revised.)
daveNYC
@Betty Cracker: Probably for the best too. I’ve heard that Comedy Central isn’t the best place to work. Very micromanagy if you’re not rocking it on the Stewart/Colbert/South Park level. Those three were given free rein, other people get tied down.
The Other Chuck
@redshirt: You pretty much summed up the plot. The real-life parts are just ugly torture and revenge porn. Hell, even the Matrix sequels (Reloaded anyway), at least had an occasional insightful thing to say. There are certainly more sadistic directors (Lars Von Trier comes to mind) and worse movies, but the hype to reality ratio for Snyder’s movies always seems to be much higher.
geg6
@Brachiator:
I think comic books are and always have been pretty stupid, but I’m sure I like things you think are stupid. And they have ruined the movie business. Unless you live in NY or LA, that’s pretty much the only thing that plays at the multiplex, with the exception of another genre I generally detest, children’s animated movies. For adult fare, I have to wait for them to come out on Netflix or pay-per-view or, if I can make the wait, HBO. Star Wars was the only thing to tempt into a theater in years simply because there is never anything catering to an adult woman showing.
The Other Chuck
@geg6: Deadpool is the only comic book movie in theaters right now. Maybe you need to move out of the sticks.
geg6
@The Other Chuck:
If you want to own that whole Marvel-comics-are-awesome-because-they-have-realistic-superheroes thing, that’s fine with me. And I apologized for my comment sounding more harsh than I really meant. But now that I’ve seen all the emo over a throwaway comment by someone not liking comics or their effect on the entertainment industry, I’m not sure I should have.
TroubleMaker
@The Other Chuck: Zach Snyder is a pathetic hack. He doesn’t make movies, he makes feature-length video game cut scenes using live actors.
The Other Chuck
@geg6: Most movies are garbage. Some are entertaining garbage. I don’t mainline Shakespeare every moment of my life, and if I did, I still wouldn’t be a better person. Geez, I think almost all anime is puerile crap, but I don’t piss in every fan’s wheaties every chance I get.
John Revolta
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Bu bu but he made the Commies tear down the Wall! “Tear down this wall” he said and they done it!! Top THAT libs!
The Other Chuck
@John Revolta: He does deserve some credit for working with Gorbachev. Taking the opposite of the tough-guy image in doing so, but appearance is all that matters to the modern GOP.
geg6
@The Other Chuck:
Fuck off. I live where I work and where I can afford to live. Perhaps you’re wealthy enough to live in an urban center, but I’m not.
And I just checked the local movie listings and the only thing showing I can imagine seeing (mainly because I already saw it) is Spotlight. And it’s probably only booked because it won the Oscar. I had to wait for it to be available on pay-per-view to see it before the Oscars. I don’t book the local theaters, so I don’t have any control over what they show. All I know is that there are literally another 10 films currently showing and none of them, with the exception of Tina Fey’s latest (which looks really stupid, so I’m not interested), are meant for anyone other than children, teens, religious nuts and young adult males. I don’t think I’m the first or only woman in America to have made this observation.
WarMunchkin
@redshirt: I’m just glad Jimmy Carter, the Yoda of post-Presidency, is going to be alive long enough to transfer at least some knowledge to BHO to continue the long march. At least that’s my fantasy.
The Other Chuck
@geg6: Most movies show in megaplexes in the burbs. And I already agreed most movies are crap. But so is most TV, and bragging about not owning a TV is also kind of passe.
Fuckit, I’m tired of spreading bad vibes. Sorry for being nasty and let’s agree to disagree, k?
Hugs.
geg6
While I ignore the hurt fee fees of the comic books crowd, I want to say that I also hated Jon Stewart’s show for at least the last lazy 6 or 7 years it was on. So, if I watched it, it was usually to hate watch. So I never saw much of Samantha Bee on the show. But I am loving her new gig. She’s very good. If she had been the star of The Daily Show, I might have tuned in regularly. And I might miss it now.
redshirt
@geg6: So what did you think of the world’s greatest feminist action movie, Mad Max: Fury Road?
redshirt
@geg6: I debate whether the Oscars should be the standard we hold good movies too. There was a wonderful comedy bit during the Oscars where Chris Rock asked people on the street of Oakland what they knew about the best picture contenders, and most people had no idea what the films were. At the same time, Star Wars will net close to 2 billion dollars worldwide.
It’s entertainment. Movies have always been entertainment first, everything else second.
Larv
@geg6:
It wasn’t the not liking comics that got you some pushback, it was the sneering at people who do. Several commenters spent some time discussing their interests, and you come in with a comment about how stupid that interest is. Then you call them “emo” for being upset about that.
As far as comic book movies ruining the theater, you’re blaming the wrong thing. First, the vast majority of movies have always sucked. Second, the rise of comic book movies has more to do with the rise of streaming video and home theater and the increasing difficulty of getting people out to the theater. Lots of people only go to theaters for the kind of big, special-effect and explosion heavy flicks that comic book movies excel at.
redshirt
@Larv: I’d like to note for the record I was not at all upset with geg6’s comments because I’m quite used to that response. Comic books have long been held in low esteem by the general public, so I understand why some would react negatively to their current world wide acclaim (in movie/TV form). I also get they’re not everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s cool.
Thoroughly Pizzled
@geg6: Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning! I meant that Marvel heroes are more realistic than DC heroes.
Bill Murray
@Betty Cracker:”Comedy Central never offered Samantha Bee The Daily Show hosting gig when Stewart left.”
“I don’t want to do a show four nights a week. Kill me. Oh my God. No thank you,” says the mother of three (her oldest is 10). “If there’s one thing that I do know myself, it’s better for me to build something from nothing than to take over something from someone else who is so lauded. This is a better path for me, and I can carve out my own space.”
source
redshirt
@WarMunchkin: LOL. I can see the scene now where Barack show’s up to one of Jimmy’s Habits for Humanity builds, seeking true Jedi training.
Geeno
I think Samantha Bee is better off with her own show rather than inheriting the format of someone else’s show and the inevitable comparisons to Stewart
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@geg6:
All that means is that Marvel has characters — flawed, human characters — instead of walking archetypes.
Oh, and the power levels were generally kept down to the semi-plausible range. No moving the planet out of its orbit and then moving it back.
I used to compare Marvel to the myths about Jason and Theseus and Gilgamesh, while DC was about the pantheons.
Marjowil
I’m a girl nerd from way back and I love me some Star Wars, Marvel, DC and Star Trek. I love all comic book movies (okay, I skipped Fantastic 4, I have some standards) because they are FUN. Deadpool was FUN. Guardians of the Galaxy. etc. But the Batman v. Superman movie has one important thing going for it: WONDER WOMAN. Finally.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
Animated movies are an example of why “making movies by committee” is not inherently a bad thing as long as you have at least one or two ringmasters keeping the circus organized. Smart filmmakers seek out feedback and take it seriously rather than clinging to a “vision” that may not be working the way they wanted it to.
Brachiator
@geg6:
You remind me of a teacher who looked down on comic books. I remember thinking of her when I went to college, and found that the best and most challenging Comp Lit course, Literature X, focused on comic books and genre fiction.
Obviously, I disagree with you here, but no big thang.
Wow. You detest a lot of stuff. What do you like?
But I see your point. I live in Southern California, so no problem finding whatever I want to see. But I guess if you live in a small burg, tough cookies. And it sounds like you would not have much of a choice anyway. You can’t say that comic book movies have ruined the movie business. If there were a glut of Westerns, you still might be in a pickle.
But as I say, I understand where you are coming from.
redshirt
@Marjowil: I skipped Fantastic Four. Everyone did.
This is an intelligent crowd, so I assume everyone knows the deal with Marvel characters? Why, for example, it’s such a big deal Spiderman is in the upcoming Captain America movie?
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne:
I don’t know. There’s a ton of animated crap out there.
I would trade most animated movies for the single vision of Hayao Miyazaki. But I take your point.
I took a day off yesterday to take care of some personal stuff, and found time to see Zootopia. I have mixed feelings about it, and still think it was ham fisted in many ways. But I understand that it was originally supposed to focus on the Fox character. The shift to another character works like a freaking charm. The movie also seems to have had a ton of people working on the story. It largely succeeds, and it may be because, as you suggest, it had the right ringmasters.
WaterGirl
@Geeno: I kind of think they are all better off creating their own shows from scratch rather than “following” Jon Stewart.. They being John Oliver, Larry Wilmore, Samantha Bee, etc.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Geeno: @WaterGirl: that’s true, taking over from Stewart was a risky proposition
? Martin
@WarMunchkin:
When people read that article, imagine Trump or Cruz being the one interviewed and consider what their answers would be.
The Moar You Know
Were I not already happily married I would be trying my damndest to marry Samantha Bee. She’s absolutely wonderful.
Tom
@Old Dan and Little Anne: This.
Trevor is funny, charming and brings an ‘outsider’ perspective to US politics and media. If you listen to his stand-up, he’s no stranger to political satire.
Plus it’s kind of nice to see more POC and women on my TV.
Just so it’s clear. I wanted Samantha Bee to get the TDS slot but I love her new show.