Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

Republicans do not trust women.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Rick & Morty & A Mensch

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Rick & Morty & A Mensch

by | 92 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

(Tom Toles via GoComics.com)
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I haven’t been a proper comix reader/watcher since before most of today’s serious fans were born, but I still cringe reflexively every time the mundanes get to guffaw about “stoopid gnerds and their weird dumb hobbies.” So, apart from the general worthiness of the act, I’m happy to see that Dan Harmon is a genuinely good person:

… Using the Twitter handle @chojuroh, Oregon resident Chelsea Sargent tweeted at Los Angeles-based writer Dan Harmon that she was depressed. Harmon, one of the creators of “Rick and Morty,” an adult animated science-fiction sitcom, took her seriously.

@danharmon do you have advice for dealing with depression, Sargent tweeted on Tuesday…

In my experience, that’s pretty smart advice.
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Apart from remembering that — whatever happens in politics and/or the world — depression is your brain lying to you, what’s on the agenda for the day?

Reader Interactions

92Comments

  1. 1.

    Waldo

    Looking at the state of the nation and wondering why I didn’t take advantage of Black Friday discounts to stock up on torches and pitchforks.

  3. 3.

    Lapassionara

    Depression is my brain lying to me? Au contraire. Depression is now reality, brought on by $25 billion a year from Medicare.

    We need a new way of fighting. I want to see these MF’s in person and I want them to know that we do not believe their lies.

  5. 5.

    HeleninEire

    Morning, morning crew. On the agenda today is the first (of many) Christmas parties.

    The Irish take Christmas deadly serious.

  8. 8.

    Sab

    I sure hope Dan Harmon tweets work. I’ve lost nieces to depression. Shouldn’t happen to these young vibrant kids, but it does all the time.

  14. 14.

    Brachiator

    @Waldo:

    Looking at the state of the nation and wondering why I didn’t take advantage of Black Friday discounts to stock up on torches and pitchforks.

    Hmmm. Reminds me to put them on my Christmas wish list.

  15. 15.

    bystander

    I’ve spent my morning pasting the WaPo story about Blake Farenthold’s sex offenses and taxpayer thievery on Facebook.

    I am also convinced Facebook is heavily influenced by the farright.

  16. 16.

    NotMax

    Repeated for morning crowd.

    4 p.m. today, TCM – Kind Hearts and Coronets. A whimsical gothic production the likes of which only the British can pull off successfully.

    If you’ve never seen it, opportunity to remedy that and savor Alec Guinness times nine. If familiar with it, no further need to recommend.

  18. 18.

    HeleninEire

    @rikyrah: Yeah; they’re nuts. Brown Thomas, the Bloomingdales of Ireland, put up their Christmas shop at the end of August.

    On Christmas day EVERYTHING shuts down including all forms of public transportation.

    Nutty.

  20. 20.

    OzarkHillbilly

    you can feel like life means nothing.

    Ummm, speaking as an atheist, life does mean nothing. The vast majority of the universe is lifeless. On the few small rocks where life does get a toehold it most likely never evolves beyond the microscopic because conditions are just too harsh. On the few rocks that do allow for evolution to higher forms, that life is doomed too because all their suns will consume their planetary homes.

    On the more personal level this means that for the past 14 billion years the universe has existed with out me just fine, in my very very brief period of time here I am quite beside the point, and soon I will be gone again and time will march on without me again.

    Sure I have built homes and worked on large commercial projects but in the next 100 yrs or so they will all be torn down so something else can be built. I have also stirred the dust of the millenniums, leaving footprints where no human foot had ever trod before, but I have also been first hand witness to the geologic processes that make caves and then inevitably unmake them. Most of those maps I drew will be outdated in just a few thousand years, and meaningless in just a few tens of thousands of years. Of course, this presumes that humanity survives long enough for a person to actually see and care what some cave somewhere once looked like.

    I once read somewhere that the meaning of life is a life of meaning. And there is a truth to that. I find meaning in the relationships I have with the people around me, with my wife, my sons, my granddaughter, my friends, even this pack of jackals, but that is a very transitory meaning, existing only as long as there is a memory of me and once those memories are gone so am I.

    And the truth is, I like that.

  23. 23.

    cope

    NotMax, when I was a kid in the 60’s, I had an uncle who would take me to off-beat movies, almost all of them British. It is truly amazing how well they stand up even today.

    As for today’s agenda, since it is the second official day of Not Hurricane Season, I will finally take down the 2 X 4 buttresses I put up on our fence when Irma was coming. I’ll also treat myself to watching the Liverpool match this morning.

  24. 24.

    PsiFighter37

    What a joke. No one can say with a straight face that this is supposed to be how legislation works, but this is what you get when one party has no experience in actual governance and only expertise in setting bags of shit on fire.

    Democrats really need to take back every lever of government as soon as possible so that we can instantly turn this around. And it’s time to be done with this concept of a reasonable Republican. They don’t fucking exist.

  26. 26.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly: Good Morning ! Old wood question…the 1880’s wooden joists in my walkout basement apartment/guest quarters will be exposed. Best things to clean and finish them with?? Pretty brittle, dry looking. Want them to have a little shine (not much)…. a look of depth and warmth. Thanks.(Seeing our Red after 4:00 at the Venice!)

  28. 28.

    Betty Cracker

    @cope: I can finally unpack my “important papers” go-bag! Or maybe I’ll just leave all that shit in that case, and it can become the new “important papers” repository. Forever. I kinda like that idea. Less work for me!

  35. 35.

    donnah

    Dan Harmon has a short run game series called Harmon Quest. My son, who is 24, got me hooked on watching it, and it is hilarious. The show combines a panel of Harmon’s friends and an animated video that follows the story they build, based on rolling gaming dice and acting out their characters in a story. Obviously my description is weak, but if you can find it online, it’s very funny and clever.

    It’s clear that Harmon is a smart and thoughtful guy when you watch it. I was touched when I read his Twitter post about depression. He reaches a lot of young people and I hope people will benefit from his words.

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Quinerly: That old pine is just waiting for some atmospheric moisture to suck in. You.are going to have to double, triple coat it with a water sealant such as Thompson’s but I do not know which brand would be best. It is sadly funny but I just finished a structure I built out of salvaged oak timbers from the 1860s, and used some stuff that was recommended by a guy who makes his living tearing down old barns and rebuilding them. For the life of me I can not remember what it was.

  39. 39.

    NotMax

    @Quinerly

    Stirctly IMHO as a sometime hobbyist long, long ago, using something like polyurethane on antique beams would be sacrilege. As they were installed in a basement, guessing they have a rustic, rough finish. Tung oil requires more prep and more time and the results can be most gratifying.

  40. 40.

    Amir Khalid

    My cheap digital watch finally arrived in the mail. I’d paid RM35 (US$8.50) for it, a third of what the guy at the wristwatch shop wanted just to replace the strap on my Casio. The new watch arrived with a Japanese price tag attached that said Y198 — RM7.20, or a buck seventy-five in US dollars. So now I’m confused. Did I get a bargain here, or was I ripped off?

  44. 44.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly: Thanks. I lost my old school paint/stain finish guy when we lost Flanagan’s Paint in the neighborhood. One guy there could answer any question about old finishes for these Soulard Victorians. Would custom mix stuff…kinda like secret recipes. ☺ Saved me in the 1990’s on some projects. Nobody in paint stores knows anything anymore. I will check with those guys on S Grand…there’s one old fashioned Devoe Paint store left. If you think of anything, could you let me know? Plus, they are filthy. What do you suggest trying to clean them with? Something as simple as Murphy’s?

  46. 46.

    Quinerly

    @NotMax: I actually thought about tung oil. I think a lot of prep…would have to research. They are so dry, I think they are going to suck up anything applied. Tung oil will be quite expensive (I think). I’ll do a bit of research. These ceilings are right at 8 ft and I may Air BnB this out to help defray the expense. Gotta be sure it doesn’t have that dusty, dank basement look…there are windows, and because it walks out into my courtyard, only three ft of it on the west end is actually underground. Left the beams to give it a look of height….also leaving much of the stone foundation showing. Thanks. Any suggestions appreciated.

  47. 47.

    Quinerly

    @Spanky: Now, this looks promising…thanks. Did a quick Google. Never worked with Waterlox. Thanks. Ozark, pipe in….thanks.

  48. 48.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Spanky: Sounds familiar. Could be. Or maybe I just saw an ad for it

    @Quinerly: If I can remember, I’ll ask the guy what it was.

    Filthy, as in what with? Years and years of dust? I’d just blow them off with compressed air. If they are ruff sawn (most likely in Soulard) you might consider giving them a light sanding with a palm sander. Not sure it would be worth the trouble tho.

    @NotMax: I actually remember that bit of trivia!

  50. 50.

    Immanentize

    I have known some depression lately. It is really good advice to get out into the world and get your feelings out there as well. I am very lucky to have friends who pretend not to be bored or alarmed when I kvetch. And of course a son who literally is the reason I get out of bed most days (we both sleep in on Sundays).

    I also buy stuff. Not hugely expensive things, not consumer-y things or meals although that can be good too. But unique items — this week I found an Ecuadoran lithograph (probably early 20th century?) of what appears to be St. Dominic, kneeling yet seemingly floating in the clouds in prayer (yes with his signatory rosary) over a body of water through which five (little by perspective) monks are processing with the Virgin of Quito while a town far in the background burns. I have left the Church, but this stuff still enthralls me. It is so hallucinatory, but normal iconography…. The Immp has claimed it for his room. Early holiday present for around 100 bucks!

  52. 52.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: @Spanky: I asked about Waterlox last weekend for my small project. Maybe that is where people remember it from. One of my friends swears by it.

    Today, I am looking for advice on wood bleaching. There is a stain in this piece I would like to touch up (not a burn). Any suggestions?

    Also, my Mom when she moved into her transitional living apartment gave me a table made by my GGGrandfather out of the pieces of an old upright piano. Nothing was ever wasted on the farm!! But it has one are where some walnut wood top laminate is pulling away from the boards like a bubble. How do I repair that??

  53. 53.

    debbie

    Hey, all you Paypal users. I just got a bogus email from them. I know it’s bogus because I haven’t used Paypal in at least 10 years. If you get one, don’t trust it!

  54. 54.

    MomSense

    @Immanentize:

    Oh that sounds wonderful – the iconography not the depression. Even though I’m not a Christian, I do have several icons I’ve found in my travels. I used to have a gold St Francis coin and a jade Buddha that I wore on a necklace. I took it off and left it in my hotel room while I went swimming and when I came back it had been stolen. I often wonder what that pair have been up to since they were released into the world.

  55. 55.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly: Well, I feel rather silly. Started vacuuming them with my shop vac. It actually helped. Yes, they are very rough but not sure I want to go the sanding route. Couldn’t imagine trying to clean them with a brush and Murphy’s but neighbor guy suggested it. So blowing them, it is!

  57. 57.

    schrodingers_cat

    @MomSense: I have several Ganeshas, silver, plaster of Paris, stone, an abstract version and a tapestry, also too a drawing by a friend.
    I also love listening to Sufi and Bhakti inspired music (Muslim and Hindu mystical traditions respectively). Also too, Sanskrit shlokas. All very soothing and zen.

  60. 60.

    Quinerly

    Don’t mean to hijack the thread with home improvement stuff (but why not a thread for that sometime…ideas shared, now that Cole’s house is mostly finished and some of us can’t bear the thought of finishing our 140 year houses even after 30 years of trying?and we all need a break from politics) Anyway, if anyone ever needs an excellent product for sealing limestone/rock basements/foundations get Sure Klean’s Siloxane PD (predi!uted). That’s what I have used on this project…limestone needs to “breathe” and this allows that but also seals and cuts the dust. Goes on like skim milk so I was skeptical in the beginning.It’s thin. My basement is bone dry, always has been but I did have it spot pointed this summer. Used this product on the inside to give the limestone a glow and for a seal…cut down on the dust. It’s expensive and not available at the big box stores. Found it at a Sherwin Williams…they let me open a commercial account. Ended up being close to half price.

  61. 61.

    MomSense

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I love Sufi music. One of the best concerts I’ve ever attended was Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I have a recording of the music from a Good Friday mass in Syria that is amazing. I still have a few cassettes of some beautiful calls to prayer that I recorded but I no longer have a cassette player.
    When my dad used to travel to India, he always brought me some beautiful drawings, paintings, and little statues. I have a statue of Krishna reclining on a leaf. His pose is so carefree and playful and he is painted in the brightes colors. it makes me giggle.

  62. 62.

    Immanentize

    @schrodingers_cat: I have several Ganeshes too! I received one from a friend (small stone carved) and put him in my office on the bookshelf (to break down barriers there). Then, it became a thing among my friends and students to occasionally increase my Ganesh herd. It makes me very happy to have them looking over my shoulder (literally) while I work.

  64. 64.

    MomSense

    @Quinerly:

    We could use a Saturday morning This Damn House thread. So how long after you paint the walls should you stop trying to remove every little hand print and scuff?

  65. 65.

    schrodingers_cat

    @MomSense: His nephew Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, is pretty good too. Rashid Khan (no relation to Rahat or Nusrat) is my favorite Hindustani Classical music maestro. Also Kailash Kher whose style is quite different is among my favorites, amazingly enough both his Sanskrit and Urdu diction are flawless.

  66. 66.

    Spanky

    @Immanentize: Lotta people swear by Waterlox, though I haven’t used it much.

    Oxalic acid is what’s most commonly used for wood bleaching. Try a weak solution at first in case it doesn’t give you what you want. Available in most hardware (Ace, True Value) stores.

    The bubble under veneer is pretty common. Since a video is worth 10**6 words, I just tell you to search youtube for “repair veneer bubble”. The only additional thing I’ll add is to use hide glue if you at all can. Titebond makes one in a bottle, but I haven’t used it. Old Brown Glue *is* one I’ve used and can recommend. If you want to go totally old school, you can get 192 gram strength hide glue pearls and a glue pot and go to town. The reason for the hide glue is that a) it’s compatible with what’s probably under there now and b) it’s reversible – and repairable, unlike cyanoacrylate glues.

  72. 72.

    Immanentize

    @Quinerly: I really like the idea of a home project thread. Sunday Gardening is like that — maybe we could get AL to morph that into a DIY thread during this less fertile season?

  74. 74.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Immanentize: Any Hindu religious occasion from birth to death and everything starts with a Ganesh pooja. I love the symbolism of Ganesha, that intellect matters more than how than what you look like. He is the God of learning and auspicious beginnings. He is perfect for the office.

  75. 75.

    Matt McIrvin

    @OzarkHillbilly: To me, the lack of a purpose of life means I’m free. What would be awful would be if there is a purpose and it’s something utterly nasty.

    I’m not feeling depressed right now, I’m just angry. This popularly reviled piece of crap passed 51-49 on a 99% party-line vote with ZERO Democrats defecting. That means it’s pretty clear who is at fault and what to do. Hold the line, support the party; remember that some traitorous squishy faction on our side didn’t do this, it was all the other side. We can’t win it all in 2018 but the public is actually with us, and will be more when the pain hits.

  78. 78.

    Quinerly

    @Immanentize: Excellent idea…a combo thread on the weekend. That way a good reference tool…can easily find the helpful hints or just share updates on what folks are doing all in one place. I’m really down this AM over this tax shit. Have to escape it today…a few artisan markets this morning and back to my basement project. I call her “Salle Roche.”….. “Rock Room.” She has been my project to save me from Trump overload. We got to get the kitchen in before I leave for NM in Jan. Bathroom will go in in March.

  79. 79.

    schrodingers_cat

    @MomSense: Rashid Khan singing, Allah hi Reham (Allah is Mercy) from My Name is Khan
    Written by Niranjan Iyengar ( Who A Tamil Brahmin, Tamil is as different from Urdu as say Russian and English)
    This is the syncretism of India that I love not the cretinous Hindutva of the current ruling party.

  81. 81.

    Aleta

    @Quinerly: I used to have my mom’s family’s recipe for furniture cleaning-finish. Simple ingredients and you cooked it on a stove for awhile. Lots of antiques survived through their generations and they still have a nice gentle rubbed shine. (Now that I think of it, the people had that gentle shine too. They grew fruit on 200 acres not far from NYC, ice skated in the winter, played baseball in the summer.)

  82. 82.

    Quinerly

    @Aleta?.I seem to remember that you had a project going (bathroom??) a few months back. Did you get finished? Maybe you were just in the info gathering stages.

  84. 84.

    Zippity

    I decided that I need to do more than just donating to candidates from time to time. So today, I’m going to walk my precinct to gather enough signatures to be put on the ballot for Precinct Committeeperson. As of Wednesday, they didn’t have anyone else for my precinct, so filing pretty much means I’ll be elected.

    I’ve never been involved in politics, other than voting and donating, so this will be a new adventure.

  86. 86.

    schrodingers_cat

    @MomSense: More Rashid Khan goodness:
    From Jab We Met (When we Met)

    Aaoge Jab Tum Sajna, Angna phool khilenge (When you come my darling, flowers bloom..)
    Albela Sajan in Raag Ahir Bhairavi*, this a more classical rendition
    Ahir Bhairavi is a morning raaga ( I am not an expert, that’s what I read, so not 100% sure about the raaga)

    ETA: With links
    Albela Sajan
    Aaoge Jab Tum

  88. 88.

    Aleta

    @Quinerly: groan. It’s a story. About a guy. A very nice guy hired to replace the floor last January. Turned out to be lightening fast at demolition. And the dog loves him a lot. But not one to ask questions. Not what we’d call a listener. We got the bathtub and shower back working about 3 weeks ago. Fire him you say? (I think Ozark H. or someone here said that, after I mentioned the smoke from his saw setting off the fire alarms on his first day here. You were right!) The sink is waiting for his friend the plumber (a very nice guy, and I like him a lot!) to come back again. Somehow it became a story about my partner (very compassionate) and me (who now yells at the compassionate guy a lot). Upsetting the dog, who’s super kind to everyone.

  89. 89.

    J R in WV

    So sad that guys who are great at the demolition parts of a remodel job are often not the best at:

    a) listening to the client
    b) doing what the client says
    c) finishing up timely and
    d) a sharp looking product

    Years ago we had old clogged galvanized pipes replaced in a old house in town, great plumber did great work, but created holes in walls and ceilings. So we went to the union hall to hire a couple of carpenters to fix the holes and put a new ceiling in the kitchen. Which had a 10 or 12 foot high ceiling, like the rest of the old house.

    They left to buy supplies, sheet-rock, joint compound, lumber, etc. We left to do our stuff. When we came back, they had fastened boards to the wall at 8 foot ceiling height all around the room.

    We ( I ) yelled at them some, they obviously didn’t listen, we didn’t write up a formal work order for them to work from, they said “We can start over if you want…” but of course we would be expected to pay them for the work they already did, tearing out that work, repairing the holes in the walls at the 8 foot level…

    Then starting on the job we hired them to do. They were obviously hanging around the Union Hall because no one would hire them a second time. So sad, back in the mid-1970s. Had better work done hiring friends and acquaintances ever since. Slower, but do what we want done.

  90. 90.

    VincentN

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    So you started off saying life has no meaning and basically ended with the conclusion that our lives have the meaning that we give it. Which probably isn’t too far off from what Dan Harmon was saying.

    Incidentally, my favorite scene from the tv show Angel:

    Angel: Well, I guess I kinda worked it out. If there’s no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters… , then all that matters is what we do. ‘Cause that’s all there is. What we do. Now. Today. I fought for so long, for redemption, for a reward, and finally just to beat the other guy, but I never got it.

    Kate Lockley: And now you do?

    Angel: Not all of it. All I wanna do is help. I wanna help because, I don’t think people should suffer as they do. Because, if there’s no bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world.

  91. 91.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    The “feelings are real, but not *reality*” is *huge* and important. Once you realize that your feelings can be, well, wrong, you can start challenging the basis.

    “Nothing matters and no one cares” – okay, you *feel* that. But you also know it’s not true. And it’s okay to feel it – when I say it’s “wrong”, I mean only that it’s contrary to facts! But if you feel it, and combat it with your knowledge that it’s not real, it’s a bit easier to bear. Some people try to shift their perceptions, consciously, others try to make like it’s the weather, “it’ll pass,” but at each step, it’s possible to say “it isn’t right, it’s just a feeling.”

    Some of the other advice given – some of it will work, some of it might not, it’s all personal. But it’s good to try different things. Sometimes, “writing it out and burning it” is far more powerful than you imagine it will be. Sometimes, well, sometimes it’s just a silly exercise. But this is one of those things where, if you never do it, you’ll never *really* know.

  92. 92.

    HeartlandLiberal

    What is proposed in the series of tweets is at the heart of mindfulness training, which is gaining more and more adherents as a means of therapy and as a way to mentally live your life and deal with stress and all the things life throws at you. Just google “mindfulness”. The bottom line is getting to the realization that you are not your thoughts, and learning how to step away from them and become an observer and not let them drag you down.

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