Joie de Vivre: Praising the Bretzel

Yes, you read that correctly. If you thought I was actually writing about “Braising the Pretzel”* and became enthused, then I sincerely apologize for causing false excitement.

*Nonetheless, an article on such a topic does not make much sense so I would question your logic if you did indeed become enthused. I would still maintain an overall apologetic tone though.

Reactions: The First Episode of Season Seven of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”

So are you guys sick of hearing about Curb Your Enthusiasm yet? Well, too bad. Here are reactions from F.P., Josh, and John S to last night’s season premiere….

Monday Medley

What we read while condescending others with small fruit…

• New York Magazine reports that Bob Dylan’s Christmas Album is quite humorous and links the aggregated 30-second samples from the album. Also, this Dylan song closed last night’s excellent Mad Men episode (John S apologizes for ever doubting that show) before being cut off by their stupid, misleading promos.

• In case you haven’t noticed, we are kind of into Curb Your Enthusiasm. Here’s a Wall Street Journal blog interview with Cheryl Hines on the new season, among other topics.  Meanwhile, Alan Sepinwall already has his very brief thoughts on the premiere and a longer column from Thursday too.

• I’m going to let Monday Medley finish, but did you guys get enough Kanye West jokes this week? Well, apparently Kanye and Swift have the same agent, which has led some to speculate that the event was staged, but as someone at the Little Spoon pointed out, who the fuck cares?

• We’ve plugged the Full Frame Film Festival on NPI before. George Packer over at The New Yorker discusses the role of “fixers” in journalism, which was handled well by this documentary at last spring’s festival.