Archive for June, 2010
30
Jun
Posted by John S in Comedy, TV. Tagged: Alan Sepinwall, Michael Scott, NBC, newsradio, phil hartman, replacing TV stars, Saved by the Bell, Steve Carell, the decline of the office, The Office, the two Darrens, TV. Leave a Comment
On Monday Steve Carell restated his intent to leave The Office when his contract ends after next season. This could, of course, be a negotiating ploy, but Carell is, by pretty much all accounts, a class act—it seems more likely that he’s just being honest when he says it’s time for his run to end. [...]
Continue reading »
30
Jun
Posted by John S in Comedy, TV. Tagged: Chelsea Peretti, Comedy, Comedy Central, FX, jerry seinfeld, Louie, Louis C.K., Pulp Comics, seinfeld, sitcoms, sketch comedy, stand-up comedy, TV, vaginal rashes. 13 Comments
As most dedicated Seinfeld fans know, the initial concept for what would become one of the best live-action sitcoms of all-time was an exploration of how comics get their material. The pilot episode was edited such that the action cut back and forth between Jerry’s life and Jerry on stage. And while the next few [...]
Continue reading »
29
Jun
Posted by Tim in The Top 173 Things in World History. Tagged: an incomplete list of famous princes, but jay did successfully argue for fishing rights off the coast of newfoundland to be fair, christopher columbus, john jay, lose the treaty but win the war, portugal, portugal's in europe?, prince henry the navigator, Spain, spanish armada, the lost art of the papal bull, treaty of tordesillas. 1 Comment
Ever since the start of the World Cup, I’ve been waiting for a showdown between Spain and Portugal. But my two-and-a-half weeks of impatience doesn’t even compare to how long the Portuguese have waited for this: It is a chance at revenge 516 years in the making. It was this month in 1494 that Portugal [...]
Continue reading »
29
Jun
Posted by Josh in Psychology. Tagged: identity, mutual experience, reminiscence, restaurant, roller coasters, self-perception, weighty pondering. Leave a Comment
Mutual experience* presents a paradox. *Mutual experience, simply put for purposes of this post, is doing the same thing as someone else. It could be simultaneous (e.g. riding a roller coaster with a friend) or temporally divided (e.g. reading a novel after a friend has read it). There is little in life that is a [...]
Continue reading »
28
Jun
Posted by NPI in Monday Medley. Tagged: adam sternbergh, buzz bissinger, Chuck D, Conor Oberst, david mitchell, gq, How I Met Your Mother, Jason Segel, jorge luis borges, michael cera, michael wilbon, mike tyson, new york times magazine, northwestern commencement, scott pilgrim vs. the world, the millions, the new republic, The Simpsons, the walrus, Twitter, wyatt mason. Leave a Comment
What we read while not writing anything…. The New York Times Magazine’s profile on David Mitchell is one of our favorite features on one of one of us’s favorite authors. Our favorite part from Wyatt Mason’s look at Mitchell: “When writing is great, Mitchell told me of the books he loved as a reader, ‘your mind [...]
Continue reading »
21
Jun
Posted by NPI in Monday Medley. Tagged: "fail", Billy Beane, BP, buzz bissinger, buzz bissinger's twitter, Dallas Braden, Damon Lindelof, dead homer society, deadspin, douche juice, follow friday, grammar, Joe Posnanski, john wooden, legos, manute bol, Michael Ian Black, moneyball, monopoly, oil spill, philadelphia magazine, sam mellinger, Soccer, the cartridge family, the day Moneyball died, the vuvuzelas are here!, tim donaghy, Tony Hayward, Twitter, will leitch, world cup. 1 Comment
What we read while our goals were mysteriously disallowed… BP’s first smart move in the wake of its massive oil spill may have been lessening Tony Hayward’s role in the spill response. He had become one walking gaffe since the disaster–he probably doesn’t have a role in Damon Lidelof’s (fake) movie about the spill. As [...]
Continue reading »
17
Jun
Posted by Tim in "We Take, Among Other Things, Umbrage", Culture, Sports. Tagged: america, dear world, low-scoring doesn't necessarily mean bad, manichean battles, mcdonald's is popular, soccer sucks in john's opinion, soccer vs. football, we like to think of ourselves as civilized too contrary to what you might think. 7 Comments
Among the myriad readers of John S’s critique of soccer (and to a lesser extent Tim’s) was good old America, who was upset it was brought into the fold so often during the rebuttals in the comments. So America decided to defend itself, in short, epistolary form. Dear World, We call it soccer. Deal with [...]
Continue reading »
16
Jun
Posted by Tim in "We Take, Among Other Things, Umbrage", Sports. Tagged: extra time, flopping, Herm Edwards, imprecision of time, penalty kicks, play to win the game!, playing to tie, Soccer, soccer apologists, soccer sucks, the real reasons to hate soccer, world cup, World Cup 2010. 12 Comments
John appears to have already stirred the passions of the soccer fanatics with his rant on its lack of scoring. While I generally agree, I’d like to elaborate with soccer’s most egregious offenses to an American sports obsessive: 5. The Imprecision of Time
Continue reading »
16
Jun
Posted by John S in "We Take, Among Other Things, Umbrage", Sports. Tagged: a tie is like kissing your sister, Bill Buckner, james harrison interception return, Outcast Culture, Robert Green, sean dockery, Soccer, soccer apologists, soccer is too low-scoring, soccer sucks, Stanley Cup, the Olympics, the real reason to hate soccer, US-England tie, world cup, World Cup 2010. 179 Comments
For those of you who have been appropriately ignoring this year’s World Cup action, Saturday saw a semi-surprising tie between the United States and soccer-loving England, thanks to a blunder by British goalie Robert Green. Now, whenever a World Cup rolls around it provokes a tired debate in America between the rabidly pro-soccer and the [...]
Continue reading »
14
Jun
Posted by Tim in Comedy, Politics. Tagged: a salute to the american flag, flag day, june 14, nelson muntz, old glory, stars and stripes, the problems with other flags, the seychelles one is really cool though. 3 Comments
Today is Flag Day. Flag Day is my favorite joke holiday (as I’ve implied before), edging out Arbor Day and Columbus Day. But watching the World Cup has, among other things, instilled in me a new appreciation for the United States flag. It is really cool. It is SO much better than most any other [...]
Continue reading »
Tim
John S
Pierre Menard
Josh
NPI
Jake
