Monday Medley

What we read while not Googling “Santorum”…

• With so much military grandstanding in the Republican primary races, it’s worth wondering if a nuclear Iran would even be such a bad thing.

• A trio of comedy interviews: Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen talk about Portlandia; Louis C.K. talks about his show and other stuff; Nick Offerman (aka Ron Swanson) talks about writing his own episode.

• Speaking of Ron Swanson, the CEO of PBS defended public television’s funding model.

• It’s been 9 days since President Obama authorized indefinite detention without due process, so it’s worth paying attention to stories like this tragic case of wrongful imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay.

• Jodi Kantor’s new book about the Obamas analyzes the evolution of Michelle Obama as First Lady.

• Chuck Klosterman doesn’t mind drinking “mouse-dissolving acid.”

• A rare success story for 21st century journalism.

• Jorge Posada is retiring. John S made a Hall of Fame case for him a few years ago, but will it work?

• The greatest map you’ve ever seen.

• A profile of liberal pundit Dylan Ratigan.

• Woody Guthrie’s New Year’s resolutions.

Monday Medley

What we read while turning down the Donald Trump debate…

• Tim Tebow keeps engineering miraculous comebacks (it’s almost making John S believe in God) and last week two of NPI’s favorite writers tried to figure out why so many hate him: Paul Shirley analyzed the racial aspect of the Tebow phenomenon, while Chuck Klosterman thinks it’s all about religion.

• Speaking of Klosterman, he ranked his favorite hair metal albums of the 1980s.

• You’re never going to guess who’s comedy album is ranked as the best of 2011 (unless you guessed Louis C.K., because it’s Louis C.K.). C.K. also released his new special at his website for $5. In other comedy news, Ron Swanson was named the best TV character of the year and David Wain returned with more episodes of Wainy Days!

• Perhaps the biggest sports story of last week was Albert Pujols signing with the Los Angeles Angels for $254 million. Friend of the blog Will Leitch was obviously distraught, though Pujols will always have a place in Cardinals history. As usual, Jonah Keri tried to break down the numbers.

• While Pujols was the biggest on-field story, John Branch’s three-part exploration of late Rangers’ enforcer Derek Boogaard may have been the most important off-field story done all year.

• This building may evoke images of 9/11 but still, doesn’t it look really cool?

• Oh potential of high-speed rail, we hardly knew ye.

• The Millions kicks off its always entertaining and enlightening “Year in Reading” series.

• Serious Eats’ on Bad Good and Good Bad pizza.

• So, um, this is pretty racist. And so is this.

• ESPN’s Tim Keown laments the ossification of the sports interview.

Parks and Recreation: The 25 Funniest Lines of the First Three Seasons

Earlier this week, I mentioned that one of the two shows I’m most excited to see come back to TV this fall is NBC’s Parks and Recreation. In fact, I was so excited that I decided to compile the 25 funniest moments from the first three seasons. If you like what you see, then tune in for tonight’s season premiere at 8:30. If not, then watch anyway–I left off a lot a of great stuff:

Monday Medley

What we read while Dallas finally made up for killing Kennedy…

• Grantland.com debuted last week, just in time to cover the Miami Heat loss. Also run during the site’s first week: Chuck Klosterman on DVR mechanics, Dave Eggers on Wrigley Field, and an oral history of The National.

• Speaking of those Heat, remember The Decision? We sure do, as it was a popular topic of conversation for us last summer. Tim started it out by defending The Decision (although he’d like to point out the significant caveat within that piece that reads “so long as he doesn’t curiously choose Miami”). John S defended The Decision even after it took place while Tim expressed disappointment in LeBron’s view of championships. John wondered why everyone claimed James was being selfish and then told some of his most well-known critics to shut their mouths. Finally, he took on the infamous Nike commerical, “Rise.”

• Over at The A.V. Club, Dan Harmon breaks down every episode of Community‘s second season. Meanwhile, did South Park air its series finale last week?

• The NY Times discovers hashtags – outside of Twitter. #so2010 #maybeeven09

• Keith Law reviews Fight Club, at long last.

• Why the “College degrees don’t mean much” stories are wrong — and always have been.

• Some interesting and controversial state appellate rulings this week in statutory rape and child pornography.

• North Korea’s Global Happiness Index. Sort of like Cooley Law School’s law school rankings.

• Continuing the trend of comedian commencements, Conan gives Dartmouth’s Commencement Address.

• Nick Offerman wanted Oprah (who had some choice words about her old show) to play his ex-wife on Parks and Recreation. And a slideshow of Ron Swanson emotions!

• You still have time to catch up on Breaking Bad before the fourth season starts next month!

• A sixth season of The Wire??? Probably not.

• What Carlos Beltran hears in his bats.

Monday Medley

What we read while wondering what the original Holy Saturday was like…

• As fans of Ron Swanson and baseball, we very much approve of this attempt to bridge the two.

• For anyone who doesn’t understand Passover, this extended version of the Four Questions pretty much explains it all.

• Tom Scocca v. Chris Jones! Writer feud!

• Jones also talks about Jon Krakauer’s takedown of Three Cups of Tea author Greg Mortensen and its ramifications for non-fiction writers.

• Noam Chomsky asks if the world is too big to fail.

• A brief history of Humblebrag may qualify as its own best example.

• The WNBA’s next slogan: Take a gamble!

• For all our soccer aficionados, the Cosmos!

• Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock, among others, talked about the art of comedy on HBO’s Talking Funny.