I know some of you are a little concerned about my apparent lack of interest in the Familiar Stranger recently. Never fear: not a moment goes by when my love does not grow stronger. I even love the guy who spoofs My Man Joe on SNL. (Ask Tech Support Guy. He’ll tell you that I love me some Jason Sudeikis–especially when he sings the song about Cleveland on 30 Rock.)
But in what has to be a truly unexpected development, I’ve developed concurrent borderline obsessions with two additional guys. This morning, as I lay around reading every fucking thing I could find about the debate that didn’t make me want to kill the writer and skimming through (can you skim TV? film scholars out there, will you please weigh in?) Morning Joe (kind of like sipping on NyQuil–not good, but not the worst thing I could be doing–well, OK, really really bad), both of them popped up yet again, in what has to be their best form yet. So the time has come for me to introduce all of you to the two of them.
Instead of explaining all the reasons I love these guys, I’m going to keep it simple. Here’s what Bachelor Number One did this morning, (Well, he did it last night; I found out this morning, courtesy of, choking here, the fucking HuffPo, which I HATE for keeping me up with what Paul Reiser thinks of our current situation.):
Robert Gibbs is in the MOTHERFUCKING HOUSE! Preppy boys will in fact inherit the earth. Proof right here, ladies and gentlemen. (And, for the record, Gibbs is the one who compared Lindsey Graham to Niedermeyer on Morning Joe during the Republican Convention[killed!], laying the groundwork for me to show my daughters Animal House in honor of their father’s 41st birthday and thus ensuring that our republic will go down in flames just because of Sarah Palin.)
Meanwhile, over in the land of the written word, I’ve become completely obsessed with the NYTimes coverage of Meltdown 2008–THE FIRESTORM IN THE FINANCIALS. And by completely obsessed, I mean reading every word written by Paul Krugman. Now let’s be honest: no one slept with Krugman in college. No one. So the idea that I’m following this guy’s every word is, well, unexpected. But over the past two weeks, the Princeton Econ Department has skyrocketed in the Bizarrely Sexy Index and I’m reliving Econ 101 (first experienced in Fall 1982, with none other than Big Man on Campus Alan Blinder at the lectern, boring the shit out of me and 500 other stupid freshmen in Alexander Hall weekly). But Krugman, shit. Let’s face it, I’ve hated the guy all year because he’s been in the tank for Hillary. He’s done nothing but give Obama shit. And he’s the kind of wonky tech weenie who appeals to Tech Support Guy (he buys his books), not a hotshot historian (oxymoron?) for a backseat driver like me.
Well, there’s more to Krugman than meets the eye.
Just trust me here. Read this little post and then follow his link. Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.
Comments 2
As the resident television scholar fan of this blog, I feel compelled to respond to Lize’s question. Television scholars have long recognized that we view TV differently from the way we watch movies. Think about it; instead of being in a darkened room where our chairs are bolted to the floor to make us face the screen, the television is a home appliance that we can place anywhere we want–in the center of the living room, on a kitchen counter, in the bedroom, etc. Some have even called it “a toaster with pictures.” Film watching is all about “the gaze”–the way that movies draw you in completely (in part by excluding distractions)–while television is about “the glance”–looking up when you think something good is about to happen. TV producers know that you’re distracted by making a sandwich or folding socks while you’re watching, so they do what they can to accommodate your needs and keep you “watching” their shows so their ratings are maximized. Theorists of television sound have identified a number of ways that the medium works to call your attention to the visual stuff–musical cues, play-by-play announcers, and sound guys who know to keep all the mics open when there’s a good argument going on. So “skimming” is the standard (if perhaps not preferred) practice of watching. Sorry to sound so stiff, but this got me into professorial mode…
Posted 08 Oct 2008 at 7:03 pm ¶This time he rearranged girls of olive garden pics my face arranging itselfinto what ididnt expect was not his.
Posted 29 Dec 2008 at 1:58 pm ¶Post a Comment