More instances where I am on Rat’s side

(Pearls Before Swine)

It annoys me when I see people write on or dog-ear the pages of library books. Even with my own books, I never write on them or bend pages. I use bookmarks and if I want to note pages for future reference, I use small sticky tabs that peel off easily..

Here is another peeve where I agree with Rat.

(Pearls Before Swine)

Even if I am not straddling the line on either side, if I am too close to one line, I back out and re-park so that I am almost in the middle of the two lines. Not only is it a courtesy to those parking next to me, it also reduces the risk of the other driver accidentally hitting my car.

Jimmy Kimmel keeps hammering Trump and Conservative networks put him back on the air

He is not letting up in his attacks on Trump.

Now conservative networks Sinclair and Nexstar that own about 25% of ABC affiliates and who had vowed to not show Kimmel’s show have reversed course and now say that he will be back on.

In a statement, Sinclair said it received “thoughtful feedback from viewers, advertisers and community leaders representing a wide range of perspectives”.

“Our objective throughout this process has been to ensure that programming remains accurate and engaging for the widest possible audience,” the firm said.

The company said that it had “ongoing and constructive discussions” with ABC where Sinclair proposed measures to strengthen accountability and viewer feedback, including having a “network-wide independent ombudsman”. ABC and Disney have not agreed to the measures, and Sinclair noted that it “respects their right to make those decisions under network affiliate agreements”.

Nexstar separately said: “We have had discussions with executives at [Disney] and appreciate their constructive approach to addressing our concerns.”

I suspect that the ‘thoughtful feedback’ consisted of furious viewers yelling at them. Basically, they ended up getting exactly what Al Pacino offered a senator in The Godfather: Part II who tried to strong arm him into giving him a bribe.

I predicted that since money is their god, if Kimmel’s ratings stayed high, as they have, they would cave. It is interesting that they announced this decision on a Friday when most of the late night comedy shows do not have new shows, so that they would be spared immediate ridicule.

But I expect them to be mercilessly lampooned by all of them come Monday.

Trump must be bigly annoyed but hasn’t said anything yet.

Jimmy Kimmel returns and slams Trump

After a major uproar over the cancellation of his show, ABC’s parent company Disney decided to reverse course and bring Jimmy Kimmel back. The return was eagerly anticipated but if Trump and his critics expected Kimmel to tone down his mockery of him, they would be disappointed, as you can see from this segment that aired last night as Kimmel did not pull his punches. I thought that he hit pretty much the right note.


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Eddie Izzard on the Daleks

Based on my personal experience, there seems to a correlation between skeptical thinking and science fiction. I attend functions of a group of skeptics, sometimes physically at local venues, and at other times online with people around the world and I find that a large number of them are aficionados of science fiction and are knowledgeable about the minutiae of those stories.

Recently I created some mild astonishment within this group by saying that I had never actually watched any complete episodes of favorites like Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, or Dr. Who. I knew about them of course and had read about them and seen the odd clip of something from them. It is not that I avoid them. I do read the occasional science fiction but had never had any great interest in seeing science fiction on TV or the big screen. This surprised others who seemed to expect that with my science background, I would find them appealing.

One thing that had always puzzled me were the Daleks, the evildoers in the Dr. Who stories. They seemed to me to be laughably comical and totally not frightening. Eddie Izzard shares my puzzlement as to what the creators were thinking when they created them as conical objects with flat bottoms, like pepper and salt shakers, who moved on wheels and had weird appendages where arms would be.

So much available, so little to watch

In a comment to my blog post reviewing the film The Penguin Lessons, commenter jimf wrote:

I understand it was an offhand comment that had little to do with the post, but I can’t agree that Netflix has “seemingly infinite options”. I find the vast majority of Netflix content to be virtually unwatchable. The majority seems to be either mindless filler or hopelessly violent “action” pictures, or worse, stars Adam Sandler. Most of the comedy specials are flat and predictable. And good luck trying to find any classic pics made prior to 1960.

I actually agree with jimf. After all, I did not say that Netflix had “seemingly infinite good options”. The trope of people wasting their time surfing the site, trying and failing to find something that they really want to watch finally settling for some dreck just to kill time, has become a cliche.
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South Park trolls Kristi Noem and ICE

In a recent episode, the animated comedy show South Park severely trolled puppy murderer Kristi Noem, the head of the department of homeland security.

Two weeks ago, South Park kicked off its 27th season with one of its angriest, most politically daring episodes. The animated sitcom, long a magnet for controversy, incurred the wrath of the current US administration for its brutal and graphic send-up of Donald Trump as a petty, micro-penised dictator, as well as parent company Paramount’s cowardly capitulations to him.
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All of this is to say that the new episode, titled Got a Nut, is coming in hot. And for the most part, it lives up to the hype.

The episode follows two different stories: in one, the show’s resident bigot, Eric Cartman, is outraged to learn that fellow fourth grader Clyde has risen to prominence as a white nationalist podcaster who makes offensive claims about women, Jewish people, Black people and other minority groups to goad them into debating him in exploitative viral videos (“WOKE STUDENT TOTALLY PWNED”). Of course, Cartman isn’t angry on behalf of any of those groups; he’s mad that Clyde is ripping off his gimmick and reaping all the rewards. He decides to muscle in on the act, styling his hair after Kirk’s signature coif (“the stupidest haircut I’ve ever seen,” says one character), trolling college girls on social media and proclaiming himself a “master-debater”.
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“What’d he say? Blessed are the cheesemakers?”

The Scots know how to amusingly mock Trump during his impromptu press conference in Scotland.

Tom Lehrer (1928-2025)

The mathematician and musical satirist has died at the age of 97. The link gives some of his better known songs but the ones I like best are his parody of My Darling Clementine

and the song about Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel.

This was somewhat unfair to Alma, portraying her merely as someone whose chief talent was to work her way through many famous men. She was, in fact, an accomplished composer and author in her own right.