Jordan Klepper visits MAGAland again

This time he goes to Waukesha, Wisconsin that held its primary elections on Tuesday. He seems to never run out of total nutters who are willing to go on TV and say the most outlandish things. Of course, they themselves clearly think they are being perfectly logical and factual.

By now, any reasonably politically conscious person would be aware of Klepper and that they would look foolish when the clip is broadcast. My guess is that they only read and watch right-wing media and hence still have no idea who he is or what he does. But you would think that word would have at least spread through the MAGA grapevine to avoid talking to the very tall comedian who is not Conan O’Brien and who is followed by a camera crew

This time he spoke at some length to a woman who seemed enamored of something called Gematria in order to interpret political events. I had not heard of this before and so looked it up. It seems to be a species of numerology.

Gematria is the practice of assigning a numerical value to a name, word or phrase according to an alphanumerical cipher. A single word can yield several values depending on the cipher which is used.

Hebrew alphanumeric ciphers were probably used in biblical times, and were later adopted by other cultures. Gematria is still widely used in Jewish culture. Similar systems have been used in other languages and cultures: the Greeks isopsephy, and later, derived from or inspired by Hebrew gematria, Arabic abjad numerals, and English gematria.

Here is Klepper.

Samantha Bee’s show canceled

I have frequently linked to clips from her show Full Frontal because they were topical, funny, hard-hitting, and biting. So I was saddened to learn that after seven seasons, it will not be renewed this fall.

Over the course of seven seasons, Bee’s “Full Frontal” brought an aggressive and saucy voice to TV’s late-night arena, and one of the few programs led by a female point-of-view. Bee captured attention with outrageous humor and monologues that pushed the usually genial cable network to embrace hefty amounts of profanity and tackle political issues that are often polarizing.

“We do a show to please ourselves,” Bee told Variety during an interview in 2016. “This gives us an opportunity to say the things we want in the exact way we want to say them.” In the process, her viewers get a few laughs, but also can exorcise their frustrations with modern politics and culture.

The end of “Full Frontal” comes as Warner Bros. Discovery has been cutting back on its content spend for big cable networks like TBS and TNT. To be sure, the outlets continue to feature movies and have added more nights of sports, thanks to a recent rights deal struck between Warner Bros. Discovery and the NHL. But TBS has been cutting back on scripted series, with shows such as “Chad” and “The Last O.G.” scrapped in recent weeks. Brett Weitz, general manager of TBS, TNT and TruTV, left the company in May after the cable networks were consolidated under the aegis of Warner Bros. Discovery executive Kathleen Finch. Weitz had been a strong backer of “Full Frontal.”

It seems like scripted shows are giving way to cheaper alternatives like sports and reality TV.

Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj and Conan O’Brien’s show were two very good comedy programs that also are no more.

Faux Stonehenge in Georgia blown up

Rural America has many roadside attractions, some amusing, some religious, most of them kitschy. My attention was caught by a news item a couple of days ago about a faux Stonehenge granite monument in rural Georgia called the Georgia Guidestones that had a mysterious origin and aroused quite a bit of controversy and, this being America, conspiracy theorizing. It had to be demolished after unknown persons exploded a device that had damaged part of it and rendered it unstable.


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Rat makes more sense to me now that I am older

(Pearls Before Swine)

I went camping just once. There were about ten of us and it was just after we had finished our final exams at college, before the results were released and we had to start work. We camped on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka next to the wonderful warm and calm ocean and the golden sandy beaches. The whole area was empty of people, just coconut trees and other vegetation. Sleeping in the open near the ocean under the night sky where we could see so many stars that were invisible in the city was a real experience. None of us really knew much about camping and any seasoned camper would have been horrified at our ineptness but I recall that we all had a great time.

A few years ago, I returned to that same area that we had camped as students . It was unrecognizable. It has now been utterly transformed with luxury hotels all along the beachfront. All that remains of what I remembered are the sandy beaches and the warm, placid ocean.

Some of my friends on that trip still enjoy camping but I have no desire to do so anymore. In particular, a decent bathroom is one thing that I am very reluctant to voluntarily do without.