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Archive for the ‘Political Humor’ Category

Periodical–Prospect

Posted in Airlines, An Education, Art, Books about music, Books about writers, Brian Eno, David Hockney, Essays, Frank Auerbach, History, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Martha Wainwright, Monty Python, NPR/PRI/PBS, Nature, Political Humor, Prison, Prospect, Technology, The Daily Show, The Wire, War, Warehouse 13, Word usage on November 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

I recently received an e-mail from a nice person at Prospect (a British magazine).  The email asked if I’d like to review their magazine.  After being completely flattered, I said, “Of course!”  And then I waited nervously hoping that the magazine was good and that I wouldn’t have to say anything mean about it, because [...]

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Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The Best of McSweeney’s Humor Category (2004)

Posted in A.M. Homes, Aaron Naparstek, Amy Fusselman, Ben Greenman, Books about writers, Chris Bachelder, Christopher Monks, Clay McLeod Chapman, Corporate skewering, Daniel Handler, Darin Strauss, Dave Eggers, Demons, Denis Johnson, Digression, Dip-in Books, Dreams, Ezra Pound, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Humiliation, J.M. Tyree, Jake Swearingen, Jim Stallard, John Hodgman, John Moe, Jonathan Ames, Jonathan Lethem, Kurt Luchs, Lawrence Krauser, Margaret Atwood, McSweeney's, Mike Bullard, Myla Goldberg, Neal Pollack, Negativland, Neil Gaiman, One Ring Zero, Paul Auster, Political Humor, Postmoderism, Rick Moody, Sci-fi, Sean Carman, Sex & Violence, Smarty Pants, Sports, Stephany Aulenback, Summer, Supernatural, Technology, They Might Be Giants, Tim Carvell, Todd Pruzan, Zev Borow on October 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ONE RING ZERO-As Smart as We Are (2004).
I had this CD sitting around my house for about 4 years.  I had received it as a promo disc from Soft Skull Press (along with several other books on CD) and I just never put it on.  Then one day I was going through all these [...]

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Shiny Adidas Tracksuits and the Death of Camp and Other Essays

Posted in Bill Clinton, Books about music, Books about writers, Boredom, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Dave Eggers, David Foster Wallace, Dip-in Books, Donnell Alexander, Drinking, Drugs, Eddie Vedder, Essays, Free Speech, Funny (ha ha), Gangsters, Glasgow Phillips, Gods, History, Jess Mowry, M. Doughty, Marc Herman, Martha McParlin, McSweeney's, Michael Moore, Might, Missoula Montana, Oddities, Paula Kamen, Political Humor, Racism, Religion, Research, Sex, Sex & Violence, Smarty Pants, Soul Coughing, Supernatural, TV on the Radio, Technology, Ted Rall, The Future, Travel, Tripp Hartigan, Wikipedia, Zev Borow on October 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TV ON THE RADIO-Dear Science, (2008).
The problem with TV on the Radio for me is that their first EP is so damned good that anything else they do pales in comparison.  Having said that, Dear Science, comes really close to topping that EP.  I liked Cookie Mountain (their previous disc) but I felt like [...]

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Periodical: The Week

Posted in Airlines, Art, Authors, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Books about music, Books about writers, Boredom, Canadian Content, Children's Books, Comedians, Comic Strips, Consumerism, Contests, Death, Esquire, Essays, Film & TV, Free Speech, Gay/Lesbian, History, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, Military, Morality, Music, Natural Disasters, Neurotics, New Yorker, Oddities, Outer Space, Political Humor, Prison, Racism, Radar, Religion, Research, Robots, Russia, Salon.com, Sex, Sports Illustrated, Suicide, Technology, The Week, Violence, WMDs, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me, War on September 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

I’m not sure how I first learned about The Week. I think I received a trial issue in the mail. But after just one or two issues we were hooked.  The Week is a comprehensive newsweekly, although it offers virtually no original reporting.  It collates news stories and offers opinions from a variety of sources: [...]

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Periodical: Mental Floss

Posted in A.J. Jacobs, Art, Bible, Big Books, Caravaggio, Contests, Esquire, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), History, Ken Jennings, Louis Armstrong, MacGyver, Mental Floss, Natural Disasters, Oddities, Outer Space, Political Humor, Religion, Research, Robots, Rossetti, Salvador Dali, Smarty Pants, Supernatural, Technology, The Future on September 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Mental Floss has been one of my favorite magazines for about four years now.  It only comes out every two months, but it is just chock full of all kinds of weird information.  Sarah and I fight over who will read it first.   And then later we say, Oh, I read somewhere about [...]

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David Foster Wallace–[Week 10] Infinite Jest (1996)

Posted in Adventure, Big Books, Boston, MA, Canadian Content, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, David Foster Wallace, Death, Demons, Dreams, Drinking, Drugs, Eschaton, Esquire, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gangsters, Goonies, Infinite Summer, Marriage Trouble, Meta, Oddities, Political Humor, Postmoderism, Religion, Set at School, Smarty Pants, Suicide, Technology, Tennis, The Future, Toilets, Violence, Yuck! on August 29, 2009 | 8 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: GARBAGE-Garbage (1995).
I was thinking about how IJ reminds me so specifically of a place and time (I instantly think of the apartment I was in when I started reading it).  And there are also some discs that I was crazy about at the time too.
I very distinctly remember when the first Garbage single “Vow” [...]

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David Foster Wallace–[Week 9.5: J.O.I.'s Filmography] Infinite Jest (1996)

Posted in Big Books, Canadian Content, Corporate skewering, David Foster Wallace, Death, Drinking, Drugs, Eschaton, Film & TV, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Infinite Summer, Kronos Quartet, Marriage Trouble, Meta, Political Humor, Postmoderism, Sex & Violence, Short Films, Smarty Pants, Sonic Youth, Sports, Suicide, Supernatural, Tennis, Threats, Universities, Violence, WMDs, War, Yuck! on August 26, 2009 | 8 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-SYR 4: Goodbye 20th Century (1999).
This SYR recording consists of Sonic Youth’s interpretations of 20th century composers’ works.  Some of the composers are obscure, but a few are more or less household names: John Cage, Yoko Ono, maybe Steve Reich.  I knew a few of these composers from Kronos Quartet, but for [...]

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Periodical: New Yorker

Posted in 18th Century, 19th Century, A.M. Homes, Adam Gopnik, Airlines, Alice Munro, Annie Proulx, Barack Obama, Books about music, Books about writers, Chris Ware, Colm Tóibín, Consumerism, Daniel Clowes, Dave Eggers, David Foster Wallace, David Sedaris, Deb Olin Unferth, Ernest Hemingway, Essays, Fables, Fantasy, Film & TV, Funny (ha ha), Gay/Lesbian, George Saunders, Haruki Murakami, Heidi Julavits, Ian Frazier, Jeffrey Eugenides, Joshua Ferris, Joyce Carol Oates, Lorrie Moore, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, Mary Gaitskill, Memoirs, Music, New Yorker, Noir, Paul Theroux, Political Humor, Puzzles, Racism, Rick Moody, Robert Coover, Roberto Bolaño, Roddy Doyle, Russia, Salman Rushdie, Sasha Frere-Jones, Sex, Sex & Violence, Sherman Alexie, Short Story, Simon Rich, Smarty Pants, Sports, Supernatural, T.C. Boyle, Technology, The Believer, The Future, Threats, Ui, Universities, WMDs, War, Woody Allen, Zadie Smith on August 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

It took me going to Seattle to learn about The New Yorker magazine.  I was visiting my friend Rob and he was really surprised that I didn’t read the magazine all the time (my reading always seems to surprise people, see The Believer.)
Upon my first read of the magazine, I was surprised to see that [...]

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Periodical: Radar

Posted in Books about music, Britney Spears, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Drinking, Drugs, Funky Web Sites, Political Humor, Radar, Technology, The Future on August 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Radar Magazine has folded.  Yet again.  They launched the magazine a few years ago, and I subscribed.  And it folded.  Then they relaunched it a second time, and they continued my subscription (wasn’t that nice).  And now it folded again.  They still have an online presence, but I’ve never looked at it.
Whatever you say about [...]

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Kurt Vonegut–A Man Without a Country (2005)

Posted in Books about writers, Corporate skewering, Death, Essays, Free Speech, Funny (ha ha), In These Times, Kurt Vonnegut, Old Age, Poetry, Political Humor, Prison, Religion, Short Books, Smarty Pants, Sonic Youth, Technology, The Future, Threats, War on July 27, 2009 | 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-EVOL (1986).
Ah, EVOL.  Here’s where Sonic Youth became Sonic Youth.  Who knows how much Steve Shelley had to do with it, but he shows up and the band becomes amazing.  The cover art is pretty darn scary and yet the music inside is amazingly beautiful.  While by no means a commercial album, the [...]

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