It’s probably illegal.  So send me a cease and desist.

YouTube – A Charlie Brown Christmas (full length).

Merry Christmas.

The last things in the world I expect to see:

1. Britney Spears doing a command performance at Kennedy Center
2. The Wege from Norwegianity taking an understated approach to a discussion
3. A good Rocky sequel. Oops. Well, blow me down. Rocky Balboa has gotten at least one good review:

Theres a disarming quality to Stallones thoughtful script that has a way of stopping smirking skeptics right in their tracks, as if to say: “Yeah, yeah, I know what youre thinking. But at least give me a shot here.”

And darned if that gently self-effacing approach doesnt melt away those preconceived notions.

With his beloved Adrian having passed away, Rocky trudges along the streets of his South Philly neighborhood like a man whos been beaten down by the ravages of time and bittersweet memories of all-too-distant glories.

Hes only too happy to regale patrons at his eatery, Adrians, with those stories, but his habit of living in the past is beginning to grate on his old buddy Paulie Burt Young, whos been there for all six rounds, whos no longer willing to accompany Rocky on those ritual tours through his old haunts.

OK.  I’ll go.

Al Franken’s show – which has been broadcasting from Minneapolis for most of the past year – has been “demoted”, sort of. Air America Minnesota, says this report by Strib media-beat writer Deborah Caulfield Rybak, is moving Fast Eddie Schultz to the 11-2PM slot (up against Rush Limbaugh), and “tape”-delaying Franken to the 2-5 slot:

Franken had no comment on the change, but “we’re not horribly offended,” said his executive producer. “They’re free to do whatever they like.”

“They” – Janet Robert’s KTNF (AM950) – are indeed. And rumor has long had it that there was little love lost between Robert – the wealthy, former mud-slinging DFL congressional candidate who is nonetheless pro-life and pro-Second Amendment – and free-spending, ultra-“progressive” liberal, and incompetent Air America. Rumors in the business have long held that Air America wanted to find a different Twin Cities affiliate.

Locally, [Franken] had been performing better in the Arbitron ratings than Shultz, but not by much. KTNF posted a 0.9 percent share of listeners ages 25 to 54 during Franken’s show and a 0.4 share during Shultz’s. Both are eclipsed by Rush Limbaugh, who attracted a 4.1 share of listeners on KTLK (100.3 FM) during the same period.

Side note: Little birds tell me that Dennis Prager and Michael Medved, on AM1280, are handily clobbering both of them as well. Of course, noting that would require Deb Rybak to acknowledge the Patriot’s existence and the fact that is it beating the crap out of not only Air America Minnesota, but also most of KTLK’s non-Limbaugh lineup. And duh, Deb; of course Franken’s numbers have been better than Fast Eddie’s; Franken is on mid-days, which is a lot less competitive than afternoon drives. It’ll be interesting to see if Franken has any numbers at all by the time he finally gives up the radio ghost.   

The New York Film Critics name United 93 the year’s best film:

Marshall Fine, the group’s chairman, said it was a tough vote for best picture, with critics slugging it out over “United 93,” “The Queen” and “The Departed.”

In choosing the winner, “I think everybody agrees it was an amazing film in terms of telling the story without pushing a political point of view,” said Fine, film and TV critic for Star magazine. “It puts you right in the middle of the scene without telling you what to think or what to feel. It was really one of the most harrowing films of the year.”

It’s not a light watch; my insides were twisted into knots watching the movie, even though the ending was far from a cliffhanger.  And the no-name cast is impeccable. 

 Harrowing is about the right word.  But it deserves every honor it can get

I occasionally catch bits and pieces of the History Channel’s Mega Disasters – where scientists (who may or may not be crackpots) wax enthusiastic about their pet theories for civilization-altering disasters, set (in the History Channel’s typical style) to cheesy graphics and crudely-assembled stock footage of similar disasters.

Mega-wildfires destroying Sidney? A Tsunami drowning the entire east coast? A mega-hurricane erasing some other first-world metropolis? No matter; some scientist will appear, grinning like Comic Book Guy who’s just gotten the new Cthulhu Digest, as cheesy computer graphics show some hapless bystander getting swallowed by a tsunami, or stock footage from Indonesia’s tsunami shows a little girl being swept away from a group of other kids clutching an abutment?

Yeah, it’s entertainment. Of course, I’ve met the type of people who find disaster pr0n entertaining.

Ick.

These shows make my skin crawl; the people who get off on them make my  intestines crawl.

I watched Comedy Central’s Last Laugh 2006 last night.

Odd name, since I’m still waiting for the First Laugh.

“Yellow Wiggle” Greg Page is bailing:

The hugely popular children’s group The Wiggles is expected this week to announce the departure of its lead singer…

Huh?

 He wants to make a solo album?  Acting career?  Clashed with the drummer over a post-Kid-Rock Pamela Lee? 

… because of a serious illness, media reports said Wednesday.

Doh.

The Wiggles were Australia’s top-earning entertainers last year, ahead of No. 2 AC/DC and No. 3 Nicole Kidman.

But their best albums are still from before they went major-label.

I remember watching the coverage of a panel on terrorism and the media over the past summer hosted by Rush Limbaugh. I even wrote about it (a post I ended up not publishing). The hook line – for me – was watching an interview with Mary Lynn Rajskub, the actress who plays frazzled ubergeek Chloe O’Brien on 24. She seemed perplexed and mildly miffed that conservatives in particular seem to love the show that’s made her a star.
The story has apparently come back from the dead-pile via News of the Weird, or so it seems, with wags linking Rajskub and…Rush Limbaugh?:

ACTRESS Mary Lynn Rajskub of “24” wants to set the record straight – Rush Limbaugh has not bedded her, nor will he ever. “Last summer, I was on a panel about terrorism that [he] was moderating,” the blonde tells FHM. “He said hello to everyone and kissed me full on the lips. I was like, ‘Oh, that was odd.’ Then the picture was on the Internet and people thought I was going out with him. He’s brilliant and hilarious, but I wouldn’t say I wanted to get it on with him!”

Well, she’s not my type either. Oh, who am I kidding; yes, she is.

But that’s not the story here. Part of it, as Brian Maloney notes, is Rajskub’s flirtation with career suicide:

You’ve got to give Mary Lynn credit for one thing, however: in Hollywood, it takes guts to admit you believe Rush Limbaugh is “brilliant and hilarious”. Could that alone cost her a future role or two?

The other part:  The forum in question was about terrorism.  Rajskub plays a supporting role in a show about terrorism…

…oh, never mind.  I’m sure it makes perfect sense.

With perfect timing, Red notes that today is the 64th anniversary of the release of Casablanca.

It’s a movie I’ve seen about forty times, and for good reason.

Casablanca premiered at the Hollywood Theatre in New York City. It was not expected to be a long-lasting mythical evocation of the quintessential American ideals we all aspire to, from generation to generation. It was just supposed to be another one of the pro-war propaganda movies the studios were churning out at that time. It went on to win the Academy Award the next year – but again, lots of films win Academy Awards and don’t go on to achieve legendary status.

The legend around the film began growing in the late 50s, a couple of years after Bogart’s death. The stories about the Casablanca showings at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge Massachusetts are now famous … and make me wish for a time machine.

Oh, me too, Red. Me too.

I think I need to watch it tonight.

The greatest South Park episode of all time: the one where they lampooned MTV’s Sweet Sixteen.

Oh, I thought lines like “Oh, it’s OK, Satan – you’re not as bad as those kids on Sweet Sixteen” were funny on principle.

Then I finally saw Sweet Sixteen. Kudos to Stone and Parker; at least I had the memories of the SPark episode to help assuage the crushing depression that watching Sweet Sixteen gave me – the creeping realization, watching those spoiled, vacuous little pigs – that “maybe the terrorists have a point after all”.

That is all.

Michael Richards’ Krama’ culpa trudges on:

Michael Richards said Monday he spewed racial epithets during a stand-up comedy routine because he lost his cool while being heckled and not because he’s a bigot.

“For me to be at a comedy club and flip out and say this crap, I’m deeply, deeply sorry,” the former “Seinfeld” co-star said during a satellite appearance for David Letterman’s “Late Show.”

“I’m not a racist. That’s what’s so insane about this,” Richards said, his tone becoming angry and frustrated as he defended himself in a clip from the show played on CBS before “Late Show” aired Monday night.

I think it closes the circle.  Long before Seinfeld, Richards was desperately un-funny on the old ABC Fridays SNL knockoff.  He was the least funny part of Seinfeld. And he’s apparently a terrible standup.

We can be done with this, now – right?

Sheila observes that today is PJ O’Rourke’s birthday.

O’Rourke is, of course, one of the short list of writers who started me on the road from left to right, twenty-odd years ago (the others being Dostoevskii, Paul Johnson and Solzhenitzyn).

Red’s favorite O’Rourke quotes:

— A hat should be taken off when you greet a lady and left off for the rest of your life. Nothing looks more stupid than a hat.

— Fish is the only food that is considered spoiled once it smells like what it is.

— With Epcot Center the Disney corporation has accomplished something I didn’t think possible in today’s world. They have created a land of make-believe that’s worse than regular life.

— In fact, safety has no place anywhere. Everything that’s fun in life is dangerous. Horse races, for instance, are very dangerous. But attempt to design a safe horse and the result is a cow (an appalling animal to watch at the trotters.) And everything that isn’t fun is dangerous too. It is impossible to be alive and safe.

— There are a lot of mysterious things about boats, such as why anyone would get on one voluntarily.

— To grasp the true meaning of socialism, imagine a world where everything is designed by the post office, even the sleaze.

— The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch and not dressed any better, on average, than the citizens of Baltimore. True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee, but why this is more stylish than sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whiskey I don’t know.

— Bachelors know all about parties. In fact, a good bachelor is a living, breathing party all by himself. At least that is what my girlfriend said when she found the gin bottles under the couch. I believe her exact words were, “You’re a disgusting, drunken mess.” And that’s a good description of a party, if it’s done right.

— Ecology is the science of everything. Nobody knows everything. Nobody even knows everything about any one thing. And most of us don’t know much. Say it’s ten-thirty on a Saturday night. Where are your teenage children? I didn’t ask where they said they were going. Where are they really? What are they doing? Who are they with? Have you met the other kids’ families? And what is tonight’s pot smoking, wine-cooler drinking, and sex in the backseats of cars going to mean in a hundred years? Now extend these questions to the entire solar system.

— Are we disheartened by the breakup of the family? Nobody who ever met my family is.

— It’s hard to come back from the Balkans and not sound like a Pete Seeger song.

— People who are wise, good, smart, skillful, or hardworking don’t need politics, they have jobs.

— Earnestness is just stupidity sent to college.

And the one I’ve, perhaps predictably, loved since I saw it in Parliament of Whores: “I’m not a liberal, so I’m not an expert at stuff I know nothing about”. But the best O’Rourke of all – and perhaps the one still most applicable in this day of demands for multilateralism – is O’Rourke’s ringing defense of the cowboy diplomat, fifteen years before anyone called them that (below the fold).

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