Palin, SNL, and comedy

The problem with Sarah Palin's SNL cameo last weekend (I call it a cameo because she did so little, unlike, say, Hillary Clinton or John McCain or Rudy Giuliani have done in their appearances on the show) isn't just that she was a prop, it's that she didn't commit to being a prop. Take, for instance, the Palin rap song Amy Poehler did during Weekend Update. A VP candidate singing a rap? Funny. A VP candidate announcing she's not singing a rap because it's inappropriate for someone in her position? Also funny. A VP candidate announcing she's not singing a rap because it's inappropriate for someone in her position, but then (and I shudder to type these words) raising the roof and doing the white man's overbite while someone else sings the rap? Not very funny.

You've got to commit. As Doctor Cox explains around 1:42 of this clip:

This sketch seems vaguely familiar somehow.

Do you like spaceships, toddlers, Model T cars, and jars of beer?

Spaceships, Toddlers, Model T Cars, and Jars of Beer from Backbone on Vimeo.

Turns out I live in Canada, eh?

At least according to this map of How Californians see America.

Indiana Jones

The sweetest moment in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystall Skull was discovering that by 1957 Dr. Jones had gotten tenure. It's good to know that this rejection letter wasn't the final word on that subject.

Billy Mays outtakes

As Scarlett Johannsen goes...

So Scarlett Johannsen is making robocalls for Barack Obama. And while I'm sure Ms. Johannsen is a darn persuasive young woman, I can't help but wish her call sounded a little more like this:

Mitt Romney can't spell, either

From an e-mail I just received:


I like how the selection ends in a question mark, too.

Separated at birth?

Battlestar Galactica producer Ron Moore...





...and Doctor Lucien Sanchez?

Bacon

I just got an e-mail from Kevin Bacon telling me why he's supporting John Edwards. Does this give me a Bacon Score of 1?

Quote of the day

From a write-up of an anime convention:

I was reminded much more of a science fiction con than a comic-con, to be honest. A sense of proud, or even defiant, nerditry prevailed over the proceedings, but rather than being anal retentive it was more, anal explusive, I suppose.

Really, I should go home and go back to bed, because nothing I read or write today is going to top that.

And they say political science isn't a science

Political Scientists Discover New Form Of Government

(Via Poliblogger.)

The $30 Million Dollar Newt

Newt Gingrich is saying he'll join the absurdly crowded GOP field if supporters raise $30 million. Which raises the question: What happens if he can only raise, say, $20 million? Does he just get to keep it? There's the makings of a Max Bialystock-caliber scam there...

Captain Sulu rocks the house

(Via She Who Must Be Obeyed.)

Our ironic cousins

Simon Pegg of Spaced and Shaun of the Dead shares some thoughts on American and British styles of humor:

It's not so much about having a different sense of humour as a different approach to life. More demonstrative than we are, Americans are not embarrassed by their emotions. They clap louder, cheer harder and empathise more unconditionally. It's an openness that always leaves me feeling slightly guilty and apologetic when American personalities appear on British chat shows and find their jokes and stories met with titters, not guffaws, or their achievements met with silent appreciation, rather than claps and yelps. We don't like them any less, we just aren't inclined to give that much of ourselves away. Meanwhile, as a Brit on an American chat show, it's difficult to endure prolonged whooping without intense, red-faced smirking.

Of course, it's the mainstream output of our respective entertainment industries that tends to shape our general opinion of each other. Ask the average American what they perceive British comedy to be and you will most likely be quoted shows such as Benny Hill and Are You Being Served? (although, thanks to BBC America, this is beginning to change). The fan demographic for both shows is markedly more diverse than in their country of origin. This is probably due to their parochial peculiarity, rather than the quality of the comedy (although both shows had their moments) and perhaps explains why the American audience took to Shaun Of The Dead with such affection. A refusal to occupy that transatlantic middle ground that sometimes scuppers British films intent on appealing in America means that the film plays as resolutely British. That approach does risk certain social and cultural references being lost in translation. But not many. The only joke in Shaun Of The Dead that never got a laugh in the States was Ed's request for a Cornetto ice cream at 8am on a Sunday morning. Overall, the cast's understated reserve in the face of flesh-eating zombies just added another layer of amusement for American viewers.

When it comes to their mainstream, America's emotional openness has often given way to a sentimentality that jars with our more guarded and cynical outlook. This is why the initially enjoyable Happy Days became blighted by saccharine lessons in family values, as Henry Winkler's originally subversive Fonzie was mercilessly appropriated by the middle-class American family, castrated by Marion Ross's Mrs Cunningham and forced to sit on it (although it's interesting to note that in outtakes from the series, Winkler and Ross would often play out an irresistible sexual tension between them with stolen gropes and kisses, solely for the enjoyment of the live studio audience, hinting at darker, more interesting themes than the show itself ever tackled). Generally speaking, sentimentality isn't easy for us. It makes us nervous and uncomfortable. We become edgy and dismissive of these brazen displays of emotion.

When Homer met Jerry

A belated video post in honor of the late former president, who did not leave the country in worse shape than he found it. Would that we could say the same for all of his successors.

Art Buchwald, RIP

Take a moment and read Art Buchwald's final column, won't you?