Eugene
2/28/11
Sorry I stopped answering things for a while. But just this morning I answered tons of questions. Here are a few:
Eugene
2/22/11
Here’s a clip from the Colbert Report where I play a kind-hearted medical-sex-clown.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Cheating Death – Ablibalify & Bing Bongavax | ||||
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Eugene
2/20/11
Here’s a little clip from tonight’s episode of Bob’s Burgers “Dinner Theater” on Fox at 8:30/7:30C.
Eugene
2/17/11
Yesterday NPR posted something re-explaining their terms and conditions for commenters on their site after inappropriate comments were posted regarding the tragic attack on Lara Logan. Apparently, you can’t just write idiotic, sexist or racist things anonymously. Why? Surprisingly, it’s not because NPR is run by well-meaning communists obsessed with elitist manners (look no further than Stalin and Mao Zedong for proof). It’s because it doesn’t help the dialogue — and they frown upon libelous personal attacks. Still, one anonymous commenter was disappointed in NPR’s trite, age-old message of not blaming the victim. Oh liberal, public radio when will you see how much women endanger themselves by not taking more karate and being so pretty? Below, is the comment:
Look, most of us don’t know what it’s like on the ground in Egypt or war-torn regions in general. But you know who probably does? Lara Logan. I bet she has a pretty good idea of the levels of risks involved, because she’s traveled all over the Middle-East reporting on conflicts for many, many years.
But this is almost not what annoys me about the comment. It’s the idiotic example he uses as a parallel to the situation:
“If I (a middle aged white guy) hang out on a Harlem corner at 1am with a bag of dope and $2500 hanging out of my pocket and get robbed and/or killed, I suppose I should scream victim. Oh the humanity!”
First of all, does this person not know that’s a dumb thing to do anywhere in the world (except a forest or private boat), mostly because you would be arrested by police-people who are on the lookout for just that type of thing? Also, does he think it’s the 1970s? Would it have killed him to use the much more contemporary example of Baltimore (though still dumb) and not an area of New York where Bill Clinton works? I think if an older white-guy stood on any corner in NY City holding a bag of “dope” (it’s slang for drugs — in 1964) with money hanging out of his pocket, people would assume he was insane, dangerous, or a particularly terrible DEA agent. But I think if this guy really wanted to put himself in a dangerous situation, he should go to the suburbs — where there is heightened fear of the unknown — I recommend the corner of Lowell and Woburn Streets in my home town of Lexington, MA. I’m sure a very concerned parent would call the police right away (unless a mix of white, Jewish, Asian and Indian teen hockey-players on skateboards robbed him first).
Regardless of where it’s dangerous to stand around visibly holding drugs and money, I think that is such an incongruous analogy to entrenched journalism which is fairly vital to the function and flow of democracy. However, if that middle-aged white guy did stand around doing that in Egypt, was mistaken for a Jew and then brutally, sexually attacked, I guess he’d think it was to be expected.
Eugene
2/15/11
I made a video to help out The Thrive Project, a wonderful non-profit in western Mass that helps “young adults pursue happiness.” The Thrive Project is an educational/commuinty/cultural/career space that does everything from teaching, tutoring, putting on performances/ sallons/ art shows to organizing field trips and all sorts of great community support stuff. It’s based in Turners Falls, MA. Here’s the video I made for them:
Thoughts on the Thrive Project with Eugene Mirman from The Thrive Project on Vimeo.
Eugene
2/15/11
Michael Showalter made a very funny new video for Atom.com that I’m in. You can watch it right here:
Tags: Atom.com | Funny Videos | Tournament | Upload
Speaking of Michael, he has a wonderful new book, Mr. Funny Pants, that just came out. We’re having a Pretty Good Friends book release party for Michael at Bell House on 2/27 w/ Kumail Nanjiani, Reggie Watts, Michael, me and special guests.
Eugene
2/11/11
I did a reading at the Russian Samovar of Vladimir Sorokin’s Day of the Oprichnik (a novel about a futuristic, somewhat dystopian Russia — which is not dissimilar to what Russia might actually become) as part of FSG’s monthly series. It was a nice time with lots of flavored vodka’s (dill and horseradish and pomegranate mostly). When reading there were handfuls of words that I couldn’t figure out if they were Russian words I didn’t know or made-up futuristic Russia words — the answer? — both! Here’s a little blurb about the night from some blog-thing. It’s so accurate about what happened, that I think it might simply be a reprinted press release (since most articles tend to get something factually wrong, so I find it suspicious that this did not):
Eugene
2/7/11
Here’s a super-funny clip of Kristen on The Daily Show talking about new abortion and rape laws (proposed by cold-hearted legislators) with an intensity and humor normally reserved for weekend documentaries on MSNBC.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Rape Victim Abortion Funding | ||||
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Video
2/5/11
I recently saw a video of Bill O’Reilly condescendingly respond to a viewer’s question about the moon and the tide. Though I can’t tell exactly what O’Reilly believes, I can tell that whoever disagrees with him is a desperate pinhead. The video is so smug and proud of it’s anti-intellectualism that it begs the question whether Bill O’Reilly is some sort of savant — eerily able to connect on an emotional level while covering up a crippling level of mental retardation. I’d like to say that it is not his belief in a higher-power that I find problematic, but the dismissive arrogance with which he willfully ignores information he should’ve learned in 9th grade Earth science or can be easily found on Wikipedia (admittedly crowd-sourced, but often accurate).
Two side notes: obviously, I think it would be terrible if a hostile alien race came to Earth. However, one of the only pluses would be if a photograph could be taken of Bill O’Reilly at that moment, just to finally see a chip in his cocksure worldview. Secondly, a fun way to watch his video is to pretend he’s a militant Jihadist, just sharing his thoughts about the moon. Below is Bill O’Reilly’s video:
Here is my parody of Bill O’Reilly’s moon video:
