Friday Afternoon Open Thread

by · August 19, 2011

Erik Kain

Erik writes about video games at Forbes and politics at Mother Jones. He's the contributor of The League though he hasn't written much here lately. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter.

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18 Responses

  1. Tod Kelly says:
    August 19, 2011 at 6:59 pm

    I will confess I enjoyed this, though one moment is a little too weird: When Levy describes the damage done to Brown’s girlfriend’s face, the hosts who had cut to him let out some giggles and guffaws. I am assuming that’s because they knew prior it was a humor piece, were not quite paying attention and were just on auto-pilot with insincere stage laughs, but it did come across a bit creepy.Report

    • Mike Schilling in reply to Tod Kelly says:
      August 19, 2011 at 10:16 pm

      I know that people who appear as hosts on Fox shows are ipso facto morons, but do they really not recognize a bit that’s supposed to be done deadpan?Report

      • Kolohe in reply to Mike Schilling says:
        August 19, 2011 at 11:50 pm

        I’ve always seen it as part of the schtick – Levy plays his segment straight while Gutfeld giggles like an eleven year old – because it’s 3 in the morning and Levy is the designated driver while everyone else is drunk and/or stoned.Report

    • Christopher Carr in reply to Tod Kelly says:
      August 20, 2011 at 12:56 am

      I think it’s important to draw a sharp distinction between humor and satire. Humor is meant to be funny. Satire is meant to humiliate. If laughter ensues from either or both, it is or should be two very different kinds of laughter.Report

      • Tom Van Dyke in reply to Christopher Carr says:
        August 20, 2011 at 1:10 am

        In the zone re Red Eye and Levy in particular, Mr. Carr. It’s not The Daily Show, and props to those who can tell the difference.Report

        • Mike Schilling in reply to Tom Van Dyke says:
          August 20, 2011 at 2:07 am

          The Daily Show goes after targets more worthy than some thuggish B-list celebrity. Oh, and it’s funny.Report

          • Christopher Carr in reply to Mike Schilling says:
            August 20, 2011 at 2:25 am

            I’m actually agnostic about the Daily Show. Sometimes I think it’s funny. Sometimes I don’t. I liked watching CNN Crossfire back in the day, so I was disappointed when John Stewart ruined that. I also entertained a theory that John Stewart was the most influential person in the media for a while, after he joked about Martin Scorsese having not won an Oscar and then Scorsese won it the following year. I think the liberal establishment pines on John Stewart’s every word, and I think Stewart gets away with a lot because he can just change his hat at a word. That being said, I think America needs more people like John Stewart, because television news really is at the level of comedy.Report

  2. Stillwater says:
    August 19, 2011 at 9:23 pm

    This is awesome. Like, totally.Report

  3. Kolohe says:
    August 20, 2011 at 8:03 am

    In the open thread vein, will conservatives and Republicans STFU about Obama taking a vacation and where he is taking it. All Presidents take vacations and most take it to ‘exclusive’ places. And they should. It was a pain in the ass when Obama visited the ‘touristy’ parts of Hawaii (and he was criticized even then for going to a hoity toity place real ‘Mericans don’t go to, which would be a surprise to anyone who walks down Kalakaula Boulevard)

    Besides, you can’t criticize him for being a sekrit Muslim Marxist plotting to ruin America and then criticize that he’s not on the job *enough*.Report

    • Brandon Berg in reply to Kolohe says:
      August 20, 2011 at 8:12 am

      I would like Obama to take more vacations. And get some new hobbies. Maybe a few mistresses, too. Anything to keep him from signing new legislation.Report

    • Robert Cheeks in reply to Kolohe says:
      August 20, 2011 at 9:04 am

      Kolehe, let’s get it right or you’ll get a post about this! Barry’s a Hawaiian-Kenyan Marxist. There, how hard was that?Report

    • kenB in reply to Kolohe says:
      August 20, 2011 at 9:25 am

      you can’t criticize him for being a sekrit Muslim Marxist plotting to ruin America and then criticize that he’s not on the job *enough*.

      The food in this restaurant is terrible! And such small portions!Report

    • Art Deco in reply to Kolohe says:
      August 20, 2011 at 9:42 am

      I will hope for a president who:

      1. Travels with a security cordon not much more extensive than that of the Prime Minister of Israel, because, like the Prime Minister of Israel, his every move is not broadcast beforehand by PR flacks.

      2. Travels abroad on business no more often than Harry Truman thought necessary.

      3. Goes on speaking tours only at election time or to promote salient legislation.

      4. Does not find it necessary to issue remarks for every occasion, or to employ a staff of a half-dozen writers to compose those remarks.

      5. Attends the commencements of the service academies, and little else.

      6. Does not attend the funeral of or send condolences with regard to anyone he did not know face-to-face.

      7. Holds state dinners only for the President of China, Queen Elizabeth, the Pope, or someone of significance on the order of Charles de Gaulle or Margaret Thatcher (and there are none such now).

      8. Limits his inaugural addresses to 39 words.

      9. Takes his vacation time in the White House, or with relatives, or at some other property he owns, or at a shoreline or in mountains within driving distance of the capital.

      10. Is married to a woman like Bess Truman: frugal, old enough to be retired and interested only in her family and in her hobbies, inclined to spend most of her time in Missouri (or wherever she is from), and willing to transmit messages to the East Wing press corps like, “Tell ’em it’s none of their goddamn business”.

      11. Has much less to say than the current incumbent.Report

      • E.D. Kain in reply to Art Deco says:
        August 20, 2011 at 11:42 am

        That all sounds fine, Art. But what if the president is a woman? Is her husband to follow similar guidelines to the ones you lay out for the First Lady?Report

        • Art Deco in reply to E.D. Kain says:
          August 20, 2011 at 7:03 pm

          For the most part. Todd Palin is 47. Cannot figure what (given his vocation and avocations) what he would do with himself at this point in his life if sentenced to live in D.C. The two of them do not seem the sort who could handle a long-distance marriage. So, yes, the First Gentlemen should be an old guy who says little but is willing (on occasion) to say anything. Think of Denis Thatcher or Prince Philip. Minimizing the number of diplomatic functions and state dinners would be a necessity.Report

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