Quick comment on something that probably went entirely unseen, or at least entirely uncommented upon: in the bottom of the 11th. Ian Kinsler hit a single and tried to steal second, but was thrown out. Kinda. He looked safe anyways, but the replay showed that Tejada did not even tag him - pulled the ol' "slap tag" routine and got the call. Now, this being America and the land of honesty and fair play and equal opportunity and aren't sports grand and don't they teach us all kinds of good-heareted lessons and everything else, Tejada immediately went to the umpire and explained, "No sir, I in fact missed the tag, and Mr. Kinsler should be declared safe." So they let Kinsler stay at second, and he scored two batters later when J.D. Drew singled up the middle. So the game ended in the 11th.
Oddly, though, all of the papers say it went until the 15th this morning. Maybe I mis-saw something.
So Tejada clearly knows he missed that tag, but he got away with it, and no one blinked an eye. That's clearly within the realm of "gamesmanship," but why? Looks like Tejada just used deceit to gain a competitive advantage. So while it falls under gamesmanship, it also falls under "win at all costs." Which *demands* the question: is anyone thinking of the children?
2: So beck and I, lacking inspiration and high brow prejudices, have watched a few episodes of Last Comic Standing. And there's this duo called "God's Pottery." Here's a clip that gives pretty much the whole shtick:
So it's pretty much open season mocking of the entire "Chirstian Acoustic Youth Group" movement. Which is interesting on the one hand because it's a group mocking Christianity on primetime network television - these guys are hardly pulling David Cross atheistic critiques of religion here, but still, not exactly family-friendly to a significant percentage of the country's population. But the other hand is that it's just a very limited shtick - these guys pull it off well, but it's one joke over and over. And over, but that is what's truly surreal about it - on this purported reality show, they keep up the act the entire time! Ridiculous, and made for some bizarre situations, like when they were in a "Yo Mama" joke telling contest and just kept complimenting their opponent's mother. Not to mention that they theoretically acted in this manner off-camera, too, just in normal living situations with the other contestants. Nice - they almost get points for me for some quality theater of the absurd stuff, but fall just a hair short because it's just frankly not quite absurd enough. Anyways, they were eliminated last week essentially because their one joke finally ran out of steam, and I'm pretty happy, because should I choose to waste more time with this show, I'd prefer it not to be at the hands of a one-off act.
(Train of thought to be continued in a moment - but in the meantime, speaking of "theater of the absurd," looking into the music of The Fortress of Solitude led me to an avant-garde group from the 70s-present called The Residents. They're famous - you may recognize them from their iconic eyeball masks - and I recognize that I am way off the cool path here - but check out this video. And be warned: WEIRD. Divinely so. I think I'm in love).
Getting back to the "acoustic comics" theme - thanks to an afternoon spent in Rochester with Meghan and Greg and an iPod hooked up to a TV, you can't think of "acoustic comedy duo" and no give props to these guys. In fact, I've probably posted this before, but here it is again:
"Be more constructive with your feedback." Indeed. Those dudes are much funnier / more talented / more musical, etc., than God's Pottery imho. And more versatile (if by "versatile" you mean, "can play funny acoustic guitar songs from other genres").
So compare and contrast with this guy, a seventeen year old acoustic guitar / musical comedian from Boston. Big props: witty lyrics, wordplay, and definite presence. Un-props: if you watch a bunch of his videos, you'll start to see a pattern of immature mugging and a consistent reliance on the same kind of jokes. And some pretty poor-taste jokes.
Oh, and if weren't for all the lewd references and disgusting, sophomoric imagery, I would totally dedicate this to Zil because the topic here is, loosely, high school math. Consider the preceding sentence a warning on two fronts (nerdy and illicit content). Btw, if you're looking for the "made soda come out of my nose line," it's the one that starts off "squaring numbers are (sic) just like women..."
In completely unrelated news: t-minus two until Ben and Ali!!! HUZZAH.
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