Don't look for the through-line in these links. Just think of it as interesting stuff I read today. Actually, if you can come up with a through-line, you should win a prize or something. Not that I'm going to give you one.
Why We Worry About the Wrong Things - I kept meaning to write something about our tendency to focus on the least likely risks, but couldn't find my way in without writing about stuff I didn't really want to talk about. But this is way more interesting and factual than I would have written it.
Blame it on Borat - I don't care that Pamela Anderson's marriage is ending. I don't care if Borat had anything to do with it. But this is a very strange article that quotes the chairperson of English and film studies at the University of Alberta - the department and university I graduated from, though too long ago for him to have been there at the time - who comments way too seriously on a topic I'd tried to say something about ... that some people seem to be laughing at the wrong parts of Borat:
Epp says it's a serious misinterpretation of Borat if anyone is assuming that it's now acceptable to hurl racial and sexist epithets as a form of humour.
"The people who use that kind of humour and make those kinds of comments are the butt of the jokes in the film, and it would be particularly sad, and actually truly pathetic, if anyone came out of that film not understanding that."
Humor returns to roost on Thursday. Yay, Scrubs and the Thursday comedy block are back. This is a hilarious interview with producers of all four shows.
Q: What's coming up on your shows?
Greg Garcia, My Name is Earl: We have my favorite episode of the season tonight. (Pause.) I don't even know which one is on.
Q: Scrubs isn't the only sitcom dealing with babies. Earl's Jaime Pressly recently announced her pregnancy. And 30 Rock was put off for a year when Fey had her daughter. Is there something in the bottled water?
Bill Lawrence, Scrubs: Very funny people are very fertile. It's a medical fact.
Tina Fey, 30 Rock: And everybody wants to get it on with them.
Garcia: You can't keep people away from us.
Fey: And we don't understand birth control.
Brain Drain: 3 lbs goes to early grave. I can't say I'm surprised this show didn't catch on, but it did worse than Smith did, even. Oh well, I still have my brain squeezy toy and they can't cancel that.
Cover Their Tracks: Don't ask why a lumber publication was on my reading list, but it's a funny take on business owners being tempted to keep track of their staff with new technology, described more seriously here: Nike+iPod could be used to track user: study.
