radosh's blog

Why not Bil Keane?

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

Why not Bil Keane?

Daniel Radosh

WNBK?: Now with dance mixes!

The New Yorker Cartoon Anti-Caption Contest #178

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

The New Yorker Cartoon Anti-Caption Contest #178

Daniel Radosh

Submit the worst possible caption for this New Yorker cartoon.

�Last week's results. �Rules and tips.

090126_contest_p465.jpg

First place

"Way I see it, drowning yer sorrows is like drowning yer kids -- gotta make sure there ain't no more bubbles before you start on the next one." � Jared S.

Second place

"Someone pushed my stool in." � K Siers Jr.

Third place

"I'll have a Sexual Assault on the Beach." �Francis

Honorable mention

"You don't have a web site? Jesus, I've got one and I'm a convicted pedophile. Get with times! By the way, is that a picture of your son?" �MAtt

"I'm haunted by the faces of my victims. Especially the rape victims."�Capt. Spaulding

"I'll bet that mustache is a clip-on............the Happy Hours here are
obscene.............it's good there aren't any black people here to see this..........are you listening to anything I say?"�Rob

"Hey, Jack, which way to Mecca?" �TG Gibbon

The tampons for technical achievement were given out previously at a separate ceremony

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

The tampons for technical achievement were given out previously at a separate ceremony

Daniel Radosh

So marriage ban donors feel exposed by list, do they? It would be nice to think that the people who voted for Prop 8 don't want anyone to know it because they're ashamed of themselves. But in fact, they're just whiny cowards who didn't expect anyone to actually avail themselves of a law that's been on the books for 35 years requiring public accountability for all large campaign contributions.

In his suit, which is also being argued by the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal group, Mr. Bopp alleges a wide range of acts against supporters, including �death threats, acts of domestic terrorism, physical violence, threats of physical violence, vandalism of personal property, harassing phone calls, harassing e-mails, blacklisting and boycotts.�

Sounds serious -- but the actual complaint [pdf] is a joke. Here's a typical e-mail one Prop 8 supporter received: �I will tell all my friends not to use your business. I will not give you my hard earned money knowing that you think I don�t deserver [sic] the same rights as you do. This is a consequence of your hatred.�

Well he would

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

Well he would

Daniel Radosh

Armstrong pushes cancer campaign Down Under

Literally

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

Literally

Daniel Radosh

obamaprod.jpg

I'm waiting for my appointment as undersecretary of teen pop

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

I'm waiting for my appointment as undersecretary of teen pop

Daniel Radosh

For the last few weeks, many of us have had moments where something makes us think, "Wow, things really are going to change." (Interspersed with a few "or maybe not" moments.) But I just had a genuine "Holy shit" moment upon reading that Obama has named a fucking left-wing blogger deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel. OK, Marty Lederman isn't just a blogger. He served in a lower position in the OLC under Clinton. But as someone who frequently turned to Lederman for analysis of the Bush catastrophe that was far more insightful than anything out of official Washington or the MSM, I can not be more stunned, and thrilled, that he's actually going to have a fairly significant hand in shaping national legal policy.

Sweet land of liberty, indeed.

Fool me once...

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

Fool me once...

Daniel Radosh

Nice try, Oscar, but I'm still not gonna see Benjamin Button.

Also, how does Waltz with Bashir get a foreign Oscar nod but not an animated feature one? Are we really to believe that Bolt is the better film? Although Persepolis was nominated in the animated category last year, the Academy seems to treat it as the kiddie menu (the ridiculously over-praised Ratatouille won, as the ridiculously over-praised Wall-E will this year). I say drop the category altogether, especially since it's only getting harder to say what's animated and what's merely computer-enhanced.

Glad to see Richard Jenkins and The Visitor weren't completely overlooked, though.

The hills are alive with the sound of waterboarding

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

The hills are alive with the sound of waterboarding

Daniel Radosh

They've fixed it now, but Jake grabbed this headline from Huffington Post in its original form.

obamasings.jpg



Your suggestions for tunes and lyrics are welcome.

Huh. I would've thought a Mexican newspaper would be too lazy to come up with this headline

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

Huh. I would've thought a Mexican newspaper would be too lazy to come up with this headline

Daniel Radosh

obama.jpg

To work, my black person!

Via Burro Hall.

The New Yorker Cartoon Anti-Caption Contest #179

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

The New Yorker Cartoon Anti-Caption Contest #179

Daniel Radosh

Submit the worst possible caption for this New Yorker cartoon.

�Last week's results. �Rules and tips.

090202_contest_p465.jpg

First place

"I'll be taking over your regular doctor's patients for a while. He was in an accident." � stcoleridge

Second place

"Have you seen that movie 'The Mummy'? Well, I fell asleep watching it with a lit cigarette." �Steve_O

Third place

"So they put me on the cross and they put nails in my hands and my right foot. And the last joker, he acts like he's going to put the nail in my other foot - but then he nails my head to the cross! Anyway, I swear I was dead for like two days!" � Jesus


Honorable mention

"I'm afraid I'll have to examine you with my tongue, Mr. Morrison."�Bou

"Doctor, is that the female reproductive system in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"�Liz W

"Why are you not wearing the traditional head and appendage turbans? You bring shame upon your family, Westernized swine!"�mypalmike

"What do you mean, 'Physician, heal thyself?' What the fuck do you think all these bandages are for?" �Dreamer

Kissing girls can't help Katy Perry escape the long arm of Jesus

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

Kissing girls can't help Katy Perry escape the long arm of Jesus

Daniel Radosh

KatyPerry-PhotobyScottNathanforTooF.jpg Beliefnet's Joanne Brokaw, who broke the Katy Perry's secret evangelical past story last year, listens in on a conference call in which PK KP drops enough Christianese ("I have had my own relationship and my own beliefs and I'm continually on an upward search with all of that") to make clear that she hasn't made a total break with that world.

At one point Katy is asked about promoting homosexuality. This was something of a concern among conservative Christians and probably says more than anything about how disconnected much of that group is from mainstream culture. The idea that I Kissed A Girl is a "pro-gay" song is just laughable. In fact it's as about as pro-gay as Girls Gone Wild, appropriating and diminishing female sexual desire for the express purpose of pandering to juvenile straight-boy fantasies.

Which is, of course, why it's a hit. As John Tabin noted here last summer, there's a world of difference between Katy's shamelessly calculating novelty hit and Jill Sobule's far more interesting and honest song of the same name from a decade ago.

Update: Hey, fans of Andrew. If you're interested in this type of thing, check out my book, Rapture Ready!

If your mother says she

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

If your mother says she really, really loves you, check it out

Daniel Radosh

discodolls.jpg Hot off every online news outlet's "most popular" list:

Yahoo News: "Hong Kong to produce 'world's first 3D sex movie'"

New York Magazine: "Finally! The world�s first-ever erotic 3-D movie, the appropriately titled 3D Sex and Zen, will begin production in April."

Variety: "Lensing will begin in April on what its producer claims will be the world's first erotic movie to be made in stereoscopic 3-D."

Wired: "Shooting will begin in April on what's being billed as the world's first 3-D erotic film, according to its producer."

IGN: "A Chinese filmmaker has announced plans to make what he claims to be the world's first 3D sex movie."

Sex and porn are subjects the media covers on frequently, but rarely seriously. It's not supposed to be news, just a little something to titillate readers while they're bored at work. Still, does no one want to do a little reporting first? I dug out my April, 2002 Playboy and found this letter to the adviser:

I changed the name of this town

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

I changed the name of this town

Daniel Radosh

240px-Twatt_Orkney_Road_Sign.JPG Last week, the New York Times had an authentically amusing article about the poor folks who live in British towns and streets with obscene-sounding names. Names like Crotch Crescent, Wetwang, Slutshole Lane, and Titty Ho.

Many of the names, the article notes, are found in the books Rude Britain and Rude UK, "which list arguably offensive place names � some so arguably offensive that, unfortunately, they cannot be printed here."

It's the same notes Nickelodeon execs gave the first version of Dora the Explorer

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

It's the same notes Nickelodeon execs gave the first version of Dora the Explorer

Daniel Radosh

Peta was quick to capitalize on NBC's rejection of its proposed "go veg" Super Bowl ad � so quick that it's almost as if it never expected the ad to be approved and created it solely to manufacture some controversy and publicity.

That said � well, that and how loathsome Peta is in general, since somebody's gotta kick off the flame war � it is a pretty awesome ad. Way better than the kind of disgusting one Paris Hilton did for Carl's Jr., so score one for the veggies.

Still, the only thing that makes it worth blogging is the official response from NBC's VP of advertising standards, which Peta's team of professional faux-ironists couldn't have scripted better themselves.



The PETA spot submitted to Advertising Standards depicts a level of sexuality exceeding our standards. Listed below are the edits that need to be made. Before finalizing the spot, we would like to view a Quicktime file as well as a DVD with high resolution.

:12- :13- licking pumpkin

:13- :14- touching her breast with her hand while eating broccoli

:19- pumpkin from behind between legs

:21- rubbing pelvic region with pumpkin

:22- screwing herself with broccoli (fuzzy)

:23- asparagus on her lap appearing as if it is ready to be inserted into vagina

:26- licking eggplant

Hey little girlz, want some candy?

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

Hey little girlz, want some candy?

Daniel Radosh

cliquespan.jpg

It's been nearly two years since I declared the Clique Girlz � then simply Clique � to be the next Huckapoo. Which I suspect you took to mean that you'd never have to hear about them again except in my fevered rantappreciations. So how did "the youngest pop group in the history of music" go from being a bad joke on an obscure blog (and vice versa) to the front page of the New York Times arts section? To answer that, we must travel back, back, back to the primordial era before the birth of rock 'n' roll.

It is the most famous legend in American musical history. Bluesman Robert Johnson was at a crossroad in his career, as well as an actual crossroad on a road, and he saw his musical future slipping away from him. In this moment of weakness, Johnson sold his soul to the devil. In exchange, Satan made Johnson the greatest guitar player who ever lived.

Cut to the present day.

Will you forgive me if I buy you a present?

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

Will you forgive me if I buy you a present?

Daniel Radosh

Looks like I picked the wrong week to start judging the anti-caption contest in a more timely fashion. Sorry about that, but the results are up now in case you still care.

To make it up to you, I'm offering another excellent prize to the winner of next week's contest: a copy of the new semi-authorized Hugh Hefner biography Mr. Playboy � the book that shows "how Hefner's sexual and material ethic of self-fulfillment drove him to challenge the social conventions of postwar America," and that has an honest-to-god centerfold.

This strikes me as a good fit for a prize, since Playboy and New Yorker cartoons feature roughly the same number of black people.

Breaking: Clique Girlz are breaking

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

Breaking: Clique Girlz are breaking

Daniel Radosh

9.jpg In response to my post today about the Clique Girlz' candy-fueled comeback, Cr4Bdbgs' Dave Moore informs me that in the last few days there's been some trouble in the Clique clique. Specifically, "best friend" Ariel Moore is leaving the group. How did the Times miss this? Damn you, Judy Miller!

The fan buzz (yes, there is fan buzz) is that the sisters have been hogging the proverbial microphones, along with the actual ones, and that little mermaid "hasn't been happy for a long time and that there has been a lot of hatred, dishonesty, pain, suffering and emotional and physical and mental abuse from the manager of the group Lenore." And by manager, she means Destineeeee and Paris' mom. (Legal note: I can not personally vouch for this anonymous web gossip, and am in fact deeply, deeply troubled by it.)

It would take a truly despicable person to point out that at the precise moment when their career most needs a jump start, the Clique Girlz have managed to shed their, um, least conventionally attractive member. When I find that person, I will berate him for saying such obnoxious things about an ordinary teenage girl who just happens to want to be a pop star for a living.

Anyway, Ariel's fans are absolutely convinced that she'll have a monster solo career, so we've got that to look forward to.

Let's just get this out of the way, shall we?

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

Let's just get this out of the way, shall we?

Daniel Radosh

128777522638116584.jpg

Should Pete Stark hand over his crown?

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

Should Pete Stark hand over his crown?

Daniel Radosh

atheism_leads_to_civil_war.jpg Two years ago, California Congressman Pete Stark became America's highest-ranking atheist when he affirmed to the Secular Coalition of America that he is a Unitarian Universalist who does not believe in a supreme being. Recently the SCA claimed that 22 other lawmakers privately confessed their non-belief, but until they grow some balls (or ovaries, as the case may be), the title goes to Stark.

Or does it? In an article about Ted Kaufman, who as of Jan. 15 is keeping Delaware's Senate seat warm for Beau Biden, the New York Times reports: "What he calls his 'humanistic' way of thinking he attributes largely to his Irish Catholic mother, a teacher, and his father, a secular Jew, a social worker and his hero."

The New Yorker Cartoon Anti-Caption Contest #180

01/01/2003 - 8:00am

The New Yorker Cartoon Anti-Caption Contest #180

Daniel Radosh

Submit the worst possible caption for this New Yorker cartoon.

�Last week's results. �Rules and tips.

� This week's prize: Mr Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream by Steven Watts. (Winner must post with valid e-mail address.)



090209_contest_p465.jpg

First place

"Thank god she was pregnant." �TG Gibbon

Second place

�What do you think she meant when she said, 'The water is only three feet deep and we can walk to shore - please let me go home, I miss my family?���Damon

Third place

"If this is your subconscious, the interpretation would be that: you�re helpless to steer the course of your life, you view women as void of any value save providing sustenance, and that you�ll forever be inferior to men with hair." �Weller


Honorable mention

"We already discussed this, Frank! You ate her eyeballs, so I get the pineapple."� Jared S.

"Fruit, grain, meat: If only she were lactating, this would have been a balanced diet."�Mike Mariano

"Don't kid yourself. If she ever got the chance, she'd eat you and everyone you care about!" � Jared

Syndicate content