Tony Wilson, 1950-2007

sad news today, as it was reported that Tony Wilson, founder of Factory Records, died over the weekend.

we'll be doing a tribute to Factory and Tony Wilson on this weekend's show, so tune in.

TV: Top Chef--Can I get a piece of that? (Spoilers)

one of the other shows my wife and i are addicted to is Top Chef. we both love to cook and i think this show is nice because you can see some really creative chefs looking to break out.

anyway, we were very much looking forward to last night's show, because they were obviously going to screw with the contestants by telling them they were going to enjoy the Miami nightlife, only to find out they would be cooking for a bunch of drunken assholes outside a trendy night spot while fellow contestant Dale got a free pass for making a gourmet peach cobbler topping for ice cream.

when all was said and done last night i think the judges made the right decision on both ends. Judge Ted Allen was absolutely right--if you want to please someone, use bacon (even though my doctor has told me to lay off the salty stuff) and i felt that they were right in dismissing Sara, because she pretty much quit the moment she found out that she had to cook dressed in her "club clothes." (boo hoo.)

a question for Sara and Casey however--you are on a reality TV show about cooking--how could you not see this elimination challenge coming from a mile away?

TV: Last Comic Standing--Jon Reep isn't funny (Spoilers!)

so last night my wife and i watched one of our "essential" summer viewing shows--Last Comic Standing.

first question--when is this comedy show going to show actual comedy?

i have to say i've been disappointed with this show since they've gone to the final 10. unfortunately, given that the obviously funnier Matt Kirshen barely beat out Deborah DiGiovanni to win the head to head challenge, I am pretty sure NBC has figured out to go with the unfunny shit that appeals to most Americans.

case in point--fellow Last Comic contestant Amy Schumer was shown helping Matt out with his set (proving once again that mousy British men can get any girl to sleep with them thanks to their accents) and was saying that she was afraid that Matt's set would be "too cerebral" for an American audience. So Matt goes out there, delivers a funny set that has a broad appeal, and even takes one of Deborah's own jokes and twists it into his own, and yet he barely beats her?

obviously, America needs to get their collective heads out of their collective asses to figure out what funny is. It wasn't Dante, and it sure as hell isn't Jon Reep, who i feel got lucky during the Medieval Jester contest (the way some of those comics bombed, I felt bad for Doug Benson, who had funny material, but went up against a stronger Lavell Crawford, who killed with a joke about being black, as opposed to being fat, which is basically what all of his jokes are about.)

of course, this show is plagued by the fact that no one can swear (although Amy seems to have an abundance of "I'm a slut jokes') and that we probably can't see their best material because of it.

this would probably be a great show on pay cable...

backhanded compliment

hey guys, if a girl tells you you're hung like a panda bear, they aren't being kind:

"The penis of an adult panda is only about 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) long," Xinhua quoted Li Deshen, a panda expert, as saying, as a possible reason for the mix-up. (from cnn.com)

i guess you learn something new every day.

why has crime increased in Cleveland?

according to mayor Frank Jackson, it's because there isn't enough coke to go around...

and in more of a sort of comedy of errors vein...

i own a water cooler. a water cooler that holds a five gallon jug and has a refrigeration unit in it, kind of like you would see in your office or at the doctors.

unfortunately for me, i also have a 20 month old son who knows how to get the water to come out of the water cooler and how to make an indiscriminate puddle from this cooler. so we added one of those hot water valves that you have to lock into place before it will pour the water.

tonight the valve broke off, so now, no one can get water out of it. and the culligan guy won't be here until next week.

fortunately i used some good old fashioned ingenuity to jam a fork tine into the space where the small plastic bit that broke off the valve used to fit, and by lifting up on the fork, i can get water to come out.

TV: Last Comic Standing--Dante isn't funny

so i have to admit that watching tonight's Last comic standing i was happy to see Dante and Ralph Harris end up in the showdown--neither of them have been particularly funny so far this season and Dante got into the final 32 by using the most hackneyed, clichéd premise ever--a Jack Nicholson impression as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, so i was glad to see Dante's ass kicked to the curb. too bad Gena Yashere's drunk Frenchwoman having her face eaten by a dog bit couldn't outdo Ralph's stream of consciousness kid cursing out his uncle bit which is strangely reminiscent of Steve Harvey in the Original Kings of Comedy. but i'd say that people having their faces eaten by dogs isn't going to fly with the same American audience that thought Dante was funny to begin with.

can't wait to see how they all do at the renaissance fair next week...

i wish i had a bigger office...

i want an office like the one Don Draper (Jon Hamm) has on the AMC series, Mad Men. it's the size of a small house, has a chair, a table, a sofa and a full service bar so he can serve fucking highballs to his boss.

one can dream while living in the cube farm.