“Write it down: Americans Elect. What Amazon.com did to books, what the blogosphere did to newspapers, what the iPod did to music, what drugstore.com did to pharmacies, Americans Elect plans to do to the two-party duopoly that has dominated American political life — remove the barriers to real competition, flatten the incumbents and let the people in. Watch out.”
Phyllis Siegel, 76, right, kisses her wife Connie Kopelov, 84, after exchanging vows …
NEW YORK (AP) — Buoyant gay couples cheered by supporters began marrying Sunday across New York on the landmark day it became the sixth and largest state to recognize same-sex weddings.
life:
From 1946 to 1956, there was arguably no greater comedy duo in America than that of Martin and Lewis — that is, Dean and Jerry — the velvet-toned crooner lothario and his spastic, rubber-faced partner. Together, they packed the top nightclubs in the country, made 17 movies, and appeared on television and radio innumerable times. And then it all ended, as abruptly as it began, leading to an infamous, decades-long feud.
In 1949, as the team’s star was still rising, LIFE sent photographer Ralph Morse to capture the antics at New York City’s Copacabana nightclub for a cover story. Many of the photos never made it into the magazine. Now, in honor of the duo’s first performance together 65 years ago, they are published here for the very first time.
“Perpetual growth is the creed of a cancer cell, not a sustainable human society.”
“Alexis de Tocqueville once described what he saw as a chief part of the peculiar genius of American society—something he called “self-interest properly understood.” The last two words were the key. Everyone possesses self-interest in a narrow sense: I want what’s good for me right now! Self-interest “properly understood” is different. It means appreciating that paying attention to everyone else’s self-interest—in other words, the common welfare—is in fact a precondition for one’s own ultimate well-being. Tocqueville was not suggesting that there was anything noble or idealistic about this outlook—in fact, he was suggesting the opposite. It was a mark of American pragmatism. Those canny Americans understood a basic fact: looking out for the other guy isn’t just good for the soul—it’s good for business. The top 1 percent have the best houses, the best educations, the best doctors, and the best lifestyles, but there is one thing that money doesn’t seem to have bought: an understanding that their fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live. Throughout history, this is something that the top 1 percent eventually do learn. Too late.”
“You know I don’t know. Here’s what I learned after SNL: When I got on SNL I thought, “Yes, this is it, I’m off to the races,” and then you get fired, and you think, “Oh, wait a minute..” And then you realize there’s no finish line in show business; you never get to a place where you think, “Okay, now I’ve done it, now I can relax.” That place never exists. So what you do is go from gig to gig, and you hope they are good gigs, and you hope when you do them you do a good job.”
—Rob Riggle
http://www.serialoptimist.com/interviews/an-inspirational-funny-behind-the-scenes-interview-with-rob-riggle-5743.html
(via katehess)
“It is pretty obvious that the debasement of the human mind caused by a constant flow of fraudulent advertising is no trivial thing. There is more than one way to conquer a country.”
Do you know what time it is?
This morning a tweet from internet scholar Evgeny Morozov pointed me to this article:
"Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips."
The article concludes that, “The Internet has become a primary form of external or transactive memory, where information is stored collectively outside ourselves.” This is not surprising. Already instead of writing down (let alone committing to memory) the address of a destination, I’ll instead rely on being able to look up the address in Gmail on my smartphone when I get above ground from the subway. This is one silly example, but I’m sure you have many of your own about using the internet in place of your own memory. I think the interesting thing to consider, however, is what effect (if any) this sort of practice will have on our brain power in the long run.
A few years ago I remember seeing some buzz about whether or not cell phones were dumbing down our capacity to remember, the idea being that the less you use your memory, the worse your ability to remember becomes. Atrophy of the brain sort of thing. Instead of having to memorize the phone numbers of all of your closest acquaintances, family members, work contacts, etc in order to have quick access when dialing, you instead can store these contacts in your phone. A study at Trinity College in Dublin concluded that younger generations were worse at remembering strings of digits like phone numbers, and the obvious culprit was increased reliance on our mobile devices.
Reading Morozov’s tweet this morning, I was reminded of an example given in a sociology course I was a TA for this past year: if someone asks, “Do you know the time?” a typical response might be to say “Yes” and then check the time on your watch or phone before responding with the time. This is interesting because the fact that you had to check the time shows that when you answered “Yes” what you really meant was “No, but I can quickly find out.” This might be a matter of semantics, but I think it actually hints at something more. As a person who carries around a watch or a phone with me, I am someone who knows the time. If instead, however, someone asked you, “Do you know what year George Washington died?” you would probably answer “No.” Why the difference? Why not say “Yes” and then look up the answer on your mobile device? True, at present it does take marginally longer to look up the answer to a question like this than it does to merely check the time, but as computing power and internet speeds increase, that difference will become negligible.
An Einstein anecdote comes to mind: Einstein is attributed with saying that he did not know his own phone number, but he knew where he could look it up. This comforts me. To me this means focus on thinking well rather than on recalling facts and figures (or perhaps it means only memorize the things that you can’t easily look up?). However, a scene from Fahrenheit 451 also comes to mind: outlaws sitting around a fire, reciting entire books they’ve committed to memory in order to preserve them in a world where their precious words are banned. Such a feat already seems daunting; will it seem downright impossible as we increasingly expect less and less of our own mental storage capacities?
In the end, I think it is wrong to think of mobile devices or the internet as being the cause of decreased mental capacity. They are tools, and like any tools, they are only as useful as the use you put them to. The internet could just as easily be used to learn more and more and more than was ever previously possible. It’s up to each person whether they keep their noggin sharp or let it become just another dim relay in a global data circuit.
Achievement unlocked: make a tangible mark on a premium cable comedy show.
The above photo is a still from the most recent episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I am at least partially responsible for the hideous red and yellow tie that Jeff Garlin is wearing.
To explain: while in college, I was in a long form improv group called the Immediate Gratification Players. As an upperclassman, I became the director of the group (we called this position the “tsar”). One thing about college improv groups at the time (we called groups “troupes”) was that at festivals and sometimes at shows troupes would wear matching team t-shirts. Not all teams did this, and I have the feeling that it has slowly been phased out in the same way that many college teams have phased out short form in favor of long form. However, upon taking the helm, one of the duties of the tsar was to orchestrate the design and order of new t-shirts for that year. I think after seeing that a college team from New York City did not wear matching shirts, I had developed the sense that matching shirts were not cool. Wanting to make a mark while keeping the tradition alive, I decided to try to set our team apart by designing matching ties instead. Lo and behold, I chose ketchup-red and mustard-yellow striped ties with our team name written at the very bottom in black arial font. I did not mean for these to be comically hideous - I thought they would look classy.
After I graduated, my legacy has lived on in the form of those ties. This past year I overheard some other NYC improvisers talking about a “Harry Pottery, tie-wearing college team” at a festival they’d just been at, and I knew they were referring to my alma mater.
A couple years later, new tsar Scott Levin set about to create an “IGP Player of the Year” award, in line with something done by some of the more prestigious institutions at our school. IGP gave the award to Jeff Garlin, and he showed up to receive it. He was made an honorary member and given a tie. He promised to wear it on Curb. And he did.
So yes, Scott created a legitimate sounding award and somehow contacted a Famous Person and got him to show up (something which even now sounds like such an impossibly daunting task that it would never cross my mind to even propose it) but I designed the tie. On a website that basically did it for you. But still, in terms of strictly who is responsible for the ties, I can claim that fully.
I’d like to think that at some point Larry David made fun of the tie and Jeff had to explain why he was wearing it. No, they wouldn’t have mentioned me by name, but in a way, I was a part of that conversation.
Tonight I will sleep soundly.
DUBYA LATER South Sudanese president Salva Kiir, wearing a cowboy hat given to him by former president George W. Bush in 2005, arrives to celebrate the formal proclamation of his country’s independence Saturday. Bush was a major proponent of South Sudan’s statehood, helping broker an agreement between Sudan’s central government and rebels that allowed the southern part of the country to secede. (Photo: Tyler Hicks / The New York Times)
“America’s tax take is at its lowest level for decades: even Ronald Reagan raised taxes when he needed to do so.
And the closer you look, the more unprincipled the Republicans look. Earlier this year House Republicans produced a report noting that an 85%-15% split between spending cuts and tax rises was the average for successful fiscal consolidations, according to historical evidence. The White House is offering an 83%-17% split (hardly a huge distance) and a promise that none of the revenue increase will come from higher marginal rates, only from eliminating loopholes. If the Republicans were real tax reformers, they would seize this offer.
Both parties have in recent months been guilty of fiscal recklessness. Right now, though, the blame falls clearly on the Republicans. Independent voters should take note.
”
“New rule: if you can look at a crime where everything points to one answer and not see it, you’re a dumbass. And if you can look at the deficit and not see that the problem is that the rich stopped paying taxes, you’re a Republican.
And before you accuse me of equating the Casey Anthony verdict with Republican thinking, save your breath: I am. …I’m saying that if you’re a working-class American who still votes Republican, then you don’t get to bitch about that verdict.
In his press conference last week, President Obama said maybe, just maybe, is that the billionaires were, quote, ‘enjoying the lowest tax rate since before I was born.’ Yeah, like we believe Obama was ‘born.’
Now here’s Obama’s thinking — and it’s a little counterintuitive, but try to follow it: when Clinton was president, the rich paid a little more taxes, and the government had money. Then Bush cut all those taxes, and now we don’t. I know it’s hard to grasp — it involves (beat) subtracting.
But in suggesting that, in these desperate times, we slightly raise the tax on private jets, Obama was baiting the Republicans to look like extremists by defending private jets. But the gambit failed! Because half the people are not outraged. Half of them say ‘I’m with the party that cuts all these programs for real people, for the 99 percent — Planned Parenthood; environmental protection; college; healthcare; infrastructure — but holds the line on private jets! Voting for them (the Republicans) is as stupid as voting ‘not guilty’ for the mom who lost her baby for a month and went looking at a wet t-shirt contest.
Every election, roughly half the population votes Democrat, and the other half votes Republican, and I understand why Republicans… get the (vote of the) richest one percent (of the population): the other 49 percent, someone will have to explain to me.
The facts about what the Republicans have done to the middle class are beyond reasonable doubt. And yet, their base refuses to see it. The moneyed elite in America are dragging a bag filled with your future down the steps, and your reaction is ‘Hold on there! That looks heavy! Let me give you a hand getting it into your trunk!’
Is it really that radical to suggest slightly trimming the tax break on corporate jets? It seems like a reasonable idea given that a) people who buy corporate jets are filthy rich, and b) I don’t need a ‘B’!
This is a country of the rich, by the rich, for the rich, where very day it seems our laws and culture cater more to wealthy people: tax breaks, industry-written laws, bailouts, deregulation — all of it goes to making the lives of the rich just a little bit cushier. Oh, did I say ‘rich’? I meant ‘job creators.’
That’s actually a prevailing theory on the right: that Obama’s rhetoric toward Wall Street has been so hostile, it has created an ‘uncertainty in the business community.’ Because he called them ‘fat cats’ once, and they’re still suffering from some sort of jobs-creating disorder. Like he burst into the bathroom while they were trying to pee, and now they can’t go at all!
When did the business community in America become so sensitive that we have to treat them like some sort of rare, exotic animal — don’t startle them, or they’ll fly away! We need to soothe them so they can nest here and lay their magic eggs full of jobs! Which never hatch, by the way.
Bush said his tax cuts for the rich would create jobs: they didn’t. We’re now being told if multinational corporations bring home their current overseas profits of $1.4 trillion, they’ll only be taxed five percent on it — because we’re told it will create jobs.
It won’t, just like it didn’t the last time we tried it in 2004: companies took the savings and paid it out to themselves in dividends. Yes, Republican base: you are just like that (Casey Anthony) jury — it is pathetically clear who is killing the middle class, but you keep letting them get away with murder.
”
Momspeak
After I posted the AV Club’s article about UCB, my mom shared it on her Facebook wall and added this:
"The Upright Citizen’s Brigade! Nathan Dern I am proud of your contribution to this comedy team!"
That’s about right. Thank you, mom.
In 1996, four Chicago-based improv comics—Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Matt Walsh, and Ian Roberts—got together to form the group that would become the Upright Citizens Brigade. Fifteen years later, UCB has expanded to the point where its New York and L.A. theaters, as well as its website, are among the top places to recruit future comedy stars. Dozens of today’s comedy stars cut their comedic teeth at UCB, including Paul Scheer, Jack McBrayer, Aubrey Plaza, Nick Kroll, Aziz Ansari, Rob Riggle, and Rob Corrdry. As for the founders, they’ve also done well: Poehler has parlayed a long stint on Saturday Night Live into a starring role on the critically acclaimed NBC sitcom Parks And Recreation, and Besser, Walsh, and Roberts have done memorable guest roles on a number of shows. Last month, the UCB machine expanded further, this time into radio, with Live From UCB airing Saturday nights on Sirius XM’s Raw Dog Comedy channel. Poehler, Besser, and Walsh talked to The A.V. Club about what shows from the theaters will work on radio and what they think they did right (and wrong) in the building of the theater and brand.
Click here to read the rest of A.V. Club’s article on the Upright Citizens Brigade!
Earlier this summer I was on a long flight and two strangers seated next to me engaged in the sexual act colloquially known as a “hand job.” The experience rocked me to my very core. To deal with the trauma, I wrote a one act play about it.
This is an absolute true story.
Please come to the UCB Theatre for my SPANK* this Thursday July 7th at 6:30 pm.
Reserve tickets here.
HANDJOB AT 20,000 FEET: A TRUE STORY
written by nate dern
directed by brandon gardner
starring john timothy, dru johnston, leslie meisel, alan starzinski, aaron jackson, and nate dern
*Note: a “SPANK” is a show to audition for a longer run at UCB.
“MR. COLBERT, YOU MAY FORM YOUR PAC” Comedian Stephen Colbert, attorney (and former FEC Chairman) Trevor Potter, and some red-haired dude who’s probably really important but whose name I can’t be bothered to look up listen intently as members of the Federal Election Commission deliberate Colbert’s application to form a Super PAC, or political action committee. The type of PAC sought by Colbert allows him to raise unlimited campaign funds from individuals and corporations. The FEC, which apparently has a sense of humor but probably no sense of parody or irony, approved the PAC, 5-1. (Photo: Yuri Gupas / Reuters via The Atlantic)
“And his advice to someone who just moved to NYC and wants to break into the comedy scene:
”
One, I would take some classes at the UCB. Two, the secret to the success of The State was we never waited for anyone to ask us to do anything, or for anyone’s approval to do anything. We just fucking did stuff. We were shooting all the time, writing all the time. We would put up a live show every couple of months. We were aggressive. If you wait around for an opportunity to come up, it’s not coming. It isn’t, ever. Opportunities are not coming. The only opportunities that are coming are the ones you create. Otherwise you are just waiting around.
“What did the horse say to the hay? Happy Fodder’s Day! Then the horse ate the hay. On Fodder’s Day. Isn’t that messed up?”
Love this.
Robert Reich explains it all.