It was a supply closet off the main classroom, six feet across, with the only wall decoration being a length of pine board with a row of nails sticking out. Because of the terrible noise inside, the door was always shut. The two machines, industrial-era things that clamored and shook, spewed out a steady stream of hurt and lies and death. On this San Diego afternoon I was in the little room with my coffee, going through the accumulated Associated Press and UPI news that had cranked out of the wire machines during lunch and whatever regular classes I might have attended that day. Local stories, national and international [...]
In the past 24 hours, a clip entitled "Worst Wedding DJ EVER!" has crossed my transom multiple times, usually accompanied by an exhortation like "Too Funny!" or "OMG." In the clip, some guy in an ill-fitting suit is inspired to use some… unconventional percussion while he's leading a conga line through its motions from the stage. As with many funny videos that just happen to surface on YouTube, I had one important question: Was the thing real, or was it just stealth marketing for some TV show coming to a high-numbered cable channel this summer? I put my head together with Awl Internet Expert Miles Klee and [...]
Did you see Saturday Night Live this weekend? It's all over the Internet if you haven't and, you know what, there's probably a good reason for that: It was pretty solid. Against the odds, and given that it is what it is, i.e. a tired format whose impact has been severely diminished in our fast-paced etc., the show had a season that actually exceeded expectations. (All sorts of charts and graphs can be found here.)
