Marty and I chat on GMail nearly every day while we're at work. Sometimes we say funny things. Sometimes we say very stupid things. But most times we say very stupid things that are only funny to us. Here are some of the better parts of today's chat...
Marty: Chuck! Betty Ford is starring in a Community spinoff!
me: Wow. That should be good.
Marty: In Space!
me: I'm loving it.
Marty: "Space Community"
me: "Cosmunity"
Marty: "Com-moon-ity"
me: I don't think I can beat that one.
Sent at 12:18 PM on Wednesday
me: I have spent 45 minutes on one website today. Care to take any guesses as to which one?
Marty: Um... economist.com?
me: http://www.youtube.com/user/oldspice
Marty: I was close.
It was my next guess.
me: Maybe I'm delirious, but shit are they funny.
Sent at 2:20 PM on Wednesday
Marty: I just got an update that you "like" Seinfeld and Old Spice.
me: I wish you could see how hard I'm laughing right now.
Marty: I really think your blog should just be outtakes some of our chats.
Sent at 2:56 PM on Wednesday
That's all for now. I'm glad I'm finally doing something useful with this blog.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Reality. It's the worst.
You know, 24 hours ago I was exactly where I want to be, with the exact person I want to be there with.
Now I'm back into this bubbling cesspool I call "everyday life".
I really hope that someday soon I'll have a life I'm at least 50% happy with.
Now I'm back into this bubbling cesspool I call "everyday life".
I really hope that someday soon I'll have a life I'm at least 50% happy with.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Be Cool, My Babies.
My first blog entry. I’ve wanted to write one of these for a while, but never found the time to do so. I’ve plenty of things worth writing about, and hopefully I’ll get around to them someday, but what you are about to read (presuming anyone will ever read this) is something very near and dear to me.
It’s about 11:45pm Phoenix time on Thursday, January 21, 2010 and I’ve just finished watching the penultimate episode of “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien”.
For the past 2 weeks, I’ve grown more and more upset and confused by what is being referred to as ‘The Late Night Wars’. Unable to accurately put a finger on why I felt so strongly on the matter was only making me more upset. Tonight as I watched Conan walk out for his monologue and hearing the insane loudness of the audience thunderously chanting, “CONAN! CONAN!”… something hit me.
“Why get upset? It’s only a talk show.” Is what you’re probably saying. Well you’re not wrong, except that you are. (Not sure that made a whole lot of sense, but stick with me…) You see, ‘The Tonight Show’ isn’t simply a TV show. It’s more than that – it’s a legacy. Most people my age know this from watching Johnny Carson as kids. It felt so cool to be allowed the opportunity to stay up late on a school night and see some real, “adult” comedy. That man hosted the show for just under 30 years, when he was more-or-less forced out due to the shady antics of one Jay Leno. I won’t dwell too much on my distaste for Leno, as this is not the focus of what I’m trying to say. But if you want to know more, just watch the HBO Original Movie “The Late Shift”. It’ll knock your dick in the dirt. But I digress…
Conan O’Brien showed up on the late night scene in 1993 as the host of NBC’s “Late Night”. No one knew who he was, and he was incredibly awkward to watch, but you just had a sense that he was going somewhere great with this. Over the course of 16 years, Conan grew into a master host and was truly fun to watch. I know I had the reputation among my friends in high school for being incredibly annoying and asking every morning, “hey guys, did you see Conan last night?” From there I would proceed to explain all of his comedy bits and key show moments to them ad nauseum. (I’d also like to add a personal note here about how I once found a video tape of Josh and Dave riding around in a car and mocking me and in an annoying voice screeching “DIDYA SEE CONAN?! DIDYA SEE CONAN?!”) Conan O’Brien is even the reason I have some of the friends I’ve had for almost 10 years now, to the greatest extent of that, my good friend Marty, the Good-Humored Snob. He’s probably the only other person I know that truly gets and respects Conan the way I do. What I’m trying to get at here is I have always loved Conan. He is a brilliant, self-deprecating smartass who never failed to entertain me every night. I felt like he was so relatable - so easy to connect to. He seemed like an everyman and he joked that he shouldn’t even be there and that he should get in his green ’92 Ford Taurus and just go home. But everyone who liked Conan and appreciated his comedy was glad he stayed.
Then in 2004, a momentous thing happened: Conan announced he’d be taking over ‘Tonight’ in 5 years. Anyone who knew more about Conan besides the fact that he frequently welcomed a self-gratifying bear on his show knew that this was a big deal. This was something Conan had dreamt of for a long, long time. While hosting ‘Late Night’ Conan had received numerous, more lucrative offers from other networks to host his own show at 11:30, but held out to take the chair of his idol. And now he had it. NBC knew they’d be missing out if they lost Conan to another network, so they gave him his dream job.
Now I’d like to get to the part where this starts hitting close to home. I grew up in a full embrace of Disney movies and always lived with the belief that if you dream of something – and work hard to get it – then you are sure to achieve your dream. It’s cheesy as can be, and if you knew anything about me and what a pessimistic jerk I am you’d probably tell me to shut the hell up. But look at Conan! He did it! The guy dug his heels in and got everything he’d worked for. If Conan already wasn’t something of a hero to me (he was, trust me), he sure as hell was now. In May, my closest friend Sally and I were lucky enough to win tickets to Conan’s first two (that’s right TWO!!) episodes as the host of “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien”. I was delighted beyond words. Conan came out that night with a video opening with the classic NBC logo that had aired before Johnny’s show. He had so much respect for the institution that is ‘Tonight’. And when he showed up in front of my very eyes, the reverence and enthusiasm coming off of that man was evident. It was electrifying. Not only was he a hero of mine, but he had my utmost respect. Probably more respect than I’ve ever given anyone, ever.
Now here we are: 7 months later and his gig as host his nearing an end mostly thanks to the frighteningly terrible decisions of NBC executives, mostly Jeff Zucker. He’s a douche.
This is really bothering me for two major reasons. Firstly because like many recent events in my life, a very real dream was had by someone with a ton of respect for said dream, and it’s either unattainable or even worse, you’re given a taste of it and it’s ripped out of your hands. It pains me to see someone so deserving of something lose out on that thing. And it sucks to see that behind his eyes you can see that this really is torturing him. Conan truly loved his job, and for all his hard work, his reward is being kicked off. And not only that, but this whole ordeal has irreparably damaged the most iconic franchise in all of television, and put it back in the hands of someone who doesn’t care one iota of the show’s cultural significance. Secondly, I hate most aspects of my life – mainly my job – more than I could ever put into words. It has really sucked most of my soul right out of me over the years. Being able to genuinely laugh at something at the end of the day is not an easy task for me, but when Conan is on, it’s hard NOT to laugh. I love that I can “escape” when he’s on and for that I am really going to miss him.
I don’t really know what else to say except that watching Conan’s final night is going to be extremely difficult. I was emotional during his last ‘Late Night’ and was able to keep it in check only because I knew he’d be back in 6 months. This is very different, and who knows? This could be the best thing that ever happened to Conan. And he could be back in a new show as soon as September – hopefully for a network that actually appreciates him.
Long live Conan O’Brien.
It’s about 11:45pm Phoenix time on Thursday, January 21, 2010 and I’ve just finished watching the penultimate episode of “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien”.
For the past 2 weeks, I’ve grown more and more upset and confused by what is being referred to as ‘The Late Night Wars’. Unable to accurately put a finger on why I felt so strongly on the matter was only making me more upset. Tonight as I watched Conan walk out for his monologue and hearing the insane loudness of the audience thunderously chanting, “CONAN! CONAN!”… something hit me.
“Why get upset? It’s only a talk show.” Is what you’re probably saying. Well you’re not wrong, except that you are. (Not sure that made a whole lot of sense, but stick with me…) You see, ‘The Tonight Show’ isn’t simply a TV show. It’s more than that – it’s a legacy. Most people my age know this from watching Johnny Carson as kids. It felt so cool to be allowed the opportunity to stay up late on a school night and see some real, “adult” comedy. That man hosted the show for just under 30 years, when he was more-or-less forced out due to the shady antics of one Jay Leno. I won’t dwell too much on my distaste for Leno, as this is not the focus of what I’m trying to say. But if you want to know more, just watch the HBO Original Movie “The Late Shift”. It’ll knock your dick in the dirt. But I digress…
Conan O’Brien showed up on the late night scene in 1993 as the host of NBC’s “Late Night”. No one knew who he was, and he was incredibly awkward to watch, but you just had a sense that he was going somewhere great with this. Over the course of 16 years, Conan grew into a master host and was truly fun to watch. I know I had the reputation among my friends in high school for being incredibly annoying and asking every morning, “hey guys, did you see Conan last night?” From there I would proceed to explain all of his comedy bits and key show moments to them ad nauseum. (I’d also like to add a personal note here about how I once found a video tape of Josh and Dave riding around in a car and mocking me and in an annoying voice screeching “DIDYA SEE CONAN?! DIDYA SEE CONAN?!”) Conan O’Brien is even the reason I have some of the friends I’ve had for almost 10 years now, to the greatest extent of that, my good friend Marty, the Good-Humored Snob. He’s probably the only other person I know that truly gets and respects Conan the way I do. What I’m trying to get at here is I have always loved Conan. He is a brilliant, self-deprecating smartass who never failed to entertain me every night. I felt like he was so relatable - so easy to connect to. He seemed like an everyman and he joked that he shouldn’t even be there and that he should get in his green ’92 Ford Taurus and just go home. But everyone who liked Conan and appreciated his comedy was glad he stayed.
Then in 2004, a momentous thing happened: Conan announced he’d be taking over ‘Tonight’ in 5 years. Anyone who knew more about Conan besides the fact that he frequently welcomed a self-gratifying bear on his show knew that this was a big deal. This was something Conan had dreamt of for a long, long time. While hosting ‘Late Night’ Conan had received numerous, more lucrative offers from other networks to host his own show at 11:30, but held out to take the chair of his idol. And now he had it. NBC knew they’d be missing out if they lost Conan to another network, so they gave him his dream job.
Now I’d like to get to the part where this starts hitting close to home. I grew up in a full embrace of Disney movies and always lived with the belief that if you dream of something – and work hard to get it – then you are sure to achieve your dream. It’s cheesy as can be, and if you knew anything about me and what a pessimistic jerk I am you’d probably tell me to shut the hell up. But look at Conan! He did it! The guy dug his heels in and got everything he’d worked for. If Conan already wasn’t something of a hero to me (he was, trust me), he sure as hell was now. In May, my closest friend Sally and I were lucky enough to win tickets to Conan’s first two (that’s right TWO!!) episodes as the host of “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien”. I was delighted beyond words. Conan came out that night with a video opening with the classic NBC logo that had aired before Johnny’s show. He had so much respect for the institution that is ‘Tonight’. And when he showed up in front of my very eyes, the reverence and enthusiasm coming off of that man was evident. It was electrifying. Not only was he a hero of mine, but he had my utmost respect. Probably more respect than I’ve ever given anyone, ever.
Now here we are: 7 months later and his gig as host his nearing an end mostly thanks to the frighteningly terrible decisions of NBC executives, mostly Jeff Zucker. He’s a douche.
This is really bothering me for two major reasons. Firstly because like many recent events in my life, a very real dream was had by someone with a ton of respect for said dream, and it’s either unattainable or even worse, you’re given a taste of it and it’s ripped out of your hands. It pains me to see someone so deserving of something lose out on that thing. And it sucks to see that behind his eyes you can see that this really is torturing him. Conan truly loved his job, and for all his hard work, his reward is being kicked off. And not only that, but this whole ordeal has irreparably damaged the most iconic franchise in all of television, and put it back in the hands of someone who doesn’t care one iota of the show’s cultural significance. Secondly, I hate most aspects of my life – mainly my job – more than I could ever put into words. It has really sucked most of my soul right out of me over the years. Being able to genuinely laugh at something at the end of the day is not an easy task for me, but when Conan is on, it’s hard NOT to laugh. I love that I can “escape” when he’s on and for that I am really going to miss him.
I don’t really know what else to say except that watching Conan’s final night is going to be extremely difficult. I was emotional during his last ‘Late Night’ and was able to keep it in check only because I knew he’d be back in 6 months. This is very different, and who knows? This could be the best thing that ever happened to Conan. And he could be back in a new show as soon as September – hopefully for a network that actually appreciates him.
Long live Conan O’Brien.
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