Here are some items to hopefully ease you back into regular life from the two-week weirdness that is the Hanukkah/Christmas/New Year period (dominated by terrorism, of all things). In other words, nothing too serious.
Here’s funny man and Daily Show correspondent John Oliver discussing his new comedy show:
And actor Stanley Tucci talking about his recent work in film:
Happy new year!
Blog Alley’s regular postings of Science Friday videos, a series we began when we launched the blog in the summer of 2009, are often our most-viewed posts. We are glad you like them; these short videos make complex topics a bit easier to understand and are just plain fun to watch.
As long as the Science Friday crew keeps producing these pieces (remember to listen and donate), we’ll keep sharing them in 2010, starting with this one on the role of oysters in our world.
Below and here.
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Celebrate the end of 2009 with these.
Today in 2009 lists: arts and culture.
Jay Rosen posts an interesting article that talks about his idea for fixing the stupid, boring, vapid Sunday political talk shows, where “newsmakers” and pundits meet to reduce the collective sanity and intelligence of a viewing nation (well, of nine or 10 million of us).
Perhaps someone would instead act* on my idea to purchase the URL www.stopsundaytalk.com (it’s available!) and use it to virtually brow-beat the public to stop watching and to hopefully kill all of these awful shows permanently.
If you must take them in, do so via Jason Linkins’s hysterical live blog, every Sunday.
*rudimentary graphic goes to anyone who sets up the Web site.
Bob Herbert, writing in the New York Times, thinks the “Cadillac” tax on high-cost health care plans, a primary financing mechanism contained in the Senate health care bill, would eventually hit the middle class hard:
“The tax on health benefits is being sold to the public dishonestly as something that will affect only the rich, and it makes a mockery of President Obama’s repeated pledge that if you like the health coverage you have now, you can keep it.
“Those who believe this is a good idea should at least have the courage to be straight about it with the American people.”
Today in 2009 lists: losses and closings.
Yuck! On to the Tens!
Today in 2009 lists: television shows and moments.
<Whatever that means. “Breaking Bad,” “Damages,” and “Dexter” are lifeless? To me they are, quite simply, very entertaining.>
Make your own Christmas spirits. Below and here.
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