Pop Culture Blog: Music, Movie and Humor

Leveraging low-hanging synergies outside the vertical fruit box since 1999.

Pine For Pistachio, Porky, And Piglet.


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When every act that a culture makes communicates weakness and loss of self-belief, eventually you’ll be taken at your word. – Mark Steyn.

I’d be interested to know what my friends/readership thinks of this article. In England, several children’s cartoon characters and a type of ice cream packaging is being banned and discontinued because a handful – and by handful I mean about 2 – Muslims were offended for varying reasons. For a practical example of why this sort of thing bothers me look at it this way – future generations of children now get to grow up without Charlotte’s Web.

My take is thus: everything is offensive to someone. No matter how flexible and tolerant one may want to be, it has to be a two-way street. I’m offended at the offense taken by others – and that fact will offend someone else all over again. If that last sentence seemed a little ridiculous to you, it’s because it was. And that’s my whole point.

I hope Julia Roberts opted for a paycheck and not back-end points. This is one movie that is now doomed to fail internationally. Pick your battles, people. This is getting truly awful.

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Feeling A Bit Nipsey.


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Good old Nipsey cashed in his chips Sunday afternoon. And since he’s brought me a lot of joy recentely via the Dean Martin Roast DVDs, I wanted to say a few words. His last public appearance was at the Aviator premiere a year ago, and I think you’ll agree he was looking pretty darn good for 80! But when ya gotta go, you gotta go. Funny bastard or no. I

In addition to being a prominent part of Dino’s crew in the 70’s, playing the Tin Man in The Wiz, starring on Car 54 Where are You? and hosting The Match Game after the legendary Charles Nelson Reilly departed, Nipsey was famous for his ‘poems’ – for lack of a better word.

Of this job, I don’t think so highly, But hey — it beats hangin’ out with Charles Nelson Reilly.

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Learn To Speak Chinese.


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Apparently, the Chinese word for automobile is Qui-che. And here I thought that was some kind of gross pie. I awoke this morning to a fridge full of chicken balls, crab rangoon and fried rice. My house guests, in town for a bachelor party which I also attended, spared no expense upon their return to the apartment last night. I think I snuck home around 10pm or so. The operative word being think. It was a rough one.

My fortune cookie read “To work hard is to be able to play hard without guilt”. And yet I can’t help feeling guilty that while I meant to behave this weekend, I’ve actually ended up sitting here wondering how I got home from Dick’s Last Resort.

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Friday’s Quizzlet: The Strepford Wives.


in Monday's Quotelet

Appetizer: When was the last time you visited a hospital?
I had to head down to MGH last December when a seemingly routine cold turned into the worst case of strep I have ever had – or could even reasonably imagine. I lay in bed for three days straight, with a total body buzz, before finally admitting to myself it wasn’t going to go away by itself and that I had to pull myself together before the long drive up to Canada for Christmas. When they called my name in the emergency room, I walked up to the front and was greeted by a doctor who asked me what the problem was. Not being able to speak, I pointed to my throat. He said they’d take a swab and I’d have to wait an hour or so for the reults. I shook my head and pointed urgently inside my open mouth (if I had a nickel). He glanced inside my yapper, made an alarmed face, scribbled out a perscription and told me to get my ass to CVS.

Soup: On a scale of 1 to 10 how ambitious are you?
I don’t have any trouble with the ambition side of things – it’s the follow through. Do I want to have a million dollar home on Lake Winnipesaukee? I think yes. Do I want to leave my apartment this weekend? You must be kidding.

Salad: Make a sentence using the letters of a body part.
Carrie Otis Craves Ketamine.

Main Course: If you were starting a club, what would you name it?
It would be called the Ding Dong Club. A bunch of guys would sit on the floor, roll around punching eachother in the shoulders and just acting like complete ding dongs. Why haven’t I thought of this sooner? Well, either that or something having to do with rug-hooking.

Dessert: What color is the carpet/flooring in your home?
I have recently taken up all of the carpet in favor of the nice hard wood floors underneath. My once tasteful rugs had become cat hair collectors and eye-sores. But you can bet if you were to lick one they’d still be full of taste. I think that if you were to moisten my living room carpet and then wring it out, you’d be left with a couple pints of enough formerly dried booze, dirt and DNA to reanimate Foster Brooks.

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