Waltzing Mathilda

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Little Drop Of Poison

I was looking forward to sitting down and watching the Daily Show for the first time in weeks. Between my parents being in town, cleaning and cooking, I haven't been able to watch my favorite show, The Daily Show, in about three weeks and am terribly behind. I normally TiVO them and watch them in order but as Tom Waits was a guest on Tuesday night, Mike wanted to go ahead and watch that one.

Now, let me preface by saying-this is my favorite show. I am constantly amazed by the writers' ability to balance humor with really horrible world news and always manage to come out on top.

Not this time, however. I was extremely disappointed in the jokes made about Alexander Litvineko, the poisoned Russian ex-spy. To joke about him being a nuclear reactor? To play a "Guess the poison" game? To make fun of another victim's last name and say that the official cause of death was a overdose of consonants? Don't get me wrong-I am no stranger to bad taste. I married a John Waters aficiando and have a Pink Flamingos poster up in my room. But I think these jokes were very bad taste. And frankly, not even very funny. It may be my mistake, but even Jon Stewart seemed off during his delivery and some of the audience laughter seemed more nervous and forced than genuine.

Like I said, I love this show and think everyone does a great job on it. But I am disappointed in this episode-guess I just thought they were better than lowbrow humor. And now they have given all of their critics something to actually criticize.

If you haven't seen the clip, please check it out here and drop a line and let me know what you think. Am I off base?

Friday, November 10, 2006

Blog, blog, blog, 'til the Boss-man takes the 'puter awa

Ah, Las Vegas. Shiny.

The first time I went to Vegas was on vacation with Mike in May 2005-a last ditch "Let's-go-on-vacation-before-we-become-parents" sorta thing. 5 months pregnant, 100 degree heat...not so much fun.

But coming back on a business trip, it feels very familiar, "homey" if you will. It's loud, kitsch-y, and fake, of course. But where else can you get food from any nation at 3am in the morning? Play slots before or after breakfast and have a margarita at the same time? (For my G's benefit, no, I don't do this myself, but appreciate the fact that I could do it if I want.) It seems like anything you want to do, you can do, at any hour of the day. And that's just cool by me.

And I love the hotels-the Venetian is decadent, I love the fountains at Bellagio and the erupting volcano at Mirage. It's goofy and over-the-top and such a sight to see.

Not to say it's not expensive-Starbucks here sells my Venti coffee at $5.15! A glass of OJ will run you $3.99. Yikes.

But the weather is great and the mountains are beautiful against the clear blue sky. Overall, I just like Vegas.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Thriftmonkey

I finally came across an article that moved me to rant. Thriftmonkey is updated.