Quo Vadimus


Saturday, April 12, 2003

 

Words of Wisdom, first in a series. #001:

"I defrosted the icebox with a hammer. hours later tracy noticed an awfully powerful fume & so we thought it was free-on so we got the animals outside & the fumes became so bad that we couldn't go in the apt at all. it started to burn our skin & so we stayed next door for 1 night & in tacoma the 2nd night & turns out it wasn't free on but even more of a deadly gas called sulfer dioxide. Its like if you were to fill a bucket of bleach & ammonia & tie someones face to it. I left a butter scotch swiss miss pudding out over night & it turned bright flourescent green. So dont beat on your icebox with a hammer."
- Kurt Cobain, in a letter to Dale Crover, Journals (Riverhead Books, 2002), p. 64.

posted by Linus | 10:29 PM

 

I Like These Films, Do You Like These Films? #002: The Great Muppet Caper (1981, Jim Henson)



"I suppose I'd get some jelly." - Nevil (John Cleese)

posted by Linus | 1:54 PM

 

The Genius List. #019: Mary Timony.



Autoclave.
Helium.
Solo.

posted by Linus | 1:19 PM

 

Some of your friends.

posted by Linus | 1:04 PM

 

The Genius List. #014-018: The Kids in the Hall: Bruce McCulloch, Dave Foley, Mark McKinney, Scott Thompson, and Kevin McDonald.



"Ham is a salty food. It's not like porridge, or toast, or a pear".

Enjoy. Wacky time slot, so you'll need one of these.

posted by Linus | 10:05 AM


Friday, April 11, 2003

 

The Genius List. #013: Lloyd Dobler.




"I don't want to sell anything, buy anything or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, buy anything sold or processed or ... process anything sold, bought or processed or repair anything sold, bought or processed. Ya know, as a career I don't want to do that. So, uh... my father's in the army and he wants me to join, but I can't work for that corporation. So what I've been doing lately is kick-boxing."

posted by Linus | 2:49 PM

 

I Like These Films, Do You Like These Films?, first in a series. #001: WarGames (1983, John Badham)



password: Joshua

posted by Linus | 12:55 PM

 

Should be fun.

posted by Linus | 8:54 AM

 

You tell me how that works, man!

posted by Linus | 7:44 AM


Thursday, April 10, 2003

 

The Genius List. #012: George Saunders



Go straight to your Privacy Tarp and read this and this.

posted by Linus | 10:10 PM

 

Support the troops.


posted by Linus | 6:55 PM

 

Laughter like an earthquake.



i for an I.

[Briefly: this guy John Tougas was in Mrs. Herrera's Algebra II class circa fall '89 ('90?) and he was having some trouble with the concept of imaginary numbers. These invisible digits are represented with the letter "i", which, as you can imagine, creates the potential for confusion with the pronoun "I". And but so Tougas and Herrera were going back and forth, cognition still murky, and then this usage confusion surfaced. Tougas realized this. And Tougas was known to laugh. Loudly. And he did. The room shook. I was looking around for a Richter scale. I had never heard laughter that loud before or since (ok, maybe Kumar Pallana in Rushmore, but it's damn close).]

posted by Linus | 1:53 PM


Wednesday, April 09, 2003

 

The Genius List. #011: Kevin Shields



Follow-up to Loveless currently in a trash bin just outside of London.

posted by Linus | 8:23 PM

 

The Genius List. #009-010: Bob Odenkirk and David Cross.



They're Pumpkininny!

posted by Linus | 7:55 PM

 

The Genius List. #008: Michael Silverblatt

"The best reader in America."

posted by Linus | 7:46 PM

 

The Genius List. #007: Walter Petry



This guy knows a helluva lot about the European Enlightenment and he introduced me to the rock and roll band Superchunk*.

Bonus points: Modernization in the West, Fall 1992, Fairfield, Ct. After a series of decidedly unenlightened comments on a Montaigne essay, Petry called a collection of undergrads "hapless clowns" (myself included, though I was wisely mum on the Montaigne) and frantically gathered his belongings and exited the classroom with a good half hour remaining in the session. After taking a few steps down the hallway, he returned:

"Damn you all. Damn you all to hell."

*Superchunk guitarist and Petry student Jim Wilbur graduated from Fairfield University in 1986. During my first week of class in 1992, Petry brought in a postcard he received from Wilbur from a tour stop in Europe. I found this 1995 interview in which Wilbur cites two of his heroes:

Question: Who were your "heroes" or role models if you could name just a couple?
SupChunk (Jim): Walter Petry. Jackie-Earle Haley. That's about it.

posted by Linus | 5:07 PM

 

The Genius List. #006: Stephen Lea Sheppard



Harris Trinsky, geek.

posted by Linus | 12:27 PM

 

The Genius List. #005: Mario Batali


posted by Linus | 8:41 AM

 

"I think eskimos are smug."

posted by Linus | 8:23 AM


Tuesday, April 08, 2003

 

The Genius List. #003-004: Joel & Ethan Coen

posted by Linus | 8:25 PM

 

The Genius List. #002: Amy Poehler



A reason to watch.

posted by Linus | 8:01 PM

 

Business is very food.



Punch-Drunk Love on DVD, 24 June 2003.



posted by Linus | 6:31 PM

 

The Genius List, first in a series. #001: Ricky Jay



Strange things happen all the time.

Bowling for Con Men.

posted by Linus | 6:01 PM

 

Sopranos 5.0.



"You should she zhe uzher guy!"

posted by Linus | 3:36 PM

 

High-five.

Here is a clip to put in between every song on that new iPod.

posted by Linus | 2:00 PM

 

Respek.

posted by Linus | 1:52 PM

 

Quo Vadimus.

Dana: Is your name--?

Mysterious Stranger: Stop talking.

Dana: All right. I just need your water. (grabs the glass in front of him and downs it in one gulp)

Mysterious Stranger: That was a gin martini.

Dana: Yes. I know that now. Is your name Calvin Trager?

Mysterious Stranger (Trager): Yes.

Dana: There was something that was big, and you invented something that made it small.

Trager: Yes.

Dana: You own Quo Vadimus.

Trager: Yes.

Dana: You bought Continental Corp?

Trager: Turns out I picked up a few more shares of stock, yeah.

Dana: Why didn't you tell me?

Trager: I just wrote a check for 18 billion dollars, Dana. My scouting says you don't keep a secret so good.

Dana: I can change.

Trager: Yeah... well, we're going to work on that.

Dana: We're going to work on it?

Trager: Yeah.

Dana: You're keeping the station?

Trager: Yeah.

Dana: (looking faint, hopeful) You're keeping the show?

Trager: Yeah. It's a good show, Dana. Anybody who can't make money off Sports Night should get out of the money-making business.

Dana: (pause, breathless) I don't know what to say.

Trager: (looking at TV over bar) Your show is on.

Dana: (pause) That's right! (laughing tearfully) My show is on. My show is on! My show is on! (runs out) My show is *on*!


(Back in the studio, Dan and Casey are doing the show. The mood is still depressed.)

Casey: (on air) With the 0-2 pitch from Fin McAllister, and smoke! Take a seat, sir, you've been brought down by the fast ball. McAllister's fifth save of the season, coming at the expense of a .383 hitter. We're gonna take a break. You're watching Sports Night on CSC-we'll be right back.

Dave: We're out.

Chris: Sixty seconds back.

(Everyone sits in glum silence)

Jeremy: Hey, let's here some chatter in here. We're still doing a show tonight.

Elliot: Jeremy's right. (pause) So how are you, Jeremy?

Jeremy: (pause) Okay, let's not do the chatter.

Chris: Sound 2 standing.

Will: Denver's up.

Dave: You've got Katie.

Kim: 30 seconds live.

Dave: (as Dana dashes back in) Stand by 1, 4, 4.

Chris: Standing.

Natalie: Dana?

Dana: I'm back.

Natalie: What's going on?

Dana: I need a headset.

Natalie: Dana!

Dana: (into headset) Dan, Casey....

(In the studio, Dan and Casey listen to Dana. Unbelieving, relieved grins break across their faces just as they're going back on the air)

Dave: In three, two...

Dan: (on air) Well, looks like we're stuck with each other for a little while. Let's go to the American League.

Casey: (on air, still a little dazed) Yes, we are. (pause, then laughs) Going to the American League.

Chris: (as everyone, now happy, gets back into the swing of things) Stand by sound 20.

Will: FX-5, 6 and 6a.

Dave: 6a standing.

Tech Woman: Let me see the chyron on four.

Jeremy: I got tape working on Oakland.

Natalie: Hold it for the 50s and keep it tight.

Jeremy: How tight?

Natalie: Twenty second clips over the shoulder.

Kim: And I need to preview Denver.

Elliot: Coming up.

Dana: All right. Here we go. (Isaac lays a hand on her shoulder, and she kisses it)

Casey: (on air) ... as they welcome the Tigers into the House that Ruth Built this evening.

Dan: (on air) Excuse me, Casey, but Ruth didn't build the house this evening, did he?

Casey: (on air) No, Dan, and thank you for correcting my every mistake, no matter how small, oh, these many years.

Dan: (on air) What are friends for?

Casey: (on air) Annoying the hell outta you?

Dan: (on air) Exactly! Elsewhere in the AL East, the Bluejays lead the Orioles in a rare day game, first baseman....

END

posted by Linus | 1:26 PM

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