Mercy!

I don’t know about ridiculous, exactly. Another way to look at it is: HE let his family suffer a total loss by failing to pay the $25 he knew he owed. He could have sold one of his rifles or his camcorder. Them’s the breaks when you don’t pay your bills. If you let your homeowner’s insurance lapse, you don’t have any insurance. If you stop paying tuition, you stop being a student. If you don’t pay your taxes, they place a lien against your property. If you don’t pay your water bill, they shut off your water. And on , and on. Bad outcomes. But not unexpected.

I’m looking forward to the movie, too. Loved the shorts. How often can you attach the word “sweetness” to what tries to pass for funny in the movies these days? I heard on NPR today that the creator’s warehouse was just destroyed by fire. He lost 30 years’ worth of props, storyboards and models. But apparently nothing to do with the movie.

You sure he didn't say it was due to God's displeasure with all those gay and feminist Pakistanis?

Misdirected? How do you figure?

Congratulations for blowing through your personal goal. I’m in awe of anyone even finishing one of those events.

Finally got around to seeing The Aristocrats. The only shocking part was paying $9.25. I was surprised that I laughed as much as I did, and interested that at least one part made me uneasy which I wasn’t expecting. By now, everybody probably knows the central premise for this documentary is a hugely vulgar joke (until recently a semi-secret in-joke for professional comedians). In the basic set-up a husband and wife (and usually at least one child and one animal) go to the office of a talent agent and describe their act – which involves many and varied sexual and scatological behaviors – at the end of which the flabbergasted agent asks what they call themselves. The answer is the punch line of course, “The Aristocrats.” The joke itself isn’t really funny; it’s kind of beside the point. It’s the path each comic takes, the way he (and it usually IS he) chooses to tell it, what gross and grosser acts he invents as he riffs on the standard version that defines the success of the telling. And, I might add, says a heck of a lot about the comic. I figured that this one trick pony of a movie would be a sort of cultural event best seen in a public setting rather than at home on DVD and I was right. I’d never bother to watch it again, but it was interesting in itself seeing the 70-100 different comedians who took part. It was too long even at less than 90 minutes, tried too hard to be transgressive, but was a one of a kind film worth seeing.

Yeah, there’s something to be said for the usual stuff: “Class of ’05 Rulz” or “Susie + Billy Forever” or an entire overpass full of gang graffiti. Maybe we'll get to see more soon.

My goodness! Ironic user name, or what?

The opposition? Uh, better check with your wife, Juggs. MOST heterosexually-active women practice some kind of contraception, unless they’re intent on producing offspring annually. And, as I’m sure you know, 78% of US women having abortions report a religious affiliation; Catholic women have an abortion rate 29% higher than Protestant women; and one in five women having abortions are born-again or Evangelical Christians. Damn those secularists! So, I guess you MIGHT say that you never let the facts get in your way. Edit: And, oh yeah - Way to hijack a simple, funny thread about dog and cat replacement testicles. You da man!!

Why oh why doesn’t a reporter have the gumption to ask Ozzie – and keep asking after every game in which Marte embarrasses himself – why he insists on using Marte instead of Cotts. Isn’t there room somewhere amidst the softball tosses (“Ozzie, could you speak a little bit about how happy you were about blah, blah, blah?”) for a legit question like that?

Nice bandwidth!

I think chants at games are great fun – cheers on the players; bonds the fans; hey, it IS a game! But I have a slight thing against creating diminutive forms of proper names of grown men. Unless you’re married to the guy. Or at least those names where it’s not already common (like, say, Bobby or Billy). I’m probably in the minority here on that point. Anyway, it’s so often used as a form of taunting at sports events – do you remember the “Jo-ey, Jo-ey” that always seemed to follow Albert Belle around? I'm never quite sure if someone isn't being razzed when I hear those "-ee" chants.

LOL. I guess I missed the racial check boxes when I registered. Why don’t you start a poll so we’ll have an idea about our diversity? You know, like: White White/Irish White/Anglo-Irish White/Southside Irish White/lace-curtain Irish White/shanty Irish White/black Irish White/Fighting Irish Other

Yeah, okay. But I'm pretty sure you're just bragging, whereas I was mourning my lost youth. So there. P.S. If you'd use a great database program like CATraxx http://www.fnprg.com/catraxx/catraxx.html you'd never have to lose track of your music again. Edit: Fixed link. Thanks for the heads up YASNY.

Great story. Re the badger baiting: Don't know if those English badgers are different from our North American ones, but I wouldn't want to get too close to them. Anyway, I figured your baseball allegiance was just that old time Sox fans came closest in demeanor to Brit football hooligans, er fans.

That could have been the beer talking. Or Hawk.

This was a very entertaining thread. Thanks, kids.

Thanks for the link and the pics. Didn't know anything about that. I must not get out enough or sumpin.

I'd be willing to lay money that I'm the only person on this board who owns the album that song originally appeared on - and in vinyl. Not that that's a good thing.

Speaking of former Cleveland Indians, haven’t we already had our Albert Belle moment in Chicago? Sure, Manny is a great talent and a future HOF’er. He’s also a selfish, moody, hustle-when-he-feels-like-it guy who just doesn’t respect the game. He’d be an awful fit on this team. I’m glad I got to see him hit those homers in Game 3. When he ostentatiously posted up to admire his shots and had the nerve to start messing with his gloves before he even stepped out of the box, it was nice to know that none of our current players will be embarrassing us with such an ignorant display.

I had to vote "other," although my heart says El Duque. This was truly a team effort. But I sure hope Ozzie has seen enough of Marte for a while.

This was one of those times where a few of Hawk's "Where WAS that pitch?" would have been in order. But since it's the losers who usually complain the loudest about the calls......................let's party on now!

Uh-huh. Wink, wink.

That's exciting! Best of success to you. Should we be looking for the runner wearing a Sox cap or visor?

Speaking of the Ig Nobels, did anybody catch the segment on CBS a couple of years ago when they profiled that year’s award ceremony? It was just so funny. They saved the best for last, the Biology Prize for, “The first case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard Anas platyrhynchos (Aves: Anatidae)” The author was a good sport and even showed a short video of the assault.