Heckler at Weiner Press Conference Was Howard Stern Writer

Turning faux outrage into a career. From source, NY Times.

Howard Stern has writers? Well, in a story that explains a lot, one of them was that dude shouting inappropriate things (which is somehow appropriate) at former Congressman Anthony Weiner (R-NY) at his resignation press conference. He's the guy you may have heard yelling "pervert!" at Weiner. Always classy, those Stern guys. I happen to enjoy having a semi-immature and inappropriate sense of humor, but Stern--though a gifted entertainer--very often just comes off mean.

[Excerpt]

Even a Media Circus Needs a Clown

. . .Midway through Mr. Weiner’s four-minute speech Thursday afternoon and moments after Mr. Weiner had announced his resignation, Mr. Bronk, a writer and performer from “The Howard Stern Show,” leaped from his seat in the crowd and began to heckle the New York congressman, asking crude questions about the now-famous picture of Mr. Weiner wearing gray boxer-briefs. . .

Read more at: New York Times

Catching Up With the News #2: Horrible Anti-gay Attack in New York

This past weekend, I was a lazy blogger. There were a few big stories I meant to blog about, but I got busy doing. . .nothing. So, in case you missed them too, here's what I skipped for a few days. . . 


Image from source, FOX "News"



The news about a rash of teen suicides related to the bullying they took for their homosexuality has been heartbreaking, and shocking.  They don't seem to have been related or influenced by each other, they just happened in a string; half a dozen in a couple of weeks.  In reality, it may be that this sort of thing happens much more often that we think, and that the news just happened to focus on it right now.  And that's a very sad thought.  There's now a new project called "It Gets Better," a YouTube series initiated by sex columnist Dan Savage.  It's an uplifting series of  testimonials from older gay people, telling their younger "selves" that it gets better.

Dan's right, it does get better. For most of us. But disturbing things like the story excerpted below still--in 2010--still happen with all-too-often regularity.  Wait, scratch that. Anti-gay attacks and comments happen too often. What happened here is fortunately the extreme end of it.  If karma is real, these guys are in for an unpleasant prison stint.

[Excerpt]

8 Suspects Arraigned in New York City Anti-Gay Attack

Gang members used an anti-gay slur to ask two teen boys and a 30-year-old man about their sexuality before brutally torturing and beating them last week in a working-class Bronx neighborhood, authorities said in court, where eight suspects stood with drooped heads at their first appearance as their relatives wept behind them. . .

Read more at (yes): FOX News

David Caruso's CSI One-Liners

I'm a big fan of CSI, the original Las Vegas version. Not just because I live here, but because I like the style of the show, the acting and (usually) the writing. But the weakest aspect of the show (aside from the atrociously wrong city geography) is the quip. When William Petersen was still on the show, almost every episode started with Gil Grissom delivering a darkly humorous quip to the camera. Sometimes it worked, more often it was cringe inducing.

I never fell in with the spinoff shows, CSI: Miami and CSI: NY, though I have caught a few episodes of each. And the quip seems to be a regular feature on all three shows. But as the following clip shows, David Caruso is spectacularly bad at it. At least when you watch them mushed up together.

Blast from the Past: Ace Frehley, Back in the New York Groove

I love the CD player I got in my Jeep last Christmas. My Wrangler came with a factory tape deck that was largely ornamental, as all it would do is eat tapes. So after seven years, I decided the danger of theft was worth the risk, and I asked The Other Half for a CD player for Christmas.

The bonus in this deal was that the unit plays MP3 CDs. If your car stereo can't do this, ditch it immediately, and get one that will play them. You can fit over 100 songs on a CD in MP3 format, and it's almost like having an iPod in your dash.

Anyway, I've made several mix CD-MP3s, with clever names like "Pop Salad," "Rock Salad" and "Cheese Salad." Themes of a sort. And in my rock CD, there is one tune I play over and over again. It's Ace Frehley's "Back in the New York Groove," from the KISS experiment in the late 70s or early 80s. They made four solo albums (with help from their band mates on each). This is--as far as I know--the only top 40 hit from the project. I don't know why, but I just love it. This video is a curiously shortened version of the song, but it's still good. Check it out.