Blast from the Past: The Best of Gilda Radner

I had a busy weekend, so I'm re-running a Blast from the Past from back in September. It's a Blast from the Past from the Past! Sorry, kids. I know the blog has been a little slow this year. Going to try to kick it into gear this week!

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For this week's Blast from the Past, I really need an easy one. I have had a very busy weekend [it's a trend --Ed.], and don't have a text-heavy episode in me. The best thing for this sort of butt-dragging, is to put up highly entertaining clips to make up for the lack of wordsmithery.

So, here's what I'm going to do. I'm raiding NBC's Saturday Night Live vaults for my favorite bits from my favorite SNL cast member of all thirty-eight seasons, Gilda Radner! I still get sad about her early passing, and I just don't do that. Here's to you Gilda! Enjoy.

Happy Monday!

Jon Stewart Channels Glenn Beck Again (Beck's Leaving FOX "News")

Weekend blogging can be a chore. A lot of bloggers don't even bother. But I like to put up at least a few fresh things on the weekend. I've got more time to do it. And it lets me catch up on a couple of things I may have forgotten during the week. For instance, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart dedicated the first two segments of Thursday's show to Stewart's brilliant and hilarious Glenn Beck impression. Beck has quit or been fired from FOX "News", and as Bill Maher said this weekend, his absence is going to be hard on comedians.

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Sunday Update

I've spent a good portion of my weekend not blogging. In fact for the most part, I've been a layabout.  Sometimes, this is necessary for a blogger. I intend to sprinkle a few posts on today, probably with a Blast from the Past installment, and something fresh for Monday morning. In the meantime, enjoy what's left of the weekend!

It's My Party, I Won't Blog if I Don't Want to!

Okay, it isn't technically my birthday. That happens on Monday, and I have to work. So I'm celebrating birthday weekend, which is mostly to blame for the dearth of posts so far this weekend. I'll likely poke my head in and put a few things up. But right now? Do. Not. Want. To. See you when I feel like it! (No seriously, please check back soon!)

That's What Weekends Are For. . .

No blog time to speak of for Saturday. First on the agenda was. . .well, coffee and lazing around for the first couple of hours. But once we got moving, we got moving. First a 4-mile walk for some much needed exercise. Chat with the neighbors. Then, washing and vacuuming my new car. Then The Other Half's car (which was filthier than I've seen it in a long time). Meanwhile, The Other Half tended to the front and back yard, doing the things the yardscapers didn't do yesterday. And now, we're off to a hockey game at the Orleans Arena, otherwise known as "the place music goes to die" or "Home of Hannity's Freedom Scam Concert!"

Stupid Monkey Planet invited us to join him and 11-12 other friends for the last game of the season for the Las Vegas Wranglers, and we thought that sounded like a nice change of pace. So, if there is any blogging to be done, it will likely be late at night for Sunday morning. In the meantime, have a good weekend.

Lazy Weekend, FaceBook and FOX "News"

I woke up extremely late today, and was quite surprised. I woke up at 7 am, fed the cat, and went back to bed "for a little while." Then I woke up at nearly noon. Weird. I guess feeding the cat removed her "alarm cat" function, and she just let me lay there. Ack! Now, my whole day and sense of time is wrecked.

So, I got up, logged in to FaceBook, which is something of a new phenomenon to me. It's been a lot of fun in the last two weeks, but a time-eater if ever there was one. I decided to do a couple of posts listing what I've been up to over the last 25 years (and the previous 18 as well), to have a handy reference for old friends who ask, "so what have you been up to?" Logging a yearly retrospective of your life takes a lot of thought, and more effort than I would have thought.

While doing this, I put on FOX "News," which is something I can only stomach if I'm also doing something else (much like watching American Idol). Otherwise I feel guilty. FOX "News" on the weekend is something of a train wreck. While on weekdays, their shows are manned (or womaned) by seasoned--if outlandish--personalities, their weekend shows are staffed by second- or third-stringers. And while the weekday shows acknowledge (barely) their political bias, the weekend shows are for the most part news. Allegedly.

While watching America's News HQ, something you'd expect to be actual news, I was taken by the naked, right-wing slant. Sure, MSNBC has a leftward slant on weekdays, as FOX does in the opposite direction. But to be fair, MSNBC's slogan is "The Place for Politics," and "news" is nowhere in their name. FOX claims to be both "Fair and Balanced" AND has "news" in their name. Bull pucky to the former and the latter.

America's News HQ sounds like a straight news program, right? Then why were hosts (a pleasant looking, brunette man/woman combo; no idea what their names are) so overtly right-wing? On the subject of health care reform, they were scarcely better than the "deathers." Sneers all around, scary what-if scenarios, skepticism abounding. I can't get into more detail, because as I said, I was busy. But there was absolutely no question about where the hosts fell on the issue, and on others as they came up.

It was something of a surprise to see that they aired a President Obama town hall meeting in full. It was unsurprising to see the commentary afterward, flat-out calling Obama a liar. Nice. Fair and Balanced my pale white rear end.

Weekend Projects #2, 3 and 4 Complete!

There are weekends where you get absolutely nothing done, and feel guilty about it. There are those that are planned lazy time, and there are the ones where you plan projects for yourself, and actually do them. This was one of those for me.

I came away wounded and achy after my big project, switching out the fenders on my Jeep. My other projects by contrast were fairly easy. #2 was trading out the power supply on The Other Half's computer. This might have been an ordeal years ago, but having done it before, and with easier-access computers these days, it was easy-breezy. All done in about 15 minutes.

Project #3 was to obtain and set up a quieter fan in my office. We moved my office to the front of the house, so that I wouldn't disturb TOH when he has to sleep at different hours than I do. But the problem is, the front of the house gets warm, and the fans in our house are all too noisy. They require me to turn up the TV too loud to compensate, which kinda defeats the purpose of moving in the first place. So, I found a vertical, oscillating "fan tower" that promises to be noiseless. $27, so even if it turns out not to suit my purposes, it's no big tragedy.

Project #4 was seemingly simple: obtain a filtered water pitcher. Our ridiculously expensive Maytag Ice20 refrigerator's water line freezes up over and over, so we wanted filtered water in a different way. Options for pitchers are more varied than they used to be, with different brands and sizes. I opted for a slim 9-cupper jobby that was marked down from $25 to $11.

It's kind of weird though, with a sink attachment included, and a hose that snaps into the handle. And there is only one spot in the afore-mentioned refrigerator that it'll even fit.

But looky there, four projects completed! Now, I'm going to settle in with a box DVD set of Angel, Season 1 to watch for the first time. As a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, this could almost be counted as project #5. No use wasting time blogging, as it seems there are no readers today anyway. 18-whopping people at last check. Whoopee.

Weekend Project #1: Jeep de-Aging (Pt. 2)

I didn't want to do it, I really didn't. After changing out the fender flares on the left side of my Jeep Wrangler yesterday, I just wasn't sure if my body was up to it. My fingertips are bruised from trying to hold the plastic nuts while using the socket wrench on the bolts. My elbow is bruised from when the wrench slipped off of the impossibly shallow bolt heads. My skin is slashed on my wrists and on my hands from the edges of the fender flares.


But I decided, damn it, I'm going to do it. Otherwise, I'd put it off for a week, a month, who knows? I'd have one side with fresh new fenders, and one side with 11-year faded ones. So I saddled up, and rode that bitch. But this time, even though it is exacting work trying to hold those little nuts and bolts, I wore work gloves. I thought it would slow me down, but it didn't. I was able to hold the plastic nut much better, and the gloves got shredded instead of my hands. There were little bits of suede all over the fenders when I was done.

Anyway, here are the results. The photos don't give the full effect, unfortunately, because the old fenders just look dusty in the top photo. In fact, they were faded to an uneven light gray, with even lighter speckles here and there. The new fenders are black, black, black.

So, I washed the truck--and got suckered into washing The Other Half's car as well--thus completing weekend project #1!

Weekend Blogging Blahs and Sarah Palin

Photo from source, The Daily Beast

Today was sort of a rest and recovery day for me. I spent last weekend on a trip to see family in Ohio, so there wasn't much rest there. Then, the short work week was pretty hectic, and being a night owl, I never seem to get enough sleep. So last night, I got it, finally. And today I had errands, and an unexpected (but very pleasant) dinner at a friend's house. So, not surprisingly, I once again haven't had time to blog.

If you know anything about blogging, you know that trying to do it on weekends (or holidays) is especially challenging. Still, I feel the need to get a couple of things posted for Saturday. I'm just not promising a lot!

Let's start with one of my favorite punching bags, Sarah Palin. She's an easy target, I know, but she is still beloved by the FreeRepublic/Tea Bagger contingent, who still believe that she is the GOP's savior for 2012. I of course say, "go for it." But some of her long-time defenders are starting to get off the Palin bus (or are throwing her under it). And forgive me, I find it all very comforting. I've never understood her appeal, or figured out how the GOP had set expectations so very low (with Palin, Bobby Jindal, Michael Steele, Michelle Bachmann and Joe the Freaking Plumber). Could some be waking up? Maybe, but I doubt it. Which ultimately could be a good thing, I guess.

[Excerpt]

Sarah, You Blew It

Johnston, a 19-year-old with a perhaps undeserved reputation as a backwoods simpleton, has done what Barack Obama and Joe Biden and sneering liberals and cringing conservatives couldn’t: He has killed off Sarah Palin as a serious contender for the next Republican presidential nomination. And I have to say, this depresses the hell out of me. . .

Read more at: The Daily Beast

Weekend Blogging

Oh, dear. I've stayed away from blogging today, mostly because I just wanted a little down time. I watched a couple of movies Superman III, for some reason (worse than I remembered) and The Invasion, which is not the best of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers' many versions. Beyond that, I didn't do much.

So, I decided to sit down and write a couple of posts, to keep the blog current. But I can't find anything! Seriously, did anything happen today? Most of my favorite blogs are apparently off for the weekend. Nothing I have found has yet inspired me to opine about.

I was struck by a personal anniversary, and that got me a little introspective. I realized that in just a couple of weeks, I will have lived in the same house--with The Other Half--for ten solid years. It got me to thinking about other dates. This year,

- I will have been blogging for 2 years.

- I will have driven the same vehicle (1998 Jeep Wrangler) for 9 years.

- I've been with The Other Half for 11 years.

- I'll have had the same job for 12 years.

- I'll have lived in the same town (Las Vegas) for 15 years.

That's a lot of "the same" in a lot of major life areas! Of course, there have been changes along the way, like furnishings, electronics and appliances. We of course have a new President, ending a period of sameness that we are eager to see change dramatically. I got married last year, and while it remains to be seen if the voters of California will be (unbelievably) allowed to revoke it, we intend to keep the anniversary.

Those things that remain the same are a good thing for the most part, even if I sometimes have to struggle to avoid inertia, and getting stuck in a rut. Painting rooms, and moving things around is one way to do that. Taking a day off from blogging is another. And here we are back where we started!

That, dear reader, is what happens when I can't find anything to post about. I just start typing, and you all get a glimpse of how my brain works, where it wanders, and how far afield I get from what I was originally talking about! But somehow, it all ends up in a fairly neat package. I hope you're all having a great weekend, and enjoy the Super Bowl tomorrow. Meanwhile, I intend to find something newsworthy, interesting, entertaining and/or funny to put up on the blog before bedtime. Wish me luck!

Happy Monday, Happy Shopping

The long holiday weekend presents problems for bloggers like me. There is something of a news vacuum, and finding interesting stories to relate can be difficult. Many bloggers took the opportunity as a vacation from blogging, and believe me, I get that! But I found the habit more difficult to break.

Still, I haven't got much to put up for today yet, and I'm off to work after a few hours sleep. But you're probably not reading this anyway, given that it's "Cyber Monday," and you're probably all shopping (maybe while at work? Tsk! Tsk!). I'll try to resist that temptation, though I did just buy a few things for the family before turning in.

I'll be back this evening, but please take a look at the posts from this weekend. They're varied and unusual in some cases, plus they were a lot of work! Enjoy, and thanks for reading.

Quickie Post #2: SNL Colon Blow Cereal!

Weekend blogging, weekend blogging. . .it's tough, man! So, you know what? I'm going to give you a couple of quickies here, and then skip out until later this evening. No context, no relevance, just a couple of fun posts to enjoy.

Up now: Saturday Night Live commercial parody, breakfast cereal COLON BLOW!

Young Turks: Conservatives Hate Wall-E

Yeah, I know, another Young Turks video. But hey, I really like them, and we're coming off of a holiday weekend, where interesting blog stories are few and far between. And why am I apologizing?

Anyway, here The Young Turks discuss the crazy conservative outcry over the liberal, fascist movie. . .Wall-E. Seriously. I haven't seen Wall-E yet, but I might now!

Quickie Post #3: Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood

Here is the last of three "quickie" posts of classic Saturday Night Live clips, to save my aching eyes from blogging for a little while.

After the original cast of SNL left the show, Eddie Murphy was barely more than an extra on the ill-fated Saturday Night Live '80. The whole cast--except for Murphy and Joe Piscopo--got the boot. The next year, SNL very quickly became the Eddie & Joe show, emphasis on the Eddie. Here's one of the reasons why. . .

Quickie Post #2: Roseanne Roseanadana

Here is the second of three "quickie" posts of classic Saturday Night Live clips, to save my aching eyes from blogging for a little while.

Continuing with the Weekend Update theme, still in the Jane Curtin era, here is one of the most beloved SNL characters ever invented, Roseanne Roseanadana who as usual, makes Jane Curtin sick.

Quickie Post #1: Weekend Update with Jane Curtin

The day has been long, and my eyes are a little bleary. And if you've been here before, you've probably read me whine about how hard it is to find interesting things to write on weekends. So, how 'bout I cheat a little bit? I get a bit of a breather, and you get to have a little fun!

Now that you're on board with the idea (you are, right?), here is the first of three posts of classic Saturday Night Live clips. Now, I'm not cheating very much, because I have been a long-time fan, having watched the very first episode live. So, I'll only post the clips that are my very favorites. Here we go. . .

Here's a clip from Weekend Update, with one of the best "reporters" to sit in the chair in the show's history, Jane Curtin.

Daily Show Week in Review

For those of you who don't get Comedy Central, or can't stay up late enough to watch, here's a great way to catch up on some of what you missed. Individual, full-length clips are available at the same source, should you want to see more. And, yeah. . .I confess, I'm not finding enough stuff to write about tonight, and the blog was getting a little strident again. Enjoy!

Weekend Wrap Up

My blogging has been light this weekend, due to a heavy dose of activity. I'm afraid this may tend to happen a lot more, now that the weather has broken, and it's actually light out past 5pm. But to show you that I wasn't just lazing around, here are some photos of the new back yard, with fresh landscaping, a new barbecue and a new garden swing. Hazzah! It's finally finished!

Weekend Blogging

I've said it before and I'm saying it again. Blogging on the weekends (particularly holiday weekends) is hard work! The lack of posts you see is only partly because I'm taking it easy this week. It's also because finding interesting things to post about is really, really difficult.

I suppose it's nice that (outside of the odd assassination and pocket veto) not all that much seems to be happening. That will of course change dramatically as soon as New Year's is over with. The primary season ramps up almost immediately afterward, and there are sure to be some political fireworks.

Until then, I'll see what I can scrape up. And try not to feel guilty for the sparse new posts.

iPhone iBlended to iBits

I've lamented in this space countless times that posting on weekends is difficult work. It's not that nothing happens on weekends, only that nobody (including many a blogger) seems to care. So, here's a video that has no constructive purpose, no inherent news value, and is completely apolitical. Hat tip to AmericaBlog (which probably has the same problem as I do on weekends).

Now, I will admit to being sort of anti-Apple. Something about the whole company is a little too slick, a little to elitist, and breeds a lot of smug self-righteousness in its cult-like followers. So it is with at least a small amount of glee that I post this video. . .