15 December 2010

THINGS THAT ARE MY LIFE: People Talking on the Phone

How do you know it is finals week?

Well, besides life repeatedly punching you in the face, there's always finding yourself, at four in the morning, looking at my new-favorite bloggue: People Talking on the Phone.

It's exactly what it sounds like:





Precisely why is this so appealing? Does it speak to some unconscious desire, some repressed telephonic fetish, some dial-tone longing? Really, I think People Talking on the Phone, in showing us images of only one end of these telephone communications, calls up that uncomfortable truth that we can only ever really know our own one side of a conversation; that in every connection we make, we are still truly alone.

Also most of the pictures coming from Twin Peaks doesn't hurt. And there's the fact that it's four in the morning.


PTOTP's author Allison Maplesden also has another blog, in which she posts ink paintings of female celebrities, based on images from gossip magazines. If you liked the phones, then you might like this.

14 December 2010

ERTCSJDHT: Story of My Life (& Then Some)

3 December 2010:

(My scanner was weirdly bad at being a good scanner today.)







Contenders for my laughs and place as Cathy's successor: Get Fuzzy and Mutts, respectively.

(Why is the comics page of two weeks ago mirroring my internal sentiments? What is this, some kind of Denzel Washington time-travel movie?)

11 December 2010

THE LITTLE THINGS: Election (Alexander Payne, 1999)

Election is one of those movies that I watched when I was about fifteen and knew was good, but did not quite appreciate its brilliance.

But it totally is - it's smart, it's funny, and it's about a high school student government election. As jaded as I've always been (I mean, I watched Daria in elementary school), I don't think a person can truly appreciate the absurdity of high school until they've left its hallowed halls. And goddamn man, people really do care about this pointless teenage academic bullshit, and Alexander Payne and co-writer Jim Taylor got that ridiculous kind of concern down.

Also there's some funny little things:



I hope that graffiti was just there. And that they chose that stall specifically because of it.



This is unrelated to the above screencap, but Tracy Flick's mom is Mrs. Vanderhoff from
Wayne's World - "I just opened my mouth and out it came." I like to ponder the possibility of those two characters being one, and how that would influence Tracy's upbringing.



For those too lazy to google,
Citizen Ruth is another Payne/Taylor film, about abortion or something, starring the lady paleontologist from Jurassic Park. Not entirely certain I would take the effort to go out and actually rent a movie concerning Dr. Ellie Sattler's right to choose, but I might torrent it.



Also, in addition to having directed/co-written Sideways, Alexander Payne is an executive producer for the show Hung - the guy's really got a thing for lonely high school teachers.

02 December 2010

ABANDONED JOKES: An Aborted Stand-Up Routine I Found in a Folder on my Computer
(I Think It Holds Up)

After Arrested Development was canceled, I've been having trouble finding a satisfying televisual replacement*, and so I've come up with some suggestions for programs that would satiate my post-AD needs:

The Michael Cera Silverman Program
Saturday Night Michael Cera
The Michael Cera Files
CSI: Michael Cera
Dirty Sexy Michael Cera
Little People, Big Michael Cera
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Michael Cera!
Tom goes to Michael Cera
Law and Michael Cera
America’s Next Top Michael Cera
A Shot of Michael Cera with Tila Tequila
Michael Cera’s Funniest Home Videos
6 Feet Under Michael Cera
Michael Cera’s Clues
Michael Cera’s Anatomy
So You Think Michael Cera Can Dance?
Will and Michael Cera
Sex and Michael Cera
Michael Cera and Michael Cera
Michael Cera Montana
That’s So Michael Cera
Boy Meets Michael Cera
Michael Cera Pains
Queer Michael Cera for the Straight Michael Cera
The Big Comfy Michael Cera
Hey, Michael Cera!
Michael Cera Loves Raymond
Whose Line Is It, Michael Cera?
Clarissa Explains Michael Cera
Who Wants to be Michael Cera?
Michael Cera in the Middle
Malcolm in the Michael Cera
Fairly Michael Cera Parents
Ugly Michael Cera
Days of Michael Cera's Lives
It's Always Sunny in Michael Cera
The Whitest Michael Cera U'Know
Pimp My Michael Cera
The Price is Michael Cera
Deal, or Michael Cera?
Big Blue Michael Cera
The Secret Life of an American Michael Cera
Michael Cera House Wives
Michael Cera Talk with Sue Johanson
The Antique Michael Cera Show
The Busy World of Michael Cera
Teenage Mutant Michael Cera


Networks, your move.

*bald-faced lie