Friedman is Not Sponsored by Anyone

I don't always agree with Thomas Friedman. For a guy who's supposed to be knowledgeable about the world, he often seems out of touch with life in the US.  He displays this naivete in the following New York Times column, but the important thing is that he finally gets it. Marketing Is Us. And we're taking it to an extreme that is destroying our civic identity:  This Column is Not Sponsored by Anyone - New York Times, May 12, 2012

Lizz Winstead FTW

I'm finally reading Lizz Winstead's collection of essays, Lizz Free or Die, which was her gift to me for allowing her to use a joke I made on Facebook in her stand-up act. She's a funny woman, and though I can't quite relate to her Catholic upbringing and her bouts of popularity and deserved but also lucky rise to fame, I do relate to her sense of humor and her frustration with the apathy and wrongheadedness in modern American culture. She has some damned good stories, especially that of the evening she realized she could still be funny while experiencing the ultimate wardrobe malfunction on stage.

And she legitimately and correctly uses the word "smegma" -- while referring to one of her dogs. The dog stories particularly crack me up. Especially the part about how she finally gave in to Sarah McLaughlin's caterwalling.

I haven't gotten to the part where she works with Rachel Maddow, but I can't wait.