Going the Distance


Few of us have made it to the end of 2020 without feeling a sense of loss, I suspect, even if we’re fortunate enough not have been directly visited by the most unspeakable of tragedies.

Tom Hanks in 'Cast Away' yelling at his made-up volleyball friend / 'Six Feet, Wilson!'

I’ve rarely strayed into social commentary here on the blog, preferring to keep it focused on fun stuff and critiques of pop-cultural pursuits.

Grogu à Gogo


We finally learned the name of the little guy who’s taken popular culture by storm on last week’s episode of The Mandalorian, and it reminded me that I never shared here the brief parody lyrics I posted on Twitter a year ago before we knew anything of his background.

Grogu, f.k.a. Baby Yoda by the Internet

Yoda clo-o-one
He is pale green in color
Plays with a knob and slumbers
Fifty years old, looks more
like fifty days (oh yeah)
Now you’re a kind of family
He led you down a nobler path
Mando, I hope that Yoda clone’s okay

Week Links


John Oliver in glasses and blue suit at his anchor's desk

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver was not on last week, but will be on tonight — and with John Oliver. What are the odds, I ask you?

If you’re looking forward to it then you might be interested in Oliver’s chat with Ari Velshi on the subject “The Rigors of Laughter” [38:58] from December. Velshi is a correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC who serves on the board of The Philadelphia Citizen, which presented the interview as part of a day of programming “that brings the most innovative urban thinkers and global thought leaders together to share and discuss bold ideas”. Although neither gentleman was quite sure how to interpret the conversation’s title, it focused on Last Week’s process and purpose.

There wasn’t much in their exchange I hadn’t already heard or read, and Oliver isn’t
as engrossingly hyper-articulate as fellow Daily Show alum Stephen Colbert when he’s questioned in such a setting, but it was still fun seeing Oliver express his delight over the absurd expenditures of time, money, and other resources that his staff concocts.