EPISODE NUMBER: 6089 (July 6, 2010)
GUESTS: Garret Keizer
SEGMENTS: Latest Soap Opera News, The WØRD: The White Stuff, I’s on Edjukashun
VIDEOS: Tuesday, July 6, 2010
It was nice to see Stephen feeling … better today. He’s still obviously a bit under the weather, but at least he was well enough to put on pants. That’s got to count for something. One of the more endearing traits of “Stephen” is his love for his stories, and it was great seeing him react to some show that I don’t even need to ever have watched to know its ridiculousness. I think I’ve missed my calling in life – I should be following one of the white guys in ties in China around with a notepad looking like I’m taking notes for these guys who aren’t actually working. What’s more prestigious than a white man with a tie? A white man with a tie and his own personal secretary!
I wish that my undergraduate alma mater would raise my grades like Loyola. It still kills me that I graduated with a 2.96 instead of a 3.0. But oh, I wouldn’t trade the Spring of 1993 for all the GPA points in the world. I simply cringe every time I hear about the Texas schoolbook scandal. I’ve lived in Texas all my life, and got my education from these books that are now being changed to be more sensitive, and by sensitive I mean changed by douchebags who want to rewrite history.
This last weekend, my husband and I spent the weekend at a gorgeous bed and breakfast nestled in 25 acres of prime Texas land, and the thing that really caught my attention was the noise. I’m so used to buses and police cars and the rush of the air conditioner and the DART rail right outside of my window that it took some adjusting to get used to the cicadas and crickets and birds and other nature noises that were so distracting simply because they were so foreign to my ears. I simply loved that Stephen’s smile just couldn’t be contained during the interview, which is why there’s two screencaps today.
Enough of my rambling, what did all of you think of tonight’s episode?
- It’s true that you found out only last night that I was on death’s door, or at least hunched over death’s toilet, but there is such a thing as FedEx.
- But after spending yesterday couch-bound in the fetal position, I was able to catch up on the news I usually miss. So let’s get right to the top story. Sonny shot Dante!
- Look at me, I’m crying Gatorade. It’s the only fluid left in my body.
- It used to be if you got good grades and kept your nose clean, you were guaranteed an office job with a good salary, a wife and 2.5 kids. Then you’d go home and yell at your half kid for being too lazy to round himself up.
- You can get a job in China just by being white. [Doesn't Hurt in Arizona Either]
- It’s prosti-tunity.
- Now, for the last two years, this has been a Chinese show that has actually called the “Best Lucky Number Joy Time Fun Colbert Hour and Friend”. [May Contain Traces Of Lead]
- Now, please, resume your prestigious whiteness.
- There is no way top law firms could ever find out that your grades were inflated unless they ask, hey, did you go here?
- For instance, they propose changing slave trade to the less judgmental “Atlantic Triangular Trade” so our children might one day know the heartbreaking truth that our cotton was once harvested by triangles of color, or as they prefer to be called, Isosceles-Americans.
- I just ran the numbers. And I got an $18 billion surplus using arithmetic I learned from my Texas math book.
- College can be expensive, folks, that’s why I suggest the “Good Will Hunting” route where you take a job as a janitor and hope to be a hunky math genius.
- They even offer credit for on-the-job training in ethics, where employees grabble with such moral quandaries as, if I’m not paid enough to afford lunch, is it wrong to eat all the cheese samples?
- Best of all, Wal-Mart course work teaches business skills so that one day students can realize their dream of opening their own company that gets crushed by Wal-Mart.
- You wouldn’t consider that noise? My enemies would.
- I’m on the airplane and the sound is behind me and I leave the sound.
- My noise is just very, very loud hope.
Lovely to see Stephen looking perkier, rather than on the verge of puking up. Hope to see him even better next ep!
Lovely word-play in this ep, some gorgeous character breaks and smiles adding to the livelier feeling. I’m slightly surprised than Glenn Beck coughUniversitycough didn’t get a mention in “I’s on Edjukashun”, though.
COUNTDOWN TO SQUEE FOR STEVE CARELL! :D
Shout Out (Hey!):
+1
i knowww im soo excited for whats going to be an amazinggg interview ahhhhh!!!
DB- i think u should put up a countdown timer thingy on the side for how many hrs left till the interview!!
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i rlly thought that when stephen was talking abt china hiring white guys and all that he was gonna bring up the fact that france used him w/o his permission in an ad. i dunno why .
i really like the i’s on edjukashun. it was funny and very edjukating!
the interview was great as well! its not often that the interviewee gets the last word in the interview let alone getting that type of smile from stephen (sighhhh)
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Interesting interview. I didn’t realize how loud and noisy Metro Manila has become until I started commuting with my music player and when I started practicing yoga. When I close the studio door behind me it ‘s like entering another world. It’s scary and unsettling but it’s also beautiful and amazing.
Glad that Stephen’s feeling better. And his impression of a leaf blower was so adorable! :)
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+1
I enjoyed the lovefest (fest!) that was the interview. Glad to see that flurpy is gone and SCILF is back. Also loved the Walmart skewering. One of those episodes where I can’t decide!
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+4
I really enjoyed that interview, and I’ve definitely been finding the book interesting as I do my on-again, off-again reading of it on the Metro. I’ve taken to wearing earplugs on the Metro in the past couple of years because the tunnel under the Potomac between Rosslyn and Foggy Bottom gets so loud, but it’s made for a much more enjoyable commute overall … a fact that offers me no end of amusement as I read Mr. Keizer’s book about noise.
The “I’s on Edjukashun” cracked me up for the dig at Loyola Law School, and I do have a problem with grade inflation. That said, I kind of sympathize with the people who made the decision to bump the grades, too. My law school graded on a straight B- curve, which was pretty harsh even then. That meant that an average student graduating from my average law school was competing for jobs with graduates from, say, UVA, a top ten law school whose “average” students were graded on an A- curve. If you’re a practice manager looking at the resume from a graduate from a top 10 law school and an A- average vs. one from a graduate of a less prestigious school and a lower GPA, which do you think is going to get hired? And I don’t buy for a second that the school’s reputation makes *that* big a difference; I doubt very much that average students at top law schools are necessarily better than their counterparts at less expensive (and less prestigious) schools.
Good to see Stephen looking like he’s at least on the road to recovery, and I hope he continues to improve!
Shout Out (Hey!):
+3
Haha! The fact that you have to wear earplugs to read Keizer’s book because it’s too noisy around you could not be a better definition of irony. :)
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+1
I loved the line, “My noise is just very, very loud hope.” Reminds me of the line he used when dancing at this desk, “I don’t know what this music is in my head but it’s loud” or same such …
The whole idea of a Chinese business owner owning TCR makes me shiver but wouldn’t be funny if the worry wasn’t legit. China fascinates me but the business practices and political heavy handedness *bbrrrrr* just gives me the shakes. I know ’cause I googled it …
Love my reCAPTCHA: Later petunia
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Glad Stephen is better also needless to say. Hope he will continue to improve – he may be hiding some of what he is feeling and these things can linger. Looking forward to tonight and Steve!
My favorite part was the interview with the thoughts on the nature of noise. Stephen really let “Stephen” go all out on this one, but the guest kept up with him in a delightful way. It was fun and still made its point.
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+2
I feel compelled to send Stephen a Get Well card after seeing that episode, heh.
Good to see him looking a lot better! And I’m also really looking forward to the Steve Carell episode – tonight can’t come fast enough!
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+2
I, too wanted to send something–he just begs so nicely. What if we sent something (like a case of gatorade!) from the posters/commenters at NoFactZone?! You know it would get a gratuitious name drop! :)
Shout Out (Hey!):
+1
As soon as I saw how he greeted the audience at the top of the show, I could tell he was feeling better. Not 100%, but much better than Monday. And “Stephen” talking about his stories always makes me laugh.
The I’s on Edjukashun segment was really great, but also frustrating. Changing “slave trade” to “Atlantic Triangular Trade”? Really? On top of falsely teaching children that Columbus was nice to the natives and keeping Jefferson out of textbooks because he coined the phrase “separation of church and state” (which he didn’t, by the way – the idea was around long before him), now my future children can learn that through the Atlantic Triangular Trade, Africans were “willingly brought over on luxurious ships to harvest cotton and try to earn a decent living.” But I digress. ;)
I really liked the interview, and would like to read Keizer’s book. I definitely think there is a difference between sound and noise and that what sounds pleasant to one person is just noise to another. Plus the interview had a nice combination of “Stephen” (the ‘my noise is just very, very loud hope’ line cracked me up!), and Stephen (smile breaks! yes!).
So excited for tonight’s episode! :D
Shout Out (Hey!):
+3
Keizer’s book is pretty interesting and covers quite a lot of ground at a very high level but, as he admitted in the interview, it asks more questions than it pretends to answer. I commented on it at length elsewhere, but here’s my take on it so far, if you want to know more about what it covers.
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Thanks Ms. I! I’ll be checking the book out when I can, for sure. :)
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It was nice to see Stephen feeling better. :-)
The “Isosceles-Americans” and the whole I’s on Edjukashun segment just killed me! I found the interview interesting as well. I found myself paying more attention to the “background noise” of my life today.
I’m with ya on the GPA thing, DB. I’m not even going to discuss my college GPA but let’s just say I had a lot of fun and wouldn’t trade that for better grades. When I went back and got a second degree in my early 30s, I graduated with just shy of a 4.0. I don’t agree with grade inflation, but Ms. I does have a valid point that it can be difficult for some graduates in certain fields coming from “average” schools to compete with graduates of more prestigious schools. It doesn’t necessarily make them smarter or better so I can understand the reasoning behind wanting to try to level the playing field.
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So glad that he was better today! It was hard for me to vote today because I really enjoyed everything in the episode. But I settled on the WORD segment because it’s my favorite segment they do it and this one was just so well-executed. :)
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I can’t decide which is my favorite segment from last night. A really solid show. I’m so glad Stephen was feeling better. And I wish I’d sent him a card. :-)
Does anyone know who is the “new” owner of the show? The nice Asian man who had Stephen continue w/ the show? I loved Stephen bowing to him. haha
The interview was fun. He’s had a number of interesting guests on lately who made him laugh and break character. So fun!
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Hurray for Stephen feeling better! I did rather like seeing Stephen in a robe w/ his tan legs peaking out from under Nana’s blanket, but the man can rock a suit (and I think it makes him look like he’s feeling better- whether he is or not).
Great Word. And, as a teacher, I love “I’s on edjukashun” It allows me to laugh through the craziness!
Can’t wait to see what he has planned for tonight’s ep.
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