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Post by Douay-Rheims-Challoner on Sept 15, 2014 3:40:09 GMT -5
NFL: The FIFA of American sports.
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Post by X the Anonymous Zeus or Odin on Sept 15, 2014 14:16:39 GMT -5
Last night's episode brought to light a few family facts about John Oliver. I did not know his father was an Orca. And I did not know that Hoagie's fur resembled the Union Jack.
And holy shit, I can't believe how awesome Scotland's national animal is.
One problem I have is that John Oliver said that nobody would care if corporations didn't acknowledge anniversaries like 9/11 people wouldn't complain. I disagree, there would be some crazy potentially loud obnoxious douchebags who would.
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Post by Douay-Rheims-Challoner on Sept 15, 2014 15:51:58 GMT -5
X the Anonymous Zeus or Odin Oliver is saying they shouldn't acknowledge it on twitter, which I presume is different from say flying flags over your buildings at half-mast during 9/11 or some other recognition.
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Post by X the Anonymous Zeus or Odin on Sept 15, 2014 16:14:10 GMT -5
I know that he was talking about twitter. I'm just saying there are still crazy fucking lunatics out there who would get mad if they didn't acknowledge it on twitter.
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Post by X the Anonymous Zeus or Odin on Sept 22, 2014 4:00:48 GMT -5
Well, we got a new episode of Last Week Tonight. This is the first episode I can formally endorse because finally, after long months of darkness and an even longer lack of pun runs, THE BUGLE HAS RETURNED! ZEUS BE PRAISED!
Moving onto the show, that Cuba segment raised some interesting questions for me. Such as, why the hell is Cuba still being embargoed? Is there any actual reason for it or is it just some weird legacy policy that they keep renewing without any actual thought put into why it's still being done. Also, why does the US still have an official enemy list and only Cuba is on it? Hell North Korea was taken off that list by Bush and unless I'm mistaken, they are still technically at war, unless that's just South Korea in which case I have revealed my ignorance about foreign places, which I am.
As for the Miss America pageant, the leading provider of scholarships for women, really? That is insane. Something about the largest provider of scholarships for women having a swimsuit portion of application process just hurts me in the soul. And I didn't think that was possible since my soul is both a blacked necrotic mass of death, and something that doesn't exist.
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Post by Douay-Rheims-Challoner on Sept 22, 2014 12:28:08 GMT -5
That entire Miss America thing was a tour de force. The slow reveal of both the accounting nonsense to give them their overflated scores and the fact their claim to be the biggest provider is still true was incredible.
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Post by ganews on Sept 28, 2014 22:10:57 GMT -5
Whaaat, who doesn't like the Helmand. They must have dug deep to find those Yelp reviews, probably from some boring white parents visiting their kid in college.
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Post by The Prighlofone on Sept 28, 2014 22:35:14 GMT -5
The lack of solutions about the drone program is...disheartening, but it's nice to see an overview of the program that talks about how problematic it is by a respected journalist rather than a Facebook/Twitter activist, and who understands that an objective view of a President's ENTIRE presidency should rest on every accomplishment and change, not just the ones you like or don't like.
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Post by Douay-Rheims-Challoner on Sept 29, 2014 10:44:23 GMT -5
The Prighlofone Yeah it was just nice to actually see someone step back and talk about it, dispassionately and convincingly (complete with the 'and we joke about this?' reaction, which he also used for the prison rape bit, although that didn't have a clip of Obama.) Oliver is able to wade into controversial topics like the drone program and come off as reasonable, polite and level-headed, which in itself is an accomplishment. All-in-all, Last Week Tonight has been one of the most pleasant surprises of this TV year.
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Post by Tea Rex on Sept 29, 2014 13:30:34 GMT -5
Oh, man, the drone segment left an enormous pit in my stomach. We have met the enemy, and he is us, folks.
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Post by ganews on Oct 5, 2014 22:29:04 GMT -5
More quality reporting on civil forfeiture. Shit, didn't they have to give the money back on The Wire?
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Post by Lord Lucan on Oct 5, 2014 22:31:47 GMT -5
I know that he was talking about twitter. I'm just saying there are still crazy fucking lunatics out there who would get mad if they didn't acknowledge it on twitter.
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Post by Douay-Rheims-Challoner on Oct 20, 2014 10:57:19 GMT -5
Okay that entire translator-visa thing was brilliant.
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Post by NerdInTheBasement on Oct 21, 2014 7:06:57 GMT -5
"It is both inspiring and terrifying that the only way we can get Iraqi translators to America is the same way we fund Zach Braffs shitty movies."
You're doing God's work John Oliver.
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LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,049
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Post by LazBro on Oct 21, 2014 8:54:07 GMT -5
" ... did anyone order a white Russian?"
This is the best show. The hilarity of Colbert with the pointed, unveiled attack of Stewart.
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Post by Tea Rex on Oct 21, 2014 23:00:32 GMT -5
The fuck. That translator thing has made me a rage-ball of hate. As someone who has actually gone through permanent residency red tape to keep my husband in the country, it's a real cluster fuck already. But to slap a bunch of translators with the paperwork is just some right fucking bullshit.
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Post by Tea Rex on Oct 22, 2014 11:46:57 GMT -5
I was thinking about that segment, and I think it's the segment that made me realize why I like John Oliver so much. Steven Colbert keeps things light, even when he's saying something brilliantly stinging that clearly angers him. Jon Stewart mugs the camera, and even when he's angry he'll reel it back to land another joke. Bill Maher is a right smug asshole who, when he's angry, takes on an "I'm right, you're wrong" persona.
It may be his relative youth, or the fact that he's new to the political humor host scene, but John Oliver clearly just gets pissed off, full stop. He made a couple of anger-tinged jokes when Muhammad came on stage, but when he lays out the fact that Muhammad's family is trapped in bureaucratic limbo because Afghan translators' families weren't covered in the asylum bill for fuck-all reasons, he's just...angry. Justifiably angry. Not talking-head angry, regular person "what the fuck? Why? What?" angry.
I like that. Because his anger keeps me angry. So that when I watch his segments, they cling to my mind so that at any opportunity in which I can push for a change in the status quo, I remember. I remember to donate to some women's scholarships, I remember to not carry cash on me when traveling lest a cop deem it worthy of confiscating, I remember that there are Kickstarter-esque campaigns to help get translators out of a desperate situation, I remember that I need to fucking vote in every election ever because Jesus Christ.
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Post by The Prighlofone on Nov 2, 2014 23:45:17 GMT -5
I honestly thought last Sunday's episode was weaker than normal, so it was good to see the show standing confidently on its own feet again. There are times I still think the writing could use more, but I can see that improving in the future. I consider myself rather well-versed in politics, like most people here, and I did have to check Wikipedia to find my own state legislature representative (although NJ is one of the four states that is not voting for state legislatures on Tuesday). Which is not to say that Congressional elections aren't important, obviously, it's just that this country has gotten a whole lot less united over the past few decades, and with states calling radically different shots and passing laws that can be completely different if you cross a border considering it's all that is left with gridlock and a public too confused, hopeless or unwilling to look back, see how it got this way, and try and change it - I tried convincing people, futilely, in a class of mine to vote in the mid-terms on Friday, and while one stressed he understood the importance of history, there was no way he was going to vote (and that was one of the smarter things I heard when trying to cajole people to go to the polls), that is the way it's going to continue to go.
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Post by NerdInTheBasement on Nov 3, 2014 14:11:45 GMT -5
The Home Depot sketch from last nights episode with Nick Offerman, Sarah Baker and H. Jon Benjamin (!!!!) was utterly glorious.
"It's hard to get a job when they require background checks!"
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Post by ganews on Nov 9, 2014 23:54:41 GMT -5
I knew that other states had lotteries but I didn't know they were ostensibly to fund public school education.
Of course, my undergraduate tuition was fully paid by the GA Lottery-funded HOPE scholarship. We were all pretty aware that while it sent a lot of underprivileged kids to college, it was also a massive tax on the poor that sent a lot of kids to school whose parents would have paid for it regardless. The economic and sociological effects were obvious: UGA and GA Tech both got big scholastic boosts as the top in-state talent found a major reason not to go to college elsewhere. Bunches of kids from Atlanta showed up with new cars because the money didn't have to be spent on tuition. College town businesses underwent major changes because students no longer had to work their way through school.
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Post by Douay-Rheims-Challoner on Nov 10, 2014 9:04:58 GMT -5
24 episodes, and it was a hell of a run.
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Post by flowsthead on Nov 10, 2014 14:29:27 GMT -5
I can't believe he's ending for the year. I look forward to his show every week.
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Post by Tea Rex on Nov 11, 2014 9:29:18 GMT -5
I can't believe he's ending for the year. I look forward to his show every week. It's not a-typical. Bill Maher's show also goes on hiatus in the winter, IIRC.
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Post by Douay-Rheims-Challoner on Nov 14, 2014 7:41:56 GMT -5
So John Oliver reprised his role as host of the Daily Show last night, just fyi (so he could be the one to interview Jason Jones, Gael Garcia Barnal et al. about Rosewater, the movie that in a very indirect way made this whole thing possible.)
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Post by Tea Rex on Nov 14, 2014 9:40:06 GMT -5
So John Oliver reprised his role as host of the Daily Show last night, just fyi (so he could be the one to interview Jason Jones, Gael Garcia Barnal et al. about Rosewater, the movie that in a very indirect way made this whole thing possible.) I never thought about it that way. Without Rosewater, there would be no Last Week Tonight. Weird.
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Post by Douay-Rheims-Challoner on Nov 14, 2014 9:43:32 GMT -5
Tea Rex Maziar Bahari brings it up directly, saying if he'd never been imprisoned, John Oliver would never have his HBO show (then they do a joke about whether or not Oliver owes Ahmadinejad royalties.)
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Post by ganews on Feb 8, 2015 23:44:18 GMT -5
It's back!
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Post by Lemminkainen on Feb 9, 2015 0:03:18 GMT -5
I was watching Better Call Saul instead!
(also I am a filthy person who cannot afford HBO and watches through less-legal means)
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Post by Douay-Rheims-Challoner on Feb 9, 2015 8:14:05 GMT -5
Pharmaceutical Money: Ask your doctor if his taking it is right for you.
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Post by The Prighlofone on Feb 9, 2015 10:06:58 GMT -5
A somewhat...unsettling topic that would have terrified me years ago when I was more naive on the subject. There was one part that particularly creeped me out...but other than that, it was a good return. (Side note: I'm a little surprised he didn't at all connect that to the anti-vax movement, which was only parodied in the opening credits, and I was also hoping he would update those who haven't been paying attention about the net neutrality fight, which we are close to winning but still have to keep our focus laser-sharp.)
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