Blackbeard's Delight

An assemblage of the fantastic!

Hi. I'm Justin. I have a pop culture compulsion, I write (for a living and for fun), and somehow it's all gonna work itself out on this blog.

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Knope 2012 - Official Campaign Website.

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americanroutes:

From today’s Featured Archive Spotlight: Dr. John shares his thoughts on the politics of music.

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azizisbored:

YES! Cannot overstate my love for Chris Pratt or his alterego Bert Macklin. I just wish this was the opening title sequence to a...

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littlefooted:

NO DOUBT

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At his and his wife’s joint 70th birthday, they gave each of the 110 couples who attended a check for $70,000 made out to the guest’s favorite charities. The total was about $7 million.

Something about this cause indigestion in my brain. That’s a lot of money, and needless to say an insanely lavish party favor…but for a good cause.

- “Santorum’s Main Backer Plans to Keep on Funding” [WSJ]

Holiday Road: Looking for your car trip favorites

A rest stop outside of Chicago Want to know what Christmas means to me? A 24 + hour road trip to the Snowiest, friendliest, heart-clogging foodiest place on earth, and my ancestral home, Minnesota.

For a more than a few years now Amy and I have made it a habit - necessity (our dogs Pal & Turk) and saving money - of driving out to Minnesota for Christmas when we don’t go visit her family in Maine. And, for at least several of those trips, we’ve driven non-stop around the clock. (Don’t worry, we’re making a highly-anticipated pitstop in Ann Arbor to visit some friends)

This is clearly insane.

You haven’t experienced life until you’ve stopped at a Waffle House outside of Youngstown, seen the sunrise from a truckstop/chapel in Central PA, or wondered how much porn and fireworks drivers in Illinois or Ohio need.

And yet, it’s kinda fun. We listen to lots of podcasts, NPR shows, books on tape and music. And, even though I made fun of it one paragraph ago, we get to see lots of weird, quirky, and sometimes beautiful stuff along the way. (Also, again, disturbing. Truck stops are just a barbed wire fence away from being lawless territory.)

Proof, once again, that our Commander-in-Chief is a big dork married to a cool lady.

Thanks, Tumblr.

Thanks Tumblr. I thought we had this great relationship going on where I would find and post the kind of pop culture ephemera that passes by every day. And then I had to go and discover all these goddamn style blogs. In particular the mens style blogs, what with their handsome suits, exquisite ensambles, classic looks, master tailors and easily photographed confidence.

Now I’m convinced I need to become a writer, not for the novel pursuit of offering a literary landmark, but for the sole purpose of having money to amass a gentlemanly wardrobe. Still have to figure out the exact, you know, writing, part of it (still a little fuzzy on books vs. scripts).

So, thanks Tumblr. You sharply dressed jerk.

[Photo credit: Street Etiquette]

The setting had potential: a run-down diner in Brooklyn, which suggested the possibility of a bohemian, hipster Taxi, with thwarted dreams and economic anomie deepening and contextualizing the humor. I was curious to see what new things might be possible with a live audience, three-camera format, after years of single-camera sitcoms. I wanted to see girls being funny.

What I got was terrible jokes featuring the word “vagina.”

But seriously, he’s right. 2 Broke Girls, you had so much promise.

(Also, how awesome would it be to be a researcher & writer for the Paley Center?)

[Arthur Smith: Let’s Talk About Sex]

DC executives seemed surprised at the speed with which they had alienated some of their devout fans. Some threatened piracy, like NinjaZilla, a poster on a comics forum who wrote: “What will me and my poor iPad do? I’m so sorry DC! Because it is not like I can download all those comics for free, oh wait yes I can, and now I guess I will and maybe I will download every comic DC produces while I am at it!

– NinjaZilla, a renowned and influential source in the publishing world.

[“In Battle of E-Readers, Booksellers Spurn Superheroes”]

jugglinggeese:

Oh boy, hold on, be careful. The inside and the outside just switched. Walk very carefully.

Knope in the TARDIS is full of win. Ben Wyatt is super jealous.

It’s like someone mashed-up two of my most favorite things in the world.

natashavc:

This is a pretty sweet moment.

(minute 4:50)

This just cries out for a caption contest.

Annnnnnnnd GO!

But the experiences of mixed-race Americans can be vastly different. Many mixed-race youths say they feel wider acceptance than past generations, particularly on college campuses and in pop culture. Extensive interviews and days spent with the Greenwoods show that, when they are alone, the family strives to be colorblind. But what they face outside their home is another story. People seem to notice nothing but race. Strangers gawk. Make rude and racist comments. Tell offensive jokes. Ask impolite questions.

Or, in the case of a newspaper writing an outstanding ongoing series about the lives of mixed-raced people in America, using a word like “intermarriage” when writing about those families. On the spectrum of phrases used to describe marriage between two people of different races, “intermarriage” is probably as offensive as tapioca pudding. And yet, calling it “intermarriage” is about as terrible a word choice as you can find, loaded with a mess of ugly connotations around purity and bigotry. I’m pretty sure the Greenwoods didn’t check a special box when they got hitched, they called it the same thing as anyone else: marriage.

danharmon:

From the room in which Remedial Chaos Theory was broken by Chris McKenna and writers. I’m sorry, that’s not accurate. The room in which Chris McKenna and writers were broken by Remedial Chaos Theory. Thank you so much for your patience and sacrifices, guys.

Thus confirming two of my deeply held beliefs: 1.) White boards are great for the writing process, 2.) Community is goddamn awesome.