I remember when it almost became an international incident.... That patriots in Sofia were offended when they thought he was being described as short-fingered Bulgarian... Typo.

Yonder http://tinyurl.com/csze24l

> onder http://tinyurl.com/csze24l

I was excited when Google put the archive up. But Spy (unlike the Odd Couple) hasn't aged so well.

Couldn't disagree more.

From one of the best magazine articles I ever read, crystallizing the righteous cynicism of the (overeducated) Boomer comedians. It changed my life, not just my opinion of showbiz:

Naïfs and waifs hate elegance and all the sinful pleasures of adulthood — complexity, sex, conversation and taoiloring. Real children long to grow up, and for good reason — so they can drink, smoke, gossip, avoid jury duty and deplete the ozone layer. Childhood is not a utopia but a holding pen; the good stuff comes later, when you're ready, when you've earned it. Children look abysmal in evening clothes and are problematic in theaters, restaurants and concert halls; as a rule, children are useless after 4:00 p.m.

Spy was that good for YEARS.




In other holiday news: Why?

Loved it when Spy polled incoming Congress-critters about what the US response to ethnic cleansing in Freedonia should be.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1993-01-27/news/9301050954_1_ethnic-cleansing-freedonia-spy

The excellence of this perspective has survived the decline and failure of the magazine itself....

But we shouldn't take it for granted.

Besides, the Odd Couple was a mundane sitcom from a mundane movie.

I'm sure Mr. Klugman as a nice man in his private life who paid his taxes on time... But it's not in my heart to grieve. At least Charles Durning was good in stuff, like The Sting.

Christmas!

Let's talk about brutal death.

Combining
this with the multiple incidents described here has given me a new theory, probably untestable and perhaps not worth knowing.

When American guys go nuts in schools, they're often lashing out at specific targets; people who disappointed in them in attempts at intimacy or fellowship. Beyond that, they enjoy access to a pool of vulnerable targets.

When Chinese guys do it, they really seem to want to kill children... It's as if they don't want and newcomers in their surroundings to grow up to a more enriching life than they (were going to) have.

Perhaps in China, culture is changing so fast that a confused and incompetent man could feel the outcomes varying tremendously over just-a-few years; the high school senior saying "These 3rd grade punks don't know how good they've got it."

Aw shucks, the link was wrong. I was looking for the story about China school killings. Maybe like this or this.

The murder of children in school in China is a THING... Every bit as much as it is in America, and probably more so.

(I bet it is in much of the rest of the world, too.)

Jeezus, I had no idea. Lifted wholesale from Wiki:

[Charles] Durning served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Drafted at age 21, he was first assigned as a rifleman with the 398th Infantry Regiment, and later served overseas with the 3rd Army Support troops and the 386th Anti-aircraft Artillery (AAA) Battalion. For his valor and the wounds he received during the war, Durning was awarded the Silver Star and three Purple Heart medals.[7]

Durning participated in the Normandy Invasion of France on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and was among the first troops to land at Omaha Beach. In Episode S03E09 of the program Dinner for Five, which also included Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise and Charles Nelson Reilly, Reynolds spoke about Durning's service career for him, as Durning did not like to talk about it much.

Reynolds revealed that Durning was in a group of gliders who overshot their landing zone and that he had to fight alone all the way back to the beach. Reynolds also stated that his own father was there fighting about 15 yards away and that Durning was probably the most decorated veteran (then) still alive from World War II.[8] Some sources state that he was with the 1st Infantry Division at the time,[9] but it is unclear if he served as a rifleman or as a member of one of the division's artillery battalions.

Durning was wounded by a German “S” Mine on June 15, 1944 at Les Mare des Mares, France. He was transported to the 24th Evacuation Hospital. By June 17 he was back in England at the 217th General Hospital. Although severely wounded by shrapnel in the left and right thighs, the right hand, the frontal region of the head, and the anterior left chest wall, Durning recovered quickly and was determined to be fit for duty on December 6, 1944. He arrived back at the front in time to take part in the Battle of the Bulge, the German counter-offensive through the Ardennes Forest of Belgium and Luxembourg in December 1944.[10][11]

After being wounded again, this time in the chest, Durning was returned to the United States. He remained in Army hospitals to receive treatment for wounds until being discharged with the rank of Private First Class on January 30, 1946.

I remember an old SPY piece where they were interviewing gangster rappers, asking them if they could come up with impromptu rhymes on firearms safety! Don't remember who wrote it, though.

The excellence of this perspective has survived the decline and failure of the magazine itself....

But we shouldn't take it for granted.

Every once in a while Cracked picks up the slack.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person/

Wordy.

Besides, my favorite part of GGR is how Pacino gets screwed out of the Caddy but is too dim to stay pissed about it for more than 30 seconds.

(2nd Part was how it made Lemmon worth forgiving for The Great Race and How to Murder Your Wife and all the rest of that bullshit, including The Apartment which I will probably never, ever find time to watch even though this was back before the wheel and electricity, when Shirl Mac was still fertile.)