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Archive for the 'Now a word from our sponsor' Category

Speaking Of Books…

Posted by scott on October 2nd, 2010

Dan and Tammy Domike, two of the most charming bibliophiles we know, have just opened their new indie book shop in the picturesque beach town of Hoquiam, WA:

(Jackson Street) Books on 7th
315 7th Street
Hoquiam, WA 98550
360-533-3157

They also fill orders through the interwebs, if you’re in a mood to support independent booksellers.

And judging by this photo snapped earlier today by our friend Kelly, they stock Better Living Through Bad Movies.  (Sure, it’s probably a remaindered copy from 2006, but still, we’re touched and honored.)  Best of luck with the new place, guys!

Wit is the Soul of Brevity

Posted by scott on September 29th, 2010

As you probably know, raconteur and ace commenter Jay B. hobnobs with (and occasionally pinch-hits for) the cream of snark society — your Tboggs, your Edrosos.  But even though he hangs with the habitués of the modern Algonquin Round Table, he’s not above visiting the Algonquin Kids Table, with our paper plates, folding chairs, and sippy cups of Hawaiian Punch, and very kindly invited me to a publishing event he helped put together in honor of the sublimely strange Awkward Two.

A book of weird, funny, and astonishingly short stories (the theme of the volume is “brevity”), Awkward Two is the second in the Awkward series from Awkward Press (the guy in charge of naming things at Awkward Press previously worked thinking up song and album titles for the group Talk Talk).  I haven’t read the book yet, but I heard several authors read from it last night, and saw a number of micro-movies adapted from the stories, and I’m recommending it on that basis.  It was richly wordy, subversively funny stuff that started off lightly, teasingly kissing your brain, then got overly aggressive and wouldn’t stop until it gave you a cerebral hickey.  Which, frankly, is just my kinda thing.

Awkward is available from Amazon, but if you order through their website they’ll throw in a DVD of the short films.  (Reportedly, the soon-to-be-available iPad version will come with the movies embedded in the text, but that strikes us as unholy sorcery.)

A Humble Request, From An Even Humbler Teacher

Posted by Maryc on August 3rd, 2010

As some of you may (or may not) know, I teach in a very low income school in downtown Los Angeles. Needless to say, the California Economic Crisis is hitting us, and hitting us hard. We’re losing our Computer Teacher, our Librarian, our Social Worker, our School Counselor and so much more.

In response to the HUGE need that all public schools are facing in our country right now, Kohl’s Dept. Stores have set up a fund that will give $500,000 to the 20 schools that get the most votes through their FaceBook charity app thing. If you would like to help a public school in need, a public school that employs me, for instance, please take a moment and vote for us (up to FIVE times!) at Kohls’ Dept. Store FaceBook app: Kohl’sCares:

We are like 10,000 votes behind the top vote getter, so any and all help is much appreciated. If you are on twitter, and can tweet this (and would like to tweet this), please do! It’s totally free and easy to do. (mentioning it on FaceBook rocks, too!)

There are over 1,000 students who will benefit from your vote, and if we end up in the top 20, all of my first grade students will create a special art project for each and everyone of the WoC commenters who voted for them. What kind of “Art Projects”, you may ask? Well, Art Projects such as battle scarred Cat in the Hat:

I Owe My Soul to the Company Store

Posted by s.z. on July 26th, 2010

As Rocky would tell the audience after Bullwinkle failed to pull a rabbit from his hat, “Now for something you’ll really like!” And that something was commercials. And I never really liked them. Damned lying squirrel!

Speaking of which, I just happened to notice the “Ads by Google” on the edge of the site. And they are for things that World o’ Crap endorses highly. So, let’s highlight them here:

Gold Confiscation
Learn why the US confiscated gold in 1933 & how to protect yourself

You’ll learn that the US confiscated this gold for the safety of the public, after the gold was found to be spying for the Nazis. You can protect yourself from this evil gold by collecting it, putting it in an envelope, and mailing it to us. We will make sure it can never hurt you . . .you know, as a public service. ‘Cause that’s the kind of blog we are.

Glenn Beck’s Economics
Hazlitt Influenced Road to Serfdom Nurture Your Community. Shop Indie.

This is not actually an ad for a product or service, but is instead a coded message to Russian sleepers in America. It’s from Glenn Beck.

New Tea Party Textbook
No Apology! Written by lawyer from Sarah Palin’s home town.

He had me at “lawyer”! But seriously, this sounds like the perfect gift for the novice tea partier in your life. He or she will learn how to make catchy signs, how to demand an end to taxes while collecting unemployment, the right way to announce that Obama is not the President of him/her, and how to find true love at a Flag Day rally. And if it was written by someone from Sarah’s home town, you KNOW if must be good. (Speaking of which, did you know that Wasilla now produces salmon-flavored vodka? I think it’s to honor Sarah.)

Anyway, we urge you to support our sponsors by buying all of these products, and in the case of the message from KGB Headquarters, carrying out your mission as directed.

We now return control of your computer to you.

Mary and I want to hit the Pause button on the snark and take a moment to thank the many, astonishingly kind people who have contributed to the Beg-A-Thon.

FrankAndForrestStinks1.jpg

I had a lot of trepidation going into this (okay, “shame” might be a better word), but the response from the World O’ Crap community has caused me to develop that same enlarged heart condition suffered by the Grinch, which is tremendously moving, but also a sign that maybe I should go easy on the roast beast, or at least stick to the white meat.

PeterGraves4.jpg

I learned almost too late that man is a feeling creature; and because of it, the greatest in the universe…

A surprising number of people (well, surprising to me, as I’m a misanthrope) have stepped up to help us — old friends o’ the blog, some of whom are in reduced circumstances themselves, and yet still scrounged up cash to help; old-timers — some of them veterans of the Salon blog days — who I was touched to discover are still reading WOC; and a lot of people whose names were new to me, but who’ve nonetheless been dropping by regularly for the past few years. And as I was staring at all these emails in slack-jawed amazement, Mary looked over my shoulder and said, “I bet you feel a little like George Bailey.”

It’s funny because it’s true.

And because, as you know, I kinda hate George Bailey.

I also want to extend my humblest thanks to the inimitable s.z., who — despite being the sole caretaker for a dozen rescue animals, some of whom have special needs (beyond the usual need to barf and pee all over her house) — very generously offered to write something for the Beg-A-Thon. It was like the super ninja assassin coming out of retirement for One Last Job, except she wound up contributing three posts, so it was sort of like the super ninja assassin rediscovered her taste for blood and really started tearing through the supporting cast. It was a joy to read her again, and though I know she doesn’t have a lot of free time to surf the wingnut sites, I hope we’ll see her back here again before long.

Actually, I know we will…

Thanks to you guys we’ve gotten some enormously welcome breathing space around here. I’ve been able to make things right with our hosting service, refill my cluster headache medication (which may help to stem another kind of service interruption), and — a small action item in the greater cosmic scheme, but a joyous thing for me nonetheless — I was able to reactivate my Netflix account, so we’re now back at work on (which still needs a title, but that’s a future contest). Anyway, s.z. and I will be posting some of the new material here as we start to hammer it into shape.

The PayPay button will remain in case anyone else wants to get in on the love (a few people wrote to say they were waiting til the end of the month, and to chide me for my crappy timing) or if you’d prefer the Pony Express, feel free to write to me at scott.clevenger-at-gmail.com for our snail mail address. But in the meantime, let’s take a quick look at what’s New in Wingnuttia today. First up, this eye-catching item from Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller:

DailyCaller.jpg

Daily Caller goes on to imply that at some point in the near future, the eponymous road will be used by Obama’s feets, providing they do not fail him.

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Over at RenewAmerica, Shermp, the Forgotten Stooge has repeatedly warned us that America is about to become a dictatorship! Then she warned us that it’s become a dictatorship! Then it went back to just about to become a dictatorship! Now it’s a dictatorship again! And I have it on good authority that tomorrow America will be Half-Dictatorship, Half-Peanut Butter Nougat.

The Obama slippery slope is gone and it’s day 563 of our captivity

The slope is no longer slippery, folks.

This is invariably the sign that a democratic society is about to collapse; if you recall your Gibbon, the death of the Roman Republic became inevitable when Julius Caesar was appointed dictator perpetuo, and all the inclined planes in Rome became dry and scaly.

In fact, the slope is no longer visible.

I come from simple hill folk, and the first bits of woodlore my grandpappy taught me was, “always approach your prey from downwind,” and “you can’t see a mountain unless it’s damp.”

We-the-People are already tumbling head over heels down the mountainside.

If only the mountain had been moist, we might have seen it. Even worse, because it’s so dry, We-the-People are getting slope-burn.

And said mountainside is Mt. Everest.

That’s what we show biz folk call “the reveal.”

For those of you who are still unaware, we are already living in and under the Obama Tyranny.

Well, to get technical about it, some of us are living in and around and out and about the Obama Tyranny (although a small number of us are living over and under the Tyranny just to be dicks about it).

You may have missed it but, you and we were forced over the cliff’s edge with ObamaCare;

Oh, me know. And us feel sorry for I and them.

which was passed by Dictator-in-Chief Obama with the full knowledge and gleeful demeanor that he was forcing it against the will of the American people.

Well, at least he’s .

After the first poison pill was shoved down our throats, there was nothing to stop The Obama.

He began shoving fistfuls of a fruited bread stuffing with raisins and pecans and apples down our throat. We’re dead, but delicious.

He got away with it the first time and will now rule everything in true tyrannical fashion — without the need of a pesky legislative or judicial branch and certainly not the opposition votes from an increasingly aware US electorate.

The more aware the electorate becomes, the more quickly our democracy decays, so if you really care about liberty, you’ll put down that newspaper and go watch The Jersey Shore. It’s what John Adams would’ve done.

It was announced yesterday the Obama is seriously considering a blanket Amnesty for ALL illegals in the country.

But then he decided to get the Pigs-in-a-Blanket with a side of German potato salad, slice of honeydew melon, and an Arnold Palmer.

He plans to affect it via Executive (make that “Tyrant”) Order. In that way, he can overturn the 2010 — and most certainly the 2012 — elections before they even occur.

We-the-People are now completely irrelevant.

We’re also kind of clumsy, and even I and we have to admit it’s hard to respect a You-the-People who are always screaming and flailing their arms as they pinwheel down a mountainside.

Regarding ObamaCare, Seniors are now being summarily dropped from care or refused treatment by their doctors who can no longer afford to treat them. And if there is still a November Miracle and the Marxists are removed from power, Democrats have already announced that they will employ a scorched earth policy and pass Cap & Trade which will bankrupt each and every one of We-the-People!

With these costly carbon credits, I’m going to have to shut down my E-Z Bake Coal-Fired Power Plant out on the balcony and go back to using it as a hibatchi.

Aren’t these the treasons against the people that precede real revolutions? Folks, we have finally been backed into a corner with no way out but to fight. Still think we can last until November? Do you?

No, absolutely not! By early November you and we will be too bloated from gorging on Halloween candy to drag ourselves to the polls, so best to pick up a battle rifle at a gun show and launch a bloody rebellion now, while you and the rest of the RenewAmerica staff can still fit into your matching velour camouflage track suits.

Thanks again to the wonderful World O’ Crap readers. You-the-People are not just good, you’re

Well, This Is Embarrassing…

Posted by scott on June 14th, 2010

We’re in a bit of a bind here, so I’m going to interrupt our regular programming, and beg for help. (I figure if Jonah Goldberg can do it, there’s no reason for me to act all proud.) First, a quick bit of background: as some of you know, my non-blog career, such as it was, pretty much flatlined in 2008 when the financial collapse killed off the couple of low budget indie films I was working on. (The proper response to this, of course, is “Boo Hoo,” or perhaps “Boo–freaking–Hoo,” so there will now be a ten second pause…)

Okay, we’re back. What’s brought all this to a crisis is the school district’s decision to begin furloughing teachers. Mary lost almost a week’s pay last month, and she’s going to have even more unpaid days this month. Which means July is looking extremely famine-y.

We’ve eliminated all discretionary spending — disconnected the cable, parked the car, canceled the insurance, and I’ve put my finger to my temple and begun playing a little Russian roulette by deferring refills of my headache medication (absurdly pricey now, owing to cuts in our healthcare plan — once again, thanks, LAUSD) — but the blog is still costing us money each month (not a lot — and I’m looking for a cheaper hosting solution — but it’s literally more than we can spare at the moment) so we’re forced to break with Wo’C tradition and get all pleady and needy.

Beg-a-thon.jpg

So if you’ve enjoyed what we do here and have a little spare cash, please consider clicking on the PayPay button at the top left (if you’d prefer to use the Postal system, email me at scott.clevenger-at-gmail.com, or click on my name [just under the Better Living Through Bad Movies link on the left side] for our snail-mailing address). Any little bit would help to keep this mess going, but I realize everybody’s having a hard time these days, and if you’re in no position to donate, don’t worry about it; we love you anyway. And if you haven’t enjoyed what we do here, I suppose you’re entitled to send me an invoice for your time, but I warn you, it probably won’t go to the top of the pile.

Anyway, many thanks (for sticking with us this long, if nothing else). (New post below.)

Invasion of the Blog Snatchers

Posted by scott on June 12th, 2010

As you may know, TBogg has abandoned his post at Firedoglake to embark on a vision quest (but since he lives in La Jolla, it’ll probably be a pretty short quest, consisting of a trip to the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and then open air sex on the redwood deck; but these are only estimates. Your visions may vary. Consult your shaman before beginning a visioning program.)

In his absence, the superhumanly acerbic Jay B., who you all know from comments, will be filling in. (Now, Roy, unsurprisingly, identifies Jay as an “ace alicublog commenter,” but I suspect that every blog Jay frequents considers him an “ace [Your Name Here] commenter,” and suggest we try to work out some sort of amicable shared-custody arrangement, or maybe he could just wear all of our decals on his jumpsuit like a NASCAR driver).

Anyway, check him out. He’s already posted a great piece on the death of the oyster house as a New Orleans institution, thanks to our friends at British Petroleum.

P.S. Just to help us all get through the coming Bassett Famine, here’s my one blog-related dog pic, featuring my niece’s cocker Bailey.

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This has been a Test…

Posted by scott on June 8th, 2010

….of the audiences’ patience.

filmbroke.jpg

I want to apologize for the interruptions we’ve been experiencing. Yesterday we allowed ourselves to be bullied by our hosting service into upgrading the back end of the site, even though it’s been working reasonably well for the past four years. But they insisted that the WordPress blogging software we’ve been using since 2006 is so obsolete that it’s become almost impossible for their technicians to find the appropriate punch cards made of papyrus.

And as most of yesterday and well into the evening was consumed with thoughts that “technical support” is actually a synonym for “assisted suicide,” we haven’t really had a chance to post anything fresh today. I guess we’re lucky that any of the archives survived at all, although what did seems to include a lot of collateral damage — broken links, missing photos, absent posts — so we ask for your forbearance while we try to sort this mess out.

In the meantime, I am reminded of the wisdom of Steve McQueen in his last film, Hunter, when he lamented that, “New things are no good.”

DrumBlogroll, Please…

Posted by scott on March 2nd, 2010

We’ve added a new (well, it’s been around for awhile, but we only just discovered it) blog to the roll, Museum of the Bourgeois. WO’C old timers may remember the proprietor, HH, as “Fred Burfle,” who has commented here a number of times, despite the difficulty of finding a good wifi connection in Hooterville. Welcome, H.

What Do You, the Reader at Home, Think?

Posted by scott on December 8th, 2009

invisibleguy.jpgI’m recovering from minor surgery — dealing with post-operative pain and wondering why I’ve got black eyes where there ain’t no eyes — so forgive me if posting is sparse for the next few days, and really forgive me if posting is incessant and seemingly written under the influence of opiates, because appearances will not be deceiving.

In other news, it’s War on Christmas season again and we’re gearing up for our annual neighborhood lights and display contest.  So please use this thread to suggest which heartwarming holiday perennial you’d most like to see given the * treatment, and we’ll post a deconstruction of the winning (or losing) film on Christmas Eve.  Previously defiled classics include: Santa Claus: The Movie, One Magic Christmas, and It’s a Wonderful Life.

*A lovely gift idea, and just in time for the holidays!