Quote of the Day

"Maybe I live in a different New York than this movie is set in, but are there really that many beautiful, nicely dressed, apparently sane women willing to risk their lives by going home with a random dude from the subway, even if he does look like Michael Fassbender?"

-- Dana Stevens, in a review for Shame at Slate

In a word: yes.

I've told this story many times, usually to single people thinking about moving to New York, but never here: CNN had sent a young male producer prospect up from Atlanta and Ali Velshi was showing him around the offices at the Time Warner Center one morning when apparently the subject of the single life in the big city came up between the two of them. I didn't catch the whole conversation, only a little bit of it as I happened to be walking by on my way to something else.

I saw Velshi lean in conspiratorially, saw the young guy give a little knowing laugh, then Velshi turned to me and shot off a quick, "Chez -- dating in New York City."

"Fish in a barrel," I responded with a smile as I breezed swiftly past them, not even breaking stride.

There are both wonderful and horrifying reasons that I know this.

The Bubble Genius Bob & Chez Show 12.2.11

Occupy Wall Street and the Homeland Security Conspiracy Theory; Michael Moore and Naomi Wolf Rumor-Mongering; Progressive Outrage; Twitter Fights; Bob Has 30 Days to Find a New Apartment; Computer Meltdowns; The President Didn’t Kill the Public Option; The All New Bob & Chez After Party; and oh so much more. Brought to you by Bubble Genius.

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Listening Post

This man, at the House of Blues in L.A. back in maybe 1996, put on one of the best damn live shows I've ever seen.

Here's the late, great Waylon Jennings doing Lonesome On'ry and Mean.

Happy Friday, kids.

Quote of the Day, Jr.

The Last Laugh

I've been busy over the last few days so I didn't get a chance to respond to this when it was first announced but it's a real shame about the death of Patrice O'Neal. Like a lot of people who have a serious appreciation for the art of comedy and for comics, my "relationship" with Patrice was always a love-hate one. There were times I thought he was absolutely brilliant, and there were other times I could barely even stand to listen to him -- but I always understood that that kind of thing was the mark of a really powerful comic mind.

The Jay Lenos of the world work overtime and will do anything they can to ingratiate themselves to you and to conform to your headspace; guys like Patrice force you, sometimes kicking and screaming, into their headspace. You won't always like what you find there, but you'll always appreciate the gargantuan balls it takes to be that confident in who you are and what you have to say.

Patrice was often a funny, funny guy. And he was just as often an irritating asshole. And his willingness to allow himself to be both -- not caring one bit what you or I or anyone else thought of it -- is what made him great.

Quote of the Day

"Now, and I know that Anderson Cooper floats around in that GQ crowd. I don't know if he's behind it or whether their publicist at CNN, but let me just say, I'm kicking his ass, OK? (GQ can) kiss my ass.

-- MSNBC's resident "angry neighbor" Ed Schultz, after being chosen by GQ magazine as one of the "25 Least Influential People Alive"

Here's the actual quote from the GQ segment, and it's a thing of beauty:

"There are so many repugnant political pundits on TV now, we tend to forget that the likes of Sean Hannity actually represent the best of the lot. Hannity is a piece of shit, but at least he can get your average 85-year-old, gay-hating, gold-hoarding grandma to tune in. Then there are pundits like Schultz. Do you watch The Ed Show on MSNBC? Of course you don't. No one does. The only reason people watch The Ed Show is they're working out in a hotel gym and they can't find a staff member to change the channel to ESPN. Did you know MSNBC suspended Schultz this year? It did! He called Laura Ingraham a "right-wing slut," and he still couldn't get noticed."

The whole list is damn entertaining and knowing that Schultz is basically going on a tear against Anderson Cooper just because Coop happens to be infinitely easier on the ears and eyes as a TV personality -- and a journalist for that matter -- is pure gold.

Listening Post

These guys sound like Bjork fronting X, and the result is pretty damn cool.

Here's the Duke Spirit -- Surrender.