Salt

On Colbert

If you've been watching or reading the mainstream media, you are probably unaware that the Comedian Colbert gave a scathing satire of the punditry and the president at the Correspondents' whatever dinner.

He was amazing. 

He was so amazing I couldn't laugh.  How do you laugh when you are watching someone get eviscerated?  He was so on target I was feeling sympathy for the President and for the spineless press corps.

The laughter in the audience - not exactly laughter - it was the embarrassed laughter you laugh when someone is says something that is about to get himself fired.  Colbert decided not to play by the rules, which include don't say anything that will make the president uncomfortable. 

Colbert hammered the anti-policy attitude of the president, and his unwillingness and inability to think through issues in favor of the simplistic phrases digested by the media.  But if the media had not been so sycophantic toward Bush, Colbert would not have been necessary.    He would have seemed merely rude.  Instead, because the MSM have been unwitting collaborators, Colbert is our prophet.

Well, not really a prophet, but perhaps a hero of a sort. 

And the next day after I saw this clip, I watched an MSNBC clip on the dinner that didn't mention him at all.  This is a "liberal" media? 

Last Segment

Fr. Webster is angry at his son.

Bishop Bert finds several photo albums messed up in his house. One of him and his wife torn apart.

Daniel and Adam are eating pie together. daniel lays down the law with his son. A little dramatic conflict. Pretty interesting dialogue. With a little sophistication. Mildly didactic. "I can't be your friend. I have to be your father." Quinn is good when he's angry.

My cat is sleeping soundly on the yellow mat near the door. It is very cute.

Some allusions to the previously dead son when Daniel and Judith talk. He starts looking for his drugs. Jesus says it is a good time to quit. "One for the road?" Webster says. Ugh. Anything else.

Fourth segment

Woman cries on Webster's shoulder. Webster asks for help... Every priest does have to face... those kinds of unwanted affections at some point.

Judith confronts Paxton's wife: "you are an atrocious gossip." She tries to use sarcasm. Paxton's wife is a little too put together and replies dryly. Judith loses that battle. It's really tough to defeat Satan in the form of a wealthy WASP.

The contractor says to Dan, "thanks for hearing me out. You are a very attractive man. Don't forget. This stays between you and me." Deliverance. For Episcopalians.

Webster confronts Peter his son for the condom. "So you are still gay? Look, drop me a note and tell me." Kind of funny.

Maid confesses to his daughter that she needs marijuana for her disease. Uh oh. Now dealing is a matter of righteousness.

She's going to sell marijuana to help the sick and heal the infirm. That might just preach.

They can't find Adam. Because he's naked.

Third Segment

Webster is asking Jesus for a commentary on his sermon. I don't know if that is generally a good idea.

Jesus is not into the sermon. He says, "feel free to quote me" and "always good to open with a joke." Hm. I wish the New testament editors had followed that advice.

Gay mobster comes over and asks "does God think I'm bad? or that I'm evil or going to go to hell." Could be good TV here. I'm hoping....

but no.

Webster quotes the without sin cast the first stone story, although, um, homosexuality is not a sin, really. "If I do go to hell it won't be for being gay." Heh. that's true, but not the point of the story. He could have quoted Galatians, Ephesians or Romans. I mean, we liberals aren't against sin.

I mean we are against sin.

Adam gets caught with boxers outside his girlfriend's room. Well, that's entertaining, but I think it would be a lot more funny if he were simply naked.

Bishop confronts Webster about a condom found in her car. A gay condom.

Jesus says, "Kids, huh." Is that really the best answer Jesus can give for kids having sex? Can't he say something like, "at least he used a condom."

At the groundbreaking, Webster tells the story of his mother's loss of memory. He is getting a bit teary, which sometimes pastors do. But they try not to say, "you know what I am talking about." that's bad form.

Paxton's nasty bigoted wife asks Judith "if she had a nice lunch." With Worth, the semi-sexy politico.

Second Segment

Webster and the bishop discuss the groundbreaking. His Episcopal Father comes in, ogles her while praising his son.

Peter, the Gay son comes in, and so does Adele, the Bishop's cute niece. Adele tries to seduce Peter. He's not there.

Now the daughter. She is working at a ice cream store with a young little tart in yellow, who is attracting jr. High boys with her cleavage. Daughter gets sarcastic. I like her. Could use some action, however, like taking some ice cream and ... something. You can do a lot with ice cream. ice cream can be very funny. It's cold, sweet and creamy.

Man bishop seems to be losing any sense of discretion. That's not good. It's a requirement for the job. it's the first question people ask, in the ecclesial nominating committee, along with, "will you love your clergy," and "how do you feel about Gay priests?" and "Bishop Spong: prophet or loon?"

The bishop looks at her niece and suspects something.

Book of Daniel Update

Well, the dust has fallen a little bit.  The Blog of Daniel is keeping pretty good updates, so I won't repeat their work here.

I think the best review was written by Real Live Preacher.  He didn't like it because it was bad, and reminded all the readers that Hollywood, well, it doesn't care about Christians.  It cares about profits.   Christians may not be able to change Babylon, but they can surely change themselves.   Kendall, Fr. Jake, and AKMA also make some comments.

The comments from the parish ranged from "excellent Friday night entertainment" and "this is Exactly what the Episcopal Church needs" to "I hated it.  It was just too much bad stuff - drugs, fornication, drugs, and... who lives in a house like that?"  This priest does NOT live in such a house, although I do live in Westchester county.   I do not have a stash of weed or painkillers.

Really.  Just a bottle of Oban, 14yrs.  A GSM from Australia on my wine shelf.

I've been hearing that there is some frustration at the lack of reverence towards the priesthood, although, I think that the veneer of all professions deserves some demystification.  I'm also pretty sure that most people who watch TV can tell the difference between reality and fantasy.  Noone will confuse me with Aidan Quinn.  And if they did... well I'd get a lot more dates.

I was also asked if I thought that this would be something the church could use as a teaching tool.  Well, no.

I mean, I use Star Trek, Law and Order, The Simpsons and Buffy as sermon fodder, so I suppose I could use anything.  But there isn't much special about this show, although I confess some amusement that finally, we Episcopal priests get our own show.  I think of the Wilde quote:  the only thing worse than being talked about is NOT being talked about.

But that's my own issue. 

If you've missed the earlier comments, you can link in order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

Last Post on Book of Daniel

Webster's wife trying to get a mortgage, but is turned down. Houskeeper is smoking outside. Is smoking supposed to be bad? Oh, and the houskeeper is Black.

Mob priest comes by. The money has been found. But you have to use... the mob to build the church school. I always suspected...

My head is spinning.

Overview: not for the pious. Moments of amusement. Acting is erratic. Not quite as tight as Desperate Housewives or some of the other "edgier" tv shows. And I promise not to use the word "edgy" ever again.

Jesus clearly needs better lines.

His Sister-in-law is Bisexual

There it is: Webster's sister-in-law is a lesbian. "She went to Vassar," quips the Daniel's wife.

The sarcasm isn't convincing. Quinn acts to make up for it.

"I'm reuniting us with the catholic church." In other words, we need to use our mob connections. I have said that the Catholic church was like the mob, but I was kidding [ahh yes, so are they...].

Back to manga. Looks like the daughter seller has matched the dominitrix with superpriest. that is kind of hot, actually.

Webster then calls his gay son "so gay." Whatever [rolling of the eyes. Major rolling of the eyes.]

And yes, the bishops are getting it on together. Now THAT's sleazy.

Webster and his wife are - oh no! having sex on Monday. Excitement abounds.

Need more visual.

Wife asks not to socialize with wax figures. Wants to get another job.

Stud son and Paxton daughter now getting it on in a parking lot. Evil wife Paxton spies.

I'm getting a drink. Two.

Do Not Throw Away the Cigar

The bishop's wife, who has Alzheimer's, slaps the bishop, forgetting they are married. Sad.

Father has a cigar. Now THAT I can relate to. He sits with Jesus. Jesus says he used to talk to Father's dad. Says he's a good man. Not sure what to make of all this goodness.

Father then stuffs the cigar when he sees a counselee run on by.... That's weird. Better to have two cigars to share.

Father then jokes on "living together in sin" to the parishioner, who is living with his fiancee. "Just kidding" he says. Kind of funny. Have to use that myself.

Stud goes to his girlfriend's house, the daughter of a vestryman [I think] of Father's parish. They start gettin' heavy, when the dad gets curious. Stud tries to escape and then falls out the window onto the Jaguar. The dad, Roger [paxton] , sees everything.

Winner: wife comes out with a martini. She's nonplussed to see an Oriental on her Jag.

At the hospital, he sees the mob priest. Jokes about the Jaguar. The Paxton wife forbids the stud and their daughter from meeting. Makes racist statement about oriental grandkids. This would have been believeable about 10 years ago, but adopting Asian children is... very popular. See Angelina Jolie.

Daddy bishop introduces girl to gay grandson at choir practice. He meets cute guy, first, who happens to be the guys sister. Jokes abound about the guy being all over him if he messes things up with his sister. Kind of funny.

My general review so far is that... it's not bad. But it isn't really about the church, and when they do talk about the church, it feels forced. I wonder if the pseudo religious aspect allows the mundane to seem suddenly scandalous. For example - is Salsa dancing risque? not really. And Episcopal Priest salsa dancing? That's interesting.

Who is the audience? edgy people who just can't imagine that church can be so amusing? Or churchy people who need a bit more edginess.

But the Jesus just doesn't work.

Missed the opening. Was watching that Denzel movie on football. It's much more compelling, really.

Bishop critiques father for his funeral sermon. Then asks for pills. Yep. That's how we Episcopals do things.

Oh! There's Jesus - "you could open up a drugside stand" he says, something like. Like the phrase. Hate the delivery.

Looks like the dealing daughter is meeting some other young cute criminals. Woo hoo!

Sexy Episcopal daughters. That is just so not right.

Young couple seeks counseling with priest. The wife admits getting stoned when they make love.

They ask the priest what he does for kinky sex.

Oh! There's Jesus. Jesus says, "there is such thing as too much communication."

Now THAT's wisdom.

The bishop is over for dinner. The wife really needs to hold that martini glass still.

And BTW, we Episcopalians have wine with dinner. Martinis before. Usually starting lunch.

I hate it when they get these things wrong.

Hot secretary then winks at the clueless bishop, the grandfather, who still can't get that Peter is Gay. The kids then have a lot of fun at the Bishop's expense.

BTw, the hot secretary is a Methodist.

What's up about THAT?

the mother seems to be losing her mind. Jesus appears. Comforts Father.

that's nice.

Back to Titans. Like the football racial harmony thing.