A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library. ~Shelby Foote

Friday, April 20, 2007

The Satire Experts

It's gotta be The Onion. Been doing it for years and they still do it as well or better than anyone else. The Daily Show claims to be the most reliable source for made-up news, and they are pretty good, but for my money, nobody comes close to The Onion. This piece, about a documentary on liberal, upper-middle-class existence, is just flat out brilliant. Favorite bit:
This American Life host and producer Ira Glass began work on the project in 1995 in Chicago, where he found himself inspired by and catering to an audience of professionals who dine out frequently and have a hard time getting angry. Glass and his team of producers, writers, and interns set about the exhausting task of gathering all available information on a range of subjects from minor skirmishes with the law to the rewards of occasionally talking to poor people. The raw data was then analyzed, deconstructed, reconstructed, re-deconstructed, organized under a broad philosophical title, and interspliced with musical interludes by rock duo They Might Be Giants.
On a related topic, I saw Sean Penn on The Colbert Report last night, and he is undeniably NOT a satire expert. Tim Robbins, though I disagree with him on many issues, I respect, because A) he's intelligent and has clearly thought through his beliefs, and 2) he's funny and able to poke fun of himself. Penn has neither of those attributes. Came across as a self-aggrandizing turd, from my perspective.

But maybe that's just me.

The Onion also does sports. Say it ain't so, Mel!

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