Friday, January 11, 2008

Weekend Edition

I am so totally full of, um, content this week that there's extra content spilling over into the weekend. Here are a few bits and bobs that we never quite got to this week.

There's an Election On!

Voters in two small rural states have been making important decisions about where political donors will be sending their checks for literally the next few weeks. The race is generally
characterized as being between an highly competant and charismatic man with modest government experience, whom everybody seems to like, and an highly competant and charismatic woman with modest government experience, whom some people seem to like but whom other people seem to hate with a startling intensity, but for no particular reason. Also, there are apparently Republicans.

I will bring you further updates as events unfold.



Boring Postcards: The Dirty Little Secret

Karmasartre remarked in his Thursday Quiz response that he had never received a boring postcard from Boring, Oregon, and I immediately felt a sense of deep, gnawing, guilt and shame. Why? Well, longtime readers may recall that Mrs.5000 and I actually have a boring Boring postcard in our collection. I bragged about it in this post.

But if you just followed that link, you may now find yourself confused and disoriented. "That does not look like the rolling landscape of the Boring area," you might be saying, if you are a resident of the Beaver State. Or, you might notice that the card looks suspiciously like the second card from last Wednesday's post, which is clearly from Glacier National Park, in Montana. That's right, gentle readers. Back in August, I posted the wrong postcard. I've known it all this time, and could never admit it. It has haunted me. I'm so sorry.

Here, at last, is the REAL boring Boring postcard:




Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Boo and Her Monkey

As far as I have been able to reconstruct, the story goes something like this: Frequent L&TM5K commenter Boo received a monkey puppet in the mail as an unexpected gift. She scratched her head, wondered "what the hell do I do with this?" and came to the only really rational conclusion. She decided she would design, direct, film, and edit a online television-style show, with the monkey puppet as the star.

I am not sure if The Fillip Monkee Show will have universal appeal, but I am kind of mesmerized. I think it's a scream. Fillip is an impressively well-developed and consistent character, and it is amazingly easy to take on his point of view. He is perfectly candid about the fact that he is a puppet attached to "the lady's" arm, that he doesn't eat or wear clothes and spends most of his time in a bag, but somehow that doesn't make him any harder to identify with.

Fillip is kind of an Alexis de Tocqueville to human life, curious about almost everything that is going on in the strange place he finds himself and doing his best to report back to his public. He is very earnest, but wears his enthusiasm on his, um, sleave -- he can't help but tell us how excited he is about the topic of the day. Like another naive traveller of film, Borat, he goes out among the people, who vary greatly in their ability to conduct a graceful conversation with a monkey puppet. There is not a lick of mean-spiritedness in Fillip Monkee, though, and he is not trying to trick people into revealing themselves at their worst; this makes him for my money both a lot more interesting and a lot more funny than Borat.

The Fillip Monkee Show is a non-professional, homemade production; judged as such, it is startlingly well-produced. Kudos to Boo for undertaking such an elaborate project, apparently just for the hell of it. I think many L&TM5K readers will find the Fillip Monkee Show pretty damn amusing.


BeardQuest '08

Inspired by d's increasingly stunning mane, and more to the point provoked by his direct challenge, I am now officially starting my first winter beard in six years. I may even go goatee. As of this posting, I am about 10 hours in. Wish me luck; I'll report back.


And Finally,

By special reader request, it's The Beer Quiz! That's right! Identify these five beer brands, and win -- not a thing! Not so much as a virtual comma! But nevertheless, you can submit your answers in the comments if you are so inclined.


1.
2.
3.
4.
5.







16 comments:

Chance said...

I am constantly amazed by how creative people are. I would never think to make an online TV show with a sock puppet I got in the mail.

That said,

1. Piss
2. Urine
3. Bat piss
4. Bile
5. Piss

Anonymous said...

I'm not really a beer expert, but I'm going to have a go at this.

1 Umm, Budweiser?
2 Coors Light, definitely.
3 Well, it looks like Hamm's. But why is it so big? I don't think of Hamm's as being bigger than Coors Light. . . still, I'm going with Hamm's.
4 Rolling Rock. Unless it's a tricksy question, and the bottle is Rolling Rock, but maybe the beer itself is maybe Miller, or something else. What the hell, I'll say Rolling Rock.
5 I know this one! I was just there where they make it! Fat Tire!

What did you say the prize was again?

Fillup Monkee is so charming! I'm an instant fan.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the sweet review! You are very kind. And I made next to the actual boring Boring postcard too! That one is outstanding.

Tonight I decided to amp up the production value and took Windex and a cotton swab to the camera. What can I say, art is pain.

Your election take is sound imo.

And as for the beer, I know we aren't supposed to crib from the comments but Chance seems to know what he's talking about. I'm allergic so I'll defer to him.

fingerstothebone said...

Fillup is the best! And here are my guesses for the beer:

1. Tsingtao
2. Singha
3. H(a)mm...I really haven't a clue!
4. I'm gonna have to guess Rolling Rock.
5. Hey, I know this one -- Red Bicycle!

d said...

i love that fillup has an english/french/swahili accent. and that he calls her 'the lady'.

i anxiously await photos of your really awesome beard.

mmmm. fat tire.

Dan Nolan said...

1. Swill, but not without its time and place.
2. Swill, without its time and place.
3. Headache in a can
4. High School
5. I remember the name of the beer more than the taste of the beer.

Dan Nolan said...

Which brings us to the Deserted Island Top Five Beers question. You're deserted on an island with five taps hooked up to five bottomless kegs - what are they? Suggestion: variety is the key - you don't know how long you'll be out there.

1. Murphy's Irish Stout (tastes about the same as Guinness and I like to support the Cork economy.)
2. Pilsner Urquel
3. Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
4. Miller High Life
5. Newcastle

Rebel said...

1. The king of urine
2 Pee light
3. "beer"
4. beer-flavored-beverage-product
5. BEER! Or rather Ale! Fat Tire Amber Ale... mmmmmm.... beeeer.

gl. said...

oh, NO! toby & i just watched all the fillup episodes. toby says, "CAN I HAVE A FACEBOOK, TOO?" erm, thanks, michael5000.

Anonymous said...

Karmasartre's a HE?

Michael5000 said...

@karma: To the best of my knowledge, yes. Do you have new information on this matter?

Karin said...

In light of the fact that I got a wee bit drunk last night for the first time since high school, I can certainly appreciate the simplicity of the quiz.

Given that I don't like beer AT ALL, though, I'm gonna hafta parrot Chance:

1. Piss
2. Urine
3. Bat piss
4. Bile
5. Piss

Mrs. 5000: you're hiLarryious.

Jessica said...

"Also, there are apparently Republicans." No way! For real? ;-)

mhwitt said...

Fillup Munkee is my new hero! I watched three episodes and am utterly enchanted. Thank you, Boo, for such a lovely creation!

Would you weep if I told you that the Heidi's Swiss Village postcard is mislabeled? It was actually taken in Fargo, North Dakota.

I found the beer quiz funny, up until the end when you put one superb beer after a string of four poor excuses for beer. But at least I chuckled up until then.

I don't know what to make of the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination. I don't even know who to root for nor who to fear most. I suppose it's a bit entertaining to have an opposition candidate with as much money as the establishment candidate, but this isn't meant to entertain us, is it. And then there's them Republicans!

Bridget said...

and thanks for the intro to FillupMonkee - he rocks! And good luck on the beard . . .

margaret said...

How dare you mix up Boring with Glacier National Park, Montana. The nerve.

I'm glad you came clean.