THIS MODERN WORLD

I had the same reaction as Sam Rosenfeld over at TAPPED:

Wow, Wolf Blitzer kept telling us we were in for a treat and he was right! Did you all catch that Saturday Night Live spoof they just showed to introduce the convention? Have you ever seen anything so hilarious in your life, ever? Ever? Wolf kept on hammering away to us for about ten minutes beforehand that we were going to be watching a funny SNL spoof that the RNC had put together, and I think it’s now obvious that “funny” was just about the understatement of the year.

It was just like the intro to SNL, see, only it was a Don Pardo impersonator, and instead of the cast members from the show — no, seriously, you’re gonna love this — instead of the cast members, they announced the primetime speakers for the convention! Ha. Ha ha ha haah ha ha Ha HA HA HAAA HAAAA HAAAAA HA!!!!!! Oh man, when the Wolf promises comedy gold from the GOP, he and they deliver it. Just priceless. As Wolf helpfully told White House flack Dan Bartlett after they had finally picked themselves off the floor and wiped the tears of mirth from their eyes, “This shows the Republicans have a sense of humor.”

Understatement of the millennium, Wolf.

It’s also pretty painful to watch Wolf and the gang pretend to be amused by Mo Rocca’s routines. Maybe the stuff would work if Mo were still back on the Daily Show, playing off of Jon Stewart, et al., but the hollow, forced chuckles of Wolf and the gang are comedy death.

After attending the last three party conventions in person, it’s an odd thing to watch one on tv — by which I mean C-Span; I’m watching the convention right now, not the talking heads babbling over it. And the thing that strikes me is how amateurish the whole thing seems. It’s as if a high school drama department with access to a lot of money and high tech equipment put the show together. The interstitial stuff is really cringeworthy.

When did these little wire-thin microphones sticking out alongside a person’s jaw become ubiquitous? Is this just some sort of SWAT/military-chic affectation, or are these things actually superior to conventional lapel mics for some reason?

…all right, apparently they work better. I still think they look silly.

Hesiod was one of the first bloggers on the Swift Boat story, and he’s come out of retirement to put it all in perspective.

As I’ve mentioned, the Republicans picked a piss-poor week to hold their convention, at least for me personally. If they’d held it mid-summer like a normal political party, rather than pushing it to the first week of September in yet another pathetic attempt to exploit 9/11, I’d have been able to attend, but there’s too much going on with my family this week for me to be able to duck out. So I’m watching a distance, like most of you. Yesterday’s march looked extraordinary on C-Span. It gets harder and harder to marginalize that vast percentage of the population which distrusts the President. Not that the effort won’t be made, of course.

Next week, things quiet down at home, just in time for me to head to Colorado, where I’ll be travelling on a bus with John Sayles for a few days. He’s promoting a new film, raising some money for local environmental groups, and generally hosting a sort of rolling salon. I’ll be a part of the pre-screening festivities at each of the venues; I’ll post more details as I have them.

For now…if you’re in New York, and you have stories to tell, you should send them to me for posting.