Snack Shack, James Earl Jones, Farty Grampas, etc.
In which I share a load of hooey this week.
✍️ Last week I mentioned a script I’ve been working on. Also been working on some short humor pieces, though I am not sure if anything will come of them. Did lead me to A Load of Hooey, by Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, Mr. Show, SNL, etc). An excerpt:
OBIT FOR THE CREATOR OF MAD LIBS
On Tuesday, in Canton, Connecticut, a town famous for the stickiness of its boogers, a stinky old man died of a good disease at his home at 345 Rotten Lane. Mr. Preston Wirtz, whose parents, Ida and Goober, ran a small jelly farm, died in his yellowish toilet. Mr. Wirtz was hated in Uzbekistan for the series of wordplay books he created for slippery children, books known far and wide as “Mad Libs,” beloved by hairy grumps and farty grampas alike. These books were never appreciated by tall elves, selling over two per year for one decade. When asked to describe Mr. Wirtz, his jealous wife, wearing nothing but an egg carton and flip-flops, called him “in a nutshell, the most sour-smelling, bacon-licking, pimple-footed crab-apple I have ever known. I will never always miss him and his broken underwear.” Then she cried herself to sleep in her fart-house.
🛑 Relatable Onion article: Man Replies ‘STOP’ To Political Fundraiser Text Like Powerful Wizard Casting Spell To Ward Off Mythical Beast
👍 (Hilarious) advice from Mel Brooks, on dealing with bosses with bad ideas: “Say yes and never do it!”
⚽️ I am no Arsenal fan, but I am a fan of the manager’s strange new tactic: hiring pickpockets “to teach his squad a valuable lesson about being alert and prepared at all times.”
📷 Love these photos of tradesmen from 1950. “Like everyone else who has recorded the look of tradesmen and workers, the author of this book was motivated by the fact that individuality and occupational pride seem on the wane. To a degree everyone has proved right, and since these photographs were made, London chimney sweeps have all but disappeared and in New York horseshoers — hard to find in 1950 — now scarcely exist.”
📺 In honor of James Earl Jones’ passing, his best bits on Letterman, including an all-time great top ten list.
🍿 Watched and would recommend the R-Rated Snack Shack on Prime. Joins Adventureland and The Way Way Back in the end-of-summer, coming-of-age canon that is the perfect bookend to Dazed and Confused. Fun, funny, nostalgic, sincere, anchored by electric co-leads, not to mention a soundtrack filled with '80s/'90s bangers and a couple Nuggets needle-drops. “We don't say goodbye, just ‘see you later.’”
✌️ Dat’s it. Last week of summer. Enjoy it. There’s still beaches and ice creams. Enjoy, and keep that Hoping Machine running.
Love,
Luke
