Here is the one-hundred-and-thirty-first edition of Tom Nob’s Thursday Notes. TN2 serves as a brief summary of what good humor we have found during the past week plus some suggestions for the upcoming weekend.

New Stand-Up

John Mulaney:  New In Town

Chris Killian: The Not Black Album

Doug Loves Movies: Live in Sacramento

New TV Show

Key & Peele

New TV Season

Tosh.0 – season four

And Finally

Yesterday Facebook finally filed a preliminary prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission in preparation for its long-awaited initial public offering.  Following in the footsteps of other so-called Web 2.0 companies like Linkedin, Groupon, and Zynga who have opened their respective kimonos in order to provide some liquidity for founders, early investors and employees alike, Facebook is not modest in the self-assessment of its value which it reportedly places somewhere between $75-$100 billion.   With over 800 million users and revenues of greater than $3.7 billion for 2011, there is no doubt that Facebook is worth a lot of money but Zuck & Co. have their work cut out for them to grow into this valuation.  What they and other social media companies need is to successfully transition from a free, user-oriented service to a platform conducive for the marketing and advertising of corporate brands and products.  The holy grail known as monetization.

However, when corporate customers shift their spend on branding activities to the social media sphere,  they leave behind the safety of carefully scripted one-way messages and become exposed to the ugly underbelly of the user base.  A recent example of this comes courtesy of McDonald’s (another company worth $100 billion) whose brand mission is “to be our customers’ favorite place and way to eat.”  Forgetting momentarily that this describes the typical 5-year-old, McDonald’s launched a promoted tweets campaign on Twitter encouraging its legion of customers to share their “McDStories”.  To paraphrase the McDonald’s social media director, the conversation did not go as planned with tweets from individuals whose meals were not so happy quickly swamping the campaign which was cancelled within hours of launch.   Thus, while putting the Egg McMuffin on Facebook would seem to be something that both companies would like, it is far too easy for an exercise in monetization to morph into digital defacement and simply end up with egg on the face.  And what’s the value of that?

Here is the one-hundred-and-thirtieth edition of Tom Nob’s Thursday Notes. TN2 serves as a brief summary of what good humor we have found during the past week plus some suggestions for the upcoming weekend.

New Stand-Up

The Benson Interruption – The Podcast:  Episode 11

New TV Show

Inside Comedy

New TV Season

Archer – season three

And Finally

Pity poor Michael Williams.  All the Caddo (Louisiana) Parish Commissioner wanted was to go to Wal-Mart, hobnob with the greeters, and maybe take advantage of the everyday low prices.  What he got, however, was a group of layabout young men wearing pajama pants which failed to hide the junk of at least one male.   Mr. Williams took this as a sign that “the moral fiber of our community is dwindling…its pajama pants today, next it will be underwear tomorrow” so he is proposing to introduce an ordinance that would ban the wearing of pajama pants in public.  There is some precedent in the parish as the city of Shreveport enacted a ban on sagging trousers in 2011.    While enforcement of such a ban would certainly prove problematic, Mr. Williams has proposed that violators be required to perform community service.  Our take on this is that it is probably more of an issue of the quality of the cotton fiber rather than the moral fiber and that the presence of underwear would probably prove to be quite helpful.  Besides, people who don’t feel any motivation to change out of their pajamas as they proceed with their day are poorly “suited” to be providing community services.

Here is the one-hundred-and-twenty-ninth edition of Tom Nob’s Thursday Notes. TN2 serves as a brief summary of what good humor we have found during the past week plus some suggestions for the upcoming weekend.

New Stand-Up

Doug Loves Movies:  Live in Las Vegas

New TV Show

Unsupervised

New TV Season

Being Human (Canada) – season two

And Finally

How do you want to be remembered when you leave this mortal world.  Will your legacy be a name on a building, a product or company  you created, the genius of your progeny, an oft-repeated quote, a work of work, or a piece of fruit?  We’ve been thinking about this since hearing recently that the American rock band The Velvet Underground is suing the family foundation of the late Andy Warhol over the licensing of one of his works.  A good friend and early supporter of the band, Warhol provided a silk-screen-styled yellow banana to serve as the cover of the 1967 “The Velvet Underground and Nico” album.

Despite the fact that it sold poorly and was largely ignored by music critics, the album has since grown in reputation during the intervening decades and is now routinely included in lists of greatest rocks albums. Thus, when the band learned that the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts had licensed the banana image to a maker a cases for iPads and iPods they filed a lawsuit in federal court. In short, the band’s argument is that the banana belongs to them by virtue of 45 years of association. While the band is due their 15 minutes in court, theirs is an uphill journey and a slippery one at that.

Here is the one-hundred-and-twenty-eighth edition of Tom Nob’s Thursday Notes. TN2 serves as a brief summary of what good humor we have found during the past week plus some suggestions for the upcoming weekend.

New TV Show

Napoleon Dynamite – season one

Are You There, Chelsea? – season one

New TV Season

30 Rock – season six

The Game – season five

Let’s Stay Together – season two

New Stand-Up

Tom Papa: Live in New York City

New Books

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Lunatics by Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel

And Finally

We’re almost two weeks into the new year which means, if past is prologue, that many of the resolutions that were made to improve our less-than-perfect lives have already gone by the wayside.  Typically one of the first to be formulated on that brand new morning is to drink less alcohol.   Chances are, according to a spate of agency data from around the world, even if you succeed in experiencing fewer alcohol-fueled fiestas, the number of drinks you consume on each occasion will remain quite high.  Government poindexters have deemed such events as “binge” drinking.   Social binge drinking traces its roots to 17th century England when well-heeled university students and barristers-in-training formed drinking societies where they were expected to drink copious quantities of alcohol yet still be able to retain their wit.  Today the phenomenon of  binge drink has permeated virtually every society and social class but in ways that may surprise you.  While the English have retained their reputation as binge drinkers par excellence, the true “champions” may be South Africans, a third of whom reportedly begin drinking early afternoon on Friday and do not stop until the workday starts on Monday resulting in a rather precarious rush hour.  Back here in the United States where binge drinking is considered the purview of the college students and cheese-topped residents of the Badger State, the Centers for Disease Control just released a study which found that the income group with the most binge drinkers were those who made more than $75,000 per year and the age group that binge drinks most often being those 65 years and older.  Clearly this cohort has taken to heart the witticism offered by their generation’s bards, the Grateful Dead, who sang:  “Too much of everything is just enough.”  A toast to their health.

Here is the one-hundred-and-twenty-seventh edition of Tom Nob’s Thursday Notes. TN2 serves as a brief summary of what good humor we have found during the past week plus some suggestions for the upcoming weekend.

New Film

Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same

New TV Show

House of Lies – season one

Angry Boys – U.S. debut, season one

Work It – season one

New TV Season

Portlandia – season two

The Increasingly Poor Decision of Todd Margaret – season two

Shameless – season two

Californication- season five

And Finally

Nasty, brutish and short. This ellipse of unrelenting gloom from Thomas Hobbes (not to be confused with Calvin’s sidekick) can be aptly applied to the pudgy, petulant pipsqueak promoted to power in Pyongyang but it is probably just as fitting in describing the attitude of millions of kiddos in California on New Year’s Day.  We are referring to a change in law that took effect on January 1 in the Golden State that requires all children to remain in car booster seats until they are 8 years-old or reach the height of 4-feet-9-inches.   This change is not going down well with an estimated 1.1 million 6- and 7-year-olds who thought that booster seats were a fading image in the rearview mirror of life after reaching the previous requirement of 6 years or 60 pounds.  And so their parents, who managed to survive childhoods of riding unfettered on plastic-encased bench seats while inhaling lungfuls of leaded gas fumes and second-hand smoke, must re-elevate their little princes and princesses back onto their thrones kicking and screaming or face the threat of fines in excess of $425.  While all of this change is being made in the name of safety, the California Highway Patrol reports that 75% of car seats inspected have been installed incorrectly.  Their grim new reality can be best summed up by Calvin, BFF of Hobbes (not to be confused with that killjoy T. Hobbes), who lamented:  “Life’s disappointments are harder to take when you don’t know any swear words.”

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And Finally…

This time we really mean it. Over the past few weeks we have suggested some themes of the past year that could define 2011. There is no doubt, however, that the most compelling legacy of 2011 will be that this was the year that the dictators got their just desserts. The rogues gallery of deposed despicables is of unprecedented length: Ben Ali of Tunisia, Mubarak of Egypt, Saleh of Yemen, Gaddafi of Libya, and Kim of North Korea. Others teeter on the brink; we’re looking at you Assad. While the actions (or lack thereof) of “leaders” in the Western world will certainly cause many to question the true value of democracy, there can be no doubt that it is far better to be governed by fools than to be ground underfoot. Our sincere hope for the new year is that this theme continues in force and that millions more will be able to choose their own destiny, no matter how dysfunctional it may be. With this in mind, we share with you a television ad that is not only topical but the funniest we saw this year. It features one individual in particular that we hope will be dispatched to the dustbin of ignominy as quickly as possible………

Here is the one-hundred-and-twenty-fifth edition of Tom Nob’s Thursday Notes. TN2 serves as a brief summary of what good humor we have found during the past week plus some suggestions for the upcoming weekend.

New Film

We Bought a Zoo

And Finally

The third major theme that will likely define the year 2011 is the continued rise of the fembots.  By this we refer to shift in power toward females and away from males in the post-recessionary economy that rewards brains over brawn.   While this trend did not start in 2011 it certainly gained strength during the year that was.  To illustrate how it has impacted the world of humor, you only need to read Bossypants by Tina Fey to gain an understanding of how women have evolved from being set-pieces in skits (or maybe writing bits for female characters) to writing for all actors on the stage and even (gasp!) creating and producing their own television shows and movies.   With more women ascending as the primary breadwinners, a gender reversal is taking place in which men are taking a more domestic role in their family’s lives.  But you can never fully domesticate a wild beast so, now, when the dudes settle on the sofa to watch their stories (ESPN’s Outside the Lines, of course) they can soothe their caveman souls by nibbling on bonbons laced with beer.  That’s right, a new trend sweeping through the land of confections is to blend beer flavors like hops into candies such as brittle, truffles and caramels.  Which makes you wonder if a modern-day Norm Peterson would lumber on to his usual bar stool at Cheers and state:  “Women.  Can’t live with them, pass the beer nougats.”  Meanwhile, the beer industry is seeing an evolution as well – particularly among small, craft brewers – away from bitter, hop-heavy brews and toward sweet, malty flavors more reminiscent of chocolate.  Thus, it would seem that the solution to achieving peace on earth probably involves some combination of beer and chocolate.  Hoppy holidays and a malty new beer!!

Here is the one-hundred-and-twenty-fourth edition of Tom Nob’s Thursday Notes. TN2 serves as a brief summary of what good humor we have found during the past week plus some suggestions for the upcoming weekend.

New Films

Carnage

The Pill

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

New TV Season

The Life & Times of Tim – season three

New Stand-Up

Bill Hicks:  12/16/61

Rich Vos: Still Empty Inside

And Finally

In addition to the rise in geek chic that we detailed last week, another theme that will define 2011 is the mad-scramble by public governments at all levels to plug the holes in their budgets either by raising revenue or cutting costs.  Here in the U.S., due to inordinate power exerted by the Tea Party and its minions, increasing taxes has become a non-starter which means that new revenue must come from more creative sources.  The golden honey-pot that quickly attracts attention is gambling and it seems that every state and large city has explored ways of increasing gambling activity.  One of the more unique and unusual initiatives comes from Missouri (new state motto:  Show Me The Money).  For fifteen years the state had “addressed” the problem of gambling addiction among its residents by allowing individuals to ban themselves for life from the state’s casinos.  In fact, since 1996 until early this December, over 16,000 people added themselves to the self-imposed exile list which meant that they would be fined or arrested if found gambling in state (crime:  trespassing).  This ban only applied within the state of Missouri which meant they could always drive over the state line and wager without worry about the warden (the majority of casinos are located within mere miles of the border).  Of course, these are just the type of customers you want in casinos if higher revenues are your goal, so the Missouri Gaming Commission unanimously approved a change lifting the lifetime ban and replacing it with a mere five-year voluntary suspension option.  When confronted by objections from anti-gambling advocates, the commissioners claimed that such a move would actually encourage more people with gambling problems to sign up and, thus,  lead to lower revenue.  While this circular logic is both amusing and amazing, the real lesson of this story is one that’s been said many times, many ways….what happens in East St. Louis stays in East St. Louis.

Here is the one-hundred-and-twenty-third edition of Tom Nob’s Thursday Notes. TN2 serves as a brief summary of what good humor we have found during the past week plus some suggestions for the upcoming weekend.

New Film

Young Adult

New TV Series

Would You Rather…? with Graham Norton

New Stand-Up

Carlos Mencia: New Territory

Ryan Stout: Touché

New Books

The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories:  Volume 1 by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

And Finally

One of the main themes that will define the year of 2011 is the revenge of the nerds.  A decade after they flamed out spectacularly during the dot-com bust, Silicon Valley companies and the technology whiz-kids who founded them are once again the darlings of the financial world.  What’s ironic this time is that the slick-dressing (former) masters of the universe who inhabit Wall Street are, for the most part, on the outside looking in as hoodie-wearing hackers accumulate wealth beyond even their wing-tipped imaginations.  One side effect of this reversal in fortunes is the rapid rise of geek chic among the general population and one of the fastest ways to get your geek on is to don a pair of glasses.  And thanks to a fashion trend coming out of Asia you can achieve this look on the cheap by eliminating the glass lenses.  That’s right, just wear the frames.  The great part of this trend is that frames are so inexpensive that you can buy multiple pairs and match them to your flip-flops,  mock turtleneck, muumuu or whatever your tech titan-inspired  sartorial statement happens to be.   So this holiday season, if someone says they are going to accessorize your face, don’t tremble with fear but rather with excitement as most likely you are about to be framed.  Said another way:  no need to be wary of geeks bearing gifts.

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Here is the one-hundred-and-twenty-second edition of Tom Nob’s Thursday Notes. TN2 serves as a brief summary of what good humor we have found during the past week plus some suggestions for the upcoming weekend.

New Stand-Up

Rachel Feinberg: Thug Tears

New TV Show

I Hate My Teenage Daughter

New TV Season

Hot in Cleveland – season three

And Finally

Another Thanksgiving has been observed and, in many domiciles, the holiday can be considered a success if the family gathering did not degenerate into a food fight.  The meltdowns usually stem from alcohol-fueled debates on topics such as religion and politics.  While religion most commonly gets top billing, food and politics can be just as messy of a pairing.  To wit…

Sometime this month the Pacific island-nation of Samoa will finally be admitted to the World Trade Organization after waiting 13 years for its Members Only sarong.  Their final requirement was to lift the import ban on turkey tails, a flap found near the tukus of a tom that is 73% fat.  The conflict, you see, is that over 55% of the Samoan population is obese and turkey tails were viewed as a health hazard to a population at risk.  The USA Poultry & Egg Export Council cried fowl and lobbied to overturn the ban using the “consumer choice” argument.  Meanwhile such choices have resulted in…

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children between ages 9 and 11 be screened for cholesterol levels.  This move was prompted by the rapid increase in childhood obesity and diabetes.  Children with elevated cholesterol levels will most likely not be prescribed medications like statins but rather they will be encouraged to improve their diet and increase exercise.  Admirable goals that may be complicated by the fact that…

In school cafeterias across this land of free choice, pizza counts as a vegetable.  That’s right.  According to current federal school nutrition guidelines, a slice of pizza is considered to be equivalent to a serving of vegetables due to the fact that the pizza sauce contains tomato paste.  The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has sought to change that designation, as well as to impose limits on sodium and servings of starchy vegetables such as potatoes and corn, but the agency was thwarted by the U.S. Congress via legislation contained within a stop-gap spending bill that banned the USDA from making such changes.  While they lost that battle…

The USDA was successful in defeating efforts by Yum! Brands to expand the use of food stamps at its Taco Bell and KFC restaurants.  While food stamps can be used at restaurants in California, Arizona and Michigan, the company had sought to expand the Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to enable those unable to cook for themselves (i.e., homeless, elderly and the disabled) to access Chalupas and Snackers in additional states.  As a leading contender for under-statement of the year, a company spokesman stated:  “We understand there was little support for this initiative.”  The Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services at the USDA said the program should promote access to healthy foods.  To which…

A modern day Marie Antoinette would imperiously proclaim:  “Let them eat turkey tail.”  Oh, SNAP!