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Day Without Amy Grant a Major Success |
Augusta, GA Assad the Unseen Christ-friendly rocker Grant, seen here on a day other than the Day Without her, during which we can only assume she went into hiding. ondering why your life was thrown into total disarray last Monday? Wonder no more, because you've been hit by a "Day Without Amy Grant," an attempt by dedicated Amy Grant fans nationwide to show an ungrateful world what life would really be like without Amy Grant's upbeat Christian-Pop music. "Amy didn't play any concerts, and none of us played any Amy Grant in our homes, in our cars, or even on our personal Walkman devices," explained Darlene McCullogh, an Amy Grant fan and apparently the last human being on earth still using a Walkman. As an additional part of the demonstration, nobody watched Amy Grant's NBC show "Three Wishes" in reruns on Monday. Nobody had watched the previous Monday either, though sources were unclear if this was a coincidence or a mix-up over when exactly the "Day Without Amy Grant" was scheduled. Network executives point out this may have been the problem with the show's ratings dating back to its 2005 debut.
Grant originally came to fame as a teenager in the 1970's, drawing attention to the then-tiny "inspirational" genre of gospel music by white people, for white people. Grant's success would bring gospel music to a whiter audience, though this fact was often misheard as "a wider audience" when reported in the music press. Grant's crossover success in the 80's and 90's came largely from her skill at writing Christian Contemporary music that only Christians realized was Christian Contemporary, with lyrics vague enough to be mistaken for normal vacuous pop by heathen audiences. Likewise, Grant's videos and concerts mimicked popular non-saved artists of the day, allowing her to sell more than fifteen albums at a time, unlike her CCM contemporaries like Bible Bill Steadfast and The Christian Biscuits. A mainstay in the Grammy's "Best Gospel Performance, White or Asian" category throughout the 80's and 90's, Grant was frequently rewarded by an organization too busy to find other performers to nominate in the category. But it was the 1991 hit "Baby Baby" that made Grant a household name and answer to the question "Who wrote that fucking song they keep playing down at the Frogurt stand?" Last Monday's demonstration served as further proof of the power of the public to draw attention to underappreciated issues by not doing something. Following hot on the heels of the equally-successful "Day Without Fussy Gay Neighbors" and the "Day Without Fat Chicks," some pundits fear the trend may lead to days without other unheralded items, like seatbelts or underarm deodorant. Many of the same pundits, however, confided to us privately that they liked the "Day Without Fat Chicks" alright, but don't tell anyone they said that because it's a real dick thing to say. the commune news supports any day without Amy Grant and furthermore suggests that this become a yearly event, if not daily. Boner Cunningham is the commune's most heavily-pimpled reporter, a fact that has led to more than one drunken office party ending with commune employees lining up to make Boner Cunningham portraits by drawing a nose on Rok Finger's naked ass.
| At Least One Team in SuperBowl ‘Really Came to Play’ War on Terror Finally Focused on Real Threats Who’s the Black Pit That Killed a Night Club Prick? Elevator Shaft — Damn Right Apple iPhone to Contain Real Fruit Filling |
At Least One Team in SuperBowl ‘Really Came to Play’ War on Terror Finally Focused on Real Threats Who’s the Black Pit That Killed a Night Club Prick? Elevator Shaft — Damn Right Apple iPhone to Contain Real Fruit Filling |
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Whatever Happened to Baby Bagel?As you can tell, sir, the commune is back and better than nothing. Also, better than we previously were. I for one am quite chagrinned at our long absence from the Internet, and anyone who knows me can tell you it’s very difficult for me to be chagrinned because of how much I hate using the word “grin” in a sentence. And now I’ve used it three times. I won’t need to use it again until 2010, and I make that pledge to myself now. Many of you are undoubtedly wondering what happened. Or, speaking completely honestly, most of you are wondering how you got here from your friend’s blog, just because you clicked on the underlined words “cheap imitation” or the like. I know, though, that commune fan Emil Zender and his many followers are asking what the hell happened to us last year, and I haven’t been sleeping on the job in finding out either. Honestly, I haven’t slept since maybe November, and then it was only a quick nap. You’ll all be happy to know, those who care, that my thousands of dollars invested in discovering the problem have discovered the problem. It’s a fine feeling, like when you go looking for your car keys and you find them in the last place you look—usually for me the bathtub, where they were playing stand-in for the sailboat.
º Last Column: Alito Supreme º more columns
I had the good fortune to hire renowned private investigator Pierre Banjo. If you haven’t heard of him, I’m not surprised, he’s not that kind of renowned. He’s only renowned with the people he tells about his illustrious career, and I was fortunate enough to meet him in a bar and ply him with alcohol until he revealed his fame to me. This was circa June, which happens about a month after regular June, and I was well in the throes of panic about the many emails I received regarding the missing updates of the commune. All from Emil Zender. If we didn’t get issues of the commune up and running again, we would have to return all our sponsor money to our sponsors. Assuming they ever found the website and realized we weren’t updating. It was an expensive quest, let me tell you that, but no problem is too big for me to throw money at. Finally, just before Christmas, Dr. Banjo called to inform me he had discovered the problem in our missing new editions. He had actually uncovered the source of the problem during a visit to my home office several months earlier, circa July proper, but did several months worth of follow-up investigation at my expense just to be sure he found the right problem. You see, as part of my investment into the 2006 commune improvements, I bought myself a laptop. I forewent the expensive iMacs I had heard so much about and bought a iRoc. I thought it would help support the poor Iraq terrorist cells our government has had on the run for long months, but it turns out they’re called iRocs because they’re all using the licensed image of actor Charles S. Dutton. But all this is only column filler. While the iRoc laptop helped me work from home and connect to the internet, I still didn’t have the expertise to put it all on the Internet the hard way—not much of a web-designer, doesn’t run in the Bagel blood. And driving to the office once a week seemed like a complete waste. Fortunately, the man who sold me the iRoc also sold me a Magic Internet Scanner—you plug it in and scan the printed columns in and they automatically go onto the Internet! In retrospect I probably should have checked out the website to make sure they were updating when I used the machine, but thatseemed like a lot of extra time, and I’ve had trouble finding the commune on the Net. Like all our readers. So as you may have guessed, the Magic Internet Scanner didn’t work right. It was instead shredding our columns into confetti each time I ran one through. The word “shredder” on the top turned out not to be an affectionate nickname for the machine. I’m also starting to doubt I had it hooked up correctly and thinking maybe Tony Z. sold me a terrible bit of goods. But even the best of us—me—can fall for a conman occasionally. Now that we’ve crossed that dark period for the commune, I look forward to spearheading the best year yet for the little news site that could. Expect the best in 2007. I even met a guy in a bar yesterday who swears he can get our White House press room credentials back for only $5,000. How can you not put your faith in a man named Smitty? º Last Column: Alito Supremeº more columns
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Eighth is EnoughIt’s been a long time since my work has seen the light of day. I managed to salvage the remains of this column from some of my old notes. Thank God I no longer carve my notes right into my skin, as skin deteriorates even faster than old celluloid porno films. I finally got around to reading that book I bought last year. The experience was much more enjoyable than I’d been told it would be. I hate to ruin the book for anyone who hasn’t read it, but it really was a shock to find out the tiger was a toy the whole time. That’s right—the filthy little brat was lying to the reader the whole time. In the end, I liked it, but it does leave me dubious about reading that book I’ve been eyeing with the bald kid and his plane-flying dog.
º Last Column: Seventh Heaven º more columns
If you could play any instrument in the world like a master, which instrument would you play? I would lay high odds you didn’t say steel drum just now. But someone out there must be saying it. I don’t see where all the steel drummers are coming from. Where’s that fourth Lord of the Rings movie we were promised? Let that be a lesson, Hollywood: Big-budget epics with funny characters and incredible special effects just aren’t the American audience’s cup of tea. They say as many as 60% of the country’s citizens are downloading movies illegally from the internet. Well, I’m not one of them, I assure you. Computers only want you to use them so they can fingerprint you and eventually replace you, and I’ll have no part of that. No matter how tempting it is to see that Borat film without paying for it. I just found out today that Cheez-Its are, in fact, cheese crackers, not tiny squares of real cheddar cheese put through some sort of ancient process to petrify them. Months of my life wasted on misapplied research! It’s the Apple Jacks year all over again. Quit ending all your letters with that “Yours Truly” bullshit. You know you’re not mine and if you keep pulling crap like that, you never will be. Have you noticed heating ducts are never as big in real buildings as they are in movie buildings? I can’t help but think it’s a terrorist’s dream. Any self-respecting undercover cop goes to hide in one, can’t fit, and blam! Osama wins. I hope you people at the Small Duct Ltd. company are real fucking happy now. You absolutely cannot fit a fully stretched-out body in most freezers. I wonder if the freezer manufacturers even considered this demographic when they designed the darned things. We’re not all murderers, you know. Some of us are respected members of the work force who simply don’t have time to run a found dead body down to the morgue at the drop of a hat. Hum any song to yourself right now. Go ahead. I’ll bet you one thousand dollars it’s the theme to “Mr. Belvedere.” And if it’s not, I dare you to go ahead and prove it. You’ll never get money out of me, stranger. I’ve never seen a professional baseball player catch a ball in his mouth. What exactly are we paying these guys for? I can see any Sam Dandy anywhere catch a ball with his hands. I would say the sixth best thing about being in a wheelchair is you don’t fall when you walk on ice. Sure, you might slide a little bit, but chances are you’re not going to land on your back. And of course, the seventh best thing is you don’t bump your head on low doorways. You can probably figure the rest out yourself. The next time you see a large glass window, jump through. You only live once, and glass just thinks it’s so great. No more today. My wastebasket is empty and the skin has all flaked away so I can’t read my old notes. º Last Column: Seventh Heavenº more columns
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Quote of the Day“The Devil finds work for idle hands. It’s all part-time clerical work, but the pay is kick-ass. The Devil is no longer hiring for assembly work.” -Ted’s Big Book of BibleFortune 500 CookieThis week you’ll finally get that pot to piss in, but before you start unzipping, we should warn you it’s second-hand. Turn on, tune in, and drop out—you’ve missed too many days in that computer programming class. Look for a bright-eyed Aries to take away all your troubles when she shoots you in the throat. Lucky scams this week: Pyramid, carnival ring toss, Florida voter roll purges, and it’s okay, I had a vasectomy.
Try again later.Least Popular Internet Videos1. | Fat kid re-enacting his favorite scenes from Citizen Kane | 2. | World of Warcraft online players expressing crippling loneliness they feel | 3. | Totally hot chick in skirt does routine car maintenance | 4. | Trailer for Julia Roberts’ Mary Reilly 2 | 5. | Manson gets one side of Rubik’s Cube all red | |
| 2006: We Hardly Knew YeBuenos Greetings, America! Roland McShyster here, back on the attack and off the crack! What better way to celebrate the months we've been apart than to round up the top flicks of the past year? 2006 was a busy year for movies, and though I know my esteemed colleague Orson Welch took a crack at the same last issue, it says here that this town's big enough for the two of us, and I do think it is as long as Orson keeps his shoes on. So without further adieu, let's make some magic!
1. The Deep HeartedThe first film in recent memory to function as both a remake (of Jackie Chan's incendiary classic Nutbusted) and a sequel (to 1974's dark-side of Elmer Fudd classic The Deer Hunter), The Deep Hearted finally gives screen icon Jack Nickelson a role he can sink his teeth into. Too bad it didn't come along before his real teeth had rotted away due to lechery and extreme old age, but golf-enthusiast Nickelson sinks his day-glo white dentures into this role just the same. Vanilla Ice is almost as good playing Marky Mark in the supporting role, and both Math Damon and Leonardio Dicaprica shine at playing the same character at random intervals throughout the film. 2/3. Fags of Our Fathers/Letters from Hero JimThe only thing hotter in Hollywood right now than butch-looking tough guys being gay is dudes going to war a long time ago to kill foreigners, but it still took the jaundiced eye of silver-screen megalegend Clint Eastwood to put two and two together and make two movies that each combine both ideas. Fags of Our Fathers came first (that's what she said!), and turned American hearts upside-out with its stunning portrayal of American GIs and the guys they bungholed while they were overseas during WWII. But great as that film was, it was just Clint's way of softening the ground for Letters from Hero Jim, the right-hook to Fathers' jap. Or is it jab? I don't know boxing terminology. Letters tells the story of two gay guys in the army writing to each other, but the twist you haven't seen before is that one of them is actually in the distant past and is Japanese. Now be sure to pick up the pieces of your blown mind before we move on to the next film. 4. Babe!
Darker than the first two, sure, and lighter on the pig, but that's just fine with me when you're talking about a movie many thought shouldn't be made. After the star of the first two films died in a horrible breakfast- making accident two short years ago, the weak- stomached of the movie watching community rose up in one voice and suggested that the blockbuster film series be laid to rest in this little piggy's honor. Thankfully, Hollywood told those fruits to take a hike, and completed the epic trilogy in style. Brad Pitt brings a fresh-faced enthusiasm to his role as Babe's handler on the little pig's trans-continental journey to find something tasty buried just beneath the ground. Without a doubt, some of the best pig acting since 1998's Copland. 5. The QueenHot on the heels of his smash success with The Doors, counterculture icon Olivier Stone rips the rock biopic genre a new one with this scathing look at the life and times of the most macho band ever to exist, Queen. Brit bombshell Hellen Mirren burns the screen down with her thick-mustached portrayal of musky sex God and Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, and the rest of the band is played by guys who could snap your neck with their breath. If you had a better time in a theater in 2006, you were high on something wicked and I'm calling the cops. 6. Lidle Missed SunshineThis amazingly-fast response to the tragic death of Yankees pitcher Corey Lidle, who died months ago after trying to land his single-engine Cessna through the window of his Manhattan apartment, doesn't deserve to be as good as it turned out, but there it is just the same. It's films like this that make me wonder what the hell they're doing over there, outside of America, and why can't they make films this good. 7/8. Volver/Lucky Number SlevinDyslexia was the hot word for 2006, not that anyone could spell it. But Hollywood doesn't have to be able to spell something to be able to cash in on it, as these two films specially-titled for the letter-ordering impaired were to prove. Surprisingly, they were both powerhouses. Actually, technically one was a powerhouse and the other was a brick house, but I'll leave you to decide for yourselves which was which. 9. Untied 93Finally, the truth comes out about why Gerald Ford fell down those airplane steps that fateful morning back a long time ago. Turns out his shoelaces were untied. Yeah, it sounds kind of anti- climactic when I say it just like that, but trust me, this movie will keep you riveted for the full 93 minutes as you see Ford's shit-eating unfold in painstaking detail. Yeah, you know what's gonna happen, but that just makes the film's inevitable conclusion feel all the more tragic. 10. Preachy Home CompanionAlthough it's not the kind of movie I'd usually like, since it's not very good, Preachy Home Companion won me over by having a bunch of good-looking people singing a lot while at the same time showing why ugly people belong on radio. Private Parts tried to teach me the same lesson years ago, but for some reason it didn't really sink in until this film. But it did, and consider me a changed man, America. Until next time, I'm Roland McShyster, and you're America. Try to wear it well. |