Lindsayism.com

God Save the Fan!

If you're reading this site, you probably already know this, but if you have anyone in your life who cares about sports, Will Leitch's new book God Save the Fan: How Preening Sportscasters, Athletes Who Speak in the Third Person, and the Occasional Convicted Quarterback Have Taken the Fun Out of Sports (And How We Can Get It Back) is the perfect gift.

(This is also a reminder to people who were already planning to buy it to buy it today!)

(Also, genius cover by Jim Cooke!)

Will Leitch Mistaken for Donovan Leitch

Will Leitch is down in Austin this week for SXSW. He just sent this hysterical IM:

"I swear to God, I just had this conversation with someone calling my hotel room phone.

Me: Hello?
Caller: Yeah, Don?
Me: No, I'm sorry, I believe you have the wrong room.
Caller: Really? They said this room is registered under "Leitch."
Me: Yes. That's me. My name's Will Leitch.
Caller: Your last name is Leitch?
Me: Yes. Honest.
Caller: Oh. I'm trying to reach Donovan.
Me: Donovan Leitch? Donovan Leitch is in this hotel?
Caller: Yeah, and I thought this was his room.
Me: I've always wanted to meet him. We have the same last name and all, and it's somewhat unusual.
Caller: You sure he's not there?
Me: Well, I haven't seen him, but I've been kind of busy and haven't had a chance to scan the room.
Caller: OK. Well, when I find him, I'll tell him there's another Leitch in the hotel.
Me: Please do."

LOL. I hope Will runs into Donovan at the hotel.

a lifetime's not too long

I was just picking out a Christian birthday e-card for Will Leitch (happy birthday, Will!) because the ironic co-opting of Christian commerce and culture will NEVER GET OLD as far as I'm concerned (I walk the walk with Michael W. Smith's "Friends" as my ringtone) and I saw this one, left, under the "humorous" section and it struck me as oddly inappropriate, considering it's for an audience of people who do believe the end is near and believe it will involve the eternal suffering of billions. But whatever, those crazy Christians, right?

Speaking of "crazy christians", Studio 60: you're on notice. Are we honestly supposed to believe that a middle aged writer for Vanity Fair reads comedy live-blogs of sketch shows? Or that anyone reads live blogs? Or that anyone besides us reads comedy blogs at all? Or that straight grown men in their 40's run around their offices harassing each other about whether or not they're still in love with their ex girlfriends? Also, if you're going to do an entire episode about stealing a joke, how hard would it be to make that joke...somewhat...funny?

late links

Why do I hate having my photo taken at parties? Because when given the choice of three decent photos and one in which I look like an idiot, my blogger friends will always choose idiot It's almost like a little inside joke at this point. (But in all seriousness, huge congratulations to Will Leitch, whose success couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.) But you know, whatever, I've had an epiphany about the photo thing: nobody f**king gives a sh*t what I look like, so bring it on.

Corporate Schilling: Video: The Reverend Fred "God Hates Fags" Phelps blasts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert for being "Godless Sodomites". The Comedy Central blog scooped the world on this one. Go team!

Aww, darn, I guess now we all have to cross Fred Durst off our "lists".

Weatherman vs Cockroach: I got wayyy to much pleasure out of this.

Bagelfest!

* A very funny 1986 anti-crack PSA by Pee Wee Herman.

* My pal Will "nice guy" Leitch returns triumphantly to his hometown of Mattoon, Il for their annual Bagelfest!
Related: Gawker Media Employee Can Eat, Ride Bike At Same Time (my comment is a joke that 3 people will get, as usual.)

* Junkiness Caption Contest (win Kyle Cease's new CD from Comedy Central Records)

* Get ready to be obsessed with dealspl.us (like flickr but for online deals, coupons, offers.)

* Hey downtowners, are you planning to order from Maxdelivery.com any time soon? If so, use my code and get $10 off (and I'll get a $10 credit, too, and it should work even if you've ordered before.): 255638D1
(Gimme a break, I don't have ads. Just give me this one thing, after six years. for Christ's sake.)

some little things

* Patton Oswalt answers the question "What was the funniest person, place or thing of 2005?" for the Comedy Central Insider blog.

* Tonight is the latest edition of Will Leitch's excellent Growth Spurt Reading Series, at Happy Endings at 8. I'm going to try to stop by after seeing a rare New York appearance by Lizzie Skurnick (aka The Old Hag) reading from her new book of poetry, "Check In", at the Jen Bekman gallery.

* Speaking of readings, remember my old humor reading series, Ritalin Readings? Well, it looks like it's coming back with a vengeance, bigger and better in 2006. I'll still be booking talent and co-hosting with Alex Balk, but now a really cool production company is going to be producing it. More, as you might imagine, later. But I'm super-excited.

* Last night I dreamed there was a magazine called "American Comment", that consisted solely of letters to the editor and reader polls, solicted in the previous issue. Before you say "that's the stupidest idea ever", I'd like to point out that Americans are the stupidest people ever. It's a total P.T. Barnum idea, like Desperate Housewives, or the Bush Administration. I have no idea what the rest of the dream was about.