Thursday, January 01, 2009

The Year in Review Review

Because Mr. Furious can (still) never get enough hatred and harsh judgment...

John Cole is counting votes on the Dumbest Thing Said By a Politician in 2008. I went with, “I think — I’ll have my staff get to you. It’s condominiums where — I’ll have them get to you.” Not the worst or most offensive thing to pass a politicians lips by any means, but perhaps the most unintentionally honest and revealing, and marked the beginning of the end for McCain in my opinion.

The Guardian's list of The 19 Worst Americans of 2008.

Andrew Sullivan's Annual Daily Dish Awards

The New York Times' Year in Pictures

Seemed Important at the Time...The Top Nontroversies of 2008

Peter Travers' Best and Worst Movies of 2008. I didn't see ANY of them.

Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums of 2008. 50? Don't you guys have editors? You certainly have no taste—putting the Raconteurs at #44—behind the fucking Jonas Brothers.

Alas, the two of the best year-end lists from 2007 (The Beast's Most Loathsome List and Bill Maher's Dickheads of the Year list) either went behind a pay-wall or don't seem to exist for 2008. Losers.

I also did a worse job this year on Dick of the Week. Pick your favorite from a whopping field of five...

Slate.com's Best Political Cartoons of 2008.

WaPo's What's In and Out for 2009

ESPN baseball man Jayson Stark compiles his Strange But True Year in Review

Sports Illustrated's Best Photos of the Year

Deadspin's Best of 2008 Jamboroo: The Year in...Substance Abuse...Horrifying Injuries...Bad Officiating

• Hillary's Downfall. Yet another hilarious Hitler subtitle video. These fucking kill me every time...

15 comments:

Mike said...

That video is great. Maybe the best yet.

Rickey said...

Nothing amuses Rickey more than the Hitler meme. The "shaky hand removing the glasses" shot never ceases to crack Rickey up.

G in Berlin said...

Do you find comparing Senator Clinton to Hitler funny? I don't. I find it disgusting. Will you throw up some hysterically overt misogynistic material next?

Angelos said...

Ahhh, someone who doesn't understand the Hitler video meme.

Here it is for football:
http://hestika.blogspot.com/2008/01/brilliant-doesnt-do-this-justice.html

And here for real estate:
http://hestika.blogspot.com/2008/11/they-lied-to-me.html

No one is comparing anyone to Hitler. It's all in how artfully the subtitles are applied to the acting.

My music list kicks RS's ass.
http://hestika.blogspot.com/2009/01/best-of-2008.html

How they had AC/DC and Metallica so high is beyond me.

G in Berlin said...

I do understand. Let me approach it differently. As a Jew, as a daughter of an Auschwitz survivor, as the granddaughter, niece, cousin of countless murder and torture victims,I find using Hitler as a meme thoughtless, disgusting and yes, when applied to a person or movement, frightening and demeaning.Is my position clear? Making Hitler a player in mocking anything simply lessens the actual disgust one should feel when contemplating him and his actions.

Mr Furious said...

G-

I saw your first comment earlier at a time when I couldn't respond...thanks for jumping in, Angelos.

At first I thought you were offended that I would compare Clinton to Hitler, and my response would have been pretty much the same as Angelos'...

It's not about Hillary being Hitler or even Hitler-like, and it's not about making light of Hitler or his obviously awful impact and actions. It's all about creatively using a very dramatic scene in a humorous manner with the subtitling.

It's all about a bunch of cowering subordinates afraid to reveal catastrophic news to an archetypal maniac.

There is clearly a vast cultural/societal gulf between Europe and America, and between people with some tie to the Holocaust and those of us who cannot imagine it. In some countries in Europe (perhaps Germany included) I believe that video might even be illegal?

None of us speak German, so we have no idea wtf he is ranting about either...

Anyway...Hitler just doesn't have the same power to some people and in the right circumstances can be a ripe target or tool for satire. That's where I'm coming from, and I'm sorry if it's painful to some people—certainly never my intent—but I also can't pretend I didn't think it was funny either.

Mike said...

Do you find comparing Senator Clinton to Hitler funny? I don't.

Nor do I.

But using a video of Bruno Ganz brilliant portraying Hitler as he freaks out at his general staff for losing the war that he started, screwed up, and failed to take responsibility for as an analogy of any egomaniac doing essentially the same thing as to his/her failings? Yeah, assuming the subtitles are clever, I do find that exceedingly funny.

As this video clearly is.

And being Jewish doesn't prevent me from seeing that humor at all.

Mr Furious said...

Look, G, I don't what else to say but sorry. You are coming from a whole different universe when you have that kind of personal association.

G in Berlin said...

Let me throw out this last comment, and then let this go. I obviously know that this was not meant to offend. I do see it as an American in one way, as a Jew in another, (and on the gripping hand, as it were), as a Jew in Europe in a third.

But really, with what is going on now, does looking at this as a basically ignorant person make sense? I find this blog pertinent, funny, interesting, thought provoking. It's not my blog (mine is not nearly as interesting) and I don't define its parameters. I laughed the first time I saw this (a long time ago) and then I stopped myself. Because normalizing/laughing at Hitler is wrong. My two cents. And Mike- from the security of America- think of being Jewish outside its walls (perhaps in Bombay?) before you find Hitler someone to be forgotten or laughed at.

Mike said...

find Hitler someone to be forgotten or laughed at

I don't find Hitler someone to be forgotten (???). I do find him someone to laugh at. He was outrageous and ridiculous in many respects. If you can't laugh at Hitler you've really failed to grasp something. Fascism and grotesque militarism should be laughed at . . . and criticized.

Meanwhile, I also find the ironic use of a film clip of an actor playing Hitler as a farcical comparison to the fictional rantings of a contemporary public figure something to laugh along with.

If you can't get that, well that's your game. But to suggest to others that they shouldn't find humor in it misses the boat by a mile.

steves said...

Let me derail this discussion with a cooment on the Rolling Stone article. It is nice seeing them discuss music for a change. Their political/cultural stuff sounds typically like it was written for a middle school newspaper.

I just can't get into the Raconteurs. I know I am supposed to like them, but they just don't do anything for me. I was cheesed that Chinese Democracy was higher than The Hold Steady.

John Cole's list was pretty good and, unlike most every other list, he did a good job of including stuff from across the spectrum.

Rickey said...

If Rickey may chime in on the Hitler fracas... the best way of rendering an ethos or a person harmless is by ridicule and laughter.

Mr Furious said...

Agreed. Treating Hitler with any sort of reverence, respect or fear seems to be far worse than using him as a source of humor.

I think that in this case, Hitler (and the accompanying contemporary target) are mocked as out-of-touch, maniacal failures about to face their downfall. There is no reflection or disrespect regarding the deeds or victims of Hitler's actions.

I can understand the inability to separate Hitler from his deeds for some, and how that, in turn, can render the humor here moot. But that is not the case for most of us, and even G admitted it was funny at first glance...

Mr Furious said...

It seems this wasn't our first Hitler debate 'round here...

carrie said...

chiming in: some people find family guy funny, some don't. Same with south park. But can this be directly related to the moral integrity of a person?