Photos
Earlier this week, it was all about Hurricane Sandy. Whether you lived in the affected areas or not, it was difficult to think about much else, or at least to take anything else very seriously. The images are stunning and upsetting, but are as nothing compared to the reality, I’m sure. As with anything of this magnitude, the event brings out the best in us as we all rally together, either physically or in spirit. But, now we are entering the weird phase that follows any disaster where the shocking immediacy of it all has worn off, and those who live far away, which is most of the people in the world, will begin to focus on other things, like lunch and this weekend’s episode of Homeland, forgetting even if only momentarily that all of lower Manhattan is still without power, not to mention MILLIONS (!!!) of homes across the Eastern seaboard. Even the mildest amount of normal human comfort can make it difficult to empathize with those who have it worse. I was chatting with a friend of mine in Williamsburg yesterday who said that he’d mostly just been working from home and cooking for three days, then going out in the evenings for drinks with friends, and that he knew the city was in tatters and so many people had lost so much but from within his Brooklyn bubble it was mostly a special, fun, and memorable event. This was not callous or unsympathetic: he pointed out how bad he felt for not feeling more bad, but that is how these things are distributed. This afternoon, Kelly complained that she had tickets to see a play starring Paul Rudd and Michael Shannon tonight but there was no good way to get into the city, proving that Kelly is the one who has been most affected by this whole thing. Poor Kelly, right you guys?! (Kelly was kidding, come on. Give Kelly a break.) What I am trying to get at is not that anyone should beat themselves up, or that there’s even any real way to shift the burden or prolong the intensity of your empathy. We are all, when it comes down to it, Hurricane Narcissists. I simply want to remind people (as if they need it, but maybe they do need it) that there are still many many Americans suffering through Sandy’s wake (and OK, here is where we can start getting into how there are poor people all over the world who live without electricity and drinking water for most of the year, but for now let’s stay focused) and let’s please keep them in our thoughts as best we can. And you can still text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. Now that we have that out of the way: WHAT DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN WITH CARY AND BRODY WILL THEY OR WON’T THEY?!?!?!
After the jump, the five Highest Rated comments, as voted on by you, the Lowest Rated comment, the winner of the Things Are Back To Normal Caption Contest, and the Editor’s and Associate Editor’s Choice.
This Week’s Highest Rated Comments
| #5 |  |
smokey marcella | Oct 29th | Score:42 |
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Stupid awaiting moderation. BTW, Steve, I noticed you’ve been having some grumpy posts. Did you know that vitamin C can improve your mood? Guinea pig food is a great source of vitamin c. Check it out at your local Petsmart. |
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| Posted in: Anything Going On Today, Guys? | |||
| #4 |  |
Dr. Feelgood | Oct 26th | Score:43 |
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Up: Grieving widower kidnaps child with the use of helium. |
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| Posted in: This Is Always A Fun Game | |||
| #3 |  |
topknot | Nov 1st | Score:46 |
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The white guy on Outsourced |
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| Posted in: Who Do You Think Mitt Romney’s Favorite TV Characters Are? | |||
| #2 |  |
lilbobbytables | Nov 1st | Score:49 |
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All of the brave businessmen willing to stand up to Captain Planet. |
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| Posted in: Who Do You Think Mitt Romney’s Favorite TV Characters Are? | |||
| #1 |  |
whoa! | Oct 26th | Score:77 |
| Posted in: Monsters’ Ball: The Week’s Best Comments | |||
[Ed. Note: Yo, that billboard is dope!!!]
This Week’s Lowest Rated Comment
| #1 | |
topknot | Oct 26th | Score:-25 |
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My favorite Halloween prank is when you guys all upvote this comment! |
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| Posted in: A Few Better Halloween Pranks | |||
[Ed. Note: Halloween Blog Comment FAIL.]
This Week’s Caption Contest Winner
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formerragequitter | Oct 30th | Score:38 | |
| Posted in: The Videogum Why Don’t YOU Caption It? Contest: Things Are Back To Normal | |||
[Ed. Note: Congratulations, formerragequitter! You earned it.]
This Week’s Associate Editor’s Choice
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seolondon | Oct 31st | Score:0 | |
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Poor butterfly! Red panda was truly attractive to it and panda was eager to catch it in any way. |
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| Posted in: Emergency Red Panda Trying To Catch A Butterfly | |||
[Assoc. Ed. Note: Just a very good, true comment. Have a good weekend, everyone!]
This Week’s Editor’s Choice
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djfreshié | Oct 31st | Score:20 | |
| Posted in: Jamie Kennedy In Blackface For Who Cares Why?!?! | |||
[Ed. Note: Seriously, though.]
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FIIIIIIIIRST!
I miss Gary.
I am not kidding, I would wear that on a shirt. #noirono
I definitely would. And when people asked what the hell was going on, I would answer “You must know Gary. Gary’s the best!” and then stare at them as if I can’t believe how out of the loop they are.
none of you have my permission to wear these shirts
I will loan you my hat if you will reconsider.
would be great if some body would post a youtube link to the scene in deadwood where al swearengen says “And here’s my counter offer to your counter offer …. GO FUCK YOUR SELF!” Rad scene.
Please-don’t-ever-change We Can Believe In
Gabe, I’m not sure that I understood the point of your whole post-hurricane talk. I am, however, sure that I drank quite a bit of soju (south korean vodka) tonight, and so these two things may or may not be related in some way. Enjoy your weekend, everyone!
Woooooo it is the weekend pretty much. Have good weekends!
Congratulations everyone! Have a great weekend!
This was the first week I spent on Videogum Time, and I think having commenting hours coincide with normal work hours is a terrible thing for me. It is amazing (pathetic?) how much time I can spend on this website.
When do you get to go home and see Duke?
Sunday morning! I can’t wait. Thanks for asking!
Who’s ready to drink all the whiskey? I’m planning on causing a whiskey shortage in Chicago this weekend. Be prepared.
You can have all the whiskey. I will have all the wine.
(I did not make this one, sadly)
As that’s clearly a goblet of blood, I don’t quite see its relevance to this thread. Are you removing some blood (and storing it in a goblet) to make room for more wine in your veins? Clever plan.
I think you mean…
This guy is enjoying Friday and that guinea pig food has Vitamin C in it:
Have a great weekend monsters!
This is my first homemade gif, guys! There aren’t many good guinea pig gifs, so I went in my internet time machine to a site that I was a little obsessed with about 5 years ago. If you want some diversion with some guinea pig silliness, check it out. The gif came from the Hey Fat Boy! video, which I highly recommend.
http://www.beezzzart.com/bing/
Happy Friday everyone!!! Congrats to the Ballers! Also, hey guys, I GOT THAT JOB!!! Woohooooooo!
THAAAANKSSS! I will cherish this blingee forever!
CONGRATS! Great Friday for you!
So glad everyone is ok!
Well if someone wasn’t okay, they probably wouldn’t be able to comment and let us know.
….. I’m sorry.
I LOVE Halloween, and my Bday is on Sunday, so usually this week would be full of partying. But I just cant’ seem to find the heart to have fun so I’m just going to make Blingees of my boyfriends instead.
I’m Summer Estherson, and I approve this blingee.
Ewww, guys, I worked from 9am – 9pm today. I just got home and of course it’s straight to Videogum. Hi guys! Happy Halloween! I’m going to catch up on the things I didn’t see all week because my job is impossible. But I’m going to enjoy the weekend more than this cat is going to enjoy this ravioli!
Hey my first Monsters’ Ball award! Maybe it’s the gin talking, but I’m feel UNSTOPPABLE
I’m home I’m home!
i posted like 3 times this week. a new personal record. really getting the hang of it!!
I know that this probably won’t get a reply, but just in case, has anyone here read Cryptonomicon? Is it worth reading? I just finished Anathem and it’s now one of my favourite books of all time, and I recently read Snow Crash and Reamde and enjoyed them both, so I was expecting to at least like Cryptonomicon. I’m not very far into it. I just got past the part where Lawrence Whatsisface wanders through a zeppelin crash site, which was preceded by a lot of mathematical mumbo jumbo that went whizzing right over my head. The gist of it was that formulas can be encoded as numbers and then acted on by other numbers and other encoded formulas and this can somehow be used to prove whether or not a statement is true or false…? What the fuck does that even mean?!? And I didn’t pick up any contextual clues to help me make sense of it either. My theory is that it’s deliberately hard to follow and that Neal Stephenson is telling the reader as much with the zeppelin scene, which he describes in exhaustive detail without ever giving the reader a big picture view of what’s actually going on, just detail upon detail, page after page, until finally, at the end of this section, Lawrence Whatsisface mentions that he dreamed he was at a zeppelin crash site. Which I think means that the unfathomable math stuff will eventually crystallize into something that makes sense too? Or am I being overly optimistic?
What Stephenson’s doing seems to run contrary to the whole point of writing anything down, ie. communication, or putting things into a framework that can be understood by a fellow human being. Instead, he’s deliberately making things confusing, probably as a means of demonstrating a greater theme, but still. Maybe I’m being overly sensitive but something about it feels fucking hostile. I don’t read a book to provide the author an empty stage on which to demonstrate how clever they are. And why would Stephenson presume that anyone would be okay with that? If I’m right about what he’s doing, that doesn’t justify the fact that he’s doing it in a way that feels aloof and kind of arrogant. So I guess my question is (I know, tl;dr) does it continue in this vein for the duration of the novel, or does it start making sense sooner rather than later?