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I so vividly remember reading this review when the movie came out. And the thing is, I was actually kind of pumped to see this movie, to the point where even as a high school kid I was considering going to see it at the theater. I liked Elijah Wood a lot as an actor, it was filled with so many comedians that I loved, and the weird concept was very intriguing to me. Admit it, if all you had to go by was the trailer, the people you saw were starring in it, and the director*, wouldn't you want to see this movie? Then I read Ebert's scathing review (as well as Siskel's) and saw that maybe there was something fundamentally wrong with this movie. But Ebert's review was particularly memorable, and I don't know if there has ever been a movie where I remember the review so vividly. *Keep in mind that at this point, the movies he had directed were This Is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, and A Few Good Men.

Did you miss the part about how they will instantly die if the water golems protecting them run out of hit points? And that healing surges won't work on the golems, but healing magic will? And apparently paladins do have some healing abilities in 4E, although I don't know how much and it may depend on the deity they serve.

I bet the sports media did do some racist stuff, though, like interviewing other black players and asking them how it affects them as a fellow black player or some shit.

I had heard of the Michael Vick thing, but only through audio sources so I had not known he was black until now. In fact, I had assumed he was white, and when I heard the story my reaction was to go "what a white trash redneck." So hey, stereotyping. Although it wouldn't surprise me to hear that the sports media has been doing stuff relating the Vick story to black people in general because as we know the sports media is incredibly, blatantly racist. The prop 8 thing, I do agree is a double standard. A lot of it is because white liberals will look at the conservative homophobes within their race and think, "those people are a different group than me," but do not make the same distinction with black people. They compare the black community as a whole to the white people they know, cutting out the most homophobic section of their own race from the equation, so of course black people are going to look homophobic by comparison. I think that's the main reason. Taking the words of a few homophobic black people and applying it to the whole is also an issue. When I talk about rappers getting a "pass" on racism or homophobia, I am not talking about the mainstream media at large. I am talking about them getting a pass within the hip hop community, and certain individuals like you and Andrew. It's not just a hip hop thing--all communities have different standards of what is acceptable or not, and many subgroups are permissive of things that the mainstream is not. I do agree with a lot of what you said, though. I think there is a double standard in that the hip hop community gets called on this more than other groups. Again, this kind of thing happens in any community to some degree. Like how a lot of people look the other way at racist sports announcers. Which reminds me of all the sports fans want to try and preserve Sandusky's "legacy" and remember his accomplishments as coach. And the people within cinema who want to give Polanski a pass because of the great movies he's made. And so on. No one looks at these communities and leaps to the conclusion that just because they may not call their own members out harshly enough, everyone is like that. They say "Hollywood and the world cinema elite are too permissive of pedophilia." No one says, "Hollywood and the world cinema elite are all guilty of pedophilia." And yet when it comes to hip hop, instead of saying "Rap is too permissive of misogyny/homophobia/etc." they say "All rappers are guilty of misogyny/homophobia/etc." Also there's the fact that people get one image of the community, and never look to see if things have changed. Hip hop is much less permissive of misogyny and homophobia than it used to be, and many hip hop songs are about things like respect for women or tolerance of homosexuals. And yet the mainstream community will probably still continue to judge hip hop based on things they heard 10, 20 years ago. That doesn't mean the hip hop community is above reproach, or that they don't need to be critical of themselves.

We shouldn't ignore the Tea party and point the finger at rappers. We don't have to choose between one or the other--it's possible to condemn both of them. I think the problem with any kind of discussions with racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. is that people just can't resist the instinct to make it a competition, regardless of whether it is productive. He is right to say that people of color shouldn't go around squabbling with each other and playing the blame game over racism, but then he just goes "blame white people instead." I mean yeah, there's no denying that the problems of racism are mostly white people's fault because we do have the power and the numbers. But I think that Ti (and many people) underestimate how much the establishment relies on the oppressed to uphold the system they have created. Especially in contemporary societies where they can't oppress people outright. Feminism has become more aware of this in the last few decades--you talk to any knowledable feminist today and they will tell you, the patriarchy is a system that depends on everyone to hold it up. It's not just something that men impose on women. And yet this consciousness seems to be slow to spread into racial discussions. So fighting racism should be seen as everyone's responsibility. Rappers shouldn't be given a pass to use slurs, any more than they should be given a pass on homophobia. And I don't think black people or even hip hop artists are any more bigoted, sexist, or homophobic than the rest of the population. But I do think that they become more bold and up front with it because society allows them to get away with it more than they do with other kinds of celebrities. They don't get called on it like, say, an actor or singer in other genres would get called on it. Which makes teenagers who are fans of them feel like it's OK to say that shit. And it's not JUST rappers. Other subgroups of society, including white ones, have been guilty of this. The country music scene was so terrible about condoning racism against Muslims in the years after 9/11, and it's still pretty bad. And guess what? That shit is totally wrong too. But I think it's more important to focus on saying "This is bad, no one should do it" and less on a particular group. And focus on what the real problem is. Andrew says, "You know who also says 'chinky eyes'? White people." which I don't think is true. At least, not with the REAL racism in society. The kind of racism that white people in power uphold is so much more subtle than that. The establishment of privileged white people is by and large made up of white people who never use words like that, and don't consider themselves to be racist in the slightest. And while white people AS AN OVERALL GROUP may have more power and influence, the fact is that a bestselling artist like Danny Brown has more power and influence than 99.9% of white people out there. And he certainly has more power and influence than that dumb racist who called in. And I believe he can (and has) influenced many white people out there to become more racist, or become more bold with their racism. I would even say that if stuff like this became prevalent enough, it could even make the white people think it's OK to say stuff like that again. Are white people more to blame than other races? Definitely. But at the end of the day, I don't think that figuring out who is most to blame is the important question. Maybe being nonwhite means the racism isn't AS bad, but it's still undeniably bad.

Can you hear the sound of Blaine's lips smacking?

Henry putting the hat on and water pouring out is definitely a thing. I totally remember seeing that. Specifically seeing Henry (the old guy) do it. I think it was in the opening credits.

Episode 102 - Hot Tub Foot Episode 103 - Hot Tub Foot? Episode 104 - Hot Tub Foot Episode 105 - Hot Tub Foot? Episode 106 - Hot Tub Foot Episode 107 - Hot Tub Foot?

Something like Paul F. Tompkins as Andrew Lloyd Webber, or Seth Morris as Bob Ducca. I think it would be a good way to mix things up every once in awhile.

I want Soleil Moon Frye to be a guest on this show SO BAD!!!

People being mean in a discussion about race on the internet? Well I never! EDIT: That was my third monocle this week. I simply must stop being so horrified.

Yeah, I agree. It's not that there aren't guys marrying women in Thailand or the Philippines or wherever who do this sort of thing. It's just that the discussion becomes less interesting when you focus on the cases that are clearly racist.

I love this idea. Also I think that every time someone mentions his name they should say "Mr. HHHHHHWhispers" in the same way as Scottabot says "HHHHHHWhispersync."

Me too, except for the "not in a dirty way" part.

This episode was great! Everyone was hilarious. But I have to be honest--the moment that made me laugh hardest was Scott saying "HHHHHHHHWHISPER-SYNC."

Every time I hear "polyamory," all I can think about is this thing I saw on HBO's "RealSex" show where they went to this commune that was basically full of old hippies having orgies with each other. Seek it out if you wish, but let me warn you, once you have seen this... it can never be unseen.

I desperately want to hear Zach and Jon make a Pepper Men podcast for real. Even if it's just a few episodes of Rafflecast.

I think the gang deserves some level-ups for this one!

I think a good general rule is that dating other races is not racist--what's racist is excluding races from your dating pool. Whether it's because you are so blatantly racist as to think interracial dating is wrong, or you fetishize a particular race, or whatever, it's when you start thinking "I won't date race X" that it starts getting racist. If you're proud of it, or you think about it too much, that is also kinda racist, although it depends on a lot of factors. To be honest, in our society it's almost impossible to date interracially without thinking about it because other racists have made it such an issue.

I can kind of understand people being annoyed by Todd and turning it off, because I did find the character grating at first. Went too heavy on the "sarcastic preteen" voice. But once they got into normal conversation the voice was more toned down and didn't bother me. So anyone who turned it off, consider giving it another chance. This one was definitely over the top, even by CBB standards. Don't get me wrong, I loved it, but the ending was just... really out there, and they've never squeezed in so many vulgar and crazy things into so short a time as they did in the last 20 minutes of this thing. I was cracking up and being mind-fucked at the same time. Leave it to Adomian!

Or maybe just Analyze Prince, where Scott is trying to win over somebody who doesn't like Prince. I think what worked best is when you have someone passionate about someone trying to win over somebody who doesn't like something. I mean, Analyze Fish was fun to listen to, but I think it was pretty much just because the people talking about it were entertaining. They could have been talking about anything and it would have been good. I think that it would have been better though, if it could have been a talk with someone who had seen the movie and didn't like it or thought it was "overrated." Part of what made Analyze Phish entertaining was that you had such strong emotions coming from both sides of the conversation.

I always figured the reason for large amounts of racism in porn is because they think it's wrong. When people watch porn, they like to feel like they're watching something dirty, wrong, and shameful. Racism is one of the last really strong taboos in our society.

I remember this being one of those movies Comedy Central used to play all the time, especially at weird hours. I would see bits and pieces of it sometimes as I flipped around and it always freaked me out.This movie makes no sense even if you watch it from the beginning, but turning it on in the middle and trying to understand anything is a total mindfuck.

I mean seriously, even the best Jukebox Jury songs range from "decent" to "fucking terrible." Meanwhile the plug themes are brilliant almost every week. Why is this?

They should and they shouldn't listen to Mildred more often. On the one hand, they should listen to her because she is, by far, the smartest at playing this game and the most likely to ensure everyone's longterm survival. On the other hand, they shouldn't listen to her because it totally fits with their characters NOT to listen, and (stupidly) charge ahead without considering the consequences. Plus it is so much fun to listen to.