Aim for the Speed Bumps
Posted by Troy | Filed under Humor, TV
illustration by Troy DeShano
“When you improvise a plan… sometimes you hit a speed bump,
and sometimes you hit it so hard that you soar through the air, far beyond your initial expectations.”
First person to guess who said this gets a cyber-five!
Swanson Pyramid of Greatness
Posted by Troy | Filed under TV
Ron Swanson’s Pyramid of Greatness. Click the image to see the large version. My highlights: “Intensity: Give 100%. 110? is impossible. Only idiots recommend that.” “Friends: One to three is sufficient.” “Frankness: Cut the B.S.” I also love how he included “Romantic Love” as the only other on level with the major proteins. I’m so glad Parks & Rec is back. Which is your favorite of Ron’s ultimate keys to greatness?
Tags: parks and rec
Odorifous: Leslie Nichols
Posted by Troy | Filed under Music, Odorifous, TV
Austin City Limits has to be one of the best and most important TV shows ever (yes, TV can be important)
Considering the long history of the show, I’m a relative newcomer to the audience. The first episode I ever saw was a Widespread Panic. (must have been around 2000-01?)
It was like I had tasted first blood.
Now a decade later, I have so many great memories watching the show…
Tags: Austin City Limits
Freakiest Puritan Ever
Posted by Troy | Filed under Faith, TV
I just started watching God in America, a PBS Frontline documentary mini-series that’s been airing all week.
That guy who played Ben Linus on Lost is Puritan leader John Winthrop.
Freakiest Puritan ever!
This shot is actually from a really interesting scene about the trial of the colony’s rabble-rousing woman Anne Hutchinson, who was eventually banished for openly sharing her personal theology.
I’m looking forward to watching the rest of the series online.
Tags: Faith, pbs, religion, tv
The Office Baby Breaks New Ground
Posted by Troy | Filed under Strong Odors, TV
The scene:
A woman, late in her pregnancy freezes mid-stride to announce to her partner that her water has just broken
(possibly a wisecrack about peeing her pants or another character slipping and falling in the fluid).
The couple race to the hospital barely making it in time to start pushing.
Somehow in the midst of the mother’s bloodcurdling screams and insults at her doofus husband, the doctor has the presence and expertise to recognize… the baby is breech!!
Tags: original illustration, strong odors, the office, tv
Most Everything I Know is from Sesame Street
Posted by Troy | Filed under TV
A few years ago I spent some time as an intern at a year-round Christian camp. As part of the training, I wrote weekly journals about what I was learning. One week I wrote an entry called “Most Everything I Know I Learned from Sesame Street.”
I noticed a few years later an episode of Scrubs with the same theme. I don’t know if they’d been reading my journals or what.
In celebration of Sesame Street’s 40th today I’m posting that journal entry… you’ll have to forgive the lack of editing and my just-finding-my-voice writing style (anyone detect a hint of Carrie Bradshaw?)
Read the rest of this entry »
Zev on Amazing Race
Posted by Troy | Filed under Autism, Parenting, TV
Editorial Note: This original post was written in 2009, during Zev and Justin’s first appearance on The Amazing Race. I’m excited they’re back in 2011 and glad more people are discovering the same hope that I discuss in this article.
Individuals on the Autism Spectrum have never had a voice in the media.
Of course there’s Rain Man (everyone’s first reply when I say “my son has Autism”)…
And the occasional savant on 60 Minutes or something… (which of course results in everyone’s second reply “so is he super good at math or the piano or something?”)
And that is about it.
There’s never been occasion in media where a character with Autism was actually a person… you know what I mean?
That is why I consider this season’s Amazing Race to be groundbreaking…
Because Zev Glassenberg is someone to watch.
As far as I can tell he is the first person ever in popular media to represent individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder.
While watching this weeks episode…
I chuckled knowingly when he’s concerned about getting his shoes wet while traveling through knee-deep floods in Vietnam…
and I felt so proud… like he was my own son… when he masterfully shepherded a flock of ducks during one competition…
and gave his jacket to a man who had none…
and my heart cheered when his team came in 2nd at the finish line for that leg of the race…
But the thing that really gets me emotional…
is that he’s got a friend.
a real friend.
Because I know I’m in for a lot of heartbreak over the next decade as I try to watch my son relate to his peers… and none of them will really understand him.
But seeing Zev with his buddy Justin gives me hope… just a little hope… that someday my boy can have a friend that understands him and appreciates him the way I do…
a friend who loves his sense of humor and is humbled by his unselfish spirit and touched by his sweet personality and…..
You can follow Zev and Justin on the race via their webpage (which is mostly twitter status updates of funny stuff Zev says on the show)
Tags: amazing race, aspergers, Autism, tv
