Archive for September 6th, 2016

From the blotter.

Tuesday, September 6th, 2016

A Wisconsin man was arrested in August after he allegedly drank his friend’s blood, cut off her pinky with a machete, put the severed phalange in the freezer to eat later, and then took a blowtorch to his friend’s hand to try and stop the bleeding, according to media reports.

Damn, dude. Kind of busy, weren’t you? I understand why you saved the finger: probably worked up a bit of an appetite with all the blood drinking and pinky severing and blowtorching.

(Also: “the severed phalange”. Pro tip here: an amateur writer such as your humble blogger would have gone with “the severed finger”. “Servered phalange” is how you know you’re reading a true professional.)

[The alleged victim] told police she voluntarily participated in the ritual and didn’t want anyone to be arrested for the event.

And we ask again: where do guys find these women?

And what was the motivation here?

Schrap, whose body tattoos identify him as a member of the Juggalos, which is the name given to super fans of the Insane Clown Posse group, his friend Nick Laabs, and fellow Juggalo Preston Hyde, who goes by “Bloody Ruckus,” were performing a “ritualistic memorial” when they honored a fellow Juggalo who died a year prior by drinking the blood of [the victim], 27.

Juggalos? I get they probably had the identifying marks, but the blood drinking, phalange severing, and blowtorching (the latter after a cigarette lighter didn’t stop the bleeding) seems like a lot more work than your average Juggalo is willing to do.

Posted in Law | Comments Closed

TMQ watch.

Tuesday, September 6th, 2016

The new NFL season is almost here. Mark our words: it will be Christmas sooner than you think.

This being a full service blog, we thought we would try to provide an answer to the question nobody asked:

Lisa Simpson.

Oh, wait. Sorry. Wrong question. The one we actually wanted to answer was “Where’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback and Gregg Easterbrook?”

It doesn’t look like TMQ has found a home this year. Easterbrook’s been responding to folks on Twitter with the same boilerplate tweet, like he has a Microsoft Word AutoText for it or something. Oddly, those tweets aren’t visible when I browse his feed with Google Chrome, but they do show up in Safari on the iPhone. The gist: if you like the column, tell the NYT.

Last year, the first TMQ didn’t run until September 15th (the start of the second week of the season) so it isn’t unprecedented for Easterbrook to get a late start. But last year was also the first year the NYT ran the column: we would kind of think that at the beginning of the second year, they would know what was in the tin, and would have already issued a go/no-go decision on TMQ.

Our impression last year was that Easterbrook was chafing under the apparent new restrictions imposed by his corporate masters (for example, no more 2,000 word digressions about how unrealistic a TV show is). We also got the less distinct impression that the editors at The Upshot were, to be frank (no, wait, Frank is Gregg’s brother the judge) tired of his (stuff). So it would come as no great shock to us if TMQ took a long hiatus. But we do plan to keep an eye on Easterbrook’s Twitter, in case we’re wrong or in case he washes up somewhere else. (With the Univision deal, maybe he could start doing TMQ for Deadspin? Or Jezebel?)

Posted in Sports, TMQ watch | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: September 6, 2016.

Tuesday, September 6th, 2016

For the record: Phyllis Schlafly.

Hugh O’Brian, star of “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp”.

Mr. O’Brian remained active through the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, mostly on television. He appeared on series like “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Fantasy Island” and “Murder, She Wrote.” In 1972 he was one of the rotating leads in NBC’s short-lived high-tech private-eye series “Search,” which also starred Tony Franciosa and Doug McClure.

I also like this:

One of his more memorable roles (though it was also one of his smallest) was in John Wayne’s final movie, “The Shootist” (1976). Mr. O’Brian played a professional gambler who, in the film’s closing moments, became the last character ever killed onscreen by Wayne.

LAT. And a callback to something I previously blogged here: Mr. O’Brian and Al Jennings hanging out and doing a little practice. In LA. In 1957.

Posted in 1970s, Guns, Obits, Politics, TV | Comments Closed