1/24/05: At least Judd Hirsch is back on TV

Sometimes when celebrities die I find myself feeling disproportionately sad.  Like today when I heard about Johnny Carson. 

I guess it's because, like everybody's been saying and as corny as it sounds, he was in our homes every night for 30 years.  He really did feel like a family member.  I can remember back in the early 90's, when people started calling for him to step down, it felt wrong.  I had definitely noticed his game beginning to slip, but forcing him out was like putting your father in an old folks' home against his will. I ended up wanting him to quit, too, just so he wouldn't have to deal with the rumors and whispers.  It was probably right for him to step down, just like it was right for Lenny Wilkens to step down the other day. But it's always sad when your heroes can't just ride off into the sunset after saving the town.

RIP, Carnac. You made it look so easy that we never knew how hard it was. Until Leno showed us.

Fucking Leno.  He's the Lowest Comic Denominator. If Johnny represented dignity and class, Leno is synonymous with pandering to your audience and forsaking any sense of integrity or risk in your comedy.  Just serving stupid people the crass sex jokes and punchless digs at politicans they seem to crave, and getting rich while doing it. 

Nobody's gonna cry over Leno's death.  Remember when he was funny, before he made the deal with the devil? His comedic soul for The Tonight Show. He knew what he was getting into, the bastard. He's cheapened all of our lives with his crap.  He's the "Sleepless in Seattle" of Late Night TV hosts.

If I had the energy, I'd put together the all-time sellout list. People who have put any artistic ambition they once had into a locked drawer somewhere, and spent the rest of their careers sucking up to the masses. Leno would be right there near the top.  Somewhere among Lenny Kravitz and Rod Stewart and Wesley Snipes.

Was google working for you Sunday? Not me.  What's up with that?  I didn't see any mention of it anywhere, so maybe it's a problem with my computer.  Not sure. But if google was down for a day, that should be big news, right? Like if you went to 7-11 for a slurpee and it was closed. 

So I think Joe M. was off by about 8 inches or so in his estimate.  Does anybody have the correct final total?  I think Joe made his prediction based to some degree on the sense that Big Winter Storms never amount to what they're supposed to, at least not here in Manhattan. It's true. Our snowstorms aren't very romantic. The trains keep running.  Nobody gets stranded and has to make love all day and all night. And the snow itself  -- it's pretty while it's falling, but an instant later it's slushy and gross and only a factor if you're one of the unfortunate few who owns a car and parks it on the street.

Guest anonymous Wheredat provider today.  Wheredat on the left? And for the terminally bored at work, where are da two pictures in da previous paragraph?  Huh, Wheredey?

I've lost my mind.