“Futurama” is reincarnated and headed for Comedy Central! Let’s hope for a crossover where Bender bloodily eviscerates the cast of “Lil’ Bush.” (Popoholic)
Elton John thinks the internet is ruining everything. Also? If you kick your ball onto his lawn, he’ll confiscate it and angrily shake his cane at you. (Agent Bedhead)
AMC’s new original program “Mad Men” is edgy TV for boring-ass people. You know — the kind of people who watch AMC in the first place. (WWeek)
I’ll tell you what — I’m gonna open my own damn pharmacy and start forcing the morning-after pill on customers who I decide shouldn’t breed. What do you think about that, religious right? (QuizLaw)
Hey, upscale restaurant servers! Here’s a handy guide of Celebrities Whose Food You Should Totally Spit In — tell your friends! (CityRag)
I don’t know what’s sadder — that 9 to 5 is almost every bit as relevant today as it was almost three decades ago, or that I still love the crap out of that movie. (Feministing)
Yep, it’s only a matter of time before Jessica Simpson is begging to reclaim her role as “Daisy Duke” for the next Dukes of Hazzard sequel. (IDLYITW)
Patton Oswalt will drunkenly rant his way into your heart with his new comedy album, “Werewolves and Lollipops.” (Pitchfork)
The perfect gift for the socially inept child, (who plans to stay that way) — after the jump.
You just know he's going to tear little Muffin's throat out at the end.
Posted by: Drake at August 2, 2007 3:36 PM
Oh, yes. I adore Futurama, especially since I never really got into the Simpsons. (no vitriol, please. I just never watch it) Seeing Bender on Comedy Central will truly kick ass.
Wow, Kirsten Dunst is cheap. If someone had pulled that shit on me during my waitressing stint (what a long summer that was) there would be some serious hell to pay. Forget just spitting, I would just flip 'em off.
By the way, Litely, does that whole spitting idea only count for those who don't tip, or can we expand it to some of the more douchey celebrities?
Posted by: Brie at August 2, 2007 3:52 PM
Do do doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doodooo
I stare at the screen and act like I'm mean. I'm on the hunt, I'm after you
I howl like a dog, scent is green smog, and I'm geeky as a wooooolf.
Posted by: vaguelyamish at August 2, 2007 4:01 PM
omigodomigodomigodomigod! Futurama! My fave show ever. This is making things happen in my loins. Love it!
Posted by: cdell at August 2, 2007 4:38 PM
I cannot explain just how much I love video games that support "real learning" as opposed to that fake kind they keep trying to offload onto us and the small child howling made me choke on my diet coke.
"I smELL ELk!" Hee!
So much joy from one tiny video clip.
I am another that prefers Futurama to the Simpsons (and I do love me some simpsons) so the news had me about three seconds away from spontaneous combustion, but then I thought about my security deposit and swiftly pulled myself back from the brink.
It shouldn't really come as a surprise that celebrities are shitty tippers. In my (depressingly extensive) experience people who have money are less likely to part with it and more likely to act like special needs children. I'm in no way a class warrior, but the designer purse carrying sex-and-the city clones and their power suit bluetooth earpieced husbands will almost always screw you in the end. Can't wait to go to work tonight.
Posted by: X at August 2, 2007 5:03 PM
Hooray Futurama! Seeing them again just made my day. I can't wait!
Posted by: rocbolt at August 2, 2007 5:23 PM
I love 9 to 5 too. I think it's incredibly sad that I could relate to those women...as a twenty-something in 2007.
Posted by: bonnie at August 2, 2007 5:45 PM
I'm willing to give Posh a pass because unlike the source claims tipping is NOT an international courtesy many countries do not tip waiters or anything and don't understand why they would. It also helps though that the waiters there get a regular wage and not a 'well you'll be earning tips so we can pay you 2.50/hour' wage.
You'd think though someone would have told her about that though...oh well if she fails to tip from now on you'll know she's just a cheapskate but for now I'm chalking it up to a faux pas.
Posted by: Andrew831 at August 2, 2007 6:34 PM
I'm sorry, that tipping thing just drives me insane. How dare they? I can give Posh a bit of a pass, considering she's from Europe, but Joey Potter just fell even farther down my list (as if 'twere possible). Not to mention the rest of the celebs on that list... and don't even get me started on Ms. Ray. She who makes her career off of stiffing the working class in that joke of a show.
*sigh* Off my high horse.
Posted by: Jen at August 2, 2007 7:10 PM
I am so excited about new Futurama episodes! My husband is getting tired of me watching the same ones over and over and over again. I swear, I've seen them all at least 4 times (except Jurassic Bark, I don't enjoy bawling over cartoons, thank you) and it's about damn time for some new ones! Stupid Fox.
Stardust, I never cried so hard at a cartoon until I saw the Jurassic Bark episode. I don't even own a dog, and I was bawling. Plus, that Connie Francis song in the background...damn.
Posted by: Brie at August 2, 2007 9:55 PM
Dudes, Posh is BRITISH. I'm pretty sure they tip in jolly old England. Britons out there, care to weigh in??
Posted by: Tammy at August 2, 2007 10:08 PM
Well we don't tip down here in Australia. Quite frankly I don't understand the practice. Unless a person has done an exceptionally fantastic job, why should they get a tip? You've paid your contribution to the waiter/waitresses wage in the cost of your food. And they do get paid anyway.
Furthermore, why is there a percentage? Who decides what the percentage is?
And why is it just waiters or people in the food service industry who get a tip? What makes them more deserving than any other profession?
I work part-time in retail, and if I've gone out of my way to help a customer, all I really expect in return is a genuine thanks.
I'm not meaning to offend anyone or the practice of tipping, but coming from a country where it's not normal, it's difficult to understand.
Posted by: Bec at August 2, 2007 10:18 PM
In the United States, the standard "pay" for waiters and waitresses is about 50% of the federal minimum wage. That's ideally an incentive to earn more tips with better service, but obviously, that's not always how it works out.
Tipping is not customary in only food service, but for everything from your tattoo artist and piercer, the bellhop, the valet, babysitters- pretty much anyone who does you a service. It's especially prominent (and expected) in the food industry because the wages for a server are much lower than even the lowest legal limit. The employers are able to pay a lower wage as long as they can justify that with normal tipping, the server will make at least minimum wage. So you get waiters paid $4 an hour or worse. As for the percentage, I honestly couldn't tell you how that came about. All I know about it is it seems to be getting larger. 20% used to be the watermark; only go there for exceptional servers. Now if a server doesn't get 20%, it's considered a low tip.
Secondly: As far as a pharmacy not carrying the morning after pill, I feel I'm about to air an unpopular opinion, but doesn't the owner of the pharmacy have that right? Would you force a Jewish man who owns a deli to serve pork? If you have a problem with it, you don't have to give them your business. And if enough people have a problem with that pharmacy's ethical stance, then they'll soon be out of business. But my ethical problem lies in trying to force a business owner to act against his own beliefs in his business practices.
I eat out. A lot. I've worked in all aspects of food service, except straight-up waitressing. I have many friends who are servers, bartenders, etc. I know exactly how much they get paid by the restaurant, why tipping is important, and the difference between adequate and stellar service.
When I sit down at a table, my server starts with a 20% tip, calculated before tax. How well they serve me determines what they actually get at the end of the meal, and my scale slides up as well as down. In Chicago, I rarely left less than the 20%. A server would have to work at being disagreeable to get a 15% tip out of me. But here in LA - ugh. The service is so bad, so often (but when it's good, it's really good). Twice in the past year I've left $0 and a note explaining the lack of tip. If all these crappy servers are actors, why can't they pretend it's a role and act like a competent server?
I'm not rich or famous, I'm not very demanding, and I have a tendency to smile and say 'please' & 'thank you' when making requests (my momma taught me that thing about the flies and the vinegar vs. honey, and she was right). I can't imagine receiving the kind of service described and then not tipping well. It would be rude, and a slap in the face to the server.
Posted by: lunabelle at August 2, 2007 11:30 PM
Hannah, the only reason I would argue that a pharmacy has to carry and distribute the morning after pill is because of the time factor involved. Plan B is the most effective in the 24 hours after intercourse, even though they say it can work for up to 72 hours. Of course, once's a fertlized egg implants it's completely ineffectual. If you live in a small town with only one or two pharmacies and neither carry the morning after pill, it could conceivably take more than a day to go somewhere else to get it (during pharmacy hours too) and that could mean that the woman would end up pregnant anyway.
If it weren't for the time factor, I'd agree that it wasn't that important for all pharmacies to stock Plan B. But since a day's time can make a drastic difference in whether or not pregnancy can be prevented, I think it's fairly important that the drug be available, and distributed, at all pharmacies.
Posted by: Genny at August 3, 2007 1:40 AM
Though lil bush sucks, you are not eviscerating Iggy Pop. I don't care, he's a modern marvel.
Posted by: Tim at August 3, 2007 1:53 AM
Thanks for the replies. I didn't realise that they got paid so poorly, and tips were to make up for that.
I knew about bellhops and valets, but not tattoo artists etc.
Interesting.
Posted by: Bec at August 3, 2007 3:11 AM
Re: Tipping
While I do tip well due to the low wages that servers usually get. I am not a fan of the practice, coming from a former bribe taking country I find it a slippery slope.
If we have to tip our hairdresser, our valet, our waitress etc etc and if they EXPECT us to tip them then how is that different from say a doctor expecting a box of chocolates or cigarettes upon giving you an examination?
IMO tipping practices are outrageous, why should some professions get tips while others don't? It should be illegal for employers to pay below minimum wage due to tips.
Oh and that wolf videogame, while being completely ridiculous, could eliminate the negative stereotypes that are attributed to wolves (bloodthirsty killers) and instill a respect for wild animals in the new generation.
Think of it in this way, take two kids, one that hasn't played the game and one that has, once these kids mature, the one that has played the game will be more likely to support legislature protecting wolves vs. the non-playing kid.
Posted by: io at August 3, 2007 3:24 AM
Yes indeed we Brits do tip - although nowhere near as much as in the States, normally only in restaurants and tt's usually a rate around 10% (waiting staff get paid a lot more on this side of the pond, it's still shitty money though) which I give as standard provided the service is half way decent. If the service is crap I refuse to tip but only because I've been a waitress and I know how incredibly not hard it is to provide decent service.
I don't tip bar staff but I do buy them drinks and I'd never tip my tattoo artist not when I'm paying him the equivalent of $150 per hour.
On a side note: I completely agree with Genny re: emergency contraception. A friend of mine had an accident while staying in Italy with some friends and tried to go to the doctor's surgery to get the morning after pill. He essentially told her she shouldn't have been having sex and now she should pray. Luckily the local pharmacy wasn't as bad and she got ahold of it with only a minor lecture but she maintains the moment she thought there wasn't a chance of getting the pill in time was the most frightening one of her life.
I'm struggling with the contraception debate.
While I do understand that business owners have a right to chose whether or not they carry alcohol or sell pork or whatever, I think it is different when they are essentially providing medical support to people who need their services. It isn't quite as optional as which store to shop in.
A large part of their job as a pharmacist is, by definition, to fill prescriptions written by physicians, who (in theory at least) have the training required to make medical decisions for their patients. Physicians may have the authority to intervene when prescriptions are fraudulent or incorrect, for the safety of the patient, but if they think their personal beliefs have any place in fulfilling the requirements of their jobs, they are mistaken.
It isn't so much as like a deli owner not selling pork so much as like an arsonist becoming a fireman and refusing to respond to calls. Don't chose the job if you can't fulfill the requirements.
OK, so I guess I am not "struggling with the contraception debate" quite as much as I thought.
Never mind.
Posted by: go big red at August 3, 2007 10:02 AM
>>>(except Jurassic Bark, I don't enjoy bawling over cartoons, thank you)
Posted by: Jules at August 3, 2007 11:54 AM
Several articles published in the scientific journals Contraception and Human Reproduction have found in rats, monkeys and humans that Plan B, or levonorgestrel (the active ingredient in levonorgestrel is progestin), prevents ovulation without interfering with fertilized eggs.
That's why I don't understand the contraception debate in the first place.
Posted by: Amanda at August 3, 2007 12:44 PM
Why do they even bother having a minimum wage in the US if people can be legally employed for less?? that's crazy!
Service should be calculated in the price of the food and drinks. It's much better to know you're getting a decent, regular wage. People can still tip for exceptional service, so the incentive to do a good job is still there.
I think this is better for the customer too. As a student I can't afford to tip large amounts. When I get good service I leave a tip, and because it's not expected where I live, I like to think that small or large it's always appreciated and taken as a gesture of thanks.
I have never ever understood tipping hairdressers either - I get charged for having my haircut, then I have to tip for having my haircut?? I know that sometimes they have floor sweepers and hairwashers and things, but it's their responsibility to pay their staff and keep them motivated.
Posted by: Sarah at August 3, 2007 3:18 PM
OK, here's my 2 cents about Posh (not that she needs 2 cents from me). When I was living in Europe, I made it my business to learn all I could about the culture and what the tipping situation. In my case I found it nearly impossible not to tip 20%, having it so ingrained in me as an American and a former waitress, but at least I was over-paying and not under-paying an at least I was informed about the standard practices in my new home. But then again, from what I hear Posh apparently doesn't read much, so she probably hasn't picked up a book about how to live in America or anything.
Posted by: Lainie at August 3, 2007 5:24 PM
Regarding the contraception issue:
The morning-after pill isn't prescribed by a doctor, is it? (I'm fortunate to never have needed it). Because I personally see it as two different issues as to whether a pharmacist doesn't provide you something prescribed by a doctor or whether they don't stock certain OTC drugs. I would have all kinds of problems with a pharmacist interfering in a prescription, but if they didn't give me a certain OTC drug, I would just stop shopping there. And I live in a small town, our only pharmacies are inside Wal-Mart and inside Farm Fresh, but I know plenty of pharmacies within an hour that I could take my business to, if need be. I can't really think of an area so removed from civilization within the US that, if need be, they couldn't get to a moderately built-up area within 24 hours.
So really, I think my point is this: Sure, having to travel to find a pharmacy is inconvenient. But I have tons of faith in the fact that the market will work as it should, and if a certain business is practicing in a way that is against the majority of the population's beliefs, those people will take a stand against those practices and stop using that business. But I also think people are so up-in-arms about this because, as a society, we take much less personal responsibility than we should. Everyone old enough to have sex knows (or by all means should know) that the primary biological function of sex is reproduction. If you don't want that outcome, you should take every precaution necessary to prevent it, and not get mad at the pharmacist for not having what you need when you're not careful (not to say your friend wasn't careful, Alex the Odd, it's just a general statement).
Part II: Tipping. I grew up in a small-town diner. It was started by my grandfather in 1951 and is still in operation to this day under my aunt and sister. Part of the place's appeal is that, although not the most exquisite food in the area, it's by far the cheapest (barring fast food), and it's quite good. We're talking a burger, fries and soda for under $4. Raising prices to pay the waitresses minimum wage without tips would change the entire appeal of the place. (Not that I'm against paying servers minimum wage, it's just a conflict of interests). But by tipping a server, or anyone who gets paid to do you a service, you are telling them you appreciated what they're doing for you.
I don't agree with an 'expected' tip though. From the server's side, you're being tipped because you're not just doing your job, you're going above and beyond to make sure your customers are as happy as possible with their food, tattoo, piercing, haircut, whatever. It's an appreciation for the little things they don't have to do, but do anyway.
Um, could we talk about something important now please? I.e., that Blonde Ambition is so fucking awful it won't be released in theatres here? Basically as was predicted by Pajibans about three months ago? You people and your living wage and contraception ...
No Jessica and Luke woodening up the screen! Awesome!
Posted by: socalledonlycousins at August 3, 2007 9:47 PM
Sorry to disappoint socalled but I just don't feel that I have the authority to weigh in on such grave issues as Jessica Simpson and her career. So unfortunately I must contribute to the less worthy thread of discussion:
Don't worry Hannah, my friend is a neurotic freak who was also using two other methods of birth control - no sympathy is needed. More importantly: in the UK at least a doctor can prescribe the morning after pill - on the surface it means that you get it for free rather than paying the equivalent of $50 for it. If things start going in the direction that the US is heading though, I can see that becoming a more important factor by the day.
Posted by: Alex the Odd at August 3, 2007 10:35 PM
Alex, I like the bold names protocol you're implicitly pushing forward; if I can remember it in the future, I'll do it. But I've done a lot of drinking, so my short-term memory is not so good.
Posted by: socalledonlycousins at August 4, 2007 11:58 AM
Alex, I second the bold-names protocol awesomeness. It's pretty smart, so good on ya. And the UK's system of essentially free prescribed medications = awesome (at least that's what Michael Moore told me...).
socalled, say it isn't so! What am I going to do for my mother's birthday now?
Hannah, you mean your moms is a Jessica Simpson fan? Or a Luke Wilson fan? Or, [shudder], both? Or is my short-term memory somehow important to your moms's b'day?
Posted by: socalledonlycousins at August 4, 2007 8:41 PM
Socalled: No, she doesn't even know who Jessica Simpson is. I think she appreciates the superficial attraction of Luke Wilson, although I doubt she knows the name to face. I was just planning to take her to that because it would be slightly less painful for me than shooting myself in the foot, and she revels in my pain.
PS- I'm having way too much fun with these bolded names.
re: Wolf Quest
You just know he's going to tear little Muffin's throat out at the end.