Required Reading

I am doing a lot of web reading at work. This is mostly because from my new job, I no longer have access to my google reader because my computer is like the John McCain of computers (read: old, not a POW). So here is what I've been reading this week:

The Trouble with Paul Feig (John Bowe, New York Times): Everyone credits Judd Apatow with Freaks & Geeks, but Apatow was only the producer. The real creator was Paul Feig, who has done such awesome things as directing episodes of The Office, Arrested Development, Weeds, 30 Rock, and Mad Men, and writing a book entitled Superstud, or How I Became a 24-Year-Old Virgin. He also played Mr. Pool, the science teacher, on the first season of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. This profile of him is FANTASTIC and the best writing about success vs. failure since J.K. Rowling's Harvard commencement speech. As Bowe describes it, "it's the myth of Sisyphus in the key of geekdom."

The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama(Frank Rich, New York Times): Also from the NY Times, this opinion piece about race and the terrorism rhetoric in the election is fascinating. Things I learned from it: that Sarah Palin used an unattributed quote from racist and anti-Semitic writer Westbook Pegler in her convention speech, and that "a black senior writer from The Tallahassee Democrat was mistakenly ejected by the Secret Service from a campaign rally" just because he looked out of place.

Speaking of the election, Pop Hangover delivers an awesome take on the weird-looking people in the audience of last week's debate, but missed the old-timey mustachioed father and son that my friends and I noticed.

Finally, if all of this bores you, MONKEYS IN A RESTAURANT!!