Sorting Through The Humbug

First, another hearty shout-out to the Zombie Killer - I'm doing my best to face the undead thread. And for those who are confused - this is a blog that basically consists of me writing about stuff - comics, movies, and basic life stuff. I'm doling out the harshness, Dr. Tran-style.

This has been a really intense week, work-wise: meetings, coordinating a huge tobacco merchant education campaign, getting phone calls done, barely any sleep, I have a birthday on March 6th, and am just feeling kinda tired -- how do I relax?

By working my way through season 2 of Penn & Teller's Bull$h!+.

I've written about this show before - I usually wait for the DVDs to come out, since I am too cheap to purchase cable. Plus, it allows me to rewatch several times, and to really enjoy each episode. (I'm 2/3rds through the set, thanks to Netflix). The second season takes on more hearty subjects, from animal rights to New Age, from the "war on drugs" to profanity.

Even though, at times, I don't agree with their stance (to be fair, they take an extreme on the "war on drugs", seeing legalization as the natural choice, rather than treatment/prevention/decriminalization as a middle route), but they always provide food for thought. (I'm really interested in seeing their episode on 12 Step programs - I know a lot of people in recovery, and so it will be good to see how

And personally, I find that they often take on targets that are way too easy, but worth it. For example, John Gray - Mr. Mars and Venus himself - is shown for the charlatan that he is. Another episode, focusing on profanity, featured a woman who thought that you should "give the whole turkey", and not just the bird, to other drivers. (You have to see it to believe it). It's also educational - "humbug" was the early 20th century version of, er, bull$h!+. (I'm no prude, but hey, I want to keep an above board blog...at the very least, it puts what Ebeneezer Scrooge said in a different light.

Finally, to Fred Hembeck - I could post my last name, but you couldn't pronounce it, and if you said it backwards, I'd return to the fifth dimension.