Monday, November 20
Hi everyone! Erica here again. Hope everyone had a good weekend.
7pm: The guys start off again about how strong and fit the gay community is. They know that if they ever get fed up with society, all the straight guys are screwed. The way these two smoke, they have no chance of running away.
So, if you didn't hear, Michael Richards aka Kramer, went on a racist tirade. It was caught on tape, and has been all over the news. He used the n-word several times and it was pretty out of control. Richards went on Letterman and apologized, but I don't think that will be good enough. Jerry Seinfeld was a guest on the show, while Richards did that via satellite. We also play the clip of Richards' tirade. No matter how much this man apologizes, I can't imagine his career will ever recover.
Although he was supposedly being heckled, that is a completely unacceptable way to behave. There is a way to handle this, without using the words that he did. We get a call from Calvin in Oakland. He says that based on Richards' age, he is aware of the power of that word. Jose from Tracy points out uses of racial slurs by comedians who aren't white, specifically Dave Chappelle. But, the thing is, Chappelle used it as a joke, Richards used it in anger.
Part of this discussion focuses on that it is ok for black people to use that word. Chris and Brad point out that it is ok for anyone but white people to use these epithets.
Stephanie from Marin calls in as a middle aged white woman. She thinks that these things pop out because we can't openly talk about issues of race. To say these things, demonstrates that he has unresolved issues with the black community. Perhaps, he needs more education on racial issues.
8pm: We get a lot of calls from our black listeners. Many of them say that it is not ok for black people to say either. Mike from Oakland has an incredibly different take. He thinks that Richards just wanted to be black. That he just wants to be able to use these words. I'm not sure if I'm with him.
Chris and Brad take this time to reveal the white secret. They read a list of slurs against white people. They say that these words mean nothing to them. They have no power. They don't even know what they mean.
Nina from Oakland says what I have been thinking. She says that what makes it such a big deal, is that he said it with so much anger. As a joke it would not have been ok, but in that context, it becomes much, much worse.
This is an interesting discussion where we get opinions from all sides. There are black callers who think that some black comedians go too far. Charles from San Francisco reminds us of when Richard Pryor said he wouldn't use that anymore.
The guys also use this to talk about how minority comedians often use their race for the basis of their act. They tend to think that an act purely based on your race, demonstrates that you don't have that much talent.
Bob from Fairfield thinks that it is the older generation that is maintaining the derogatory usage of the n-word. Mark in San Jose says that there is no way this could be construed as a joke. There is no doubt that Richards was completely out of his mind. There was nothing funny about it, and drunk or not, it didn't matter.
9pm: After finishing up the discussion, we speak to Michael Konik, author of "THE SMART MONEY: How the World's Best Sports Bettors Beat the Bookies Out of Millions." Michael has been kind enough to reschedule with us after our technical fiasco last week. What a topic for Michael to come in on.
Michael tells us that it takes genius to beat the bookies. Brad knows nothing about sports, so Michael has to fill him in on some of these terms. Including what spreads are. He started off as a gambling journalist, and learned from the gambling pros. Through this, he was able to get in on this action.
We were a little concerned that Michael was going to just plug his book and be boring. Fortunately for him, he is interesting. He tells us about when he was the man placing bets for these high rollers. His act was to be a rich Hollywood playboy type. He would be over the top, to convince the bookies that he was going to lose. His first season, he was up over $980,000!!!! That's a s-load of money. I need to start hanging out with these people. I would be perfect to place bets, no one expects the little Jewish girl.
The way you can make money, is by finding out when the lines are off. For example, Ohio State played Michigan this weekend. The spread should've been about 4.5 points. But, because that would lead to unbalanced betting (everyone would pick Ohio State), they had to make it smaller to attract people to be Michigan.
The guys wonder why, after earning all this money gambling, he is still a journalist. He says that as a gambler, you do nothing but extract from this world. But he feels that it is very unsatisfying to only gamble.
An interesting point that Michael makes is that the most hardcore sports fans are the worst bettors. They are too influenced by sports talk and analysis. He says that if you bet against your sports nut friends, you will probably win. I know this is true, because who always wins the March Madness bracket, the person who knows NOTHING about the teams.
I bring up how I always get screwed by betting with my heart. There are teams that I can't pick to do well. I just hate them too much. But, it's stupid for me to do so. John in Moraga agrees with me on this. He also tells the boys that "The Bridge" was not nominated for some film awards as best documentary.
10pm: The guys start off talking about how both of them have incredibly addictive personalities. Brad may have a new addiction, Ikea. We had a tone set from Gareth about the store a couple weeks ago. Brad had never been, and didn't go until now. He needed an entertainment center, so made his first venture there.
So, somehow, Brad missed the Ikea in Emeryville when driving on the highway. How in hell do you miss the store? It is f-ing enormous and incredibly visible from 80. Finally, after asking directions, he gets there.
According to Brad, everything that the listeners said, was true. Finding a parking spot, in itself, is incredibly difficult. They finally get in, and "begin the odyssey." He is frustrated because there are too many people, but is happy with the prices. He realizes that the genius of Ikea, is that on the way to the register, you have to pass through all kinds of other stuff, also reasonably priced. My favorite line, "I almost bought a 4 foot candle, I don't know why."
Finally, after all that, Brad gets home to try and put the things together. There are no written directions, only pictures. He gets it together, realizes it's kinda shoddy, but is relatively happy. He, of course, has to go back to get the computer desk he forgot. Brad is screwed, he is never going to get a weekend without Ikea.
Ben in Marin is a handyman. He makes a third of his money, with his ability to speak Ikea. If you lay everything out, and follow the instructions, you can do pretty well. He agrees that nothing from Ikea will survive a move.
Mikhael from Oakland calls in to say that he thinks Brad sounds like Danny Bonaduce. Being that I am afraid of Danny Bonaduce, this presents an interesting quandry: should I now be afraid of Brad? Brad is pissed, and Chris is thrilled, this is great.
So, of course, I pull audio from Brad speaking and a promo of "Breaking Bonaduce." This so we can compare. The clip of Brad isn't the best, but he has to admit, that he and Danny sound more alike than he thought.
The guys read a story about a town in Brazil, where the mayor is handing out Viagra to his citizens. I think in talking about this, Chris said, "That is slamming Granny in the Fanny." Wow. Um, that's really weird. Even weirder, apparently that is the name of a porn... Do with that what you will.
The Montreal Alouettes lost the Canadian Football Championship. This leads them to wonder, what this song is about. Brad reads the translation, and its all about torturing some poor bird, by plucking all its feathers.
The guys also read a story about an Oberlin College artist who made gingerbread Nazis as a display in a store window. What do gingerbread Nazis taste like.
Also, Miss Israel has been given permission not to carry an assault rifle in her service. She gets this privilege because the gun bruises her pretty little legs. In other Middle East news, an Iranian man torched his neighbor's car in order to stop him from partying with unveiled women.
That's it everyone, have a good night.
7pm: The guys start off again about how strong and fit the gay community is. They know that if they ever get fed up with society, all the straight guys are screwed. The way these two smoke, they have no chance of running away.
So, if you didn't hear, Michael Richards aka Kramer, went on a racist tirade. It was caught on tape, and has been all over the news. He used the n-word several times and it was pretty out of control. Richards went on Letterman and apologized, but I don't think that will be good enough. Jerry Seinfeld was a guest on the show, while Richards did that via satellite. We also play the clip of Richards' tirade. No matter how much this man apologizes, I can't imagine his career will ever recover.
Although he was supposedly being heckled, that is a completely unacceptable way to behave. There is a way to handle this, without using the words that he did. We get a call from Calvin in Oakland. He says that based on Richards' age, he is aware of the power of that word. Jose from Tracy points out uses of racial slurs by comedians who aren't white, specifically Dave Chappelle. But, the thing is, Chappelle used it as a joke, Richards used it in anger.
Part of this discussion focuses on that it is ok for black people to use that word. Chris and Brad point out that it is ok for anyone but white people to use these epithets.
Stephanie from Marin calls in as a middle aged white woman. She thinks that these things pop out because we can't openly talk about issues of race. To say these things, demonstrates that he has unresolved issues with the black community. Perhaps, he needs more education on racial issues.
8pm: We get a lot of calls from our black listeners. Many of them say that it is not ok for black people to say either. Mike from Oakland has an incredibly different take. He thinks that Richards just wanted to be black. That he just wants to be able to use these words. I'm not sure if I'm with him.
Chris and Brad take this time to reveal the white secret. They read a list of slurs against white people. They say that these words mean nothing to them. They have no power. They don't even know what they mean.
Nina from Oakland says what I have been thinking. She says that what makes it such a big deal, is that he said it with so much anger. As a joke it would not have been ok, but in that context, it becomes much, much worse.
This is an interesting discussion where we get opinions from all sides. There are black callers who think that some black comedians go too far. Charles from San Francisco reminds us of when Richard Pryor said he wouldn't use that anymore.
The guys also use this to talk about how minority comedians often use their race for the basis of their act. They tend to think that an act purely based on your race, demonstrates that you don't have that much talent.
Bob from Fairfield thinks that it is the older generation that is maintaining the derogatory usage of the n-word. Mark in San Jose says that there is no way this could be construed as a joke. There is no doubt that Richards was completely out of his mind. There was nothing funny about it, and drunk or not, it didn't matter.
9pm: After finishing up the discussion, we speak to Michael Konik, author of "THE SMART MONEY: How the World's Best Sports Bettors Beat the Bookies Out of Millions." Michael has been kind enough to reschedule with us after our technical fiasco last week. What a topic for Michael to come in on.
Michael tells us that it takes genius to beat the bookies. Brad knows nothing about sports, so Michael has to fill him in on some of these terms. Including what spreads are. He started off as a gambling journalist, and learned from the gambling pros. Through this, he was able to get in on this action.
We were a little concerned that Michael was going to just plug his book and be boring. Fortunately for him, he is interesting. He tells us about when he was the man placing bets for these high rollers. His act was to be a rich Hollywood playboy type. He would be over the top, to convince the bookies that he was going to lose. His first season, he was up over $980,000!!!! That's a s-load of money. I need to start hanging out with these people. I would be perfect to place bets, no one expects the little Jewish girl.
The way you can make money, is by finding out when the lines are off. For example, Ohio State played Michigan this weekend. The spread should've been about 4.5 points. But, because that would lead to unbalanced betting (everyone would pick Ohio State), they had to make it smaller to attract people to be Michigan.
The guys wonder why, after earning all this money gambling, he is still a journalist. He says that as a gambler, you do nothing but extract from this world. But he feels that it is very unsatisfying to only gamble.
An interesting point that Michael makes is that the most hardcore sports fans are the worst bettors. They are too influenced by sports talk and analysis. He says that if you bet against your sports nut friends, you will probably win. I know this is true, because who always wins the March Madness bracket, the person who knows NOTHING about the teams.
I bring up how I always get screwed by betting with my heart. There are teams that I can't pick to do well. I just hate them too much. But, it's stupid for me to do so. John in Moraga agrees with me on this. He also tells the boys that "The Bridge" was not nominated for some film awards as best documentary.
10pm: The guys start off talking about how both of them have incredibly addictive personalities. Brad may have a new addiction, Ikea. We had a tone set from Gareth about the store a couple weeks ago. Brad had never been, and didn't go until now. He needed an entertainment center, so made his first venture there.
So, somehow, Brad missed the Ikea in Emeryville when driving on the highway. How in hell do you miss the store? It is f-ing enormous and incredibly visible from 80. Finally, after asking directions, he gets there.
According to Brad, everything that the listeners said, was true. Finding a parking spot, in itself, is incredibly difficult. They finally get in, and "begin the odyssey." He is frustrated because there are too many people, but is happy with the prices. He realizes that the genius of Ikea, is that on the way to the register, you have to pass through all kinds of other stuff, also reasonably priced. My favorite line, "I almost bought a 4 foot candle, I don't know why."
Finally, after all that, Brad gets home to try and put the things together. There are no written directions, only pictures. He gets it together, realizes it's kinda shoddy, but is relatively happy. He, of course, has to go back to get the computer desk he forgot. Brad is screwed, he is never going to get a weekend without Ikea.
Ben in Marin is a handyman. He makes a third of his money, with his ability to speak Ikea. If you lay everything out, and follow the instructions, you can do pretty well. He agrees that nothing from Ikea will survive a move.
Mikhael from Oakland calls in to say that he thinks Brad sounds like Danny Bonaduce. Being that I am afraid of Danny Bonaduce, this presents an interesting quandry: should I now be afraid of Brad? Brad is pissed, and Chris is thrilled, this is great.
So, of course, I pull audio from Brad speaking and a promo of "Breaking Bonaduce." This so we can compare. The clip of Brad isn't the best, but he has to admit, that he and Danny sound more alike than he thought.
The guys read a story about a town in Brazil, where the mayor is handing out Viagra to his citizens. I think in talking about this, Chris said, "That is slamming Granny in the Fanny." Wow. Um, that's really weird. Even weirder, apparently that is the name of a porn... Do with that what you will.
The Montreal Alouettes lost the Canadian Football Championship. This leads them to wonder, what this song is about. Brad reads the translation, and its all about torturing some poor bird, by plucking all its feathers.
The guys also read a story about an Oberlin College artist who made gingerbread Nazis as a display in a store window. What do gingerbread Nazis taste like.
Also, Miss Israel has been given permission not to carry an assault rifle in her service. She gets this privilege because the gun bruises her pretty little legs. In other Middle East news, an Iranian man torched his neighbor's car in order to stop him from partying with unveiled women.
That's it everyone, have a good night.
posted by The Gray Area at 7:08 PM
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