Scharpling & Wurster - “The Music Scholar - Reprise” (2011) (Stereo 256kbps Mp3) (Click link to download mp3. There might be an ad or delay.)

(WARNING: NSFW at times!)

…

SO. In brief: I got snookered. And now I’m in big trouble. B-IG. Thanks, “Music Scholar!”.

Wait… that other voice sounds like… Tom?

Tom Scharpling?

…

Naaah, it can’t be.  (Or can it?)

Well, even if I’m doomed, at least do something you’ll be proud of: donate to the upcoming WFMU Marathon 2011!  Details are at http://wfmu.org

omg, U-District Barbie! (Almost Live TV show)

musedamused:

Joel McHale gives Christmas gift advice on Almost Live!, a Seattle comedy show that ran in the 90s.  I wonder if this will go over with tumblr peeps… or is it too much local color?

Check out his hair!

Gift Advice From Joel (via GeorgeBuford)

The trailer for 1985’s Cat’s Eye, a horror/comedy movie by Stephen King featuring three vignettes.  I caught part of this while at a store recently.  This is one of those movies that seemed terrible at the time, but has gotten better and better as time passes — with the possible exception of the last vignette with Drew Barrymore (no fault of her own.)   It’s all about James Woods for this flick.

Enter “Nick Madson” in a search engine, and you’ll soon discover he’s this past week’s globally known Comedic Kleptomaniac who performed at a Davenport, Iowa venue stealing verbatim comedic bits mostly from Patton Oswalt, but also Louis CK, Dave Attell, and others.  Subsequently, there were two rants by Oswalt, who is naturally very upset about this.

If you used that popular search engine that starts with “G”, the first link is an article about this story written by Christopher Rosen who has an obvious slant against Oswalt.  There’s nothing wrong with biases that are supported with at least some sense of journalistic integrity. However, Rosen’s piece exhibits a lack of integrity beyond that of a mischievous adolescent’s Livejournal (emphasis mine):

• “What does a guy do after the Broadway show he’s starring in gets canceled because of his performance and then he’s removed from a comedy pilot after the first table reading? Well, if he’s Patton Oswalt, he scours the Internet to find out if disingenuous no-talents are stealing his stand-up material!”

Here’s what Oswalt wrote on his blog entry two days prior (emphasis mine):

• “Someone named “Underking” filmed [Nick Madson’s] act, complied [sic] all of my bits (the other bits he did were from Louie CK, Dave Attell, David Cross, Maria Bamford and God knows who else) and sent them to me.”

Now, Rosen has been made aware of his grossly inaccurate lead line in his piece implying Oswalt “scour[ed] the Internet.”  Rosen could have admitted the faux pas, but he instead defended himself in the most clumsy way in the comments section of his piece:

• “I must have missed the memo that said Patton Oswalt was above mocking. I forgot I had to paint him in only flattering light. My mistake.”

Christopher Rosen of Movieline.com = STUPID FUCKING INCREDULOUS HACK (to steal, sorry, BORROW a phrase from Dan Savage.)

I’ve lived with a sociopath/kleptomaniac in the early 90s, without realizing he was one, of course.  I’ll never forget how violated I felt when my roommate and I discovered most of our music collection went missing one day.

I completely understand how Oswalt feels about Nick Madson’s actions and replies. From that, I learned that sociopaths, perhaps through no fault of their own, are wired to be monsters. They can be intelligent, but they cannot know better. They have no reason to know better, if they’ve figured out a way to stay alive by then.

Christopher Rosen, on the other hand, is very likely not a sociopath. However Rosen has been noting a streak of misfortunes that have come Oswalt’s way recently. Then, coincidentally, someone in the middle of the country does a near autistic recitation of Oswalt’s material that makes international comedy and entertainment news.  Rosen must fit this piece into his incremental theme somehow, even if it means being a stupid fucking incredulous hack.  OR… he could choose to be honest, and note the bizarre coincidence and leave it at that.  Guess which path Rosen chooses?  Guess between Nick Madson and Christopher Rosen upsets me more?  Hint: he’s the one who knows better.