Stephen Colbert's 435 — excuse me — 434-part series, "Better Know a District," which has been expanded to the four-part "Better Know a Protectorate," had what may be its funniest entry yet, where Colbert interviewed Guam Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo on Thursday's episode. (Read more...)

The most recent episode of "The Office" was amusing as always, though not a standout for the series. What did stand out, however, was the hilarious gag in the opening teaser where Jim decides he's going to play the part of Dwight. (Read more...)

I don't know what this means, but I thought I'd dash off a few sentences about it. At work, I sit by a window that's next to a fairly busy intersection. Every few days for the past few weeks, this semi-truck drives by the building through the intersection. Except, for some reason, he always sounds his horn — very briefly, maybe a quarter of a second — as he approaches. (Read more...)

This entry is continued from part 1.

Going up the page in reverse order of my daily comic-strip reading, what's next?

Zits by Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman: What's not to like? Zits has got to be among the funniest of current comic strips. We've all been teenagers, so we can all relate. Zits is current, fresh, funny, and true. The interaction and sarcasm between Jeremy and his parents reveal the best and funniest of teen-related cliches. This is the rare comic strip that can actually make me occasionally laugh out loud. The authors understand humor, which might be more rare in comics than one might think (see B.C.). (Read more...)

There are those habits that you persist in continuing out of what seems like sheer obligation. Obligation to what, I don't know. Perhaps it's an obligation to continue merely because you've been doing it for so long already. That's a lame-ass reason, I know. (Read more...)

Time soldiers on, but some things never change.

Steven Wright, the deadpan comic of wry and bizarre observation, is back in "Steven Wright: When the Leaves Blow Away," which apparently aired last October but was just released on DVD. Comedy Central aired it again last night. It's Wright's first stand-up comedy special in 16 years. (Read more...)

There are things that are (A) stupid and bizarre, and then there are things that are (B) stupid and bizarre and conceal a hidden genius. That genius is not apparent to everyone. (Read more...)

The original headline for this was "Time Waster #1" because I expected "Time Wasters" would become a series on this blog, but that was jumping the gun and also would cut down on the potential for original headlines, so I'm going to nix that idea.

Anyway, my sister Jill sent me this YouTube clip I found amusing. (Read more...)

In the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre, I've found myself wondering: What responsibilities should the media be taking in regard to its coverage of this particular kind of tragedy? I ask this as an outside observer as well as someone who works in the media, where we have posted on our own web site some of the very materials I will discuss here.

Obviously, the media must report the news. The public wants to know what happened, how, and why. I have no problems with the kind of coverage we got on the day of the shootings. (Granted, I only saw about an hour or so of television reports, but what I saw seemed to be generally solid. Wolf Blitzer and that absurd "Situation Room" need to go, but that's a matter of personal taste for another blog.) (Read more...)

This is where I go public with a blog, one of those things that's mandated by what the marketing gurus in the online industry call "Web 2.0." Apparently, Jammer's Reviews was so Web 1.0 until today.

First of all: What is IDWID? You could say it's a way of life. Or an inside joke. Or a blog based on a whim. Or a license for rampant pointlessness. Or all of the above. Basically, it's an acronym for "it do what it do," a name that hopefully sets the tone for this blog — a tone that's still being set. Read about what IDWID is and where it came from. (Read more...)