Let it Flow

So there's a commercial on for a pharmaceutical that treats male urinary symptoms and voiceover guy warns that if you're going to have eye surgery, let your doctor know that you're taking this medication. From this flows This Week's Discussion Question:

If I'm having an EYE OPERATION, I need to tell the doc that I'm on some drug that's helping me PEE? What the hell is this stuff doing?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "I thought I'd stayed awake in biology class" or "Most of my male urinary symptoms begin after a couple of beers."

Discuss.

I Gotcha

Once again, we interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to simply say this:

What Pierce said.

And TPM's commenter and Bérubé, too.

Again, we apologize for the interruption and we return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

The Name Game

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to say that we happened to catch Cincinnati right-wing radio host Bill Cunningham on National Public Radio this afternoon. Mr. Cunningham, crawling out from under the Straight Talk Express, offered this defense of his multiple utterances of Sen. Obama's full name while warming up a campaign crowd for Sen. McCain on Tuesday:

"Well, uh, number one, Robert, it's his name."

Why yes, it is, you clever "bit of a historian." Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Dwight David Eisenhower. John Fitzgerald Kennedy. William Jefferson Clinton. Using the full name, "Barack Hussein Obama" is simply a nod to this historic and noble tradition.

Okay, Bill, we'll accept that. But just so you're true to history and noble and all--and if you want us to believe this steaming load of an explanation--from here on out for every damned time you say "Barack Hussein Obama", you had better refer to the presumptive GOP nominee as "John Sidney McCain".

Every.

Damned.

Time.

It's kind of like how Satchel Paige ended up calling Buck O'Neil "Nancy" for the rest of his life.

So it's John Sidney McCain.

Every.

Damned.

Time.

We apologize for the interruption and now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Tomorrow the Green Grass

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to tell you to go read Joe Posnanski's latest post, which is a work of absolute brilliance.

We're also only a couple of chapters into his new book and we'll wholeheartedly recommend it. Then again, it's hard to go wrong with the combo platter of a two-time AP Sports Columnist of the Year writing about one of the greatest Americans ever, Mr. Buck O'Neal.

Go. Read. Enjoy.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question.

Just a Little Lovin'

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Speaking of understatements, we interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to bring you the first verse of the first song--penned by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil--from the fabulous Dusty in Memphis:

Just a little lovin' / Early in the mornin' / Beats a cup of coffee / For starting off the day.

We apologize for the interruption and the fact that it's gonna take you a while to get your mind back onto whatever you'd been doing, isn't it?

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question.

Not That Funny

For some time, we've been meaning to pose this as TWDQ:

"Who the hell thinks this is funny?"

We're pretty sure we know now. We'll bet it's this charming bunch.

Which raises this question:

"What the hell is wrong with these people?"

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "Family values, eh?" or "What was that line again?"

Discuss.

Ahhhhhhh....

Today, February 9th, is the 44th anniversary of the first appearance of The Beatles on American television. To say that this was a monumental event in the lives of some of us--and six is a very impressionable age--is an understatement on par with "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

To celebrate--and because the Help DVD and a new 12-string arrived at TWDQ HQ a little while back--check out the beginning of the last chorus of this (about 2:45) and consider This Week's Discussion Question:

Is that the coolest "Ahhhhh...." in rock 'n roll, or what?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "How about the different drum fill that follows each 'ri-i-ide'?"or a falsetto "My baby don't care..."

Discuss.

Just Sit Right Back...

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to tell you to go read the entirety of this, which magically appears in the middle of a post-Super Bowl Pretentious Roman Numeral Whatever post:

*Pitcher: So it’s an ensemble cast.
Producer: Got it. Ensemble. How many.
Pitcher: Seven.
Producer: Sounds like a lot. We’ll be able to tell them apart?
Pitcher: Not a problem. They’re all lost on a deserted island.
Producer: How’d they get there?
Pitcher: They were on a three-hour tour.
Producer: How’s that?
Pitcher: A three-hour tour.
Producer: Can you get lost on a deserted island an hour and a half from shore?

(snip)

We're fortunate that there wasn't a beverage handy so we won't have to have the next edition of TWDQ ask "What's the best way to clean a mouthful of coffee out of a laptop keyboard?"

Scroll down and enjoy his imagined pitch for "The Flying Nun" or last week's description of assembling a play kitchen for his daughter's birthday:

"Nothing in this world with the possible exception of a heart transplant or building a nuclear device should be complicated enough to demand 27 steps. Heck, you’re supposed to kick alcoholism in 12. Twenty seven steps, man, at the end of that I should be a fully ordained minister or an FBI agent or something."

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question.

Update: Paul McCartney's rep pitches a song to a music exec. We're not kidding -- do NOT have a beverage in the vicinity when you read this one.