Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020
From the desk of Daniel P. Finney, sergeant of the watch, Drake Neighbored Station, Des Moines, Iowa.
ITEM ONE: The typist doesn’t like to brag, but when he called his insurance company the other day, he was specially selected to participate in a survey after his business was concluded. Things are looking up.
ITEM TWO: The holiday classics “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” will not be on ABC-TV this year. Instead, they will be on streaming service AppleTV+.
A couple of thoughts: First, fuck you, Apple. You greedy hustlers didn’t need to shake down parents and kids for $5 a month just so they can see holiday staples. Your company may make pretty things, but you’re still pretentious assholes.
Second, if network TV can’t afford the rights to cartoons that are both more than 40 years old, what the hell is left? There’s only so many rehashed game shows and garbage soft-core porn reality shows — we’re looking at you, “The Bachelor” — humans can take.
At this point, the networks are a football delivery service with a few sitcoms between games.
ITEM THREE: Mark Twain said: “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.”
Millions of us lost our jobs in the pandemic. Our government failed us. They lied to us about compromise and they played us all as pawns in their political power game.
But if these assholes maintain control after the election, our country failed itself and gets the government it deserves.
ITEM FOUR: As a service to the Des Moines metro youths who will brave the COVID-19 wilds of Beggars’ Night, Item Four will publish four jokes for them to memorize and recite in order to receive candy:
Q: What did the egg say to the frying pan?
A: You crack me up.
Q: How do bulls write?
A: With a bullpen.
Q: How do you get an alien baby to sleep?
A: You rocket.
Q: What did the hurricane say to the island?
A: I’ve got my eye on you!
ITEM FIVE: No, it is not too much to ask children ages 5 to 13 to memorize and recite a silly joke like those above. We’re not asking for a tight 5 for the Funny Bone. Tell a riddle. Get some candy. It’s a nice, innocent tradition.
ITEM SIX: New comics Wednesday recommendations:
- STRANGER THINGS HALLOWEEN SPECIAL — With the pandemic, it may be a while before we see the series again. Enjoy a spooky one-shot for the season that spawned a show with two great seasons and one “meh” outing.
- SILVER SURFER: BLACK TPB — One of artist Jack Kirby’s trippiest heroes gets a fresh, poppy book that looks like it needs to be read under a blacklight.
- ARCHIE AND KATY KEENE TPB — Archie Comics committed to fresh takes on their classic characters about the time the CW series “Riverdale” launched. Katy Keene isn’t the brand name that Archie, Jughead, Veronica and Betty are, but their revised predecessors were good enough to give this a look.
ITEM LAST: This week marked the first days of the reduced schedule at Jethro’s Drake. The restaurant is now closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Monday was, of course, Monday Night Football. It would’ve been nice to have a beer and watch the game.
Tuesday was the first game of the World Series. Again, a nice barbecue pork sandwich and green beans would have been a fine accompaniment to the Fall Classic.
Alas, yet more dreams snuffed by the pandemic.
The typist is worried. Hot Sheet is told this move is temporary. But not all Jethro’s survive.
The company tried a pizza and Italian joint in Altoona. It crashed and burned. The first sign of trouble was closing on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The idea that replaced it, Bigfoot, similarly struggled and took Mondays and Tuesdays off before actually crashing and burning.
The biggest problem Jethro’s Drake faces is Drake University. COVID-19 put off fall sports at the school. Winter sports are undecided.
People come to Jethro’s Drake because of all the things at the Knapp Center, Harmon Fine Arts Center and so on.
The survival of Jethro’s Drake is symbiotically related to life at and around Drake. With the students going home for good at Thanksgiving, the near future is bleak.
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You left out my personal favorite of the cheap and easy TV show genre: “Big Brother”. This show is dedicated to the fine art of bullying. Instructional in nature, we learn how people bully others into exile so they can take over their social status with increased power over their peers, and possibly win money. We all need bigger and better bullies. You also left out my favorite bad joke, “What’s black and white and and red all over?” I suppose kids today don’t know what a newspaper is…
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