Ha ha this McSweeney’s piece pretty much sums up why I’ve checked out of the craft beer thing (I bought a 12-pack of Pacifico this very afternoon, as a matter of fact) in a nutshell.
Wow, this is a PR nightmare. Volkswagen trolled its own biggest fans by teasing a new harlequin model on April 1, and then was shocked when people actually got excited about it. I suppose now they’re trying to figure out how to respond without being even douchier than they originally were. The harlequin was a multicolored, limited edition model produced almost 30 years ago, back when the VW brand still had some friendly brand equity, and it was a rare treat to see one flash by on the road; I remember one parked on the street in Baltimore City for several years. VW’s brand has faded since then, with lousy reliability eroding their cars-for-the-people image and Dieselgate erasing any reason to trust them. What could have been a great idea—imagine if they’d used April Fools to actually announce a cool promotion for a car they actually planned on rolling out—they tripped over their own feet again.
RIP, Mr. Reubens. I leave you with the best all-time cover of the Pee-Wee Herman theme, by the Scofflaws:
Vulture reminds us the Venture Brothers movie will be released in a month tomorrow, which is something I will be looking forward to intently. They ranked the 15 best episodes, and while I agree with some of their picks there are a bunch that should have ranked higher and others that aren’t represented at all. I realize they were trying to spread the list out among the seasons, but the first and second seasons are so strong, it’s hard to choose among them. That being said, Showdown at Cremation Creek (Pt. II) is strangely missing, and Escape to the House of Mummies should be in there just for the addition of Edgar Allen Poe. I’m glad 20 Years to Midnight is included. IGNORE ME!
I never watched Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and was not aware they made it into a movie, but when they did, a pre-movie “don’t talk during the movie” reel was produced. It was scored by Mastodon, and is predictably hilarious.
Skip ahead to 1:00 for the best part.
Vice has been running a hilarious (and sobering) column for years now called London Rental Opportunity of the Week, which I stumbled on a few days ago; the author is hanging up his shingle and wrote a kiss-off to all landlords everywhere.
This is genius, and drives a point home using a literal cartoon character: Can you tell who said each of these phrases, Elon Musk or Mr. Burns, the villainous billionaire from the Simpsons? I got 75%.
Seriously, I don’t understand what is going on over there. It’s like they let the kindergarten bully run the whole school.
File this under You Can’t Make This Shit Up: Ernst & Young, an international accounting firm, was fined $100M by the SEC after they found that employees were cheating on an ethics exam for over four years.
A significant number of EY professionals who did not cheat but knew their colleagues did, and facilitated the cheating, also violated the firm’s code of conduct by failing to report it.
I am shocked.
This never gets old.