The Top Two Jaw-Dropping Lists

Internet news sites are chock-full of two things: the kind of cheap sensational ads that used to appear in the back of cheap sensational magazines, and lists.  There's at least one such site that features nothing but lists.  They've "contributed" a new word: "listicule" or an article that is structured as a list (or more accurately perhaps, a list that is structured as an article.)

But the form has yielded some gems.  I'm noting two of them, for different reasons.

The first is not really a list per se, but an aggregation.  The New York Times published Donald Trump's Twitter Insults: the Complete List (So Far.)  Since it was last updated on Monday, such categories as "Ted Cruz" have swollen somewhat, but the immense range of targets--plus the repetitive insults--feeds the Trump Response (amused disgust) at first, but winds up in true Trump territory: demagogue scarytown.

The second is the New York Magazine Culture Vulture's The 100 Jokes That Shaped Modern Comedy.  It turns out to be not really a list of jokes but of comic moments, complete with film and TV clips.  I've gotten only part way through it because it is so thorough, and the clips are too tempting to pass over.  Most such lists are click bait, but this one is bookmark bait.

Where the Marx Brothers Got Their Material

Sure, Duck Soup is silly. But...here's a 'this day in history' note from wikipedia, verbatim and in full: 1268:Conradin, the last Duke of Swabia, was beheaded in Naples after failing to reclaim Sicily for the House of Hohenstaufen from Charles of Anjou." Now class, who was the first Duke of Swabia? How far is Swabia from Freedonia? And who was Charles of Anjou pere? Any other new business? Sorry, that's old business now.

Speaking of old business, the My Little Blogosphere links are still not registering new posts on American Dash, where the NFL has progressed through the 6th week and the seventh, with appropriate posts (mostly about the Steelers of course)... As for the World Series, Margaret's brother is a Yankees fan and he could use a win, plus growing up in Pittsburgh Pirates country I never developed any affection for the Philadelphia Phillies. But there's something about watching the Yankees lose...