Bell Business

I Used To Worry About Too Much Elmo

One of the fatal flaws of the human race is that ANY couple with the proper plumbing can have a child.

This, from the NYT...

JERUSALEM, July 16 — Hamas television, which was criticized for a Mickey Mouse-like character named Farfur who spouted anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish nostrums at children, has replaced the mouse with a bee named Nahoul, who says he is Farfur’s cousin.

Farfur was beaten to death by an Israeli who wanted his land on the previous episode of the children’s show “Tomorrow’s Pioneers.”

Nahoul, the bee, says: “I want to continue on the path of Farfur, the path of ‘Islam is the solution.’ The path of heroism, the path of martyrdom, the path of jihad warriors.”

In the name of Farfur, the bee says, “we shall take revenge on the enemies of Allah, the murderers of the prophets, the murderers of innocent children, until Al Aksa will be liberated from their filth.”

Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli group that monitors Palestinian media for anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish incitement, says the bee is referring to Jews and Israelis. Al Aksa refers to the mosque that is part of the Noble Sanctuary, a site holy to Muslims in Jerusalem on the Haram al-Sharif, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Please allow me to repeat the most incredible sentence from this article about a childrens' show.

Farfur was beaten to death by an Israeli who wanted his land on the previous episode of the children’s show “Tomorrow’s Pioneers.”

Anyone can have kids. Fred Phelps can have kids. Ann Coulter can have kids (I think). Any old hatemonger can have kids.

I am not Israel's biggest fan. Basically, I'm not a big fan of ANY GOVERNMENT OR POLITICAL MOVEMENT (including Hamas, just in case I need to say it)  who claims that they have a right to this or that because "God said so."  But this is some CRAZY HATEFUL SHIT to be showing kids.

Think about how far we've come just in the last century or so. The moon, the internet, cell phones, fucking GOOGLE EARTH! And yet, in so many ways, we have never left the stone age. This isn't just Islam. This isn't just Hamas. How many Israeli children are taught to view Palestinians, or Arabs in general, as subhuman? And we have hate just as strong here in out own country. And it just doesn't make sense. Depressing.

(Hat tip to Deirdre)

Tillman

I would just like to know when our Democratic leaders are going stand and call BULLSHIT on this.

(Thanks, Oliver Willis)

America's Worst

Dick.

Thanks, Orel!

Well, it's been fun. This past week we've paid tribute to various Moral Orel creators, including Jay, Carolyn, Nick, Dino, and yes, even Otis.

The big online chat with Dino was a HUGE success! Thanks to EVERYONE who came out and participated! And by everyone, I mean Otis.

Before we get back to the Bell Business at hand, I'm just going to wrap up Moral Orel Week with a couple of music videos. Both were created (very effectively) using footage from the show. Both are great songs, in my opinion, although they could not be more different. The first uses a song by Rancid. The second, a song by Io Perry, who might be romantically linked to Jay Johnston, I'm not sure. I suppose I could call Jay to check, or maybe call Dino cuz he would probably know, but that would require just a little more effort than I'm willing to put out right now. So. My. Hands. Are. Tied.

Anyway, these are cool videos.

Rancid

Io Perry

Anyway, it's been a roller coaster of a week. I've praised Moral Orel, I've bitched about it. In the end, I think we can all agree that the bitching was more on the mark.

What's going to happen today in the much anticipated Pt II of the episode that aired a few days ago? Who can say? Who can care? Tune in to (I think) the Adult Swim website to find out!

Another thing, on a serious note, I actually do love Moral Orel. I wish it were more than ten minutes long, especially now that Dino and the gang are getting more into the characters. The last episode felt way too short. But whatever. That's nitpicking. It's a good show. Tivo that shit.

UPDATE: Scott Adsit is a nice man, and a very talented actor who also contributes to Moral Orel in some fashion. I remember him from college.

Moral Orel - The Otis Files!

Thank God that Otis came along, otherwise the big web chat thingie with Dino might have been a waste of time or something. I know very little about the man, other than he is the former Mr. Universe pictured above.

Also, he freed the slaves. And he's gonna get us all out of Iraq!

Kudos, Otis!

IT'S ON!!!!!!!!!!!

HERE WE GO...

PLEASE PROCEED TO THE COMMENTS SECTION FOR THE CHATTY BUSINESS.

WOO HOO!!!!! MORAL OREL!!!!! YEEEE HA!!!!!

I am so sick of talking about Moral Orel...  Dino's great. Jay's great. Carolyn's great. Nick's great (I"m told).

This whole chat idea is a nightmare.

For those of you visiting my blog for the first time, please be careful when wandering around. And DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING! Everything is carefully put in its place in a very precise manner. I would appreciate it if everyone would just PLEASE ABSTAIN FROM CLICKING ON ANY LINKS or going "exploring" in the archives, or some such thing.

Obviously, the internet is not your public playground. This site is designed for people that are concerned with things that only I care about, so you need not concern yourselves with its contents, beyond this Dino business, which hopefully will be over soon.

That said, LET'S HAVE SOME FUN!!!!!

Come 8PM ET I will start a new Moral Orel post, and all you need to do is click on the comment section of that post to have a FANTASTIC  CHAT with Dino Stamatopoulos.  He PROMISES to be watching, and pressing the refresh button a lot. And I think I can  guarantee that ALL YOUR QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED!

More(al) Orel

I've been trying to think of what my favorite Dino anecdote might be. It's tough. I've known the guy a long time, and as far as anecdotes go, he's pretty much a machine.

I guess if there's one story I can tell you that I think defines Dino (and it is by no means the funniest one) it would be us driving to work in LA. We were PA's on some shitty film, and we had to drive a lot, cuz we filming all over the place. We had a 1962 Comet that Dino bought for a very low figure from Mike Stoyanov (of TV's Blossom). Anyway, we didn't have a lot of money, so we rarely put gas in the Comet, and Dino's favorite thing was driving on the highway, in the middle of nowhere, with the gas guage on EMPTY, loudly proclaiming "I've NEVER run out of gas!!!! I can't imagine EVER running out of gas! I wonder what it would FEEL like to RUN OUT OF GAS?!?!?!" And then he would go on to curse Jesus and God and whoever else, in the most profane language he could imagine, just daring the powers that be to empty his gas tank.
The further out into the boondocks we were, the funnier the bit was.

Of course we never ran out of gas.

That is not why I'm an athiest today, but it sure didn't hurt.

Anyway, TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!  8PM ET SUPER CRAZY HAPPY FUN TIME SEXY CHAT WITH Dino Stamatopoulos, creator of MORAL OREL!!!!!!

I'm going to start a new Moral Orel post, and then we'll just rev up the ol' chat machine in the comments.

Perfect Words

"Itch" is a perfect word.

"Broom" is a perfect word.

"Flow" is a perfect word.

"Asshole" is a perfect word.

"Petunia" is a perfect word.

Where Would We Be...

...If Colin Powell had done the honorable thing, like his UK counterpart, Robin Cook?

We'd probably be a lot better off, with a lot less people dead. Colin Powell is an asshole.