A look into the last week
March 1, 2010 9:54 AM Subscribe
Photos taken the last week of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. A Flickr photoset by New York blogger and photographer Lisa Whiteman, who was last seen on MeFi in 2002.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Looks like the photos have been set to private, so nothing to see here anymore. -- cortex
I don't understand how this is such a huge, prolonged issue. Can we get over this already?
posted by jimmythefish at 10:09 AM on March 1, 2010
posted by jimmythefish at 10:09 AM on March 1, 2010
Is this something I would have to know what the writer's of a TV show look like to understand?
posted by DU at 10:10 AM on March 1, 2010
posted by DU at 10:10 AM on March 1, 2010
Boring pictures of out of work staffers? Why?
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:13 AM on March 1, 2010
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:13 AM on March 1, 2010
I don't understand how this is such a huge, prolonged issue. Can we get over this already?
NO. Today is my birthday, which makes me Ruler of All Internet Discussions On This Day, and I decree that we must ONLY discuss how Conan was screwed over by NBC.
Alternate topic: How Leno's smarmy grin in those dumb commercials ruined the Olympics. You may follow up with a query as to whether your conversational partner has seen this video. Feel free to pull out your smartphone and show the video if they haven't seen it yet.
posted by muddgirl at 10:14 AM on March 1, 2010 [6 favorites]
NO. Today is my birthday, which makes me Ruler of All Internet Discussions On This Day, and I decree that we must ONLY discuss how Conan was screwed over by NBC.
Alternate topic: How Leno's smarmy grin in those dumb commercials ruined the Olympics. You may follow up with a query as to whether your conversational partner has seen this video. Feel free to pull out your smartphone and show the video if they haven't seen it yet.
posted by muddgirl at 10:14 AM on March 1, 2010 [6 favorites]
Happy birthday, muddgirl. And I'm so, so glad we got different Olympics commericals than you did. (Although I'm slightly weirded out by ones from foreign companies like Coke -- what do you mean "we", paleface?)
I'd like video of Conan and the gang packing up intercut with shots of Jay behaving obnoxiously and spouting inane non-jokes -- random footage, in other words -- with soaring opera in the background.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 10:22 AM on March 1, 2010
I'd like video of Conan and the gang packing up intercut with shots of Jay behaving obnoxiously and spouting inane non-jokes -- random footage, in other words -- with soaring opera in the background.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 10:22 AM on March 1, 2010
NO. Today is my birthday...
Hey, mine too. And I watched the CTV coverage so didn't get the Leno commercials, but nothing could ruin the Olympics after that hockey game!
posted by rocket88 at 10:25 AM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Hey, mine too. And I watched the CTV coverage so didn't get the Leno commercials, but nothing could ruin the Olympics after that hockey game!
posted by rocket88 at 10:25 AM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
They really brought out the masturbatory nature of that bear.
posted by ExitPursuedByBear at 10:26 AM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by ExitPursuedByBear at 10:26 AM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Boring pictures of out of work staffers? Why?
for the record, this isn't the first time I've seen something like this on the blue -- someone posted a similar set of pictures of "the last days of Gourmet Magazine's office".
Although, I don't recall seeing vitriol ABOUT such a post before, but I could indeed be misremembering.
In any case: "pictures of [insert organization here] packing up for good" aren't unheard of as FPP posts, in my experience.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:35 AM on March 1, 2010
for the record, this isn't the first time I've seen something like this on the blue -- someone posted a similar set of pictures of "the last days of Gourmet Magazine's office".
Although, I don't recall seeing vitriol ABOUT such a post before, but I could indeed be misremembering.
In any case: "pictures of [insert organization here] packing up for good" aren't unheard of as FPP posts, in my experience.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:35 AM on March 1, 2010
Oh -- and Jay Leno's ad is coming close to ruining a BEATLES SONG for me.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:35 AM on March 1, 2010
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:35 AM on March 1, 2010
You may follow up with a query as to whether your conversational partner has seen this video.
That was great.
Btw, did you know that, apparently NBC actually pulled all of Conan's old Tonight Shows from Hulu?
posted by delmoi at 10:56 AM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
That was great.
Btw, did you know that, apparently NBC actually pulled all of Conan's old Tonight Shows from Hulu?
posted by delmoi at 10:56 AM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
EmpressCallipygos ever since the Jackson fam got a hold of the Beatles catalogue the Beatles have been hocking, Macy's, Jay Leno, VISA (I HATE HATE THAT VERSION OF ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE) and worst of all *shudder* Jenny McCarthy Wii equipment. It's hard to believe but Michael was actually using dignified restraint when licensing Beatles songs.
posted by ExitPursuedByBear at 10:57 AM on March 1, 2010
posted by ExitPursuedByBear at 10:57 AM on March 1, 2010
ExitPursuedByBear: "Jenny McCarthy Wii equipment"
Am I the only one who visualized some sort of "prevent your baby from getting vaccinated" simulator?
posted by Plutor at 11:01 AM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Am I the only one who visualized some sort of "prevent your baby from getting vaccinated" simulator?
posted by Plutor at 11:01 AM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Ah, the all-too-familiar Metafilter response: "Psh. Successful writers. I don't have to be impressed. I don't have to look at these pictures." Juuuust admit it, you looked at them, you wish you were a writer for Conan, and get over it. And get me a beer and a salad.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 11:11 AM on March 1, 2010
posted by gorgor_balabala at 11:11 AM on March 1, 2010
"Successful," you say?
Well, they're sure as hell more successful than me.
Dammit.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:25 AM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Well, they're sure as hell more successful than me.
Dammit.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:25 AM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
They're writers, not Batman.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:30 AM on March 1, 2010
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:30 AM on March 1, 2010
Although, I don't recall seeing vitriol ABOUT such a post before, but I could indeed be misremembering.
Well, there's a first time for everything. Seriously, I think that it's that what passes for humor in these photos really seems so lame. Look, there's some dude reading a newspaper ad flier upside down. Look, there's a picture of Coco with white scribbles over it to give him a Santa beard. What you're reading as vitriol is probably just disappointment.
If Star Trek Online lasts long enough, and they run out of things to derive from franchise canon for the game's missions, they may get around to imagining a planet where this sort of thing is interesting, but someone may actually invent a real warp drive first.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:30 AM on March 1, 2010
Well, there's a first time for everything. Seriously, I think that it's that what passes for humor in these photos really seems so lame. Look, there's some dude reading a newspaper ad flier upside down. Look, there's a picture of Coco with white scribbles over it to give him a Santa beard. What you're reading as vitriol is probably just disappointment.
If Star Trek Online lasts long enough, and they run out of things to derive from franchise canon for the game's missions, they may get around to imagining a planet where this sort of thing is interesting, but someone may actually invent a real warp drive first.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:30 AM on March 1, 2010
Then freaking skip it, Jack.
I'm am continually surprised at the level of effort Mefites will allocate to complaining that a mediocre post is mediocre.
posted by muddgirl at 11:36 AM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'm am continually surprised at the level of effort Mefites will allocate to complaining that a mediocre post is mediocre.
posted by muddgirl at 11:36 AM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
If Star Trek Online lasts long enough
hahahaha
That was funny, thanks.
posted by graventy at 11:43 AM on March 1, 2010
hahahaha
That was funny, thanks.
posted by graventy at 11:43 AM on March 1, 2010
I don't understand how this is such a huge, prolonged issue. Can we get over this already?
This is the week that Leno returns, which is what pushes this into 'news' again. It will return to news when either Leno fails, or Conan returns on Fox.
posted by graventy at 11:54 AM on March 1, 2010
This is the week that Leno returns, which is what pushes this into 'news' again. It will return to news when either Leno fails, or Conan returns on Fox.
posted by graventy at 11:54 AM on March 1, 2010
I'm am continually surprised at the level of effort Mefites will allocate to complaining that a mediocre post is mediocre.
Okay, but I didn't know that it would be mediocre until I opened it; I was thinking "huh, pro photographer, maybe I'll see some gripping shots of a TV flagship in decline, maybe some amazingly humanizing shots of Conan in vulnerable moments in stark contrast to his pompadoured jackanape televisual performances, perhaps gain some insights into the workings of a comedy team driven into stark panicked overdrive as their vessel sinks beneath their very feet."
Then it was "okay, these are pretty bland except for a few obviously posed and not particularly inventive shots, but maybe this is all building up to something, like they're going to yank the rug out any minute now, and all this ho-hum here-we-are-hanging-out stuff is here to really lull you into a stupor before you get those staggering few images."
and finally "huh." But I trudged my way through all 75 shots, including the inventively named "me and Will Ferrell" and the scintillating one of that guy eating a sandwich or something, and by God that earns me the right to come back here and say "if there's something of value there, I'm just not seeing it."
posted by Shepherd at 12:18 PM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Okay, but I didn't know that it would be mediocre until I opened it; I was thinking "huh, pro photographer, maybe I'll see some gripping shots of a TV flagship in decline, maybe some amazingly humanizing shots of Conan in vulnerable moments in stark contrast to his pompadoured jackanape televisual performances, perhaps gain some insights into the workings of a comedy team driven into stark panicked overdrive as their vessel sinks beneath their very feet."
Then it was "okay, these are pretty bland except for a few obviously posed and not particularly inventive shots, but maybe this is all building up to something, like they're going to yank the rug out any minute now, and all this ho-hum here-we-are-hanging-out stuff is here to really lull you into a stupor before you get those staggering few images."
and finally "huh." But I trudged my way through all 75 shots, including the inventively named "me and Will Ferrell" and the scintillating one of that guy eating a sandwich or something, and by God that earns me the right to come back here and say "if there's something of value there, I'm just not seeing it."
posted by Shepherd at 12:18 PM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
But there's a lot of crap on the internet. We're not talking about like, a magazine that has to balance page space with advertisements. If this were a photo spread in a magazine, I'd find no fault in snarking heavily about it.
If I'm going to take 5 minutes to complain every time a blog links to something that's meh, I won't have time to find actually interesting things.
Anyway, the point seems a bit mute as the album seems to be private now.
posted by muddgirl at 12:23 PM on March 1, 2010
If I'm going to take 5 minutes to complain every time a blog links to something that's meh, I won't have time to find actually interesting things.
Anyway, the point seems a bit mute as the album seems to be private now.
posted by muddgirl at 12:23 PM on March 1, 2010
I tend to check comments before clicking through on links here, so I feel that a quick "that really wasn't worth checking out" is actually a bit of a public service that could save other MeFites some time. If the first four or five comments on a post are "meh" with nobody standing up for it, I'll tend to move on.
posted by Shepherd at 12:36 PM on March 1, 2010
posted by Shepherd at 12:36 PM on March 1, 2010
If I'm going to take 5 minutes to complain every time a blog links to something that's meh, I won't have time to find actually interesting things.
But you could get a "hit of energy," as Gwyneth Paltrow has noted.
posted by Jaltcoh at 12:43 PM on March 1, 2010
But you could get a "hit of energy," as Gwyneth Paltrow has noted.
posted by Jaltcoh at 12:43 PM on March 1, 2010
Sure, there's "I don't understand the point of this post."
But then there's "Those lady's personal photos of an evening with friends weren't funny, were actually really stupid, and you are stupid for posting them. Even if 1 million automatic typewriting robots worked for 1 million years, they could not imagine a scenario in which those personal photos would be amusing to me."
Note which one I objected to above.
posted by muddgirl at 12:58 PM on March 1, 2010
But then there's "Those lady's personal photos of an evening with friends weren't funny, were actually really stupid, and you are stupid for posting them. Even if 1 million automatic typewriting robots worked for 1 million years, they could not imagine a scenario in which those personal photos would be amusing to me."
Note which one I objected to above.
posted by muddgirl at 12:58 PM on March 1, 2010
moot. the point is moot.
posted by Lazlo Hollyfeld at 12:59 PM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Lazlo Hollyfeld at 12:59 PM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
I don't understand how this is such a huge, prolonged issue. Can we get over this already?
But it's a ready-made metaphor for any number of chattering class-friendly issues:
—Baby Boomer Leno vs. Gen X-er O'Brien
—Broadcast TV Leno vs. Web 2.0 O'Brien
—A Nielsen-rated audience of grandparents vs. the TiVo-era Millennial demographic
—Leno-as-value-destroying-bailed-out-fat-cat vs. O'Brien-as-laid-off-working-stiff
—Leno's self-serving "Am I a good guy?" Oprah interview vs. O'Brien's heartfelt "Please do not be cynical" farewell speech
If this were a photo spread in a magazine, I'd find no fault in snarking heavily about it.
Were Leno in O'Brien's role, there's no question he would have set up a backstage "Leno's Last Tonight Show: An Intimate Send-off" spread for Vanity Fair or at least People. It's entirely in keeping with O'Brien's looser spirit that his show should be commemorated this way - although this one feels more like something from the US version of The Office.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:05 PM on March 1, 2010
But it's a ready-made metaphor for any number of chattering class-friendly issues:
—Baby Boomer Leno vs. Gen X-er O'Brien
—Broadcast TV Leno vs. Web 2.0 O'Brien
—A Nielsen-rated audience of grandparents vs. the TiVo-era Millennial demographic
—Leno-as-value-destroying-bailed-out-fat-cat vs. O'Brien-as-laid-off-working-stiff
—Leno's self-serving "Am I a good guy?" Oprah interview vs. O'Brien's heartfelt "Please do not be cynical" farewell speech
If this were a photo spread in a magazine, I'd find no fault in snarking heavily about it.
Were Leno in O'Brien's role, there's no question he would have set up a backstage "Leno's Last Tonight Show: An Intimate Send-off" spread for Vanity Fair or at least People. It's entirely in keeping with O'Brien's looser spirit that his show should be commemorated this way - although this one feels more like something from the US version of The Office.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:05 PM on March 1, 2010
Those lady's personal photos of an evening with friends weren't funny, were actually really stupid, and you are stupid for posting them. Even if 1 million automatic typewriting robots worked for 1 million years, they could not imagine a scenario in which those personal photos would be amusing to me.
The mods must have deleted that one. Or maybe you're railing against comments that you made up in your own head and that never actually existed, in which case your kvetching about other people wasting time on the Internet complaining about things gets a bit ludicrous.
This might be MeTa, but a driveby "I don't understand the point of this post" doesn't really do the job, does it? Similarly, "I didn't like them" without any qualifier doesn't provide information of use to anybody concerned. If somebody doesn't like something I've posted, I'd hope that they would qualify it more than "that was dumb," because then I could interject, or riposte, or whatever.
A comment such as your made-up-in-your-own-head one above, could be met with "I don't think the intent was to be funny, it was to document an interesting point in time with some fascinating photos that provide rare insight into the tense workings behind the scenes of a late-night television show." The argument could then turn towards whether the photos were fascinating (in my opinion, they weren't), provided rare insight (in my opinion, they didn't) or illustrated any sort of tension (in which, I feel, they failed).
There could then be a discussion about the photographs in question, whether the person objecting had understood their import and intent, and perhaps some further exploration of the nature of documentary vs. artistic photography, the goal of the photographer, and the execution of the work; a conversation that couldn't happen with a comment like "I don't understand the point of this."
Personally, I prefer a detailed objection to a low-content post to a passing "you suck," but mileage as always may vary.
posted by Shepherd at 1:08 PM on March 1, 2010
The mods must have deleted that one. Or maybe you're railing against comments that you made up in your own head and that never actually existed, in which case your kvetching about other people wasting time on the Internet complaining about things gets a bit ludicrous.
This might be MeTa, but a driveby "I don't understand the point of this post" doesn't really do the job, does it? Similarly, "I didn't like them" without any qualifier doesn't provide information of use to anybody concerned. If somebody doesn't like something I've posted, I'd hope that they would qualify it more than "that was dumb," because then I could interject, or riposte, or whatever.
A comment such as your made-up-in-your-own-head one above, could be met with "I don't think the intent was to be funny, it was to document an interesting point in time with some fascinating photos that provide rare insight into the tense workings behind the scenes of a late-night television show." The argument could then turn towards whether the photos were fascinating (in my opinion, they weren't), provided rare insight (in my opinion, they didn't) or illustrated any sort of tension (in which, I feel, they failed).
There could then be a discussion about the photographs in question, whether the person objecting had understood their import and intent, and perhaps some further exploration of the nature of documentary vs. artistic photography, the goal of the photographer, and the execution of the work; a conversation that couldn't happen with a comment like "I don't understand the point of this."
Personally, I prefer a detailed objection to a low-content post to a passing "you suck," but mileage as always may vary.
posted by Shepherd at 1:08 PM on March 1, 2010
If Star Trek Online lasts long enough, and they run out of things to derive from franchise canon for the game's missions, they may get around to imagining a planet where this sort of thing is interesting, but someone may actually invent a real warp drive first.This is the comment that I specifically responded to. It's still there. Sure, I added a bit of vitriol for effect, but unless there's some common internet meme that's going over my head, I believe I captured the essense of this comment.
posted by muddgirl at 1:16 PM on March 1, 2010
Gah. It made me sign in, only to tell me I don't have permission to view them. Oh, flickr.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:38 PM on March 1, 2010
posted by Sys Rq at 1:38 PM on March 1, 2010
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posted by Shepherd at 10:04 AM on March 1, 2010 [1 favorite]