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Steve Garvey Celebrity Requiem: Cheap Seats Is Dead

The word has come from AST: [Cheap Seats](http://www.cheapseats.tv/) will be [no more after this season](http://www.aspecialthing.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=75864#75864).

Allow me this moment; the show has provided me so many late night laughs, it’s hard to fathom that I’ll have to face next season without it.
In the end, Cheap Seats will have lasted [77 episodes](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0397769/episodes) – more than I think anyone could’ve expected from a show on at a ridiculously late hour on a channel that doesn’t have wide distribution. You’ve done good, Sklars.

There are five new episodes left. If you’d like to watch the finale, it will air on ESPN Classic at 11:30 PM on – as if a date could be more fitting given my interests – November 20th.

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Things I Have Been Enjoying Lately

I have been enjoying Jon Glaser. The name may be unfamiliar for people not in NYC, but you have likely heard his work – be it on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Cheap Seats, Wonder Showzen, Conan O’Brien, or School For Scoundrels. Glaser is what has been described as a “comedian’s comedian”, doing characters and bits that lead to highbrow discussions like “What is comedy?” and “What the fuck was that?”. I did not warm up to Glaser when I first saw him in 2003 – but slowly, gradually, I have understood his genius. I bring him up now not because of his excellent turn as Johnny Ding-Dong during the Comedians Of Comedy tour, but for his mindfudging of Trevor, the wily scamp from Wonder Showzen’s “Beat Kids”. If you have the Season 2 DVD – and you should – watch the “featurette” for the Knowledge episode. For more, I recommend reading [his AST fanthread](http://www.aspecialthing.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1664).

While I am only one third of the way through it, I have been enjoying the audiobook version of John Hodgman’s [The Areas Of My Expertise](http://areasofmyexpertise.com/), which is unsurprisingly [available from iTunes](http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=182994253&s=143441). Hodgman’s way with facts, combined with occasional musical enhancement from [Johnathan Coulton](http://www.jonathancoulton.com/), is like listening to a very pleasant NPR show, were it written by non-partisan Stephen Colbert.

I have really been enjoying [The AV Club](http://avclub.com/), as they’ve become very good with interviews, always have intriguing features like *Random Rules*, and fair critiques and reviews.

Relatedly, I have been enjoying the mobile versions of [The Onion](http://mobile.theonion.com/) and [The AV Club](http://mobile.avclub.com/). Both load very quick, have full content for the week, and aren’t a cheap RSS-hacked-river-of-news-bullshit mobile page. Works great on my Sidekick 3 and my Treo.

I’ve been enjoying MC Chris’ latest album, [Dungeon Master Of Ceremonies](http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=184802407&s=143441). I got to see Chris do most of the songs live at UCB – which was an experience in itself – but the album is really far more solid than I expected. There are at least three standout songs (*FTW*, *Wiid*, and *Townie*), and the album on a whole has a nice, almost danceable groove to it.

The third season of The Office has been enjoyable enough to add into my standard television rotation, bringing the number of shows I regularly watch up to 4. It is amusing to go back and read the [Metafilter impressions of the first episodes](http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/40851), much like reading Slashdot’s original iPod post.

Despite being only a few minutes into the first one, I am extremely enamored by [JapanesePod101](http://www.japanesepod101.com/), a podcast that teaches you a few Japanese phrases a day. I am downloading them as fast as I can.

I am enjoying the fact that [GSN](http://www.gsn.com/) finally made their play-along-at-home games platform neutral. It’s nice to be able to play from home, even if there are a large number of cheaters.

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I Dig Big Pig Gig

There are a handful of events in life that are so enjoyable, you can only write about it in the hopes that everyone else will get a chance to try it. This was one of those events.

Mid Big Pig Gig

Friday night, we took part in the [Big Pig Gig](http://www.daisymaysbbq.com/bigpig.html) at Daisy May’s BBQ. [Tien](http://www.tienmao.com/) was the organizer and ringleader; the crowd was predominantly *bloggy*.

The meal we had ordered consisted of both the whole pig as well as a whole pork butt, six sides, texas toast, and watermelon. Even with eighteen people there, this was a lot of food. No one left in a state resembling “hungry”.

As for the food: If you enjoy barbecue, you must do this at least once in your life. Hand-pulling the steaming hot meat right off the pig – dredging it in sea salt or a mustard-based sauce, or just downing it straight – is satisfying in ways I didn’t think was possible. (Unfortunately, the skin was absurdly chewy. Despite its deliciousness, it’s requires a little too much effort to eat.) The sides were heavenly: baked beans that almost resembled a chili, given the amount of pork; perfect mashed potatoes; a deliciously zingy coleslaw.

I recommend sitting close to the pig, as I had the chance to do – it’s quite pleasant to randomly pick off pieces of meat from different areas. Meg kept exclaiming “Ooh, there’s more meat *here*!” from the opposite side, so I am not alone in the excitement of pork discovery.

Daisy May’s does, of course, have a [regular menu](http://www.daisymaysbbq.com/menus.html) too, so don’t think you have to show up and just get a giant pig. I will have to test their promises of delivering to anywhere in Manhattan one of these days.

From others that were there:

* Jake’s got [pictures.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/gothamistllc/sets/72157594316162153/)
* Tien’s got [pictures](http://www.flickr.com/photos/tienmao/sets/72157594319662203/) as well as a [post](http://www.tienmao.com/archives/002271.html).
* Jen’s got [pictures.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenchung/tags/bigpiggig/)