A Little of the Old In and Out

In:

David Chappelle. Fuck, Dave is so in with The Corsair that I am about to name him the new Richard Pryor based solely on the "I'm Rick James, Bitch!" skit, easily some of the best comedy of the past decade. And I'm not alone in the praise. According to medialifemagazine.com, " 'South Park' has long been the MVP of Comedy Central, hauling whatever show airs after it to decent ratings.

"But now it looks like one of those shows finally has detached itself from 'Park's' coattails, to the point that it is now bettering its lead-in's ratings.

"Comedy Central's 'Chappelle's Show' starring Dave Chappelle had a strong week and helped boost the network to an even stronger February, up 10 percent over the previous month among adults 18-49.

"'Chappelle,' which airs Wednesday at 10:30 p.m., was responsible for a good part of that. Last week's episode made the top 10 on ad-supported cable among viewers 18-49 years old. With more than 1.9 million viewers in the group, it was the most-viewed episode since the show's Jan. 21 season premiere."

Out:

Skull and Bones. And I thought only African-Americans devised complicated secret handshakes to crafted to intimidate the uninitiated. But we are all "the man" to Bonesmen. Lloyd Grove gives us the Sweet and Lowdown:

"On the Feb. 8 installment of 'Meet the Press,' the President was similarly uncommunicative (ed note: about Skull and Bones).

"'It's so secret we can't talk about it,' he told Russert.

"'What does that mean for America?' Russert pressed. 'The conspiracy theorists are going to go wild.'

"'I'm sure they are,' Bush agreed with a nervous giggle."

The Corsair nervously giggles.

In:

Former Maine Senator, George Mitchell, the new "nonexecutive chairman" of Disney -- whatever that means. Mitchell is like Rob Lowe when it comes to jobs. He was Clinton's broker for the Irish Good Friday Agreement, a lawyer, an army intelligence officer, a Senate Majority leader and now this. Crazy like Swayze.

Out:

Madonna's panties. Jeannette Walls of MSNBC writes: "Madonna�s skivvies are up for sale. The lacy drawers that the singer wore in 'Evita' can be purchased for a mere $3,650 from Infinitely Better, a shop in Swindon, England." Greeeat. Madonna's bloomers, anyone ... Drawers? (frustrated) Kni...kni ... Knickers no, not ni -- I am not a racist, in fact I am black ... (sighs) anyone want these things? No? I kinda figured.

In:

Billionaire children's book writer JK Rowling. In an web chat interview to mark World Book Day she hinted she might write a beyond the seven promised Harry Potter books, "(Rowling) was asked: 'Are you going to write books about Harry after school?'

"Rowling gave fans hope when she replied: 'Probably not. But I'll never say never because every time I do I immediately break the vow.'"

Out:

Joe Francis. On Howard Stern today, Snoop Dogg painted a rather sordid picture indeed of the sleazy founder of the Girls Gone Wild franchise (if it is possible to make the purveyor of underage white girls topless seem sleazier), according to Marksfriggin.com:

"Howard and Robin asked Snoop about his new video series 'Black Girls gone Buck Wild' that's with the Playboy people. Snoop said that the guy at Girls Gone Wild didn't want to have Latino and Black girls in his videos so he went out on his own to put out that stuff." Greeeat. Francis was going after that lucrative Kentucky white supremacist market.

In:

18 year old dancers, my friend (savors the words, a smile plays on The Corsair's lips) ... 18-year old dancers. They are crafty the way they get you to buy them things. The Smokinggunners write of Diane Ritchie, who is seriously threatening to part Lionel from his Commodore stash:

"The Richies, who wed in December 1996 and have two young children, live in a $40 million Beverly Hills mansion, with its 30 rooms spread over 18,000 square feet. 'In addition to nine full time staff members, we also employ people to maintain our plants, detail our cars, care for our pool, groom our dog, maintain our aquarium and a painter for regular touch ups on the house,' noted Richie. She also made sure to point out particular monthly expenses that Lionel, 54, needs to cover: clothing, shoes, and accessories ($15,000); dermatology ($3000); laser hair removal ($1000); massages ($600); jewelry ($5000); gifts ($5000); and vitamins ($500). There are plenty of other costs Richie listed--like $20,000 annually for plastic surgery and her nine-year-old son's $125,000 boarding school tuition--but TSG will let you discover those chestnuts. According to Richie, she began dating the pop star in 1984, when they met at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles (she was an 18-year-old dancer)." I love that last line, an aside, tossed out into the ethers, as if to explain everything (sotto vocce) "she was an 18-year old dancer." A ballerina girl, if you will.

Out:

College athletics. Call me a nerd, my little pomegranates, but I went to college for a classical liberal arts education, not to shoot hoops or rape. Well, the University of Georgia joins the ranks of other corrupt univeristy athletics departments spanning the nation from sea to shining sea. As the Smokinggunners write:

"Until his resignation last year amidst allegations of impropriety in UGA's basketball program, Harrick was an assistant coach under his father, Jim Harrick. In addition to helping pop run the lay-up line, the younger Harrick taught 'Coaching Principles and Strategies in Basketball' during 2001's fall semester. The 39-student class was popular with several of Harrick's players, since the coach wasn't a stickler when it came to attendance, studying, or showing up for the College of Education course's only test. Below you'll find that test, a 20-question mockery that includes such brain teasers as, 'How many points does a 3-point field goal account for in a Basketball Game?'"

Fuck. Silly me for studying Oedipus at Colonus.