The Fearless Blogger

The recent NBC “Tonight Show” battle has provided a wealth of video clips as each host and their supporters take on-air jabs at each other.

Of all the clips making the rounds this one may be the least current, but (in my opinion) it’s the most successful at making Leno look like a jerk.  Proving that no one does a better job of making Jay look like an a-hole than Jay, it’s a clip of Leno’s 2004 announcement of his plans to hand the Tonight Show over to Conan in 2009.

Some classic quotes:

When I took this show over, boy there was a lot of animosity between me and Dave and who’s going to get it, and quite frankly a lot of good friendships were permanently damaged and I don’t want to see anybody have to go through that again.

You know, this show is like a dynasty. You hold it and then you hand it off to the next person and I don’t want to see all the fighting and all the who’s better and nasty things back and forth in the press so right now, here it is:

Conan it’s yours. See you in five years, buddy.

As James Poniewozik points out in his post about the video

. . .the biggest danger to Leno among the audience is not his money, or sympathy for Conan, or the notion that he was somehow pulling the strings behind NBC’s decision. It’s being seen as a phony. Or, more to the point, actually being a phony.

People will forgive a lot of comedians they love. They’ll forgive affairs, offensive remarks, arrests, jokes that crossed a line. But they rely on guys like Leno to puncture other people’s phoniness and to have an impeccable B.S. detector. . .

My guess is Leno’s B.S. detector finally broke down from the stress of Leno setting it off himself so frequently.

Update: I found this clip of Conan’s 2004 announcement on Funny or Die & I thought it was worth including

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. – Mahatma Gandhi

If you agree with Gandhi, then after reading the following two bits of news, you’ll likely agree that this nation’s greatness and moral progress have taken a couple of steps in the wrong direction.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love animals. At times, I prefer them to people (I openly admit that while watching “Marley and Me”, I thought the ending would be far more bearable if they offed one of the kids instead of the dog).

So while The News is rarely uplifting these days, I found the most recent local broadcast especially depressing. I don’t mean to be a “Debbie Downer”, but I thought a couple of stories deserve some additional attention/awareness. read more

Lift Your Head Up High
And Scream Out To The World
I Know I Am Someone
And Let The Truth Unfurl
No One Can Hurt You Now
Because You Know What’s True
Yes, I Believe In Me
So You Believe In You.

Help me sing it . . .
Ma ma se, Ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa

There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle. -Deepak Chopra

Although I consider myself a spiritual person, I don’t view myself as especially religious. My ties to Judaism are driven more by tradition and culture than by adhering to its tenets.

Tradition motivated me to continue to go to temple for the “High Holidays” after moving to Seattle.  It was at one of the Seattle services that I heard a sermon that’s stuck with me, nearly a decade later.  I’ll do my best to share the rabbi’s message here:

We each carry within us puzzle pieces. Some of these pieces belong to our own puzzle, some belong to other people’s puzzles.

As we encounter people throughout our lives, puzzle pieces are exchanged. Sometimes we give pieces, sometimes we receive them.

Often we may not realize the exchange was made until time has passed, more pieces accumulated to help identify where it fits into our internal puzzle.

Similarly, we’re often unaware when we’ve handed someone a piece to their puzzle. Exchanges can be made in the briefest of encounters.  Intentions or impressions don’t have a bearing on these exchanges.

Receiving a puzzle piece does not mean it’s yours to keep. Sometimes pieces remain stashed away, until we encounter the intended recipient after time has passed.

---

I love this metaphor. It adds meaning to each person I connect with as I journey through life.

---

The sermon was shared in a day that the internet was very young and social media was not yet part of the lexicon.  Today we have some many ways to make connections; opportunities to exchange puzzle pieces.

read more

Warren Buffet has lived in the same house in Omaha for the past 50 years.  When this was mentioned in an interview, Buffet replied by sharing this quote:

Success is getting everything you want.  Happiness is wanting everything you get. 

Now there’s a man who is truly rich – in more ways than one.

---

What is your definition of success?

Of happiness?

True wealth?

---