Open Thread – Lizz Free or DIe
Friend of the Mudflats, Lizz Winstead has a banner day coming up! Her book ‘Lizz Free or Die’ will be out in two days! If you’ve never had the pleasure of hearing Lizz interviewed, or seen her live comedy, you’ve missed out. She is one amazingly talented, insightful, and brave woman. The fact that she’s hilariously funny doesn’t hurt either.
Shannyn and I got the privilege of hanging out with Lizz when Netroots Nation went to her home town of Minneapolis last year. We got the royal tour, and had a blast. Then, she returned the visit and came to Alaska to go fishing in Bristol Bay, and perform for a Planned Parenthood benefit – part of a nationwide tour. She read excerpts from the book then, and I can tell you it’s pretty amazing.
Below is the Amazon blurb of her book.
So, treat yourself to the e-book, or the actual paper one. Click HERE.
Lizz Winstead, co-creator of The Daily Show and one of today’s most hilarious comedians and insightful social critics, pens a brilliant account of how she discovered her comedic voice.
In this collection of autobiographical essays, Winstead vividly recounts how she fought to find her own voice, both as a comedian and as a woman, and how humor became her most powerful weapon in confronting life’s challenges.
Growing up in the Midwest, the youngest child of conservative Catholic parents, Winstead learned early in her life that the straightforward questions she posed to various authority figures around her-her parents, her parish priest, even an anti-abortion counselor -prompted many startled looks and uncomfortable silences, but few answers. Her questions rattled people because they exposed the inconsistencies and hypocrisies in the people and institutions she confronted. Yet she didn’t let that stop her from pursuing her dreams.
Funny and biting, honest and poignant, this no-holds-barred collection gives an in-depth look into the life of one of today’s most influential comic voices. In writing about her childhood longing to be a priest, her role in developing The Daily Show, and of her often problematic habit of diving into everything head first, asking questions later (resulting in multiple rescue-dog adoptions and travel disasters), Lizz Winstead has tapped an outrageous and heartfelt vein of the all-too-human comedy.
~Lizz Winstead plays peek-a-boo with Brian the Moose at Netroots Nation in Minneapolis
Thank you, Mr. President; from the core of my being, thank you, thank you, thank you! beth.
Obama voices his support for gay marriage: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20120509/D9ULD1L81.html
Yes Yes Yes——I too thank our President.
It is amazing that the people who are against Gay rights, go around with a gun in one hand and a bible in the other. I call them confused nerds!
Andy Borowitz comments on So Carolina’s vote yesterday.
http://www.borowitzreport.com/
I meant to say North Carolina.
Big Ag and Big Ed(ucation) have become almost as inseparable as Big Ag and Big Gov:
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/05/how-agribusiness-dominates-public-ag-research
Not a pretty picture.
What?! A mid-westener taking the overused motto of NH – Live Free or Die and using it for comic relief? Good for her. Speaking as a really, really close but not quite almost native, that motto gets old, pretty black and white, no wiggle room there. There is a female NH comic that will leave you on the floor laughing, her name is Rebecca Rule – web site: livefreeandeatpie and there is always Tim Sample of Maine who tells such terrific downeastern stories. Good people, good laughs, a must need relief.
A must watch and a must circulate: Fightin’ words from the former governor of Michigan:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-m-granholm/dear-mitt-you-did-nothing_b_1501626.html?ref=politics
Excellent article, but the video wouldn’t load. Here it is:
http://current.com/shows/the-war-room/videos/dear-mitt-no-more-lies-you-did-nothing-to-save-detroit
Sweet God and greyhounds, I just watched pollen p * r n (had to do that to get past the censor-thing) at five in the morning! I feel I should go outside and remind the gardens that the Grandgirlies will be here in a couple of weeks, and to knock it off when they are outside.
Thank you for the video. Isn’t it grand what the advances in technology allow?
Just a drive by to tell y’all that Bristol Palin sold her house in Maricopa, AZ…. I guess she didn’t like the heat.
So you know what is happening in your garden, when you aren’t looking?
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/xHkq1edcbk4?rel=0
What extraordinary filming!!! Wow!
What a treat during this week when day temps are 10 deg below normal and possible snow is forecast overnight!
I love “The Girls”. My friend Becky Baker plays the mom.
Here’s an interview with Lizz, and a promo video of her book featuring Brian Unger (also from The Daily Show). I don’t know why the video up top is a promo for HBO’s “Girls;” I found this video by looking ’round the web:
http://www.vulture.com/2012/04/lizz-winstead-book-interview.html?mid=rss
Best of luck with the book, Lizz.
Sounds wonderful. And Brian agrees.
And just WHAT is Brian doing down there, the little rascal?!?!