Five-ring circus: The Thread of the XXXIII Olympiad

We should dominate team handball. But we don’t.

 

Out of all the disturbing things they never should have been allowed to pass off as children’s television, the one that disturbed me most was an old Popeye cartoon where Bluto is driving a produce wagon and then absolutely whips the living hell out of his decrepit horse once it breaks down under the load. Even now I hear the sound that horse made and I shudder. Even me in the 80s thought TBS was fucked up for showing that.

 

MeTV shows old Bugs/WB cartoons on Saturday mornings. It is insane how many times someone would shoot a shotgun directly in the face of the antagonist. Like all the time.

 

So far the Olympics have been wild

 

My grandfather was a professional magician and was friends with like-minded types such as Eli Levitan, a Popeye animator who later operated his own studio and wrote a seminal book on the topic. As a teenager I was introduced to him over dinner one night and he drew Popeye on the placemat for me as a souvenir. It is a treasured keepsake.

Poppy was also was friends with Shari Lewis' dad, Abe Hurwitz, and Roy Bittan's father, who told me not to bother him about Springsteen tickets.

 

I'll take "Stories Absolutely Nobody Gives a Shit About for $200, Alex."

 

How has this not been posted yet.

 

Because no one plays it or even watches it here.

 

Those cartoons are 90% violence. And they're funny.

 

I watch it. Every four years. But I watch.

 

All I remember was in 1996, when we got a handball team because we were the hosts, the US Handball Team was sponsored by The Weather Channel. The men actually won one pool play game (vs. Kuwait) and the ninth-place game (of 12, vs. Algeria). The women went 0-4.

 

MeTV Toons is a new OTA subchannel in my area and I happened on that same scene while channel-flipping. There was a water bucket and Bluto drank the whole thing, leaving the horse thirsty. That channel shows ALL the politically incorrect toons and I won't go back.