About the inauguration (not political)
Did you know that Dave Berry was at the Inauguration parade? More accurately, he marched in it... as an 'embedded reporter,' as it were.
If you don't know who Dave Berry is (first of all, I'm very sorry), he's a humor columnist who works for the Miami Herald, but has also written a number of books. Oh bother, I'm just going to gank some of the info from the wikipedia article about him. Here (I've bolded the vaguely relevant bits for the lazy readers like me):
"David "Dave" Barry (born July 3, 1947) is an American author and columnist, who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for the The Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comedic novels.
...
"In 1983, Barry was hired by Weingarten as a humor columnist. Barry won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1988, "for his consistently effective use of humor as a device for presenting fresh insights into serious concerns."[5]
"For a 1992 American Booksellers Association convention, several authors including Barry formed a band for charity called The Rock Bottom Remainders ("remainder" is a publishing term for a book that doesn't sell). The members of the band, which has at various times included Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson, Mitch Albom, Kathi Goldmark, Roy Blount Jr., Barbara Kingsolver and Matt Groening, "are not musically skilled, but they are extremely loud," according to Barry. Several high-profile musicians including Al Kooper, Warren Zevon and Roger McGuinn have performed with the band, and Bruce Springsteen sat in at least once. The band's road tour resulted in the book Mid-Life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude, which is now out of print.
"Barry has defined a sense of humor as "a measurement of the extent to which we realize that we are trapped in a world almost totally devoid of reason. Laughter is how we express the anxiety we feel at this knowledge."[8]
"When distinguishing fact from hyperbole, Barry frequently asserts: "I am not making this up". Among his favorite topics are exploding or flaming items (cows, whales, vacuum cleaners, toilets, Pop-Tarts, Barbie dolls, etc.), dogs lacking intelligence, live blogging the television series 24 and amusing government studies. He labels various posts on his blog with long acronyms, such as OIYDWYMTTY(NY)G ("or if you don't want your mom to think you're (not 'your') gay") and WBAGNFARB ("would be a good name for a rock band"), poking fun at long internet abbreviations."
ANYWAY, the point of that rundown was this, which has pictures and a short video of that part of the inauguration parade. I remember it vividly, but didn't know at the time that Dave Berry was amongst them. Enjoy!
If you don't know who Dave Berry is (first of all, I'm very sorry), he's a humor columnist who works for the Miami Herald, but has also written a number of books. Oh bother, I'm just going to gank some of the info from the wikipedia article about him. Here (I've bolded the vaguely relevant bits for the lazy readers like me):
"David "Dave" Barry (born July 3, 1947) is an American author and columnist, who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for the The Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comedic novels.
...
"In 1983, Barry was hired by Weingarten as a humor columnist. Barry won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1988, "for his consistently effective use of humor as a device for presenting fresh insights into serious concerns."[5]
"For a 1992 American Booksellers Association convention, several authors including Barry formed a band for charity called The Rock Bottom Remainders ("remainder" is a publishing term for a book that doesn't sell). The members of the band, which has at various times included Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson, Mitch Albom, Kathi Goldmark, Roy Blount Jr., Barbara Kingsolver and Matt Groening, "are not musically skilled, but they are extremely loud," according to Barry. Several high-profile musicians including Al Kooper, Warren Zevon and Roger McGuinn have performed with the band, and Bruce Springsteen sat in at least once. The band's road tour resulted in the book Mid-Life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude, which is now out of print.
"Barry has defined a sense of humor as "a measurement of the extent to which we realize that we are trapped in a world almost totally devoid of reason. Laughter is how we express the anxiety we feel at this knowledge."[8]
"When distinguishing fact from hyperbole, Barry frequently asserts: "I am not making this up". Among his favorite topics are exploding or flaming items (cows, whales, vacuum cleaners, toilets, Pop-Tarts, Barbie dolls, etc.), dogs lacking intelligence, live blogging the television series 24 and amusing government studies. He labels various posts on his blog with long acronyms, such as OIYDWYMTTY(NY)G ("or if you don't want your mom to think you're (not 'your') gay") and WBAGNFARB ("would be a good name for a rock band"), poking fun at long internet abbreviations."
ANYWAY, the point of that rundown was this, which has pictures and a short video of that part of the inauguration parade. I remember it vividly, but didn't know at the time that Dave Berry was amongst them. Enjoy!