Okay, so that part of Oscar Wilde's famous phrase which people quote is only half of what he says.  He goes on a bit longer than that and it's actually a put down.  The full line is 'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness."  But given that this is Tom Hanks who is doing the impersonating, I think we can accept it here and just go with the "known part" of the quote.

It turns out that when Tom Hanks tells stories on talk shows, he likes to dive into character and bring the tales to life.  (Not all of these are celebrity impersonations, and some aren’t even impersonations, but he certainly does go all-in all the time.  As he does here, for 17 minutes.)  I was hoping this collection would include his joyful impersonation of Ron Howard, who he has worked with a lot – and, oh, yes, it does!

Some people put together a website for a Trump Library and, without an ounce of hyperbole, it’s utterly magnificent for the detail and work that went into it. The meticulous craft is stunning – mainly the sections on Exhibits, the Hall of Enablers, and Grift Shop – but even down to throwaway links at the bottom of the page for normal things like “Info/Press” and “FAQ” and “Hotel/Dining” as well as the related venues of the “Covid Memorial” and “Alt-Right Auditorium.”

It’s not just that there’s a page for each of these things, but the whole thing is designed like a real museum.  And beautifully designed.  And extensive, almost too much to make your way through.  The Donations page, which I thought would be very funny, is actually the only serious thing I found with links for donating to liberal causes, including Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

But it’s the details that are so remarkable.  And sometimes to subtle that you occasionally need a closer look to spot the joke.  For instead, my eyes skirted past the Admissions section initially, but itt's only when I crossed by it a third time that I noticed –
 
Adults (Citizens): $25
Adults (Seniors): $10
Adults (Immigrants): $50
Children & Students: free

​For the longest time I had no idea who made this.  I still don't exactly, but I burrowed around and found some clues in the FAQ, and it turns out that the people behind it are an architectural firm in New York City.  But they don't give their name.  However, if one is interested in doing business with them, there is a link to follow-up with them.  Beyond their scathing sense of humor, they clearly know how to design...

There's much too much here to go through it all at one sitting.  But at least do yourself a favor to check it out and see that they put together and spend at least a couple minutes wandering through and admiring the craft.  Even if you just go to the home page and do nothing but let the screen shots change, it will be worth it.
 
You can find the "Trump Library" here.
​​

If you get a pardon, that doesn't mean that the crimes you actually committed and were convicted of didn't ever happen. Nor does it mean that the crimes you really did commit but just haven't yet been charged didn't happen.  It only means that you can't be imprisoned or have further punishment for having done what you did.  Accepting a pardon has the equivalence of a guilty plea, and you still actually did what you actually did.

When you pardon as many mass murderers, remorseless felons. and witnesses who could testify against you as you possibly can, it doesn't change the outcome of the presidential election and you still really lost.

If you pardon someone and then are yourself indicted, they have no Fifth Amendment protection and must testify truthfully against you in court if called as a witness, or they could be charged with obstruction of justice.

So, okay, y'know all those conservative judges whose constitutional philosophy is based on "original intent"? It turns out that the Founding Father were not infallible. No, really.

If you cause a disastrous problem, and then later come back in to do what you should have done initially so that there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place, you don't get to claim "I saved the day.  Love me!"

No matter how many votes you get in an election, if your opponent gets more votes, you lose.

If you spend four years enabling the ongoing petulant, racist, disruptive, anti-democratic and infantile behavior of your party leader, as good as it is to see you finally express great dismay at his latest petulant, racist, disruptive, anti-democratic and infantile behavior, you are still complicit.

​On this week’s ‘Not My Job’ segment of the socially-distanced NPR quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, the guest is comedienne and actress Chelsea Peretti, best known for Brooklyn 99.  Her conversation with host Peter Sagal is about her comedy career, and honestly as much as she seems to push things to be funny and finds it all a hoot, I didn’t find it terribly amusing.  To me it was more snarky and self-reverential.

On this week’s episode of 3rd and Fairfax, the official podcast of the Writers Guild of America, the guest is Sam Boyd, who created the new HBO Max series, Love Life.  He talks about the show, as well as his career with includes writing and directing the feature film, In a Relationship.