Berghoff's will always be there.

I'm watching Swingtown. A show about a couple moving into an affluent northshore suburb kinda like Wilmette, but they don't name the town. It's 1976, a year that I can only just barely remember, and their neighbors are into partner swapping. Someone just said "Berghoff's will always be there." And anyone who knows Chicago knows that this is not the case.

I'm not sure why I like this show so much other than the women are amazingly hot. I was never all that nostalgic about the 70's. I've loved every James Lileks sendup of the era. And if you haven't seen the gobbler, you don't know the Internet. What's interesting about this show is how normal the 70's look. The hair, the clothes, the crazy wallpaper, all that shit you see in any show about the 70's is there, but in this show, it looks normal. That's what gets my attention. Usually, when you 70's hair, or 70's shirts, you say "holy fuck look at that 70's hair!" In this show, it all seems normal, like it did back then when I was 5, 6 and 7. If you're a hardcore TV junkie, this show might just be for you.

Oh, and it's about wife and husband swapping and it's on network TV!! That's some kind of a sign of something or whatever.

Check it out.

The most hilarious family in America

I have shit I need to be doing, and really don't have time to be posting this, but it's too good not to share.

Some Brit came over here and filmed a documentary on the Westboro Baptist Church. I thought Jesus Camp was pretty funny, but it only had a few moments that really made me laugh out loud. My favorite was when some lefty radio guy tells the youth pastor that she's going to hell for indoctrinating kids with republicanism. And there were a few other worthwhile moments. But Jesus Camp has exactly shit on this one. The Westboro congregation is non-stop comedy gold. I really shouldn't be watching this, but I can't stop. It's too good. The whole hour-long documentary is there online. Below, I've transcribed the scene that made me realize that there was just no way I could stop watching and that I would be longing for more when it reached the end:

Reporter (R): "Where are we going?"

Westboro Member (WM): "We're going to a picket here at the Jew church."

R: "What did you say?"

WM: "The Jew church."

R: "That sounds a little anti-semitic when you say 'the jew church'."

WM: "These people hate God and worship the rectum."

R: "The rectum?"

WM: "Yeah, the rectum."

R: "That sounds insane when you say that!"

WM: "They worship that which they desire. That which makes them feel good."

If you miss this show, you're regret it for the rest of your fucking life.

Update: Okay, I've watched the rest of it, and no, it doesn't ever quite reach the greatness of that scene again, but it's still worth watching to the end.

The main thing I'm left with after watching this is for the love of fuck and all that's holy, there has to be a dance mix somewhere with that "They worship the rectum." quote as a sample. If there isn't, there really should be.