When a reviewer or critic who gets into a tradeoff of critical praise or "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" situation. Implicitly or by agreement, one reviewer exchanges praise (often fatuous) with another in the hopes his inflated regard will find its way into publicity, advertising copy, book-jacket blurbs and the like and increase the other's visibility (and sell more books). The favor is expected to be returned, and at some point is. Probably descended from the literal use of logrolling as a pioneer sport, in which neither participant can stay on the round, floating timber unless one is pedaling frantically one way, one the other, although the symbolism invoking a mutual-gratification pact analogous to masturbation cannot be denied.
In the 1980s, SPY magazine ran a regular column called "Logrolling In Our Time" giving exact instances of such tit for tat.
In the 1980s, SPY magazine ran a regular column called "Logrolling In Our Time" giving exact instances of such tit for tat.
-- "Oh, God. This is logrolling at its worst. A___ says on the dust jacket of B____'s new novel that 'a new American voice is born.' Three months later B____, now bestselling author, says that A____'s latest textbook is 'unchallengeable in its supremacy in this field.'"
-- "They belong to a mutual admiration society, intellectually speaking."
-- "I'm sorry; did you say "intellectual mastur---"
-- "Shhh!"
-- "They belong to a mutual admiration society, intellectually speaking."
-- "I'm sorry; did you say "intellectual mastur---"
-- "Shhh!"
by al-in-chgo June 13, 2013
A long, convoluted anecdote, often told simply to result in a sentence that consists almost entirely of puns.
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One classic shaggy dog story involves a man named Hugh who is out to stop a couple of monks from growing flowers for money:
"Remember Hugh, and only Hugh, can prevent florist friars."
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"Remember Hugh, and only Hugh, can prevent florist friars."
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by al-in-chgo March 13, 2010
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Jerry Garcia was a grizzled and bearded band leader in the decade before his death, but he still had a comparatively young face.
Jerry Garcia was a grizzled and bearded band leader in the decade before his death, but he still had a comparatively young face.
by al-in-chgo May 24, 2010
The cliche "hard-and-fast solution," as in "American energy independence offers no hard-and-fast solutions," upon mishearing becomes a Pornality (q.v.) and figures into the more risque examples below:
"Liz, I've been drinking too much, there isn't going to be any harden-fast solution in bed tonight."
"Uncle Joe, I'm sorry your love life is on the skids but if you're looking for a harden-fast solution there's always Viagra."
Thom -- "Quick-setting concrete for your breezeway! That can be your harden-fast solution!" Timm -- "Don't talk dirty."
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"Uncle Joe, I'm sorry your love life is on the skids but if you're looking for a harden-fast solution there's always Viagra."
Thom -- "Quick-setting concrete for your breezeway! That can be your harden-fast solution!" Timm -- "Don't talk dirty."
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by al-in-chgo May 23, 2010
"I'm not going to argue with you any more! We're just going 'round and 'round, and I won't get on that circumbendibus again!"
by al-in-chgo February 13, 2018
The tendency of some American male Olympic hopefuls competing for medals in individual figure-skating to wear campy costumes (even more sequined than the Asian skaters'), or tight, self-designed get-ups in the most fashionable colors, usually showing a broader bodice with no chest hair, but more boob than the more run-of-the-mill glitzy skater's costume.
This tendency is sometimes accompanied by demands of the sort observed at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, if not earlier, for special favors such as switching rooms in the athletes' dorm to bunk with a special friend. On the ice, when they perform well, they look fabulous and the viewer can feel the narcissism coming through the television; when they perform poorly, they look fabulous despite the gaffes and the viewer can nonetheless feel the nacissism coming through the television, often simultaneous with oblique on-air comment by the network's sports journalist referencing their "controversial" pre-rink behavior.
This tendency is sometimes accompanied by demands of the sort observed at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, if not earlier, for special favors such as switching rooms in the athletes' dorm to bunk with a special friend. On the ice, when they perform well, they look fabulous and the viewer can feel the narcissism coming through the television; when they perform poorly, they look fabulous despite the gaffes and the viewer can nonetheless feel the nacissism coming through the television, often simultaneous with oblique on-air comment by the network's sports journalist referencing their "controversial" pre-rink behavior.
"Jeremy, I can't believe what I just saw! That American kid made such a poor showing. He fell on his ass and didn't even make the top fifteen. But he strutted off the ice, mugging for the cameras, and looking like he was about to burst the leather straps holding his vest together out of sheer pride or sheer gall."
"Chad," there just ain't no gay like USA Olympic Gay."
"Chad," there just ain't no gay like USA Olympic Gay."
by al-in-chgo February 19, 2010
Judgment City is that part of town where all the buildings are of medium height, usually located near expressways, and built between the early Sixties and the mid-Eighties. Its style is some variation on International Style as exemplified by the almost inevitable flat roofs with HVAC equipment forming a "sore thumb" addendum to the roof lines. Judgment City gets its name from the sterile corporate complex that is the setting for most of the plot of Albert Brooks' satiric comedy DEFENDING YOUR LIFE.
Beige is the predominant theme of Judgment City -- beige for the cast-concrete slabs that form some buildings, most bridges, and practically all covered parking structures attached to those buildings that no longer are surrounded by enormous asphalt parking lots. Beige also shows up in more overtly pseudo-sophisticated building techniques like pebbled walls (usually more concrete but with a deliberate random design), or the vertical walls with pretend fluting that are made of a whiter shade of concrete.
Judgment City areas generally push retail and housing to its edges because in these neo-downtowns, rents are too expensive to support low-rise concerns.
If, however, you come across a newer area that is not flat-roofed and beige, but equally corporate with such building features as monopitch or steepled roofs, ziggurat-edged walls and exposed structural elements like gray PPG plate glass or red girders, you've gone beyond Modern into Post-Modern: Legoland. (See "Legoland".)
Beige is the predominant theme of Judgment City -- beige for the cast-concrete slabs that form some buildings, most bridges, and practically all covered parking structures attached to those buildings that no longer are surrounded by enormous asphalt parking lots. Beige also shows up in more overtly pseudo-sophisticated building techniques like pebbled walls (usually more concrete but with a deliberate random design), or the vertical walls with pretend fluting that are made of a whiter shade of concrete.
Judgment City areas generally push retail and housing to its edges because in these neo-downtowns, rents are too expensive to support low-rise concerns.
If, however, you come across a newer area that is not flat-roofed and beige, but equally corporate with such building features as monopitch or steepled roofs, ziggurat-edged walls and exposed structural elements like gray PPG plate glass or red girders, you've gone beyond Modern into Post-Modern: Legoland. (See "Legoland".)
-- Recall that in Albert Brooks' movie DEFENDING YOUR LIFE, the newer retail outlets in Judgment City, like nail salons or frozen-yogurt shops, were going up on the edge of town.
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by al-in-chgo May 20, 2011