A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

"IF YOU WANT SOMEONE TO COME AROUND TO YOUR POINT OF VIEW, IT'S NOT WISE TO CURSE AND THEN TELL THEM THEY'RE IDIOTS:" The year's not even halfway through yet, but this profile of Judd Apatow (and his posse) in the NYT Magazine is a contender for the ALOTT5MA-y for Outstanding Magazine Profile. Two particularly interesting observations in there worth discussing:

• Aren't The 40 Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, for all their explicit content, essentially morally conservative films? One is about a guy saving himself for true love, and the other is about the need/desire to a make a relationship work "for the kids."
• While the comedy in vogue in the late 90s (Sandler, Carrey) took the "I'm a loser, so let me exert my rage on someone else" angle, Apatow's films (both as writer, director, and producer) are about internalized rage and self-loathing rather than the desire to hurt someone else.

The observation in the title (from Apatow in the article) also strikes me as a significant lesson (and one I'll freely admit I've had my difficulties learning and implementing) in a wide variety of areas, including, but not limited to, politics, but that's for another blog.