Latest news with #mediocrity
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Marc Maron calls the current podcast landscape 'mediocre'
Marc Maron is not interested in being just another podcaster in a sea of mediocrity. In a new interview, the comic — who recently announced the end of his popular and long-lived podcast "WTF" — criticized the current podcast landscape as awash in meh. 'Things were better before everyone had a voice,' Maron told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Wednesday. 'Now there's just hundreds of groups of two or three white guys, sitting behind mics, talking about the last time they s— their pants as adults. We live in a world of mediocre afternoon drive-time radio.' 'A lot of yammering in makeshift studios. It's lowering the bar for everything,' he added. Maron started 'WTF' in 2009 out of his garage, where he interviews guests. Through the years, he has talked to comedians, actors, musicians and even a sitting president. During an episode with comedian John Mulaney in June, he announced the show will come to an end 'sometime in the fall.' Distaste for mediocrity has been a theme for the comic in recent weeks. 'The world has changed a bit and, you know, the sort of uniqueness of whatever the hell's happening," Maron said during his appearance last week on the "Howie Mandel Does Stuff" podcast. "There's enough people yammering in the world." In his latest comedy special, Maron pokes fun at how certain podcast hosts are, in his eyes, pandering to the far right. 'If Hitler were alive today, I think he'd probably appear on Theo Von's podcast,' the comedian jokes in "Panicked," which premiered Aug. 1 on HBO. In his podcast, Von explores various topics, including his struggles with drug abuse and mental health, with different guests — who include politicians as well as comedians. Maron continues by playing out a scene in which the comedian host of 'This Past Weekend With Theo Von' questions Hitler about the amount of meth the Nazis consumed. At one point, Maron impersonates Von blaming the hate Hitler had on the amount of drugs he did. 'WTF' continues with episodes coming out Mondays and Thursdays until it ends in the fall. Maron did not respond to a request for a comment before publication. Get notified when the biggest stories in Hollywood, culture and entertainment go live. Sign up for L.A. Times entertainment alerts. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Wittenmyer & Williams: Sound the alarm. Here's how to wake up the sleepy Cincinnati Reds
Wittenmyer & Williams is a regular point/counterpoint column from Enquirer Reds reporter Gordon Wittenmyer and sports columnist Jason Williams. This week, they debate if the Reds need a new plan as the trade deadline approaches. Wittenmyer: I saw your headline the other day on the Reds being "boring." I started to read the column, but then I fell asleep. So what's so "boring" about them? Williams: They're basically the same team they were at this point last year. They're a .500 team. They win four in a row, and a week later they lose 3 or 4 in a row. They epitomize mediocrity, and they're not showing anything that suggests that's going to change anytime soon. Snooze. Wittenmyer: I'm sorry, I dozed off again. Look, you're not wrong about who they are as a team, but I'm not sure where the boring part comes in. They have some exciting pitchers, including the rookie Chase Burns. They've got one of the most exciting young players in the game in Elly De La Cruz, and they play hard. Isn't that what fans want to see? Williams: Sure, if it comes with winning. Playing hard should be a basic expectation for anybody who gets paid to play. And winning should be a basic expectation for anybody who pays for a ticket. We've seen this scrappy, underdog act for a long time. We've seen hot prospects make their much ballyhooed debuts and the short-term injection of excitement that comes with it. We've even seen the Reds go out and get the best available manager in the game. What we haven't seen is winning consistently. Wittenmyer: Aren't you the guy who said you liked that they finally had a plan and "trust the process"? Williams: Yeah, I did. But I'm not sure anymore what they're plan is. Jeimer Candelario? He's gone. $20 million for Nick Martinez? Are you serious? How many times are you going to go back to the Christian Encarnacion-Strand well? And why is Elly still playing shortstop when Matt McLain is better there? And what's it all gotten the Reds? Constantly fighting to stay around .500. Is that the plan? Wittenmyer: As a wise man once said to me, "trust the process," right? The big questions I have for you are: First, did you think the process was going to be easy? And second, what's your solution for it now? Williams: If the Reds want to salvage the plan, there's a trade deadline coming up. Be aggressive. Go big. Make this team better now and make sure that they're making it better as they look to next season, too. Wittenmyer: Are you talking about trading Hunter Greene? That could get you a lot of help now and for next year, and it's obviously aggressive. Williams: Yes, seriously shop him. If you can get enough back, you still might have enough starting pitching to keep your team strength intact. Didn't you write about this already? Wittenmyer: That's why I was asking. What I think they need – and what I think you're saying you want – is the kind of impact players that they don't have. They've got good, young players. They have one or two who might be great. But if they're going to win in October for the first time in 30 years, they need more impact. They need more great. Williams: Now you're getting it. To be clear, I'm not necessarily saying they should be a buyer or a seller at the deadline – or even trade Greene. But they have to pull themselves out of the muck in the middle of the league. Wittenmyer: Good luck with that in a league with two $700 million players and the top three payrolls in baseball. Williams: If you'll let me finish, what I'm saying is they can't just sit on their hands. Wittenmyer: You mean, they can't just "trust the process." Williams: Dammit, let me finish. They can't just do nothing at the deadline like they basically did the last two seasons. I go back to what Jonathan India told you after last year's deadline: "We didn't buy or sell. It was weird. I can't really make out what we did." Two years ago, the Reds needed a starting pitcher. Instead, they made a minor move and traded for lefty bullpen help and missed the playoffs by two games. That can't happen again. And before you call me a hypocrite, yes, I agreed with them sitting tight at that time and taking a more long-term approach with a roster full of rookies. We've seen enough now to know what needs to come next. Go decisive or go home – and stay home for the playoffs. Again. Wittenmyer: I'm sorry, I dozed off again. Can you repeat that last part? Williams: Which part? Wittenmyer: I got most of it. Just tell me what you said after they're basically the same team. This story was updated to add a gallery. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How to wake up sleepy Reds ahead of MLB trade deadline
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Sammer: Germany has lost football identity, average sold as top class
Matthias Sammer, Borussia Dortmund consultant and TV pundit speaks during an interview ahead of the UEFA Champions League soccer match between FC Bologna and Borussia Dortmund at Renato dallZAra. German football has lost its identity and should stop selling mediocrity as world class, former national team player Matthias Sammer has said. Fabio Sasso/dpa German football has lost its identity and should stop selling mediocrity as world class, former national team player Matthias Sammer has said. Sammer, a Euro 1996 winner who later became a Bundesliga coach and German Football Federation sporting director, told Monday's edition of Kicker sports magazine that striking a balance between tradition and innovation has not worked. Advertisement "German football has lost its basic identity and with it its main strength," Sammer said. Sammer said that possession football and tactical flexibility through the influence of foreign coaches were necessary but had been rated higher than traditional values which were dismissed as "old school." "What does German football stand for today? We are head over heels in love with tactics and possession, have improved by adopting them, but we have lost essential things," he said. "As you can see from our football history, us Germans have always been united, robust and compact as a team. As a team, we were a machine. Today, we're just a little machine at best." Advertisement Germany are four-time World Cup winners and have three Euro titles. The last title came at the 2014 World Cup, they went out in the group stage of the past two editions, and finished fourth and last at last month's Nations League finals. "We are still stronger at glossing over things than at critical analysis. German football must learn again not to sell average as world class," Sammer said. He named the Euro 2024 home tournament, where Germany went out in the quarter-finals against eventual champions Spain, as a prime example. "The quarter-final at Euro 2024 was sold to the public like a title," he said. "But we no longer talk about the unpleasant things." Advertisement Sammer insisted that "the best must be our benchmark" again in the future in order to be successful again. Referring to Sammer's statements, former Germany captain Lothar Matthäus said in his Sky TV column on Monday that he didn't quite share Sammer's grim assessment. 'German football has always been about mentality," the 1990 World Cup winner said. "We've always believed in ourselves to the end and that's why other teams didn't want to play against Germany. "That was the case 40 years ago and we've also seen it recently with the U21 national team," he said, referring to the U21 team's run into the final at the recent Euros. Advertisement But Matthäus agreed with Sammer that "we are not as good as we sometimes say we believe we are. "Of course there is something missing, Matthias is right there, but we are not far off the top, although the Nations League went bad again," he said. Matthäus said that efficiency in front of goal was the main problem, and would welcome a debate on this issue. "(Coach) Julian Nagelsmann and (sporting director) Rudi Völler can't just gloss over everything, but you also have to realise that there is a lack of composure in finishing and of experience," he said.
Daily Mail
13-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Any pride women felt about Rachel Reeves being the first female Chancellor has been flushed down the U-bend of spend, spend, spend
Labour has always had a woman problem and now it has the woman problem to end them all. Quite how Rachel Reeves has risen through their muppet-rich ranks without trace – to be fair, she did lie on her CV – and became Chancellor of the Exchequer is one of the mysteries of the age. Yet here she is, this mistress of mediocrity, wrecking the economy without a care in the world. Armed with only her boxy separates, freshly ironed fringe and a faint grasp of economics, Rachel from Accounts marches ever onwards in her mission to improve life for the 'ordinary working people' in this country. Whomsoever they might be. It is certainly not me. Is it you?
Daily Mail
20-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Big clubs claim PSR is holding them back - but here's the REAL truth that their incompetent bosses would rather you didn't know, writes OLIVER HOLT
As the Premier League season crawls to an end with what some would like to believe is the grand flourish of a grim battle for fifth place and a spot in a Champions League that has very few champions in it, some among the billionaire boys' club that make up our elite teams are already seeking excuses for their rank mediocrity. Their go-to defence, which they dare not speak too loudly because they know how absurd it makes them look, is that their ambitions are being thwarted by the restrictions placed on them by Profit and Sustainability Rules.
