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January 20, 2015 9:18 AM   Subscribe

 
[facepalm]
posted by Wild_Eep at 9:19 AM on January 20, 2015 [2 favorites]


So those people who have to kill time making small talk while they show off products that people buy while they watch TV spent time debating what The Moon was for an audience that consists of people who buy stuff while they watch TV.

It's still not the dumbest astronomy-related question I've seen on TV*.

*actually a clip of TV I watched on the internet
posted by bondcliff at 9:25 AM on January 20, 2015


The majority of the schtick on The Soup last week centered around this clip. Normally the show is a long set of weird clips with Joel McHale's snarky commentary, but this one was a long set of weird clips with this particular clip repeated several times.

I too loved the model laughing in the background. Someone should have asked her if the moon was a planet or a star, I think she knew.
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:29 AM on January 20, 2015 [2 favorites]


Phil Plait's take on this is quite kind.
posted by savetheclocktower at 9:29 AM on January 20, 2015 [8 favorites]


Isn't the moon a star?
posted by bicyclefish at 9:31 AM on January 20, 2015


It is definitely something.
posted by Fizz at 9:31 AM on January 20, 2015


It's a space station.
posted by bondcliff at 9:32 AM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]


what is happen
posted by Kitteh at 9:38 AM on January 20, 2015 [2 favorites]


Neil DeGrasse Tyson is speaking here in a couple of months, I'll ask him to clear this up once and for all.
posted by enkd at 9:38 AM on January 20, 2015


But things live on it!
posted by Navelgazer at 9:39 AM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


According to QI, the moon is a planet.

(It has become increasingly easy to separate Mr Fry's educated accent from his actual level of intelligence. The man will unquestionably read anything off a card.)
posted by Sys Rq at 9:41 AM on January 20, 2015 [3 favorites]


I didn't get why people got so haughty about this. I just thought it was charming. They were both right and wrong, because each was correctly arguing that "the moon is not a star" or "the moon is not a planet". They just got stuck there because the answer is "the moon is a moon," and that just sounds kinda off.
posted by zennie at 9:44 AM on January 20, 2015 [5 favorites]


The moon can be whatever we want it to be. For this fall's collection.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 9:44 AM on January 20, 2015 [8 favorites]


Whatever it is, we need to cover the Moon in that gorgeous PRINT!
posted by orme at 9:47 AM on January 20, 2015 [5 favorites]


According to QI, the moon is a planet.

If I ever find myself in an elevator with Rich Hall, I will mentioned the words "moon" and "QI." I like to think I will get a free twenty-minute stand-up rant.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:49 AM on January 20, 2015 [2 favorites]


I think this war of the stupids may well have been a tricky distraction from the hideous technicolor barforama of whatever the hell those things were they were supposed to be selling. What are they, anyway? Tunics for starship physicians?
posted by Sys Rq at 9:53 AM on January 20, 2015 [6 favorites]


Wow is that Issac Mizrahi? Is that what he's been reduced to shilling on direct marketing TV?
posted by vuron at 9:54 AM on January 20, 2015


That guy's stool needs a broader pedestal; I kept expecting it to pitch forward with him in it and break his neck and it was nerve-wracking.
posted by jamjam at 9:54 AM on January 20, 2015


I didn't get why people got so haughty about this. I just thought it was charming. They were both right and wrong, because each was correctly arguing that "the moon is not a star" or "the moon is not a planet". They just got stuck there because the answer is "the moon is a moon," and that just sounds kinda off.

I'd be with you here if they hadn't been instantly dismissive of the actual answer when it came, with the guy literally saying that it can't be a natural satellite because things live on it.

That kind of took it around the bend.
posted by Navelgazer at 9:57 AM on January 20, 2015 [3 favorites]


Oh, QVC, you wacky channel!

I remember watching years ago at an elderly relative's house when they were shilling a garment: It was a standard velour track suit jacket available in about six equally horrifying colors.

Actual chatter: "And there's so many ways to wear it! You can zip it, you can unzip it. You can put your hands in the pockets, you can take them out. It's just an incredibly versatile piece!"
posted by mochapickle at 9:57 AM on January 20, 2015 [7 favorites]


I'd be with you here if they hadn't been instantly dismissive of the actual answer when it came, with the guy literally saying that it can't be a natural satellite because things live on it.

Serious question here, is this a trick they teach in broadcasting school? Because it's something I've noticed that DJs do and it always drives me crazy. They (I assume) feign ignorance about something and then they either ponder it out loud for a while or they and their co-host or co-DJ hash it around for a bit. It feels like a way to fill up time without actually needing to say anything.

I know I've seen Letterman do it, though when he does it it feels more like him playing a character so I don't mind as much.
posted by bondcliff at 10:02 AM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


It's too big to be a space station!
posted by rocketman at 10:03 AM on January 20, 2015


I also really wish the model in the back had said, "It is a giant dragon's egg. It is known."
posted by Navelgazer at 10:06 AM on January 20, 2015 [8 favorites]


each was correctly arguing that "the moon is not a star" or "the moon is not a planet".

If you watch the clip again I believe you'll find the great man himself exclaiming that the Moon is "such a planet (he) can't even stand it."
posted by contraption at 10:07 AM on January 20, 2015


You know how every couple years somebody writes a magazine feature about the enormous undertaking of The Daily Show staffers, scanning through a bajillion hours of news footage to pull clips and coordinate segments? And they have this many televisions and that many computers and blah blah. I wish somebody was doing that for HSN and QVC, and I could watch like a 15 minute weekly digest of the highlights.
posted by penduluum at 10:12 AM on January 20, 2015 [2 favorites]


If it isn't a planet, why did we send all those whalers up there?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:14 AM on January 20, 2015 [3 favorites]


the guy literally saying that it can't be a natural satellite because things live on it

He later tweeted that it was Swiss Cheese. Cheese is alive!
posted by zennie at 10:20 AM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


Dear President Obama, this is why we need free community college, feel free to quote me tonight.
posted by vverse23 at 10:20 AM on January 20, 2015 [9 favorites]


The moon is such a planet I can't even stand it.

I am so totally with you, man! It's arguably in a binary orbit about the sun, it's totally achieved hydrostatic equilibrium, and, by the looks the looks of its cratered surface, it's been clearing its neighborhood of something... planetesimals? Maybe!

So these folks stepped briefly out of their depth and they had fun with it. I'm laughing with them, not at them.
posted by rlk at 10:21 AM on January 20, 2015 [2 favorites]


Dear President Obama, this is why we need free community college, feel free to quote me tonight.

God, the speech writes itself!

"America, I'm here to say, the state of the union is, well, fuckit. America, this right here is what is up with America right now, Bobby roll the clip..."
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 10:23 AM on January 20, 2015 [12 favorites]


"America, I'm here to say, the state of the union is, well, fuckit. America, this right here is what is up with America right now, Bobby roll the clip..."

Every SotU would be improved with a few "Roll 212"s.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:28 AM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


I blame Interplanet Janet for portraying the Sun as a fun place to hang out ("It's a gas!") but Mercury as way too hot.
posted by straight at 10:35 AM on January 20, 2015


Wait - so elephants are NOT larger than the moon? DAMMIT! I just lost "Who Wants to be a Millionaire..."
posted by Monkey0nCrack at 10:42 AM on January 20, 2015


Good night Neil DeGrasse Tyson, whispering, "Hush!"
posted by ericbop at 10:46 AM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]


savetheclocktower: Phil Plait's take on this is quite kind.

Phil is doing the tough job of explaining astronomy to people who get it wrong. Like many educators, he takes the patient, polite course of "no dumb statement is a bad statement, but rather a place to start and learn." May the moon men bless 'im.


vuron: Wow is that Issac Mizrahi? Is that what he's been reduced to shilling on direct marketing TV?

The Wikipedia page for him makes it sound like he hasn't had anything high fashion for a while, and that he's been working with QVC since 2010.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:14 AM on January 20, 2015


The moon is not a planet...

Good, good, stand up for the right answer.

... it's a star!

Oh no. No no no no no.

... It can't be a natural satellite because things live on it.

Boom [head explodes].
posted by RedOrGreen at 11:16 AM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


The Soup usually has a few home shopping clips every week, penduluum.
posted by Small Dollar at 11:25 AM on January 20, 2015


Serious question here, is this a trick they teach in broadcasting school?

Ooh! Ooh! I can answer this! Yes. Yes they do. It's called "Talking until you think of something to say." And it takes practice. Lots and lots of practice.
posted by Floydd at 11:26 AM on January 20, 2015 [4 favorites]


I'm dying to know what he thinks is living on the moon.
posted by diogenes at 11:40 AM on January 20, 2015 [5 favorites]


I can't be too critical though. I once believed that the sun is a mass of incandescent gas.
posted by diogenes at 11:43 AM on January 20, 2015 [2 favorites]


That guy's stool needs a broader pedestal; I kept expecting it to pitch forward with him in it and break his neck and it was nerve-wracking.

That's not how stool... oh... you meant something else. Sorry...
posted by Naberius at 12:19 PM on January 20, 2015


odinsdream:
"Wolfram Alpha to the rescue."
Whatever, clearly Wolfram Alpha doesn't even know it's made of cheese.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 12:21 PM on January 20, 2015


Those shirts are really ugly. If you can see them at all, you're way too close.
posted by Daddy-O at 12:48 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


Wow is that Issac Mizrahi? Is that what he's been reduced to shilling on direct marketing TV?

Yes. I believe he has a weekly show; I know he's on pretty regularly. Sometimes when I'm bored I'll watch QVC for just these kind of moments. (See also: Josie Maran staring glazedly at the camera while she slowly rubs argan oil over herself.) The whole thing's kind of hilarious in small enough doses. But every time I see Mizrahi I feel a little bad for him because in spite of being a jackass his old show on Oxygen was actually entertaining. He should've been a contender.

But I've also seen Iman hustling stuff on there and that really did elicit a wow.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:15 PM on January 20, 2015


"The sun is by far the hottiest planet in the solar system and would burn if...burn you...if you tried to eat it."
posted by whuppy at 1:17 PM on January 20, 2015


I saw this the other day, but not until now did I notice the giant picture of a dog in the background.
posted by angerbot at 3:07 PM on January 20, 2015


I overheard the other day:
This crossword is out of date. Pluto isn't a planet any more, it's just a star now.
posted by dmd at 3:08 PM on January 20, 2015 [2 favorites]


He should've been a contender.

Oh, I love Mizrahi. In the first 10 seconds, he's referring to the color green as an experience. Most people can't get away with that. It's wonderful.
posted by mochapickle at 3:27 PM on January 20, 2015


Those shirts are perfectly harmless. The colors are very bright, but pretty tasteful for QVC.
posted by maryr at 3:53 PM on January 20, 2015


The shirts seem aimed at the dental hygienist the other hygienists refer to as "the wild one"
posted by angerbot at 4:24 PM on January 20, 2015 [7 favorites]


I'm fascinated by the rigidly heteronormative and God-fearing world of QVC & HSN, although now that they're basically the WebTV version of Amazon they're not as much fun as when they sold ceramic tchotchkes. But I totally knew this was going to be something Shawn said.

(See also: Josie Maran staring glazedly at the camera while she slowly rubs argan oil over herself.)

I think you mean arrrrrrrrrrrgon oil.
posted by Room 641-A at 5:57 PM on January 20, 2015




From my very sparse knowledge I don't think that Mizrahi ever actually made money with his fashion lines, with maybe the stuff he did for Target being the lone exception. Don't feel too sorry for the guy. These are filmed in his studio so he's rolling out of bed and pulling in money. And... those shirts are hideous. If you had to sell them, you'd be talking about the moon too.
posted by rdr at 2:45 AM on January 21, 2015


Wow is that Issac Mizrahi? Is that what he's been reduced to shilling on direct marketing TV?

I don't really follow this sort of thing but the first time I heard of the guy I think he had a line of clothes at K-Mart so I never thought of him as a really high-end designer.

But that's OK, K-Mart shoppers need attention too.
posted by lordrunningclam at 6:02 AM on January 21, 2015


You folks who keep saying those shirts are hideous - have you ever shopped in a plus sizes section? Really, those patterns are not that bad.
posted by maryr at 8:52 AM on January 21, 2015


Hairy Lobster: odinsdream:
"Wolfram Alpha to the rescue."
Whatever, clearly Wolfram Alpha doesn't even know it's made of cheese.
Whoa, usually I'm not down with the "they put CHEMICALS in our FOOD!!!" contingent, but... seriously, most of that shit shouldn't be in cheese.

Not even American Processed Cheese Food(tm). Which is probably what it is since we landed there first. USA! USA! USA!
posted by IAmBroom at 9:19 AM on January 21, 2015


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