Empty Items from a Cluttered Mind

Shocked, I am shocked!

If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what’s an empty desk mean? Empty items from a cluttered mind:

Well, I, for one, find it hard to believe that there could be anything unsavory about the creators of “Rick & Morty,” a show about a sociopathic alcoholic sex addict who abuses his grandchildren.

Hey, and I say that as someone who likes “Rick & Morty.” When I ruptured three discs in my back five years ago, and was in tremendous pain for months, binge-watching “Rick & Morty” was one of the things that actually lifted my spirits.

I think the show has brilliantly poked fun at cliches from science-fiction movies and TV. I also appreciate the show’s willingness to explore really toxic, unhealthy family relationships. (I enjoyed “BoJack Horseman” for the same reasons, even though I sometimes got to the end of an episode and had to take a break for a while.)

Where are we going, and why are we in this handbasket?

If you heard Saturday’s show (repeated Sunday afternoon) you heard a bunch of soundbites from Bert and Ernie of “Sesame Street.” (As opposed to Bert and Ernie of “It’s a Wonderful Life.”)

I don’t mean to disillusion you, but they weren’t in the studio with me — the magic of radio! theater of the mind! — and they also weren’t exclusive to me. Not hardly. They were part of a video series that Elle Magazine has created called “Song Association,” in which celebrities are given a vocabulary word, and then have 10 seconds to think of a song that includes the word.

You can view Bert and Ernie’s entire appearance on YouTube (it’s actually a load of fun — they also sang “If I Had $1,000,000” by Barenaked Ladies, as well as “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” by Randy Newman) and check out the other celebrity videos at the hashtag #SongAssociation. Billie Eilish, Adam Lambert, Olivia Rodrigo and Meghan Trainor have all participated in the long-running series.

If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, what’s an empty desk?

*Artist’s depiction of Jay Thurber, hard at work. (1906 New York Zoological Society photo, Library of Congress collection)*

The late Phil Musick referred to them as “some things I think I think.” I call them “empty items from a cluttered mind”:

Today is “Wear a Hoodie to Work” Day, in honor of John Fetterman, who is being sworn into office as a U.S. senator at 12 noon.

In response, Republicans and Dr. Oz have declared today “bring crudites to work day.”

If Ben Garrison is going to war with Scott Adams, my biggest question is: “How much popcorn should I make?”

Adams is the cartoonist behind the comic strip “Dilbert,” while Garrison is a political cartoonist whose work has been widely shared on the Internet.