"I roll into the bar late but everyone’s too drunk to care. Mark introduces me to his friends. They’re instantly complimenting me..."

"... even his female friends. I’m cautious about women. Sometimes women get weird around attractive women — even the ones who are just as attractive."

From "The TV Reporter Wondering About Her Date’s Girlfriend" (in the "Sex Diaries" column at New York Magazine)

IN THE COMMENTS:  Known Unknown writes:

Still trying to find the point of the New York Mag story ...

And I say:

I read the whole thing and the point seems to be that life is best when "Nothing’s really going on," which was the time she spent part of a night "watching Shameless and eating... sesame chicken with fried rice and a vegetable egg roll." For the reader who worries that other people are living the real life and having the fun that she/he just can't seem to reach, the answer comes back clear: All that "fun" is not really fun at all, it's a horrid mixture of abuse and boredom, and you're not missing out at all.

"For someone who is dying, the past can be too complicated to contemplate and the future is jarringly unknown."

"Focusing on the present, Zen Hospice Project believes, is where the potential for living most meaningfully — even while dying — exists."

Walk through the front door of the Guest House, as the project’s rambling Victorian home is known, and smell the strong coffee brewing or the homemade chocolate cookies cooling in the kitchen. The cookies aren’t just a nicety. According to Dr. B.J. Miller, the organization’s executive director, piquing the senses is a key strategy to dying well. “No future necessary when you’re in the moment,” he says.

Another death-panelistic article in The New York Times, this one's called "Zen and the Art of Dying Well."

This place sounds exactly like the place that freaked out Frank Gallagher on "Shameless." What episode was that? Anyone know what I'm talking about?

"Jack Carter, a motor-mouthed comedian who became one of television’s first stars in the late 1940s and continued working..."

"... as both a comic and an actor, well into the 21st century, died on [June 28] at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 93.... "

Mr. Carter (he took the stage name in 1941) won the Major Bowes radio talent contest with his impressions and was soon performing at nightclubs and theaters around the country. He joined the Army in World War II and spent much of his service with a unit that entertained at military bases.

After the war he returned to the nightclub circuit. In 1947 he was cast in the Broadway musical-comedy revue “Call Me Mister,” which was nearing the end of its run.

The infant medium of television soon beckoned. In 1949 Mr. Carter was the host of the ABC show “American Minstrels” and then of “Cavalcade of Stars” on the short-lived Dumont network. He had his own variety show on NBC, part of a Saturday-night package with Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows.”...

Mr. Carter made some movies as well, among them “Viva Las Vegas” (1964), with Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret, in which he played himself; “Hustle” (1975), with Burt Reynolds, in which he played a strip-club M.C.; and “The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington” (1977), in which he played a senator. He also directed episodes of “Here’s Lucy” and other television series....

Mr. Carter was appearing on television into his 90s, with roles on “Desperate Housewives,” “Parks and Recreation,” “New Girl” and other shows, most recently “Shameless.” Until late in life he was also still working the condo circuit in South Florida, as he had been since the 1980s, tailoring his jokes to an audience of his contemporaries.

When I saw him on TV in the 1960s, I thought he was one of the old-school comedians of my parents' generation, whose turn on the stage was coming to an end. (My parents met in the Army in WW2, so maybe they saw a Jack Carter show.) But just this past year, I was watching him and loving him on "Shameless," a show my son got me watching. My son (John) writes:

He was hilarious on Shameless, playing the irascible, racially insensitive owner of the neighborhood bar, which is the only time I've seen him. Spoiler alert — it's poignant to think that his last significant performance, shortly before he died, was in Season 4 of Shameless, playing his character's dead body.

"The average age in this studio is: deceased!"

Raping the man... on "Shameless."

I've been catching up with the TV show "Shameless" and just finished Season 1 last night. There are 3 more seasons, which I intend to watch soon. Please, no spoilers about those later seasons.

I've had things to say about the various episodes in Season 1, which I've posted over at Metafilter's FanFare. At Metafilter, I post under the screen name "Alizaria." My son John, who posts under his real name, writes front-page recaps that set up the space for commenting. I wanted to post over here, in part to let you know that this is a show I'm in the middle of watching and to invite you to watch along with me (and maybe talk about it over at FanFare, where there are posts for all the episodes), but mostly because rape is an ongoing topic on this blog, and the subtopic of women raping men has come up from time to time.

If you are interested in this topic, you might want to read what I have to say in the comments to the Season 1 finale "Father Frank, Full of Grace." Obviously, there are spoilers at that link and in the indented quote below. I'll just say that a male character is raped, with clear evidence of rape.

[Frank] was yelling "no," he was incapacitated by drugs, and Karen was physically pinning him down....

Are we supposed to think this is all very funny because the victim is a man or is the show challenging us to notice? I notice!

ADDED: No spoilers beyond season 1.