Month: November 2006

"Two long-bearded guys spreading ideas that make people lose their faith"

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As much as I dislike the practice of marketing in general, I firmly believe that there is a special, absurdist place in hell for brand managers.

.:.

Speaking of hell, I think it’s inside my throat. Never have I been so tempted to claw out my own windpipe.

OK, maybe I have once before.

.:.

Kansas has one thing going for it: it’s more rational than Turkey.

“The root of the terrorism that plagues our planet is not any of the divine religions, but atheism, and the expression of atheism in our times (is) Darwinism and materialism.”

Riiiiiiiiiight.

[tags]marketing, brand, cough & cold, turkey, muslim creationism[/tags]

Top Ten TV

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Nellie asked for top ten TV show lists. Here’s mine, in alphabetical order:

  • Deadwood (HBO): it took me a while to get into it, and it’s taking me forever to get through it (due to my own time constraints, not the show’s quality) but I’ve come to love the brutal, profane, quirky, startling, treacherous and often hilarious town of Deadwood. Technically, Deadwood’s off the air now, but I’m including it since I’ve only just started season 3.
  • Friday Night Lights (NBC): it hovers right on the border of a soapy teen drama without ever crossing the line, and does almost as good a job as the film did in showing how the twin religions of christianity and football swirl together in small-town Texas.
  • Heroes (NBC): I don’t think their refinement and manipulation of the Lost doctrine — which they’ve wielded pretty effectively to this point — can last, so I’m going to enjoy this while it lasts.
  • It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (F/X): never — on North American televison, anyway — has there been a comedy that so effectively mixed political incorrectness, satire and sheer comic timing. It’s gone downhill since Danny DeVito came on board, but it’s still a hundred times edgier than anything on network TV.
  • The Office (NBC): after hiding in the long shadow cast by the original, the American series has become the only worthwhile comedy on the networks. This show needed three things: Steve Carell had to hit his own non-David-Brent stride (he did), the romantic tension between Jim and Pam had to work (it does) and the timing of the actors — especially the Jim/Tim character’s — had to be impeccable (it is).
  • The Shield (F/X): this is the most ferocious show not on HBO, and Vic Mackey might just be the most interesting character on TV. It’s surprisingly easy to cheer for him and against him at the same time. The supporting cast is excellent, and the last two season-long guest stars — Glenn Close and Forest Whitaker — have put the show into the upper echelon.
  • The Sopranos (HBO): it’s showing it’s age and the schedule is annoying, but there is just no more compelling cast of characters on TV now that Six Feet Under has wrapped. The writers can take any character, even a minor one like Vito, and turn him into a household name in weeks.
  • Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip (NBC): probably the weakest of the ten, but still miles ahead of most network fare. Not as ffrantic as Sports Night and not as meaningful as The West Wing, but still some ahead-of-the-curve writing.
  • The Unit (CBS): speaking of writing, any show written by David Mamet — even a preachy military drama — gets my vote. This show is badly underrated; the action is more intricate than 24, as are the scripts. The show works because of good writing and solid casting: Dennis Haysbert can rock anything, Robert Patrick is T1000-scary as the commanding colonel, the guy who used to be on Felicity (!) is great and even the dude who was on Street Cents fills in nicely. The one redeeming feature of CBS…which is more than I can say for ABC.
  • The Wire (HBO): best show on television. There, I’ve said it.

Shows which didn’t quite make it and, as such, may cause anger in my household

  • Veronica Mars (CW): I just can’t recommend seasons 2 and 3. I’ll admit it, I was hooked on season 1. She was an underdog, she was misunderstood, she was a hardass, she was put-upon…in short, she was compelling. Once you take away the injustice and the righteous anger, though, there’s not much left. It’s still a good show, but I don’t cheer on the inside anymore when Veronica busts a dumbass.
  • 24 (Fox): it’s still tense, I still like Keifer and it definitely keeps my attention, but the writing is awful and they just seem to keep throwing the same story at us over and over and over again. I keep watching, but I’m starting to feel stupid about it.
  • Weeds (Showtime): at first it was interesting to watch them try to make someone so likeable seem so unlikeable, and the sly attacks on suburbia were nice while they lasted, but I grew tired of it all and stopped watching.

Nightly shows that didn’t seem to fit on such a list
The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and Jeopardy: mandatory viewing, all.

[tags]top ten tv shows[/tags]

This publicity stunt is making me thirsty

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The Long Blondes disc Someone To Drive You Home starts off well but takes a dive around song #3. It gets up off the mat for song #8, but quickly falls back down again.

.:.

My cold has pretty much left my sinuses and moved on to my throat. I’m a pretty hack machine right now. On the plus side I worked from home today (so as not to spread my illness around) and am getting a bunch of stuff done that I just can’t seem to get to in the office.

.:.

I’m not totally sure what to make of the Michael Richards thing. I saw the clip and the apology, and maybe I’m just cynical, but I kinda think this is a stunt. Richards’ career is in the tank. He’s never managed to break out of the “Kramer” stereotype. He looks at Mel Gibson, who got tons of free press over his drunken anti-semitic tirade (and who’s essentially gotten off scot free after doing a pile of apologetic interviews and talk show appearances) and thinks, hey, I can do that. Maybe the guy in the audience was a plant, maybe Richards just seized on the first black person he saw; either way, he knew it would get him attention.

Maybe it really is as Richards says, and it was all just a colossal fuck-up. Either way it’s deplorable. But I can pretty much guarantee you Michael Richards will get a primetime interview and some morning show appearances out of this. In a world where OJ nearly gets on TV talk shows and bookstore shelves saying “If I Did It”, anything is possible.

[tags]long blondes, someone to drive you home, michael richards, mel gibson[/tags]

Not a bad day so far, considering I've already had a needle in my arm

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Went to get some tests done this morning, as per the doctor’s orders: first, an “upper GI series”, where they stuck me on this crazy table and x-rayed me a bunch of times while I drank water, alka-seltzer and some kind of weird pasty stuff; second, a quick blood sample. It’s all related to the heartburn I’ve been feeling pretty steadily for the past 6 weeks or so.

The initial tests were at 8:30, and I was done by 8:50. Hardly any waiting, very nice doctor, very cool screen where I could see my own esophagus working, whiz-bang and I was out. The blood test was upstairs, so I waited for a few minutes and then the test was over in about 30 seconds. Usually it’s impossible to draw blood from me; last time I had blood drawn they stuck me twice in each arm before giving up and going into the back of my hand. This woman, however, got me on the first stick and had a full vial in about 20 seconds. I kind of didn’t believe her when she said she was done. Anyway, two tests later and I was on my way back to work by 9:05. Can’t beat that.

The muffin I just ate tasted extra good, as it was the first thing I’ve been allowed to eat in 14 hours. I was also happy to see a sign on the doors downstairs telling all the jackasses to stop hitting the wheelchair button just because they’re too fucking lazy to turn a knob and pull.

[tags]medical tests, wheelchair button, lazy-ass bastards[/tags]

The New World

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Forgot to mention that we watched The New World (imdb | rotten tomatoes) the day we got the new TV. It was a great way to stretch the new system’s legs, as both the picture and the sound were so rich. While I had trouble staying awake through it, that wasn’t the film’s fault; I enjoyed it quite a bit. Terrence Malick’s style turns some people off, and he played fast and loose with the Pocahontas story, but he painted this beautiful picture of evolution and growing older, of leaving behind — sometimes painfully — one phase of our life to move on with the next. I’ve grown to appreciate Malick’s style a little more (I like The Thin Red Line much more now than when I first saw it), and the craft with which he tells stories is undeniable.

.:.

I also finally watched the new(er) director’s cut of Donnie Darko. I’m not sure which version I like better; the director’s cut explains more about what’s going on, but I like that the original was difficult to follow and made you think. I’m even on the fence about the song they use to open the films; the original used Echo & The Bunnymen’s “The Killing Moon”, which seemed to fit perfectly, but the director’s cut used “Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS, which also worked surprisingly well.

I think I’ll have to keep both. I think that if someone ever asks to borrow it, I’d give them the original version first and let them see the director’s cut on the second or third watch. ‘Cause really, it demands multiple viewings.

[tags]the new world movie, donnie darko[/tags]