Updating this for no reason at all, really… are any blogs real any more anyway? Well, this one and a few others will be. We now live in Ventura, CA, and are loving life. I’m also creating some cool new web apps and iPad apps. I’ll fill the blog in soon.
OK, not one to complain too much so I want to get all of these in one post. First, I was having trouble watching LSU v Georgia today as I realized I can stand neither Richt nor Miles. Smarm smarm smarm. And Richt seems to want to win some player-voted popularity contest.
And what’s up with LSU and Notre Dame getting the most ridiculous calls in their favor to enable them to win games? All of the “birthers” should put their conspiracy theory energy into that.
Jimmy Clausen should change his name to Jimmy “F**king” Clausen. Not because he’s awesome, but because that’s clearly what he thinks when he thinks of his name.
OK, that covers all of my negative energy.
This game is unreal. Kobe, Ariza and Odom are having crazy good games. I think Odom’s 3s may have been the turning point.
So this catalog came to our house today, a really really low-rent version of Sky Mall called “Home Trends.” Not to put too fine a point on it, but this is an utter waste of paper. I imagine they only use trees which were old and sick to make this catalog — gotta thin out the herd.
Anyway, at Home Trends they have discovered the CFL, and they don’t realize you can get them for less than 5 bucks a pop these days (2 for $16 — the light bulb of the future!). They also highly recommend covering your refrigerator in a sort of contact-paper version of tinfoil as an “instant, affordable update” to give you “‘Stainless Steel’ Without the Price.” A prop to lean against your door — kind of like wedging a chair under the knob to keep the cops out — makes electronic dog barking sounds if anyone pushes on the door.
My very favorite item, though, is on page 42. It helps you avoid identity theft! Shred documents any time, any place! Portable and easy-to-use! It’s a nonelectric personal portable manual paper shredder:
Good stuff
I think a good name would also be the Amish Paper Shredder. Anyway, as you can see in the photo (click it to see the full ad), it’s basically — no, not basically; entirely — a pair of scissors with 4 pairs of blades. Portable! Easier to use than paper “shredders which jam easily!” Use either right or left hand! Just carry it in your purse! Only 12 dollars!
The copywriter for this catalog deserves some sort of award for coming up with things to say about all of this junk.
Seeing as how I was born in the south, much of what happened on King of the Hill hit home — outdoor beer drinking, multiple varieties of ketchup (and catsup!) at the Country Buffet — but what made King of the Hill a successful show for Mike Judge was that he himself actually seemed to like the characters, crazy as they were. Therefore, the viewers could like them and feel a connection.
Now I live in California, so maybe I’ll get a kick out of the skewering he gives his main characters in his new show. While the connection was there for Hank, Peggy, Bobby and even “Rusty Shackleford” himself on Hill, there is not an ounce of love between Judge and The Goode Family. We watched the first episode the other night, and we didn’t even make it all the way through.
And this is what has been happening lately, it seems, when “entertainment” pieces are written to make a political point. Nobody bothers to make the characters the least bit sympathetic. I am someone who finds people trying to raise vegan dogs hilarious — it’s so unnatural that it’s ridiculous on its face, projecting human social distinctions and moral judgments onto an animal that understands little more from us than the sound we make when we want to see him — but somehow, the bitterness made even these jokes fall flat.
Oh, well. When everybody says the show failed because people were against right-wing humor, they’ll be wrong. It will fail because it is mean and shallow, and we all want to care about the characters. For this to succeed, the writers would have to try to find common ground with the people they’re trying to make fun of… but that can be dangerous. Because what if they end up liking some of those people?
ESPN just played U2’s Desire going to a 4th quarter break in the Lakers – Nuggets conference final game 6. Very much appropriate.
Omar Gonzalez of the Los Angeles Galaxy scores his first goal about 1/10th of a second after this photo was taken, Saturday, April 4, 2009 in Carson, CA. Click image to view larger size.
Omar Gonzalez First Goal