Commercial Inquiries

Do you notice a lot of commercials start with questions? Have advertising experts determined this is a successful tactic to get peoples' attention, because people instinctively pay attention when asked questions?

Usually the question comes at the start of the commercial. Wherever it comes, though, I usually start answering. When some rube says "What's in your wallet?" I start with "ummm...a coupon for a free Diet Dr. Pepper...my PETA membership card....uh...a library card...maybe four dollars...a coupon for a free cinnamon dessert at Papa Murphy's...do you want me to keep going?" I don't think the commercial actually cares.

Start answering aloud whenever a commercial asks a question. It's fun, because if you're with people and they're not paying attention to the commercial (they usually aren't, and even if they are, they don't expect you to answer) they suddenly think you're talking to them about something else. Enough non sequiturs, and you could get committed, and then you get a break.

Television Confuses Me

I don't understand how reruns work. For the last two months or so, I have been confused by the tv schedule. It seems like every other week is a new episode and every other week is a rerun. I get all excited to watch certain shows, and then they either aren't on (like New Christine last week) or they are reruns (like Grey's Anatomy last week and the Monday CBS comedies today). I wish shows would just do new shows for a couple months straight and then do a bunch of reruns. At least then I would know what to expect.

Kings

Kings is a good show; I don't have mixed feelings. Watch it. Watch full episodes online.

TV Coverage of the Tobacco Tax Rocks!

It's not the stock footage of people smoking that makes news coverage of the cigarette tax fun.  It's when the network sends cameras out to find angry smokers willing to talk about how they're discriminated against, proudly proclaiming they'll still be smoking and they'll quit when they're ready.  That's fun times.

Drugs Are Bad

I know we usually stick to local interest stuff, but I found this amusing.

Saybrook man wanted to feel pain of shot

I wouldn't have given this article a second thought, but then I read this:

"The stepbrother did shoot Fortune and then began to cry and so did Fortune, according to the report."

Can you imagine seeing this happen?  What would it take for a stoned guy to convince you to actually shoot him?  I wonder what kind of logic he used to convince his brother that shooting him in the leg was a reasonable thing to do. 

The whole thing is just insane.

Respect the beard

I like when a male television character is going through something and he grows a beard.  The beard conveys gravitas, and a turning inward.  It shows internal conflict ("I have had neither the time nor the shallow vanity for my appearance, for I have been wrestling in my soul") and earned wisdom ("not only am I old enough and manly enough for a beard, but I have struggled for the self-knowledge this beard signifies").

Respect McDreamy's beard.

WHMFASS Urban Legends

If your dog chews on toilet paper, don't use that toilet paper, or you'll turn into a werewolf.

Leftovers: living frugally, well

Reheated spaghetti or rice doesn't sound appealing. But if you mix in fresh vegetables with the leftovers, you've got an appealing, tasty meal. Mix fresh food in with the leftovers, and the enjoyment of the meal improves greatly.

The Best Hour of Comedy on Network Television

In my opinion, it is not NBC's Thursday night combo of The Office and 30 Rock. It is CBS's Monday night combo of The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother.

Both The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother have what most quality sitcoms feature: unique, unpredictable characters and very sharply written dialogue. But they are also both unique, and it is their originality that makes them particularly entertaining.

The Big Bang Theory often relies on conventional sitcom situations. What it does, however, is thrust odd, eccentric, smart, and creative characters into these conventional situations, and observes how these characters will play out the familiar situations. The result is often an unfamiliar storyline, unexpected plot twists, extremely funny actions and reactions.

How I Met Your Mother often transcends the conventional "situation," though often has familiar features. And the characters are unique, creative, and funny--they drive the show. But How I Met Your Mother often operates with unconventional narrative form: frame stories, non-chronological stories, stories told in pieces and from multiple perspectives. These narrative styles are familiar to students of literature, but How I Met Your Mother brings them to the sitcom in original and entertaining ways.

The shows treat their audiences like intelligent human beings. The result is an hour of television that is unpredictable and authentically funny.

Being Bourgeoisie

Perhaps in college I could smirk at various excesses of American consumer life and say "Ah, that's so bourgeoisie."  But as the skinhead in Tony Harrison's poem "v." writes, "now yer live wi' all yer once detested..."  Now I'm constantly doing things that make me say, "Gosh, this is so bourgeoisie."

My regular coffee order?  An iced soy latte.  Is there anything in the history of civilization as bourgeoisie as an ICED SOY LATTE?

And as I take my pet POODLE for a walk (yes, a lapdog), and she finds it right and salutary to poop onto the sidewalk, I bend down with a plastic bag and pick it up.  That isn't quite as bourgeois as an iced soy latte, but still makes me want to call myself a pig.