A possible writer's strike does not scare me. Actually, I have more than enough stuff on DVD to last me quite a while. I guess I'd miss the new episodes of some of the network TV shows I watch, but you know what? I'm not so into anything currently running that I couldn't wait for it to resume. I say, go ahead, strike, get it all settled, and I'll catch up on my backlog of stuff to watch. Or, you know, read.
What DOES scare me, though, on this Halloween is the thought of my Verizon FIOS DVR taking the last step and just nuking all of my stored movies and shows. When I first bought the FIOS package a few months ago, it was great, a real step up over my previous cable provider. Then Verizon decided to fix what wasn't broken and rolled out a new interactive programming guide and screwed up everybody's set-top boxes. I've been seeing more and more bugs, and in the last two weeks, my DVR has been indiscriminately deleting programs, thinking the hard drive was full when it really wasn't. I was told by tech support a fix is on the way in the next week or two. I sure hope so.
In the meantime, I live every day with the awesome fear of losing umpteen movies and various old TV shows. It's a fear that's all too real because I lost tons of stuff when my COX cable DVR went haywire on me. You got to love this convenient, life-altering technology, don't you? Who cares about the strike? I'm worried about losing those Broderick Crawford movies I recorded off Turner Classic before I get a chance to see them all.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
True Confessions: 10/30/07
Welcome to Cultureshark True Confessions, an occasional series in which I spill my guts and reveal some behavior or preference of which I am not particularly proud.
True believers, there must have been something in the air today. Perhaps the onset of All Hallow's Eve is warping my soul. You see, my dark side emerged this afternoon, and while I'm not proud of my actions, I feel I must confess them.
I went to the express checkout to take a book from the local library, and the computer informed me I had a 25-cent fine outstanding. I briefly fingered the shiny new quarter (Louisiana, if you're wondering) in my left pocket and prepared myself to part with it...
BUT NO! The computer was still going to let me check out my book, so why bother? I released the quarter, took the book, and hightailed it out of there without paying my fine.
Yep, it was a rebellious moment, and yes, you could have called me B.A.--and I don't mean Benevolent Altruist. I fled without settling my accounts with the library and took another book to boot. But I beg you, don't judge me. It was a temporary lapse, a mere indiscretion. Halloween does strange things to a man, I tell you...
True believers, there must have been something in the air today. Perhaps the onset of All Hallow's Eve is warping my soul. You see, my dark side emerged this afternoon, and while I'm not proud of my actions, I feel I must confess them.
I went to the express checkout to take a book from the local library, and the computer informed me I had a 25-cent fine outstanding. I briefly fingered the shiny new quarter (Louisiana, if you're wondering) in my left pocket and prepared myself to part with it...
BUT NO! The computer was still going to let me check out my book, so why bother? I released the quarter, took the book, and hightailed it out of there without paying my fine.
Yep, it was a rebellious moment, and yes, you could have called me B.A.--and I don't mean Benevolent Altruist. I fled without settling my accounts with the library and took another book to boot. But I beg you, don't judge me. It was a temporary lapse, a mere indiscretion. Halloween does strange things to a man, I tell you...
Congratulations, BoSox
I wouldn't call myself a Red Sox fan, for one basic reason--I'm not one--but I did root for them this postseason because, well, they weren't the Yankees, and besides, my parents have become big fans since we all went to Fenway Park a few summers ago. I can't help but take some pride in indirectly getting them hooked on baseball and the Sox, and I enjoy the pleasure they get from following the team.
Boston clearly had the best team this year and deserved to win, but it was a great run for the Rockies. There wasn't a lot of suspense this postseason, but the Red Sox are a fun team to watch, so their presence elevated the playoffs somewhat. Good thing I feel that way because it looks like the franchise will be a playoff mainstay and World Series contender for many years to come.
The end of baseball season always makes me a little sad, as it signals the end of summer, the onset of colder weather, and all those other metaphorical harbingers of lost innocence and whatnot. But I have some DVDs of the Pirates when they were actually good--1979--to tide me over till next year.
While I'm at it, let me give a Bronx Jeer to the Yankees for doing their best to upstage the postseason with their drawn-out melodrama over firing and hiring managers. It certainly could have waited a week or two. I won't blame them for the Alex Rodriguez announcement being leaked during the final game of the World Series--I'm assuming that was all Scott Boras--but it was yet another example of how all the stupid Yankee talk dominated baseball discussion.
Forget all that goofy theorizing that baseball "needs" the Yankees to be good, though I suspect on one level there is some truth to that. I just wish the media would give us a chance to really test that theory by not inundating us with Yankee news even when their season is kaput.
Boston clearly had the best team this year and deserved to win, but it was a great run for the Rockies. There wasn't a lot of suspense this postseason, but the Red Sox are a fun team to watch, so their presence elevated the playoffs somewhat. Good thing I feel that way because it looks like the franchise will be a playoff mainstay and World Series contender for many years to come.
The end of baseball season always makes me a little sad, as it signals the end of summer, the onset of colder weather, and all those other metaphorical harbingers of lost innocence and whatnot. But I have some DVDs of the Pirates when they were actually good--1979--to tide me over till next year.
While I'm at it, let me give a Bronx Jeer to the Yankees for doing their best to upstage the postseason with their drawn-out melodrama over firing and hiring managers. It certainly could have waited a week or two. I won't blame them for the Alex Rodriguez announcement being leaked during the final game of the World Series--I'm assuming that was all Scott Boras--but it was yet another example of how all the stupid Yankee talk dominated baseball discussion.
Forget all that goofy theorizing that baseball "needs" the Yankees to be good, though I suspect on one level there is some truth to that. I just wish the media would give us a chance to really test that theory by not inundating us with Yankee news even when their season is kaput.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
What Happens in Laughlin Stays in Laughlin (we hope)
Years from now, as some outlet does a retrospective on the worst of the decade of the oughts, some writer, talking head, or C-list celeb will bring up Viva Laughlin, and we'll all have a chuckle and wonder what CBS was thinking. Even two episodes was too many, but CBS did yank it quickly, so at that indeterminate point in the future, someone may, after enjoying their chuckle, be curious enough to seek out an episode and see how amusingly bad Viva Laughlin was.
Oh, may these words I put type now last until that very time: DON'T DO IT!
Viva Laughlin is, or I should say was, not entertainingly bad. It was just bad. I barely made it through the first episode, and that I did with great discomfort. My wife was able to laugh her way through it, and she enjoyed the experience so much, she came back several nights later for the second, perhaps final installment. I love my wife. I admire her youthful spirit, her sense of humor, and her joy of living. But Viva Laughlin was just bad.
First of all, it was not merely a show where the actors broke into familiar songs every so and often to further the story. A musical of that type could at least get effort points (if not Nielsen points). Instead, the soundtrack burst into songs--original vocals and all--while the cast just sang along. It wasn't original music; it wasn't even karoake. It was the actors singing along to actual music. What in the world was the point?
Then you take an unappealing lead, who was some guy other than Hugh Jackman. Now, that's a problem considering the ad campaign showed off the show's big shot exec producer and spotlighted his stint in the first episode. Hugh sings! Hugh dances! Well, Hugh apparently only performed in the first episode. He only spoke in the first episode, he only hid his embarrassment in the first episode, he only visibly turned over in his head the tax benefits of writing this whole thing off in the first ep--you get the idea. He only appeared in the first episode.
The scrub that WAS the lead of Viva Laughlin doesn't seem a particularly good dancer, singer, or actor. Sorry to be harsh, Lloyd Owen, but I can't believe CBS built a show around you. But at least you're not Melanie Griffith. The show was mostly just dull until Griffith showed up, at which point the Suckiness Factor just exploded beyond known human measurement. Her "duet" of "One Way or Another" with Owen was--yes, I'll admit it--laugh-out-loud funny. Griffith is one of the most overrated "movie stars" of the last 25 years, and this performance is another sign (WB's late, unlamented "Twins" being the other) that she ain't cut out to be a TV star, either.
I got a few yuks from Griffith pretending she has charisma enough to vamp it up like it matters, but after that laughter faded, I was stuck with a really bad show, and one that didn't even have the courage to go all the way with its own gimmick. Again, I ask, what's the point of watching actors sing along to the original versions of popular tunes? Not only that, even though the show is pointedly not called "Viva Las Vegas," of course this show has to spotlight the Elvis standard. A great ditty, to be sure, but a boring choice.
In fact, Viva Laughlin was just that--boring. Got me, Google searchers of 2012? IT'S NOT WORTH TRACKING DOWN. Let this show fade into obscurity. Now, Cop Rock--there's one you might want to get your hands on...
Oh, may these words I put type now last until that very time: DON'T DO IT!
Viva Laughlin is, or I should say was, not entertainingly bad. It was just bad. I barely made it through the first episode, and that I did with great discomfort. My wife was able to laugh her way through it, and she enjoyed the experience so much, she came back several nights later for the second, perhaps final installment. I love my wife. I admire her youthful spirit, her sense of humor, and her joy of living. But Viva Laughlin was just bad.
First of all, it was not merely a show where the actors broke into familiar songs every so and often to further the story. A musical of that type could at least get effort points (if not Nielsen points). Instead, the soundtrack burst into songs--original vocals and all--while the cast just sang along. It wasn't original music; it wasn't even karoake. It was the actors singing along to actual music. What in the world was the point?
Then you take an unappealing lead, who was some guy other than Hugh Jackman. Now, that's a problem considering the ad campaign showed off the show's big shot exec producer and spotlighted his stint in the first episode. Hugh sings! Hugh dances! Well, Hugh apparently only performed in the first episode. He only spoke in the first episode, he only hid his embarrassment in the first episode, he only visibly turned over in his head the tax benefits of writing this whole thing off in the first ep--you get the idea. He only appeared in the first episode.
The scrub that WAS the lead of Viva Laughlin doesn't seem a particularly good dancer, singer, or actor. Sorry to be harsh, Lloyd Owen, but I can't believe CBS built a show around you. But at least you're not Melanie Griffith. The show was mostly just dull until Griffith showed up, at which point the Suckiness Factor just exploded beyond known human measurement. Her "duet" of "One Way or Another" with Owen was--yes, I'll admit it--laugh-out-loud funny. Griffith is one of the most overrated "movie stars" of the last 25 years, and this performance is another sign (WB's late, unlamented "Twins" being the other) that she ain't cut out to be a TV star, either.
I got a few yuks from Griffith pretending she has charisma enough to vamp it up like it matters, but after that laughter faded, I was stuck with a really bad show, and one that didn't even have the courage to go all the way with its own gimmick. Again, I ask, what's the point of watching actors sing along to the original versions of popular tunes? Not only that, even though the show is pointedly not called "Viva Las Vegas," of course this show has to spotlight the Elvis standard. A great ditty, to be sure, but a boring choice.
In fact, Viva Laughlin was just that--boring. Got me, Google searchers of 2012? IT'S NOT WORTH TRACKING DOWN. Let this show fade into obscurity. Now, Cop Rock--there's one you might want to get your hands on...
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
This Week in DVD
Mr. Brooks: Unfortunately, folks, this is not the Authorized Biopic of yours truly, the grand, sweeping epic that details my amazing life. Who am I kidding, that movie would be about 5 minutes long. No, this is the story of Kevin Costner and his psychotic imaginary friend--OK, Costner is playing a character, but come on, it's more interesting to think of Costner killing people as Costner. This time, though, it's not his Robin Hood accent that slays 'em--he's really slaying 'em! I missed this one in theaters, and though it got mixed reviews, I think it sounds interesting. Plus I really hope co-star Dane Cook gets annihilated in this one.
Adventures of Aquaman Collection: I really don't know how many of these old Filmation shorts I can take in a single sitting--catching one as filler every few months or so on Boomerang seems about right--but, come on, isn't it great that these are even coming out? You know how cool Aquaman DVDs will look on your shelf. Oh, you may not pull the box off that shelf, and in fact, it might just sit there inactive next to your Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Flash DVDs, but isn't that kind of fitting?
Burt Lancaster: The Signature Collection: Arguably without his signature roles, but don't blame Warners for packaging some new-to-DVD titles in another of its attractive collections.
Meet the Robinsons: I enjoyed this Disney effort on the big screen--but mostly because it was in 3-D. I think it's a lesser effort from the company, but if your kids are too Philistine to appreciate Aquaman, this might be a good animated pick for them this week.
Adventures of Aquaman Collection: I really don't know how many of these old Filmation shorts I can take in a single sitting--catching one as filler every few months or so on Boomerang seems about right--but, come on, isn't it great that these are even coming out? You know how cool Aquaman DVDs will look on your shelf. Oh, you may not pull the box off that shelf, and in fact, it might just sit there inactive next to your Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Flash DVDs, but isn't that kind of fitting?
Burt Lancaster: The Signature Collection: Arguably without his signature roles, but don't blame Warners for packaging some new-to-DVD titles in another of its attractive collections.
Meet the Robinsons: I enjoyed this Disney effort on the big screen--but mostly because it was in 3-D. I think it's a lesser effort from the company, but if your kids are too Philistine to appreciate Aquaman, this might be a good animated pick for them this week.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Say What? (Part 2)
My on-screen programming guide offers this description for the brand-new Fox Business Channel, one no doubt provided by Fox itself:
"AROUND-THE-CLOCK BUSINESS INFORMATION WITH A BUSINESS-FRIENDLY APPROACH TO THE NEWS THAT FOCUSES MORE ON FINANCIAL PROJECTS THAN SCANDALS."
Given Fox's record of attempting to distinguish itself by tearing down its competitors, we can assume "UNLIKE THE OTHER GUYS" at the end.
First of all, hats off to Rupert Murdoch for once again having the guts to speak out for the big guy. Finally, the media tells the business side of things! Because we never get THAT perspective in the news.
Secondly, I could be wrong here--I'm not a business guy--but isn't that bit about the scandal coverage a little silly? I just can't picture masses of Wall Streeters turning on CNBC or Bloomsburg before they commute in from the suburbs and saying, "Gosh, I'd love to get some financial news on TV, but these guys just won't shut up about Enron!"
I guess that's just Fox's way of saying, "Don't worry, boys, we aren't gonna bring up that nasty ol' stuff. You can count on us."
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