Saw Rachael Leigh Cook on The Daily Show tonight, and I have to agree with one “Josie and the Pussycats” reviewer who said she “looks like she had plastic surgery directly on her DNA.” Scary.
Month: April 2001 (Page 2 of 7)
Very interesting thing going on at Plastic. A while ago I said Plastic was cool, but their design had way too much chartjunk, i.e. boxes and other elements that clutter up the page rather than impart information. Well, they’re at least demoing a new design that’s so much better in this regard. (You may have to click ‘switch views’ to see the new design, but that’s cool since you can instantly see the difference between the old and new.) They heard me! They really heard me! 🙂
My friend Patti is quick to say that I was raised by the TV. I’ll confirm that – they just plopped me in the cardboard box with the hole cut pointing at the TV, and tossed a pork chop in there occasionally. (Just kidding, Mom.) So I have intensely ambivalent feelings about TV Turnoff Week, currently in force. I understand that many people watch TV just as an anesthetic or as a habit. But I also get really ticked off at people who love to tell everyone within shouting distance that they “never watch TV,” at the same time getting that face on like they are tasting a lemon. You just know that those are the people secretly glued to the set for the entire “Facts of Life” marathon on TV Land.
As for me, they’ll have to pry The West Wing, Survivor, King of Queens and The Simpsons from my cold, dead hand. So there.
Two new additions to the carnival that is “words mean things”: a links page and an about page. You can reach them through the links at left. Enjoy.
Speaking of parents, it’s my mother’s birthday today. Rather than get all goopy and sentimental (and I definitely could – she is a flat-out amazing woman), as a tribute to her I offer one of my favorite moments from that other Mom paragon, Marge Simpson:
Marge: I just don’t understand what ‘being cool’ means. Kids, am I cool?
Bart and Lisa (look at each other, then simultaneously): No.
Marge: Well, I don’t care. I don’t care whether I’m cool or not…….And that makes me cool, right?
Bart and Lisa (bored, simultaneously): No.
More interesting art by way of my father.
My current favorite advertising slogan:
Nothing says ‘I love you’ like flame-broiled beef.
My cable lineup has added something called the Product Information Network (PIN) – an all-infomercial channel. For me, this is something like sending a case of Ring Dings to the home of a member of Overeaters Anonymous every week. I can’t get enough of these fake earnest sales pitches. My current favorite is for something called Bloussant, a pill women take that is supposed to increase their bust size. They even splurged on some Tron-level graphics which show the green 3-D outline of a woman’s chest with, apparently, air being pumped into it. When Arthur C. Clarke envisioned the future, I don’t think this was it.
There are two categories of funny TV shows: smart funny and comedy club funny. Smart funny, whose apex came with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, gets its laughs from characters; comedy club funny, with current examples like The King of Queens, gets its laughs from situations. This is not to say that comedy club funny (which I thought of calling ‘sitcom funny,’ but they’re all sitcoms) can’t be hilarious and entertaining. I don’t miss KofQ, and the brilliant Fawlty Towers is perhaps the apex of this type. But for the long haul, smart funny rules. Discuss?
“Hello Kitty has no mouth, but man can she hum.” Hilarious. (thanks to Moira, who truly exemplifies that words mean things)