Month: April 2002 (Page 1 of 4)

Even by “60 Minutes” standards, last weekend’s piece on Canada as a terrorist haven was outrageously stupid and biased. The premise was, Canada is a potential terrorist hotbed because of its lax immigration policies and its large immigrant (read: Moslem) population. And watch out – those terrorists could be using Canada as a staging ground for more attacks on the North Americans that matter!

In addition to being incredibly xenophobic, the piece was laughably hypocritical. As one Canadian official finally pointed out, all the 9/11 hijackers were living in the United States at the time, with up-to-date papers.

The graphic for the piece was a Canadian flag with smeared Arab faces peeking through it. I’m not making this up. I kept thinking that Stan, Kyle and Cartman were going to pop onstage and sing “Blame Canada!”

We live in strange times.

I’ve talked about “Trading Spaces” before on this page. It’s a strange yet compelling show on TLC where neighbors redecorate each other’s houses, mostly with horrifying results.

I usually only watch the last ten minutes of the show, since I don’t care to watch them stitch throw pillows from burlap. I just want to see the befores and afters, and watch the reactions of the people as their “new” rooms are unveiled.

Well, today they aired the best “Trading Spaces” ever, bar none. As is custom, the couple were led into their new living room, which in this case had nasty brown paint scored with white lines. All their furniture was covered in dark brown slipcovers. The husband was heard to say about the new room, “Looks like just a lot of firewood to me.” The wife covered her face and strangled out, “I have to leave the room now.”

Then the stunned host and the shocked husband stood mute in front of the camera, as the mike picked up the sounds of the wife sobbing in the other room.

Now that’s compelling television.

Dubious TV scheduling achievements

Tonight on ABC, the two-hour finale of “The Bachelor” (where a man picks over a bevy of attractive single women to find his betrothed) will be followed by a special report on “Primetime Live” about failing marriages, with heavy use of hidden camera footage.

I’ve added a very modest search function to words mean things. You’ll find it at the right. It’s just for simple searches (no ‘this AND that’), and it only searches posts, not comments, but I think it’s useful for now. Let me know what you think.

Coming soon – categories!

Gore Vidal, in his usual provocative way, has said that our campaign against Al-Qaida is like trying to destroy the Mafia by bombing Palermo.

I think that’s a good analogy, and it points out the through-the-looking-glass quality that life has had in the months since 9/11. In a fascinating interview recently Vidal said:

None of the terrorists was an Afghan. They were mostly Saudi Arabian. And the embarrassment is that Saudi Arabia is the center of the plot, and Osama is in with the royal family, his whole family is, and he’s still in with his own family. So the idea that he’s some sort of renegade hiding in the hills, playing Lawrence of Arabia in there, up there in Tora Bora is nonsense. The plot is elsewhere. But we don’t dare go into that, because the oil people who now govern us are too closely allied with the royal family of Saudi Arabia. We haven’t really gone anywhere near where the trouble is.

Something to think about in these lockstep, flag-waving times.

Happy Birthday, Mom.

Adam’s Patented Two-Sentence Movie Review
(everything you need to know, without all that pesky reading)

Murder by Numbers
Sandra Bullock gets bitten by a monkey. Other stuff happens.

Miguel and several others have started a new group weblog about parenting called “Raising Hell.” It’s meant to be an antidote to what he called “the current boring parenting magazines.” Knowing Miguel, it will be anything but boring. Anyone with even a passing interest in children, parents or families will want to give it a try.

“Frailty” is a creepy, profoundly disturbing film. It’s hung over me like a shroud since I left the theater earlier today. The ending may seem like typical Hollywood trickery, and it’s not hard to predict, but for me it actually made the movie more upsetting. This is not your average serial killer movie, which gives off about as much charge in these jaded times as a 40-watt light bulb. This one packs a punch. I can’t say I enjoyed myself, but I was glued to the screen throughout. Excellent performances by Bill Paxton (who also directed) as the father, and the two young actors who play the flashback versions of Matthew McConaghey and his brother.

There’s a lot going on here, but not a lot I can discuss without giving away too much. It would be a great movie to go see with thoughtful friends, and see what their reaction is afterward. But you need a strong constitution, not because of a huge amount of violence on the screen, but because of the implications of what’s not shown.

Recommended? I just don’t know what to say.

Half-Assed Retail Come-On of the Week

“Open a CompUSA credit account! With a purchase of $299 or more, receive a FREE two-liter of Coke!”

-scrawled on a whiteboard at the entrance to CompUSA