Month: December 2002 (Page 3 of 4)

My favorite uncomfortable pop culture moment of the week

Tom Brokaw was on “The Daily Show,” talking about the watches he bought in Baghdad with Saddam Hussein’s face on them.

Brokaw: I got several, actually.
Jon Stewart: Really? I would love to have one of those.
Brokaw: Well, maybe you’ll find one in your Christmas stocking this year.
[PAUSE]
Stewart (stage whisper, behind his hand): I’m a Jew!

My only prediction about the effect of Trent Lott’s comments praising Strom Thurmond’s segregationist bid for the presidency in 1948 is that the whole thing will be quickly forgotten.

?I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We?re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn?t have had all these problems over all these years either.?

Yeah, that’s easy to misinterpret. Words. mean. things.

Melissa has introduced me to the joy that is Boy on a Stick and Slither. (My current favorite, although I really like this one too, due to my disdain for online personality tests. And this one. Wait, I forgot this one.)

Hope you like it too.

“I hate saying ‘partner’ too. It sounds like we own a Mailboxes Etc. together.”

-Comic Judy Gold, on what to call her female lover

One thing Xkot did for me while I was in Jacksonville was expand my pop culture horizons with a course in Buffy 101. It’s a show that all the cool kids seem to be watching, but I just never got into it. It’s not even that I watched it a little bit and didn’t like it; I just never watched it, and at this point I thought it was too late to get into it.

Well, Xkot ably provided enough background that I was able to watch the show last night without feeling too lost. And I really enjoyed it. It was gently funny and sweet, and while it wasn’t particularly scary, I don’t think that was the point of this episode. Now I want to go back to the early seasons on DVD.

I also really like Joss Whedon’s “Firefly,” and greatly enjoyed the episode I had taped while in Florida. The show is already going on hiatus or is cancelled, depending on who you talk to.

Apparently when it comes to good shows, I either don’t watch them for years, or I watch them right at the beginning and they are immediately axed. This is not a good trend.

A former client sent me a mass mailing today that was addressed to “Tammy Blust.” Not sure what this means.

At least they got the last name right.

Big thanks to my brother Matt, who graciously hosted me over the weekend at his hacienda. He gave me a fun and stress-free weekend, and for that I am deeply grateful.

I thought I would give NetFlix a try, just to see how it would go. I really like going to my neighborhood video store, Bongo Video, but I’m a technological guy, and renting DVDs online seemed like a fun idea.

So I signed up the Saturday before Thanksgiving. They said my initial movies would arrive on Turkey Day. Well, nothing ever arrived. I reported them lost on the site, and received no notification or anything. I sort of put it out of my mind and went to Florida.

Well this morning I thought, I’ll call them and see what’s up. This was definitely a “I want to speak to a person” situation. After searching high and low for a phone number on the site, I couldn’t find it. Big, big mistake. You’re a service company and you don’t list your phone number? I know you want to limit the phone traffic, but this is ridiculous.

Finally, after clicking on “cancel my account” (!), they displayed the phone number. Oh, great. (They also apparently give you special deals if you indicate you want to cancel, deals not offered to the poor saps who don’t click the “cancel” button. Another mistake.)

The good news is, I got through to an actual human person, and he said he would credit my account for the first month’s charge, and resend the movies. I’m not holding my breath.

Adam’s One-Sentence Movie Reviews

I thought I should write a little something about the movies I’ve seen lately. But in order not to take up too much of your time, I’ll limit each to one sentence.

Die Another Day
Pretty much what you’d expect.

Analyze That
No reason to exist.

Far From Heaven
Loved the art direction – straight from 50s melodramas – and loved, as usual, a movie taking a chance on something different.

Real Women Have Curves
Simplistic but sweet and good-natured.

The best part of RWHC was the audience – my brother and I were the only people under 80 in the theater. There was much loud exclamation and narration, especially during the one (tame) love scene. My favorite part was when one lady, probably wandering back from the restroom or the concession stand, couldn’t find her way back to her seat. So ensued this loud conversation:

Lady: WHERE ARE YOU?
Her friend, just feet away: I’M RIGHT HERE!
[repeat 10 times]

For everything we did that we regret, there’s probably 20 things we didn’t do that we regret. Here’s to stamping out those 20. Life is short.