Month: January 2003 (Page 2 of 6)

Shock and Awe. Booyah!

“I would like to go to some third-world country and wash their children…But that’s just me. I’m a mercenary sort of person at heart.”

-ultraperky materialist Melissa, when asked what she would do with Joe Millionaire’s fake $50 million

Is it no wonder I love this show? The best part is that Joe/Evan obviously didn’t catch her mercenary/missionary malapropism. So they were both in the dark, making for a classic pop culture trash moment. On top of that, he picked her to stay over the earnest but pushy and clingy Mojo, even though Melissa is clearly a spoiled, shallow brat.

Amazingly, my favorite, Zora, is still in it. She’s the only one of the four (now three) remaining who doesn’t have that brittle Lancome-counter-chemical-peel-collagen look. She also appears to be a sweetheart, and understandably unimpressed with the flashy trappings of Evan’s pretend wealth.

She’s too good for him, if you ask me.

Sparky’s 34 Things are great as they are, but they are so good that I hope he gets to 100 someday.

Forget Saddam Hussein: J.J. Abrams is an evil genius.

Last night’s “Alias,” billed as a new start for the series, was alternately stupid, frustrating and brilliant. It had some of the most irritatingly outlandish behavior ever on a series that never prided itself on logical thinking. (Sure, Syd, blowing out the door of a 747 is a great way to escape a tough situation.) It threw everything we knew out the window, and unless it’s a huge bluff, radically changed the premise of the show. (The Alliance destroyed?) They even killed off a character and replaced them with, wait for it, an evil double.

But I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. When was the last time any popular entertainment, much less a network TV show, surprised you even a little bit? I’m sure I’m not the only fan who was getting tired of all the “Syd and her dad narrowly escape detection” plots. Abrams, the “Alias” creator, knew we longed for something different even if we didn’t ourselves. Can’t wait for the next one.

Word of the day: apostate

Melissa of Lavender Kitchen has a clean new design and a new domain, howfresh.com. Go there now.

Fascinating graph of GWB’s approval rating from inauguration on, gathering together a bunch of regular polling.

Most people focus on how he’s dropped steadily over the months. (I’m sure he’s looking forward to a big boost, like his dad got in similar circumstances.) But although I guess it’s understandable, it’s a little shocking to see proof of how instantly his stock went up after 9/11. To use just one example, in the ABC poll, he went from 55 percent approval before the attacks to 92 (!) in a matter of days.

Obviously, he didn’t change from a D president to an A president overnight. It’s sad that people so desperate to believe in anything had only him to cling to.

Finally saw the article on weblogs published in the Wisconsin State Journal a week or so ago. (John mentioned it to me, but I was too lazy to look it up. Then Amanda sent me the link.)

I guess I always knew I was just navel-gazing, but thank god there’s the State Journal to confirm it for me. They come out with the thesis right off the bat, calling weblogs possibly “the most profound example of narcissism,” which in this society is saying a lot.

I think the article is an interesting mix of utter cluelessness, and an understandable fear traditional media has developed now that the unwashed masses have the ability to publish without their help. “Oh crap. Now anyone can just write anything they want!“

Yes, there’s a lot of junk out there. But there’s also a lot of fascinating, well-written, provocative, thoughtful stuff that never would have seen the light of day without the weblog format. That should be worth celebrating, even in the State Journal.

(Not that they asked me. *sniff*)

First-Ever One-Word Movie Review on Words Mean Things: “Chicago”

Eh.

Word of the day: quaff