Rosewood Lane

Lisa and I watched 'Rosewood Lane' this morning, a soft horror film about a woman (Rose McGowan) who moves into a house in the 'burbs and is terrorized by a nutso paper boy who seems to have supernatural powers. It's pretty solid. I think the movie should have been over ten minutes into it, when she should have caved in his skull when he broke into her basement to stalk her, but whatev. Grade: B-

My Thoughts - PBS

IMO, spending $450 million on PBS each year, to duplicate programming found on multiple stations and online, seems like a questionable use of our resources. This isn't 1975, when we had 3 stations and PBS was a breath of fresh air. 

Please skip the Big Bird/Elmo line of bull - Sesame Workshop earns a gazillion dollars in marketing and licensing. They don't need our pity, or our tax $ - move to syndication or a private network and they'd do just fine. 

 And for those who trot out the line that $450 million is chump change for the Feds, well, you're right - but it's that kind of thinking and ready acceptance of it that led to the waste in Washington in the first place.

Ted

I watched "Ted" this morning. It's ridiculous and low-brow, vulgar and devoid of any plot points you haven't seen 1000x before (well, maybe not the teddy bear on cashier sex; that was new). My verdict? Funny as hell. I LOL'd time and again and had tears streaming down my face. I didn't wet my pants laughing, but that's probably just because I'm dehydrated. Grade: A

What Would You Do?

Unpopular opinion of the day: few shows bother me more than “What Would You Do?” on ABC, the hidden camera show that professes to reveal how your average person reacts when exposed to a given situation in a public place. On its surface it’s a nice, wholesome show that shows plenty of Average Joe’s protecting the weak, minding the innocent, and doing right by all.

 I call foul.

Sometimes the situations are clear cut, say someone drops their wallet in a shopping mall, a man is beaten, a woman is verbally assaulted or a child is left seemingly unattended. These are ‘duh’ situations and devoid of ambiguity. Too often, however, there is an agenda at play. Underneath the benign surface the show is a bully pulpit enforcing the media’s idea of what’s right – aka, what’s Left – and using the power of television to force any and all objections to the side. It’s horribly slanted to portray X as righteous and any objection to X as wrong. Likewise it works to label anyone with an objection as misguided and ignorant , someone who would only act and behave ‘better’ if educated by the host  John Quiñones 

Legitimate objections?  Intellectual disagreements? A conscience?

“Blech, there’s no such thing!”, sayeth ABC.

Here’s the deal. I do think it’s in poor taste for a woman to breast feed her five year old in the middle of a restaurant. Yup, I do. I do not think illegal immigrants should be idealized and pitied, any more than I think they should be demonized and hated. I do not think any couple, regardless of race or gender, should make out in the booth next to me, unless that booth is situated in a strip club. I do not think it is any of your damn business if and when a parent decides to ‘force’ his kid to eat something on their plate, punishes them (without violence) or make them get a haircut and I question why you are perfectly ok with someone butting in during those private moments. If someone forces their child to steal from me because that family is hungry, I will not coddle them and say “that’s OK Bunkie”. If you had asked, I might have bought you some groceries; I have done so before. But if you steal and plead hunger, I call foul. Get food stamps. Go to a soup kitchen. Visit the food pantry. And don’t you dare call me ‘ignorant’ – I’ve had plenty of rough times, and I know what it’s like to stand in line for government cheese, thank you kindly.

So in summary: do not pretend you are the arbiter of good taste or conscience, and don’t confuse “politically correct” with “correct”. Your show is a sham, and I do not like it sam I am. I do not.

Here endeth my rant. 

Another Blast from the Past - Photobooth pics (remember those?) from 1995

The Avengers

I finally got around to watching "The Avengers" last night. I thought it was a very good movie, strongly written, well acted, and it smoothly merged several film franchises into a single great buddy flick. Plus it had that great quote about the world spinning on, which was worth the rental alone. That said, while I enjoyed it, it left me kind of empty. I was just a spectator until the final battle scene, when I caught myself grinning and even LOL'd once. I don't think that connection should have required two hours of foreplay, but again, I still recognize it was a great superhero flick. Objective grade: A; personal grade: B/B+

Smiley's 2nd Grade School Picture

Quote

“Until such time that the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on."

3-2

Even with two players yet to play, I've won my fantasy matchup for the week - against the current (but soon to be dethroned) division champion, and with a 25 pt margin (to date). 3-2 on the year baby!

Plus Theeeeeee Yankees take 1-0 lead over Orioles in the ALDS with a 7-2 victory!.

A So So Day

With Lisa at work i wasted an hour waiting at a hair cutting place, then had to leave (or felt I had to leave) when the kids came home sooner than I expected. There are moments - just moments mind you - when I hate my life.

Update: I've been home with Smiley for a half hour now and just noticed a deep dark shiner on his right eye. (he spent the weekend at Grandma's). He traces the black eye to a dust-up with Lu on Thursday before dance, but if so I can't blame her either; I saw the argument, and the injury was an accident.

Two pics of Junie to lighten the mood: