Teepee vs. Wigwam: The Debate Continues

[vovat]

On Saturday night, I watched My Son, the Fanatic with bethje, who had seen it before in her film class. It was definitely an interesting film, but I really don't know why Netflix lists it as a comedy. Sure, there were some comedic parts, but I definitely don't think it came off as such overall.

And yesterday featured a new Sunday night animated lineup, so here are my thoughts. For an episode with such a wacky premise (a ten-year-old getting a driver's license and dating a pregnant teenager kind of seems more like a Family Guy plot, although I guess Bart DID have a fake license before), last night's Simpsons was actually a little subdued. Neither Bart's nor Lisa's lie (and I guess there was some nice thematic unity in that both of them were defrauding someone) really resulted in as much trouble as might have been expected. It was decent enough, though, and I did like how Homer's shenanigans were in the background, rather than the focus of the episode. A few of the jokes, like the businesses in the Flammable District and Bart's fantasies of favors the Mayor could grant him, were very much in classic Simpsons style. Also, North Haverbrook seems to have recovered from the monorail fiasco since the fourth season.

Family Guy did something that had been done in a somewhat recent Simpsons, with the protagonist thinking someone other than the man who had raised him might be his real father. The Simpsons writers obviously didn't come up with this plot concept, but I suppose the fact that both shows did it fairly recently shows how a lot of plot ideas just keep cropping up in different programs. Peter's real father turning out to be almost exactly like him might have been a bit predictable, but I liked Brian's sheepdog equivalent. (Incidentally, has it ever been explained why Peter's parents were separated? Someday I need to go back and watch the earlier episodes that I missed the first time around.) I think the funniest part of the episode was how neither Peter nor Lois had any idea how old Meg was.

Last week, rockinlibrarian told me she had had a dream that I was hiding E.T., so it's a nice bit of synchronicity that there was an E.T. parody on American Dad. It was interesting seeing someone who saw Roger being an alien as something cool and novel, and the abusive relationship angle added a clever twist. And the Mr. Pibb subplot was pretty funny. By the way, the TV Guide page says that the kid was voiced by Patton Oswalt, whom I sometimes get mixed up with Dick Van Patten. I guess they WERE both guests on The Weird Al Show. Actually, about all I know about Patton aside from that was that he opened for Camper Van Beethoven before. I think that was him, anyway.

The other day, I was de-friended by someone who'd semi-randomly LJ-friended me a little while ago. It's curious to me how fickle some people are about such things. I mean, I've had total strangers add me out of nowhere, only to remove me after a day or two. Maybe it's my breath? :P

And courtesy of shadarko (who friended me a few years ago without my really knowing who he was, and, for whatever reason, still hasn't de-friended me), a panhandler admits that he's most likely not Jesus. I love how, even when he's apologizing, he refuses to totally give up the scam. If you can find it in your heart to forgive him, please send one dollar to "Sorry Dude."

Comments

[jenhime.livejournal.com]

I've had the quick friend/defriend before too. It seems that there are some people on LJ who friend everyone who's recently updated (somehow) and then defriend them with in a day or so. I'm not sure what the point of that is...

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I sometimes wonder if people who do that know that you can read someone else's journal without adding them as a friend.

[vilajunkie.livejournal.com]

Ever get a friend add from some mysterious stranger named silent_and_calm? I have, and the really strange part is that I got the message about the friend add, but I don't show up on his friend list, and he doesn't show up on mine. He (she?) has randomly added people nonstop apparently. The reason why he adds people? His page has a FAQ that simply says "Goodness knows." I have never, ever heard from him again except for that friend add message. *Twilight Zone music plays*

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Ever get a friend add from some mysterious stranger named silent_and_calm?

Not as far as I can recall, although I DID once get a comment from someone who apparently just leaves nonsense comments on random journals. While I found it a little annoying at first, in retrospect, there's something about the sheer ridiculousness of the situation that appeals to me. These people don't want to sell anything or express a viewpoint, but simply to provide a moment of bewilderment to a total stranger. Sort of a much less bitter version of Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged from Life, the Universe, and Everything, perhaps.

[kristenjarrod.livejournal.com]

Back when I was younger and had more time I'd totally add random people (even the dreaded friends only journals), and sometimes I'd unfriend them a few days later once I actually read their entries (no wonder they were locked!).

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I usually only add people as LJ-friends after I've had a little bit of back-and-forth conversation with them and checked out their journal, which is hard to do if it's friends-only. Well, unless they add you first, I suppose. But then, it often seems to be the people with the totally friends-only journals who are the most likely to abruptly de-friend people.

[kristenjarrod.livejournal.com]

But then, it often seems to be the people with the totally friends-only journals who are the most likely to abruptly de-friend people.

Yeah, that too. The paranoid emos.

There's this one girl, she's been my LJ "friend" for like 4 years, and I used to read her journal. But then she just got real moody (a few months after adding her) and shit and started disabling the comments off of entries and stuff like that and telling people who weren't her LJ friends to take her off their friends list, and she kept on baleeting and making new journals. I finally filtered her out of my friends page two years ago. I noticed she stopped commenting in my journal too as of I dunno, middle of last year?

I don't know why I never just put my foot down and taken her off my F list years ago.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

But then she just got real moody (a few months after adding her) and shit and started disabling the comments off of entries and stuff like that and telling people who weren't her LJ friends to take her off their friends list

That really doesn't make any sense. If her entries were public, non-LJ-friends could read them even if they DIDN'T add her as a friend. So what difference does it make whether they've added her?

[kristenjarrod.livejournal.com]

Ack, I worded that wrong. This girl told people to take her off their friends list. By then she had locked her journal up pretty tight, and on her profile she said that she wasn't going to add anymore people so don't even bother adding her as a friend.

Hello

[(Anonymous)]

I'm new here, just wanted to say hello and introduce myself.