Monstrous Miscellanea
Oct. 31st, 2010 01:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatActually, most of these items aren't particularly monstrous, but it IS technically Halloween. Unfortunately, I'll be working tonight. Boo! (Um, that's an "I don't like this" kind of boo, not the ghostly variety.)
1.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bethje and I went on another hayride on Thursday night. This one was at a nearby garden center, and it was fun, but the wagon sped through the ride. Don't they usually make an occasional stop so you can see something more clearly? They did use blacklights, though, which made it so you couldn't see what was coming up. Overall, I liked the one at the firehouse better, and it was cheaper as well.
2. Our most recent movies from Netflix were Martyr and Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue. The former was a weird French film with lots of torture, directed by a guy who claims to be in love with himself. It was certainly interesting, but I found the beginning so confusing that it was a little hard to pick up the plot even after it started to make sense. Also, it took a supernatural turn right near the end. The latter was a documentary about American horror movies through the years, and how they reflected the times in which they were made. Interesting, although I felt some of associations were reaching a bit. There were several horror directors who appeared in this, including John Carpenter and George Romero, both of whom come off as hippies.
3. Something I just thought of recently was how the Weird Al Show had a brief riff on Bill Nye called "Phil Frye the Science Guy."
And, of course, Futurama has a character named Philip Fry.
And Fry's voice actor, Billy West, was on Al's show as the randomly screaming announcer. Coincidence? Well, yes, considering that Fry's first name is Philip in honor of the late Phil Hartman, who was still alive during the Weird Al Show's run. Still, I'd never thought of the connection before. By the way, why hasn't Al been on Futurama yet? Yeah, he made a brief appearance, but I mean a speaking part.
4. Speaking of Bill Nye, what is it I've heard about his selling snake oil? Hey, Bill, I thought your whole thing was that you were an actual scientist! I guess the recession is hard on everybody.
5. Working as a cashier gives me ample opportunity to read tabloid headlines, and consequently to be annoyed by them. A recent cover story on Us Weekly claims that Justin Timberlake cheated on Jessica Biel with Olivia Munn. I have to say I approve of this. After all, when's the last time you saw Jessica Biel ride a unicorn?
But then, I don't really get Jessica's appeal at all, although I have to suspect that's largely the fault of 7th Heaven and that craptacular Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. As far as I know, there isn't a thread of truth to the Us story, but does it even matter? I prefer the tabloids with the headlines about how Nostradamus predicted that the President would be a space alien, but I don't think we have that kind where I work.
6. We went to the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, and I have to say it came off as rather ill-prepared. I guess it's difficult to tell how many people will show up for a free event, but they really needed to have more of those Jumbotron sets or something. We ended up getting there late, and there were some screens not too far away, but I couldn't see them for the trees (and I mean that literally). Also, the sound wasn't that great anyway, and the people behind us who just kept on talking didn't help matters. What I particularly loved was when they would complain that they couldn't hear anything. Well, gee, maybe if you'd SHUT THE HELL UP, you'd be able to! What I did manage to catch was funny, although I think I would have preferred it if it had been more satirical. I mean, I got the impression that the whole thing was basically a humorous reaction to Glenn Beck's rally in August, but they barely even made fun of that! Still, you have to give credit to a show that includes dueling songs about trains by (the artist formerly known as) Cat Stevens and Ozzy Osbourne. On the way back home, I found out that Keith Olbermann didn't appreciate Jon Stewart's insinuating that all cable TV news personalities are the same, but since Jon is on cable himself, I have to wonder if he was entirely sincere. Beth and I discussed it a little, and she pointed out how Stewart had made fun of other people in the past for being passionate even when it made sense, as with Anthony Weiner's recent rant. But then, maybe that's part of how, despite what Bill O'Reilly or Rick Sanchez might tell you, Stewart makes a definite effort to be non-partisan, even though I suspect most of his fans fall on the left side of the political spectrum. Even though I like Stewart and The Daily Show, I tend to prefer Stephen Colbert because he's pretty much never serious, and hence a more effective satirist. Plus, we both have that mismatched ear thing going on. Anyway, I wasn't able to get any pictures of what was actually on stage at the rally, but I did photograph some of the more amusing signs and costumes I came across. Check out the set on Flickr.
Happy Halloween, everybody!
1.
bethje and I went on another hayride on Thursday night. This one was at a nearby garden center, and it was fun, but the wagon sped through the ride. Don't they usually make an occasional stop so you can see something more clearly? They did use blacklights, though, which made it so you couldn't see what was coming up. Overall, I liked the one at the firehouse better, and it was cheaper as well.2. Our most recent movies from Netflix were Martyr and Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue. The former was a weird French film with lots of torture, directed by a guy who claims to be in love with himself. It was certainly interesting, but I found the beginning so confusing that it was a little hard to pick up the plot even after it started to make sense. Also, it took a supernatural turn right near the end. The latter was a documentary about American horror movies through the years, and how they reflected the times in which they were made. Interesting, although I felt some of associations were reaching a bit. There were several horror directors who appeared in this, including John Carpenter and George Romero, both of whom come off as hippies.
3. Something I just thought of recently was how the Weird Al Show had a brief riff on Bill Nye called "Phil Frye the Science Guy."
And, of course, Futurama has a character named Philip Fry.
And Fry's voice actor, Billy West, was on Al's show as the randomly screaming announcer. Coincidence? Well, yes, considering that Fry's first name is Philip in honor of the late Phil Hartman, who was still alive during the Weird Al Show's run. Still, I'd never thought of the connection before. By the way, why hasn't Al been on Futurama yet? Yeah, he made a brief appearance, but I mean a speaking part.
4. Speaking of Bill Nye, what is it I've heard about his selling snake oil? Hey, Bill, I thought your whole thing was that you were an actual scientist! I guess the recession is hard on everybody.
5. Working as a cashier gives me ample opportunity to read tabloid headlines, and consequently to be annoyed by them. A recent cover story on Us Weekly claims that Justin Timberlake cheated on Jessica Biel with Olivia Munn. I have to say I approve of this. After all, when's the last time you saw Jessica Biel ride a unicorn?
But then, I don't really get Jessica's appeal at all, although I have to suspect that's largely the fault of 7th Heaven and that craptacular Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. As far as I know, there isn't a thread of truth to the Us story, but does it even matter? I prefer the tabloids with the headlines about how Nostradamus predicted that the President would be a space alien, but I don't think we have that kind where I work.
6. We went to the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, and I have to say it came off as rather ill-prepared. I guess it's difficult to tell how many people will show up for a free event, but they really needed to have more of those Jumbotron sets or something. We ended up getting there late, and there were some screens not too far away, but I couldn't see them for the trees (and I mean that literally). Also, the sound wasn't that great anyway, and the people behind us who just kept on talking didn't help matters. What I particularly loved was when they would complain that they couldn't hear anything. Well, gee, maybe if you'd SHUT THE HELL UP, you'd be able to! What I did manage to catch was funny, although I think I would have preferred it if it had been more satirical. I mean, I got the impression that the whole thing was basically a humorous reaction to Glenn Beck's rally in August, but they barely even made fun of that! Still, you have to give credit to a show that includes dueling songs about trains by (the artist formerly known as) Cat Stevens and Ozzy Osbourne. On the way back home, I found out that Keith Olbermann didn't appreciate Jon Stewart's insinuating that all cable TV news personalities are the same, but since Jon is on cable himself, I have to wonder if he was entirely sincere. Beth and I discussed it a little, and she pointed out how Stewart had made fun of other people in the past for being passionate even when it made sense, as with Anthony Weiner's recent rant. But then, maybe that's part of how, despite what Bill O'Reilly or Rick Sanchez might tell you, Stewart makes a definite effort to be non-partisan, even though I suspect most of his fans fall on the left side of the political spectrum. Even though I like Stewart and The Daily Show, I tend to prefer Stephen Colbert because he's pretty much never serious, and hence a more effective satirist. Plus, we both have that mismatched ear thing going on. Anyway, I wasn't able to get any pictures of what was actually on stage at the rally, but I did photograph some of the more amusing signs and costumes I came across. Check out the set on Flickr.
Happy Halloween, everybody!
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no subject
Date: 2010-10-31 06:03 am (UTC)I appreciated Jon taking digs at a wide range of cable news personalities. I used to enjoy watching MSNBC but recently, although they've always been more left-leaning than the others, it's gotten too extreme for me. I mean I'm a huge raging atheist liberal but there's so much negativity lately and it's a huge turnoff--especially when it comes to Keith. He's always tried to counter the crazy people on the right but often he's very petty and I think it cheapens his overall arguments. Even though some of the things in that montage were taken out of context and might have been justified, I think the majority of what's offered to people today is harsh and extreme and over-delivered to rile people up, which is the point they were making.
Also I think Keith has a hard time taking criticism. Haha.
Anyway, if Stewart took a jab or two at people who didn't deserve it as much as the others, I like that he at least tries to be non-partisan, even if he's totally not. That's kind of why I mostly watch CNN these days. Even if they're obviously not completely non-partisan, I like that they attempt to be (even to a fault sometimes).
I agree about Colbert too. He's always hilarious and joyful and non-serious. Not that there isn't a place for seriousness, but it's so nice to be able to watch something you can just laugh at.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-01 06:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-01 07:13 pm (UTC)