Stratovania

On Saturday, bethje and I went on our first haunted hayride of the year. This was the same one in Marlboro that we went on last year, and therealtavie and Sean came with us again. I have to say it was kind of disappointing, especially for fifteen dollars per person. There were a whole lot of haunted events at this place, and I have to wonder if they stretched themselves too thin. It also didn't help that the wagon was covered this time, or that we were on the same ride as some rowdy guys who thought it was hilarious to ask every costumed girl for their phone number.

It was nice to get a Simpsons Treehouse of Horror that actually aired before Halloween, and really this year's was pretty good when compared to other recent ones. All I'd read beforehand about the first segment, "School Is Hell," was that Bart and Lisa were transported to Hell when they read an Aramaic incantation on a school desk. Not the most original premise, perhaps, but they pulled it off with a plot about Bart deciding to attend school in Hell because he was actually good at it. There were a lot of quick jokes that were quite amusing, including the names of the subjects and the books. The guy who was damned for docetism was also funny. Overall, it was creative and actually Halloween-themed. The second was "A Clockwork Yellow," which began as a fairly straight Clockwork Orange parody, but then threw in a hodge-podge of references to other Stanley Kubrick movies. I didn't get all of them, but neither did the Comic Book Guy, so I guess I shouldn't feel too bad about it. "The Others" was easily the weakest, but even it had its moments. The premise, that the Simpsons' house was haunted by the ghosts of their old Tracey Ullman selves, was good; but it seemed like they weren't sure where to go with it. Having the modern Simpsons all either commit suicide or get murdered seemed unnecessary. I did like the ending, though, with the arrival of multiple Simpsons families in different animation styles and the callback to the old picture-taking short. I'm actually kind of surprised they didn't use the Griffins from Family Guy as one of the rip-off families. Speaking of which, the newest FG wasn't bad, but it was very by-the-numbers. At least they didn't air this one along with last week's Simpsons, as they both had the family trying to run a food-based business. And that brings us to the question of why they haven't been airing new Bob's Burgers episodes. Apparently there won't be another one until November. Hasn't Fox learned yet that interspersing animated shows with live-action ones doesn't work?

I recently finished the second book of Pogo comics, Bona Fide Balderdash, which collected the strips from 1951 and 1952. I don't have that much to add from my review of the first volume, but it definitely holds up even though it was originally published long before I was born (in fact, my parents were born in 1951). This collection sees the beginning of political satire in the strip, with Pogo running for President.

I'm going to be seeing Robyn Hitchcock live next month. I've been listening to his earlier stuff recently, but he's released so much music over the years that I really have no idea what to expect in concert.

It's the beginning of February, so I suppose it's time to wish everyone a happy Candlemas/Imbolc/St.Brigid's/Groundhog's Day. I've written about this odd set of holidays in earlier posts, but essentially we're looking at a pagan Irish festival co-opted by the Christians. In honor of the patron saint of Ireland, I was sick all day yesterday. Wait, that's not related to St. Brigid at all. Oh, well. Anyway, I think I feel better now, and I don't have work today, which is always good.

I thought the most recent Simpsons episode, which I finally got around to watching last night, had an interesting premise. Jeremy Irons (or is that Jeremy's Iron?) provided the voice for Moe's bar rag, which narrated its experiences over the past thousand years. There was a bit of fantasy episode to this one, since it put familiar characters in historical settings, sort of like "Margical History Tour" or some of the Halloween segments. Bizarre, but interesting enough simply for the novelty, and some good historical jokes along the way. I felt that the subplot with Bart and Milhouse, while enjoyable enough, didn't really fit into this one. Since it never really tied in with the bar rag's story, I think it might have been better used in a different episode where it could have been less awkwardly incorporated. Oh, well. As for Family Guy, they did another more serious episode this time, which they seem to be doing quite a bit as of late. Doesn't it seem like they could space these out a bit more? As for the actual issue addressed, it always irritates me when people refuse to get medical treatment for their kids because of some religious reason. It hasn't occurred to you yet that prayer is remarkably ineffective? I wish Lois' speech at the end would actually convince some Christian Scientists in real life, but I really doubt it would.

Am I alone in thinking Thanksgiving is a pretty lame holiday? You'd think I'd like a day devoted to eating, but turkey is something I can have a little of and not need more for a while. Why couldn't it be about eating shrimp? Anyway, even though I worked that day, it wasn't until evening and I was able to have dinner with bethje's family. Her mom is one of eight, so they have a pretty large family. Not all of them show up, but enough do to make the basement awfully crowded.

On Friday, I took Beth to see Peter Tork at New Hope Winery. There had been a Monkees tour earlier this year, but it was canceled prematurely, and she likes to see the former Monkees when they come to the area. He played with his band Shoe Suede Blues, and neither of us are all that keen on blues music, but it was pretty good. They did four Monkees songs in their set: "I'm a Believer," "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You" (I guess he felt Neil Diamond wasn't getting enough promotion already), "Daydream Believer," "Last Train to Clarksville," and "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone."
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While I like the idea of an audience poll for The Simpsons, I don't think Ned Flanders and Edna Krabappel really work as a couple. I mean, I thought it was a fine idea for one episode, and maybe could last a few more if the writers have enough ideas, but keeping them together doesn't really seem right. Then again, I supported Edna and Principal Skinner as a couple, and the writers decided to do away with that one. I haven't voted, though, I guess because I don't want to get in the way if a lot of fans really DO want Ned and Edna to stay together. As for the episode itself, I liked that several of the characters who mentioned having been with Edna actually had in previous shows (Comic Book Guy in "My Big Fat Geek Wedding," Moe in "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story," Joey Kramer from Aerosmith in "Flaming Moe's," and of course Skinner over the course of several seasons). With that in mind, though, it's odd that they apparently forgot Ned had been on a date with Edna before, although it was really just to make Skinner jealous. And even if we ignore that, Ned should at least know Mrs. Krabappel, since they interacted a fair amount in "The PTA Disbands." I guess I'm just a much bigger geek than anyone involved in making the show. {g}

Also aired on Sunday (although I didn't get around to watching it until today) was Family Guy's take on Return of the Jedi. The show included a whole lot of jokes about this one was kind of half-assed, and maybe it was, but I still thought it was pretty good. I do think that, by this time, they've used up most of their good Star Wars jokes, but they still did quite a bit that worked. I remember when I saw the last FG Star Wars parody, and discussed with revme how we hoped they'd work in a reference about all the weird relationships, like Stewie playing Chris and Lois' father. They never actually did, though, which was kind of disappointing. Oh, well. I'm also not sure what was up with the interminable head-nodding scene, but that's probably just because I don't remember that part of the original movie very well. Also, since they brought in American Dad and Cleveland Show characters, it's kind of weird that a major player like Joe would have still been available to play Jabba the Hutt. Or did he play other characters in the first two parts?

I have a bad habit of assuming that, if someone doesn't get back to me right away, it's because I've done something to offend them. I realize this is ridiculous, especially considering that I'll often take upwards of a week to respond to comments and such. So I'm both paranoid and hypocritical, I suppose. Really, though, there have been times when I think I really DID offend someone to the point they didn't want to talk to me anymore. Back when I was in college, there was one girl who liked my web page and exchanged e-mails with me a few times, but stopped when she said she was joining a sorority and I said they came across as pseudo-communist organizations. Probably not the smartest thing to say, but I still kind of feel that way. I remember when I was doing some preparation work for a church book sale, and some sorority girls were also helping out, and there was just a real sameness to all of them. You know how, in A Wrinkle in Time, the people of Camazotz don't look identical, but they're all somewhat the same, and it turns out that they all share one giant brain? That's basically how sororities come across to me. Maybe not all of them, but it's what comes to my mind. But I digress. Also, a few years ago, somebody added me on LJ but then suddenly removed me a few months later, and when I asked about it she said something about how I was mean to her friends. The main thing I can remember arguing with her friends about, though, was how I think "natural cures" are most often bunk. I'm sure I could have been more tactful in both situations, but it still confuses me a little. It's not like I was being personally insulting, at least as far as I could tell. And anyone who's been reading my journal for a while knows that I often criticize religion, but if anyone religious has stopped following me because of that, they really kept it on the down-low. So what I've gathered is that it's fine to bad-mouth people's deeply held convictions about the very nature of life and the universe, but not to point out that herbal supplements are highly unlikely to cure cancer. Good to know, I guess.

bethje and I had a bit of a delay in watching last Sunday's cartoon lineup, but we finally did on Wednesday night. I really don't have much to say about the Simpsons episode, which just struck me as kind of trite. While plot lines based on a character discovering a hidden talent have practically infinite possibilities, I think they're starting to get a bit overdone. This time, we find out Homer has a knack for cutting hair, and he opens his own salon. I was amused by Homer's reaction to the constant chatting, however. One thing I wondered was that, in the scene at Moe's when Homer starts remembering everyone's foibles, why does he have one for Ned Flanders? His wife is dead, remember? I think it did just say "stupid," though, so maybe Homer filled that in himself. Also, we get an interesting look at how Lisa is uninterested in Milhouse, but still gets jealous when he's dating someone else. That actually makes a certain amount of sense to me. In other cartoon-based discussion, is every American Dad from now on going to include jokes about how Principal Lewis is a lunatic? Not that I mind them, but I kind of wonder why they've been playing up the character's insanity so much as of late. And I have to give props to the Family Guy episode for being particularly creative. Since when did Leonardo da Vinci have children, though?

Yesterday, Beth and I trekked up to New York City so she could see Rufus Wainwright's tribute to his late mother Kate McGarrigle. I didn't go to the show, but I went along anyway so we could do a little exploring. Beth said she didn't recognize any of the songs from the show, and I wonder if I would have, as my dad had a Kate and Anna McGarrigle album. It was one of only a few cassettes in the car at the time, so I became quite familiar with it. For what it's worth, from what I remember, every song on there was depressing. Anyway, Beth has a thing about wanting to live in Midwood, a largely Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn. She's told me several times that she's always wanted to be culturally Jewish, so I'm sure that's part of the reason. From our limited look at it, it really does look like a nice neighborhood, and not at all urban despite being in the city. They even had car dealerships, which isn't a selling point, but drives home just how different it is from other parts of New York City. We met therealtavie for dinner at the Heartland Brewery, and then joined up with Stephanie, who was going to the show with Beth. While they were there, I wandered around the Times Square area looking for a place I could rest and charge my phone, and could not find the latter. I thought Starbucks usually had outlets, but that's apparently not the case in that part of the city. I ended up ordering a smoothie at McDonald's, then sitting around and reading there for a few hours. Beth loaned me her spare battery, so I was able to keep my cell phone intact. Really, though, this is an issue I pretty much never see addressed, but which must come up. I always see people walking around the city talking on cell phones, and I know those batteries don't last forever. So where do they typically charge them? Or do they just not stay out long enough for the battery to die? I'm really quite curious, because when I'm on all-day excursions, I'm always afraid to use my phone for fear the battery will die on me.

All right, I guess that's it. Happy Friday the Thirteenth, everybody!

Why is it that people who make a point of demonstrating how outgoing and friendly they are often turn out to be incredibly standoffish? I mean, if you're always talking about how much fun you have with your friends, but you're totally dismissive of anyone new, how did you make these friends in the first place? Was there a cutoff point in your life, when you just decided, "I'm going to stop making new friends...now." It's a little hard to explain exactly what I mean, but it's strange how many people like this I come across. I guess my thing is that, being the socially awkward person I am, I'm probably not all that friendly. But I do try to be fair to anyone who genuinely wants to converse with me online. As introverted as I am, I WANT to meet new people, especially those who share my interests. So I try not to play favorites when I'm replying to comments and such, you know? I welcome comments from anybody, as long as they're not spammers or trolls. That said, as much as I beg for comments, I'm not always that great at leaving them for others, because I have a fear of rejection. How much can you really reject someone who leaves a comment on a blog? I don't know, but I never said it was a rational fear. The thing is, once I DO work up the courage to comment on another person's stuff and get a reasonably friendly response, I'll often start commenting on everything they write. It's like making the first step is an incredible challenge, but after that the rest is easy. Except it isn't always easy, because I frequently worry that I'm going to offend someone. I have the kind of personality where, if someone is mad at me, I tend to assume they hate me, even if we've gotten along well more often than we've fought. It's really not fair of me, but it's usually how I operate. Maybe there's a part of my mind that would actually PREFER someone to hate me than for me to have to make the effort to make up with them. I don't know. It's just a thought. In my more rational moods, I figure it's unlikely too many people hate me. They might dislike me, sure, but hatred is too active an emotion for people to waste on relative strangers. As much as I respect the rational, however, I can't help feeling otherwise.

In lighter news, I thought the Sunday night cartoon lineup was pretty good. On American Dad, the Jewish farmer with the talking cabbages was funny, if rather bizarre. The Simpsons episode initially struck me as retreading familiar territory, since we already had Bart making an attempt to do magic at the beginning of "The Great Money Caper" (although that ended up taking a quite different turn). As it turned out, though, seeing Lisa become a magician was fun, and the Great Raymondo was actually a sympathetic character. The mockery of Criss Angel was also amusing, as was a repeat appearance by Penn and Teller (and yes, Teller talks, quite a bit actually). Bob's Burgers was good as well, and I find it interesting how many comedians I know from other stuff are voices on the show. Jay Johnston from Mr. Show voices Jimmy Pesto, and Sarah Silverman and her sister Laura the Pesto twins. I can't think of anything specific to say about Family Guy, but I did like it.

After work yesterday, I took my car to get the oil changed and the air filter replaced, which I probably should have done a while ago. Actually, I'm not entirely sure when I'm supposed to get my oil changed with this car. There's apparently supposed to be a maintenance light that comes on, but I've never seen it, and I've driven it quite a bit. Honestly, I'm not sure how I manage to rack up so many miles on my car. I mean, with my old car, I was sometimes commuting back and forth between Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but I no longer do that. Anyway, I should probably just stick to getting the oil changed every 3000 miles, whether it needs it or not. The thing is, I probably wouldn't have gotten the oil changed then if I'd remembered that bethje and I were going to a comedy show that night. Oh, well. It ended up working out all right, and now I don't have to drive out there this week.

The show was billed as Eugene Mirman and Pretty Good Friends, and consisted of Eugene, Tom Allen, Kumail Nanjiani, and Reggie Watts. We'd actually seen Reggie before, as he was the opener for Conan O'Brien's tour last summer. Good show, but terrible crowd. I'm not sure I've been to a show that had more hecklers than this one. What the hell, people? I'm sure most of the people there were decent and well-behaved, but there were some bad apples that really spoiled the bunch. They managed to make it work despite the constant interruptions, though, and Beth got Eugene to sign her copy of The Will to Whatevs after the show. It seemed pretty impersonal, though, because Eugene was sitting on a chair onstage while signing stuff. It felt like going to petition the king on his throne. I'm not sure I blame him, though, because with a hostile crowd like that, you probably don't want to get too close to them. Besides, I've never felt that celebrities were required to interact with their audiences after the show. I'm not famous, but I am nervous, and can understand how difficult it is to have to strike up conversations with a bunch of strangers. Also, I didn't think to bring my camera, so I don't have any pictures of the show. I'm sure you're disappointed. :P

Last night's Simpsons episode had a creative premise, but I don't think the story really had much conflict. Even the businessman character, usually a voice for unscrupulous greed on this show, was a decent enough guy in this episode. And the side effect with the eyeballs popping out came across as too ridiculous and gross even for this show. Sure, we've seen gags like that before, especially with Mr. Burns, but they were typically isolated, not made central to the episode like the eye thing. The jokes varied in quality. I thought the child-proof cap door on the pharmaceutical headquarters was a good bit of absurd humor, but a lot of the animal stuff in the desert had more or less been done before. Not a terrible episode, but perhaps a little too bizarre for its own good. As for Family Guy, I found it pretty rehashed. Does every episode featuring Meg have to be about her becoming disturbingly obsessive? And while I liked the meta-reference about Stewie not being as evil anymore, the clone plot was clichéd enough that even the characters themselves acknowledged it.

Right now (okay, not quite RIGHT now, since what I'm doing at the moment is typing this post), I'm working on my annotated bibliography for one of my classes. I think I've found a good selection of articles, but my concern is that I don't have as much of an overarching theme as the professor would like. I mean, I HAVE a theme, but it's a little haphazard. We'll see what happens, I guess. It's due tomorrow, so I can't afford to be too picky.

I guess I should say something about Valentine's Day. I've never been one to make a big deal out of it, but hey, it IS a holiday, right? I took bethje out to eat at the Olive Garden, or rather she took me out. I mean, I drove, but she paid. It was actually not as good as usual; I know Beth was unsatisfied with the calamari, and I thought the pear and Gorgonzola ravioli with shrimp was rather too sweet. Yeah, I know a lot of people hate the Olive Garden anyway, but we generally like it. Oh, and when I was in the bathroom, I overheard some guys complaining about Valentine's Day, and one of them said it was for women. I can't say I really understand where that stereotype comes from, but there you go. Actually, I suppose it's true for me, because I don't think I'd do anything if Beth didn't want to. Anyway, I gave her a copy of Twilight Princess, and she gave me Bucketheads in Oz and the complete Monty Python's Flying Circus DVD set. And at night, I worked, then returned home and did some homework. Fun, huh?

Today, I got around to watching the Sunday night lineup, which Beth had taped for me because I was working when it was on. Not bad, but nothing exceptional this time either. When watching the Simpsons episode, I was about to object and say that Marge already had gray hair (since she was seventeen, according to Homer in "Secrets of a Successful Marriage"), but they actually got around that by saying that the fumes from the dye made her forget about it. And it's always cool when Adam Carolla shows up as the Grim Reaper on Family Guy.

I don't really have anything else to report just now. I have class tonight, but nothing to do tomorrow (well, aside from reading for school), so that's cool. I might as well go ahead and post this now.

Well, it was another weekend of working, sleeping, and trying in vain to come up with ideas for my Digital Preservation paper. I didn't even get to use the Internet all that much. I do have some thoughts on last night's cartoon lineup, though.

Since the Simpsons episode had four stories instead of the typical three, they really weren't able to develop any particular segment, but I'd say that's probably all right. Most of them really only had one joke anyway. I liked the Polar Express segment with Bart, especially for its visuals. I was amused by the depressed atmosphere at the North Pole, and some of the background sight gags. I remember seeing Bumble from Rudolph as a janitor, and I think there were a few other such references I've forgotten. I do wish they'd called attention to the fact that they had a Jewish guy playing the role of Santa. Lisa's dream was probably the most involved story, in that they actually took it beyond one basic joke, but at the same time it was the most forgettable of the four. Was the story about World War II and Christmas trees based on anything in particular? It seems like it would have been, but if so it's not a movie (or whatever) I've seen. I did like the Inglourious Basterds reference at the end, and Lisa's reaction to the dream. Incidentally, I believe Nellie McKay, whom I'll be seeing live next week, has a song against cutting down Christmas trees. She played it at the Aimee Mann show that bethje and I attended two years ago. Getting back to The Simpsons, the Martha Stewart bit went back to being one basic joke, but it was pretty funny, at least for a while. The puppet segment was probably the most heavily advertised, and with good reason, since doing an entire segment of an animated show in another fashion is kind of a big deal. It's probably good that the segment didn't last very long, but I enjoyed the riffs on the Muppets and Sesame Street. I wasn't sure why they had a laugh track, but I just looked it up and found that The Muppet Show used one, so I guess that's what they were going for. I have no idea why they chose Katy Perry for the live-action guest star, but her dating Puppet Moe actually kind of makes sense. I mean, he's the same basic type as Russell Brand, right? {g}


I found it odd that the TV listings had a block for an hour-long Cleveland Show, when it was really two separate episodes, the second one having nothing to do with the holidays at all. Also, they really played up the crossover aspect in the commercials when all we actually got was a few minutes of Peter, Joe, and Quagmire. They've done more substantial crossovers between the two casts in the past. Did they advertise the Family Guy episode with the search for the source of dirty jokes, which featured Cleveland's family and the David Lynch bartender, in the same way? I can't remember. Mind you, advertising the Cleveland Show in the first place is probably kind of pointless, since I'm sure I'm not alone in really only watching it because it's on in between two other shows I actually like. As for American Dad, I'm not sure why they didn't do a holiday episode, but I can't remember whether there's been one in every previous season or just a few of them. I do remember those episodes being quite good, though. Anyway, I did like the episode, especially Stan's excitement at being on jury duty. I did find it a little hard to believe that Stan wouldn't have known who the defendant was until AFTER the jury had been selected; I've been called up for jury duty three times, and while I was never selected, I know that's not how it works. Speaking of American Dad, I had a dream a few nights ago in which Roger appeared, wearing one of his disguises. I believe it was the same night that I dreamed about having a class at my old elementary school, and having cats in the car with me for some reason. At one point not_glimmer showed up and told me I should just leave the cats in the car, but I don't think she was in the class itself.

Another year, another Simpsons Treehouse of Horror that airs too late. Hey, Major League Baseball, if you're so intent on having a game on Halloween, can't you at least have the players wear costumes or something? Anyway, the opening was kind of all over the place, but I'm glad they didn't stick with the fight between Homer and Bart. The Monster Mifflin sequence basically came out of nowhere, but I still liked it, and it was a good play on how people are always saying The Office is just like where they work. Yeah, I'm sure. The board game segment felt pretty similar to the old advertising mascot story, but had enough amusing jokes and clever bits of animation that it was decent despite the rehashed feeling. "Master and Cadaver" seemed too long and convoluted to make an effective Halloween segment, and it probably didn't help that I wasn't at all familiar with the source material. bethje told me what it was most likely parodying, but I've already forgotten. I think the only really memorable thing about it was that they did the whole sequence with Marge in a bikini. Not that I'm into cartoon characters or anything, but it was interesting. As for "Tweenlight," well, Twilight is pretty much a parody of itself as far as I can tell, but it was still funny. Actually, one of the most amusing things might be that the parody stuck much closer to the traditional view of vampires than Stephenie Meyer does.

What else? I watched the Family Guy and American Dad Halloween episodes as well, but I don't think I'll bother reviewing them. I did think the FG episode included a surprising number of subplots, even if one was basically just a gross-out incest joke. Have either of these shows done Halloween stories before? If so, it's certainly not typical. Oh, and it's kind of a weird coincidence that both the Simpsons and FG episodes did fairly long runs on not avoiding the use of brand names. Of course, both shows have mentioned actual brands in the past, so I'm not sure how the rules work.

In other news, I finished with my institutional report and my last discussion question for my Intro to Archives course, so I think that's all the writing I'll have to do until the final exam. Too bad I have no idea what my paper for Digital Preservation will be about. These classes go by so quickly on Drexel's quarter system. I'm signed up to take one on-campus and one online course again next quarter, by the way.