Mon, November 20

Fierce Bottle

What did I say about twists? Did I neglect to mention that sometimes they are awesome? Because, dude, seriously... you don't even know! (Read more.)

0 comments with related links

Thu, November 16

Buzzy Bee—4:01 PM

When the Buzzworthy section was initiated, it was to highlight items of interest which would not necessarily show up as a full post in the paragraph-heavy right hand column of the home page. To begin with, this included: New Reviews, Updated FAQs, and Links of Interest.

Now, the FAQs are out (since they never get updated anyway). If there's ever a re-re-bee, I'll change or remove the Reviews as well. (They're kind of meaningless if you have to click to see how many stars. I know this now.)

Anyway, a change I can make right now is how and whether Links of Interest are posted. I put a lot of pressure on myself to make the descriptive text after each link as concise as possible – some links need a "Why should I click this?" justification, and sometimes I have a witty remark, but anything longer than a couple of lines seems excessive. (And begs the question, "Why not just make this a full post?")

But sometimes the descriptions run long, and there's nothing I can do. I can't set up the context (or, more importantly, the joke) in any less space. To paraphrase Tony Kushner, there's no way to tell the story in less than six hours. E.g., today's Dreamgirls link. Was that too long? Or did the situation justify a little extra wordage? I don't know; I pose the question to you guys. (There's a poll attached to this post – it just doesn't show up on the home page.)

(And feel free to add in the comments anything else you're thinking about Buzzworthy. Are there new links too often? Not often enough? Do you click on most of them? None of them? Only those which give you a specific reason to do so? I'm curious.)

3 comments with related links

Wed, November 15

Up Yours, Mutineer

Creating a stupid twist just adds confusion to an existing strategic minefield. But it does reveal the players for who they really are. Or, as Coach Probst would put it, "Jameson, getting astonished by Candice's unparalleled stupidity!" (Read more.)

1 comment with related links

Yay, pens!—4:44 PM

Today's blog entry from Dilbert Creator Scott Adams is about appreciating the simple things.

Among them:

I like a pen that has good balance, opens easily, and leaves a clean line with no skipping, blotching or fussiness. Such pens are rare. I have one in my pen cup right now. Sometimes I just look at it and feel happy that my species could make such a pen.

It immediately reminded me of my favorite dialogue scene in all of The West Wing:

Jed Bartlet: Charlie!

Charlie Young (entering): Yes, sir?

Jed: Are we out of pens?

(Charlie hands him a pen from the pen stand on his desk.)

Jed: That's a good pen. I need an everyday pen.

Charlie: I've got pens.

Jed: You've got crappy pens with plastic tops. I need a solid pen that feels good in my hand but it's not so formal I feel like a dandy.

Charlie: I'm making some trips to pen stores, aren't I, Mr. President?

Jed: I used to have the perfect pens. Everyday, right here in my pocket. I loved those pens. Balanced, great action, the paper soaked up the ink. What the hell happened to those pens? Do they not make them anymore? I kept that company in business!

A good pen really does make all the difference. I have quite a history with pens. Every so often, a new pen will emerge as my favorite. I was big on those see-through Pilots in high school, and attached to the Uni-Ball Visions in college. Now, I have two or three pens that rotate in and out of the top spot. It depends on the day, the mood, and the task at hand. Pilot has a click pen that I'm quite fond of – I got one free with my condo closing, and I've been meaning to track down a box of them.

Also, as Monty Burns can tell you, there's not a man alive who doesn't appreciate a good sit. Scott Adams again:

I like being tired at the same time I have access to a comfortable chair and plenty of time to sit in it. Those three things don’t often line up, but when they do, it is pure sitting magic.

Amen to that.

0 comments

Mon, November 13

That's so hot.—11:01 AM

Dad and I love to read "Family Circus" every day, just so we can stage apoplectic rants about how terrible it is within earshot of my mother, who hates the strip even more than we do and wants nothing to do with it. We're no Comics Curmudgeon, but we do our best.

We'll start deconstructing a punch line like, "I hope that plane doesn't crash into the moon!" for all the reasons it's unfunny and stupid. (How does Dolly navigate through life if her concept of depth perception is really that bad?) At first Mom won't know what we're talking about, but then it'll dawn on her and she'll start yelling at us for forcing her to know what the cartoon was about even though she willfully avoids it. It's a little tradition. There's a fine line between "tradition" and "running a joke into the ground." In my family, we take great pride in running that fine line into the ground.

Anyway, I think a cartoon from last week sets a world record:

Let's leave aside the blatant product placement. This is not only a preposterously lame, unfunny joke – it's a lame, unfunny joke started by Paris Hilton! The Keanes can't mine enough non-humor from the children's homophone-based misunderstandings and Billy's meandering neighborhood tours, they've got to start ripping off material from mentally challenged, stick-thin faux celebrities?

I like one thing about it, though. There's an in-joke to the fans of the once-great, now ceased-and-desisted Dysfunctional Family Circus, whose caption contest would often berate Keane's limited drawing talents, particularly his tendency to illustrate a wall as just a line along the floor. For an example of this unspeakably bland style, look no further than this very comic, which illustrates the storefront as exactly the massive, featureless, sun-blocking obelisk your hippie friends envision when they're storming City Hall to block the construction of yet another superstore in their sleepy burg.

Well played, Keanes. You've finally moved above Cathy Guisewhite on my list of Cartoonists to Shoot, Execution-Style in the Back of the Head.

0 comments with related links

Sun, November 12

Super-Sized Office—3:06 PM

Next week, NBC Thursday is continuing its sweeps tradition of "super-sizing" its key comedies into 40-minute episodes.

The Office kicked things off early, by offering an extended "Producers' Cut" of last week's episode ("Branch Closing") on the show's website, with 7 minutes of new footage including two additional story lines plus other accents and details.

I'm against the repeated special-editioning of movies because it creates multiple separate realities for the story (and also leaves a witless DVD collector wondering which version to own – what's more canonical, the first version or the latest?). Even more so in the case of an ongoing TV show, where developing story lines may be affected by the extra scenes. Creed's and Meredith's stories are unlikely to change the course of the show, but what of the moments between Pam and Roy? Did those happen, or have they been stricken from the record since they didn't air on NBC? For example, the unaired scene about Dwight and Angela's pregnancy from last season: we assume that didn't happen since it didn't air. So, will the show televise new scenes covering this sort of Pam/Roy interaction, and if they don't are we to assume they didn't happen? It's sort of confusing, kind of a shame.

Nevertheless, I recommend viewing the extended episode online, because it's really funny. It's impressive that the show's creators come up with so much good stuff each week that the episodes run long – I'm just not sure how I feel about the trimmed moments being released to the public, as entertaining as they are.

0 comments with related links

Fri, November 10

O! say Keanu see...—3:31 PM

A magazine ad that I couldn't help laughing at:

"I demand The Lake House! I will not sit quietly another moment without twee, mystical, wormhole-based romance and people living in a waterfront terrarium!"

It's funny enough that Warners would pretend there's a market for The Lake House among people who can read, but to suggest that someone might demand it? Ha ha!

0 comments with related links

Thu, November 9

Save the Cheerleader

A not-at-all comprehensive look at where the new TV season stands, a few weeks in. (Read more.)

7 comments with related links

Mon, November 6

The Mowgli Effect

On Survivor, you should always vote for someone who's an obvious threat – especially if he's an arrogant asshole. You can't abandon that course just because he demonstrates proficiency in the jungle. (Read more.)

2 comments with related links