Closer to Fine

Yep, today's title is brought to you by the Indigo Girls. So it's a guilty pleasure comfort song, okay? You got a problem with that?

But the reason that I'm closer to fine is that FINALLY, today it would seem that I have my car back and it's cleaned, touched-up, repaired, and ready to be driven. ABOUT TIME. Also I still haven't found an apartment, but I renewed my stay here at my current lodgings for another month, so at least it gives me a little time to really look around and find an apartment. Nice. Too bad it will be like nine weeks until I get an answer about having UPS replace my broken PS2. But really I'm just glad about the car thing - it's been such a hassle over the last few weeks. And today I wasn't exactly sure how things would go. But I brought it in in the morning and picked it up after work, and it all somehow went smoothly. Sa-weet.

Worked Dennis Miller all day today until 8pm, so it was a lot of standing around and talking to the somewhat sketchy security guards and watching these crazy people coming in to sit in the audience, including characters who I will call: Gay 1985 Michael Jackson, Crazy Professor Santa Claus, Black-Haired Hag-Lady, and American Tony Blair. But man, on a serious note, hearing some of the stories from the security guards it was really amazing. This one guy who is probably only in his twenties but looks much older, works three jobs and was talking about how he recently worked three straight days without sleep, which he apparently does scarily often. That's insane, I mean I can't imagine that. It really makes you think about how lucky you are to have gone to college and to be in a position to get a decent job (even if he is currently making a lot more than I am ...). But such hardships didn't stop those wacky security guys from making numerous lude comments about all the women in line and giving the occasional lady a random, full body pat-down. Hey, I told you they were pretty sketchy. Sleep deprived, yes, but sketchy nonetheless. Nice guys though for the most part ...

Today the unofficial theme on Dennis Miller was Oscar-nominated people who nobody has heard of. They had the British lead actress from Vera Drake, which I don't think one person in the audience had seen, and the lead actress from Hotel Rwanda, which was the same deal. It was also cooking Day, with Dennis donning a dorky chef's hat not once, but twice to do cooking segments with bigtime chefs. There was also a nice Varsity Club segment where a smart liberal, arguing about the validity of teaching evolution in public schools and the faultiness of teaching creationism, actually made his point so clearly and lucidly that Miller had no choice but to agree. Nice! Now that's what I like to see. The highlight of the two tapings thoug hwas definitely a panel they had of Oscar-nominated screenwriters. They had the writers of Finding Neverland, Motorcycle Diaries, Million Dollar Baby, and ... Julie Delphy from Before Sunset / Sunrise! To hear the writers talk about their works was great, but it was also a thrill to see Delphy (who starred in and cowrote the Sunset/Sunrise movies with Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater). Before Sunrise was one of those movies that I first saw on some cable channel late at night while flipping channels, and became so absorbed in it that I watched the whole movie. It was cool to see an actress who was clearly very smart and creative and really cared about the writing process as well. Very nice.

WEIRD EXPERIENCE OF THE DAY: So I'm eating a late lunch at NBC between Dennis Miller shows, and as I'm eating in walks the man himself - Dennis Miller! He sits down at the table right next to me, wearing pajama pants and a t-shirt, and begins to eat while reading a magazine! I was going to say something about the show but thought that maybe he didn't want to be disturbed. I finished my lunch and was thinking of saying something, but before I know it he darts up from his seat, leaves the commisary, and leaves his uneaten food and all his garbage right there on the table! Hmmm ...

I did get in a word at the show with Dennis Miller writer / comedian Bob Oshak, who was trying his hand at doing crowd warm-ups today. In the second taping I told him "Nice job - good progress from this morning." He laughed at that one.

Tommorow is it - Avril Lavigne on the Tonight Show! I should tell her how junior year at BU and beyond, my roommates and I would relieve stress by blasting Skater Boy and jumping around like idiots, wearing loosened ties and holding up fake microphones. Or maybe I'd better not mention that ... hmmmm. Oh, those were good times, and one of my funniest music-related dormroom memories from BU. The best though was probably how Dan "Remdog" Remin would always come out of the shower at night when a bunch of people would be hanging out in our room, and to add to the awkwardness we'd play either "I'm Too Sexy" or wrestler Shawn Michael's "Sexy Boy" theme song. Good times indeed.

Oh yeah, Bill Belichick and Deon Branch of the PATRIOTS are gonna be in the house tommorow! Oh man I can't take it, I'm gonna be freaking out!

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

- 24, 24, 24! Last night's episode kicked my ass! That was freaking awesome, maybe the best of the season (and my brother said it was only alright ...). The tension leading up to the capture of Aisha Tyler's character was so well done, it made the last few minutes of the show truly edge of your seat. The Jack and Tony team-up was cool, and I liked Tony as washed-up drunk jail-bait-dater. Edgar saved the day again, and his character is becoming more and more likable with each episode. And of course they had the classic 24 ending - the catch the badguy with crucial information, only to have him shot by a sniper before he can reveal it. Hey, it's been done before, but it works every time. Good thing I taped this one, because I was fast forwarding through those commercials like nobody's business.

- Veronica Mars: Why aren't you watching this? Please, try it, this show is amazing! The first new ep in a while was another great one. The flashbacks this time around, while not seeming to tie in directly to the ongoing Lilly Kane murder mystery, provided many subtle clues about various characters' mindsets at the time of the murder. The main plot, basically dealing with the kidnapping of a Sug Knight-like character's daughter, was very well done. The acting as usual was top notch, and I just love the dark, moody, post-modern film noir atmosphere this show has, from the sparse narration to the excellent background music. And a nice nod to the coolness that is the opening theme song in this episode's intro, as Veronica describes her relationship with the kidnapping victim by saying: "We used to be friend. A long time ago." which led right into the super sweet Dandy Warhols theme song featuring those very same words as the opening lyrics. Awesome.

- Real World: Oh poor Melody - she spends so much time alienating everyone and hanging out with her weird-ass crew from some bar called Drinkers, yet she is surprised when her roommates get annoyed with her. Oyyyy ... why am I watching this again?

- Don't have any real disagreements with the NBA All-Star Lineups, except in the east where the talent pool is fairly weak and thus makes picking players a little more difficult. But I agree with some of the TV analysts that they should have included Steve Francis, aka Stevie Franchise, on that East lineup. His numbers are better than Grant Hill's, and he is a starter this year, so where is the love for the Franchise? I am also surprised to see Chris Webber absent from the West lineup. He has really come back strong this year and has reestablished himself on the Kings as their premiere player. Peja is another guy who isn't having his best year but is undeniably an all star caliber player. Some new faces like Manu Ginobli and Gilbert Arenas definitely deserve slots this year, but not sure about the inclusion of Zydrunas Ilgauskas on the East for example. Not sure who should be on there instead, but again it's kind of a tossup in the talent-depleated eastern conference.

Alright, let's see if tommorow yields any interesting tales to tell. So much for my happy ending? So much for this being a short blog entry.