Well, I was pretty proud of myself last night. Not only did I finally do some jogging but I also went to sleep before midnight. And yet, after an all too quick eight hours of sleep, I could still barely drag myself out of bed in the morning ... how do most people do it?
RANDOM QUESTIONS:
- Why do most barbers / hairstylist people have odd or unflattering haircuts?
- Why is my office parking garage equivalent in complexity to a Zelda level?
- Why do people post one or two blogs on their MySpace profiles, then never update, and in doing so make their MySpace pages really depressing since all they have is some list of complaints about life from like last March?
- Weren't all those cable TV workout shows in the early-mid 90's basically just porn movies without the nudity? Think about it ...
- Is it weird that I answer my work phone by just saying "Hello?" ...? I mean, what am I supposed to say?
- Is it normal for me to basically feel like a complete idiot whenever I wear a button down shirt tucked into khaki pants to work? I've never liked this look, and yet I go with it on average about 3 out of 5 days a week.
- Doesn't it suck that by living in a city where you drive everywhere, you are missing out on all the natural excercise one gets in a pedestrian-oriented city like New York or Boston? So, what, now I have to spend an extra half an hour wasting time, running around, all because I drive to work? Hmm, I guess I'm also saving a lot of time by driving, but, then again, not really, considering how bad the traffic is.
TV STUFF, aka: NBC has a good night.
- Yes, I'll say it loud and proud: NBC did good last night. Care for me to elaborate? No? Too bad, keep reading.
- The first time I was really into HEROES was when I read the original version of the pilot script. I was totally captivated and giddy with excitement over the show's potential.
The second time I was really into Heroes was last night, during the show's last 5 minutes.
Last night, Heroes finally "got it." Yes, much of the ep was still hampered by wooden acting and bland dialogue. But, plot-wise, the show finally seemed to grasp a very important truism. You see, until now, Heroes has been all about aping the specificities of comic books - the powers, the archtypes, the on-the-surface trappings. But last night, the show finally captured what it is that makes people fall in love with comics to begin with - more so than the powers or the costumes, it's the wonder and excitement - the feeling that, unlike your typical serialized TV show, anything can happen. And that's why I loved last night's cliffhanger ending so much - it was a true "holy $%&!" moment, not just visually, but story-wise. It was a moment that basically blew the doors off this series, so that it isn't just a comic book with all the fun stripped out anymore - now, it is still grounded in reality, still dark and moody, but it now, finally, has that X-factor, that "anything can happen" feeling. Great stuff.
Fortunately, the coolness of the ending helped overshadow much of the lamer stuff on the show. Mohinder's aimless character still feels like he changes from week to week, with no real purpose other than as a master of pretentious exposition. Pete, the older of the two brothers, is just about as bland as can be. And Ali Larter's kid is still way too annoying. The actress who plays teenaged Claire does seem to be growing into her character, but, still, the writing has prevented us from really getting a feel for her character.
But, for the first time since I read that original script, I feel invested in what happens on this show, and am excited for the directions that the plot could go in.
My Grade: B+ (B- for most of the ep, A for the ending)
- Then, I was pretty impressed with last night's Studio 60. I thought the focus on the characters helped to minimize the annoying political preachiness that has marred the last few episodes. Some of the humor finally took a self-deprecating attitude, bringing things down a notch and giving some perspective that this was, in fact, a sketch comedy show here - not a control room at the Pentagon or something. Take the guy-dressed-as-Lobster interrupting Christine Lahti's speech about how culturally signifigant the show is - a great little moment that helped remind everyone - on the show and us watching at home, that we needn't take things so seriously. Speaking of Lahti, she also seemed to tone it down a bit from last week, and did a great job here. It was also great to see Ed Asner again, and the old vet made more of his few lines than most actors do with an entire episode's worth of dialogue. While the Studio 60 crew focused on character moments, Amanda Peet and the network people were left to deal with the weekly great American debate on ethics, art vs. commerce, etc. Yet another semi-annoying Peet-as-crusading-I-have-the-moral-highground-exec subplot, but as I mentioned, the inclusion of Ed Asner gave a previously unforseen level of gravitas to the storyline's resolution, so it came off a as a lot easier to stomach than it might have otherwise. So yeah, good stuff - now let's see what they can do about making the comedy bits actually seem funny. But hey, at least Matthew Perry was bold enough to bitingly call a sketch "almost good" here - a welcome change from the last few weeks where lame Gilbert and Sullivan bits and jokes about over-diagnosed schoolkids have been passed off as brilliant satire. Steps in the right direction.
My Grade: A -
Alright ... that's all I've got for now. But yeah, last night, between Future-Hiro on NBC and Kevin Federline getting his ass beat in a wrestling ring in front of thousands of jeering fans on USA, there was plenty of televised entertainment to be had yesterday.
END TRANSMISSION.
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