If It Ain't Broke ... It Will Break Eventually

Aaaaah, the weekend is over already? Welcome to the working world.

It's funny, due to the kind of random nature of the nbc page program, our hours are pretty uneven depending on the day and week. So my natural instinct is, obviously, to rejoice that, tommorow for example, I only work until 4:30 pm. And of course, my first reaction to seeing that one day I don't have to be at work until 12 pm is "sweeeeeeeet." But wait, hold the phone, I am getting paid by the hour here. Dammit, this sucks. I can't really be all that happy about getting to leave work early or start late, since doing so takes away from my cash-money flow. Oh, the internal conflicts that come with being in the real world. I better be a millionaire soon.

To be honest this weekend was pretty boring, yet still very tiring. I had to go rent a car, since it became pretty obvious that there is no way in hell that I'm getting my car back in the next few days. I really don't like having to bother people at work for rides, and I also am trying to find an apartment ASAP, so the car was a necessity. I am now driving a semi-ghetto Chevy Cavalier, which, strangely, I realized has a bunch of not-quite empty grocery bags in the trunk. What's in them? Don't know, haven't looked yet because my paranoid, fantasy-prone mind tells me it will be a severed hand or something. Maybe I'll just let 'em be until I return the car ...

RANDOM THOUGHT: I really like the song "Come Undone" by Duran Duran, but what's with the talk about "radio jews" in the lyrics? What is a radio jew? Duran Duran, I better not find out you're like some kind of antisemites or something.

So anyways, I looked at a few apartments as well this weekend. One seems pretty cool, not too bad a price and good location. I'd be sharing the place with another guy but would have my own large bedroom and bathroom, so it's a very good deal. I guess there's a number of interested parties so I'll see if it comes through. But I've gotta let the people at my current building know what my deal is soon, so hopefully I can get it all resolved quickly.

Oh, my packages from home finally arrived, and guess what? MY PLAYSTATION 2 IS FREAKIN' BROKEN - IT DOES NOT PLAY GAMES OR DVD'S! That really does not make me happy, as I've had a real desire the last week to wind down after work with a few rounds of Metal Gear Solid 3. I filed a complaint to UPS, so we'll see if that actually results in anything. They better buy me a new PS2, they owe me!

Also, while I'm in that kinda mood, why are the shopping centers in the LA area all completely filled 24/7? OK, I understand there's a lot of people here, but it's kind of ridiculous how you have to wait to find a parking space in like one of those dinky little strip malls with a dry cleaner and Subway as their main attractions. And the big mega shopping centers with Best Buy, Target, etc? Fugettaboutit.

Ah yes, so much drama, I know. Seriously, this week should be good at work, lots of big name guest on the Tonight Show and it should be a little less crazy now that I can drive myself and am a bit more comfortable with the different jobs we pages do. Oh yeah, so Friday Mr. 24 himself, Kiefer Sutherland was on - daaaaaaamn. Okay, so I really just like the Jack Bauer character and the show, it's not like I'm a diehard fan of the actor. But it was kind of cool just to see an actor who I've actually been watching for the last few years in person. Plus, craziness ensued during the show! They somehow forgot to fill up two front row seats, which are ON CAMERA throughout the show. Now, I don't THINK that that was in any way my fault, but again, paranoia ... But yeah, so me and another page had to run in at the start of the taping and sit in those seats. Pretty crazy. Of course it happened so fast that we didn't even think to take off our nbc uniforms. I think the cameras tried to avoid us so we wouldn't be on caught on tape. But hey, I got a front row seat. Nice.

The main person I'm actually excited to see this week is the kid from Napolean Dynamite who played Napoleon. Friggin' sweet. Gosh! It'd be cool if he was in character, ala Ali G / Borat when they appeared on Conan. That happens on Wednesday, I believe. Some other big names though this week like Cate Blanchette, Jamie Foxx, and Leonardo DiCaprio. But they just don't have the same skills like NAPOLEON DYNAMITE has. You know - nunchuk skills, computer hacking skills ... (see the movie if you don't know what I'm talking about ...).

So when do the swanky parties with bigshot celebrities start?

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

FOX SUNDAY NIGHT QUICK REVIEWS:
King of the Hill - A- Another Hank vs. the System episode, and as always it was funny stuff. What a classic show. Hank is one of those characters who has become so familiar that longtime viewers can pretty much predict how he'll react to any situation, right down to the inflection in his voice. But the character is so great that it is these familiar yet always hilarious reactions that keep us coming back week after week.

Malcolm in the Middle - A Continuing a streak of vintage Malcolm, hilarious episodes. Hal as hairdresser left me rolling in laughter, and the Malcolm in love with his car subplot was also very funny. I think the key with this show is that it is at it's best when it has an innocence to it - it portrays childhood and parenthood better than any other show. When it becomes a show about hormonal teenagers, it falters. This year they've taken a step back from all the girlfriend subplots and really benefitted from it. I don't know why this show, after initial critical praise, now seems so underrated and underappreciated.

Simpsons - B Not bad, but not great either. I mostly take away points for the fact that we've seen the main plot points (trouble in Homer and Marge's marriage, Moe trying to overcome his loneliness, changing up Moe's tavern) a thousand times already. But this episode seemed very on in it's comedic timing - lots of funny jokes and dialogue, plus the plot, though familiar, was pretty cohesive. So overall this is what, three above average Simpsons eps in a row? I'll take that.

Arrested Development - B+ Again, it's another episode where the plots are, as usual, brilliantly woven together and cleverly set up. But the jokes just don't seem as funny as they used to be. Why does Buster keep disappearing when he is consistently one of the show's funniest characters, and an easy and reliable source of humor? The George Michael and Ann subplot is kind of just dragging, as is the open marriage of Lindsay and Tobias. Maybe they need to just focus less on these ongoing subplots? I'm not sure what the answer is, but this is slowly becomong one of those shows that you realize is made by very smart and talented people, but just isn't as funny as it should be. That being said, I am only speaking in relative terms as compared to the best episodes of the series. On it's own, this is still heads and shoulders above other comedies on TV, so if you're not watching, you by all means should be.

BELATED SMALLVILLE THOUGHTS:

So we finally get a new episode this week, and it's like many of the eps this season. Very cheesy, heavy on the sex appeal, light on logic, and with only a few flashes of the old, good Smallville, usually thanks to the two Luthors and the great actors who play them.Honestly, this show should be ashamed of itself. No, this wasn't a horrible episode. But this isn't Smallville, and it certainly isn't Superman. This is now officially a show about mind control. Every other week we have someone out of their mind, being mentally controlled by another, mind-swapped, under the influence of mind altering substances, or just plain gone crazy. ENOUGH ALREADY. Superman is about good vs. evil, morality, truth, justice, etc. This show is about one of two things at this point. What psycho chick of the week will seduce Clark, or who will be mind-controlled this week. Oh yeah, I forgot - who will be this week's weekly person to see Clark use his powers and then conveniently forget and/or get knocked out cold just as he uses them? This show has sooo much potential. It has a number of promising actors, and a great mythology with which to play in. This episode had a decent plot, but it was just undermined by gratuitous sex scenes and total lack of logic (Clark is suddenly in love with a girl who tried to kill his friends? Martha Kent yells at Clark for things he did WHILE MIND-CONTROLLED?) Ugh. On the OC, I can accept this kind of stuff. But a show about Superman, even if it is before he dons the costume, should inspire me, not make me groan at it's exploitative cheesiness. C -

Back to work tommorow. Good thing my work involves working the Tonight Show and not filling out TPS reports or something.