My understanding of the internet decreases every day. Not in the aggregate, but rather comparative to the younger generation. I wonder how long it will take to pass me by.

I'm listening to the Coffeehouse on Sirius and an accoustic version of "Change" comes on. It made me think of the HBO commercial that used it, so I try to find the video. The first link I get is this:

http://commercials.tuneforums.com/thread_view.php?threadID=284

No need to actually click on it, as it's pretty straight forward. It's a Q and A...

Q: Anyone know the song that plays on the hbo commercial, the lyrics are _____?

A: It's ____. Next time, just google the lyrics with the word "lyrics" after it and you'll get the song.

Q: Oh wow, never thought of that. Good idea.


Holy Moses. If you're using the internet in the way as the original poster, you're doing it wrong. But then again, I know I'm not being fully optimal either. Please, if/when I ever become that bad, put me in a home.

I've long argued that the last scene of The Shawshank Redemption doesn't fit and should be removed. In short, the theme of the movie is that hope can set you free. Red becomes free the second he has hope of finding his friend Andy; whether or not he finds him is immaterial. Wrapping the story up with a big red bow at the end felt cheap and too "Hollywood".

Today I learned that I was right (as is often the case). From Reddit...

And this ending was written by Frank Darabont. The Stephen King story ends with Red on the Bus with the lines:

I hope Andy is down there.

I hope I can make it across the border.

I hope to see my friend and shake his hand.

I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams.

I hope.
The movie ended this way until Darabont had the idea for the final scene of the two men meeting each other on the beach. After getting King's permission, they shot the scene and then tested both endings with audiences. The test audiences went crazy for the new ending and that's how it became part of the film.

This really saddens me. The book had it right. And those "test audiences" didn't really understand the theme of the movie. I'll continue to shut the movie off at the second to last scene, but my "hope" in humanity just dropped a little bit.

*Note: I tried to confirm the reddit-comment, but the details are vague. On IMDB, it says that the director fought against the change, but Castle Rock insisted.

I normally can't notice "bad acting", but Gabrielle's performance in House's "Unplanned Parenthood" was truly draw dropping. Make an effort to find the episode on Hulu. In particular, pay attention to her voice-over work in the opening scene. The scene is supposed to be her character filming her mother giving birth, but comes across as if we're watching a bad student-film.

I spent that entire opening sequence waiting for someone to yell "cut! can we do this again, except without the stilted, monotone dialogue?"

I always kick myself for not using mlb.com's videos more. If I had the time, I'd watch the recaps of all their games. I say recaps, because not only do they show the highlights, but they also tell the "story" of the game.

tWWL, on the other hand, gets it all wrong. Sure, they talk about the story, but it's just a voiceover while the highlights are being shown in quick succession.

Take, for example, last night's fake fieldgoal by Michigan State over Norte Dame. Clearly, when they got to this play, they should have built it up beforehand, and then gone silent. I want to see the tension as the players are waiting for the snap...to see each second in real time. Even though I know it's going to be a fake, I want to experience the moment on the field when it stops being a field goal attempt and starts being a pass play. Those few seconds are key.

But all we got is a sprint to the finish of the higlight reel.

As a kid, I barely knew who Van Halen was, but I was acutely aware of their "demand" for brown M&M's to be removed from backstage at their concerts. Like many, I mistook this as the ultimate in prima donna behavior. It was only years later that I understood their motives: it was their litmus test to see if the venue had met their more important requests in their rider. Such demands were often complicated and involved equipment and safety, and the band's confidence rested on their ability to see that this minor detail to candy was attended to.

When a TV show has continuity errors, relies on deus ex machina, or fails to adhere to the rules that they've created in their own universe, it makes me fear what lies beneath. These brown M&M's, a glaring admission to lazy preparation, deny me the ability to trust the writers. In the end, whether a vampire has the ability to glamor their way to a human-invitation into their home is meaningless. But if the writers don't care about that, do they really care about about staying true to the nature of their characters? Is there really anyone manning the ship?

In a behind the scenes look at Six Feet Under, we got to witness how the stories develop. A dry erase board had a list of characters, with potential story arcs and writers attached. Those writers were interviewed, and explained how they wrote for each character; it was quite obvious they viewed them as "real people". And as a result, you never saw Claire or Nate eating brown M&M's.

I missed the first five minutes, so I'll to double back on HBO West to confirm the rules, but it feels like there are two main rules:

1) You can't lie. and
2) Witholding information is lying.


I didn't think the writers had the intelligence to stay true to this. I was correct.

A) On the first date, Garner says "I'm sorry about that" to Gervais after hanging up the phone (with her mother). I don't think she was sorry. That's a weak one, i know. So I kept watching.

B) When he calls her later on, to go on a second date, she says "I gotta go". She didn't have to go. She wanted to go. EPIC FAIL.

C) For icing on the cake, after Gervais reads his fake play to the crowd, the Rob Lowe character rolls his eyes, but applauds. That applause was fake. He was hiding his feelings of jealousy.


Nobody reads this blog, and nobody cares about the fact that The Invention of Lying broke its rules, but this was very important to me.

There are so many dumb things said by announcers, that I usually don't have the energy to remember them. But this one was something special.

Felipe Lopez, a position player, is now pitching for the Cardinals b/c they are out of pitchers. With a runner on first, he's forgetting to pitch from the stretch.

"Lopez has never done this before. He's only seen it on TV".

You HAVE to see Pacino's hair when he's being interviewed. It's unbelievable. I don't think I'm going to be able to watch The Godfather for a long time.

What a joke of a company! I have my cable package loaded into their tv listings website, so I typed in "soccer" to see what channel Real Madrid was on today. Here are the results:

TV SHOWS

1.
The Secret Life of a Soccer Mom (Documentary, Kids, 2007 - 2008)
Reality series will following stay at home moms, devoted to their families and secretly take on a new career. They are then given a choice of returning to their family full time or continue living the career life.
* Original Network: n/a
* Episodes
* Cast
* Reviews
* When is it on?
*
3.5 stars
2.
Past Lies (Drama, 2008 - 2009)
Kim Furst appears to be an ordinary soccer mom living in the suburbs. But one day, a chance visitor from a stranger threatens to reveal her sordid past and drag her back into a world of crime.
* Original Network: n/a
* Cast
* Reviews
* When is it on?
* Rating: not yet rated
3.
Mr. Troop Mom (Comedy, Kids, 2008 - 2009)
Desperate to connect with his 13-year-old daughter Naomi, Eddie Serrano volunteers to chaperone her troop at the Spring Action Classic at Hulkas Rock unaware he'll be the only guy in a world of girls. Treacherous rope courses, cutthroat canoe soccer and slippery slimeball wars are just the start of Eddie's introduction to the great outdoors…
* Original Network: n/a
* Cast
* Reviews
* When is it on?
*
4 stars

A Modern Family rerun led to me searching out Alan's old review of it, which led to him linking to this blog. In short, the guy shows a clip of the Honeymooners and asks his readers if they find it funny. Watch it, then read the comments.

It leaves more questions than answers for me, but it's exactly the kind of stuff I've wondered about before.

http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2010/02/comedy-test-do-you-find-this-funny.html