The new Fall season has started for some of the shows I watch, so below are some of my thoughts. I don't watch much TV these days, but there are still a few shows I don't miss.
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The Simpsons
You will find no bigger fan of The Simpsons than me. But in recent years, the show has sort of let me down. It used to be a clever caricature of society, pop culture, and the world in general. these days, it's a caricature of itself. So many of the ideas are being retread, and it just isn't funny anymore. How many times can Bart be expelled from school? How many times is Marge going to leave Homer, just to realize how much she loves him and return? There have been a few shows here and there that were good, but overall, the quality has declined tremendously. I used to be crying at the end of each show from laughing so hard, and my sides would hurt. these days, I'm lucky if I let out a chuckle or two. There was a time when the show self-referenced itself, and I think that's about where the series should have ended. For instance, you'd see Homer's Mr. Plow jacket, or Marge's bowling ball (also named "Homer") in the hall closet. But these days there are continuity errors, and the gags just aren't funny. Last night's episode was ok, but I really hate when they personify animals, like the manatees were this week. It was funny when Santa's Little Helper would roll his eyes at something. But this is a little out of hand.
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Family Guy
Family Guy is one of those shows that I hated at first, thinking it was another Simpsons ripoff. But I've grown to like it, and I think a lot of the plots and things that were suspiciously similar to the Simpsons was done on purpose. It quickly became one of my favorites. When it was cancelled, I was really upset, along with millions of other fans. Thankfully, due to record DVD sales, Fox wisened up and brought it back (in a hilarious moment, in the first episode back on the air, Peter mentions all the shows that Fox chose to air after Family Guy was cancelled, which are all now cancelled themselves...shows like Dark Angel and Andy Richter Controls The Universe). The summer season was great, with tons of hilarious moments. Last night's episode was the fall season premiere, but wasn't all that good. It seems to be trying too hard, and a lot of the jokes fell flat. I also don't like how Meg is being portrayed lately, always yelling at Peter and calling him a "fat bastard." It's just not what her character is supposed to be.
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Ghost Hunters
Ok, so Ghost Hunters premiered a few weeks ago, but I still love this show. This week's episode had some genuine creepy moments, as a door in an upstairs bedroom opened and closed twice, without any explanation, and it was all caught on video. Not the best evidence shown on this show (see last season's prison footage here http://www.scifi.com/ghosthunters/), but definitely interesting. One of the investigators, Brian Harnois, has left the show, hopefully temporarily. He was annoying, but brought a lot of comic relief to the show.
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Song of the Day: Love and Peace or Else, by U2
The "Bullet the Blue Sky" of How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. A real heavy song, and it builds to a great crescendo (I tend to like songs like that). The boys played a great live version of this for the MTV/VH1 Katrina relief show, and it was great. It's a very simple song, but heavy and groovy at the same time. And it's even better live.
Monday, September 12, 2005
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Defending Bono
It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I'm a huge U2 fan. Most people would think that I would defend Bono no matter what, because I'm a fan. But that's not the case. I'm largely against most celebrities who use their star power to push their political agendas. But Bono is different. And not just because I'm a fan...
Most celebrities these days seem to be liberal, or at least the ones who voice their opinions the loudest seem to be. Aren't we all sick of Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, et al.? These stars, who are richer than you or I could ever dream to be, and haven't worked a real job in decades, use every opportunity to villify the Republicans as greedy, salivating, evil monsters who want to destroy the world. And there are of course conservative celebs (though I can't think of any off the top of my head) who villify the Democrats as bleeding heart tree-hugging liberals. But we don't hear from them as much as the liberals, for some reason.
A lot of people lump Bono into this group of celebs who push politics. But there are a few things wrong with this unfair stereotype. First of all, Bono doesn't use every chance he gets in front of a microphone to push his political agenda. Try watching any awards show, talk show, or any other public appearance by the aforementioned celebs, and you're guaranteed to get a lecture on how Republicans are ruining the very fabric of society. Bono, on the other hand, knows when he's at an awards show, and keeps his speeches mainly to "thank you's." At one point in every concert, he will mention the One campaign, that he helped to spearhead, and that's at the beginning of their song "One." Appropriate, in my eyes. Other than that, he's not spouting political rhetoric at every turn.
Secondly, and in my eyes, most important, is that Bono never plays along party lines. Tim Robbins would probably puke if he was ever in the same room as George W. Bush. Bono meets with all parties, from W. to Clinton, GOP or Demo alike. To me, this shows that he cares about the issue, not the party. To me, this is paramount. I'm very middle of the road politically, and don't think that party determines what kind of person you are. Just your beliefs. Opinions are just that, opinions. Nobody is wrong or right. I'd rather see Bono championing more funding for AIDS research, than listen to another Susan Sarandon speech about how the war in Iraq is wrong. Ok Susan. You don't like Republicans. We get it. Now shut the hell up.
Bono fights for basic human issues. Cure AIDS. Eliminate starving in Africa. Cancel the debts of nations so poor that they will never be able to pay us back anyway. There's no political slant there. He doesn't spend all his time criticizing people who have different beliefs than he does. That's just being a humanitarian. Bono would not be playing the blame game in New Orleans. He'd just be going out asking anyone who'd listen for help.
I think we all need to be more open-minded to the other sides of the issues. Only looking at one side, whether it's liberal or conservative, just keeps you ignorant to half of what's going on. Be open-minded, and realize that there are people behind all the laws and rulings and beliefs. If you're liberal, or conservative, but are at least open to the other side of the coin, that's great. At least you educated yourself and made a decision. But to simply align yourself with a political party, and go with whatever they say, sounds pretty scary to me. That sounds like brainwashing. I just wish more celebrities would focus more on the issues and less on the politicians.
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Song of the Day: Acrobat, by U2
It's a column about U2 and politics, so easy choice here. This song is my favorite song from the Achtung, Baby album. An angry political rant, yet more mature and jaded than some of their earlier political anthems. The song is dark, angry, atmoshpheric, and builds to one of the greatest crescendos in rock music. The guitar solo at the end is just blistering, and if you think emotions couldn't be expressed perfectly with a few strings on an electric guitar, listen to this song. This is the only song from this album that was never played live, with the exception of one little acoustic snippet once, which doesn't count in my eyes. It's a shame, because live, this song would have kicked some serious ass.
Most celebrities these days seem to be liberal, or at least the ones who voice their opinions the loudest seem to be. Aren't we all sick of Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, et al.? These stars, who are richer than you or I could ever dream to be, and haven't worked a real job in decades, use every opportunity to villify the Republicans as greedy, salivating, evil monsters who want to destroy the world. And there are of course conservative celebs (though I can't think of any off the top of my head) who villify the Democrats as bleeding heart tree-hugging liberals. But we don't hear from them as much as the liberals, for some reason.
A lot of people lump Bono into this group of celebs who push politics. But there are a few things wrong with this unfair stereotype. First of all, Bono doesn't use every chance he gets in front of a microphone to push his political agenda. Try watching any awards show, talk show, or any other public appearance by the aforementioned celebs, and you're guaranteed to get a lecture on how Republicans are ruining the very fabric of society. Bono, on the other hand, knows when he's at an awards show, and keeps his speeches mainly to "thank you's." At one point in every concert, he will mention the One campaign, that he helped to spearhead, and that's at the beginning of their song "One." Appropriate, in my eyes. Other than that, he's not spouting political rhetoric at every turn.
Secondly, and in my eyes, most important, is that Bono never plays along party lines. Tim Robbins would probably puke if he was ever in the same room as George W. Bush. Bono meets with all parties, from W. to Clinton, GOP or Demo alike. To me, this shows that he cares about the issue, not the party. To me, this is paramount. I'm very middle of the road politically, and don't think that party determines what kind of person you are. Just your beliefs. Opinions are just that, opinions. Nobody is wrong or right. I'd rather see Bono championing more funding for AIDS research, than listen to another Susan Sarandon speech about how the war in Iraq is wrong. Ok Susan. You don't like Republicans. We get it. Now shut the hell up.
Bono fights for basic human issues. Cure AIDS. Eliminate starving in Africa. Cancel the debts of nations so poor that they will never be able to pay us back anyway. There's no political slant there. He doesn't spend all his time criticizing people who have different beliefs than he does. That's just being a humanitarian. Bono would not be playing the blame game in New Orleans. He'd just be going out asking anyone who'd listen for help.
I think we all need to be more open-minded to the other sides of the issues. Only looking at one side, whether it's liberal or conservative, just keeps you ignorant to half of what's going on. Be open-minded, and realize that there are people behind all the laws and rulings and beliefs. If you're liberal, or conservative, but are at least open to the other side of the coin, that's great. At least you educated yourself and made a decision. But to simply align yourself with a political party, and go with whatever they say, sounds pretty scary to me. That sounds like brainwashing. I just wish more celebrities would focus more on the issues and less on the politicians.
*****************************************************************************
Song of the Day: Acrobat, by U2
It's a column about U2 and politics, so easy choice here. This song is my favorite song from the Achtung, Baby album. An angry political rant, yet more mature and jaded than some of their earlier political anthems. The song is dark, angry, atmoshpheric, and builds to one of the greatest crescendos in rock music. The guitar solo at the end is just blistering, and if you think emotions couldn't be expressed perfectly with a few strings on an electric guitar, listen to this song. This is the only song from this album that was never played live, with the exception of one little acoustic snippet once, which doesn't count in my eyes. It's a shame, because live, this song would have kicked some serious ass.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Prayers for the Gulf Coast
It really is scary what's going on in the Gulf Coast right now, in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Anarchy seems to have broken loose. Bad enough that thousands are dead, and that entire cities are flooded in up to 20 feet of water. But now people are looting, and even worse, people have guns, and are shooting at law enforcement and rescuers. My heart really goes out to people who have been decimated by this disaster. But part of me is really saddened, to see how quickly society degrades in a situation like this. How soon before roving gangs of looters with guns start gunning down families over a scrap of food, or a bottle of water? We think we are so eveolved. But we're not so far removed from animals after all. Situations like this are supposed to bring out the best in people, and in human-kind: helpfulness, caring of your fellow man. Stealing TV sets is not necessary for survival. Roving flooded cities with guns, terrorizing people who are trying to rescue you is not human. It's simply acting like a wounded animal. I fear for this world if we are ever faced with a world-wide disaster. In a matter of a month we will be like cavemen, attacking each other for a scrap of food, defending our territory. Very scary...
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I've decided to stay at my job. Things seem to have improved since last week, and the new VP seems to be very strategic instead of a raving lunatic. I can deal with this...
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Right now, I'm just looking forward to a nice 3-day weekend. Tomorrow will be a slow, quiet, shortened day of work, and then it's 3 days relaxing, enjoying the official end of summer. I'll catch up on this weeks episode of Ghost Hunters, and play my newly redeiscovered Playstation 2. Gotta love video games.
Stay safe, and be kind to your fellow man.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I've decided to stay at my job. Things seem to have improved since last week, and the new VP seems to be very strategic instead of a raving lunatic. I can deal with this...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Right now, I'm just looking forward to a nice 3-day weekend. Tomorrow will be a slow, quiet, shortened day of work, and then it's 3 days relaxing, enjoying the official end of summer. I'll catch up on this weeks episode of Ghost Hunters, and play my newly redeiscovered Playstation 2. Gotta love video games.
Stay safe, and be kind to your fellow man.
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