Saturday, November 02, 2002

 
Since you've been out ...
I've been working on regionals questions all week, thus my absence from the blog world. (What a way to spend vacation time -- but I also did a bunch of errands and appointments as well.) However, here are some thoughts, observations, etc.

-- The death of Jam Master Jay is stunning, especially when you consider how long Run-DMC had been around, and the fact that they never had a type of image that might encourage violence, unlike Tupac or Biggie. I guess I can say I was able to see them in concert, even if it was a slightly long-winded performance (primarily from Rev. Run) during Music Midtown last year.

-- Allen Barra has a good explanation for the low World Series ratings. I really wanted to be interested in it, but I missed a bunch of games on the weekends because of other commitments (surprisingly, I had a life, if just briefly) and after working on a lot of this stuff during the day, I often don't have that passion late at night when the games actually took place. Plus, the Yankees were out, and that hurt things for me. Barra has it right that after being excited to see other teams from other areas, we now have treated baseball like college football where we only care about teams around us and if they're gone, we don't care. The best World Series now will have to involve teams from disparate parts of the map to grab attention from both coasts, the middle of the country, etc. Of course, if we put a sign "Watch the Yankees lose" I think we'll get the best ratings in a while, based on the way people talk.

-- The season premiere of 24 was a lot like the rest of last season -- often beyond belief, well-acted and very exhilarating. Sure, it's hokey at times, and like Dwight said, when you hear the line, "I'm gonna need a hacksaw," you know things have to be interesting. I liken this show to a really long movie, which is probably the best way to approach it (although if you miss one, there are still ways to catch up and not be left behind). I still need to get the boxed set of last year's run.

-- I did see a couple of movies during the week as well. I was impressed with Bowling for Columbine, as it was funny and hard-hitting at the same time. I've always enjoyed Michael Moore's movies, although I don't really agree with his politics although I tended to agree with him regarding guns and gun control (or at least the way he sort of approached the subjec). One thing that struck me here, though, is that he didn't do as much of the gotcha-humiliation act on lackies that he likes to pull off in his works. That always disturbed me that he would completely stomp on underlings, who are the types of people Moore supposedly champions, to make a point while trying to reach an executive he really wants to skewer. It was kept to a minimum this time around, and he let the other willing people paint the picture. By the way, the animated Brief History of the United States is an absolute hoot, and a good way to figure out some of his points.

-- Being a Seinfeld fan, I felt like I really needed to see Comedian, and I wasn't disappointed. It was very intriguing to see Jerry cultivate a completely new stand-up act, which really sounds a lot like his old stuff (delivery, topics, etc.). And Jerry talking with other comics about the craft makes for some great watching, especially those who watch(ed) a lot of stand-up over the years, whether at clubs or on TV. I didn't mind the movie also looking at a guy on the up-and-up in Orny Adams, since you did want to see the other side of the business. (For despite Jerry's redoing an act, he's still Jerry Seinfeld). Adams is a funny guy, but he's such a prick. You have to wonder if he knows that when he sees himself on screen. It looked like the movie was made on the cheap, but I think that was sort of the point. What was more annoying was some of the bad sound/music mixing. I want to hear Jerry's act, his conversations with other comics, etc. I like the music being played, but many times it overpowered the dialogue (which is hard to hear because of the few microphones involved, etc.). I sometimes felt like I could use closed captioning or subtitles to guide me along.