It’s been a quiet few days for me. In a way this is a good thing – I feel that I had a nice, relaxing weekend and I feel recharged. On the other hand, it means that talking about my experiences is a little more of a challenge than usual. Therefore I am going to present, in time honoured cop-out tradition, some random thoughts that have struck me over the past few days.
1) War of the Worlds is good. Really, really good. The alien tripods look a little too much like the machine life from the Matrix, but you can’t have everything. Tom Cruise is passable. Dakota Fanning (which just sounds like something people do in America when they’re bored) is excellent. And Morgan Freeman? Excellent touch! The ‘doo approves.
2) Picking up Scrubs season one on DVD has been my smartest DVD purchase since the Firefly boxset a few months back. This show is one of the best on TV at the moment: consistently funny, able to be touching without resorting to schmaltz, full of good characters and a good line in sharp dialogue.
3) Sharon Osbourne is currently advertising for Asda (Wal-mart for you Americano types), saying that it’s the shop “for working mums” just like her. Yeah right Sharon, because you have to shop at Asda, don’t you? I don’t have a problem with you advertising Asda. I don’t have a problem with you making money from doing an ad campaign. Just don’t insult my intelligence by trying to present yourself as just another working mum who has to make ends meet, because you’re not. You’re filthy rich, you don’t need to make your money stretch and frankly it’s insulting to see you trying to present yourself as someone who does. Advertise, don’t patronise.
4) Bob Geldof, you can still fuck all the way off. Changing the fate of Africa will take a lot of work, a lot of complicated negotiation, and a lot of financial, governmental and social expertise. It needs leadership, care, dedication and intelligence. It does not need a washed up Irish rocker with a God complex whose glory days are well and truly in the rear view mirror.
5) Whoever invented antihistamine medication should be made a saint immediately. No waiting, just pick up your gold wings and enjoy your place in the afterlife. Thank you. From the depths of my soul, thank you. You’re cool.
6) I hate to admit it, but the American version of “The Office” is actually pretty funny. I don’t think it would do to compare the American and British versions because they’re dealing with completely different workplace cultures, but it is better than I thought it would be. I will be honest and say that I don’t get all of the jokes, but it’s funnier than it has a right to be.
7) If you have access to iTunes, download “The Birds and the Bees” by Patrick and Eugene. It’s what I’m listening to right now if you want the whole FawnDoo experience. If you can somehow manage to piss off a workmate by means unknown and have a copy of “A Forest of Stars” close to hand, even better.
Now I think about it, looking back on my random thoughts I seem to come off as a bitter, misanthropic couch potato. Hunh. Never saw that one coming. I mean I *am* a misanthropic couch potato, but I like to think I can hide it a little better than this.
Damn.
July 5th, 2005 at 3:55 am
Ah, Mr Cellophane! your randomness somehow agrees with me, although I am neutral about Geldof and rather more hopeful about Live8.
I had a similar thing with a coworker—it was fun saying goodmorning to her every day and smiling when we met in the hall. She never explained and never reneged. Gotta admire that.
July 5th, 2005 at 11:11 am
#5 – I don’t even think he can see those days in the rearview mirror anymore. I hope he has a scrapbook…
July 6th, 2005 at 12:53 pm
I’m shocked to hear that the NBC version of “The Office” is any good. Usually, when our networks co-opt a “Britcom,” they dumb it down to the point of pointlessness. I’m a big fan of “Blackadder,” “Fawlty Towers,” etc… UK humor is almost always far superior to mass market American sitcoms.
I don’t think you came off as bitter in this post at all. You’ll have to step it up a bit for the next post. Wish some horrible disease on somebody or something.
July 6th, 2005 at 11:07 pm
Yay! Another Britcom fan! :-)
Lorna, look deep inside. Search your feelings, you know it to be true. Geldof = arsehole. ;-)
July 7th, 2005 at 4:14 am
Red Dwarf is the only Britcom that ever really hooked me. I’ve caught one or two episodes of Chris Barrie’s other show where he runs a department store and didn’t think it was half bad. I also caught a few episodes of the original Coupling after I liked the American one and wanted to see what everyone who’d seen it was complaining about. Turns out they were right.
I haven’t seen the original Office. The American one had dry humor and no laugh track, and seemed very intelligent, almost too intelligent for marketing perceptions of American audiences. It felt like Seinfeld with no canned laughter. The reason I couldn’t get into it was because it was TOO on point. After dealing with almost the EXACT same insanity in my office for 8-10 hours, I couldn’t take more than fifteen minutes of a reenactment. Surprisingly, the show did well and will be coming back even though other new shows I enjoyed more like Committed or Blind Justice seem to be gone.
Dakota Fanning (which just sounds like something people do in America when they’re bored)
LOL
Good move picking up Scrubs. It’s arguably the last good American live-action sitcom on network television and it seems like it survives on word of mouth because NBC moves it around, rarely seems to advertise it, and rarely runs reruns. I think its an awesome blend of zany Simpsonesque humor and some genuinely sad/heartwarming moments. Have you seen any of the episodes with Brendan Fraser yet? That show is just great.