Well, here's some bummer info. Not only are we sending 20,000+ more troops to Iraq, but I just found out that the O.C. has been canceled?!?!? Wait... phew. They're still airing all the episodes to the Feb. 22 series finale. Serious phew (new band name). We can all sleep at night. California...
Okay, I'll drop the ironic mask: I really, really loved the O.C., thought it was transcendentally brilliant in terms of the meta-aware soap opera genre, until Oliver arrived. The bizarre point is that Oliver arrived about ten episodes into season 1! Egads, man! It's been hella downhill since, or at least not-as-brilliant and relied on gimmicks such as lesbian Marisa, daddy Ryan, etc. For shame. And yet, I still watched, and still got my giggle on for several Thursday nights past the official decline of the show.
I remember Chuck (CK), I think, talking at one point about how the entire concept of guilty pleasure was insane; it's stupid to feel guilty about things you like. "Embarassing Pleasure" or "Destroying my Hipster Cred" pleasure would be more apt descriptions. The O.C. definitely hits this on the head, though I do think any show with a giggle factor will really win out over my inner-swimming desire to be hip/cool - curling up on the couch and giggling along with Kevin Arnold and all of his teenage feelings is just good, romantic era Nyet stuff, and I dig it to this day.
Speaking of silly romance and the modern TV drama, um, Friday Night Lights was just on, and I watched it. This little ditty gets lauded for its realism and, repeat after me, the fact that you don't need to like football to enjoy it. I would humbly contend that it is the same over the top crap that always comes via your television set, only its shot in handheld and has Explosions in the Sky (or someone very much like them) playing their soundtrack. Case in point: cheesy Dad home from Iraq subplot, cheesy QB dates the coach's daughter subplot, cheesy abusive dad and righteous daughter subplot... etc. All the same, I found myself all Kevin-Winnie giddy with the scene tonight with Matt and the coach's daughter on the steps; just a good little expose of human weakness (the actors' portrayal of such, not mine). Simulacra of human tenderness, performed well enough, kicks those same nerves into gear. Weird that way. I'm probably making little to no sense right now, but suffice it to say that the show is blatantly cheesy and full of Hallmark Card sophistication, but occasionally glimmers with real moments. I'll probably keep watching, if for no other reason than *I actually played Texas high school football,* and therefore theoretically have something to say about the realism. Home town and lack of 26 year olds in my high school classes not withstanding. I mean, seriously, Riggins?
Alright, all of this is chasing the point of the post, that Bush just delivered a little ditty. Weirdness: The CBS and NBC telecasts (here, anyways) were a solid second ahead of the Fox and ABC telecasts. I wonder if the Fox FCC-compliance lawyers were thinking "hey, Dubsy might drop the F-bomb or say "Al Quaeda, I don't play that," so we'd better have a delay for bleeping purposes." Seems unlikely, but still weird that the ever-evasive present (see speed of light and neuronal reflex times) was differently evasive depending which network you tuned into. Also, nbc had a big waving American flag banner at the bottom, whereas Fox had bold blue. All of that aside, the actual content of the speech was typical droll rhetoric, though I did find myself at times nodding along; the arguments are at least internally coherent if you allow the fundamental assumptions. Weird that Bush, given the crazy disapproval ratings and seeming disaster in Iraq, had the gall to say that initially it would seem that things weren't working, but trust me, in the long run, it'll be all good. Um, it seems I've heard that one before, but that aside, it's just weird that he would give a "just bear with me" angle to something that, at least in the political present, needs immediate fixing.
I also noticed that he looks a lot older now, more like GHB. GHB. Ha! I'd never noticed that before. That is a completely superfluous observation, but I did find my eyes tracking to his bizarre, flat expression throughout the speech. Whatevs, as is the parlance (and apathy) of our times.
I'm almost done with the DFW book (review pending), and the last essay I'm tackling is the David Lynch discussion. He interestingly points out Quentin Tarantino as a glossier, polished Lynchian disciple, someone who takes Lynch's oatmeal and does the metaphorical spoony-airplane game with it. Which turns Tarantino's genius into more of a marketability game and less of an originality game. This fall snicely into the merging thing I was discussing earlier, that when you merge marketable sensibility with Lynchian avant gardism you get something brilliant like Pulp Fiction. I'll finish this up and let the peeps know, but I think taht even if QT's work was not as original as you might think, there's still a lot to be said for reining in the bizarre of Lynch and still allowing it to contribute. That's good stuff.
Alright, a reward for you long blab readers out there:
Pianos
Cool visual music website. Check it.
NOVA's The Elegant Universe
It looks like Mr. Greene's book in video form. Check it!
Merry Epiphany to all, and to all a good night...
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