I didn’t post anything yesterday because I was far too busy not posting anything to do so.
This isn’t to say that I was busy actually doing anything, but simply that I was busy not doing something, namely posting a blog entry.
About the only thing I actually did was watch Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
It was okay – and Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis were both extremely hot in it – but it wasn’t really as funny as some of the other movies put out by Judd Apatow and company.
It did bring something to mind, though, or rather, it amplified a thought I’d had earlier in the day about how the world works in movies and TV shows.
Thinking that I really ought to something creative one of these days – or at least what passes for creative – I was sifting through some of the many downloaded images I have in search of something to draw, and found one that I would like to do, but was annoyed by the low resolution of it and the missing details that result from an image being too small and compressed. If I’m going to create a decent rendering of an image, I need as much detail as possible to work from. Even if my version is going to be less detailed (if, for example, I’m going the Nagelesque route), I need to have the details so that I can decide what to include or to exclude; I don’t like having that decision made for me by quality of the source image.
In any case, I was thinking that, for me, it would be a much better world if the kind of image enhancing programs that show up in movies and TV shows actually existed.
We’ve all seen the moment when some technician takes a grainy bit of video footage, hits a few random keys, and suddenly what had been a nondescript, unrecognizable cluster of pixels is “enlarged and enhanced” into some high resolution image, showing the most minute details and suitable for printing on a twelve foot banner.
Sadly, in the real world it doesn’t work that way, and generally the more you try to “enlarge and enhance” a low resolution image the less recognizable it becomes.
This ties to the movie I watched in that the movie featured another Hollywood phenomenon that, like the magical image-enhancing software, I’ve never encountered in real life: the instant post-break up sex buffet.
Again, we’ve all seen it. Guy gets dumped. Guy goes out with friends and picks up a hot chick for a one night stand. And then another. And another.
Generally some sort of hilarity ensues as a result, as the hot chicks he hooks up with invariably have some sort of weird fetishes or neuroses that are good for a laugh, and of course the guy generally discovers that empty, meaningless sex with quirky hot chicks can’t mend his broken heart.
But that has nothing to do with my point, which is that in Hollywood’s version of reality, there are essentially very eager and willing supermodels lining up waiting for a guy to get dumped so that they can pounce on him. Movies stop just short of having the women hiding in the bushes outside of the guy’s house and jumping him the second he steps out the door after getting dumped.
Admittedly it’s possible that, unlike the magic image-enhancing, this sort of thing does happen, and the fact that it never happened to me is just another example of me sucking at life, but I’ve never seen it happen to anyone else, either.
Honestly, if it really were that simple, there’d be no need for the “casual connections” or whatever section on Craigslist, or for any of the various dating sites designed specifically for people looking for flings.
Of course, what happens next in movies is the encounter with the miraculous perfect woman, who is so perfect and kind that, rather than being disgusted and repelled by how sad and pathetic the dumped guy is, she takes pity on him and sees past his misery and desperation to the funny, sweet, great guy hidden under the tears, and an instant connection is formed that will, after some comedic misunderstandings and travails, lead to the whole happily ever after thing.
Yeah. Happens all the time, I’m sure.
I realize that it’s foolish to criticize Hollywood for a lack of connection with reality, but these are some of the standard tropes that grate on my nerves more than most, and, lacking anything better to write about, I figured I’d mention them.
While watching the movie I forgot that the new Clone Wars series was starting on Cartoon Network, with the end result being that my forgetfulness made up my mind for me on whether or not I was going to watch it. I’d been undecided about it, mostly because I just hate the thought of picking up another TV show to watch.
I realize that it doesn’t really matter if I’m sitting on the couch watching TV or sitting at my computer not doing anything in particular, but, well, it matters to me. I just don’t like devoting the time to TV watching, so I hate to add any more TV watching time to what’s already in place.
In any case, I think I’ll get back to sitting in front of my computer and not doing anything in particular.
Showing posts with label judd apatow and company. Show all posts
Showing posts with label judd apatow and company. Show all posts
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Nixon/FDR '08: Change You Won't F***ing Believe!
As I’d forgotten to burn the DVDs the night before, Scott and I didn’t actually watch any Riff Trax movies yesterday.
Instead I picked up Iron Man on Blu-Ray and we watched that.
(Specifically, I got the two disc Ultimate Blu-Ray edition, in the Target exclusive Iron Man helmet disc case.)
We also watched the season premiere of Pushing Daisies, which, as always, was wonderful.
To mark the occasion, I bought a cherry pie.
In case you haven’t watched the show – And why haven’t you? It’s wonderful! Why do you hate joy? – the pie was appropriate, as the main character is a pie maker, and as such pies often figure prominently into the plot.
While I was at Target I also picked up the super mega happy fun fun (or whatever it’s actually called) Blu-Ray edition of Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I haven’t seen it, but it looked funny, and Apatow and company haven’t let me down so far, so, since it was right next to Iron Man, I figured I might as well grab it and add to my Blu-Ray collection.
At one point I got a phone call, and as my living room phone had lost sync with the base station, it didn’t ring, so I had to answer the phone in the kitchen, since I didn’t want to go upstairs to one of the phones that has a caller ID display, and it was at least theoretically possible that it was something important.
Turned out to be the survey people who keep calling me and whom I keep hanging up on (last night was no exception). I believe it’s the same people who have been calling people and asking who they’re going to vote for, then, if the person being surveyed is voting for Obama, asking a bunch of loaded hypothetical questions like “Would you still vote for Obama if I told you that he eats babies?”
I said like that, but not actually that. Mostly they’ve been talking to Jews and asking them if they’d still vote for Obama if they knew that he supported a bunch of anti-Israel policies.
It’s all very similar to what the Bush campaign did back in 2000, calling people in the South and telling them that McCain had an illegitimate black child, which should come as no surprise, as McCain has hired all of the people who ruined his campaign to ruin his opponent’s campaign.
One of these times I might actually talk to them if they call and when they ask who I’m going to vote for, I’ll either tell them that I’m voting for Bill and Opus, or the Nixon/FDR ticket. If they point out that Nixon and FDR are both dead, and even if they were alive they 1. Would be ineligible to run and 2. They would be extremely unlikely to run on the same ticket, I’ll start to sob uncontrollably and scream, “Dead? When did that happen?” If they figure out that Bill and Opus aren’t real candidates (and don’t actually exist) I’ll accuse them of being lying dupes of the Lex Luthor/Pete Ross campaign and demand to speak to their Reptoid supervisor.
However, it’s more likely that I’ll just keep hanging up on them.
Speaking of McCain, though, apparently he’s decided to Say No! To Michigan (I don’t know, or care, if it still is, but the tourism slogan for Michigan used to be Say Yes! To Michigan), according to this article I read today (and am too lazy to find again in order to provide a link), and has decided that it’s a lost cause*. His campaign will stop running ads and will drop its direct mailings to Michigan residents and focus its energies on key battleground states.
In any case, I’m finding myself diving deeper into politics than I really care to, so I guess I’ll bring this entry to a close.
*Updated to add: Huh. John McCain and I actually have something in common.
Instead I picked up Iron Man on Blu-Ray and we watched that.
(Specifically, I got the two disc Ultimate Blu-Ray edition, in the Target exclusive Iron Man helmet disc case.)
We also watched the season premiere of Pushing Daisies, which, as always, was wonderful.
To mark the occasion, I bought a cherry pie.
In case you haven’t watched the show – And why haven’t you? It’s wonderful! Why do you hate joy? – the pie was appropriate, as the main character is a pie maker, and as such pies often figure prominently into the plot.
While I was at Target I also picked up the super mega happy fun fun (or whatever it’s actually called) Blu-Ray edition of Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I haven’t seen it, but it looked funny, and Apatow and company haven’t let me down so far, so, since it was right next to Iron Man, I figured I might as well grab it and add to my Blu-Ray collection.
At one point I got a phone call, and as my living room phone had lost sync with the base station, it didn’t ring, so I had to answer the phone in the kitchen, since I didn’t want to go upstairs to one of the phones that has a caller ID display, and it was at least theoretically possible that it was something important.
Turned out to be the survey people who keep calling me and whom I keep hanging up on (last night was no exception). I believe it’s the same people who have been calling people and asking who they’re going to vote for, then, if the person being surveyed is voting for Obama, asking a bunch of loaded hypothetical questions like “Would you still vote for Obama if I told you that he eats babies?”
I said like that, but not actually that. Mostly they’ve been talking to Jews and asking them if they’d still vote for Obama if they knew that he supported a bunch of anti-Israel policies.
It’s all very similar to what the Bush campaign did back in 2000, calling people in the South and telling them that McCain had an illegitimate black child, which should come as no surprise, as McCain has hired all of the people who ruined his campaign to ruin his opponent’s campaign.
One of these times I might actually talk to them if they call and when they ask who I’m going to vote for, I’ll either tell them that I’m voting for Bill and Opus, or the Nixon/FDR ticket. If they point out that Nixon and FDR are both dead, and even if they were alive they 1. Would be ineligible to run and 2. They would be extremely unlikely to run on the same ticket, I’ll start to sob uncontrollably and scream, “Dead? When did that happen?” If they figure out that Bill and Opus aren’t real candidates (and don’t actually exist) I’ll accuse them of being lying dupes of the Lex Luthor/Pete Ross campaign and demand to speak to their Reptoid supervisor.
However, it’s more likely that I’ll just keep hanging up on them.
Speaking of McCain, though, apparently he’s decided to Say No! To Michigan (I don’t know, or care, if it still is, but the tourism slogan for Michigan used to be Say Yes! To Michigan), according to this article I read today (and am too lazy to find again in order to provide a link), and has decided that it’s a lost cause*. His campaign will stop running ads and will drop its direct mailings to Michigan residents and focus its energies on key battleground states.
In any case, I’m finding myself diving deeper into politics than I really care to, so I guess I’ll bring this entry to a close.
*Updated to add: Huh. John McCain and I actually have something in common.
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