PVR Opinions (Day Old Reviews)

I am sympathetic to that YouTube Chris guy who briefly got famous by posting a rant with a cry about leaving Britney Alone. I kind of agree. But she confuses me, because it would be easy for Britney to go away if she really wanted to.

Her lyrics seems to say one thing. Her actions, another, and the media a third. They're all different and I don't know who Britney is.

I used to think she was a cute teenager who got on Disney's Mickey Mouse club, and was popular enough to go on to be a pop success... I didn't care if it was her choice, or her stage mother's choice. I liked her beats and her looks and I was a fan.

I'll admit I had stopped buying CD's by that stage in my life, way outside her key demographic, but my MP3 player had her hits and I'd listen to them when nobody was watching. I'd seen her videos too.

Some of her lyrics seemed to hint that she was being controlled and living a life not really her own, as I know many Pop stars complain of. She tried a few different styles and we were led to believe she was given a little more creative freedom.

I still liked her music.

Then the wedding thing, followed by a number of other crazy stunts and I defended her in my own mind as a smart girl who's decided to go the Madonna route and stay in the press through antics beyond the music. As it started to get a little crazier I realized it was an addiction, and she transitioned from Maddona style publicity to Michael Jackson style. People started calling her crazy... but they still bought the albums or downloaded the hits.

Britney still held top 10 positions on Google's most searched list. Her movies tanked and people started to dislike her publicly.

For somebody born and bread as America's sweetheart, that must have hurt... but somebody told her no publicity is bad publicity, so she started marrying people, hunting for a reality show, and desperately showing us she was just a home town country gal... almost hickish.

I still wanted to give her the benefit of being smart, and designing the press... but it was hard.

I'm 44 and none of my friends listen to top 40 radio. Obviously they know Britney, which is the plan, but they know her as a crazy now, and couldn't name a song since OOPS I DID IT AGAIN.

Her recent album has new lyrics that hint she's unhappy. Her actions seem to hint that she's so troubles she's testing the waters and looking to be arrested. She's like a depressed non famous person who may resort to cutting or hurting themselves for attention, except she's got the attention... just nobody to talk to and be friends with.

Britney has no community support it seems, and so she's a lose 16 year old in an adult's rich body. She may welcome death or jail some days... and yet, if three days go by without being talked about, so goes out and flashes her Va-j-j to the press or crashes her car.

Its hard to understand.

Her new album isn't poppy or upbeat. Its ballads on Top 40 so far (just two singles so far) but I miss the old Britney who made me toe tap and bop and dream of being her boyfriend.

I want to go on YouTube and scream LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE but I fear if we ever do, she'll just go out and do something worse. We can't leave her alone. She needs a friend.

I no longer thing it should be me... I've seen she's not my idea match on her reality show, and her choice of second husband... but it should be somebody.

Maybe Nick Lache can help her.

Anyway... enough ranting... I'll unpause my SPICE GIRLS reunion show on TV and continue watching British Pop Stars who are a little more grounded... if I am to believe.

And I always like to believe.

---

I was just about to watch a DVD of Over the Hedge, when I was inspired to press PAUSE and take note.

The movie is animated, but for the first time that I noticed, the voice actors are listed up front, like a regular movie.

It took me back at first.

I was impressed with some of the big names, and every name on screen as familiar.

AT first, I had to decide if I liked it.

On the one hand, I can see myself waiting in anticipation to see who William Shatner voices... or Avril Levine.

But then I remembered that enjoyment I get out of figuiring out who a voice actor is. It's half of what I enjoy about these movies. It's my A.D.D sub plot that keeps both of my attentions on the same goals.

I will now unpause, and see how it effects my enjoytment of the film.

UNPAUSE


I think I like the remedial version of my game. I still get to delight in figuring out voices, I just have a preset list to choose from.

It makes it easier

I feel like an episode of WHO'S LINE IS IT ANYWAY. I enter a title in the blogger box above, of the name of the TV show I have just opaused to start writing. I know, that by the time I have started, this essay will be about a subject almost unrelated in any way to THE CLASS, but it's my starting line. Then, just before I begin to type about a commercial I witnessed while watching, I start to write about Who's Line Is It Anyway.

So... the real first paragraph should have been:

I was watching THE CLASS off PVR right now. Since episode 1, I've preferred the sassy one. Her character is evolving more than some of the others so far this season. In any case, I just saw a commercial for THE CLASS while watching it, and the CTV promo photo of the cast has her with much much lighter hair. It took me a milisecond extra to identify her.

I thought to myself; wow. It must suck to be a celebrity, at least in that regard. From what I know of people, and of celebrities as a sub class, the majority of us don't like watching ourself, or seeing ourselves. It's a frozen time machine example of zero control. We can't change it, and everybody is seeing it.

Instead of living life, we're watching it as a spectator, and it's hard.

As a celebrtity, you just have to learn to cope, ignore, or get out of the business. You can't watch a 10 second TV promo and freak out because you look ugly.

Even if you do.

Even if I'm sitting next to you, and I turn to you and say; Wow. You looked ugly in that.

Its hard. I'm trying to do some videos for my carreer and web site and I think my lesson should be; don't watch them. In much the same way I seldom re-read and prood and edit my blogs, I don't think my videos can be watched by me. If I see them, I'll want to edit or redo. I'll want to capture back the control.

Nothing will ever get done.

End of Part 1.
Unpause.

I was watching this week's episode of LAS VEGAS just now. I just saw sweet Mary, who they're hardening up this season, smoking.

Her ex boyfriend, she show's white hunk said it was ok, because she was stressed.

I call the age card again, and start rambling like the grey haired father figure I made fun of when I wasn't one of them.

TV is still teaching us it's OK to smoke, and I believe somebody is behind it, on purpose.

Remembering a movie called WAG THE DOG, I wondered how the smart people would pull it off. They WAG THE DOG. It's an old trick. Change the news.

Britney Spears had to shave her head to get the news to shut up about Anna Nicole Smith.

We've heard a lot about product placements again in history. Commercials in the show, as some would describe. When done right, they make a show more believable, because no kid ever asked for a Cola. Kleenex and Hoover and windbreaker and elevator are all brand names we use in life like the product name. TV's just letting characters use brand names.

But when they up it a notch, and start talking like commercials, then we notice, and lose realty for a moment. The Zeppelin.

MAD TV has the most obvious product placement sketches among the shows I watch. I havn't decided whether they do it so blatent it's part of the joke, or whether they're just whores for free Yaris 4 doors for the staff.

I'd like mine in orange. The frequent mentions of Yaris wouldn't be so bad, because I sincerly believe Yaris owners probably do refer to it by name. Some cars you call cars, and some you call Keep, or Caddy or Corvette or Yaris.

The odd part is when MAD TV starts spewing about it's luxury features like they mixed up their cue cards with a dealer brochure. I know more about Yaris than I needed to.

I'm thinking of buying one. How did that happen?

But back to the topic I started with... TV has shown me it's a good idea to have some ciggarettes in my pocket or purse, or under my t shirt sleeve if I were to be so inclined to choose that atire. They're still bad, but everybody lets you smoke when bad things are happening to you. Then it's OK.

I wonder what the executive meeting with the writers was all about. Studio 60 has taught me that anybody can talk to anybody about anything in the real world. Did anybody try for ciagette use by the main characters in a positive situation was the opening bid, and this was what everyone settled on.

The ciagette lobby has always accepted that brand recognition and publicty are not always related. In the brand recogniotion game, no publicty is bad publicty, and such, maketing does care about image... it just cares you know it's name.

People buy brands they know are big. If you smoke to fit in, you don't buy independant brands. You buy what everybody else buys.

We know, through pop culture axioms, coke is #1 and Pepsi is #2. We know McDonalds beats Burger King. We do not however hear so much about who's #1 in smokes. But you can believe they do. Then again, maybe it's as obvious as Coke, but I just am out of the loop. I never smoked.

Not cigarettes anyway, he said with a TV style wink. A drum roll was noticable absent.

I need a drumroll and a rim shot on a button. My life would be better with a laughtrack. I am often the punchline guy.

SNAP BACK

The summary closing, that cigarette companies could have started paying or rewarding in some way, writers for including references to smoking again. Pop cul;ture needs to be smoking on TV.

On the one hand, it would be more realistic. Successful "Hot" men and women in the real world do smoke. So do many of the less-hot people in everyday life, although on TV, less of them smoke. The lower class always smoke on TV.

In order to lessen the complaints of the vocal few who love to complain. Give them a one two punch, although that is a horrible anaolgy for this.

West Wing taught me the technique. Use the news. Hide stories behind big stories.

Oh look, A Zeppelin.

UN-PAUSE

Reality shows are not reality. That's not a new statement by any means. However, it's neat to see how a network or producer can make good TV, and stay within the confines of what they call reality. They don't script things, and they claim to not change the outcome, but they can change the rules.

A food competition for a tribal council challenge with one group that hasn't eaten in four days or more seems like a bit of an edge. The luxury, full and content team may not be as motivated. They've won two or three weeks in a row.

I don't mind. I like good TV. I'm not even sure how I'd feel if I found out the whole thing was scripted. To me, good TV is more important. I watch Survivor because I believe these are real people, and I'm fscinated at how the interact. I fast forward through the challenges sometimes, and listen to the personal interaction parts.

I love watching people be themselves, and surprise.

I don't so much need to watch them eat pig snouts.

As it turns out, they didn't win. The same teams loses again, back to back to back. It changes the game again. Still good TV, but you start to worry. If the underdogs don't win, you'll soon be wishing it was scripted.

I'm not saying misery isn't good TV, it's just not good TV over and over and over again. There is only so mucg we can watch. The underdog should rise. That's what we expect. We won't like reality TV if it seem to unreal.

The editors work overtime. I keep watching, season after season.

---

I haven't seen it. I've only seen the commercials.

It seems like the new movie The Austronaut Farmer seems like the story of First Contact, the Star Trek movie that tells the history of the first warp flight into outyer space. It almost looks the same. A farmer builds a rocket in his barn.

I wonder what other Star Trek stories I could change and retell. After all, many of those stories are from other stories, and many of those are from the Bible.

Things that go without saying should be said more often, and we need to retell our stories.

Every time I hear somebody on TV hiccup, I wonder if the writers have seen my web site. I have a hiccup cure listed, and for a while, I was #1 on Google. It's free and easy and works really well for about 80% of the people who try it. It's lost ground to less successful cures that cost money, because that's how the Internet works sometimes.

The other source of pride from my web site is my invented childhood game. It's called IT'S YOUR FAULT and it has a small following of fans who may play it a few times, and then give it up. I do however, sometimes fantasize that it could be a popular game through time.

Today, I saw it played on TV, but characters from a popular prime time network sitcom.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER played my game today. To be fair, this is a stretch, fabricated by pride in my own mind. They didn't play my game as much as I dream.

They just wrote an episode by taking a fault, and progressivly, almost in tern, tell detailed stories of how this faul;t could not have occured, if it were not for - followed by passing the blame to somebody else. First, it wasn't my fault, it was Barney's fault, because he ran the Boston Marathon. Then it was Marshall's Fault because he bet Barney he couldn't do it, and then it was her fault, and then his fault, and then this guy pushing the airport luggage carts.

On an on with no repetition or craziness. They followed all the rules expect they had to actually say what it was that happened, but I forgive artistic licence.

I wonder if they visited my web site.

Pride Beats Shame, hands up!

I used to dream of a scenario where aliens had landed in Roswell, or before. I used to think; how would the world be different, if that were the truth. Then, I look for signs in society that hint that it may be, using this story.

The way the people who know the secret, prepair the world for the time when they can admit it.

Fiction and history have shown us time and time again that we're not good at handling such drastic change. We need to believe in our various Gods and explanations for how the universe works. We can't be told it was a lie, or a misunderstanding, and that god doesn't exist, or is different from our history lessons.

I estimated a 50 year plan, starting with slow integration of the idea. First hints at the idea we are not the center of the universe. Other planets may contain life, confirmed vaugly by science, but not so certain as to topple the churches.

We start seeing aliens in fiction, and on radio plays, or TV. We test the market with a hoax radio show. Then, in television and movies and comics, aliens come in all shapes and sizes. Friendly and dangerous. We explore all sorts of possibilities in fantasy.

However, the act tames the idea. Through time, we begin to wonder if the stories could be true, and if maybe life does exist elsewhere. The next few generations will be expecting the news; the truth. ALready conspiracy theories abound online about the signs that this story may be true.

Almost demanding to be told a truth we want.

Not all of us of course. We're not ready to accept multiple God stories we can't prove. I am certain a new version would be unwelcome to many. Religion has never worked when you knew your neiughbour had a different story. We've always killed those we couldn't convert. We still do.

We still are.

They can't tell us yet, but the bfiction improves. Gets more detailed. Prepairs us for less humaolid aliens and more "out there" possibilities.

I think it was Sagan who said something like about there being more in the universe than we cam concieve, but doubly so. I wish I coulkd remember the quote, but if I zeppelin off to lok it up, I'l lose my train of thought. That's why editing exists I guess.

The second portion to this blogged opinion, and the inspiration for the writing, was that I sat down to watch the first episode of THE DRESDEN FILES, and it occured to me.

The exact same scenario can be played out for paranormal, and I encompass it all under the categeory of "the unknown that exists without proof". I guess that is a good example of faith. If I include everything from magic to phyicic powers (which includes a lot of its own categories), I would say that something beyond my knwoledge exists. It's clear.

At least, current pop culture and fiction is leaning me that way. Of the 10 or so prime time shows I enjoy this season, an alarming amount are based in this world.

Dead Zone
Ghost Whisperer
Medium
Physch
Dresen Files
Smallville (A stretch, but people have powers)

I may even have forgotten some. The world is trying its best to convince me this is real.

But slowly, without bothering the people who still need to believe it's bunk.

Wow. A lot of people smoked this week on TV. On Saturday Night live, at least three times. On Hero's, MAD TV, and on Studio 60. People I'd never seen smoking were smoking.

I wonder who paid who.

Labels: Saturday Night Live, smoking, SNL, studio 60