Life’s Little Irritants
We all hate commercials, but there is one species of advertising that is especially insidious: the jingle commercial.
I can easily tune out most TV ads. Some familiar pitch will show up on the screen, and I’ll go back to reading my newspaper. But ignoring the jingle commercial is next to impossible. You can be out in the garage, or enjoying a constitutional in the john, and suddenly the hair-raising strains of Neil Patrick Harris crooning “like an angel” for Xfinity will set your ears on fire. You might be outside mowing the lawn when the gag-inducing “Nationwide is on your side” will drift out the window and infuse you with a desire to disassemble the blades from your mower and use them to slit your own throat.
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Showtime had a free preview, so I tuned in. With a few exceptions, including The Big C, Showtime has the same problem today that it had 20 years ago, back when I was a subscriber: Crappy programs. There are simply way, way too many straight-to-video-caliber movies.
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I’m sorry, but American audiences are like trained seals. Why on earth do we feel compelled to applaud: 1) the chorus-line kick; 2) people who reach old age; and 3) couples who have been married a long time?
The Rockettes’ high kick doesn’t look particularly challenging. For all you know, that old geezer you’re applauding could be a lifelong child molester. The married couple might have endured 50 miserable years together. But like those trained seals, give us our cue and we’ll applaud.
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Funny guys who strike me as funny only when I channel my inner 12-year-old — and sometimes not even then: Zach Galifianakis, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Tim Allen, and most of the cast of Saturday Night Live.
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Life’s Little Joys
If you blog long enough, eventually some sort-of-celebrity will leave you a visitor comment. I have had two such comments at the “Weekly Review,” one of them complimentary, and the other … not so much. But thank you, Liz Sklar (above left) and Debi Sue Voorhees (above right).
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I don’t know. I think police might have screwed up when they arrested this guy. Seriously, does he look like the type who would shoot at an airplane?
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