Culture kills... wait, I mean cutlery

Enduring the Irritating Just to Spite Someone Else

There is a little scene from the television show Becker which I always keep in mind for situations like this.

There was a flickering street light outside of curmudgeonly Dr. Becker's apartment window, and in a bid to get it fixed, he stands in the lobby of his building trying to get his neighbors, all of whom he has done something to anger in the past, to sign a petition so it will get fixed.

He finally finds another person in the building who is also really being irritated by the street light and would desperately like it fixed. However, knowing that it was also driving Becker crazy gave that guy the strength to endure the misery according to his own words.

In my case, the source of misery is the never ending coverage of Michael Jackson's death and memorial.

When it first happened, I could see why there was such a fuss, but by now, I think most of the stories about it would be exhausted. On some level, I think the coverage has been more pervasive than even the first two weeks of coverage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. I mean, really, by now every narrative surrounding this has likely been explored by someone in the media.

In short, I desperately wanted it to end.

And then I read a story that all this coverage about Michael Jackson was getting under Bill O'Reilly's skin and he was getting really cranky about it. As you may remember, he is someone who is on my enemies list. Of course, as you can imagine, he wasn't the most tactful guy when discussing the matter, calling the fans who were lionizing Jackson pathetic and attacking Jackson for his extravagant lifestyle while not really contributing to worthy causes. From what I've read, he devoted a lot of time on Tuesday's show to this whole issue, so he either felt it was worth exploring or he knew it was ratings and publicity gold.

So the fact that Bill O'Reilly is getting so bent out of shape about this gives me the strength to carry on and endure this coverage. I can survive. I can persevere. I have the will to take it for the rest of my life if it makes O'Reilly so mad and uncomfortable.

Labels: celebrity

Midweek Video: Post-It Love

Sorry I didn't have a new post this afternoon, but life got in the way so to speak.

Anyway, I saw this video earlier this week and I thought it was so sweet and touching (though the word creepy may also be an appropriate adjective), that I thought it was worth featuring.

I sort of wish that the resolution of the original video lent itself to reading the credits, as I would be interested to know if this crew made any other short films.

Labels: videos

The Last Man

I was recently tagged by Samuraifrog to do this particular meme, and as you well know, I am not huge on these, but the premise of this is so interesting, I had to pursue it. And that being said, this whole thing was started by someone named JDC.

The question at hand is:
"You wake up tomorrow and every person on the planet has vanished. What do you do?"

Day One: I think it would take me a while to realize that I was perhaps the last person left on Earth. Upon that realization (which the television universe wouldn't entirely acknowledge the cataclysm because there would still be stations that run programming by robot. I would likely be in a state of denial about the situation at hand, but being a pragmatist, I would look up some of the little tricks I would need to know online before both the internet and power grid became non-functional, information which would not be widely available from any books I could readily find (like hotwiring a car and other activities which civil society frowns upon). While the amenities lasted, I would take advantage of the perishables, as I know they will be fleeting. I lack most of the basic skills to survive outside of the confines of civilization, so there are going to be some harsh lessons to be learned if I am going to survive.

Week One: I have discovered the fun of living in a world without consequences. I could see myself engaging in destructive behavior just because I could get away with it and engaging in other behavior that would lead to my former incarceration... like shooting at parked cars and breaking and entering. Then again, who am I really hurting at this point. At the same time, I would to contemplate the fact that without other human beings and their skills, I am going to be in trouble if I was to break my glasses (a situation like the one lamentably faced by Burgess Meredith in the Twilight Zone episode Time Enough at Last), need medical help or require something else that requires specialization and timely maintenance. By now, I expect that the power system would have largely broken down, so any food which was perishable would have likely started going south. I have likely eaten the last fresh meat and frozen food I am going to have for a while. I stock up on a variety of medical supplies... just in case I get in a situation which makes it difficult to acquire them when needed. The water system is also likely compromised, so I would likely be living on bottled water.

Month One: I come to realize why in a post-apocalyptic society gasoline is so prized... and how important electricity is in delivering it. While I may have gotten used to elements of this new lifestyle, depression over the things I've lost will consume me. With a stash of prescription medications, including a wide variety of painkillers, anti-depressants and sleeping pills, along with unfettered access to booze from both bars and liquor stores, I would descend into a cycle of substance abuse, which while killing me, also keeps me somewhat sane. I will likely be cooking with propane, as it would still likely be available in a form that I could transport depending on the season. While I might have felt more comfortable in this survival mode, there are still many things to learn if I hope to survive. And part of me doesn't want to do so. I am soft, weak, and while I may fantasize about such scenarios, like the zombie apocalypse, I know that I am not a survivor. Every day will be a struggle, shortened by substance abuse of course.

Year One: If I make it to this point without killing myself on purpose, by an accidental drug or alcohol overdose or by act of nature, I will likely be almost ready to take dominion over the world. At some point nature will get the better of me, and my demons should be under control. Hopefully. Perhaps by this point I have a truck full of loot and am slowly making my way across down the highways and byways of the North American continent, looking for fellow survivors, those rare needles in a haystack who would have likely been as isolated as myself. It is a futile search, but it would give my life some meaning, some boundaries which were so painfully lacking in the months previous. I don't know how long I will struggle for, but I am not going to quit. Not yet.

Now I am supposed to pick someone else to do this as well.

I Choose You, Megan!

Labels: question

Little People Lobby FCC

An advocacy group for Little People are trying to get the word "midget" off the public airwaves. But unlike a lot of advocacy groups, they are going beyond what is normally associated with this kind of thing.

Usually in these cases, they protest and boycott and generally exercise their power as consumers and rabblerousers to get some attention for the issue they want looked at.

That's not the tack that is being used. Instead of trying to discourage people from using the word "midget" through those means, they are instead lobbying to get it onto a list of words that are deemed unfit for the public airwaves by FCC standards.

They are also equating the term "midget" with racial slurs. I am sure generations of African-Americans would rankle at that comparison, people who are more than familiar with the treatment that surrounds such terms.

I am not a little person, so perhaps I don't understand how hurtful being called a midget is. From my perspective, it seems that being called a little person would be worse. Just the use of the words "little person" seems insulting to me. Put it this way, is it worse to call someone a midget or to tell them that they are a small person, meaning they are petty and all those other negative connotations.

I mean, Hervé Villechaize insisted on being called a midget and not a little person.

So once again, I say no to unnecessary censorship and to a more pervasive FCC presence in the American media.

*your host starts chanting a line from PCU* We're not gonna protest... we're not gonna protest...

Labels: censorship

Sunday Video: Spill the Wine

You know there are songs which make you think of the totality of an entire decade when you hear them? Well, for me, this song encompasses the entire decade of the 1970's for me. Maybe because it is in so many movies that take place during that decade, but somehow it just became one of those anthems in my mind.

Of course, it wasn't until I watched the video that I actually knew what Eric Burdon looked like. Whenever I heard it on the radio, I always assumed the singer was some Jim Croce/Frank Zappa lookalike for some reason. I fully expected War to look like that however. Strange how the mind work huh.

Labels: music, videos

Week 8: Pageant of the Transmundane

DOH! I thought I posted on Friday Night, but apparently I messed up and it ended up in the draft file.

This week, a man in rural New Jersey was mugged by a black bear for an Italian sandwich. Just when you thought you only had to worry about getting mugged by human beings in New Jersey, some resourceful bear decided to up the ante. Officials at Jellystone National Park could not be reached for commment. Perhaps Stephen Colbert has been right about bears all along.

Anyway, this week's winning entry comes to us from the blog Lying Bastard, which features a lot of things which are truly worthy of the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award. However, there was one particular thing which really caught my attention (and perhaps give me nightmares).

Something that gets creepier and creepier the more I watch it. It is like the energizer bunny of bizarre and unsettling.

View it and have your skin crawl a little bit.

Now, if I explain this Homer Simpson related image, well, I may be giving away the horror that lay within the link.

Congrats Cooper Green on creeping my out this week. Here is your badge.

The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogosphere to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.

Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.

Labels: transmundanity

Back in Plaid!

After a lot of soul-searching, I began to feel nostalgic for the horse that brought me here so to speak, so I thought what best exemplified what this blog was about in its early days?

Was it my incisive writing? My wicked awesome sense of humor? Or was it my winning personality?

Nah... it was the fact that I draped my entire blog in green tartan. Yeah, I think that was this blog's real strength because it is both warm and a little whimsical.

And somehow I was reminded of this... I don't know why... it just felt appropriate.

Labels: blogging

Burning Question: Homage or rip off?

I haven't done one of these in a while, so there may be a little bit of rust.

As I've said numerous times this year, I have been working on developing a television pilot. At this point, I am just about to take a lot of my copious notes and start putting pen to paper, but I was confronted the horrible thought that my clever references and such could be considered theft.

I am trying to figure out where the line is between paying homage to something and ripping that source material off, and I am all about the former and really wary about the latter.

So my question is: Where do you consider the line between paying homage and ripping something off?

Labels: question