Don sequiturs

DVD rambling: worthwhile Development

As is so often the case, my first impression of a TV show or movie was wrong; in this case the hilarious, short-lived comedy Arrested Development. I was not too impressed the first time I checked it out, but I started watching it when the G4 Network began running it this fall, and now I'm hooked. I got the entire series DVD set as a Christmas present and now I've watched it all the way through -- there's slightly less than 20 hours' worth of material: each episode is 22 minutes or so, and there were only 53 episodes: 22 the first season, 18 the second, 13 the third and last, when Fox took it off the air for Skating With America's Next Big Fat Obnoxious Wife-Swapping Idol or something. At first, I was actually repelled by its cleverness rather than taken in by it, but it really is (was) a show you need to see in sequence (which the G4 Network allows, since they often run four episodes in a row) to appreciate all of the humor, which is probably why I (and a bigger audience) didn't get it at first. Highly recommended; lots of guest stars (Liza Minelli, Charlize Theron, Heather Graham, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Christine Taylor, Ben Stiller, Ed Begley, Jr., Carl Weathers (as himself)) to get your attention, but it's series regulars Jason Bateman, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor, and Jessica Walter (the latter two have been great in everything they've been in) who bring the major funny to every episode.

This is what Martina Hingis looks like now

Hulk smash!

Butkus-worthy

As a Bears fan, I'm glad of course they are in the Super Bowl -- since the 1940s they've been on a schedule of winning a championship every 20 years or so, which puts them way ahead of the Sox and the Cubs, but I don't think I can add anything original to what's been written about yesterday's game. Actually, maybe I can: the announcers kept saying yesterday that the Bears' third quarter safety was the first ever in an "NFL/NFC Championship game," which just isn't true. In the 1945 championship game, Redskins quarterback Sammy Baugh hit the goalpost with a pass from his own end zone (before 1974, remember, the goalposts were on the goal line and not at the back of the end zone -- the league moved them back 10 yards in 1974 because field goals were getting too easy), and the ball bounced out of the back of the end zone for an automatic safety, which turned out to be the margin of victory as the Cleveland Rams won 15-14. (The Rams split Cleveland in the off-season for Los Angeles, so Cleveland fans had to content themselves with the Cleveland Browns of the All-American Footlball Conference, who entered the NFL in 1950 after the AAFC folded.) I thought everybody knew about that play.

Bonds' records

Another big event in the Sequiturs household: the iTunes Store finally added the early 60s oeuvre of Gary U.S. Bonds, including "New Orleans," "School is Out," and the classic "Quarter to Three." Bruce Springsteen would use the latter as his closing number in live performances for a time in the 80s, apparently so Bruce's audiences would have an idea as to what Bruce's songs aspired to. Bonds' early 60s recordings have an instantly recognizable sound: fast, a big beat -- and terrible production ("murky," according to the late rock journalist/ performer Cub Koda), which somehow worked in the records' favor. Anyways, via the YouTubes, here's Gary on some 60s TV show shaking his pompadour like there's no tomorrow and lip-syncing to "Quarter to Three."

OSU gotta be kidding me

I, too, find that the endless commercials make football on TV unwatchable -- most of the time. I did try to watch the Buckeyes' debacle on Monday night in the BCS Championship. Yeesh. That loss was so bad that OSU's earlier unbeaten streak now seems as unreal as Plainfield's in 1941. (By the way, note the innocence of that bygone time: it was a big deal back then to get the NY Times to publish a hoax, while today if I read the Times I wonder what there is in it that might not be phony.)

This weekend, I'll probably try to watch the Bears, the team I've always rooted for (since the Bobby Douglass days). I've kept my expectations low, though, given Rex Grossman's erratic play, and all the injuries on defense. I'll also probably watch the Filthy Whore Bowl, the intriguing match-up between the Colts (who abandoned their loyal fans in Baltimore for a few more dollars), and the Ravens (who abandoned their loyal fans in Cleveland, etc.). I guess I want Indy to win, mainly because I want Peyton Manning to got the Super Bowl so we don't have to keep talking about whether he'll get there or not.

All you need is Apple

Steve Jobs' use of the image of the cover of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and a song from the album (the mediocre Lovely Rita) this week to promote the introduction of the Apple iPhone / iPod was ironic, since Beatles albums aren't available from Apple's iTunes store. Or, are they?? Some fierce speculation here and here (the seventh bullet) about iTunes adding the Beatles' catalogue to iTunes, speculation due to Jobs' presentation, and due to the dropping of "Computer" from the Apple Computer name (remember the Apple vs. Apple lawsuit that Apple (Computer) won), but so far no announcement of any kind. I have all the Beatles' CDs, so adding them to iTunes now won't do me much good, but it would be kinda cool if iTunes made everything ever by the Beatles available for one relatively low price, like iTunes did with Bob Dylan (everything ever by Mr. Zimmerman, some 773 tracks, for $199.99 -- I didn't buy the package, but it looked like a bargain, although not one that I could afford. So I'd call that a bargain, just not the best I ever had.).

Minimum wage, minimal economic literacy

The result of the midterm elections that dismayed me the most was Ohio voters enacting a constitutional amendment on a minimum wage.  John Stossel 'splains well why the minimum wage makes no sense.  I particularly liked the line about "the law of supply and demand, which operates whether we like it or not,"  since it's probable that most Americans, and definitely most American politicians, think the law of supply and demand can be repealed.  The level of economic literacy in politics today is analogous to the level of mathematical literacy in the story (apparently, almost true) of the state legislature that decreed the value of pi to be 3.

Cahiers du dang

I just watched on DVD a first season episode of Arrested Development that featured James Lipton of Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio as a guest star; I wondered if he'd done any other acting recently and looked him up on imdb.com, and was shocked by his age. So how old do you think he is? 60? 70? Guess again.

And a Happy New Year

I'm so behind on my blogging; I would have made a New Year's resolution to post more frequently, but didn't because I'm sure I'd break it. Great Xmas for the kids, as always. I made out like a bandit, too: most people just get me items from my Amazon wishlist, which suits me fine. Best presents were probably Gojira, the original Japanese language version of Godzilla, which I understand (I haven't watched it yet) is much more serious than the American version with Raymond Burr's narration; the seventh season of Seinfeld (love the Sein), The Truth About Muhammed (banned in Pakistan, so it must be good), and, with Christmas money, the Val Lewton Horror Collection, a DVD set containing all nine of the low-budget, but moody and effective suspense/ horror films produced by Val Lewton at RKO in the 40s. I now have more DVDs than I can ever watch ever, but as an art house goon I still wouldn't mind picking up a cheap, used copy of this.