Shut Up And Listen 30 Monday October 8, 2001 Happy Thanksgiving! Yes, this was the weekend of the Canadian Thanksgiving. Yesterday, I went with my mom and sisters to my Aunt and Uncle’s house for a very enjoyable meal. My cousin and her husband came and it was nice. My Aunt was smart and made a shit load of stuffing, so that I can take my fair share and so could everyone else. It is well known in my family that I love my stuffing. It was great all around. Today, I stayed home as my family went to my dad’s relatives. I don’t like them and I am of the mindset that if you don’t like people, why spend time with them? The teenager in me asks the questions of “why spend time with people whom you don’t like just because you share some genetic structures? Do you do this with strangers who have a few similar genes, too? Why?” It’s not like we’re a close family. We see each other maybe 7 times a year at the most. And those times are some of the most uncomfortable periods of time that one can experience. Fuck it. Tuesday October 9, 2001 The Nevett Family Okay, this is meant as a not too long summary of my dad’s side of the family. I’m going to try and stick to bullet points and not go into too much detail. Grandpa was an alcoholic. Grandma is . . . weird. I’m still pissed off because when my other Grandma died a couple years back she said something really, REALLY dumb to my sister. Now, you should understand that I loved my Grandma very much. She was one of the most loving, caring, nicest people I ever met. I miss her a lot. And the other one told my sister and I goddamn quote “Now you have more love for me.” Luckily, for my Grandma, I was not present to hear it. “Devout” Catholics. Aunt up until about 3 years ago either lived with my grandparents or in the apartment complex right next to theirs. Used to make phone calls to herself so she could give the appearance of having some guy interested in her. My one Uncle is a priest. Heh . . . and what I like to call a typical priest at that. He’s been moved from a few congregations for no apparent reason. He is still very close with his old secretary and her family. She has a four-year old boy who looks just like my Uncle as a boy and is treated like family by my grandparents. I think you can figure that one out yourself. Next Uncle in line is in the Canadian military as a helicopter pilot. He seems like a regular military guy, you know. He likes to drink a cold one while watching the game and such. He has a kid 8 years younger than me with some chick he lived with for awhile. They’re not together anymore. The language that kid uses disturbs me. “Punch this.” “Beat that.” Makes me wonder . . . And the youngest, my other Uncle is on his third marriage and is a college professor in the States. I won’t even start on my own dad, but you can get the idea. My dad get pissed last night over the treatment of the secretary’s kid at Thanksgiving (yes, they were there; the whole family, including her husband--he’s a nice guy). The kid is a spoiled brat. Didn’t eat supper, had a huge plate of whipped-cream for dessert and apparently is not in school because he decided he didn’t like it after the second day. This was one of the only times I’ve been proud of my dad. Nice to see he isn’t blind or dumb. Wednesday October 10, 2001 The One Thing I Like About Uniforms Kilts. Especially when a girl is going from the stage in our cafetorium to the floor and is not careful about it. And no, I did not crane my head to look. Anyone looking in the general direction would have seen what I saw. Some More Enterprise Bashing Saw yet another episode tonight. I think I figured out the plot structure of the show: ship encounters unknown, Vulcan gives advice that could prevent many problems, Captain ignores said advice, and crew gets in big problems because of it. I used to think that After Sol was going to be the first sci-fi story I knew of to treat humans as dumbasses, but this show seems to be doing it pretty well, meaning to or not. They show humans as completely hicks who don’t know to think properly until a weapon is pointed at them. Seems about right. Friday October 12, 2001 Go Give Blood! You really should. I don’t get people who can give it and don’t. Why? There’s no good reason (and this is keeping in mind that those on certain medications or with certain diseases should not give blood). Media War Look at the two times regular TV has been interrupted during the past week; the only times since the horrible disaster. First: Sunday during football. Second: Thursday night right when Friends and Survivor are about to begin. Coincidence? I think not. Especially for Thursday. That press conference could have bee held any night, but they did it on, what is most likely, the night with the most people watching TV. The media rules the world, never forget that. Hourman I love my friends in other time zones. Especially those in ones behind me. I love it when it’s ten there and midnight or one here and they’re complaining about being tired. I have to stay up later just to get talk to them. Funny stuff. Saturday October 13, 2001 Quick TV Reviews! The new fall season is going strong and I’ll let you know what’s good and what’s crap from what I’ve seen. Returning Shows That We’re All Familiar With Everybody Loves Raymond--Still going strong. It’s the same old stuff and funny as always. A new opening scene with a football theme, which is simply the funniest opening to a show that I’ve ever seen. That 70’s Show--The episode with Donna and Eric fighting over the gang reminded me a lot of Lunchbox. Just the character archetypes seemed a lot like him, That Cold Bitch and the Former Weekenders. It’s still good, too. Frasier--This show is losing steam. Although the past week’s episode was great. We got a good look at what happened when Martin got shot as he gets a job as a security guard. Not all that funny, but powerful. The show is supposed to continue for years, but it should go out on top instead of being thrown out. The Drew Carey Show--Worst season premiere ever. A variety show that fell flat. Since then we’ve been treated to this season’s gimmick: Drew marries two women. If this were any other show I’d be changing the channel, but this is the norm on this show. It’s a gimmick show, so you leave your brain at the door on purpose. Friends--The pairing of the guys and girls is pretty much complete and permanent now. Not as funny as it used to be, but still has some good moments. Will And Grace--Can take or leave this show. The only really funny thing I’ve seen this season was Jack pushing his kid onto the floor at his grade 7 dance so he could have the space to dance to Pop by N’Sync. I still don’t get how a show whose draw character perpetuates the gay stereotype is a step forward. Fridays and Saturdays suck and Sunday has yet to return. New Shows Undeclared--It’s funny. Not a breakout funny, but good enough that I’m watching it week after week. Odds are it’ll be gone next season though. Bob Patterson--Not that bad. It’s no Seinfeld, which may doom this Jason Alexander show. It’s been funny though. Enterprise--I think we all know what I think of this. Not that good, not that bad, will last seven seasons sadly. Inside Schwartz--Another year, another “fill the gap between Friends and whatever show is on at 9” show. We get a look at some dumbass trying to be a sports caster (something Steve Weber’s character was trying to do in the last show to fill this timeslot, The Weber Show or Weber, I forget). Sports guest stars aplenty, short on laughs. Scrubs--Can take it or leave it. Shows You May Not Watch Sex And The City--Yes, I watch it. It’s essentially a funny soap opera with nudity, what’s not to like? A shocker of a season. I do find that this show is also losing steam as the characters become less out there and more like the rest of us. Curb Your Enthusiasm--Larry David’s latest show is back for season two and he is still getting himself into trouble by being dumb. This show is not the same type of humour as Seinfeld was, but is funny nonetheless. There are no scripts used, it is all improved, which gives it a more real feel. Another great reason to get HBO, if you’re an American or TMN if you live here in Canada. Shows I Haven’t Watched Alias--I’m not judging the content of this show, but I do think that its high ratings may be a result of no new season yet for Fox Sunday. Once the titanic line-up that has made Sunday Fox’s night returns, this show will lose viewers. Like it can stand up to The Simpsons. ER--Never have, most likely never will. I’ve tried to watch an episode, but find ten second intervals of story with 30 different storylines running at the same time dumb. UC: Undercover--First off, dumb title. It is, they should have just went with Undercover. Law And Order: Criminal Intent--Don’t even watch the original series anymore. The whole thing is watered down so much. Meet TV’s X-Men. Reruns And Great The Kids In The Hall--If you get a network that shows this show, watch it. It is one of the funniest things you’ll ever watch. Think Saturday Night Live but good. My favourite thing are the sketches that have no point and aren’t really that funny for the most part and yet you laugh at the end because they weren’t funny. That and Scott Thompson’s gay monologues. Hil-fricking-arious. News Radio-- If you get A&E, watch this show. Dave Foley and the late Phil Hartman are both excellent in this show about a news radio station. It’s great, really. There you have it, more opinions spouted off by me. Listen to them or ignore them, I don’t care.