Monday, January 28, 2008

A QuickNote From:

10 things, real quick.

1. Something is wrong with the celebrities of our nation. Why do we put such uninteresting people up on the pedestal of fame? What does this say about our society?

2. I officially take back everything I said about VH1. Their programming has been abysmal lately. Rock of Love 2? Come onnnnnnn.

3. As of Christmas, I have entered the club of iPod owners. I held out for a long time. For a while I intended to write some long, crotchety diatribe about why I think they are bad for the future of musical creativity (similar to a recent posting here you may have seen), but now I just kind of have to say to heck with it. One thing that I have been surprised by is the shuffle function. I used to think "why would anyone want to shuffle the songs like that?" Now I get it. Sometimes I'm not sure what I want to listen to, so I just put it on shuffle and skip through the songs until I find something that I like. Also, what can I say, podcasts are pretty cool, pretty handy, pretty futuristic. What if I turned this blog into a video podcast, where I sat on a comfy beanbag and read every entry to you in a soothing voice while doing accompanying hand motions? It would be awesome, right? Of course you would subscribe.

4. Smoothie Guy David Wolfe is loco. Somebody please explain to me what "ormus" is. You should check out his band, The Healing Waters Band. Coincidentally, I have kind of been on a smoothie kick lately. Or is it a coincidence? Sometimes, something so weird and hokey comes along that I can't help but kind of get into it. The Secret definitely had this effect on me. I was like "this might be the most absurd thing I have ever heard, but they are somehow pulling some kind of double-negative mojo and it actually kind of makes sense." David Wolfe is so weirdly charismatic and has such cosmic hair that I can't help but be interested in what he is saying, even if what he is saying sounds like it might be being dictated by aliens.

5. Gordon B. Hinckley, president and prophet of the Mormon church, died today at age 97.

6. I finally found out the title of a movie I had been thinking about for the last six years or so, and what I thought was a fake documentary turns out to be real. Well, it turns out the illusive movie is called Painting the Town. It was always on IFC at my parents' house, but I always started watching it in the middle, and never was able to figure out what the movie was called so I could rent it and see the whole thing. Well, after years of unsuccessfully searching, through my newfound advanced Googling skills (it was a combination of the terms "dances with wolves" and "stands with celebrities" that finally did it), I was somehow able to finally crack the code and find this movie, and now I can't wait to see it again. It's a documentary about a guy named Richard Osterwell. TVGuide.com put it well:

"According to Richard Osterweil, the star of PAINTING THE TOWN and its sole raison d'etre, he moved to New York City in 1974 for the same reason everyone does: to spot celebrities. Osterweil is a painter, a rather unsuccessful calling he supports by driving cabs and checking coats at fancy restaurants. (He's prolific and, if somewhat derivative, surprisingly good, but his insistence on retaining visiting rights to his paintings has scared off most buyers.) His true metier, however, is crashing the parties, marriages and funerals of the rich and famous."
Sounds like a good movie, right? Maybe this movie will help me come to terms with my current confusion about this whole celebrity phenomenon.

7. Should I do NetFlix?

8. My friend Patrick from Germany asked me if the Super Bowl was today (Sunday). Was it?

9. You know how Creed from The Office sprouts mung beans on a wet paper towel inside his desk? It turns out mung bean sprouts are the same thing as moyashi in Japanese, an ingredient you'll find in pretty much any self-respecting bowl of restaurant-style ramen in Japan. I never knew! Creed was right. Those things are good! I'm going to be doing some of my own home-sprouting here in the next couple of days, so look out for a full report on that!

10. What is it about the character Mel from Flight of the Conchords that seems so strangely familiar?

6 comments:

Kino said...

video is the future. yes on the videopodcast.

netflix is a big yes. i've been a strong proponent of their service for well over two years now and must say that you really do get bang for your buck. now the unlimited streaming of movies online to a pc or very soon, your tv makes it a lock.

i'm gonna type fflewyyn in the box now to verify i am a human.

Unknown said...

Re: #2, obviously you haven't yet caught the amazingly awesome train wreck that is Celebrity Rehab With Doctor Drew. Now that's just great television.

Probably not for the reasons Dr. Drew was hoping, though.

M. H. D. said...

Actually, I am ashamed to admit that I I think I have seen every episode of Celebrity Rehab so far. Yeah, it is pretty bad. That one guy from Grease/Taxi is incredibly depressing.

M. H. D. said...

Kyle, let's be Netflix friends. Do you get anything cool for referring me? If so, I'll totally name drop you.

rachel said...

I love Netflix. Only thing is, if you are a Mac or Linux user (we are both) the instant watch feature is not supported for anything but Windows XP and Vista. So you really end up missing out on half (most?) of what you pay for. Especially if you are on the one-at-a-time plan where the DVDs spend so much time in the mail. I have plans to call them and give an ultimatum: half price or we're out.

sarah k. said...

1. Indeed.
2. ?
3. Derek is trying to start running, but can't because it's too boring, so we might also be joining the ipod club.
4.??
5. I didn't hear until Monday morning. Does that make Monson the big guy? Because I don't know if I can stand all those cheese-dog stories.
6. I think I'll netflix it.
7. Yes.
8. No, it's this Sunday.
9. I tried it in a jar, and they were too squiggly and crunchy. I do love bean sprouts though. Dear Miguel, you can get them at nearly every supermarket.
10. The glasses.