Isn't it Ironic, Yeah I Really Do Think

Another entry from 'Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life':
(quote)
LUCKY
In an online column I was writing, I devised a sort of cyber scavenger hunt. One of the instructions was for readers to go to google.com, plug in Lucky Charms, and tell me the first listing that pops up.... It was only when I started hearing back from readers who had proudly found all the scavenger hunt items that I learned what the search coughed up. The first listing was a link to CNN.com, reporting on the gentleman who invented Lucky Charms. He had recently been killed in a car accident, along with his wife, on their way to visit their daughter, who, horrifically enough, was in a coma and dying in the hospital.... That such an ending would come to the creator of a cereal named Lucky Charms seemed to be yet another glaring example of how curiously beautiful-tragic-ridiculous-poignant-dreadful-happy-sad it all is.
(endquote)

Strangest Movie I Have Ever Seen

This movie had received critical raves as a groundbreaking feat in the field of traditional hand-drawn animation. Sufficiently curious, I rented the film from Netflix and sat down, ready to be blown away. Some of the visuals were indeed quite incredible, and the care taken in the production was obvious, but I was not only bewildered by the plot but actually felt as though I had entered a strange dream. I felt as though someone had slipped some strange mind-altering drug into my food, as my mind had trouble keeping up with the unusual visuals and dreamy plotline.

For what it's worth, the movie scored an astounding 97% on the Rotten Tomatoes scale, so the critics either enjoyed the dreamy aura of the film or I am really missing something. It definitely has my vote as the most unusual film I have ever seen.

(Close runner-up: Waking Life, which also induced a feeling of having taken some strange mind-altering substance.)

Basketball Schools and Football Schools

It's possible at this point for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game to feature the two schools whose football teams were in the BCS Championship game. Kudos to these schools athletic programs for being so strong in the two most visible and high-profile sports that they both could be down to the final two teams.

Girl Scout Cookies

Ranked from my most favorite to least favorite:

Do-Si-Dos
Samoas
Tagalongs
Cafe Cookies
Lemonades
Cartwheels
All Abouts
Thanks-a-lot
Little Brownies
Thin Mints

I realize that Thin Mints have their fans, but for some reason I've never been a fan of the combination of chocolate and mint -- I think mint belongs in breath mints, toothpaste and mouthwash and can't fathom the idea of eating it in food. Do-Si-Dos are basically a round version of my favorite store-bought cookie, Nutter Butters, but they seem even better -- probably due to their relatively scarce nature, being available only at girl scout cookie time. Samoas are rich and coconutty and delicious, but I usually have to stop at one (too much of a good thing, etc.).

Now That's a Way to Play a Wii

Milestone

I missed it, but one of the last few posts was my 100th post. I assume this doesn't count the posts I have deleted now and then. Enjoy a piece of virtual cake.

Gratuitous Post

I enjoy reading the newsgroup rec.sport.football.college, as much for the unique style and sense of humor of the postings as for the discussion of college football. One trademark running gags they have is the so-called gratuitous post, where the point and entire message of the post is captured in the title. The body will then just contain the text "". The idea is that the post's author didn't need to post anything, and it isn't of much substance, so it's gratuitous.

Consider this a gratuitous post.

March Madness

Down to Four...

Google Blogger

Blogger added an extra layer of password protection when I logged in today, where I had to type in letters as they appeared in a little box. I've had to do this when ordering concert tickets and on a few other e-commerce sites, but I haven't had to do it for Blogger or Hotmail or anything like that before. Either it's a funny random coincidence or someone has a sense of humor, but the word made up by the letters spelled 'crudpi'. I read this as "Crud Pie".

My Favorite Band from Iceland

They do the light/heavy thing really well

Sigur Ros - Saeglopur

Sigur Ros - Glosoli

Original Pantry Cafe

The Original Pantry Cafe is a Los Angeles institution, famous for how long it's survived and thrived -- there's frequently a waiting line which stretches out the door. I had been wanting to try it for some time, both because of its historical significance as well as its comfort food which would seem to hearken back to another era. This past weekend, I got a chance, and I have to say that I was disappointed in the food. It was quite average cafeteria style fare at restaurant prices, and nothing stood out as particularly good. It's too bad, since I had high expectations, but I'm willing to give it another try someday. I hear that the breakfasts there are really good.

At World's End

I've Been Waiting For This Moment All My Life

Have you ever heard a song where the first time or first few times you hear it, you're like "eh whatever", and then it grows on you to the point where you can't get it out of your head? I have a new favorite song right now, "Lazy Eye" by Silversun Pickups. It sounds a bit like Lindsey Buckingham singing for the Smashing Pumpkins, but it just has a really cool vibe.

Video for Lazy Eye

Multi-Cam Sitcoms

I found an interesting article about the recent shift from the traditional multicam-sitcom formula to the more involved (and involving) single-cam format:
(quote)

The Death of the Multi-Cam Sitcom

This season boasts the launch of, by my count, only four new “multi-camera” sitcoms, resulting in the lowest offering in several years. Why has the one-time go-to format for comedy faded? What has, and will, replace it?


The invention of the multi-camera setup is widely credited to Desi Arnaz and I Love Lucy. This setup allows, as the name makes pretty obvious, multiple cameras to shoot the same action, saving time and money on editing in post-production. (See the setup here.) It has continued, since its inception, to be main vehicle for comedies, sporting events, and talk shows, and has even bled over somewhat into feature films (due to time and budget restraints, George Lucas used the format on the original Star Wars). If this setup has worked so well in the past, why has it seen such a sharp decline in the past decade?

Fewer creative limitations
One factor that has been constant, for the most part, in the sitcom, whether single- or multi-cam, has been the central location. In the traditional sitcom, the purpose is typically financial. When filming at a studio, filming is essentially a slave to where the studio audience can go, resulting in the building of a new set for every location. This natrually forces a limit on where a story can go, creatively.

However, now that studio setting has made way for shooting on location. Scrubs is filmed in an actual hospital. The Office is shot on location in an office building in Scranton, PA. So now, the possibilities for where a comedy can go are virtually limitless.

Audiences are smarter
In the old days of sitcoms, we were used to have everything wrapped up in 30 minutes, and we also used to be told when to laugh. Studies have shown that viewers watching a sitcom containing a laugh track will find it much funnier than viewers watching the same sitcom minus the laugh track. Why? Is the audience just too dim to get the jokes, or are the jokes that bad? Not necessarily. People are just more likely to laugh when they are laughing along with someone else. The laugh track facilitates that. The trap that sitcoms have largely fallen into is, rather than use the laugh track positively, it is used to try to convince the audience that whatever is happening on screen is, in fact, funny.

Audiences are now starting to realize that they know what is funny and what jokes are duds. Like I referenced in Monday’s review of The Class, there is some suicide humor that fell pretty flat, but, man, those guys in the audience sure did find it hilarious. Now, though, with the emergence of comedies like the gone-too-soon Arrested Development, Scrubs, My Name is Earl, and The Office, we have come to the point where we no longer rely on those behind the camera to dictate what is funny and what’s not. This has resulted in a more cerebral approach to comedy, versus a “Here I am, entertain me” approach.

What does this mean for the multi-cam setup and sitcoms?
It sounds like I have been dogging pretty hard on the multi-cam setup, and it shouldn’t be taken that way. The multi-cam setup has been, and continues to be, a vital ingredient of programs like network news, talk shows, and other shows that require quick turnaround, like daily soap operas. As long as there is a demand for these shows, the medium will have an important role to play.

But will there ever be a place for the multi-cam sitcom again? If so, the key word is originality. We have been hit with an endless wave of the same formulas: the family comedy (Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens, Two and a Half Men, and this season, the abysmal ‘Til Death), the buddy comedy (Friends, Will & Grace, How I Met Your Mother, and now Happy Hour, Twenty Good Years and The Class), and the workplace comedy (News Radio, Just Shoot Me, Becker and now Help Me Help You).

At the end of the 2003-2004 season, there was some talk about the death of the sitcom, especially with the departure of several popular shows like Frasier and Friends. That commentary was, at the same time, prophetic and flawed. The traditional sitcom is essentially a thing of the past. It has, instead, been replaced by a new genre of comedy, not to mention an unprecedented boom in the drama genre, namely Lost, and the wannabes thereof.

(endquote)

from http://www.livingwithtv.com/

Still More Soda

I don't think I've mentioned lately just how much I love Moxie. I'd like to try it in cans, but strangely enough it costs more to ship cans than bottles -- I think there are local bottlers in California and Arizona, while the cans are made in Maine. I'm also curious to see if I'd have the same aversion to diet Moxie as I do most diet drinks, but I'm not curious enough to spring for the considerable shipping costs.

For anyone interested in unusual sodas, I'd recommend a Beverages and More store or the following website: The Soda Shop

For Moxie in cans or larger bottles, here's a website from Maine, where the drink is evidently quite popular: Maine Goodies

Interesting sidenote: I became fascinated by Moxie when I was a kid reading Mad magazine, which sometimes had the Moxie logo buried within the artwork. I figured that this was some sort of running gag, and I didn't find out until very recently that it was actually one of the very few forms of advertising that Mad accepted.

More Soda

I commented on just how different I think that Coke and Pepsi are, and how I don't think that Pepsi even comes close as an approximation. What is striking to me, then, is how similar I think Mr. Pibb and Dr Pepper are. I'm not even sure I could tell the difference if I took a blindfold taste test; there must be something about the Dr Pepper flavorings which are easier to isolate and thus copy than for Coca-Cola.

According to Google, there are a number of Dr Pepper imitations, including but not limited to:

"Dr. Dazzle" distributed by ALDI Inc.
"Dr. Slice", "Dr. Faygo" marketed by Faygo Family Beverages Inc.
"Dr. Smooth" marketed by President's Choice
"Dr. Hy-Top" marketed by Federated Group
"Dr. Chek" in Winn-Dixie supermarkets
"Dr. Bold" and "Dr A+" in Albertsons supermarkets
"Dr. Perky" in Food Lion supermarkets
"Dr Thunder" distributed in Wal-Mart stores
"Dr. Bash" distributed by Bashas' stores
"Dr. B" in H-E-B grocery stores
"Dr. Bob" sold in Stop & Shop Supermarkets
"Dr. Weis" Distributed by Weis Markets, and "Dr. Celeste" marketed by The Pantry
"Dr. Spice" distributed in Target Stores
"Dr. Hy-Vee" distributed at Hy-Vee grocery stores
"Dr. K" distributed at Costco, Kroger and Fred Meyer locations
"Dr. Radical", made by Adirondack Beverage Company
"Dr. Shaw's", made by Shaw's Supermarkets, Inc.
"Dr Wild", made by J G Meyer First Choice
"Dr. M" made by Meijer, "Dr. W" made by Wegmans
"Dr.Publix" made by Publix
"Dr. Wow", distributed by Topco

I'd be willing to bet than just about any of these are closer to Dr Pepper than the miriad colas are to Coca-Cola.

Addendum: the alt.fan.dr.pepper website lists a few key ingredients:
Vanillin
Extract of Almond
Denatured Rum (i.e. with the alcohol removed)
Oil of Orange
Lactic Acid

There's also a mention of the advertised '23 flavors' being a marketing fiction. I wouldn't be too surprised, since a labratory analysis once revealed that KFC's advertised blend of 11 herbs and spices to be made up entirely of salt and pepper (I don't have the specific reference but it was in one of William Poundstone's series of "Big Secrets" books).

Soda

A pet peeve of mine is when I ask if they have 7-up in a restaurant; I don't drink caffeinated drinks after 5 or 6 p.m. and I vastly prefer 7-up to the common alternative, Sprite. What gets to me is that 7 times out of 10 they will say, "Yes, we have Sprite" WHICH IS NOT THE SAME! 2 times out of 10 they will say "Yes" and just bring me a Sprite, and 1 time out of 10 I get lucky and they have 7-up. I really wish they would stop saying yes and instead say, "No, but is Sprite alright?"

Blogging from Borders

I'm sure this marks me as a certifiable geek, but I love being able to access a T-Mobile Hot Spot and blog from the comfort of a table in Border's coffee shop. Something about being surrounded by books just makes blogging feel that much more creative. Based on a random sample of two people next to me with laptops opened to Blogger's site, I'm not alone.

Now if I can just get the YouTube posts to work correctly...

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life

I'm reading this book right now and enjoying it immensely; it's filled with brief alphabetical entries which are insightful, hilarious, though-provoking and informative, sometimes all at the same time. In some ways, the book reminds me of a particularly well-written and interesting blog. I particularly liked this entry:
(quote)
"GROCERY CART
As I was paying at the grocery store, I noticed I forgot to put what was on the bottom of my cart on the conveyor belt. In a split second, I had to decide: Bad Girl - Say nothing, save a couple bucks, be on my way...OR...Good Girl - Point to the rose, tell her I forgot, add it to the bill. I was in a hurry and didn't really want to take the time to be good...but somehow the combination of the solitary orangey-pink rose and the doelike faces of my kids standing there pushed me into the honorable camp. Fine. I forked over the extra $2.11 and off we went. Epilogue: While unpacking the groceries at home, I realized the rose was still sitting there at the store, paid for, on the bottom of the cart."
(endquote)

Commercial Break

I had an odd sensation while watching a commercial just now... the music in the commercial was the song 'Such Great Heights' by the Postal Service. Since this song leads off the first soundtrack album for 'Grey's Anatomy', I have made a strong mental association between the song and the TV program, and it felt really out of place for me to hear it in a commercial for UPS. I often get the same feeling when I recognize the soundtrack for one film being used in the trailer for another film... it takes me away from whatever it is they are trying to sell and reminds me of the first place I've heard the music.

Pepsi

I love Coca-Cola, so I don't usually drink Pepsi. I saw one in the fridge at work and figured, what the heck, I'll give it a shot. For some reason it just really struck me how different Coke and Pepsi were, and I really didn't enjoy it. I read somewhere that one of the principal differences between the two is that Pepsi uses citric acid and thus has more of a citrus taste, but I'm not buying it. I think what makes Coke unique is its spice flavorings, and Pepsi really doesn't have the same complexity of flavor.