Two and a Half Men (sit com)

I've never watched an ep of this popular comedy straight through - I've never needed to, I knew it was pap. On occasion I've watched a few seconds of it while channel surfing, and never seen anything to change my opinion.

So today, I was channel surfing, and saw the last minute or so of an episode. The boy, the "half man" of the title, is sitting on the couch playing a video game while his uncle is trying to talk to him. And the kid is a jerk who continues to play the game, says "Yeah whatever" to his uncle, and generally treats him with disdain.

And the father comes out with his neck and hands in a brace, and has taken pills, and he wants some alcohol. And the uncle, instead of turning off the TV, ripping out the video game and telling the boy to go to his room or get out of the house for good, leaves the boy in command, and runs after the dad wanting his own pills and alcohol.

And I hate to think it, but this probably happens in real life more often than not. And it's too bad. Let a kid talk back to you, his parent, once, and that's it, you've lost.

What's really annoying is...did this kid's parents raise him to talk back to them?

Many years ago, Jonny Quest was my favorite TV cartoon. The original, not the remake. So I was watching...I think it was the movie they made of it, and Jonny Quest has fallen in love and has talked back to his dad and they have a huge fight.

Never happen. Not to the original Johnny Quest and his dad, because Johnny was raised right. And his dad would never have put up with his son showing disrespect.

But now....? Today's generation?

Direct TV (Commercial)

Direct TV certainly does seem to be putting together a series of sexist commercials. The NFL Direct Ticket or whatever it is is part of Direct TV. And those are extremely offensive/sexist.

I'm watching the Bears / Packers game, and I've seen this Direct TV commercial before, too. It's a male European (of course) walking through his opulent home, bragging on his riches. And of course he's got a skinny, beautiful woman following him, just to take the bowl of candy he's carrying.

Then he sits down on a couch, an there's two more skinny beautiful women, and the one in the center is wearing a dress that is very revealing, if you're a breast man, and the beautiful woman looks at the other beautiful woman with a face indicative of jealousy, while the guy leans over and kisses a miniature giraffe!

What the hell's up with that?

Let Me In (movie)

Okay, I'm someone who has never understood the appeal of horror movies. Dracula and Frankenstein and The Wolfman were not really horror...although I suppose they were for the 1930s - I like those. But from Hammer Horror onward, when the emphasis has been on blood, guts and gore, ick, ick ick.

And these days, with the proliferation of "horror porn" - the Jason movies, the Friday the 13th movies - horrible, horrible, horrible.

Zombies seem to be the "monster" of choice these days, which I don't really understand. I mean, vampires and werewolves, okay. But zombies - living dead, with no minds of their own? And yet, there's all kinds of fiction books written these days to capitalize on women's - I'm sure it's young girls, "Goths" fascination with these creatures. For example there's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!

From Bookmarks Magazine
It’s difficult to tell if critics’ reactions to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies should be characterized as praise or astonishment. Some reviewers treated the book as a delightful gimmick. Others found that, beneath the surface, the book actually constituted an interesting way of looking at Austen’s novel. Zombies answer certain puzzling questions: Why were those troops stationed near Hertfordshire? Why did Charlotte Lucas actually marry Mr. Collins? (She had recently been bitten by zombies and wanted a husband who could be counted on to behead her—of course!) But critics also pointed out that this parody shows that Austen’s novel has remained so powerful over time that even the undead can’t spoil it.
Copyright 2009 Bookmarks Publishing LLC
From Booklist
This may be the most wacky by-product of the busy Jane Austen fan-fiction industry—at least among the spin-offs and pastiches that have made it into print. In what’s described as an “expanded edition” of Pride and Prejudice, 85 percent of the original text has been preserved but fused with “ultraviolent zombie mayhem.” For more than 50 years, we learn, England has been overrun by zombies, prompting people like the Bennets to send their daughters away to China for training in the art of deadly combat, and prompting others, like Lady Catherine de Bourgh, to employ armies of ninjas. Added to the familiar plot turns that bring Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy together is the fact that both are highly skilled killers, gleefully slaying zombies on the way to their happy ending. Is nothing sacred? Well, no, and mash-ups using literary classics that are freely available on the Web may become a whole new genre. What’s next? Wuthering Heights and Werewolves? --Mary Ellen Quinn

And that's a long lead in to get to this movie, Let Me In, a remake of a European film, which feature two prepubescent lead charactes - a vampire girl age 12 and a young boy who falls in love with her.

Wendy's Commercial (spicy chicken nuggets)

I've seen this commercial a few times, most recently during the Dolphins/Jets game.

A white guy is sitting there, eating his nuggets and making whoa, whoa sounds. Another white guy comes up to him, says, "Pretty spicy, huh?" and the first guy says, "No. They're just 99 cents." So then the second guy starts making the same "whoa whoa" sounds, like having 99 cent chicken nuggets is such a big deal.

Oh please. And its just stupid.

Sesame: Indoctrinating Kids Early on the Role of Females in Society

I didn't see this myself, apparently it was on a segment of Bill O'Reilly last night.

Singer Katy Perry recently appeared on Sesame Street. That's a show that is supposed to teach pre-schoolers how to read.

She was wearing a top that showed just about as much of her breasts that are legal to show on TV.

I wonder what Katy Perry was thinking. I also wonder what the people at Sesame Street were thinking.

But what does it tell little kids? For girls, that girls must show off their assets so that boys will like them. For boys, that girls breasts are fair game to be gazed upon, commented on, obsessed over.

This indoctrination starts very young...but having it start as young as Sesame Street?

('m reminded of an ep of PeeWee's Playhouse from decades ago. Grace Jones appeared on that,singing in her wonderful voice, Little Drummer Boy. But her outfit? Would have had grown men drooling. Inappropriate for a kid's show!

McDonalds commercial

Watching the Sunday night Colts vs Giants football game, and there's a McDonald's commercial, strictly for their MacCafe coffee.

Bearded guy can't be bothered to talk to his friends or a beautiful woman on his bus, "not til I've had my coffee."

Goes to McDonalds, the clerk starts saying, "Would you like to have our..."

and he interrupts her, "Not before I've had my coffee."

Now in real life you know the clerk would keep a stoic face, perhaps, and not say word one. She wants this jerk gone as soon as possible.

Instead she smiles brightly and says, "premium roast MacCafe coffee."

And he buys it, drinks it, gets an orgasmic expression on his face which seems to be de rigeur for anyone eating or drinking in a commercial, and then he walks back to his office or wherever he's going, and now he's all cheerful, talking to people.

And frankly, I found this offensive, the more so because I actually used to work with someone who was "not a morning person," and so couldn't muster up a polite smile or anything, and indeed was quite rude until they woke up. So everyone else in the office had to suffer because she couldn't be bothered to be polite until she felt like it.

Grammatical error in headline: Japan officials delay Paris Hilton from entering

Let us consider that people who work in media - whether as "professionals" or amateurs, should use the English language properly. Anything less is to degrade not only the language but also the intelligence of the country.

This is the Yahoo news headline:

Japan officials delay Paris Hilton from entering (AP)
AP - Japanese officials delayed Paris Hilton's entry into the country a day after she pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in Las Vegas, the socialite's spokeswoman said.

The headline is grammatically inaccurate. The word "from" has no place there.

It should be

"Japanese officials delay entrance of Paris Hilton"
"Paris Hilton faces delay in entering Japan due to legal problems"
"Japan protects borders - refuses to allow criminal into country" [a headline you'll never see in the US, I daresay]
"Japanese officials delay Paris Hilton's entrance into country"

Sports is supposed to build character...isn't it?

If you read the interview with this boy - he's hardly a man at 19, at least not in the mental health department - the idiot thinks he did nothing wrong. He's proud of it and would do it again. In actual fact, he needs to be thrown in jail.

The sad thing is that there are many people on sports message boards - presumably at the mental age of 19 themselves - who think his unwarranted assault was perfectly okay and "funny."

It may be funny when it's orchestrated, but when you've got a totally unsuspecting victim attacked with no warning and no reason -- it's not funny. It's criminal assault.

This guy probably watches the DTV NFL Ticket commercials and laughs and laughs.


COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Turns out, the Bobcat had it in for the Buckeye all along.

"It was actually my whole plan to tackle Brutus when I tried out to be mascot," said Brandon Hanning, formerly known as Ohio University's Rufus Bobcat. "I tried out about a year ago, and the whole reason I tried out was so I could come up here to Ohio State and tackle Brutus."

And that's what he did Saturday, wrestling unsuspecting Brutus to the ground before 105,075 screaming college football fans at Ohio Stadium. Ohio State got even in the end, trampling the visiting team, 43-7.

The tussle led to an apology from Ohio University on Monday and the 19-year-old Hanning is banned from further affiliation with the school's athletics department. Actually, he's not even a student there anymore; he now attends nearby Hocking College.

Hanning, of Meigs County in southeast Ohio, not far from Ohio University's campus in Athens, suited up about 15 minutes before the Bobcats faced Ohio State, went on the field near the OU cheerleaders and waited for his chance.

It came as Brutus and an Ohio State cheerleader hoisted an OSU flag, and prepared to lead the Buckeyes players onto the field. With his Bobcat head in place, Hanning ran along the sideline and got in position.

"As soon as they started running onto the field, that's when I went," he said.

The Bobcat sideswiped the Buckeye, who got back to his feet and continued his sprint toward the end zone.

But Rufus, um, Hanning, wasn't done.

He then chased Brutus into the end zone, climbed on his back and rode him to the ground. The two then tussled, with Rufus punching the Buckeye in his oversized head while fans booed.

The Post of Athens was the first to report Hanning's intentions.

Ohio apologizes for mascot's attack on Brutus Buckeye

Bobcats athletics spokesman Jason Corriher released a statement calling the actions "extremely poor judgment and sportsmanship" and saying that the university regrets the negative effect they may have on the relationship between the two schools.

Bobcats coach Frank Solich summed up it nicely: "Obviously we needed to tackle the guy with the ball, not the mascot."

Hanning said he thinks the reaction to the tackle has been "a little blown out of proportion."

"Either everybody loved it or everybody hated it. It's never been anything in the middle," he said.

"I think I planned it pretty well ... and I definitely would have done it again."

Sprint commercial

Watching the Redskins vs Houston Texans on CBS.

They've shown a Sprint commercial a couple of times.

Girl and a guy, each with short hair and white shirts, looking prim and proper and nerdish. Girl takes off a headband and shakes out her hair all sexy like and suddenly she's beautiful. Guy does the same thing - all of a sudden he's got long hair and pouty lips (but he still looks like a nerd.)

Then they start kissing each other despite the girl looking rather apprehensive...then the guy jumps up so he can wrap his legs around the woman.

Yet another sexualized commercial.

Adverts for TV series

The new TV season is going to start in a few days, and they are showing adverts for the season premiers and the new eps.

And most of them, police drama or what have you, seem to have an emphasis on sex.

House, for example. The advert for that has House and his hospital administrator kissing, and in bed.

Hawaii 5-0. Mostly male actors. The character of Kono is played by a female and of course we see her in a bikini on a beach, knocking a guy out with one punch. So silly. Yes, she could kick him between the legs an then karate chop a pressure point, but a woman of her size can't knock a guy out by punching him on the chin.

The new NCIS has a story from a couple of years ago coming back to haunt Gibbs. His family killed by a Mexican drug lord, he had gone into Mexico and sniped the guy. Now, the only ones who should know this are Gibbs and his lead guy at that time, but oh no, now lots of people know, including the daughter of the guy he killed. Bull crap! But it's probably going to be some justification for illegal immigrants and hw terrible it is to take the law into your own hands...

Women: Why do they get no respect?

A few days ago, a Mexican reporter named Inez Sainz went to the NFL's New York Jets locker room. She was wearing very tight pants!!! This was apparenty an excuse for some of the Jets members to catcall and whistle at her. Then Clinton Portis chimed in and said, basically - what did she expect? You let a woman into a room with 53 naked men, obviously she's going to check out their "packages", just as they're checking out her.

Which is probably true, by the way. As an aside, no reporters of either sex belong in a team's locker room. That's just ridiculous.

In any event, I've been reading the comments on this, made by people who read the articles whereever they appear (Yahoo News and CBS Sportsline, for me) and they are filled with sexist rants against women.

But really, don't women share some of the blame? Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting women dress in burkhas and wear clothing that covers them from wrist to ankle, that's ridiculous. But when you wear shorts cut so short that your buttcheeks are revealed, and shirts that are little more than bra tops, what is the message you are sending to every guy you pass (who in his turn is dressed in a baggy t-shirt and baggy shorts, although if you're lucky once in a while you'll come across one who has his shorts belted underneath his buttocks, so you get a fine view of his buttock-clad underwear - but that's a rant for another time.)

Anyway, if women want respect, and I hope they do, time for them to stop pandering to the marketing folks who run their sports (I'm thinking track and field) and start wearing "power suits" not "yes, I'm just eye candy for you and deserve no respect because all I'm trading on are my assets" suits.

Now, following one article, I came across blacksportsonline.com, a site that is supposed to celebrate black athletes in sports. Check out their header.



There are plenty of black female athletes. Admittedly only a couple in tennis - Venus and Serena Williams, but plenty of WNBA players - Candace Parker, etc., and plenty of track and field stars. And yet they deliberately choose these two women, none of whom I recognize, both of whom are clearly there strictly for the salacious aspect.

Burger King (commercial)

watching the Packers vs the Eagles, 7.03 pm.

Some guy in a delivery outfit starts singing some stupid song about Breakfast, then marches down the street, to be joined by men - all men - from various walks of life. At one point they walk past a beautiful blond woman watering her lawn. She's got one hip thrust out and is looking at the men (or rather, the camera) with a "Would you like to have sex with me right now? Come on in!) expression on her face.

So of course the middle row of guys walk through flowebeds and into poles, because they're too busy looking at this eye candy to watch what they're doing.

Then they continue their march to Burger King.

And I'm like... who is the audience for this? Does Burger King think that only men watch football, and that only men stop in at Burger King for breakfast instead of women? And is it really necessary to pander to their prurient fantasies, that there will always be some beautiful blond out on a street near them, just aching for them to have their way with her?

Subway (commercial)

Also shown during the football game, and also one I've seen before, a Subway commercial in which a bunch of motorcyclists - clearly a gang, rather than young, clean-cut riders, are riding through the desert - so hot that a rabbit catches on fire, heading for a Subway, for some new sandwich that has jalopenos on it.

Who is their target audience here? Motorcycle gang members?

Stupid commercial.

Sprint (commercial)

Watching the Vikings and the New Orleans Saints, Channel 10, (not sure what the National station is - the Peacock? ABC?

Anyway, I've seen this commercial before and hate it. But it's typical of today's commercials, in which total jerks do whatever they want, and don't realize that they're being jerks to other people.

An old, white doctor is sitting in a chair texting and ignoring his patient, a black athlete lying on a table with his knee wrapped up. The athlete has received a text from the doctor telling him he's out for the season. The doctor is oblivious to the athlete's anxiety, "Don't worry, I have unlimited texting, I'm dropping you from my fantasy team," etc.

This is bad on so many levels. There's the racial aspect - white doctor treating black athlete like a piece of meat, not caring about his feelings. Then, there's the sheer coldness of the doctor (Obama health plan - doctors are so greedy, we need to cut them down to size) to his patient.

Just an unpleasant commercial. Kids of course will see themselves in it, adults hopefully have learned a bit of compassion and will also find it distasteful.