Gentle Reader -- You are welcome to peruse my web-based journal. I assure you that my contributions to this medium will be both infrequent and inconsequential. Read on!

TRIVIAL PURSUITS

I've been watching the first (two-hour) episode of the new ABC series LOST, and I tell you, I'm hooked.

My "shows" for the last couple of years have all been HBO hourlong dramas: The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Deadwood. (All on Sunday nights, co-incidentally.) I also have watched the last season of Enterprise, which sucked much less than the preceding seasons. None of the HBO series are on right now, so I've got nothing -- except LOST.

It's cool man, but one thing I have learned to live without is: commercials. ABC, sensing it has a hit on its hands (which I think it does) has made an editorial decision to add an extra couple of commercial breaks in the hour, and to lard up the edges of the screen with "Next on ABC: The Bachelor!" kind of crap. I think this is a job for the VCR.

Additionally (and randomly): I was in New York some time ago and attended a show of the Upright Citizens Brigade improv group. Amy Poehler of SNL seems to be a guiding force behind this group, and apparently at least one SNL cast member will show up to lend a hand each night (and at times quite major celebs will participate).
The point of all this is that I gain more and more respect for Amy P every time I see her -- she's just a trouper (literally) who always gives it her best even when the material isn't so good. Also, I have less respect for Horatio Sanz -- who knows what he's really like, but he gives the impression of being a lazy bum of a performer. That's my $.02.

And I'm just about finished with the Bruce Campbell autobiography If Chins Could Kill. I'd recommend it -- it's a B book from a B movie actor, if you're interested in such things. I don't think Bruce would mind that characterization. posted by Carlton at 10:24 PM

ASK A SHOP MANUAL FOR A 1963 DODGE DART

I watched the debate with some professional Democrats the other night and, needless to say, we thought Kerry did smashingly. Bush, of course, got smashed.

Kerry brought a good game, for sure. He lacks a certain something that would really capture his audience (Clinton's charisma or Reagan's charm), but he's a stand-up guy who knows his stuff. You can't ask for much more than that.

As for Bush . . . we saw an exaggerated version of what we've seen before. he is doggedly, unshakeably "on message," whether or not that message has anything to do with the question, the circumstances, reality.

The Onion used to have a bit they called "Ask a . . . ", which was a parody of an advice column. They would gin up some standard questions from readers, and the responses would be the text of the "entirely unrelated" document. I never liked the bit in the Onion, and I liked it less when it came from the President. Watching him, I really felt he could have simply handed over a single piece of paper with his responses on it, and the Jim Lehrer could simply have read them in order, starting over when he reached the end of the sheet.

I saw some conservative spinners on on television in the days since, and they seem to be trying to say that Bush made reference to some brilliant arguments, even if he didn't actually make them. Good luck to them.

If I were George, I'd be sitting at home thinking, "I have to do this two more times?" posted by Carlton at 3:50 PM