Wacko - the second nose

[kool]

I just read that '7th Heaven' is being axed. Well it's about time! The corniest TV show ever produced IMO.

Now it's ER's turn... even though it was good back in the day, now that the original cast has gone I don't see why they keep making it. I think the only period I watched that was when that hot blonde slut doctor played for a season or two. The one that dated the yuppie millionaire heir playing doc.

[Kensterberg]

But Arrested Development (by far the funniest show on television) is getting axed as well! There is no god! Or at least, no signs of intelligent life on network comedies these days.

Oh well, at least there's the inevitable DVD sets ... such a funny show.

[chrisfan]

I actually think ER has hit a high note this season. Last year, they werea bunch of slackers and you wondered how they saved ANYone. This year, they've brought in some people to shake that up ... and they've FINALLY made Luka attractive.

[chrisfan]

Arrested Development is not officially gone. It's shelved for sweeps, which isn't a good sign. But Fox still isn't willing to ax it officially. I would not be surprised if they didn't decide to move it over to FX,

[chrisfan]

I'm annoyed so I need to vent ... I invited a bunch of friends to go out to dinner with me for my birthday. One came back asking if it would be okay if they brought their one year old daughter "if they coudln't find a babysitter". I HATE that question. I HATE it. There is no good way to answer it. If you say yes when you don't mean it, you have to suffer through the kid at an adult setting. If you say no, you're the bitch who is anti-child and choosing to exclude certain friends because they have kids. So I caved and said yes. They confirmed to me today that they're bringing the kid ... they didn't even bother to look for a babysitter. Note to parents: YOU chose to have the kid ... that doens't mean your friends chose the same!

[kool]

Chrisfan, I was having the same discussion with a friend of mine last night. We're planning on inviting a married couple we've been friends with for years to go out for dinner on the weekend, but we don't know how to tell them to leave their little 2 year-old brat at home. They don't even need a babysitter since grandma lives around the corner, but they always want to take the kid with them.

Kids that age suck to have around all the time. Apart from my niece who's the best [and your nephiew I'm sure]

My friend is planning on simply telling them "If you guys can find someone to babysit on Saturday, would you like to go out for dinner with us?" I told her that I thought it sounded kinda cruel but what else can you say without offending them? I dunno, I'm just glad that she's going to call them, that way I won't have to be the prick.

[chrisfan]

I actually think that sounds like a great way to word it. To me, the "if you can find a babysitter" sounds like she's got empathy for the fact that they can't just drop everything and go out.

I don't mind being around kids, really. I actually enjoy it! But the place we're going is NOT inviting for kids. It's a small intimate Itallian restaurant. I even feel kind of guilty going there with a big group, but the man I talked to when I made the reservation said it was no problem at all. That, and (okay, I know this is selfish, but it's my birthday damint) when they bring the kid then everything about the meal is all about the two of them, and the kid. This is my birthday damnit. I want to be with my friends, and I want to enjoy their company. But still, I am the guest of honor ... not some kid who still pees her pants.

[chrisfan]

You know what I think it is? I think the prevelance of parents who think they can drag their kids everywhere is just a selfish notion on their part that their lives should not change just because they have kids. When I was little, there wre times my parents would sit at home rather than going to some social occaison, because they couldn't get a babysitter. Nowadays, we're not supposed to feel any negative effects of ANYTHING, therefore parents think they should not have to miss out on anything just because they have kids.

[Ampage]

Cant say I have ever had that problem before. My friends that do have kids have always known when it was party time or not. That being said, I do have friends that cant stand kids being brought anywhere. One time someone had the gall to bring a kid to a party and then was so bold to ask the foul mouthed ones to watch their mouth. I was being sarcastic about "the gall". It was an outdoor summer party and there was volleyball etc. The people wanted to come and bring their child. I have the problem with the friend that went on to say "Well, we didn;t know that there was going to be a kid there" Like that would have stooped them from going or that they would have been prepared not to talk like a pig?

[JACkory]

Chrisfan, you're the only one I know around here who might have actually watched the show, so I'm cutting-and-pasting this from the What Are You Listening To board...if you saw it, I'd be interested to know the extent to which you agree or disagree with my take on it:

Maybe I'm the only one here who watched tonight's 39th Annual Country Music Association Awards but I gotta say...as a lover of country music there was precious little of it to be found in this travesty. It's no wonder country music record sales are down...if this awards presentation was any indication, apparently it's because there just ain't much country music out there these days, just watered-down pop with maybe a banjo and/or a fiddle trying to pass itself off as "country" (which, I realize, has been going on for quite awhile, but it seems much more prevalent these days).
I mean, they had Bon Jovi on as a featured performer...So what if Bon Jovi is about as country as Beyonce Knowles; truth be told, that's about as country as Keith Urban is as well, and that bozo won Male Vocalist of the Year AND Entertainer of the Year.
It was a fiasco the likes of which I have rarely witnessed in all my days, even with redeeming performances by Brooks & Dunn (aw, MAN, that song they did was INCREDIBLE), Alison Krauss and Wal-Mart's new best friend, Garth Brooks (looking rather pleased to be coming out of retirement and actually singing a REAL country song).
Unfortunately that just wasn't enough to remove the bad taste left by crap acts like Sugarland and the majority of the Horizon Award nominees (although it was good to see Dierkes Bentley win that one, he being the only one that deserved it). And when the producers of the broadcast cut Alabama off in the middle of their acceptance speech for being inducted into the C&W Hall of Fame (before frontman Randy Owen even had a chance to talk), well, pardner, that was the straw that broke the camel's back...that really made me mad.
Elton John and Dolly Parton massacred John Lennon's "Imagine" (and maybe I'm the only one who thinks so, but isn't that song a tad over-rated, anyway? I am dead sick of it). What, you might legitimately ask, was Elton John doing on the CMA's? Your guess is as good as mine, probably the same thing Bon Jovi was doing there. Apparently the Country Music Association is convinced that their constituency just doesn't like country music anymore, what with the success of bozos like Big & Rich making such a splash. Someone should tell them that Big & Rich are a NOVELTY act, fer cryin' out loud (whether they realize it or not...the CMA and Big & Rich both, that is). It'll pass soon enough and folks will look back on the 39th CMA Awards as one big mistake.

[chrisfan]

I didn't watch all of the CMAs Jac, but I did watch some of them. (I was at a meeting then on the phone with my dad, so I didn't turn it on until about 9:20) From what I did see, I can't say it was my favorite awards show ever. But I also wouldn't say I was as dissapointed as you were.

The way I see it, country music is about as widespread in terms of what it is these days as rock is. Look at the debates that can come from something like Ken's best 100 rock acts surveys as to what is and is not a rock act. Country is now the same thing. You are a purist who views country as being CLASSIC country. Probably because I am a newer country fan, I have great respect (and probably enjoy the most) the classic country, but I like the new stuff too. I like the novelty acts like Big and Rich - not because I think they're great music but because they're fun and I know that's all their meant to be. And Keith Urban ... okay let's be honest ... I'm a girl ... he can do no wrong in my book! It's not that I put Keith or Big and Rich or Carrie Underwood in the same realm of a Willie Nelson, Alabama, or Patsy Cline. But while Casablanca is my favorite movie of all time, it doesn't mean that i dismiss Dodgeball as a worthwhile way to spend two hours.

I do completely agree with you on the lack of class in cutting off Alabama. There are some acceptance speeches which deserve the respect of going over in time. It was obvious that their plan was to let each man speak, and they should have been given that time. To be honest, I thought the big winners deserved more than 15 seconds too.

And in my "I'd never expect to say it but I am" statement from the night ... I would not be at all surprised if in the next year or so there are reports that Faith Hill and Tim McGraw are splitting up. I thought they sounded great singing, but she did not seem to express the slightest bit of affection for him when singing. She seemed far more concerned with the audience than she was with him. It seemed very odd for me to see that with those two.

[Matheus]

"Imagine" overrated? I think it's a very simple song with a very simple message, and I think the ONE thing that makes that song stand out is the spirit of it. It's powerful in its atmosphere, it's powerful in its words, and it's powerful in its delivery. I don't think anyone who sings the song now or in the past will ever be able to match Lennon's version.

More than anything, I think the song represents this concept of a brotherhood of man, which is sung in the song.

My favorite line is "Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do, nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too."

Realistically, it's a bunch of hippie douche posturing, and is way too idealistic, because these things are what makes the world go round. Everyone talks about it, everyone wants it, but it has to be their way or the highway.

Gotta love the humanity of it all.

[chrisfan]

I agree with Jac. I think the song is overrated. I've never liked it. I've always considered it to be the communism theme song.

[JACkory]

"Imagine" is utopian daydreaming at it's most saccharine.

Good points you make, Chrisfan. I am a purist when it comes to country music. I won't deny that. It's just that when rock acts reach for something different they generally still sound like rock. When country acts reach for something different, they sound like (weak) rock. It's hard to call it country anymore when it sounds just like soft rock.
IMO, of course, but then again, what were all those rock acts doing there? Elton John? Sheesh!

Anyhoo, thanks for responding. Very interesting.

[JACkory]

But PLEASE tell me you didn't miss that POWERFUL song by Brooks & Dunn...