Author: ssw15

New York Times’ Quotation of the Day, for 12/2/03:

“You can be a social conservative in the U.S. without being a wacko. Not in Canada.”
– Chris Ragan, McGill University economist.

(in the article on the increasing political differences between the United States and its neighbor in the north; fascinating article; which leads me to wonder – aren’t there wackos in Canada? Aren’t we all wackos in the end???).

Oh, and check out what’s new on CNN, where there’s Anderson Cooper’s laugh-out loud funny commentary on the recent news of Roy Disney’s resignation from the board of Disney (which included a demand that CEO Michael Eisner resign). (although, you’ll have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the transcript to get the interesting lines…) . My access to cable is limited, so I didn’t actually watch Cooper make the remarks, but the textual “look” of the commentary just made me gasp with giggles. Among other things, Cooper said, regarding Roy Disney’s complaint that Eisner micromanages the corporation: “So what exactly is micro-management at Disney? Well, CNN has learned that, in the past, Disney management has used small people, some of whom are seen here in this video, not only to work as miners but also to sing and dance, a clear OSHA violation.” Hehehe. Give the man a hand; not only was he an interesting host for “The Mole,” but he’s an anchorman with a little bite.

Yesterday’s episode of “Alias” was quite good. Some gore, the usual amounts of violence, bizarre dream sequences, plot twistiness to jumble the brain (“uh, ok, so Secret Agent Sydney and Crew have to create a cover story to fool the Feds, and then do this, but then the Feds are on to them, and so Sydney et al. have to do what? And, Sloane has to kill Sydney, but guess who’s alive after all…??!!!”). Plus some really eccentric guest characters (were the writers taking some narcotics? Considering that one flakey character who likes hugs and making untimely remarks, hmm.).

Actually, come to think of it, the bizarreness reminded me of the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episodes (the one with Data and his dreams and all the crazy ones about the holodeck; but Star Trek never had the levels of gore and violence “Alias” has). It’s all about kooky fun, wrapped in a nice sci-fi/dramatic setting.

Ah, and will there be a revelation, as Sydney opens the door in her mind, to finally (!) resolve the half-season’s worth of questions? Am I glad next week is a new episode; the suspense will get to me…

True Value commercial – wherein Santa, the elf, Frosty, and some girl who looks like she’s the Tooth Fairy, are all on a road trip in an SUV. True Value says buy stuff from us. The elf says, “Read the map, Santa.” They see some plastic Santa up ahead and the real Santa says, “Am I that fat?” Uh… (funny commercial; but still wouldn’t know what True Value wants from me).

Target’s post-Thanksgiving weekend sale commercial – great. Bespectacled man plays a rockin’ drum beat; a young woman next to him plays along with her identical drum set. They look like they’re having loads of fun and yell, “Let’s go!” and played even more. Yeah, Target’s trying to get some energy into you to go out there and shop.

Not bad; right on message. Extra credit to Target.