Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Cleaning out the DVR


Just found out that one of my favorite artists is finally having a couple of pieces go up on auction. The above image is a Banksy, this brilliant British graffiti artist who is either the most amazing person on the planet or an arrogant, talentless prick depending on your point of view. I’m strongly in the first camp as I think that this guy just does some brilliant work. It is graffiti masquerading as fine art or fine art masquerading as graffiti. It always makes you stop and think, which is pretty much the definition of art in my book.

Anyway, so they are putting a handful of his original pieces on the auction block and it is a pretty rare event. That’s the problem when your medium is spray paint and public property, it makes it really difficult to sell the pieces. It looks as if I sell everything I own, cash out all my accounts, get rid of that spare kidney, and sell the rights to my biography I would just have enough money to make a bid. Not actually by the piece, mind you, but I would be allowed to raise one of those little paddles with a number on it. Sigh. One of these days I’ll win the lottery and I’ll get to own one.

Switching gears, I finally got around to watching my tape of How I met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory tonight. Is it me or are they trying to get really cute with HIMYM this year? We’ve had Mandy Moore and Enrique Iglesias as guest stars. Tonight we had Barney drawing graphs in the air. Now I am personally all for discussing relationships in graphical form and the Betty Mendoza line is a pretty awesome line but it seemed a little too cute and sitcom-y, especially from a show that seems to be pretty realistic. That said, the entire episode was meant to provide some backstory on how everyone met.

Mainly this finally meant that we find out how Ted and Barney met. I don’t think this was ever discussed before. Barney was always their friend but it was never shown how they met other than they met at the bar. I still think there is a story here that hasn’t been explored. We know a bit of Barney’s backstory and how he learned to suit up but what drove him to grab Ted at random and make him his wingman has to have some deeper significance. I’d help write it but you know, with the upcoming writer’s strike and all I’ll probably have to hold back on my scriptwriting.

(Oh, and here is another “They are stealing my life to write this show” moment. They’ve revealed that the mother is a woman in a yellow raincoat and a yellow umbrella. Which would make her look vaguely like the Morton Salt girl. Which is precisely what a girl I talked to at a bar a year ago said she was going as for Halloween. I’m telling you, someone on that writing staff reads this blog.)

I have really grown to like The Big Bang Theory. The show does seem to be written specifically for me as I don’t think that anyone else gets the physics humor. The good news is that they have done a much better job in writing the character of Penny, the only normal person on the show. Basically, they smartened her up a little and had her start firing back at the guys and going off on them for being so socially inept. Not meanspirited but realistic. That didn’t exist at first, probably because I bet they didn’t have a single woman writer on staff for the pilot. As a rule, guys interested in writing sitcoms with calculus jokes are probably not going to be very adept at writing convincing female characters.

Still, this is a really good show. We’ve had a few Roseanne reunions that have been worthwhile. Sheldon’s supergenius character is just outstanding. There is a level of brilliance one can reach where the common world just seems completely incomprehensible and that’s what Sheldon inhabits. I’m not there, I’m more of the guy who wants to fit in but wonders why everyone else is so slow at times, but I understand the type. Basically, I’m a sucker for humor that involves a whiteboard. Oh and my favorite exchange tonight

(Leonard provides an in-depth analysis of his potential relationships)
Sheldon: “You know, you are lucky that I am one of the three people in the Western Hemisphere who could follow your train of logic.”
Leonard: “Really? Thanks for listening.”
Sheldon: “I didn’t say I cared, I just said I could follow it.”

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've basically been waiting for years to see David and Darlene together again. Now, if only The Big Bang Theory would have an outlandish Halloween episode every year....

Secretly, I lust after Sheldon. I guess not so secret, now, as I've announced it to the internet.