From somebody to an individual

Just a whole bunch of random thoughts that came to me over the weekend:

1) Is anyone else really freaked out by the DirectTV ad that is showing during the playoffs featuring the cast of Poltergeist? Now, it is nice to see Craig T. Nelson get some work but the little girl from that movie died when she was still a kid (right as they were about to film Poltergeist 3 if I remember correctly). It is just real creepy to see Craig T. Nelson act in a scene with a child who has been dead for more than fifteen years. When I watch the commercial I am not thinking about switching from cable; I’m wondering what her parents think every time that commercial comes on the air.

2) Every day on the way to work I pass a sign that reads “Wilmington: A Place to be Somebody”. That is quite possibly the weakest city slogan ever developed. Let’s examine it in detail. First, we define Wilmington as a place. Not a spectacular place, or a unique place or even a slightly above average place. It is just your typical, undescript place defined as such to avoid confusion from people who might believe that it is some sort of mineral. Then we have “to be” an extremely weak, meaningless term that most English teachers hate when they see it. Finally, we find out that here you can be somebody. Not anybody, mind you. We don’t grant you that much freedom. No, you can be somebody. You can be another nameless, faceless cog in the machine here. Every day I see that sign and you know what, I’m not very inspired by it.

3) I’ve been very proud of myself for keeping with my exercise routine for the past week but there is one slight issue. It is quite odd to finish a workout and then take an elevator back to my apartment because I am too lazy to take the stairs. It’s like “I just spent forty minutes walking in place. I have earned the right to have a motorized piece of equipment take me someplace that I could easily reach on my own.” It just seems wrong.

4) For those who wonder, yes I do my own laundry. However, as my new apartment has a front loading washer (something I have never encountered before) I have spent the past month just trying to figure out where you put the damn detergent. Only took me about eight loads (and a helpful television commercial) to realize that I had been doing it wrong. Yes, I have multiple advanced degrees but yet am flummoxed by a standard appliance.

5) Oh, I finally got around to watching all the shows that I taped last week. Big Bang Theory was great if just for Leonard losing a girl over an argument over the differences between string theory and quantum loop theory. I’ve been there. (No, really, I have. I also had a girl break up with me because, and I quote, “Her cat didn’t like me.”) How I Met Your Mother was weak again (though Marshall trying to psyche himself up for interviews was good) and I am really sensing that this will be the last season for the show unless the quality ramps up quickly.

6) Finally, I finally got around to my guilty pleasure of watching The Biggest Loser. There is something really satisfying about sitting on the couch, scarfing down a pizza, while watching fat people exercise. I’m still at mixed emotions about the show. It is great that it does inspire people to work out and lose weight and yes, I have taken advice from the show. But, it is completely unrealistic as it shows the contestants losing ten pounds in a week because they get to spend all week working out. As silly as it sounds, Celebrity Fit Club is more realistic in terms of how people really lose weight. They even had a contestant gain weight while on the show. It is just a better window in how people have to get fit while still living in the real world.

Best of 120 Minutes: Thought that I would go to one of the classic acts that you would always see on a Sunday night: Depeche Mode. No one knows where they came from, no one knows where they disappeared to. But every week at around 11:35 there would always be a Depeche Mode video.



The five random CDs for the week:
1) Richard Thompson “Live from Austin, TX”
2) Dave Matthews Band “Remember Two Things”
3) The Frames “The Cost”
4) The Ditty Bops “Pack Rat”
5) Allen Toussaint “Connected”