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TV Tidbits
May. 20th, 2006 11:56 pmSome TV tidbits that I just had to share:
While getting ready for work tonight I was watching bits of a documentary, "Planet Twelve: The Secret Lives of 12-Year-Olds." Tery has a documentary fetish so I'm always looking for something she might enjoy.
I stumbled in at the "popularity" segment. I myself wasn't very popular as a teenager. I had friends, but we were mostly the "weirdo outcast" clique. Meh, this didn't bother me because they were cool people, and we had fun together. Contrary to what the "popular" kids thought, we didn't spend our time sitting around wishing we were them. I couldn't relate then and I certainly can't relate now to the group in the documentary, the "populars" (yeah, just that original), who spent their time shopping for all the trendiest brand names, giggling about boys, and putting down girls who didn't wear the "right" clothes. Someone in this group described what it took to be popular: "It's coming up with the same ideas as the most popular kid in school." Huh. In other words, never having an original thought of your own, or being afraid to say so if you did. I knew I wasn't missing much back then.
Then they focused on the polar opposites of the "populars," the "loners" (kind of a silly name when taking them as a group, but 12-year-olds are silly people, as we learn). One of the "loners" was a quiet, bookish-looking girl named, of all things, Elaine. I perked up noticeably. I didn't know anyone after my generation was named Elaine anymore (suspecting as I do that there weren't too many in my own generation. Like the time I made an appointment for a haircut and sat ignored in the waiting room for a half hour because the girl was expecting a little old lady). Elaine spent a lot of time alone, although she did have one good friend. The populars had this to say about her: "I don't know. Elaine's kind of weird. She doesn't wear fashionable clothes and she just keeps to herself. I hate to say it, but she isn't very popular at school." Her best friend said this: "It doesn't hurt my popularity being her friend, except with boys. They'll say 'Oh, you're friends with HER?' I don't care though, I think Elaine's kind of cool." Elaine's thoughts on the matter? "I don't really care what everyone else thinks. I do things I enjoy, and if you don't like it, that's your problem so keep it to yourself." Oh snap!
Leading me to the perfectly logical conclusion that everyone named "Elaine" is just naturally superior. >: )
Secondly, if you aren't a faithful viewer of "The Daily Show," a.) shame on you, and b.) go watch this clip. Watch it now. Jon had on this kid, Ramesh Ponnuru, 31-year-old senior editor for the National Review. He thinks he's some hot shit for writing a pro-life book, The Party of Death, blaming abortion and America's general "disregard for life" on, not surprisingly, the Democrats and the courts. He had nooooo idea what he was getting into by letting Jon interview him. Jon is dangerous precisely because he appears so harmless and cuddly. He comes off as apologetic and flip, but eventually asks the hard questions that every one of us would like to make the pro-lifers think about. He's like a scorpion, distracting you by dancing and waving around his funny-looking claws. Then, when you're relaxed and laughing at his jokes, KA-POW! his deadly stinger arcs over his head and gets you smack between the eyes. So it was that Mr. Hot Shit had no response to the question of why innocent Iraqi civilian lives are acceptable "collateral damage," but using stem cells in the hopes of curing disease is not. He was utterly gobsmacked. And I thought it wouldn't get any better after he had no answer to the theory that women might be "understandably protective" of what happens to their bodies, etc. etc. It's like he came on the show without even trying to imagine any potential arguments that could be brought up against him. Because, you know, his view is so unassailably correct. Douchebag.
Why isn't Jon running for president alongside Stephen Colbert, is my question.
While getting ready for work tonight I was watching bits of a documentary, "Planet Twelve: The Secret Lives of 12-Year-Olds." Tery has a documentary fetish so I'm always looking for something she might enjoy.
I stumbled in at the "popularity" segment. I myself wasn't very popular as a teenager. I had friends, but we were mostly the "weirdo outcast" clique. Meh, this didn't bother me because they were cool people, and we had fun together. Contrary to what the "popular" kids thought, we didn't spend our time sitting around wishing we were them. I couldn't relate then and I certainly can't relate now to the group in the documentary, the "populars" (yeah, just that original), who spent their time shopping for all the trendiest brand names, giggling about boys, and putting down girls who didn't wear the "right" clothes. Someone in this group described what it took to be popular: "It's coming up with the same ideas as the most popular kid in school." Huh. In other words, never having an original thought of your own, or being afraid to say so if you did. I knew I wasn't missing much back then.
Then they focused on the polar opposites of the "populars," the "loners" (kind of a silly name when taking them as a group, but 12-year-olds are silly people, as we learn). One of the "loners" was a quiet, bookish-looking girl named, of all things, Elaine. I perked up noticeably. I didn't know anyone after my generation was named Elaine anymore (suspecting as I do that there weren't too many in my own generation. Like the time I made an appointment for a haircut and sat ignored in the waiting room for a half hour because the girl was expecting a little old lady). Elaine spent a lot of time alone, although she did have one good friend. The populars had this to say about her: "I don't know. Elaine's kind of weird. She doesn't wear fashionable clothes and she just keeps to herself. I hate to say it, but she isn't very popular at school." Her best friend said this: "It doesn't hurt my popularity being her friend, except with boys. They'll say 'Oh, you're friends with HER?' I don't care though, I think Elaine's kind of cool." Elaine's thoughts on the matter? "I don't really care what everyone else thinks. I do things I enjoy, and if you don't like it, that's your problem so keep it to yourself." Oh snap!
Leading me to the perfectly logical conclusion that everyone named "Elaine" is just naturally superior. >: )
Secondly, if you aren't a faithful viewer of "The Daily Show," a.) shame on you, and b.) go watch this clip. Watch it now. Jon had on this kid, Ramesh Ponnuru, 31-year-old senior editor for the National Review. He thinks he's some hot shit for writing a pro-life book, The Party of Death, blaming abortion and America's general "disregard for life" on, not surprisingly, the Democrats and the courts. He had nooooo idea what he was getting into by letting Jon interview him. Jon is dangerous precisely because he appears so harmless and cuddly. He comes off as apologetic and flip, but eventually asks the hard questions that every one of us would like to make the pro-lifers think about. He's like a scorpion, distracting you by dancing and waving around his funny-looking claws. Then, when you're relaxed and laughing at his jokes, KA-POW! his deadly stinger arcs over his head and gets you smack between the eyes. So it was that Mr. Hot Shit had no response to the question of why innocent Iraqi civilian lives are acceptable "collateral damage," but using stem cells in the hopes of curing disease is not. He was utterly gobsmacked. And I thought it wouldn't get any better after he had no answer to the theory that women might be "understandably protective" of what happens to their bodies, etc. etc. It's like he came on the show without even trying to imagine any potential arguments that could be brought up against him. Because, you know, his view is so unassailably correct. Douchebag.
Why isn't Jon running for president alongside Stephen Colbert, is my question.
