MY TWO SHITS WORTH: EPISODE ELEVEN

RE: RHETORIC AS THE CAUSE OF DEATH

    

It's happening.  It's been happening forever but only when it hits home do we really care.  Self absorption takes its toll in bodybags.  We mourn and speak out for a time but then quickly turn back to our self induced distractions for comfort.  The human head feels much warmer in the sand, I guess.  Is the stock market up or down?  Should I buy or sell?  What celebrity hates another celebrity?  Will it go 'viral?  'Do we realize that going 'viral' shouldn't be something that we ought to be trying to achieve as it 'infects' our attention to what actually should be important to us all?
     As I've said, this fear of what we do not know or even try to understand has been occurring since the beginning of time.  Scapegoats for why we fail are very easy to find.  It's who and what we can comfortably live with that seems to be the most difficult thing to dissect.
     I don't talk to my neighbors.  Where I live, neighbors come and go every month.  No excuse.  I'm a somewhat shy person.  No excuse.  I don't have time to make conversation with a stranger.  No excuse. Maybe I don't want to find out how much different I am than they are and vice versa.  No excuse.   I suspect I'm not the only one with a kindness deficiency.  Deficiency is described as a lack or shortage of something.  It doesn't mean I have no kindness.  It means my kindness extends only to a certain point and then it ceases to exist.  An end to something always seems sad, doesn't it?  Can I turn that existential frown upside down?  Can I give an inch and not give a damn if someone else takes a mile?  Can I not only see and listen but attempt to really understand someone's opposing viewpoint without feeling it will forever damage my code of conduct?   Comfort zones are called as such for a reason, you know.  Fear of the unknown is just waiting for us right outside that space.
     Is that something we can live or die with?  I know for a fact that a bodybag with our name on it is waiting for all of us.  Maybe the real question is how fast are we eager to fill it?  Happy Halloween.

MY TWO SHITS WORTH: EPISODE TEN

 

  When is a 20th anniversary something not to celebrate?  Twenty years since I started freebasing?  Twenty years since my wife took her vow of celibacy?  Twenty years since that guy on the subway took a leak on me?
     Regular readers (all three of them) know how seriously I take music.  In the late 1980s both mainstream Rock and Country music were in a creative funk.   You know, the same thing over and over again.  If you were a record executive, the formulaic types of there genres were still selling but that's mainly because you forced us to repurchase our favorite music on a different format and then you made that format more expensive to own.  And you were laughing all the way to your cocaine dealer.  It's no surprise that long standing artists like The Moody Blues, The Rolling Stones, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash dropped off their respective Top 40 singles charts after 1990.
     In Country's case, Garth Brooks showed up around 1989 with his high octane arena-ready brand of music and pretty much destroyed any type of artist still using pedal steel guitar and singing tear-in-my-beer lyrics.  This genre of music hasn't changed much then mainly because Mr. Brooks' music was pretty darn profitable (over 100 million albums sold) even though industry insiders have been warning us of a traditional country comeback for over 20 years now.
    Rock music got a one-two punch in Nirvana and Pearl Jam in 1991; pushing alternative rock right into the mainstream.  However, with the exception of Pearl Jam, most of these modern rock stars either burned out or faded away by the end of the decade.  This meant change once again on Top 40 radio and pretty much anything but modern rock replaced it.
     One genre was teenybopper pop, a category thought driven into the ground in the 1970s by just about every Osmond who ever made a record. But much like the graveyard below the Freeling house in 'Poltergeist', it wasn't.  Boy bands like Backstreet Boys and N'Sync popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, and took radio by storm.  Where were the girls?  Yes, Christina Aguilera was there but the first to the charts was Britney Spears whose debut song "Baby One More Time" is celebrating its 20th anniversary this week with many music critics lauding this debut as the beginning of more mature sounding teen-pop.  Does anyone else see this as a contradiction in terms?  Certainly not the Spears family who rushed their oldest daughter into showbiz at an early age and obviously didn't see anything wrong with the title song's creepy video and lyrics sang by someone not even eighteen yet at the same time espousing her strong Christian beliefs.  I understand Christians are not all prudes but the song and the video were and still are borderline child porn.
     I'm willing to overlook the fact that the image and music were completely manufactured from the ground up.  Spears, Aguilera and Justin Timberlake were all being groomed for stardom as members of the late 80s version of the Mickey Mouse Club.  Ms. Spears sang the songs pretty much like anyone on karaoke night would as she did not write a single note or word of the song (or anything on the album which would appear in early 1999).  I'm willing to overlook the fact that her voice was nothing special compared to the vocal stylings of Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey.  But the way she 'delivered' the songs would have been more understandable coming from them than from someone who most likely had to be taught how to properly 'shake her groove thing.'  Just plain embarrassing.  I remember seeing pre-teens everywhere dressing up (or, more precisely, down) like her as these young girls were obviously voicing their support of female empowerment, not realizing their fearless leader was slowly headed for a self imposed mental breakdown.  I honestly don't remember Gloria Steinem doing this.  Of course, I don't remember Gloria's parents shoving her into showbiz as a toddler either.  As the late, great Tom Petty once said 'as we celebrate mediocrity all the boys upstairs want to see how much you'll pay for what you used to get for free.'  'Nuff said.

ANOTHER BRIEF THOUGHT

   

  In my opinion, technology can be a fickle mistress.  It can improve some areas of our lives while simultaneously making other areas more difficult.
      I've noticed how retailers (you know, the brick and mortar variety) are offering special discounts to people who have smartphones.  I suppose it's just another ruse to collect your personal data but the these offers feel a bit cruel to me.  I know a majority of people have smartphones now (I don't) but it seems to me that the ones who do not have them are exactly the ones who could benefit from these type of deals that are being offered.
    Not so long ago, people were complaining about not being able to get special discounts on items at the local grocery store because they refused to give out their personal info in order to get a 'savings 'card.  Today, people are willing to do almost anything to get a discount, even if it means forking over their entire life history to some faceless machine.  Have we become so desensitized or manipulated that we are accepting things we used to deny because they come gift wrapped prettier now?  I still don't find pigs attractive; even with an extra coat of lipstick.

REL: MY REVIEW

  

  Okay, I'm still upset about the way 'The Carmichael Show' got mistreated and then cancelled by NBC but now I do have some reason to rejoice.  Lil Rel Howery was Jarrod's brother in that show and now Rel has his own show (although Carmichael and most of the other creative team is behind this one too).
     Rel is a Chicago nurse whose wife and kids left him after he finds out that she had an affair with his barber.  Jessica Moore is his fast talking know-it-all sister.  Jordan L. Jones plays Rel's sweet but dim-witted brother who just got out of jail and Sinbad is their tough but caring father.
     The preview episode on Sept. 9 had Howery laughed at by everyone about his unfortunate situation with his wife and kids and the fact that the barber was the guy seeing Rel's wife behind his back.
     The family's outrageously dressed pastor (also played by Howery) even fashions his sermon around Rel's problems.
     Rel is definitely the sad sack underdog of this show but it isn't a mean spirited type of sitcom because the has family tries to help him even if their suggestions are comically way out of place.  The laugh track might need to be toned down just a bit on this multi-camera comedy and maybe we will see some workplace antics later on but for now it's just a nice funny show.  And that's saying a lot considering most of the dreck that's out there.
My grade: B

MY PBS PROGRAMMING ODYSSEY

    

This is a minor inconvenience but I must protest anyway.  On August 21, 2018 PBS will be premiering a new Pioneers Of Television special entitled "Betty White: First Lady Of Comedy."  I'm certainly not disputing the title as she has been a part of television since 1949 and was first nominated for an Emmy as early as 1951 and most recently as 2011.  Betty White = Perfect.
     However, when I checked my local Montana PBS schedule, it was nowhere to be found.  I thought there must be some kind of mistake.   I kept looking all over the interwebs for something besides glowing reviews of the programs but finally gave up and called Montana PBS in Missoula.
     I spoke to a very nice gentleman who informed me that most PBS stations have five pledge drives per year.  This special happens to be exclusively for pledge drives this month.  Montana PBS only has two pledge drives per year and the next one is in November.  He explained that the special will most likely air at that time.  Furthermore, at some point the special will become 'non-exclusive' which means Montana PBS will be able to air it whenever they see fit to do so.  However, National PBS will decide when this occurs.  
     Confused?  You won't be after this week's episode of Soap.  Wait. Wrong show and subject.  Sorry about that.  I'm still sure you (and I) may be confused about how PBS operates and I suspect that the confusion is entirely intentional.  The P in PBS stands for public.  This means that viewers like you donate money to keep the programs on the air.  Thank you.  Of course, our government subsidizes a large portion of the national budget to assist as well.  And one must not forget the extremely wealthy donors like the Koch brothers.  Since they donate an ass-ton amount of money, they also have a hand in helping PBS decide what you watch and what you don't watch.  When Ken Burns made his recent Vietnam documentary, he had to let the brothers privately screen it first.  Since wealthy donors come from different political points of view, the programs usually balance out any type of bias.  Usually.
     I could go further into this type of process of what PBS airs and the fact that local affiliates have some say in programming for their own local market demographic but I will not as I suspect you're snoring right now.  WAKE UP!!!  The Betty White special should air on Montana PBS sometime in November.  For now, I will patiently as we all did before instant gratification was invented.  Until then I shall dream about how to 'be more.'

MY TWO SHITS WORTH: EPISODE NINE

    

Six.  That's how many late night 'talk' shows are currently on the air right now.  I don't count the 'satirical news' shows or weekly shows because they are not celebrity focused.  Please don't let this fact be misconstrued as praise.  It's not.
     I find myself switching channels during these shows and hearing the same joke multiple times.  Lazy writing?  Partly to blame.  Perhaps what it is more at fault is the network's insistence on getting the 'easy' laugh, not the most original or witty one.  Ratings are 'the name of the game, boy' to paraphrase a line from a Pink Floyd song that a few have probably heard.  I will focus on two of the most popular late night hosts and their differing approaches to their shows.
     The most depressing example of the genre is "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert."  It debuted in the Fall of 2015 to mediocre ratings as Colbert pretty much did everything but play the music and sweep up after the show.  It was a cozy and modest affair and it got off to a promising start with a riveting interview with Joe Biden a few weeks into the program's run.  With both host and guest talking about learning from personal loss it was about as far from a knee slapper as you could get.  Colbert managed to weave comedy and real conversation together pretty seamlessly although his interviewing style left me a bit cold ("Nice to see you, 'ma'am or sir'.....we'll be right back.")  Unfortunately, this aspect has not improved.
     I was a huge fan of "The Colbert Report" and was so excited to see what he could bring to this time period.  Little did I know that about a year in to his run, CBS made him replace several top staff members of his show (some of them had been with him for over a decade; making the jump with him from Comedy Central to CBS) with Reliable Network Professionals.  The lunatics would not be taking over the asylum after all.
    Then came the Presidential Election of 2016.  It was pretty clear that Clinton would win.....until she didn't.  His Showtime Election Special was one of the most bizarre events I have ever witnessed.   When Trump was declared President, Colbert stood there dazed and confused.  Then he started drinking and babbling rather incoherently about what this would mean for our country.   The balloons meant for Hillary may still be stuck up in the Ed Sullivan Theater rafters for all I know.  One thing I do know for sure is since then, the Trump joke machine was turned on and up to full speed and hasn't relented.  Problem is, Mr. Trump usually comes up with his own dandy material on a little site called Twitter.
     By now, making President Trump jokes are the proverbial 'low hanging fruit.'  But Stephen's ratings are as strong as ever so the joke machine will keep running for now which is too bad. Colbert should have other things to discuss but now whenever a guest comes out, the first thing out of his mouth is something like: "So..... Trump....what do you think?"  Plus, his online presence (where James Corden and Jimmy Fallon keep picking up viewers) is minimal at best.
     Conan O'Brien (who will be shortening his program to 30 minutes in 2019) is still making obscure and silly non-Presidential jokes which makes his program much easier to digest.  He's been at it since 1993 (the longest tenure in late night) so I guess he has a leg up on the competition.  The show has regular segments like Clueless Gamer and visits from oddball characters in his audience.  Mr. O'Brien has made several specials where he travels to different countries to make friends with many of the locals in his own goofy and self deprecating style.  He also has his own website called teamcoco.com that includes some online exclusive content which is so important to fans today.   It's like political antacid.  And, oh, what a relief it is.