danajohnhill.org | Hard Times Come Again No More

The Simpsons season premiere was last night, and it is welcome.  It boggles the mind to consider that the show is in its 19th season, and, at least judging from “He Loves to Fly and He D’oh’s”, it is still funny.  For instance, last night, the opening theme followed up on events from last summer’s Simpsons Movie with humorous results.

Importantly, I was glad that the season premiere came on September 23.  You see, for several miserable years, new episodes wouldn’t begin until the end of October, or even early November, with the “Treehouse of Horror” for that season, to make room for the World Series which Fox was airing.  So, to have the season begin in September once more is a pleasure, though I doubt we’ll ever see a start as early as that magical Season 6, which began September 4, 1994, or Season 13, which began in August.

Still, The Simpsons has been a big part of my life, and I am glad it’s back.  May it never end.

Filed under: Comedy, Television on September 24th, 2007 | No Comments »

Tonight will be much less funny, since Flight of the Conchords‘ season has concluded. I didn’t know what to expect back in June when the HBO series began, but it instantly won my heart. Thanks to the new “In Demand” function on my cable box, I am now able to watch any of the twelve episodes that aired this summer. I have now watched the fourth episode, entitled “Yoko”, three times, and I am convinced that it is among the funniest things I have ever seen on television.

The gist of the series is that there are two fellows from New Zealand who now live in New York City and have a band called Flight of the Conchords. They are not especially good, unfortunately, and, in spite of having an enthusiastic manager–who conducts band business during the course of his duties as deputy cultural attaché at the New Zealand consulate–and one overly-devoted fan, the two are poor and unappreciated. Each episode involves the efforts of Bret and Jermaine to woo women and reach a wider audience, with little success. There are usually a couple songs in each episode, and they often come in the form of hilarious music videos.

(Episode-specific spoilers follow.) Read more »

Filed under: Comedy, Popular Music, Television on September 9th, 2007 | No Comments »

You must read this.

Filed under: Comedy, Current Events, Film, Television on July 16th, 2007 | No Comments »

I admit that I am often wrong when it comes to assessing the political climate in this country. For instance, I earnestly believed that George W. Bush didn’t stand a chance in the 2000 election. In fact, during the summer of that year, as I casually watched the coverage of the presidential campaign, I recall telling friends that Bush’s constant gaffes and apparent ignorance would be transparent to voters, and he’d be soundly rejected. Sadly, I was wrong.

Then, in 2004, when I was a very active supporter of John Kerry, I genuinely believed that voters would see through the deception, fear-mongering and myriad abuses of power, and soundly reject Bush and Cheney. Again, I was wrong.

Naturally, Republicans will be using the the most unscrupulous tactics imaginable during the 2008 campaign, but whomever is selected to be that party’s candidate will be facing serious hurdles, and not simply because they don’t have the assorted devils like Karl Rove working for them. No, it’s because the Bush Administration is now in a phase of governance I like to call “Blaze of Glory”.

The Blaze of Glory is a mindset whereby, in the absence of a practical strategy for success in any endeavor from work to video games, one opts for the most spectacular–and, ultimately, destructive–course of action. The concept first became clear to me one July night in 2000, while playing a game called Driver with friends. The object of the game is to be a getaway driver in one of several important missions, outrunning law-enforcement, and safely completing the task at hand. Inevetably, however, the game becomes so difficult, that winning is clearly no longer possible, and the best a player can hope for is to do as much damage as possible, and go out in a “blaze of glory”.

It seems to me that the Bush Administration is in this Blaze of Glory phase now. They no longer even care what people think about them. Expose their lying, torturing, law-breaking. They don’t care. They’re just going to keep on doing what they want, right until it’s game over. It’s frankly amazing that they’ve been able to get as far as they have. (Comic Patton Oswalt had a hilarious bit on Fresh Air this week comparing Bush and Cheney to Bo and Luke Duke.)

The only difference between the fiery conclusions in Driver and the actions of the Bush Administration, is that the Bush Administration isn’t just driving solo; they are the collective face of the Republican party. To continue the metaphor, it’s as though they are running their mission in a van that other people are counting on being able to use, but they’re going to blow it up anyway.

Filed under: Comedy, Politics, Rantings on July 5th, 2007 | No Comments »

I don’t want to give the iPhone any more publicity, since Apple has already accomplished total media saturation. But I feel compelled to say, go to hell, iPhone. I have a threshold when it comes to advertising, and the iPhone has crossed it. That is actually saying something, considering how little time I allot to watching commercial television, and when I do it is almost always time-shifted via DVR, allowing me to skip commercials.

Apple, apparently aware of my viewing habits, has engaged in a relentless marketing campaign, encompassing every imaginable medium. It isn’t just television and magazines and internet sites. I imagine there are city buses and taxis emblazoned with iPhone posters; movie theaters with iPhone trailers before the show; college students awakening from a night of drunken partying with iPhone tattoos. I could tolerate almost all of that, iPhone, but you took it too far. You invaded my workspace.

I work for non-commercial public radio. In spite of this, there hasn’t been a day in the last two weeks when I haven’t heard something or other about the iPhone, from reviews of the product to features about how Apple is letting a lot ride on its success. Sure, these are all passed off as timely tech-news. But then I see it again on NBC Nightly News, with lines of people waiting outside Apple’s New York City store to be the first to have this wonderful new device. Well, here’s a question: how great is the need of these people for a do-it-all gizmo like the iPhone, if they can afford to sit on the sidewalk for a week waiting for it to go on sale? They obviously don’t have jobs.

Then, last night, as I fast-forwarded through the commercials during back-to-back episodes of The Office, I couldn’t help but notice that the iPhone was advertised during each and every break. How expensive must that be? I’ll give Apple credit, getting journalists to talk about the iPhone is a clever source of publicity, albeit unscrupulous. It’s also free. The billboards and full-page, glossy ads are decidedly not free. I really have to wonder if this contraption couldn’t maybe cost about $200 less had Apple not pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into its marketing campaign.

In any event, it doesn’t matter. Because the iPhone offers nothing of any practical use to me. I don’t want to watch a movie on a tiny screen; I don’t want to read a newspaper on a tiny screen; I don’t want to dial numbers on a tiny screen; I don’t want to spend $600 on an electronic device that doesn’t do anything better than other electronic devices I already own.

Filed under: Comedy, Current Events, Rantings, Technology, Television on June 29th, 2007 | 3 Comments »