excess verbiage

This is freaking me out a little, seeing Sylar from Heroes as Spock. I grew up watching Star Trek because well, my brother usually controlled the tv (before we had remote control tvs - yep, way back in the day!). Honestly, I wasn't that much of a fan of the original series. I was more of a "The Next Generation" kind of girl. Wesley Crusher was hot back then. hehe. Tried to get into Deep Space Nine, but wasn't my thing.

Anyway, I'm so used to seeing Zachary Quinto as Sylar on Heroes, so it's strange to see him in full Spock costume. He does really look like Spock, doesn't he? I can't wait to see what JJ Abrams does for Star Trek. JJ Abrams is pretty awesome in my book, so I trust just about anything that guy does. Hopefully it's more than something that geeks and Trekkies would watch.

The episode from last year when I was terrorized by crows on my street still haunts me. I can't walk down my block anymore without constantly looking over my shoulder, scanning the surrounding trees and rooftops for the evil birds. When I spot one, I speed up my pace and turn back and forth as I walk to keep one eye on them. It's ridiculously, insanely frightening, and quite frankly, one of the reasons why I don't want to take the bus again. The five minute walk to the bus stop is one of the longest walks I've ever taken. I have a feeling that this irrational (or maybe it is rational?!) fear may stick around for a long time. sigh...

Ever since Clueless, I've loved Paul Rudd. Remember that movie? He was awesome. And in recent years, he's been in comedies like The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, and movies with that type of humour.

Well apparently he went and wrote his own movie, called Role Models. Watching this trailer, it's evident that the Judd Apatow style of comedy is totally in sync with his. It's juvenile, offensive, gross, and yeah, funny as hell.

Check it out. Careful though, it's the R-rated version, so you'll want to keep the volume down if you're watching this at work.

Looks like all that Andy Samberg bashing that Mark Wahlberg did last week was all staged. Hmm... and just in time to coincide with his new movie. Fancy that. ;)

You can check out Marky Mark and the donkey bunch from this past Saturday's episode of SNL.

I hate to admit that I wasted time watching this show, but it was like a traffic accident that you couldn't help but rubberneck at. Puff Daddy, P Diddy, or whatever the hell he's called these days - has a show where these sad people whore themselves out for the opportunity to work for him. It's his version of The Apprentice. It made me sick to watch the way he rolls. It's seriously like a male version of The Devil Wears Prada. He makes them all do stupid degrading things while he sits around in his silk pajamas or goes jogging or whatever.

It's sad watching these people trip over themselves to get him a latte when he barks orders for one. And heaven forbid it takes longer than 5 minutes to come. He goes on and on about how he's so great and how he moves at lightning pace and it's like, stfu already. I mean, look, there's no doubt that the guy has made some good business decisions and found his target market and knows how to sell to it, but I just don't like the whole business of personal assistants. I think it's bullshit.

But do you blame the people barking the orders, or the people willing to take them? Life is a choice, right? And these contestants all go on about how they want the job so badly because they want to live the glamorous life that Diddy leads. And I think that's kind of lame. Have some friggin dignity and respect for yourself. If you want success, you don't ride someone else's coattails or be a hanger-on in the hopes that some of that high-rollin' life will trickle down to you.

That's what Diddy pitches to them though. He knows these people are desperate for a token of what he's got, and so he's got the power to treat them the way he wants. I've never liked him. He's too much of a braggart and too flashy. Down-to-earth he is not. There are a lot of successful people in the world who don't flash their money and power in your face. They're low-key and don't treat employees like slaves.

Every now and then, my dad forwards me emails or newsletters, usually about health and things like that. He's old and not really computer savvy, and quite frankly, I'm amazed he knows how to email. He only uses one or two fingers to type too, so his messages are always short and to the point. Usually, it'll be some article about how to lower cholesterol or something and his attached message will say "do it". That's about all he'll say. It's kind of funny because I always imagine him sitting at his computer - which I believe isn't even high speed cable - it's ISDN for crying out loud - and I can see him typing with his one finger and clicking on things. He's asked me to uninstall things because I think he accidentally installs stuff by clicking on pop ups.

I know he's got hotmail and once when I was at his house, I saw him on it and I saw him going through his junk mail deleting things. I find it hugely embarassing that my 70+ yr old father has to sit there and read all of the tacky, offensive porn related subject lines in the spam emails. Seriously, I'm totally embarassed that he has to read that. Because I know when I see that junk mail in my own folder, I pretty much roll my eyes at the lame attempts these marketers make to get past filters. Some of them, I read it and I'm like, oh give me a break, that's gross!

When I was a kid, my parents never gave me the birds and the bees talk. I think the closest I got was when my grandma told me to keep my legs shut and don't be a whore. Yeah, she was that kind of lady. The only time my dad has ever talked about sex in front of me is when he told me some chinese saying about how people only need 2 things to survive in life - food and sex. And I was like, okay, that's it, this conversation is officially over and done.

Anyway, I don't know why I find it awkward for my dad to see all that spam. He's an adult - a senior citizen no less - and the man has probably heard all that kind of stuff before. I mean, obviously he has. He was young once and guys talk like guys no matter what generation, no matter where in the world. But still, I prefer to think that the old guy just sits around and reads his health and financial newsletters. Ignorance and denial are bliss, right?

Was flipping channels when I came across some reruns of Party of Five. Remember that show? Mid-90s, melodramatic show about an insanely attractive family. I used to watch it all the time even though it was essentially the most depressing show on the air. Even the premise of the show was based on a tragedy - the parents were killed by a drunk driver and so the oldest brother Charlie reluctantly has to take on the duty of being the patriarch for his younger siblings: Bailey, Julia, Claudia, and baby Owen, who's only a toddler.

If I recall correctly, over the course of the series, they endured all kinds of drama including alcoholism, teenage pregnancy/abortion/miscarriage, leukemia, and basically, an endless pit of teen angst. It was great. I think the show was on around the same time as My So-Called Life, so teen angst on tv was huge at the time.

The show looks really dated though - very 90s. The clothes are horrendous, at least in the first few seasons. Matthew Fox had some really bad hair. I'm really glad he's hot again on Lost now. He still has that perpetual 5 o'clock shadow. Jennifer Love Hewitt made it big on this show as well. She looks so young and fresh faced on the show. Actually, Neve Campbell too. I like that the girls on this show weren't skanky and in trashy clothes and makeup all the time. I like that Julia Salinger was a brainiac, and Claudia was a child prodigy. How refreshing that not all kids are stupid and annoying on tv.

I'd forgotten that Jeremy London was on the show too. He was really hot back then. Looks like only Matthew Fox is doing well these days with Lost. I know that Jennifer Love Hewitt is on that Ghost Whisperer show or whatever, but that looks really crappy. What's happened to the rest of them?! Scott Wolf is far too good looking to be unemployed, and Neve Campbell had such a promising career, though I think the Scream movies were her only real hits.

But anyway, back to the show. I was just flipping channels and wasn't intending on watching anything, but I got sucked in. It was the episode where Julia finds out that Justin got her pregnant and she has to decide whether she wants to keep it or get an abortion. And she decides to abort and Claudia is horrified that she's going to be a murderer, and Jennifer Love Hewitt's character is offended because she was an adopted child and if her birth mother had had an abortion, then she wouldn't even exist. Julia just yells at Justin during the whole episode, everyone keeps telling Claudia to go away, and the side story is that Bailey is trying to get down Jennifer Love Hewitt's pants. In the end, Julia was on her way to the abortion clinic, but as it turned out, she wound up having a miscarriage. What a cop-out on the plot! I remember thinking so at the time too. Ahh... so much drama, so much angst!

I think I may need to get this show on dvd or something. I'm a sucker for teenage angst. hehe. I want My So-Called Life on dvd too. I'll add it to my Christmas wish list. (Take note, gift givers! lol)

Just watched the video for the new song called Human by The Killers, and again, this is something I wanted to love, expected to love, but ultimately did not. The lyrics don't make sense ("are we human or are we dancers") and I know that lyrics aren't always well-crafted poems set to music with lots of literary meaning behind them, but I dunno, this just seems kind of dumb.

Kind of like the song on their last album - I think the song was called "Bones" and it was something about having cold bones or whatever, and it's like, I want to like it but you're making it hard for me. This video is really uninspired as well. Looks totally 80s - how many times have we seen videos shot in the desert? And what the hell are the hair mops glued to his shoulders? He wore this on SNL a couple of weeks ago. They should just stick to singing When You Were Young over and over. That song never gets old.

I'll still get their album when it comes out though, because although they have some crappy songs here and there, their good songs outweigh those by a ton. So I'm sure they'll have some gems in there. Can't wait.

Usually I hate the rain, when it's sort of drizzly and grey outside. But on days like this when it rains really hard, I actually kind of like it. I don't know why, but I just do. I like driving in heavy rain. I don't even mind walking in it, as long as I've got my umbrella and some waterproof boots, I'm good to go. I love it.

Maybe I've just been living in Vancouver too long.

I got invited to go watch the musical, Cats, recently. I generally like musicals, and I love cats, so I assumed that I would love this. I wanted to love it, and I genuinely thought I would. So it was a huge disappointment that it turned out to be one gigantic steaming pile of turd.

I really couldn't believe how much I hated it. I was sitting there waiting for "the good part" to come, but it never did. And it actually made me wish bad things upon Andrew Lloyd Webber for creating the whole thing, especially for writing that song, "Memories".

I'm not sure what I expected of it - I mean, it's called Cats, and it's going to be a bunch of adults dressed up as cats, dancing around like cats. Even now, I couldn't tell you what the plot is. Not a clue. And during the second act, I even fell asleep for a bit, doing the head bob/snap with the heavy eyelids.

(*side note: Since when did going to the theater turn into a night out at the movies, where people don't bother dressing up anymore and just show up in jeans, sneakers, and hoodies? And what's up with eating chips and candy bars during the show? This isn't the cineplex, people - it's a live performance. I don't want to hear you making crinkly sounds trying to open up the bag, nor do I want to hear you crunching on your chips while I'm trying to listen to the songs. Stuff your face before or after the show, and stfu so the rest of us can watch in peace.)

Quite frankly, it was probably the cheesiest thing I've ever seen in my life (and I've seen Michael Flatley, Lord of the Dance, so I know cheesy). My inclination is to say that it's the gayest musical I've ever seen, but I know that Hilary Duff doesn't want us to use the term "that's so gay" anymore, so I'll go with any of the following words instead: cheesy, corny, retarded, lame, assy. (See, PSA's work. Thanks Hilary!) Plus saying that a musical is gay is kind of redundant, isn't it?

So in summary, Cats is not t3h l337. Cats r t3h sux. (Thought I'd throw that out there for my l337 peeps.)