Understanding

Ah, I see now. It's not that the Coen brothers were crap for putting together No Country For Old Men; it's that they should stick to their own material and not adapt other people's shit. I'm not sure how I missed the fact that Cormac McCarthy wrote the book the movie is supposedly rigidly based on. There Will Be Blood was adapted from a book as well, but at least that film had some VISUALS and dramatic audio for pity's sake. Film is an audiovisual medium, how can you not take advantage of that?? It's like telling a story in a graphic novel, but making all the panels into talking heads like a newspaper comic strip. And, of course, Hollywood plants laurels and kisses on McCarthy's ass as well, simultaneously sucking up to the critically acclaimed figure and inflating their own egos and patting their own backs at the same time for recognizing how cool he is. Thanks Oprah for telling us what's good - we couldn't figure it out otherwise!!

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm never going to waste my time reading Cormac's work. Southern Gothic and Western stories never appealed to me, and I think they never will. I was never a fan of Louis L'Amour, or John Wayne or any depressingly macho man-with-a-horse-and-a-gun stories. "Greatest Living Writer" my ass. Maybe people should set their reading standards a bit higher or expand their tastes a teeny bit more.

Man, maybe I'm a little unduly bitter here. There Will Be Blood had an Effect(tm) on me though, whereas No Country just made me throw up a little in my mouth. I'm sure Paul Thomas Anderson's more bitter than me, though. Pearls before swine man, that's all I can say.

Ponder This

Do you think there are people out there in the world who pronounce Gmail... "GUH-mail"?

(I think they're out there)

Food Network

I think it's pretty shameful that there is so much coverage of mass produced food on Food Network. I realize that mass processed food is what most people eat, and that there's some value in people learning about how their food gets produced. But it's all such happy-go-lucky positive coverage! Do they show the illegal immigrant employees who get injured on the job? It's always fast food and convenience food; Why aren't there ever any shows about slow foods and organic cooking? Where are the truly educational shows, where they talk about nutrition and health?

Thank goodness for Alton Brown. I always feel like I'm learning something when I watch his show, and his passion for quality food really comes out in his manner and recipes.

Wow, What The Fuck, ABC?

They're airing this Peter Pan sequel where there are "Injuns" and they just sang a song called "What Makes The Red Man Red?" where they claim that red people are that way because Indian princesses made them blush.

Why don't they just sing a song called "What Makes The Black Man Black?" Maybe Disney should air Song of the South again too? I guess maybe since early Americans committed genocide against the Native Americans there aren't enough of them to complain about this racism...