April Rundown

I realize I haven't blogged much this month, and this one won't be epic, but I thought I could give some random updates to round out the month.

I've been getting outside a bit more recently in a sad attempt to get in shape for summer Ultimate. I have ambitions of playing Tuesday and Thursday league, and maybe making a club team as well. Coincidentally, employees at work have been encouraged to join the Presidential Fitness Challenge, so I've been tracking my fitness. My company said I'd get a free t-shirt and everything!

When you log your exercise you pick the activity from a drop-down menu. And, what impressed me, they actually had Ultimate Frisbee as an option. Hooray! Another option: Playing Wii. More hooray! So, I've been getting really super fit every day.

Mostly I've just been going on walks in random directions around Plymouth. I found a pretty good four-square court nearby, and also someone put a really rusty, busted up refrigerator with no door out on their lawn with a sign on it that said, "FREE! Works GREAT!" (with "Great" underlined 4 times). I liked that, because that's totally what I would've said on the note if I wrote it.

I guess that's about it for now. Here's a nice Ultimate story as well that my pal José found. Have a nice day.

news story

Just found out the other day that a highschool friend of mine got busted for his "meth lab". Here's the story. I was good friends with Greg in highschool, but really only saw him once or twice after starting college. I hadn't seen or spoken to him in at least 8 years. I don't have anything witty or comical to say- it's just kinda weird.

This may be the stupidest thing ever

If you're a fan of the TV show House, and you happened to miss tonight's episode but Tivo'd it, you should probably see it before reading on. Spoiler alert! Hmm. Been doin' that a bit recently.

So, I like House, but this season has been sub-par at best. Last week they touted this episode as the most shocking thing ever. And then we find out that Kutner shot himself in the head. Wow, okay, that was a surprise.

I wasn't happy when they killed off cutthroat bitch, and I wasn't happy about this. Kutner wasn't the greatest character ever, but he was certainly more likable than Foreman, Taub and 13. Is it the show's mission to just keep the most worthless human beings on as House's sideicks? I know the show is a medical drama, but it used to have some good sarcastic comedy thrown in. House's exchanges with Wilson and Cuddy used to be fun, and now they're usually just depressing. And, though they did have a clinic visit in this episode, it seems they've cut down on those as well, and those were usually used as comic relief... but in this episode it was about a beauty pageant child getting drunk like Mommy. HAHAHAHA! Get it? Yeah, not so much.

But putting all of that aside, I still haven't talked about the dumbest thing ever. The episode ends, and there's a message from NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness) with contact info if you feel suicidal and want help. So, there's a message being delivered and you think they'd end on that serious tone. Then they show a preview for next week, and then... (stupidest thing ever) ... they give you the website to the online Kutner memorial. Seriously? An online memorial for a TV show character? Right after you give a message about how serious depression and suicide is, you give us a fun interactive website about a TV character's death? You have got to be f***in' kidding me.

I checked it out, because I was in awe of the stupidity of this idea. They have notes written on stationary "from the desk of" all the other characters, his obituary (which informs us that he enjoyed water polo), and they have a Kutner memorial video, which is two minutes worth of clips that are funnier than anything that's been on the real show for quite some time. Way to showcase the seriousness of suicide there, Fox! If I ever blow my brains out because of severe depression, please, show a gag real at my funeral.

Then they have a link to "Leave your own personal message for Dr. Kutner... and grab an embeddable badge!" Wow, a funeral AND a prize! This is the best day ever! The link just takes you to a Facebook page where there are comments from viewers ("It's like Star Wars without Han Solo", "Have fun in heaven dude") and pictures of him singing karaoke. I don't know what's dumber at this point- the fact that they made all of this, or that fact that I was looking at it.

Nowhere on the Kutner site was a link or contact info for depression (I later found one on the main House page). I searched online and checked out the National Alliance on Mental Illness website, and they have a link to buy House t-shirts that say "Normal's Overrated" with proceeds going to NAMI. I'm fine with the promotion and the awareness, but I think Fox's fake memorial page is just awful in so many ways.

Maybe I'm just bent because back before the inter-web they didn't have sh** like this. Sven bit the dust in Voltron, and Optimus Prime died a few times on Transformers, but there weren't any fake online memorials for them or for us cartoon-watching kids. And isn't it more traumatizing for a kid to see a cartoon character die than for an adult to see a character die on a TV medical drama? Ugh. End rant.

Cheers to the Oscar winner

Back in February while I was watching the Oscars I said that I wanted to see Slumdog Millionaire because it won for Best Editing (and after my post, Best Picture). I finally got around to seeing it, and liked it very much. And, in case you have yet to see Slumdog and don't want anything ruined for you, here's your official Spoiler alert. You have been fairly warned.

I agree the editing was superb as the often tragic events of the past meshed well with the game show and lost love storylines. In many ways the movie reminded me of Life is Beautiful. The protagonist tries crazy things to win the girl, family members save loved ones from doom via self-sacrifice, etc. I really liked Slumdog, but the funny parts didn't make me laugh, nor did the tragic parts make my eyes water, as much they did in Life is Beautiful (which is easily in my top 50 films ever... maybe even in my top 20).

But after giving it some more thought, I guess what Slumdog most reminds me of is the Cheers episode where Cliff was on Jeopardy with how all the questions tie in perfectly with the character (1:00-1:15 of this clip). What if a contestant goes on a popular game show and all the questions synced up with that character's experiences? I didn't know much about the story before seeing the film, but as soon as I saw this was how the entire story was going to be tied together, the movie lost a little of its mystique. Again, the movie was well put together and I really enjoyed it, but if there's going to be an "AHA!" moment, I prefer it to be later in the movie instead of so early.

The only thing that really puzzled me was (Spolier alert!) why Salim buried himself in a tub full of money for his shootout with the gang boss. He could've taken the money and fled, but I can accept that he decided to finish off another crime boss so that Latika wouldn't have to worry about him. But why the tub full of money? I'm guessing it was to suggest that the only ways to make it out of slums was with luck on a game show or a life of crime, but that point would've been pretty obvious without the cash bath.

If you've seen the film, feel free to comment on anything. I always enjoy a good movie discussion. And, for something completely different, I just wanted to share this fun Jeopardy clip that I came across while looking for the Cheers one. Jai ho!