My TiVo has a sick sense of humor.....

Chas and I recently have an added bonus feature of short clips that TiVo records for us courtesy of something called "Heavy". It randomly records these short cartoons called Superficial Friends which parodies celebutantes Paris and Nicole, Lindsay Lohan, and the Olsen twins as they fight crime. Anyway, this is surprisingly crude in parts(even for me)albeit amusing, so giving you fair warning if you are sensi-TiVo. I am rarely like, "whoa, this is demented".



Anyway, I thought I had seen it all on TiVo....

SNL Pep Talk

Finally, I found this link:

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/#mea=88373


Funny shite...

A few words for Sanjaya...

Later Dude.

I hope you can support yourself and your family with the array of shameless commercial endorsements you will soon partake in. Even you perpetutated your "Universe of Sanjaya" but that empire has finally crumbled. Tearful swan song? Um, buh-bye. More room for the real talent now. And for all those who "voted for the worst", well, your reign of TV terror has also come to a close. Take a bow..

It's not a gun issue.....

In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, I am not only deeply deeply sad but also mad as hell.

First and foremost, it's not a gun control issue. It's a personality-disorder issue. We can't keep people from carrying guns. It's just not an option in this day and age. What should have been done to prevent this horrific massacre is very simple.

First, his peers and parents should have done more about his apparent personality disorder and sociopathic behavior. The writing was on the wall. No one did anything to get him help, medication or be put into counseling. Now, I am in no way defending the shooter. He was a coward and a sociopath. BUT, the psychological pre-disposition for such a crime was plain as day.

I am also not saying we should lock everyone up who "appears" disturbed, but his parents and community should have made more of an effort to thwart more serious behaviors.

I commend Professor Roy for recognizing his disturbing writings and alerting the appropriate people when his behavior was called in question. But, that's where it stopped. I find it hard to believe that his own parents were not aware of his mental health.

I know that in the US, we are quick to diagnose and medicate those with mental health issues and maybe this is a cultural issue being that the shooter was Korean and their values do not weigh heavily on the mental health of its citizens as does ours. I'm not trying to sound ethnocentric, and maybe I am, but I really am not making apologies today for anything, it's just as I see it.

I also think that it is also a shame that this massacre is becoming polarized as an anti-gun argument. The shift to gun control is missing the entire point of why this happened. The issue is that this individual was sick. If he would have been treated or medicated this whole thing could have possbily been avoided. We don't live in a vacuum, I realize that. There are bad eggs out there.

But what if Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris's folks had recognized the signs of truly disturbed individuals, we would not even recognize the name Columbine. Would we?

I know it's not a black and white issue, there will still be crazy, disturbed people out there who find their way into our institutions with guns but this situation could have been prevented, in my honest opinion. I am not even going to get started on the topic of the University's neglegence to inform students appropriately after the first shooting. I am more curious what others think as I might be over-simplifying the issue to come to some sense of understanding.

so, thoughts?

My new addiction, ironically enough....

A few weeks ago as I sipped my coffee and perused through the pitiful array of Saturday morning television, I came across a show on A&E that I had heard of but was never in the mood to watch. It's called appropriately, Intervention. I guess I was feeling in the mood this particular day so I clicked and began my dissent into the mind of the addict.

I must say, this show is not only raw to the point I have to turn away at times but also brought me to tears almost every time. I find myself on Saturdays sinking into hours of some marathon like Real World, the Hills or some TNT movie like Shawshank Redemption, which seems to be on almost as much as the Nightly News. Today, A&E happened to be broadcasting an Intervention marathon. Why would anyone subject themselves to hours of watching people hit the proverbial "rock-bottom" with an addiction and subsequently receive a family intervention? Well, me.

Although about half these stories do turn out as happy-endings, there is a gut-wrenching roller coaster ride to get there. I can't turn away though. The notion that there is possibly going to be an update at the end of the show and the white text will flash on the screen saying that so-and-so has been sober for over a year keeps me watching perhaps. I crave a happy ending, yearn for some clear cut "sober" answer that will make me want to get out of bed on this Saturday and feel that the world has cured someone of a horrible disease and is thus a better, more compassionate place for doing so. I seek the catharsis, if you will. All the while, I am sitting there, clutching my covers and saying, "Whew, that was a close call, I thought they were going to die." Perhaps my own addiction became this show on this particular day. I needed my "fix" to feel I was exempt from their plight. It's why we all go to scary movies. We sit in horror thinking that somehow we are experiencing this pain and then relieved as we dump our coke and popcorn at the door. We have to validate our "ok-ness" somehow and perhaps that is my reasoning. I don't know. Regardless, it points out the fact that with the varying degrees of addiction, there is a person literally crying for something to save them from their sabotage. Not all addicts are cognisant of their plight.

It made me feel thankful afterwards that it wasn't me in that dark place. When a commercial presents itself, I am suddenly reminded where I am and surprised that I am not scrounging the couch looking for spare change for a hit. It's that real, I tell you.

I mean, I'd be a hypocrite, as would most, to think that we all don't in some way have our own little addictions. We may or may not keep them hidden but the only difference between the people on this show and some of us is that they get caught. I guess what drew me to this show was that it was reassuring to watch someone spiral into an abyss of self-destruction while I comfortably watched with my coffee and my pillow. Honestly, I guess it wasn't so much "reassuring" as it was just a relief that it wasn't me being portrayed or hurting in the way these people are.

I know I have a dark side as some would say, and Chas always comments on my pension for the macabre, but this show should win some award. The success stories make me cry and the stories where the person is lost among their addiction forever makes me weep. I guess I personally have dealt with addictions, we all have to degrees, and perhaps I am drawn to these stories because it makes a point that no one is exempt. There isn't a prototype for addiction whether it be food, drugs, sex, gambling or whatever. The governing theme among the addicted is that everyone afflicted was in some way affected by tragedy, divorce, abuse and the list goes on. It all started with childhood. They didn't wake up and say, "today is a good day to start shooting Oxycontin" or "I think I want to stave myself today". It's over simplified in the media when famous people succumb to addiction only to materialize exactly 28-days later, bright-eyed and bushy tailed from the Promises "resort" in Malibu or another posh locale. The stories on Intervention are about real people with addiction minus the sensationalism we normally see.

If you're up to it, watch.

Random thoughts

Today was a good day to veg out and watch a Scrubs marathon since the world is covered in ice. However, I think I spent the first half of one episode convincing Chas that he doesn't resemble Zach Braff and why.

Chas and I are starting our adult Dodgeball games next week. I must admit, I haven't touched a dodgeball since probably 5th grade and I am kinda nervous. Our team is called "the Ocho" which was fairly clever if you ask me. I just hope I don't have bruised thighs after this week.

I don't get this "Universe of Sanjaya". I think his cult following is just as disturbing as his creepy smile and bad hair.

I watched The Good Shepard with Matt Damon. Not impressed at all. A movie about the CIA should not put me to sleep.

Babel, excellent movie. Rent it.

I really really hate the "We're not the jet-set, were the old Cheverolet-set" commercials. Almost as much as the "I'm thinking of a number...." guy from the free credit report commercial. Thank god for Tivo, but sometimes, you just have to suffer through.