Sunday, January 31, 2010

Why I Love...

...missing all the FANCY award shows.

First "Why I Love..." of 2010!! Excited??
(Don't be)
I'm enjoying not taking part in this year's award show season. I like to hold out for the more legit award shows like the MTV Movie Awards and the Kids Choice Awards, anyway.


Reason #1 I'm checking the absent box is because I find award shows unbearably boring. I don't blame Mariah for downing one too many at whatever award show that was. I, too, would have to partake in lots of free booze to be mildly interested at one of those things. Unless you have lots of money on Lord of the Rings or you're just hoping for some nip-slips, there isn't much going on in award shows that I can imagine an outside audience finding genuinely interesting. That's why I'm skipping all these high class award shows in the beginning of the year and holding out for the VMAs where the Evil English Clown talks about how he'd still do Gaga even if she was packing something extra. Low class = fun!


Reason #2 is because I haven't seen most of those movies, heard of most of those actors or despise most of those songs. As someone aspiring to find themselves somewhere within the entertainment realm, I might wanna work on the first two. But, for now, as a poor college student, I'm perfectly content with not shelling out $10 every week to gather that knowledge. As for the music, ugh, don't get me started.


Reason #3 is because award shows largely seem like a large pat on the back anyway. Who gets nominated is largely dependent on what kind of hold they have in their respective industries and how popular they are at the time. There are a ton of artists who've won lots of these big name awards (SAGs, Oscars, Grammys, etc) early in their careers when they were hot and popular but stopped getting them later in their careers even as they continued to do good work. Does this mean their later stuff sucked? Or is a "Record of the Year" Grammy more of a "Most Popular Record of the Year" award? I don't know, man. You tell me.

Oh well. I'm sure everyone has fun putting on their pretty, fancy dresses, strolling the red carpet and getting tons of free stuff. I'm not saying I wouldn't show up if I got nominated! I would def sit through a bunch of boring speeches if it meant I got a nice, shiny statue and a free watch :D

ciao!

P.S. - Funniest thing I've heard all week: In case you didn't know, tonight is The Grammys. (Yeah, I don't care either) Because Michael Jackson sadly checked out a couple months ago, the Grammy people are (finally?) giving him a Lifetime Achievement Award and they're paying tribute to him with some 3-D show or something. I don't know.

Anyway, there was a little rumor going around that his kids, The Three Ps, were going to sing at the Grammys. Ok, so it's not LOL-funny but, it is
kinda funny that anyone would believe that three (grieving) kids, who have presumably never performed in their lives, would hop up on stage in front of millions and give us a show. Maybe I'm just silly but the thought of that being believable makes me giggle.

Soooo...let me know how the show goes. Ya know, who's terrorizing Ms. Swift, what crazy outfit Lady Gaga is wearing and what the Jackson 3 sing. I hope they sing
this song.

P.P.S. - The Three Ps (presumably, Prince, Prince II and Paris) makes me think of
Ed, Edd and Eddy. I never liked that show...

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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Remember when I used to post stuff?


Yeah me neither, but look crochet stuff! So this will be a quick post. I made this little guy, using this pattern, for a friend's birthday about a month after her birthday. I didn't follow the directions for the eye and just sort of made it up as I went, but since the other instructions we're good, I'm sure the ones for the eye are as well. It's still sitting in my living room. I'll mail it. One day. Soon. Hopefully.
I also made a crochet hair band for another friend (which I didn't take a picture of. And I also have to mail. One day. Soon. Hopefully) based on
this design but tweaked a tad to make it continuous. This lady (who is funny enough located where my friend is...) has some other beautiful designs (including these hand warmers which I made but didn't take picture of, to go with a teal version of this hat which I made but did not take a picture of, that was for the same person as this cuttlefish a teal version of which I made but didn't take a picture of, using a pattern I bought from Hansi Singh on Etsy, the same person who wrote Amigurumi Knits which has an octopus pattern in it which I DID take a picture of but never posted, and also has a pattern for a Loch Ness Monster I didn't take a picture of. You see a pattern no?)
That's all I got. Sorry. I'll work on getting some other stuff to write about. Now that Conan's gone I don't know what to do with myself. Maybe post more?

***EDIT***
I found the octopus picture:
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Friday, January 22, 2010

Oh, Coco...




...how they screw you so. Mmm...

Ya know, I am so emotionally invested in this Conan vs. Jay vs. NBC drama that it's kind of embarrassing. Like, I've been getting really worked up when the issue comes up and was so desperate to find out what was coming next. Well, it seems like Part 1 of the drama is now over. Before I comment, allow me to recap:

Five or so years ago Jay Leno announces he's gonna leave the Tonight Show and that Conan O'Brien is his appointed heir. Some suggest Jay's hand was forced, others suggest it is of his own accord. Who knows. (Or cares.) (Wait - I do!) So, Jay's retirement date is fast approaching but he's getting antsy. He doesn't really want to retire...he was just joking! But it's kinda late now.

So, the way I understand it (which could very well be wrong; I can't be bothered with "research") Jay seems to be hinting that he's not really retiring and will just move on elsewhere to do more late night stuffs. Now, NBC's wallets get nervous. Jay's been bringing in the big numbers (i.e. beating Dave Letterman) and they don't want him to Jaywalk ;) to some other network. So NBC, and their wallets, invite Jay to his own prime time spot at 10. Then, Jay says bye and Conan and Jimmy move into their respective late night spots. Not too long after, Jay moves back in to the neighborhood.

But there are issues: (ONE) Jay's numbers suck and he's making it hard for his neighbors, NBC's local news affiliates. I mean geez, you really gotta know you're bad off when you're scaring people away from watching the news. (TWO) Conan's not bringing in the amount of viewers that Jay was and *gasp* Letterman's beating him some (most?) nights. (THREE) Minor issue but, Jay pushed Law and Order: SVU out of it's regular spot and it's only part of their decline in viewers. So, to shorten the rest of this story: Jay's primetime experiment is canceled; he's offered Conana's 11:30 late night spot for a half hour show; NBC says, "Move down a couple houses, Conan;" Conan says, "Pssh, yeah right" and then we get to where we are now, asking "BUT WHAT ABOUT JIMMY???"

JK.

What we're all asking is, "Who the hell is in charge at NBC and how the hell did he get there??" (It's Jeff Zucker, btw, and I don't know how he got there. Go look it up!) The issues that have gotten me most about this whole thing are how there seems to a blatant disregard for promises and contracts and some sort of strange (and possibly misguided) attachment to Jay Leno.

I'm not even gonna get into the debate of who's funnier; I haven't watched either of them long enough to make a proper assessment and I'll laugh at pretty much anything so...yeah. Anyway, what I've taken offense to is NBC's royal screw over of Conan. They just seemed to have it in for him and don't seem to have any confidence in the guy. Yes, it's true that Conan wasn't bringing in the numbers that Jay was when he stepped down but, how could he? Word on the block is that Jay wasn't so hot his first couple years in late night. Not to mention, Conan himself struggled to gain an audience when he first took over Late Night and they didn't chuck him to the wolves then. Think about this Jeff Zuck & Co: Conan moved to an earlier spot losing some of that audience AND he lost some of Jay's devoted audience. I'd think he need more than 8 months to reestablish himself. NBC should get their historians on the books so they remember how this whole thing usually plays out.

Also, I thought a promise was a promise. Not just a promise, a legal contract at that. The Tonight Show shouldn't have been promised to Conan if Jay wasn't ready to retire. Though I expect this becomes a more complicated issue if it so happens that Jay was bullied into retirement. However, if that was the case, I'd imagine Jay would want to take his shtick elsewhere instead of sticking around with a network that was pushing him out of the door. Conan has made it apparent that hosting the Tonight Show was not only a dream of his but also an honor. The fact that it was promised to him and then so hastily snatched away doesn't quite sit right with me.

Another thing (no, this post will never end) is that, it seems to me, that NBC is just wasting a lot of money. Is it really cheaper to buy Conan out of his contract (and risk having to pay the difference for a possibly smaller future pay check) then to risk Jay Leno getting higher ratings on another channel? This is a genuine question though because me and my cynical mind have a feeling this is mostly about money. I mean, these are executives - American executives. I doubt that their main motivation isn't collecting large amounts of sweet, sweet moolah.

Lastly, what's NBC's obsession with Jay Leno? Does Jay have some incriminating photos of the execs? Do they owe him something? Is Jay Leno the epitome of late night hosts and they're really afraid of losing his neverending talent to some other network? I want to know what's so friggin' special about Jay Leno. Please, someone enlighten me.

I could go on and on. Well, just about how Jay Leno keeps trying so hard to play the victimized good-guy but, I'll leave it here for now; I think you get the point. I don't really feel bad for Conan; he's walking away with 30some million dollars so, I think he'll be alright. But I do feel for him. It sucks when you don't even get a year to prove you can do your job. I also admire how he's carried himself through this whole thing: his admirable letter, his concern for poor ol' Jimmy, his concern for his crew's well-being and his general love & respect for the Tonight Show. It'll be interesting to see how everything turns out and where everyone ends up in a year.

*shrug* We'll see.

ciao.

P.S. - Oh yeah, BUT WHAT ABOUT CARSON?????
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Monday, January 11, 2010

Dear Loving Celebrity-The Network Edition

Dear NBC,

Stop fucking around with Conan. He deserves better and he's bored of your shenanigans, you dumbies.

Thank you an regards,

The Juicebox
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