1:12 pm - Tues 2/10/04
Very Random Thoughts

Just read over my previous two entries. I've been very uncomfortable and embarrassed in the days since writing them, but looking over them again, I pretty much said what I meant to say. In any case, I got close enough that I don't need to waste a lot more time trying to "explain myself" further.

I was writing yesterday about the whole Janet Jackson Superbowl ruckus...

I think it managed to make absolutely everyone involved look like idiots.

I always respond badly to "shocking" performances that aren't really about anything but being "shocking". And this one strikes me as particularly lame.

And it may sound hopelessly old-fashioned, but I felt kind of sad when I heard about it; like Spike Lee, I find myself bemoaning a state of affairs where it doesn't seem like it's enough anymore to just be a great performer.

But all that said, it was just a brief flash of a woman's breast. Not exactly the Apocalypse.

What I thought was more troubling than the episode itself was how no one had the guts to own up to it.

There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that it was planned--Days before the event, MTV 's website trumpeted something "shocking" was going to happen during the half-time show, and if it were a "costume malfunction", why the metal pasty?--and I think it would have reflected well on everyone involved if they had just said "Wow, this seemed like a good idea at the time, but we obviously really screwed up!". The cowardice on the part of all parties involved is pretty depressing.

And of course, cue the overreaction--Suddenly, everyone's announcing five minute delays for their live awards shows, the word "lawsuit" is being thrown around, and ER is cutting a quick emergency room shot of an old woman's breasts (though why we need a shot of an old woman's breasts is beyond me).

Like I said, the whole silly episode makes everyone involved look like idiots

I've enjoyed Ed the past few seasons, but the season finale this past Friday ranks as, very possibly, the worst finale of any show I've previously enjoyed.

It was a dismal failure.

Oddly enough, after watching it, I found myself thinking of Michael Jordan.

In his last season with the Bulls, in the last game of the championship, at the buzzer, Jordan hit the game winning shot.

It was picture-perfect.

Too bad he couldn't have just walked away, cause that was the ending to his basketball career.

With Ed, the "picture perfect" ending was the previous season. Everything this year has been labored, and contrived, and the kind of thing that makes you go "Boy, this went on one season too long, didn't it?".

These days, I find myself often wishing things would just end, that people would quit having "comebacks", that sequels wouldn't leave you straining to remember how much you liked the original movie, etc and so on.

But that's not gonna happen, cause there's money to be made.

Well, this was going to be still more "random", but I've run out of time.

It's off to work I go...

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