Month: January 2006

OhmiGod – LOL moment. Mary Worth comic strip, 1/24/06 edition:

Mary Worth: What?! … You’re being SUED?!
Her neighbor Wilbur: Yes, my advice column persona “Wendy” is being sued.
Mary: That’s terrible, Wilbur… Do you want to talk about it at my place? … I made apple strudel this morning.
Wilbur: Thanks, Mary. I could use some advice myself right about now.

Ah, ok, Mary, do you really think apple strudel will solve Wilbur’s problems? I laughed. Then, of course, there’s that odd little feeling that maybe this is a joke or reference to this other comic strip Mary: Apple Mary.

Crazy tv network news. So, if WB and UPN join forces to be the new “CW” (or, as Leslie Moonves, the exec of CBS, whose parent company owns CBS and UPN, puts it, “‘C’ for CBS and ‘W’ for Warner Brothers…” – trying to be stupidly cute, Mr. Moonves?), and in NYC, the local UPN – Channel 9 – is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s FOX people (such that a bunch of Channel 5 FOX’s shows show up on Channel 9) – and Channel 11, the local WB, is now somehow allied with Channel 9 (although I’m still not clear where Channel 5 fits in this equation) to capture the 18-34 demographic – it’s just nuts. Someone will lose out. Likely Channel 9, if you ask me, since it’s weaker (Channel 11 gets more viewers, and even its news gets more local Emmies – no offense to the longtime anchorman Rolland Smith on Channel 9 or even the Fields father and son weatherforecasters and sports guy Russ Salzberg). But, the consolidation of power – all those shows on one station? Veronica Mars, Everyone Hates Chris – on the same network as Smallville, One Tree Hill (which I don’t care for), Gilmore Girls, and Everwood? Yikes.

Flavors of the Lunar New Year.

Hockey player Mario Lemieux is retiring. Again. But for real. This time. Seriously.

And, last but not least, those folks in Boston – they’re strange: Red Sox re-hires Theo Epstein as General Manager. In vague, inspiring language, Epstein and his ex-boss/ex-mentor/new boss, Larry Lucchino, have kind of kissed and made up. Sort of. Whatever. Epstein barely got to claim unemployment benefits (well, ok, so he resigned, so it’s not like he was fired), and he’s back in the job. Wish we can be all so lucky.

Due to certain circumstances, I was in Montreal. Coincidentally, Canada had elections, and the results indicate that the Conservative Party is winning. What that really means remains to be seen, but the Liberal Party wasn’t exactly looking all clean and lovely, and, gosh, those political ads was such mudslinging (“Vote for a Better Canada” to suggest kicking out those left-wing lunatics; “Vote Conservative, and you’ll end a pro-choice and free Canada and make Canada a right wing country” to suggest avoiding a Bad Right Wing Future – ugly and blunt – without a slick American touch, I must say).

And, much ado about Google, as Prof. Tim Wu writes for Slate.

And, in the land of Mary Worth – the comic strip – the saga continues this week. Mary Worth’s neighbor, Wilbur, a bespectacled divorced middle-aged geek (father of the lovely college co-ed Dawn – who has had her own romantic debacles), is in trouble. He is the pseudonymic “Dear Wendy” (like Dear Abby) advice columnist, and he’s being sued by a disgruntled advisee. See, the lady asked “Wendy” what to do with her workaholic husband, who’s never home to the point that he even refuses to communicate or accept marriage counseling – and she’s a yuppie and he’s a yuppie – so, Wilbur, in his infinite wisdom, suggests that the workaholic’s wife consider the ultimate choice of divorce. So, the lady actually does it. When, months later, she sees her ex – after she heard he got promoted at the Big Corp. – she feels her heart go aflutter. She misses him, see, and hasn’t really gone on with her life. She asks her ex to reconsider their marriage, but learns he has already moved on and is engaged to another woman. Lady gets mad and sues “Wendy” and the newspaper syndicate for ruining her life. Emotional distress and other tort damages.

Wilbur feels guilty. He takes his work seriously, and now wonders if he should have considered the primary motto of do no harm. And, maybe his personal life clouded his advice. Who is to say for sure? His syndicate’s mad at him (like maybe his editor should shoulder a little blame?). But, seriously, the lady’s a moron for taking an advice columnist’s advice too seriously. Can she win her lawsuit? Will Wilbur look for a new job? This is a job for yet another one of Mary Worth’s wise platitudes. Or, maybe she can shake a little sense into the litigious lady! Stay tuned!