Author: ssw15

Watching enough tv this weekend:

The news’ broadcasting of Lt. Gen. Sanchez’s press conference of the capture Saddam Hussein in Iraq kept repeating Sanchez’s use of the phrase “spider hole” to describe the location in which Hussein was hiding. Today, Slate.com’s “Explainer” explains what the heck is a “spider hole.” Interesting explanation.

Slate.com also has a nice article on CBS’ “Two and a Half Men,” a.k.a. that show that Charlie Sheen and John Cryer are on, with the time slot after “Everybody loves Raymond.” I thought the article was on target. I have actually caught myself watching an episode of “Two and a Half Men,” and expected it to be below average; after all, I still saw Charlie Sheen as the one who lowered the standards on “Spin City.” However, imagine my surprise when I actually found myself laughing at some of the jokes and watching for the full half hour (granted, I may have been waiting for the 10:oo news). Hmm. Charlie Sheen isn’t so bad when playing a character with whom he seems to identify (there were moments when his character was reminiscent of the Sheen of the gossip pages). But, the series’ writing still seemed weak and one is left wondering if it could be just a little more original. (I haven’t watched it in a long while, so the spoiler in the article about Cryer’s on-screen wife was surprising – but not by much, since Friends on NBC has already done a similar storyline). But, tv shows that are considered “average” can manage to stay on the air; lucky for them, I guess. I still miss “Boomtown” and its challenging elements.

Last night’s “Survivor” was, as usual, riveting. I haven’t really followed it very much this season, but felt very much caught up by watching the last episode. Host Jeff Probst was as sharp as ever, and the “cast” was quite a bunch of crazies. The cast reunion in the third hour wasn’t too revealing, but I thought it was especially unsurprising that Mr. Savage was the contestant who was an attorney in real life, considering the way he analyzed everyone’s strategies in response to Probst’ questioning; could he possibly be less… analytical? Ah, well; a good tv night.

Umm, okay, I need to come up with better titles for my posts, particularly today. But, I wanted something to cover some rather disparate topics – The White House and ice skating.

On tv this afternoon on ABC, it’s some International Challenge from Detroit, after last week’s ice skating competition in Paris. So far, the American men haven’t done so great (Timothy Goebbel fell a lot; Michael Weiss was rather lackluster). The women are up now and there are more falling (hmm). Dick Button is still a great commentary man and Peggy Fleming’s not so light on the critiquing either. Together, they make Terry Gannon a better play-by-play man – last week, he had Peter Carruthers as his partner, and yet Gannon did a lot of the criticizing himself (it seems he took a lot of lessons from Dick).

Last night’s Channel 11 (WPIX) news closed with a highlight of the White House’s website feature – a short movie on the Christmas adventure of Barney Bush, the Bushes’ little black Scottish terrier. Not that I’d really apologize, but I am a sucker of presidential pets. I still haven’t gotten over the weirdest photo from the 2000 campaign from Time magazine, where George W. Bush is spending quality time with his cat and yet the picture made it look like the cat was kind of trying to mawl Bush’s arm. Anyway, Barney’s the cutest dog and I had to check out the little movie. What Xmas fun!

Plot: Barney’s assigned to help decorate the White House for Christmas and Chief of Staff Andrew Card is demanding no antics until Christmas, when the job is done. Trying to humor the children, I suppose; I think we all know that the decorations aren’t attributed to the dog, no matter how smart the dog is. Pros: Barney is cute. Andrew Card is a better actor, being very convincing at the guy in charge of operations (which he is). General Counsel Alberto Gonzalez (and still referred as “Judge Gonzalez” because he was a judge in Texas) tries to hang a wreath with his… ceremonial gavel. (what? No one could have given him a hammer? Even he knows better than that!). Advisor Karl Rove also there – umm, I’ll reserve judgment on his appearance, but it was amusing. The best appearance was Ari Fleischer, former presidential press secretary. Fleischer’s playing cards with Barney and Card comes in and says, “Barney, go do your job. And, Ari Fleischer – what are you doing here? You don’t even work here anymore!” LOL. Ari Fleischer’s certainly looking less stressed out now that he’s not working at the White House; his Yankees baseball cap was a deft touch. Has the Texas bunch of the White House been giving him a ribbing that the Yankees’ Andy Pettitte has gone back home to Texas?

Fitting the winter/holiday theme – ABC’s rebroadcasting Charlie Brown Christmas tonight. Come on, get in touch with your childhood and watch it.

Today’s New York Times Quotation of the Day got a reaction out of me:

“I’m like a fish out of water. They’ve never run across anything like me. I mean, a guy like me running for the presidency? I’ve never run for anything.”
– GEN. WESLEY K. CLARK, on campaigning, so far.

Hmm. So, how are we supposed to interpret a guy admitting that he never ran for anything before? There are good and bad things about it. For instance, he has no experience in public office; that’s bad – how can he deal with things? But, by not having prior experience in public office, maybe he has fresh eyes and views toward old problems – that’s good. And, the “guy like me” is also an interesting line. A general/Rhodes scholar/West Point valedictorian isn’t devoid of a good resume; in the 19th century, he’d be a shoe-in for presidency (putting aside that there was no such thing as Rhodes scholar in the 19th century). Indeed, in modern era of the last 50 years, we had Eisenhower; so sure, if Joe Schmoe or MAD magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman said, “a guy like me running for the presidency?”, then I’d agree and say, “Yeah, you’re kidding, right?” But, the turn of the 21st century’s environment is where we would give pause and say to a general, “Yeah, you’re kidding, right?” Just my thought to reflect on the nuance of language and society; no conclusions can be made at this time.

Slate.com had an interesting assessment of Teresa Heinz (aka Teresa Heinz Kerry), wife of the other Democratic candidate John Kerry. Like Clark, Heinz is known for saying off-the-cuff remarks. As a modern woman, what she does and says also becomes nuanced by the turn of the 21st century’s environment. The media would go into a feeding frenzy about what controversial thing she says or gossip how she’s one politician’s widow/another politician’s 2nd wife and an heiress. But, Heinz isn’t a rookie at political campaigning and appears to be able to do public outreach, since she can speak the languages of various communities. Heinz’s outspokenness can be an negative (there’s the stereotype of the scary politician’s wife, re: Lady Macbeth), but can be an asset – why not go out there and show what one individual can do and say, quite honestly? (this is the post-feminist age, isn’t it?).

Such a confusing and an interesting time that we live in.