Reaper Madness, Devil's Crush

Last night's "Reaper" was great. I won't go into too much plot detail, but suffice it to say that the show was as entertaining as always.

Here's something I've been noticing. It seems that each episode, we learn a little more about the Devil, and a little more about the way his mind works. Sam Oliver, the Devil's bounty hunter, is able to refute the Devil's claims more and more often. Claims like, "There's no such thing as true love," "Lust is all that matters," and "A little selfish indulgence never hurt anyone."

Last night, Sam asked Satan if he had ever been in love. Then at the end of the episode, Satan used his Devil powers to change the song playing on the bar jukebox to something from the around 50's. You could tell the Devil did it, even though he was incredibly subtle and really only glanced over at the box, because the previous song was cut off before it finished, to make way for the new song.

Then, Lucifer sat with an alcoholic beverage and looked morose.

Now, let's put this together with another random tidbit. A few episodes ago, Sam's father got pretty upset about the way things were going, as if he had never really forgiven himself for selling his firstborn to the Devil. So he asked Sam to set him up a meeting with the Devil. The Devil refused on the grounds that he already has everything he wants from Sam's father.

So there's some history there. And the Devil has a lost love.

Theory #1: The Devil was in love in the 50's or so, but it didn't work out.

Theory #2: The Devil was in love in some random time period, but it lasted into around the 50's, at which point the former couple chose "their song."

Theory #3: The Devil was in love with Sam's mother, and is Sam's true father.

A little out there? Yes. But the mere fact that the show prompted me to wonder that far is what keeps it so interesting. Interesting enough to drive someone crazy. AAHH!!! I've got Reaper Madness!

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DVR Rules!

We've got Comcast DVR. A Comcast tech came to our house to switch us over to Comcast Digital Voice. His work order also said to install DVR. We didn't order that, but decided, hey, why not. We had been seriously considering Tivo, but Comcast slipped in at the last second for the devious win.

Anyway, now we really can pause live television. Whey you're watching TV on the DVR box, it will save a cache of the previous two hours spent on any given channel. So if you're watching Fox for 15 minutes, and you leave to go to the bathroom and come back and you just missed the part where Sarah Connor takes out another machine, you can just rewind to right where the commercials ended.

What's really great is that on our old non-DVR box, we could only fast forward or rewind On Demand programs at one inefficient speed. Comcast DVR comes with a variable speed with five different settings, from normal playing speed to super fast forward.

If you then change from Fox to NBC, the cache is completely reset. So now you've disposed of the ability to rewind, at least for a few minutes. Now, on NBC, the box is storing everything it sees, again for up to two hours.

You can record programs, too. The only downside is the hard drive can only store 30 hours of programming. So if you record a lot of different shows, you must watch them before it fills up, otherwise you'll have to get rid of the old to make room for the new.

What I'd like to see: Bigger hard drive, and a slot for downloading shows to your iPod or flash memory stick, which can then be used to upload shows to a different box.

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Tired Much?

When I was younger, I used to stay up late from time to time working on school projects. A few times I ended up reaching the point where I was extremely disoriented because of the lack of sleep. I remember going to bed early one night at around 9 p.m. The previous night I had only managed to get 4 hours of sleep, and I usually need much more. So after going to bed, I awoke at a little after 10pm, and at that point I was so out of it I couldn't comprehend the numbers on my digital clock. So I figured it was time to get ready to start a new day. When I got back from the bathroom, I was a little more alert, and realized that I could go back to sleep. Hurray...

I was once working on solving a math problem when I was really tired. I fell asleep thinking about it. Then I woke up and went to ask for some math help. But I was still in a major daze, because they couldn't understand a word I was saying. I said, "Fine, I'll write it down." I did, but they still couldn't get it. So I said, "I guess I should go to sleep." The next day, I found the slip of paper. It was math gibberish. It said something like, "If X such that X < Y < local level..." Local level?? What the heck is that?

I've sometimes reached the point where I'm so tired that even after a "normal" night's sleep, I would wake up to a sort of nausea headache that I've only ever experienced as a symptom of deficient sleep. I remember some high school classmates had told me they'd had similar experiences.

It's funny. When you go for a long time without sleep, finally getting to rest feels great. But when you get enough rest for days at a time, I think end up taking it for granted a little.

Not tonight. Tonight I'm gonna catch some major Z's!!

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Great Actors Repeat Themselves -- A Lot!

I've been thinking about this lately, and before I delve into the specific instances, I'd like to address the issue in general. I think what may happen is that one actor says a pre-written line, and then the other guy improvises a response. Then the first actor repeats his line or question, and the other guy comes up with a new, different response. And this goes on and on, over and over, until the director says cut, and chooses ONE segment including ONE back-and-forth. On occasion, however, the director will just throw the entire sequence of Line : Response 1, Same Line : Response 2, .... Exact Same Line: Response 57 into the film.

Ok, so if that theory is correct, then there can be no fault found with actors who like to repeat themselves. But if that isn't the reason, then I don't know what the problem is.

Why Repeating Yourself Is Bad

Derren Brown, the English performer, was shown on a subway using a similar technique of "I'll ask you the same question over and over." It turns out, that method is very powerful at clouding people's minds. See, when someone is overwhelmed by a repetitive question, they can focus only on the question, and much less on the answer.

Derren Brown asked people, "Where's your next stop?" He got the answer, made some more chit chat, and then asked again, waving his hand while repeating the question a few more times. Ninety percent of the people being asked could no longer recall what they had just said a few minutes prior! That's why it really bugs me when I see people on TV or in the movies or anywhere asking the same stupid question over and over. Or repeating any statement for that matter.

A different problem comes up when the person who is repetitive is answering. When someone asks you a question, and you give them an answer, fine. When they ask again, obviously your first answer wasn't good enough. So to repeat yourself is fairly lame. And yet that's what some people do.

Now The Examples

In "Outbreak," Dustin Hoffman and Cuba Gooding Jr. played a couple of guys who found out the government would rather kill a bunch of infected people than allow the cure to get out, since the infection was caused by a biological weapon. To cure it, they'd lose their weapon. Hoffman made that point abundantly clear.

Hoffman: They want to bury the town.

Cuba: Oh, this is crazy.

Hoffman: They want their weapon.

Cuba: They’re gonna kill all those people?

Hoffman: Right, they want their weapon.

Cuba: They're gonna sit there and watch all those innocent people die?

Hoffman: Yes, they want their weapon.

Why does Dustin Hoffman like to repeat himself so much? Maybe he's reliving "Rain Man." I don't know. But Robin Williams was brave enough to stand up to him.

---

In "Hook," Hoffman, as Captain Hook, questioned Robin Williams about his being Peter Pan. At that point, Williams was still Peter Banning, and hadn't yet fully realized his Pan identity. In disbelief, Hoffman repeatedly questioned him.

Hoffman: Who are you?

Williams: I'm Peter Banning, attorney at law. Those are my children, and I want them back, please.

Hoffman: Those are your--

Williams: Children.

Hoffman: These are your children? (A small warm-up repeat)

Williams: Yes they are.

Hoffman: And you're...?

Williams: Peter--

Hoffman: You're Peter?

Williams: Yes.

Hoffman: You're Peter?

Williams: Yes!

Hoffman: No!

Williams: Yes...

Hoffman: You're Peter?

Williams: Yes. Is there an echo in here? Yes, I'm--

Hoffman: My great and worthy opponent?

Williams: Yes.

Hoffman: No!! Smee, who is this imposter?!

Williams finally pointed out Hoffman's cruel game, and forced him to move on to some other line. "Oh, gee, uh oh, I better think up an alternative for 'you're peter?' Hmm..."

Dustin Hoffman isn't the only good actor who likes to repeat himself. Robert Dinero has also joined in the fun.

---

In "Goodfellas," after a successful illegal business endeavor, one of the guys involved shows up with a new car. Robert Dinero's character is furious, because obviously flashing cash will draw unneeded attention. He gives the guy a hard time, and repeats himself. The scene is almost painful.

Dinero: Didn't you hear what I said? Don't buy anything. Don't get anything. What's the matter with you?

Car Guy: What are you getting excited for?

Dinero: Because you're going to get us all pinched. What's the matter with you?

Car Guy: I apologize. I'm sorry.

Dinero: What's the matter with you?!

Car Guy: I'm sorry.

What makes it even worse is that after the Car Guy apologizes the first time, Dinero pauses, silent, and seems to be "moving forward," mentally. But then, oh, no, he's right back to where he was two lines ago with another, "Whassamaddayoo??!" Brilliant. Not!

---

Well, there you have it. A couple moments of great actors repeating themselves. Maybe it's written somewhere in a book that a trick to get ahead is to master the portrayal of a broken record, or a pet parrot. If so, good going, guys.

As a bonus, I'd just like to mention that Denzel Washington's catchphrase seems to be "I ain't goin' nowhere!" It's in "Virtuosity," and a few other films, including one that was recently in theaters.

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The New "Food Guru" Commercial Template

I've recently noticed a new trend within food commercials. Trivial? Yes. Worth investigating? Absolutely.

Maybe you've noticed it too. I call it the "Food Guru Ad Series." In each commercial, one guy tells another, younger guy about the wonders of a particular food item. This type of ad has recently become pretty popular. And it all started with Snickers.

The Snickers Song

Timeline: First Food Guru ad. Therefore, most creative.

Plot: A black man is sitting in an office eating a Snickers bar. A white, older male in a suit approaches with a guitar. "Can I help you enjoy that Snickers?" Then he sings, "Happy peanuts soar, over chocolate-covered mountain tops and waterfalls of caramel. Prancing nougat in the meadow sings a song of satisfaction to the world." Then the guy eating the candy bar looks at it in amazement and exclaims in a whisper, "The world!" The older gentleman pats him on the shoulder and says, "That's right."

Other template used: Previous Snickers commercial with same singer in same suit singing same song with same guitar, but without anybody on-screen to mentor.

The moral: Snickers is a global sensation, and you too can join in the fun.

---

Domino's Oreo Dessert Pizza Mustache

Timeline: A few weeks after Snickers.

Plot: A man and a teenager are sitting in a living room, eating the Oreo Pizza. A woman shows up. She mentions how the man has food all over his face. He corrects her, saying it's really a Domino's Pizza mustache. The teenage guy mentions how he has one too, but it's not as full and thick as his older buddy's. Cut back to the mentor, whose mustache has grown. He says, "Give it time, Kevin. It'll fill out." The teen says, "You really think so?" The man says, "I think so. I know so," this time with a full Oreo Pizza Beard.

Other template used: Burger King's "eat this burger, get a free mustache" series of ads.

Possible Spin-off: Oreo Pizza Toupee

The moral: Domino's Oreo Pizza is so good, it doesn't matter that you end up with half of it in orbit around your mouth.

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Taco Bell's Rules To Live By

Timeline: Followed the Oreo Pizza trend.

Plot: An older brother gives his younger brother his "rules to live by," which include not owning a lap dog or dating a girl with a dragon tattoo, both of which the older brother's already done. Those were rules 1 and 2. Then came Rule C.

-------------------------Time Out-------------------------

Rule C? Doesn't that remind you of this short snippet from "Home Alone?":

Megan McCallister: "You're not at all worried that something might happen to Kevin?"

Buzz McCallister: "No, for three reasons: A, I'm not that lucky. Two, we use smoke detectors and D, we live on the most boring street in the whole United States of America, where nothing even remotely dangerous will ever happen. Period."

There we have it, Buzz beat the older bro to the punch with a far-superior letter-number changeup that took place 17 years ago!

-------------------------Time In-------------------------

Back to Taco Bell. Rule C is to "always, always get Chili Cheese on your Nacho Bell Grande."

Hidden Mystery: Originally, the older brother used the word "Shyeah!" The longer version of the commercial dubbed over it with, "Yeah!" Aborted throwback to "Wayne's World?"

The moral: The use of Chili Cheese with Taco Bell's Nacho Bell Grande is as important in a young man's life as is the avoidance of certain types of pets, and certain types of women.

---

How To Eat Pizza Hut's Stuffed Crust

Timeline: Newest, and ongoing.

Plot: I just saw this one for the first time -- today. A father and son share a pre-pizza lesson on a couch somewhere in middle America. The father carefully instructs his boy to hold off on eating the cheese-stuffed crust until after he's taken the time to savor a bite of the rest of the pizza.

New Twist: Unlike all the other "students" in the Guru commercials, the kid ignores his father's advice, and goes straight for the crust. The most interesting part of this? The mentor in this commercial is the student's father, so he should have more say than any of the previous gurus, who ranged from older brothers to random strangers!

Other template used: Previous Stuffed Crust commercials from a few years back informing all kinds of people that the REAL correct way of eating a slice of Stuffed Crust is, in fact, crust-first. Looks like the father may have been one of those hippies, and now that he's done tripping on Mozzarella, he wants to save his son from the same horrible fate. Too bad his son just won't listen...

The moral: There's no wrong way to eat a Reese's, but there's no right way to eat Stuffed Crust. Anybody who says otherwise is a liar. Especially if he's older than you.

Well, there you have it. A new trend in advertising. I wonder who will come up with the next version of "the Food Guru?"

My best guess: SNL.

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How Fast Is Your PC? REVISITED

About 3 weeks ago, I made a post about the apparent lag in developing new, faster CPU's. Along with the post, I started an ongoing poll to see how other people are faring when it comes to computer processing speed.

I myself am just about at 2.0 GHz. According to the poll, someone's above 3, someone else is running at or above 4 GHz, and a couple of people have those new SuperTech chips that are 10 GHz, at the slowest. I gotta get me one of those!

But seriously, the poll has yielded some valuable information. The other day I went on Wikipedia to search for the latest and greatest CPU speeds. I wasn't able to find a simple page that ranked all the CPUs ever created by speed. I figured there'd be something like that, but I guess not. Maybe I missed it?

What I did find, though, were a couple of pages with the stats on Intel and AMD processors. I feel like there was actually more information on 4+ GHz chips a few weeks ago when I first did the search. This time around, my inquest led me to a couple overclocking sites, in which the majority of overclockers hovered around 3-4 GHz. I had assumed that the person in my poll with 4+ GHz just had a simple CPU that was that fast out of the box. Maybe instead they're overclocking?

I did find some information on a new generation of chips coming from Intel. According to that, we won't begin to see a new Intel chip until late next year, with another upgrade following that around 2010.

A whole 'nother year before a shiny new CPU? Aww...

At least now I know what I want for Christmas -- in '08!

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The Lint In The Dryer Comes From Somewhere

Recently I had a revelation that was both startling and trivial. At one point in the past, I had purchased two complete, identical sets of towels. Each set contained 1 large bath towel, one small face/hand towel, and one washcloth. I began using Set 1 and put Set 2 aside.

Now, months later, I just recently brought Set 2 out of storage. I compared the sets. Set 2 is definitely fuller, thicker, softer, and overall more inviting. Set 1 is still mostly clean-looking, but is definitely thinner. They were both the same to begin with. But now the set I haven't been using seems awesome compared to its twin. Why is this?

As cloth items are used, they slowly lose small pieces of themselves. I now remember that just after I had bought the towels, the set I was using seemed to be "shedding." I guess it never stopped.

Never before have I considered the implications of lint. I thought it was a trivial matter of trivial buildup that never amounted to anything. Now I see that months of "lint loss" can lead to a thinness in towels and garments, and an overall loss of the plush feeling. And I like the plush feeling! Makes me feel rich...

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