Yippee. Tonight is the debut of some singing show called The X Factor. I hear that it features some British guy named SImon Cowell. He apparently used to be at the front of some other singing show entitled American Idol. Apparently both of these singing shows are on some American television network named FOX and center around people's dreams coming true or being crushed when it comes to their vocal prowess.
Alright. I can't actually pretend not to know what either if these shows are but I can honestly say I only watched the very first season of American Idol which produced the only true pop star from the series (Kelly Clarkson) but The X Factor is different. Simon Cowell will let his dickish self shine through. He is free to be an utter prick to kids as young as twelve. He can sport his black tees from Baby Gap in front of the same fucking mindless drones who watch the incessant drivel that is American Idol except now people can get their weekly dose of public belittling of people who have no business singing for about nine straight months.
In short, I know that tens of millions of brain dead Americans will watch the lowest common denominator programming which The X Factor certainly is. It's a cruel program but it's also somewhat real. Sure, the producers are scouring the lines of potential contestants looking for those who are sure to embarrass themselves. They are desperate to find the person who is so oblivious to their own lack of talent that they will eagerly belt out two or three horrendously off-key lines to an already horrid pop song that Simon Cowell will be chomping at the bit to belittle this contestant who needs to be belittled but should probably be belittled in a more private setting.
Hey, I have no problem with cruel. I'm a rather cruel person but The X Factor is a semi-scripted attempt at reality competition television. If they have to show this drivel, show it uncut. That would be true reality. Show it without the producers coaching potential contestants. Show it unedited and unfiltered. It will always be edited in a way that's flattering to the judges -- particularly Simon Cowell who overflows with pretentiousness -- but I hope and pray that Americans will return to scripted television and this year is the year to do just that.
NBC actually has a solid hour of comedy tonight with Up All Night and Free Agents starting off the night and ABC has an hour both of The Middle and Modern Family tonight so ditch the shitty "reality" singing contests and appreciate the fact that creative and sharp writing teamed with legitimate actors is a superior alternative to a TV landscape littered with mindless drones looking for their fifteen minutes of fame.
Last night seemed to be the unofficial start of the fall television season. Rather than watch the repeated, mindless drivel offered up on basic cable, I flipped to The CW and caught the series premier of The Ringer featuring the return of Sarah Michelle Gellar to network television. I always head into anything on The CW with low expectations and while The Ringer featured some downright shitty green screen work early in the pilot episode, the overall plot was full of mystery and intrigue and wrapped up with some terrific action. I am fairly confident that the series can sustain its intriguing plot of identical twins where one seems determined to have the other killed while the more affluent has staged her own death and is plotting to off her troubled and estranged twin who has assumed the other's identity.
Starting tonight, though, NBC is rolling out its new Wednesday night comedy offerings. While I'm not exactly shouting from the rooftops about Up All Night or Free Agents there is beginning to be some buzz around Up All Night and even one article I saw stating that it's the first good show about a baby. On the flip side, Free Agents is just dreadful looking. It's a cheap retread of a British sitcom of the same name and it stars Hank Azaria, otherwise known as strike one. The second strike is that it's on NBC. The third strike, well watch for yourself as NBC's new Wednesday night comedies debut tonight at 9 PM C/T and find out for yourself just how dreadful Free Agents is.
The past two weeks have been a time of reflection for me. Maybe it's because a girl I worked with in high school began a class of 90-whatever group page. It's sort of cool to see how infrequently most of my former classmates make it back to the city we grew up in. Hey, I've been back three or four times this year and it's about a 90 minute drive so I'm no better than any of them. It's also interesting to see what became of them. It seems like the general rule is that most of my former classmates have two kids, are married and are gainfully employed. Ten years ago I never would have imagined that most of these people were capable of holding down a job and being parents. Hell, I can barely make it through some days but it seems like I am working two or three jobs some days. Not that I'm complaining.
And that leads me to my second area of reflection. A co-worker of eight years (he had been with our employer for 13 years) was laid off on Friday. I knew nothing good was going to come of us being called in to the conference room and I already had it figured out when I walked past my co-worker's cubicle. It's the second layoff in my department in two months. Layoffs are always brutal. This guy has a family. He has a house. He has financial responsibilities. He has a pre-teen daughter. He has a house. His wife owns her own business and was hit particularly hard during this depression (let's fucking face it, this isn't a recession, recessions end). I don't know how he's handling things. I plan on calling him at some point this week just because I'm quickly beginning to realize that my job could very well be the next and it never hurts to have a strong network.
It sounds bleak to say that and as much as I joked in a text to my old lady late Friday about running my family farm being closer than I had ever imagined, it's always our plan D. And plan D is close because we don't exactly have a plan B or plan C.
I could probably get more reflective but instead I'll give you an insanely annoying but addictive video professing one's love for farm equipment... weird.
On Monday I finally made the journey to the DMV (or whatever it's currently called) to pay for my 2012 license tabs. Yes, I was about a month late buying these and no I don't care that I'm a reckless scofflaw. Come and get me coppers!
But the official 2012 license tab renewal meant not only the little yellow 2012 stickers but new license plates. Normally I like most anything new but when I saw the new plates I expressed my displeasure regarding them. Why did I need new license plates? My current license plates were more than legible and looked like new even on my 9 year old car. I like the very real look of the raised letters and numbers and they're even reflective. Sure, the new computer generated license plates are cheaper to manufacture but what about their longevity. Will the computer generated letters and numbers outlast the machine-stamped reflective letters and number which the State of Minnesota is phasing out?
That's another discussion fro another day, though. My real beef ended up being with installing the new license plates. Around 7 PM I ventured out into my driveway with a screwdriver and my new fake-looking license plates. I figured I'd spend about five minutes on this seemingly pointless task and be able to move on to other, more important tasks. I firmly dug my old screwdriver into the rusty phillips head screw and began turning. The only problem being that the screwdriver turned and the screw failed to do so. Apparently Toyota hadn't realized the value of zinc coated screws nine years ago.
So I sprayed some trusty WD-40 on the rusty screws and waited. Again I applied far more pressure than should be needed to budge a screw and failed once again to loosen either screw. Then one of the screws sort of pulled through the old license plate leaving it dangling by one rusty screw. Getting angry now, I twisted and pulled and the license plate -- eventually snapping it off leaving the rusty screws still anchored through the plastic "bumper" and through the rusty metal u-clamp which holds the license plate to the car.
I tried a vise grip and failed. I tried my cordless drill/screwdriver and failed and eventually, after almost an hour, I got one screw out. I don't remember how it came free but I do remember some stupid girl trying to sell books door to door being on the receiving end of my frustration. Couldn't she tell by my almost constant grunting and cursing that I was busy? In the end the second u-clamp pulled through the plastic "bumper" and I have the State of Minnesota to blame for this ordeal. Should I send them a bill for wasting 90 minutes of my time I could have spent on freelance work? After all, they felt that I needed these new, fake-looking license plates. Oh, and they do absolutely nothing to improve the aesthetics of my black car.
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