From Out Of Nowhere
Today I was in a fine pissed-off mood. I'm not going to go into the particulars of it, except to say that it was caused by a lack of sleep this week (which since I have gotten a second wind that is now flagging, appears to be at an end) and personal life spilling over into work. Therefore, I did my usual thing and became an absolute Nazi for enforcing the rules on the bus. Woe be to those who decided today was the day to leave their discount card at home.
As a brief side note, I have to mention that this happened quite a bit today, which leads me to wonder greatly (and darkly) about just how fit for living in our modern world many people are. If you make a habit of leaving this item at home, what the hell do you do when it comes time to pay your taxes? Just wondering.
Anyway, I made it up to the end of the line and decided to unwind a little bit by perusing the magazine rack at the store. The selection absymally sucked. Unlike the vapid portion of our population, I don't give a fart in a high wind about if Suri Cruise is having her style gaffled by other celebrity babies, and I equally don't care about what Cosmo says is the seven things in bed guaranteed to drive him wild. The book rack was also gone, so in sheer desperation, I started reading GQ's article about Seth Rogen... and walked out of there grinning ear to ear.
If you don't know who Seth Rogen is, I was in the same boat until two months ago. He had a hand in The 40-Year-Old Virgin (which I loathed), co-wrote Superbad (haven't seen it yet but I intend to) and was the doofus with a heart of gold lead in Knocked Up (which I thoroughly enjoyed). He's 26 years old, red-hot and slightly bewildered by it all. What had me laughing out loud was something he said about the early days of being in the writing business... so forgive me, Mr. Rogen, while I paraphrase what you said:
"It's just amazing. Those were some pretty dark times. I mean, I'm sitting around with my friends and we're writing and turning stuff out and we think it's pretty good. It seems like it's really funny. Then you get shot down, and later on you're sitting there saying, 'Okay, you don't think that I'm any good, but you think Entourage is really great stuff? Am I missing something here? It's enough to really make you doubt yourself."
Rogen violated a major rule of engagement there: while you may think that something that another person did is nothing more than raw sewage on toast, you are not supposed to call them out by name... especially if that product happens to be popular and the critics seem to enjoy what they do. If they're considered hacks then everything is fair game, which is why Stephen King gets lambasted all the time and nobody says boo about Tom Robbins, even though he is an absolutely horrible writer. Plus, I'm not too sure about Entourage. While many people seem to like it, they are usually also the same people who get a major boner in their sweatpants for The Sopranos and to be honest, I never got that one, either. In fact, I thought their slavish devotion to bad Italian accents and faux tough-guy rhetoric was a little sad. Then again, I also think we could have stopped making organized crime films and shows after Miller's Crossing, so I am a wee bit biased.
However, the thing I really enjoyed about what Rogen said was the fact that ,just like me, he'd had that moment of walking in on something absolutely horrible and saying, "You're kidding, right? Right? This is what they say you people want? Seriously? You want America's Top Dog rammed down your gullet with a cake decorator? You crave more Danielle Steele? I'm over here knocking myself out just to get a shot, and you're turning me down for this crap? That's like saying you don't want to date me, then going out with the president of the local Smelly Cats Of America chapter. What the fuck ever."
I am now a big Seth Rogan guy. Thanks to him, the rest of the day was good. Good thoughts.
As a brief side note, I have to mention that this happened quite a bit today, which leads me to wonder greatly (and darkly) about just how fit for living in our modern world many people are. If you make a habit of leaving this item at home, what the hell do you do when it comes time to pay your taxes? Just wondering.
Anyway, I made it up to the end of the line and decided to unwind a little bit by perusing the magazine rack at the store. The selection absymally sucked. Unlike the vapid portion of our population, I don't give a fart in a high wind about if Suri Cruise is having her style gaffled by other celebrity babies, and I equally don't care about what Cosmo says is the seven things in bed guaranteed to drive him wild. The book rack was also gone, so in sheer desperation, I started reading GQ's article about Seth Rogen... and walked out of there grinning ear to ear.
If you don't know who Seth Rogen is, I was in the same boat until two months ago. He had a hand in The 40-Year-Old Virgin (which I loathed), co-wrote Superbad (haven't seen it yet but I intend to) and was the doofus with a heart of gold lead in Knocked Up (which I thoroughly enjoyed). He's 26 years old, red-hot and slightly bewildered by it all. What had me laughing out loud was something he said about the early days of being in the writing business... so forgive me, Mr. Rogen, while I paraphrase what you said:
"It's just amazing. Those were some pretty dark times. I mean, I'm sitting around with my friends and we're writing and turning stuff out and we think it's pretty good. It seems like it's really funny. Then you get shot down, and later on you're sitting there saying, 'Okay, you don't think that I'm any good, but you think Entourage is really great stuff? Am I missing something here? It's enough to really make you doubt yourself."
Rogen violated a major rule of engagement there: while you may think that something that another person did is nothing more than raw sewage on toast, you are not supposed to call them out by name... especially if that product happens to be popular and the critics seem to enjoy what they do. If they're considered hacks then everything is fair game, which is why Stephen King gets lambasted all the time and nobody says boo about Tom Robbins, even though he is an absolutely horrible writer. Plus, I'm not too sure about Entourage. While many people seem to like it, they are usually also the same people who get a major boner in their sweatpants for The Sopranos and to be honest, I never got that one, either. In fact, I thought their slavish devotion to bad Italian accents and faux tough-guy rhetoric was a little sad. Then again, I also think we could have stopped making organized crime films and shows after Miller's Crossing, so I am a wee bit biased.
However, the thing I really enjoyed about what Rogen said was the fact that ,just like me, he'd had that moment of walking in on something absolutely horrible and saying, "You're kidding, right? Right? This is what they say you people want? Seriously? You want America's Top Dog rammed down your gullet with a cake decorator? You crave more Danielle Steele? I'm over here knocking myself out just to get a shot, and you're turning me down for this crap? That's like saying you don't want to date me, then going out with the president of the local Smelly Cats Of America chapter. What the fuck ever."
I am now a big Seth Rogan guy. Thanks to him, the rest of the day was good. Good thoughts.