the pod bay door

:: There is word circulating that Dick Wolf is considering a fourth Law & Order series. Apparently a third CSI series is in the works, CSI New York. Saturday Night Live featured “Law & Order: Parking Violations Unit“, in an October 6, 2001 sketch. I enjoy the three L&Os now, but don’t know if a fourth is necessary. How about “Law & Order: Library Fines”?

I don’t watch the CSI shows. However, my tv viewing habits keeps shifting. I’ve watched some of the new Dennis Miller show, but his move to the right disappoints me; I can’t believe he’s leaving Bush alone. Typical week for me: Monday: The Newsroom; Tue: 24, L&O:SVU; Wed: L&O; Thu – nothing; Fri – nothing, although I watched South Park last night because they went to Canada to see the new prime minister; Sat: SNL, Ebert and Roeper, MAD-TV, Coupling (when it’s broadcast), Sun: L&O: CI. I tape SportsCentre, Charlie Rose, The Daily Show, the occasional Letterman/Leno/O’Brien/Kilborn, if I learn that a guest in whom I’m interested is scheduled to appear.

Overall, still too much tv.

The family of James Davis, an NYC councilman slain in 2003, was upset with NBC last week for airing an episode based on that incident.

:: I’m disappointed but not surprised to learn that the Yankees are pursuing Alex Rodriguez. I really hope he doesn’t sign with them.

:: Mike sent word (no pun intended), that the Oxford English Dictionary chose blog as their Word Of the Day recently. In the OED, blog has two definitions, one as a verb, and one as a noun.

Also, here’s the OED entry for weblog, which as you will notice, has two definitions; the one from 1993 has nothing to do with blogs.

:: The 2004 IFP Independent Spirit Award Nominations have been announced. The awards will be presented on February 28, 2004, the night before the Oscars.

:: The Village Voice has released its 30th (or 31st) Annual Pazz & Jop Critics’ Poll. Details: “This poll combines ballots from 732 critics, who divided 100 points among 10 2003 albums. Maximum per album: 30. Minimum: 5. Points determined placement, with total mentions (indicated in parenthesis) used for tie breaking.”

I don’t recognize many of the artists on these lists, and certainly don’t know most of the Top 50 singles or albums. Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz featuring Ying Yang Twins? Kelis? Lumidee? Chingy? And what’s with Jay-Z (or Jay-Zed, as we say in Canada): Beyonce featuring Jay-Z, Panjabi MC featuring Jay-Z, Pharrell featuring Jay-Z? OK, I do recognize Warren Zevon, Coldplay, Johnny Cash, The Strokes, Radiohead… Hey…YA!

What am I listening to these days? The Jethro Tull Christmas Album, and it’s damn good.

:: In yet another in a never-ending series of insane and idiotic examples of “this can only ever happen in the USA”, a Knoxville TN woman is suing Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, MTV, CBS and Viacom, alleging that she and millions of other viewers suffered “outrage, anger, embarrassment and serious injury“, as a result of the nano-second baring of Jackson’s right mammary gland during the Super Bowl halftime show. The woman is seeking billions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages! She has not specified what serious injuries she suffered as a result of the incident.

This woman needs to sit down and shut up. How do people come up with this garbage? What lawyer would take this on willingly? (Well, maybe that’s not a leap of faith, actually…)

Here’s hoping this is dismissed as fast as the Al Franken/FOX News lawsuit was last fall.

:: Things are little out of whack lately, as I sort through this and that in my life. It happens. I’m spending an inordinate amount of time agonizing over a lecture I’m giving in an engineering design class next Friday, trying to settle on what to highlight in the 50 minutes, and in what order. My house is a mess, and I’ve got a number of small tasks that I keep putting off, like writing a few letters, sending cards, getting some info to my Dad for a painting he’s composing, etc. I know this will sort itself out. Plus, it’s early February, and already I have events scheduled through to October, which for some reason, I find bothersome. No big deal, I suppose.

:: Among the increasing number of annoying catch-phrases and doublespeak that we hear on television and radio, and read in newspapers and magazines, I detest the habit of sportscasters who use an amount of money to describe the time left in a sporting event, when said time left is under two minutes. “Vince Carter, with a “buck twenty-two” left in the game, slam-dunked a decisive basket, leading the Raptors to victory blah blah blah…” Is this usage supposed to be cooler than saying “a minute and twenty-two seconds?”

I’m also weary of reviewers using the word “twee” to describe music or some other art form. Although I must admit I didn’t know that “niminy-piminy” is a synonym for twee. Whatever…

:: Interesting to note that the two entries below with photos of my father in 1945, and my mother in 2004, both feature them with casts on their right arms.

:: I saw The Triplets of Belleville and City of God this weekend, two Oscar-nominated movies. Both are excellent. Triplets is a bizarre, spaced-out 80-minute animated movie about a grandmother and her grandson, who competes in the Tour de France, but is kidnapped by the French Wine Mafia. There is little dialogue, so no subtitles are needed. And the song, “Belleville Rendezvous“, nominated for the Music (Song) Oscar, is infectious and catchy, making you want to start boogeying in your theatre seat.

City of God is about a young Brazilian boy, growing up in the middle of incredibly violent gang warfare, in the slums of Rio de Janeiro in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. His best friend turns to drug dealing, but he resists the criminal life, and instead dreams of becoming a photographer. It is captivating, sad, and compelling, and deserving of its four nominations.