What's John watching?

Top Speed: Land: Wow! Quite something, seeing the tires melt off a car. Not a problem with for ThrustSSC (for supersonic car): it blasts across the salt on aluminum rims. My favourite quote came from the driver, Andy Green, talking about the moments after his record-breaking run:

We'd just barely finished up the run, and the team's already celebrating. The officials haven't announced anything, they've never seen the car running out of test before. I'm thinking, they can't have any idea how fast I was going... And then it hits me: they've heard the first land-speed-generated sonic boom.

The hot-rod footage from Utah was really cool too. Guys like Art Arfons, getting their hands on a then-classified jet engine, taking it apart and customizing it for land racing, put these modern Pimp My Ride kids to shame. ¶ 8:30:00 p.m. (0) comments

The Apprentice: Unscripted television shows - they do not reflect reality; the cast knows they're on television and modify their behaviour accordingly - are strange beasts. They often show you a small piece of the action, yet, in my experience, this in no way limits the audience's ability to make sweeping statements about what's taking place.

The reality is - yeah, the reality - that the producers could make you believe just about anything they wanted you to. For example, in this episode, John came off as a clueless, arrogant prick, and yet Trump ends the episode saying that it's hard to fire good people. Then John delivers an excellent sign-off in the cab, strengthening this image of a "good guy." Conclusion? They edited out a lot of John's decent, competent material.

On the flip side, Kelly took over a number of tasks throughout the episode, leading the team and kicking butt, yet, in the boardroom, it's like it never happened. Conclusion? Maybe Kelly's just keeping his cards close to his chest, or maybe, the editors left in every second of Kelly's leadership footage to skew the show.

I'm not complaining, by the way; I just find it interesting. Jennifer C., on the other hand, had more to lose, and did. O.K., so maybe the cast doesn't always modify their behaviour accordingly. :-) ¶ 11:14:00 p.m. (0) comments

City Confidential: Miami Beach: Smugglers & Speedboats: I love watchin' these shows about "the good ole days." Usually it's America after WWII, one guy at the helm, and this show was no exception. In this case, the man to be was Don Aronow, The King of Thunderboat Row.

This Donzi Marine ad from the 70's sums up the man, the company, heck, the whole powerboat industry:



Now, I suppose I should qualify that: it started out that way in the 60's, that's what it is today, but I guess for a time it was the smugglers who were driving the powerboat industry; so much so that the U.S. Customs started buying Blue Thunder catamarans to catch them, from none other than Don Aronow, of USA Racing this time.

For me, the funniest part of the show was the way it ended; the way all these good-ole-days shows end: they're done, thanks to boring people complaining about the noise, the pollution, the eyesores; in summary, "the pussies." What's so funny about that? That I was buying it. I'm sittin' there, a guy who will never buy - or even ride in - a powerboat, lamenting the demise of Thunderboat Row in favour of housing. These producers are good; heck, I bet they could make me feel bad about the death of the sports clothing sweat shops in Mexico if someone threw enough money at it. :-/ ¶ 8:09:00 p.m. (0) comments

Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001): Or Amélie, for short. What a visually pleasing film! Such vivid colours and scenes flashing before my eyes. And while I couldn't process the French, even the translation was poetic.

I've had that thought before, you know: how many people are having orgasms right now? In my city, country, or the world? That'd be quite the superpower: knowing the answer. (There I go, off on my superhero tangent again.)

My wife loved the garden gnome's adventure. :-) She laughed every time Amélie's father (Rufus - apparently he doesn't need a surname) got a letter, eager to see the Polaroid of the gnome's latest destination. ¶ 10:18:00 p.m. (0) comments

Forensic Evidence: Foot Morphology: What the heck is foot morphology, right? Think all things that make a foot unique. If the footprint has enough detail (e.g., bare foot in semi-soft mud), it can be even more useful to criminal investigators than a fingerprint because of additional characteristics like balance, weight, gait, etc. Of course the culprit has to be barefoot, so that's a big "if."

Initially, I was thinking, "Man, this is an awful production; so amateur and cheesy." Then I saw an O.P.P. badge on a shoulder and it all became clear: this was a Canadian production. :-) That kept me tuned in for the whole show, listening to the different RCMP interviews, waiting to see people I recognized (hehe, just kidding). ¶ 6:22:00 p.m. (0) comments

Russell Peters: Live at Yuk Yuk's Ottawa Club: My coworker has been talking about Russell Peters for as long as I've known him, so I decided to drop the $25 and check out the source of all the hype. Let me just say that this Peters show was worth $50 (which is what I ended up paying, since my wife couldn't make it). I'm not ashamed to admit that I laughed so hard that I almost fell out of my seat on multiple occasions. I'm serious: my face hurt afterwards.

For those who aren't familiar with Russell's comedy, he isn't for the faint of heart. First of all, unlike his TV appearances, 3/4 of this show's material was based on the audience. And to tie in my earlier comment about shame, it isn't limited to the usual "Oh, you're married? How long?" stuff. No, think "Oh, you must be insert ethnicity, followed by a hilarious take on the appropriate stereotype." But, yes, hilarious to the point that the part of my brain that knew it was wrong to laugh had no say in the matter.

I won't ruin his material by putting the half-remembered stuff up here, but just to give you more of the flavour, check out this since-removed quotation from the Yuk Yuk's site:

Brown bomber Russell Peters boogies haphazardly on stage to the beat of his own drummer, a funky East Indian disco dementia. Although he looks like he just stepped off the boat from New Delhi, he is part of Canada's multicultural melting pot. He's a first generation Asian-Canadian who has developed a unique act based on his heritage (...Anglo-Indian descent).

Peters grew up in the 1970's as the child of immigrant parents in a predominantly white middle-class neighborhood 25 minutes from downtown Toronto. He was a small child who was regularly bullied and beaten by white kids. As a result, he befriended the neighborhood's black children because they were the only ones who didn't pick on him. He turned his rage into sport by taking up boxing at the age of 15. And he transformed his pain into humor a few years later by hitting the comedy clubs.

¶ 11:52:00 p.m. (0) comments