Rob and Big

After MTV stopped airing music videos there were few things to lure me back over to viewing the channel regularly. The only Real World that I watched was San Francisco and I was never really a devoted fan of that either. What season of the Real World are they on now? 65?

This summer I've been lured back by an unlikely show, "Rob and Big." The premise of the show is enough to turn anyone away. A professional skater and his bodyguard get their own reality show. Why would you want to watch? Add to that people like me who don't know any thing about professional skate boarding other than Tony Hawk's name (and that's because he was on the Simpsons), and you'd think this show would have failed in its first season.

But once you give the show a chance, say five minutes of your time, its easy to see why its stayed on the air. Rob and Big are very likable guys. With their enjoyment of the "little" things money and some notoriety can afford, and their genuine friendship the show manages to insert an aura of "reality" into a reality program. Something that is rarely if ever achieved in "reality" programming. Rob and Big seem very aware of themselves. They don't try to be something that they aren't. They're young guys talking shit and having a good time. And their enjoyment is infectious. This summer, why not join them?

Rob and Big | Show Cast, Episode Guides, Trailers, Aftershow & Previews | MTV

The seven coolest geeks on television - TV Squad

The seven coolest geeks on television - TV Squad

What no Tina Fey? What about Lauren Graham on Gilmore Girls?

Fly The Evil Skies

I think the first thing that's gonna go are the individual t.v.s! Better hurry up and fly JetBlue before Mr. Burns has his way with the airline. He's already hijacked the Chairman's interwebular chronicle!

JetBlue | About JetBlue | Chairman David Neeleman's flight log

Once

This weekend we went to see the film Once. One of my friend's had spoken to me about it back in June. She had heard that in its limited release it was selling out all of its showings and wanted to see the movie for her birthday. Unfortunately, the movie was only playing in Marin and to make the trek out there just to see a film didn't exactly appeal to me. Then last week when we went to L.A. for another friend's birthday the film came up again in conversation.

So instead of waiting for "Once" to go to my favorite second run movie theater we made the effort to see it this weekend. Not knowing anything about the plot except that it was vaguely a romance of sorts, and not knowing much about The Frames Glen Hansard's band, I was floored. Not much happens in the movie, but the plot is so expertly laid out and the story so well told that the movie's touching appeal is obvious. What I don't get is why its appealing to such a wide audience.

The movie's music and lyrics are painfully honest and listening to them you can hear the grief the music was borne from. This type of art usually goes ignored for its honesty. People tend not to want to be reminded of "real world" hurt so what is propelling "Once" fever? It must be framing the music into a movie plot. Three of the most used songs in the movie were released before the movie in 2006 on an album called "Swell Season." If you take into consideration, that the movie must have begun filming around the same time, as the album release, you can think yourself into a chicken and egg conundrum. Why they didn't hold the cd release until the film opened remains an unanswered question for me. Whatever the appeal is I hope it lasts. "Once" is one of the best music movies to have been released it years.

David Sedaris's Latest Essay

I think we all get a little nostalgic for the past, but certainly we don't all go as far as David Sedaris. What is it that draws us to something another has cast off? My own "collecting" has always been for thrift store finds. Mostly, its been clothes I pick up and I can't even say its a yearning for a certain era. As a teenager I wouldn't give up a construction jacket my Dad didn't want any more. It was blue and had a bright orange lining. The zipper was broken and one of the elbows had a brush mark of white paint across it. I wore it all time. My Mom would try to bribe me to take it off, but of course I wouldn't. Hum...I should try and find it. I think its in a closet somewhere.


Reflections: This Old House: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker