Friday Five:

1. What is your favorite type of literature to read (magazine, newspaper, novels, nonfiction, poetry, etc.)?
My gut reaction is to say novels all the way, but in the last year or two I’ve developed a sudden taste for non-fiction. Biographies, travel books, philosophy… you name it. So it’s probably 50-50 right now.

2. What is your favorite novel?
Oh, good grief. I don’t know. Douglas Coupland’s Microserfs is probably the book that I’ve owned the most copies of. I just keep lending it to people and then having to buy a new one. The ending makes me bawl.

3. Do you have a favorite poem? (Share it!)
I went through a period of affectation in high school where I memorised a bunch of Edgar Allen Poe’s poems and thought I was, like, so deep. Nowadays I’m willing to admit that I don’t care for poetry that much. It’s one of my big problems with The Lord of the Rings, actually. As soon as somebody launches into a song my mind begins to wander.

4. What is one thing you’ve always wanted to read, or wish you had more time to read?
To my everlasting geek shame, I’ve only read one Terry Pratchett book, and I haven’t read any of the Dune books. I know, I know…

5. What are you currently reading?
A biography of Lucille Ball, and Gregory Maguire’s latest novel Lost. I also just finished The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, which I loved. I’m going to have to rent the movie now to see how it compares. After that, the Snook and I are taking turns picking books for each other. I’ve got him reading the His Dark Materials trilogy, and I think he’s going to make me slog through some James Bonds. Should be fun…

My server had a crash today so don’t freak out if your comments get dated, say, in January. I’ll fix it. 🙂

A stunning victory was achived tonight at the pub trivia contest… by us! We had been trailing the leaders by four after the first round, but somehow in the end we were ahead by four. (We found out later that they’d been docked for cheating.) My personal highlights were knowing the top three grossing films of the 1930’s, the movie whose soundtrack featured “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”, and the instrument that Woody Allen plays. (At least I’m finally putting that film degree to use, huh?) Unfortunately I tanked on Al Bundy’s favorite nudie magazine. My dad would be ashamed.

RIP Mr. Rogers. *sniff* (Does anybody else remember the crazy puppet lady that looked like Phyllis Diller and lived in the merry-go-round house? She was my favorite.)

How evil are you? I am depressingly good. Name that movie quote: “I’m Bad Ash. And you’re Good Ash! You’re little goody two shoes, little goody two shoes…” (Link courtesy of a fellow goody-goody.)

Now even Variety is reporting that SMG is officially leaving Buffy. She’s such an idiot. Even at its worst, Buffy is fifty times better than any movie role she’s had to date. I hope they go with a Faith spin-off…

Hooray! The Snook e-mailed to say that our home internet connection has been fixed. Regular posting will resume shortly!

Okay, so we watched “The Micheal Jackson Interview: The Footage You Weren’t Meant to See” last night. The tone of the show was set early when the host walked out and I groaned. “Who’s he?” asked the Snook. “Maury friggin’ Povich,” I answered. “He was Jerry Springer before Jerry Springer was Jerry Springer.” In other words, journalistic integrity did not seem to be a priority. (What, Geraldo wasn’t available?) Anyhoo, over the next two hours Povich proceeded to show us questions and bits of the interviews that were left out. I have to admit, Micheal did seem to have a point. Bashir gave every impression that he (like the rest of Jackson’s entourage) thought Jackson was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Bashir praised Jackson for his parenting abilities and sympathised with him about unscrupulous tabloid journalists. I can see where Jackson would’ve been shocked at the tone of the final edit.

The show also included a number of interviews with people around Micheal Jackson: his parents, his make-up artist, etc. I was most interested in Debbie Rowe (his former wife and the mother of his children). I kinda wanted to see how she’d justify the whole “giving my babies to Micheal Jackson” thing. Turns out that I actually kinda understand her reasoning. He was her friend and he wanted kids, so she had them for him. I’ve jokingly made similar offers to gay friends in the past. So I can kinda see that. Overall Rowe came off a lot less weird than I expected.

As I summarized below, the overall impression I had after the show was, yeah, Martin Bashir is sort of a jerk, but that doesn’t mean Micheal is any less weird. In fact, some of the extra material they showed made him sound even more wacky. (“The chimps help you clean the house? Sure, Snow White.”) I also liked the bit at the very very end, where Povich read some statement from Bashir that he really liked Micheal and he’d never seen him do anything illegal. It was so obviously such a “See? It’s not libel!” moment. Way to cover your ass, Povich.

(You know how you’re supposed to add “… in bed!” to the end of your fortune cookie fortunes? Well, I inadvertantly invented a new version of that game for use with this show. It was during an interview with Jackson’s makeup artist and she was all, “Bashirs will come and go, but Micheal… He will live forever.” And I snorted, “Yeah… in his hyperbaric chamber!” It was really funny at the time. You can tack it on just about every soundbite in this stupid show for added amusement. I recommend it.)

Sorry for the extended silence. We’re having some problems with our home net connection and I can’t post. (The nerdy explanation: Whenever we go to a page that requires HTTP authentication – i.e. a password – the proxy dies and we get locked out of the site for ten minutes.) So yeah, the Snook’s working on it. Rest assured that I’ve got a huge backlog of stuff to discuss, including last night’s TV special: “The Micheal Jackson Interview – The Footage You Weren’t Meant to See.” (My quick two-second summary: “Just because Martin Bashir is a bit of a wanker doesn’t make Jackson any less freaky.”) I know you’re all breathless with anticipation…