Sitting on a Park Bench - Eying Little Cubs with Bad Intent

[eggwards]

❄ Other people in the DFW area have been talking about snowflurries today. I haven't seen any here, so I must be in the warm part of town. Still, there's predictions of more as we drop below freezing tonight. I doubt any will stick, but it is still strange. I'm guessing that this is going to put a big damper on the Easter Pet Parade in Lee Park tomorrow, which sucks. We always see some great folks and their pets out there. Last year temps were in the 90's!

❆ About a month ago I saw a story stating that gas prices shouldn't go to $3.00 a gallon this year (in Texas). At that time prices had risen to $2.25. Now the price is 2.75. I'm going to guess that we'll hit $3.00 right after April 15th. *sigh*

❅ So I've been catching up with episodes of 24 this weekend. It's the first season that I've watched this show as I've seen a few people rave about it. I have one question: Has the show always been this bad, or is this season just terrible?

It's not necessarily the acting, but it's just the writing that seems awful. They have an interesting scenario, a suitcase nuke goes off, and not only do we see how we try to get those responsible, but we also see leader's response to it. The problem is, they throw away characters all the time. Someone shows up for an hour or two and then they disappear, having little impact on the plot arch of the show. Then there's the need to give the series regulars something to do, so they look for moles and have office romances and suspect each other of drinking on the job, none of which is interesting or does anything to move the story forward.

I wonder if the writers are also writers of videogames, as there is a similarity of plot devices where you go from one situation to another on a path to the finish. There's several small bosses that must be defeated (or as Jack Bauer does, interrogate them) until you finally get to the big boss.

There's also a lot of M. Night Shamalan "Ohh! What a twist!" moments that aren't as big a reveals as they seem to think.

I'll watch the rest of the season just to see what craziness they pull out to show that it's not the Muslims or the Russians or even the Cheney-like vice president. It's probably Jack's Dad who was seen in two episodes early on and promptly forgotten. After it's over, it's getting deleted off the Tivo.

❄Otherwise, Chris and I were at the local mall last weekend and it was a little dead. We walked by center court and there was the Easter bunny sitting there waiting for children to come up and get photos. At this mall he's a overly large brown furry with a nice waistcoat and tie. He was sitting on a park bench and the area was decorated like it was New York's Central Park. Why this was, I have no clue.

We're looking at the rather-lonely bunny from the second level, and Chris asks me if i found the bunny a little creepy. I said no and asked him what he meant.

He says, "Well you have a guy in a bunny suit waiting on a park bench for kids to come and sit on his lap."

Yeah, when you put it like that, yeah, it's creepy.

Comments

[lucentnotion.livejournal.com]

"Well you have a guy in a bunny suit waiting on a park bench for kids to come and sit on his lap."

HAHAHA. That's always been my feeling about the Santa Claus events at malls. You have a fat, hairy, old man waiting for kids to sit in his lap so that he can ask them if they've been a good boy or girl that year. CREEEEEPY!

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

Don't forget that there's plenty of men who have a Santa fetish. I think this is where it begins. if thir parents on knew.

Perhaps we can say that the Easter Bunny creates Furries! Certainly you want the Easter Bunny to think you're a good kid, don't cha?

Thanks Easter Bunny! Bowk! Bowk!

[joshjeffcoat.livejournal.com]

I love used to love 24. But this season is what finally made me stop watching it. It's become a textbook example of what happens when a show over stays it's welcome.

Rent the first 2 seasons, they're fantastic. If you absolutely *have* to get more of it, rent season 3. Skip season 4. 5 was an improvement, but still not that great. Long story short, 2 > 1 > 3 > 5 > 4 > 6

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

I does seem like a very formulaic show, and it seems like there's a lot of problems with casting - where you'll see someone for the hour, then they have to explain why the guest star is not in the next hour. the time restraint seems like it's both a novel idea and a big story tellng hinderance.

[joshjeffcoat.livejournal.com]

the time restraint is handled amazingly in the first 2 seasons. there are maybe 2 or 3 "wtf?" episodes that don't work very well but the other 45 are spot-on.

[aadroma.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when you put it like that, yeah, it's creepy.

Like I needed any further justification on finding people in costumes trying to get kids on their laps, creepy.

So I've been catching up with episodes of 24 this weekend.

... I'm, like, the last person on the planet who's not seen ANY of this show in full, ever.

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't worry about seeing it now. Maybe some of the past seasons were good, and reruns are on some cable station, but they seem to be having a lot of trouble in this season.

What, you don't want to dress up like a leaprechaun? Or a Squirell?

[rafdfw.livejournal.com]

Yes, this season of 24 has been lamer than the past few years. I can't put my finger on exactly why--I think one big reason is that they've brought in a bunch of new characters that the audience doesn't care about. There are supposed to be some pretty big plot twists coming up between now and the end of the season (if some of the fan sites are to be believed) and I'll probably stick around to see how they are carried out.

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well last episode's sudden "I have to be a bad-assed president" "twist" was pretty stupid. perhaps they should have found him unfit for office. It seems like the whole chase down the terrorists plaot got old, and they had to justify the whole why do we even have the White House storyline. Really, up to this moment they could have wiped the whole White House thing and been fine - the story and characters seved no purpose.

Otherwise, bringing back the President and First lady from last year didn't seem to do much but give the fans some connection to the previous season.

[rafdfw.livejournal.com]

I was frustrated when they didn't go back and say what happened to the former president after he was stabbed. Your concerns are shared by a number of folks on the 24 fansites. The writing has been uneven, and a side from a handful of really good moments (Jack having to shoot Curtis, Jack's brother confessing to him) the show has been uneven.

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

That's interesting, the first couple of hours got me interested...then it became this rambling mess with plotlines that have gone nowhere and guest stars appearing and dissapearing with little impact. It seems like they've taken a two hour movie-of-the-week plot and tried to strech it over 24 episodes.

Well, i think the show would die if Jack Bauer was killed, though they do seem to be placing Ricky Schroder in a similar role. Man he looks rough! I don't think fans would go for the change, though.

[joshjeffcoat.livejournal.com]

...send it to my screen...

[joshjeffcoat.livejournal.com]

hahah, sorry, that's just my favorite 24 cliche

"Send it to my screen"

i love the way computers work in CTU headquarters

[dedos.livejournal.com]

Yay for the Jethro Tull reference!

[hantsbear.livejournal.com]

Aww, I was hoping I'd be the first to notice that!!!

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

That one was pretty easy. You know, if that song was released now, there'd be people all over yelling about the pedophelia implication there.

[userid1999.livejournal.com]

I thought maybe you and Chris stopped to get your picture taken with the Easter Bunny :) That would be cute....

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

I am not a Furry!

I think we'd scare the bunny back to his warren.