Battlestar Talladega

I guess it's ironic that I'm upset that for some reason, I can't do the work I've taken home online. I was always able to work on files at home before, logging into our database, but for some reason, though I can get into the file and make changes, I can't save any of these changes. So I'm somewhat disappointed in this Labor Day Weekend, since I'm prevented from laboring.

I've gotten through some of my Netflix selections this weekend. Battlestar Galactica 2.5 disc 1, which was so scratched it was a chore to watch, but still good. Freaks & Geeks disc 1, which is great. I'd never seen it before. I still have this Christian Bale movie, Harsh Times, to watch, but I was in the mood to laugh and finally watched Talladega Nights, which I bought when it came out. It's often funny, but too long, and with too many funny actors forced into it and left to fend for themselves. Molly Shannon and Greg Germann are useless, Jane Lynch wasted as the voice-of-sanity mother, even David Koechner has little to do. As you watch the bonus material, you realize this is how comedies are often made today, with endless variations on lines and the funniest line or performance making the cut. So, a lot of very silly stuff. The interaction between Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly is probably the best part of the film, and I have to give credit to Ferrell and cowriter/director Adam McKay for managing to make his character fairly likeable even as such an arrogant, consumerist dimbulb. He kind of has an Elvis feel to him, swallowing up the tackiest byproducts of the American Dream and then being swallowed up by them. Gary Cole is spot-on as his dirtbag father.

I consider it something of a personal triumph that I resisted buying a Target exclusive six-pack of Justice League Unlimited figures Saturday. They were the same ones I had, only in different paint jobs. There's no real need for a red Doomsday or green Amazo, is there?

I was finishing Nick Hornby's Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt, his second collection of book reviews from The Believer, and there was a reference in the Thank Yous to one of the Believer staff being a ninja (I assume the reference was facetious). It made me realize that people are still somewhat fascinated by ninjas, huh? I bet if you really concentrated, you'd hear or read at least a couple mentions of the word each week, and I mean in non-ninja contexts. Try it! It also made me recall that, in eighth grade, for whatever reason I had no book I felt suitable to review for a book report, so I made one up, The New York Ninja, which, looking back, represented two things I had very little knowledge of: ninjas, and New York. I probably don't know that much more about either today. I can't tell you what story I concocted for the novel, but it probably wasn't that good, as the teacher wanted me to bring in a copy of the book. I think I just held her off long enough until she forgot. I probably got a B or B-. It seems silly now, as I was always a pretty avid reader and could have read a real book quickly enough, but on the other hand it did end up being a creative exercise. English teachers, take note: the assignment is to write a book report on a non-existent book, and in addition to describing the story you need to talk about the writing style and things that worked and things that didn't. I think in this way, you're making your students think about what they're looking for in their fiction.