Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

The Office (U.S.): “Niagara”

For some reason, it's not fashionable to like traditional wedding scenes in TV shows which is a shame because traditional weddings can be just as much fun to see on TV as they are in real life.

Anyway, this was not exactly a traditional wedding episode and I thought the writers did an excellent job of combining cynicism and sentiment in that special way that we have come to expect from this series. Plus I got to see a bit of Niagara Falls, which is always nice, though for some reason, the Falls never seem as impressive on TV as they do in real life.

I must confess that I would have gladly forgone the inevitable shout-out to a recent YouTube video but to be fair, even that part was true to the show's characters. Michael Scott -- the boss of the happy couple Pam and Jim -- has an established history of stealing the thunder from other people's special occasions and of course, he also has a history of borrowing ideas from the Internet, regardless of whether they make any sense or not. So it was rather inevitable that he would do that yet again, regardless of whether Pam and Jim wanted him to do so.

That said, I am glad he is a fictional character because my own real-life wedding plans had enough problems...

Random Thoughts

Almost any place can look exotic if you view at night from a hotel room that's high enough above the ground.

Is it wrong of me to breathe a sigh of relief every time I meet someone who doesn't need to be told how to pronounce my real-life Spanish first name?

People who don't find other people interesting usually aren't as interesting as they think they are.

The more expensive newspapers get, the fewer number of people who buy them which in return inspires newspaper publishers to spend less money on the type of people who fill the paper with the material that people want to read. Which, of course, results in even fewer people buying newspapers which in turn inspires newspaper publishers to raise their prices to compensate. And so it goes.

The only activity more dangerous to your pocketbook than taking certain women to a jewelry store is taking the same type of women to a pet store.

If you wish to know what status there is to be gained by wearing a suit in modern society, talk to someone who knows what it's like to work at a job in which one does not wear a suit.

The type of people who would not be impressed by the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls usually aren't worth impressing.

Few writers experience as much danger or hardship on the job as the average factory worker. But one would never know that from the way many writers talk.

Anyone else wonder how many of the people who like to kvetch about American puritanism ever wonder about the number of condom stores that exist in this allegedly puritanical country? Or should I consider it a symbol of American prudishness that such stores are so often called "condom stores" despite the large number of items they sell that obviously aren't condoms?

It's funny how often the injustices that most anger people are usually things that either happened long ago, things that happened far away or things that are committed by people whom we consider to be way different from us. Perhaps because getting angry about injustices committed by people like us that we actually have the opportunity to change is way too easy.

Movie Song of the Week: “From Niagara Falls to Reno”

It's June -- the traditional start of the wedding season.

And how better to pay tribute to the month than with this song from 1931's Peach-O-Reno, featuring the comedy team of Wheeler and Woolsey and their favorite gal pal Dorothy Lee? The song may be a little dated but the sentiment unfortunately seems all too relevant for some people I know.

I hope you enjoy it.