BUSTED!...Scandal Rocks Not Crazy...Just Enthusiastic

Mea Culpa. Mea Culpa. Mea Maxima Culpa. Alright you caught me (don't look so smug).
A Friend (?) wrote to point out that I double dipped on my top ten movie list. Well here I'll let him make his case:

"You know what a stickler I am for this--how can "Bubba" be an honorable
mention one year and on your top ten the next? ;-p"

Although I hang my head in shame when the little newsboys come up to me on the street and implore me to "Say it ain't so." I'm afraid that, Yes, it's true. I have had heartbreak in my life. I have made mistakes, and I did in fact list Bubba-Ho-Tep on my Top Ten for 2003 even though I saw it in 2002 and had included it in my Honorable Mentions for that year. Although I still contend that I never bet on Strat-o-Matic Baseball either while an active participant or after retiring from the game. (Sharp eyed [no pun intended] readers may have noticed that The Eye also appeared for a second time in the Honorable Mentions.

In my defense I only say that if you do the math you will find that 2003 was not as good a year as 2002, and that both the aforementioned films were listed here The Bubakar Awardsas eligible for 2003 best of honors. When I saw that I took the opportunity to relist them and who knew anyone would be reading let alone fact checking.

So, sadly, now I must join the ranks of the Stephen Glasses, the Jayson Blairs, The Pete Roses and all those other once admired public figures who's shame and human weakness become fodder for their critics who have nothing better to do but nitpick at the failings of their betters.

Yes, I think I know how Bill Clinton must have felt after being caught lying (to protect his wife and daughter) about receiving oral sex in a public building during working hours, or how Al Gore felt when his statements about sponsoring legislation to fund the internet were blown (no pun intended) out of proportion by a cynical Republican hate machine, or how Henry Kissinger must feel when people rattle on about his responsibility for the deaths of thousands of innocent women & children.

Mock on. Mock on. I will only be made stronger and more powerful by my tearful revelations to Diane Sawyer and my cover story in People or Us Weekly. I shall rise Phoenix like to once again share my love of books, reading, America, Apple Pie, and Motherhood with the underpriveledged, downtrodden, handicapped and speech- impaired.

As a penance (court-ordered) I will be working with the Make a Wish foundation to provide some sick or dying child a chance to become part of this Blog. It will be a dream come true, I'm sure, when the little nipper after patiently and agonizingly typing out his deepest thoughts and dreamiest dreams with a mouth stick presses that Post & Publish button and sees his words flash up on the screen and knows that other kids around the world in Haiti, Bangladesh, Somalia or East Timor with internet access can share in his painful,personal yet noble and ultimately life affirming blogging. God bless us everyone. And God Bless America.

Top Ten Favorite TV Shows of 2003

Here at Not Crazy…Just Enthusiastic we received complaints (shocking, Huh?) that our Top Ten films are too obscure and hard to see, despite the fact that half of them probably played at a mall multiplex near you. And so as a service to you, our shut-in readers, we offer our Top Ten TV shows. Now anyone with a TV set and basic cable can play along at home, no need to leave the country, or the county, or the house.

1. Degrassi: The Next Generation (Nogin)

The show I am currently obsessed with, but maybe you need to know where I am coming from to decide if you would have any interest. I think Buffy the Vampire Slayer and My So Called Life are two of my favorite shows ever. Teen angst makes great drama. And at Degrassi you can cut the angst with a protractor. There is also a leavening of humor, but more Square Pegs than Saved by the Bell. Plus it’s Canadian, and filmed in Toronto. So an angsty Canadian teenage soap-opera set at a Toronto High School is tailor made to push all my buttons. I’m like a rat in a maze, and I found the lever that keeps the food pellets coming.

Somebody asked me, “Aren’t you a little old for that show?” Well by that reckoning I’m also too old for Thirtysomething. Am I supposed to eventually watch nothing but Matlock, Banaby Jones, and The Golden Girls?

2. Gilmore Girls (WB)

The story line on the Girls this season has moved at a glacial pace. Refurbishing the Inn is into its sixth month and I don’t even think they have picked out paint colors or wallpaper yet. On the BBC they accomplish this shit in one day on someone else’s house. And for someone going to Yale Rory spends a lot of time hanging around the house. But this show isn’t about plot. It’s about banter. And the banter flows as fast and funny and as chock full of obscure pop culture references as ever, so as long as the girls keep talking I’ll keep watching.

3. Line of Fire (ABC)

Sopranos lite with equal time for the law enforcement characters. So far the characters have seemed a little slow to develop except for David Paymer’s sociopathic mob boss and Leslie Hope’s chain smoking FBI field office head. But they seem to be willing to let the stories unfold naturally, and not rush to wrap things up neatly every hour and I respect that. Plus I guess now you can say “shit” on network broadcast television so the dialogue has a little more verisimilitude. And that’s that with that.

4. Alias (ABC) /24 (FOX)

Um, apparently Sydney is some sort of savior foretold of in the 16th century and she kicks high. Jack is a junkie and Nina is back. But does anyone really know what the hell is going on here? Does it matter as long as people fight and grimace and stuff blows up good? These are action shows and they have action. It ain’t Harold Pinter.

5. The Daily Show/w John Stewart (Comedy Central)

Still my primary source for humor, news and humorous news.

6. Tru Calling (FOX) /Dead Like Me (Showtime)

Tru Calling answers the question, “What if you worked in a morgue and every day was Groundhog Day and you had to keep someone from dying again?” Whereas Dead Like Me addresses the question, “What if you were dead already and your job was to be a Grim Reaper and make sure someone else died today?”

7. The Joe Schmo Show (SpikeTV) /Surf Girls (MTV) (

I have never seen a single episode of Survivor. I would rather plunge a narwhal horn into my eardrum than hear another warbler from American Idol. And I haven’t watched the Real World since everybody started getting naked and jumping in the hot tub on Day One. So what the hell do I know about what makes a good reality show? If you are a reality TV fan you probably won’t like these two shows. Don’t feel bad. I don’t think anyone else in America did. But if seeing a really nice guy mercilessly jerked around by a house full of actors pretending to be real people sounds like fun, or if you wouldn’t mind watching a dozen or so beautiful, athletic, emotionally unstable surfer girls travel around to some of the most beautiful spots on the Pacific Rim and surf then you might like these shows. I did. My wife did. I’ve never met one other person who did though, so you probably won’t.

8. The Shield (FX)

It has been nearly a year since Vic pummeled his last perp, so I can only say I am anxiously awaiting season three. Good rule breaking law enforcemnt fun.

9. Pet Keeping with Marc Morrone (Syndicated)

This pet advice show is in its second incarnation. It used to be called The Pet Shop, and it used to be better before it had a Martha Stewart makeover. When Marc Morrone is standing in his pseudo studio Pet shop with rabbits, chinchillas, guinea pigs, puppies, kittens, cats, hamsters, macaws, cockatiels, ferrets, prairie dogs, and more are scurrying around him, on him, over him, under him, and all over each other it is the most fun you can have with your TV set. More remotes, more guests, more actual advice have only taken away from what used to be a half hour of total all-out fluffy cuteness. Still even on the new show they do eventually get to the good stuff. There should just be a channel that shows his critters running around 24/7. You don’t even need him. Although I would miss not seeing the macaw occasionally try to eat his glasses.

10. Arrested Development (FOX)

I think this is the only network sitcom I watch. It is funny, but I’m afraid the writing is too smart for it to last. Of course, Frasier was on for like 17 years and had really good writng so maybe there is hope.


If my viewing habits are any barometer you can look for all these shows to be cancelled shortly. Among the new shows that I started watching this year were Skin, Tarzan, and Karen Sisco. They all were swiftly cancelled, except Karen Sisco which might be back in March. I'm just sayin'. Don't get too attatched. I know some of you are still recovering Buffy watchers. One day at a time friend and take reruns as needed.

2003 Top Ten Favorite Films


I hate to say it but the last time I really posted anything substantial here was my 2002 Top Ten. Please don't hate me because I procrastinate.

Here is my list of favorites

1. American Splendor

I really, really liked it. I have been a fan of the comic American Splendor for almost 20 years and I really, really liked the way they adapted the original material for the screen. Really.

2. Whale Rider
3. Bend it Like Beckham

Real girl power from New Zealand and the U.K.

4. Touching the Void

An amazing survival story of two climbers trapped by a storm at the summit of a remote peak in Peru. Then one breaks his leg and the real trouble begins. A documentary that deftly intersperses gripping reenactments with gripping talking heads.

5. Dracula: Pages from a Virgins Diary

A film of a ballet based on Bram Stoker's Dracula. If that sounds good to you then you will love this. If that sounds weird to you then you will still love it.
Directed in a stylized pseudo-silent era film style by Guy Maddin, who also directed a near miss film for my list this year The Saddest Music in the World also in a sylized pseudo-silent era style.

6. The School of Rock

The laugh out loud funniest feel good movie of the year. Do I really need to say Jack Black Rules.

7. Lost in Translation

Poigniant, understated, and everybody's obligatory top ten film, so what do you need my two cents for.

8. Story of the Weeping Camel

A wonderful documentary made as a student project by a German film class in Mongolia. You get a wonderful cast of real people surviving in an isolated part of the world in large part due to the health of their camel herd. A mother camel rejects her calf and a muscian needs to be brought to perform the ceremony that will get them to bond, or the calf will starve. Unfortunately the nearest muscian who can perform the ceremony is 500 miles away. And yes, the baby lives, and the mother really does weep.

9. Bubba-ho-Tep

Bruce Campbell as Elvis and JFK (in the body of Ossie Davis) battle Egyptian mummies in a nursing home in Texas. What more do you need to know.

10. Ong Bak: Muy Thai Warrior
From Thailand comes the most fun, most spectacular, martial arts film since The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk, and the star "insert unpronouncable name here" is certainly the next Jackie Chan and Jet Li rolled into one. All stunts seen are seen actual size. No Wires.
No special effects.

Honorable Mentions: The Saddest Music in the World Shattered Glass; Thirteen; Zatoichi; 28 Days Later; Swimming Pool; Fulltime Killer; The Legend of Suriyothai; The Eye.

If my list seems especially devoid of big Hollywood prestige Blockbusters such as Master and Commander, Mystic River, Lord of the Rings, Cold Mountain, The Last Samurai, Seabiscuit, etc. Well that's because I didn't see them. None of them. I don't really even know why. I do fully intend to see The Lord of the Rings, but beyond that none of the usual Academy suspects this year really held much allure for me. I don't think they suck. I'm not against Hollywood movies per se. I just am at the point where I don't really feel obligated to see what I don't particularly want to see. If that means I'm missing alot of good films, well, I could give you a list a mile long of other good films I missed and you know life is short and movies are long, nowadays mostly way too long.

So as they used to say in Rome de gustibus non disputandum. I really feel strongly that in matters of taste it is silly, completely silly, to argue over someones likes and dislikes. If I like something that you thought was absolute drivel what am I supposed to do about that? "Sorry I guess I was wrong. I guess I really didn't enjoy that movie for whatever strange idiosyncratic reason. I guess that film really didn't appeal to my particular unique individual perspective."

Think of aesthetic preferences as if they were sexual fetishes. If leather boots or golden showers turn you on, then who am I to say they shouldn't. Hollywood movies are sort of like the missionary position with the lights off. The majority of people are doing it and they seem to be enjoying it. That doesn't mean your sex life can't be a four hour sub-titled epic set in a Soviet tractor factory, but it doesnt really make you better than everybody either.

If you prefer Happy Gilmore to The Sweet Hereafter what is that to me or you. We live in a world with a dizzying array of entertainment choices where Adam Sandler and Atom Egoyan can exist side by side and one doesn't need to kill the other.

Next: My top TV shows and Favorite Reads and why you should love them too.