my eyes have finally been opened to the sheer brilliance that is “family guy”…i’ve really had the best of intentions in wanting to check it out…everyone i know with a respectable opinion has been raving about it’s pure comic genius…i just haven’t devoted my utmost attention to finding out when it’s on…i have to run into shows to start watching them…that’s how i’ve come to like most of the shows i enjoy today…smallville…the oc…and well that’s about it i guess…but that’s what happened…i just got done watching “amish in the city” (my new wed. night staple) and flipped to fox…and there it was…in all it’s glory…family guy…
at first, i wasn’t overly impressed…i was thinking it was just a simpson’s cop-off…but then it dove so much deeper…purely satirical…in two episodes they stereotyped and railed on feminists, civil rights movements, and hicks…it was great…but dont’ get me wrong…i still love the simpson’s and would consider them the pioneers in more “adult animation” (not the dirty kind…geesh)…but i just love how family guy’s written…how when they reference something in the past they always flashback to it…or the long awkward pauses that just really draws out the humor…good stuff…i’m gonna have to rent the past 3 seasons on dvd now…and then catch the new season when it comes to fox…which i guess won’t be out til next may…darn you fox…first of all taking this great show off the air so that i wasn’t exposed to it until now…and 2nd for keeping it off the air long enough that i’ll probably forget about it by the time you decide to start airing it again…
so this weekend i realized two things about myself that never quite made sense to me before…i attended the annual canton greek festival at the civic center w/ my family…my grandparents and loads of my other greek relatives from my mom’s side attend faithfully every year…i however have not been so faithful…this year i decided to appease the .25% of me that is greek and tag along…the food was excellent as greek food always is…and the greek dancing and music is always entertaining to watch (once every year or so)…but as i sat there and looked around…i realized something…something that i’ve never been able to figure out about myself before…something that has eluded all logic and reason up to that point in time…my seemingly natural inclination to darker-haired women…and my random fascination with wine…holy crap…it’s in my blood…what a revelation…
suddenly the world makes a whole lot more sense…
notable quotes (family edition)
“i don’t know…it’s all greek to me” - my dad in response to my uncle dave showing off his recently acquired grecian linguistic skills
“mum’s the word…mum’s the word” - my uncle jim…the staunch republican state representative…trying to stifle my laughter as he pointed out his latest creative endeavor…putting “bush-cheney ‘04” bumper stickers on everyone’s cars at my grandparents house
“it doesn’t matter where we’re all from, as long as we’re all in the same religion” - family guy
who are the ad wizards who came up with that one?
a look by yours truly at the dreadful attempts by the apparent nimwits who actually think they’ve come up with commercials that attract consumers to their product
dang…i distinctly remember there being two commercials that i was outright laughing at last night because of how utterly pitiful they were…but i can only remember the one…so if i see the other i’ll be sure to include it in a later entry…
eclipse minty fresh gum (or something of the sort)
we join what seem to be two scientists in a lab busy at work…the man looks to be of an arabian descent with a full beard and is wearing a lab coat and one of those doctor’s scrub cap-thingies…the woman is of caucasian descent and is working hard when the arabian-looking man leans over to her and in a very sexy-like tone says that he just ate dinner or something as he inches closer to the woman…however, the woman detects no foul output…so he breaths on her as he inches even closer…they’re at near kiss position now…and there is obvious tension between them as he continues to breath on her and she still detects no foul smelling odor eminating from his gaping mouth…then comes the product plug and i’m on my way to the next advertisement with what i guess is supposed to be a deep longing to go buy eclipse gum…
now i know my details are a little sketchy…but what the heck is that supposed to prove? is it some kind of social commentary? why in the world would they pick an arabian-looking man for the commercial? was it a subtle comment on the war in iraq? or are the big wigs at eclipse now trying to market their product to those of arabian descent in light of all the negative views of those with muslim background? and if so are they offending them by saying they normally have bad breath? i suppose it could be explained by saying they had to fulfil a certain cross section of race in their commercials…
ok…but that still doesn’t explain why the couple is in near embrace over the fact that he now has minty-smelling breath…i mean they are at work…and in a busy laboratory no less…there are probably countless important things they could be doing…checking test results…filling up beakers with various colored liquids…exploding things…instead this bearded fellow is trying to woo over his co-worker with his newfound environmentally-friendly breath…
i mean really what are these ad guys thinking? why did they pick a busy laboratory to set the scene up? what’s with the arabian man? and what about the anticlimactic ending with them not coming through on the kiss…wow talk about random…i mean i do enjoy randomness…but in a 30 second commercial advertising gum?
it’s commercials like these that really give hope to guys like me…guys who know they could do so much better at writing stuff like that but who don’t have the will or determination to actually pursue a life in “the biz”…and well, i guess i wouldn’t really say that directing tv commercials is much of a life anyways…
######Note: This post is from a very old Xanga blog of mine. A very, very old blog. In fact, it’s practically a museum. Be sure not to touch any old references or links. You won’t break them, they are most certainly already broken.