The Point Game- Post Weekend Edition

-2: The O.C. for introducing the general public to the most annoying slang yet…obvi (short for obviously, as if that wasn’t…well…obvious). For the most part The O.C. has been a positive influence on pop culture from it’s geek sheik fashion to the various music acts they’ve “broken”. The writers and producers need to remember their power and not be so careless when they toss around new words.

-8: David Blaine. I remember watching a special on David Blaine back in 2001. He pretty much just walked around New York and did some freaky magic tricks on people. I thought it was great to see a magician do tricks on a small scale that can still amaze people. Who needs David Copperfield and his gimmicks like making the Statue of Liberty disappear, when you’ve got a real magician around. Five years later I’m longing for Copperfield or magic man Doug Henning. Blaine has become a stuntman, not a magician. Living in a snow globe for 8 days? Holding your breath for 9 minutes? Why not jump a school bus on your motorcycle next. Just makes me sad to see a guy who seemed to be an original genius turn into an original idiot.

+1: Family Guy for describing Sex and the City as a show about “3 hookers and their mom.” My love of Family Guy is only equaled by my confusion over the success of Sex and the City. Yet the quote only gets one point since I am suffering from a crisis of Family Guy faith ever since the South Park episode that revealed truth behind the FG writers.

-3: NBC for pulling the scheduled West Wing retrospective off its schedule with no explanation. For weeks, an hour long look back at the show was scheduled to air before next week’s finale but it has now been replaced with a repeat of the pilot episode. Maybe the clip show was no good but throw us a bone here as to the reason for the sudden change.

-2: Tom Hanks for phoning in Saturday Night Live. As I’ve stated many times I don’t care for Hanks as an actor but he’s at his best doing comedy. His past SNL performances have been very good so I actually recorded this Saturday’s show. Big mistake. I suppose it could have been the massive hangover I was recovering from or the lack of good writing but it seemed like Hanks just didn’t care. SNL still has its occasional moments but this weekend was not one of them.

+3: Saturday Night Life. I usually don’t talk about my non pop culture life on the blog but I had to give some points up after my Saturday night. I may be getting older but there’s still something appealing about attending a house party, especially one where you only know a handful of people. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “I hate people, but I love gatherings. Isn’t it ironic?” You’re thrown into social situations that you don’t find in everyday life. So on Saturday, besides being introduced to a number of fascinating people, I was also introduced to shampooing, a variation of a keg stand. In fact, when I saw people leaning back in a chair sucking beer right from the tap I must admit I made a few derogatory comments about the task. So after accepting a challenge I settled back and gave it a try. Not as easy as it looked and almost as difficult as a keg stand. As a bonus, you don’t have to impose on others to pick you up…at least not until later in the night when you’re passed out on the floor.