Tuesday, September 15, 1998

September 15, 1998

"For six years I was a visitor to a distant celestial body, the planet Television... Six years later I left, awed by the peculiar wonders I encountered on this voyage... I learned that even if they lose money... the networks will preen when they win the prime-time ratings race, like three vain toughs battling for bragging rights to a street corner. I learned network officials can sound like cancer patients, who, after a rare peaceful night of sleep, delude themselves into believing their long nightmare is over." -- Ken Auletta, Three Blind Mice

Quote quoted from a quote on TeeVee.

Television commercials often disturb me. It's not simply the worship of the mercantile they practically demand, it's the gol-darned lack of common sense too often displayed. Have you seen the Enterprise Rent-a-Car "Pick Enterprise; We'll Pick You Up" spot? Doesn't it seem odd the car speeding to pick up the stranded motorist is completely wrapped in Kraft paper? Does this strike you as safe driving behavior?!?

I taped the Emmy Awards Sunday night (all four hours), but I still haven't watched most of the tape. The first few minutes with Costas were tedious and the first few video retrospectives enormously unsatisfying. But David Hyde Pierce's acceptance speech was quite moving. I'll soldier on.

I'm visiting Los Angeles and Las Vegas later this month, and I'm taking suggestions for places to enjoy a quintessentially cheesy Vegas experience. I'm already planning to stay at the Excalibur Hotel, resplendent in its Arthurian camp. A visit to the Liberace museum is on tap. And, of course, I'll be taking in the Star Trek thingy at the Hilton. But I'm open to any and all suggestions of classic Vegas cheez.

I mentioned a few days back that I'd discovered James Lileks' site on the web, and I bring it up again because I'm thoroughly enjoying my exploration of it, particularly his memories of his youth and hometown. Latest fave: a gentle, annotated photo memoir of his father's filling station.

If any restraint at all has been demonstrated in the whole MonicaGate (and why the hell did "gate" become the suffix of choice to denote "scandal"?), I think it's been on the part of The Gap for not immediately running a big sale on little blue cocktail dresses. But maybe it's just that they are making enough money -- piles and piles, in fact -- on the Old Navy side. [Philadelphia Inquirer]