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I'm a fan of the prevue guide channel. You can tell because I spell it the way they do. This habit annoys some people when over, but I tend to do it more when watching television alone. I don't like to just randomly surf from channel 01-100 -- instead I prefer watching the menu, finding two or three possibilities, and then flipping between those channels only. This habit means I watch lots of the "TV Guide Channel" (is it really a whole channel?) and was happy to first discover that Debbie Matenopolus had work. I don't even like Debbie that much, but she still deserves work.
I was one of the first to memorize Miss Cleo commercials, since they were first shown prominently on the The Box as well as the prevue guide. But in Chicago, the most frequently rotated ads came from Erik A. Martin and Associates. He does debt-consolidation and bankruptcy legal work -- I suppose it's the field's equivalent of ambulance-chasing, since people without money sit at home broke and watch cable. Or maybe that's just me. Anyway, the ads are very "cable" in appearance, feature bad local actors (mostly all of them of color), and often strange pop culture references, like Creditor the Clown (a bankruptcy version of Homey the Clown). Erik is a young-looking mid-30's african-american guy who appears at the end of the ad to encourage people to let him help them, then the jingle comes on: Like a breath of fresh air....Erik A. Martin, and associates! I can harmonize to it, I've heard it so much.
Something happened to Erik. A couple weeks ago, I saw a new version of one of these ads. Same premise, same dialogue, same living room, but a different actor. This woman was white.
The ad was not for Erik, but for some thirty-something deadfish looking white guy named Robert J. Semrod. I can't remember if there are associates or not. I was disturbed. I think Robert dropped the Creditor the Clown character completely. Did he absorb Erik's firm? Are they partners, but decided to split the city up, and since I live on the northside, now I get the white version of the ads? It's very confusing and upsetting to me for some reason. Almost as upsetting as the movie I just watched, Auto Focus.
I rented two films this weekend, The Ring and Auto Focus, and while I doubt Greg Kinnear will give me nightmarish images before falling asleep like creep crazy girl in The Ring, my stomach is way more upset by this biopic. I think because it started off sort of hot and kinky and a touch queer, but then as his life gets out of control, it made sex feel really icky and unhealthy and nonsexy. Especially since it started off so hopeful, with this great scene between Bob Crane and his soon-to-be second wife where she says she knows about all the women he sleeps with, and it's okay, and she doesn't want him to have to lie to her anymore than she wants to lie to him, and that she loves him and she wants to fuck him. Like, right then, as well as in the future. Then she adds, "we can be married any way we want." It was this great refreshing dialogue, where for a tiny moment my life could possibly have been reflected in a movie. But then his "sexual addiction" spirals out of control and his career sucks and his weird friendship with his porn/sex partner-crime buddy gets all codependent and psycho and violent and whatnot. Not a happy ending. And I knew how it was going to end -- that whole based on a true story and all. But I didn't like feeling so sleazy at the end. Especially because they pulled the whole "I'm going to change my life tomorrow, oops I got killed tonight, isn't that ironic?" thing. I've seen this many times, and the one that got the most was Boyz in the Hood. This movie phenomenon is also related to those plots where the main character battling addiction gets sober in the end but either dies during a relapse or better yet, killed by some other junkie/druggie/drunk.
But anyway yeah, interesting movie and a good performance by Kinnear as an actor, but what a fcking downer. I'm not even in the mood to get myself off now. Maybe I'll just take a bath instead. Especially since my shower and tub are sparkling after my first succesful use of CLR cleaner yesterday afternoon.
I was one of the first to memorize Miss Cleo commercials, since they were first shown prominently on the The Box as well as the prevue guide. But in Chicago, the most frequently rotated ads came from Erik A. Martin and Associates. He does debt-consolidation and bankruptcy legal work -- I suppose it's the field's equivalent of ambulance-chasing, since people without money sit at home broke and watch cable. Or maybe that's just me. Anyway, the ads are very "cable" in appearance, feature bad local actors (mostly all of them of color), and often strange pop culture references, like Creditor the Clown (a bankruptcy version of Homey the Clown). Erik is a young-looking mid-30's african-american guy who appears at the end of the ad to encourage people to let him help them, then the jingle comes on: Like a breath of fresh air....Erik A. Martin, and associates! I can harmonize to it, I've heard it so much.
Something happened to Erik. A couple weeks ago, I saw a new version of one of these ads. Same premise, same dialogue, same living room, but a different actor. This woman was white.
The ad was not for Erik, but for some thirty-something deadfish looking white guy named Robert J. Semrod. I can't remember if there are associates or not. I was disturbed. I think Robert dropped the Creditor the Clown character completely. Did he absorb Erik's firm? Are they partners, but decided to split the city up, and since I live on the northside, now I get the white version of the ads? It's very confusing and upsetting to me for some reason. Almost as upsetting as the movie I just watched, Auto Focus.
I rented two films this weekend, The Ring and Auto Focus, and while I doubt Greg Kinnear will give me nightmarish images before falling asleep like creep crazy girl in The Ring, my stomach is way more upset by this biopic. I think because it started off sort of hot and kinky and a touch queer, but then as his life gets out of control, it made sex feel really icky and unhealthy and nonsexy. Especially since it started off so hopeful, with this great scene between Bob Crane and his soon-to-be second wife where she says she knows about all the women he sleeps with, and it's okay, and she doesn't want him to have to lie to her anymore than she wants to lie to him, and that she loves him and she wants to fuck him. Like, right then, as well as in the future. Then she adds, "we can be married any way we want." It was this great refreshing dialogue, where for a tiny moment my life could possibly have been reflected in a movie. But then his "sexual addiction" spirals out of control and his career sucks and his weird friendship with his porn/sex partner-crime buddy gets all codependent and psycho and violent and whatnot. Not a happy ending. And I knew how it was going to end -- that whole based on a true story and all. But I didn't like feeling so sleazy at the end. Especially because they pulled the whole "I'm going to change my life tomorrow, oops I got killed tonight, isn't that ironic?" thing. I've seen this many times, and the one that got the most was Boyz in the Hood. This movie phenomenon is also related to those plots where the main character battling addiction gets sober in the end but either dies during a relapse or better yet, killed by some other junkie/druggie/drunk.
But anyway yeah, interesting movie and a good performance by Kinnear as an actor, but what a fcking downer. I'm not even in the mood to get myself off now. Maybe I'll just take a bath instead. Especially since my shower and tub are sparkling after my first succesful use of CLR cleaner yesterday afternoon.
