popular thinking

ODDS AND ENDS: Work keeps me busy lately, so no time til now to review some of the more interesting tidbits from the past couple of days. Let's review...

Jack Shafer notes in Slate how TomKat hasn't only stumped you, but also the tabloids!

Speaking of TomKat, Roger Friedman from Fox News weighs in on the so-called "missing days" between when we saw Katie Holmes pre-Cruise and when we saw her reappear as Cruise's love interest. I'll just note that while 16 days seem quick, and while everything about TomKat smells fishy, personal experience taught me that you can go from meeting a person to being crazy in love within 16 days. Of course, TomKat -- still crazy.

Something about the massive continuing TV coverage of both the missing Utah boy scout and the runaway bride doesn't seem right, either. Conventional wisdom would lead you to believe that the TV nets still cover these things because of "slow news days." But there are no such thing as slow news days. Plenty to talk about. But the media, and particularly the TV ilk, are lazy and tend toward the easy gets that hold promise for lots of camera time. Least interesting thing I learned about the boy scout tonight: He didn't talk much. Most interesting thing I learned about the boy scout: He hid from searchers. I didn't grow up scouting, but is playing hide-and-go-seek with search and rescue folk part of the program?

The "writers" of "reality" TV shows want union wages. So do video-game voice actors. SAG's reply? Tough luck for the latter.

Nicole Kidman joins the iTunes celebrity playlist chorus. Her kid likes the top 40. She likes when beaus write songs for her. I knew I should've learned to play guitar...

The Thighmaster is one of several, I suspect, who can easily quote better lines than some listed in AFI's Top 100 Movie Quotes. From the parts of the show I caught the other night, it seemed as though some of the selections weren't really about the line in question, but about the entire scene surrounding the line. Prime example: A line from When Harry Met Sally in which the director's mother (yes, that's correct) says "I'll have what she's having." That line gets a laugh, but only because it follows Meg Ryan faking an orgasm. Here is an old-time quote that should've made the list: "What's up, Doc?" Yes, it was animated. But the Looney Tunes were films first and foremost. Better Off Dead and Fletch, full of great long-lasting quotes. How about this: "Your son, Ferris, was absent nine times this semester. Nine times." Real Genius is packed with memorable lines that only the proud few will own up to remembering. Sir Thighs was especially on point with "Shall we play a game?" and "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya." Then again, AFI is just like so many listmakers, making their lists and not really caring so much about accuracy so long as the list gets us all talking. Which I've clearly proven. You gots me.