War is Hell (and Boring)

The Nielsen people came calling again this week, and Gina answered the phone. She was quite pleased that they had caught her at a moment when we were busy watching Ken Burns' "The War" documentary mini-series on PBS. If you recall our earlier experiences with the Nielsens, you'll know that our male-heavy household - Gina vs John (the tenant and touring comedian) and I - put a lot of sports viewing into the little ratings book, making us look like unrefined neanderthals, I guess. This time we're like college graduates or people who drink wine.

So that's been one of the benefits of taking 2+ hours nightly to learn about WWII, a subject that I'd have to admit I know surprisingly little about. Like that whole Africa leg? I had no idea.

Watching the war develop, my only frame of reference is the HBO series Band of Brothers. I don't really remember where the Band of Brothers guys went (I definitely remember they went somewhere with David Schwimmer), so I keep hoping to catch a glimpse of Marky Mark's brother so I can put the whole puzzle together.

The War doesn't move quite as fast as Band of Brothers - the stories are just as interesting and worth telling, but it seems like they're more drawn out, and I find myself wondering why I keep coming back to watch the show. Part of it is some sort of self-imposed patriotic duty, and the other part is probably because if I record it to the Tivo I'll have it deleted by the end of the week, knowing I'll never watch it.

Ironically enough, I've had experience with a Ken Burns documentary before - "Baseball". I wonder what the Nielsens though of that one.

i tend to hate everything

Last evening Gina and I sat down to take in The Sweet Hereafter, a movie which seemed to be universally loved by critics. It was not universally loved by Gina and myself.

Perhaps I have some sort of chip on my shoulder, but it seems as though any time small town life is portrayed on the big screen, it's all wrong. Small towns are painted either as quaint and charming, or humble and hopeless. And while I'll agree that small towns definitely have those elements, they don't contain them in any larger quantity than larger towns or cities.

So while the film is painted as "the way the tragedy diminishes rather than enhances the town's sense of community", it seemed to me more like another take on the wickedness of lawyers and how they can take small town rubes.

A wasted couple of hours, I guess.

I should have spent the time finishing up Season 1 of HBO's The Wire, another show loved by critics (and everyone else), and met with apathy by my critical eye. It's not that The Wire is a bad show, it's just that it's not as good as the hype (and few things are).

Given the choice, I'd rather watch Deadwood, another HBO show, where I'm drawn to the characters and actually interested in how things will turn out. Sure, I've learned a lot about criminal investigation and drug running from The Wire, but as it turns out I really don't care.

I'd be interested to hear your opinion on the shows, if you have one.