Lazy Sundaes

Sundays are for Sundaes. Today, Brigitte and I enjoyed a delicious mid-afternoon Ice Cream Sundae, complete with chocolate ice cream and cookie dough ice cream mixed together, peanut butter shell, chocolate syrup, peanut butter M&M's, and sprinkles. This weekend in pop culture was a lot like the sundae we ate -- fulfilling, maybe a little excessive, but leaving me with a smile.

2001: A Space Odyssey = Ice Cream
Is it so much to ask for a film that is good on the merits of pacing, mood, and good direction? Of course not. Of course, it helps when the film is directed by Stanley Kubrick and it is presented at a totally awesome movie theater. Like the ice cream of a sundae, the "actually good movie" element of the weekend is the most important element of the weekend. I left the Heights Theatre in Columbia Heights (north of Minneapolis) feeling wonderful about having seen a timeless classic movie on a beautiful screen, complete with superb sound, an intermission which allowed me to buy popcorn and Sierra Mist without missing anything, and a crowd full of non-obnoxious movie nerds. Like the beautiful cinematography, music, and still-stunning visual effects, ice cream makes me feel warm in my tummy. Yum yum yum.

The Wire = Chocolate Syrup
Naturally, one cannot have a sundae without chocolate syrup. And, one could not have a fully satisfying pop culture weekend without stunningly good television. Now, don't be givin' us no spoilers here because Brigitte and I are only four episodes into season four, and season five is safely tucked away on my DVR. I will say, though,
********SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**********
that the guy who is running major crimes now is a MAJOR JERK!! He's like that jerk from Ghostbusters who shuts down Ghostbusters and inadvertently lets the ghosts loose. The only difference is that the consequences of shutting down an actually effective wiretap are much more realistic and more devastating. Well, ghosts are pretty devastating too, but in a totally different, non-sociological kind of way. Oh, I hope I didn't insult the ghosts too much and they come out of Glen Hansard's beard.
**************END SPOILERS!!!!!*************
Regardless, great films and great television go together like ice cream and chocolate syrup.

Most HD-Only Channels = Peanut Butter Shell
Here is the point of the sundae when we start to get irrelevent. Sure, peanut butter shell makes an ice cream sundae all the more interesting and perhaps more of a novelty, but does it really substantially make the sundae more delicious? Likewise for the HD channels that we get that are there to prove that our HD television indeed is in color -- the "Pussycat Dolls: Live in Manchester" concert we watched 5 minutes of this weekend was indeed enough to get me riled up for a few minutes ("THIS ISN'T GOOD FOR LITTLE GIRLS TO WATCH THESE QUOTE-UNQUOTE 'DOLLS' 'SHOW 'EM WHAT YOU GOT'!!!!!!) and I can't say I totally regret it, but do I really need to see this, along with episodes of Threshold, i.e. "What if we threw together Data from Star Trek TNG, Peter Dinklage, Charles S. Dutton, that girl from Spin City, and some convoluted alien plot, shook it up, and marketed it to nerds? We'll get ourselves a hit show, CBS"? Similarly, the peanut butter shell sounds great on paper, but in fact does not provide much of a shell and is a little bit squishy instead of hard.

Saturday Night Live = Peanut Butter M&Ms
Like peanut butter M&Ms, an occasionally funny episode of SNL makes a weekend all the more special. Now, this week's episode of SNL was one of the more up-and-down eps since after the writers' strike, but some of the bits were great (Andy Samberg and gang at the restaurant). Likewise, if I eat too many peanut butter M&Ms I start feeling too sugary, in a few hours I am ready for more. When I look at Brigitte and sing "Doy! Doy! Doy doy doy doy! Doy doy doy doy doy," she'll laugh once; if I do it again in a few minutes, she'll laugh politely, but if I wait a few hours, she'll laugh genuinely again. Yes, peanut butter M&Ms, you are an important element.

The Soup = Sprinkles
Obviously E!'s The Soup does basically what we do but much better. And when falling asleep on a Saturday night, Joel McHale and his perfect summations of The Hills and other television shows makes me giggle enough to go to sleep peacefully. Sure, it doesn't add a whole lot of substance to the whole weekend, but it tops everything off with a candied, colorful decoration that makes all pop culture things of the weekend perfect. Without sprinkles on my sundae, I might not find it to be the perfect mid-afternoon snack, after my brunch and before my cheeseburger for dinner. Long live sprinkles, and long live The Soup.

This entry was posted by Unknown, on Sunday, May 11, 2008. You can leave your response.