An Ongoing Struggle of Dedication

The weird thing about my blog is that the readership numbers (allegedly) continue to grow even as I don't blog as much. A less vain writer would take this as an indictment of his writing ability, but after running my own news site for (almost) a year, I realize that there is a lot of value in an extensive back catalog. (In a true sign of the height of my own vanity, I often find myself clicking through past entries I've done, thanks to the “You Might Like...” prompting at the bottom of each of my entries.)

Anyway. My own effort on this has wavered, obviously. I've almost restarted about five times in the ensuing, unplanned five month vacation of mine from writing. In fact, it's bizarre to look back at my last entry to realize that the last time I wrote was the first week I got my cat, which has now been with me for three months. (As a status update on the cat, he really enjoys my new apartment much more, since the windows are much lower to the ground and he can perch there. He's still really, really old.)

At least for now, there should be posts queued up for these next two weeks – another one on Thursday, and Monday, Wednesday and Friday of next week. Beyond that, I'll have to see. If I continue writing, it will probably be on more evergreen topics, since the demands of work often don't leave me with time to do posts on the fly. I'm still a big fan of my workplace and what not, but it does take a full 40 to 50 hours a week, as compared to past journalism jobs, where I did get a bit more time to coast. (On the plus side, there are few things more joyous to me than being able to set my own hours.)

Addressing some of the comments that piled up in my absence: People are really quite into Kristen Wiig. I haven't seen Bridesmaids, but I kind of want to – it looks funny. However, to refine my earlier arguments on Wiig, it's not that I don't think she's funny. I just think she's way, way overused on Saturday Night Live. It's a habit Lorne Michaels can lapse into at times; some of the Jimmy Fallon years, he is in every single sketch too. But now that he has his own show and the humor isn't as forced, I've come to enjoy him much more. I imagine Wiig will be the same thing – I'll probably like her “Best Of” DVD, and whatever future endeavors she's into.

A quick post of odds and ends.

Saturdays are always my least-read day, which in turn makes it hard for me to get the proper motivation toward them. A couple weeks ago, I had the idea of using it as a showcase for my horrible cartoon strip, The Greatest Comic Ever Ever, and I managed to get the first one posted. However, I probably don't have regular access to a scanner for another couple of weeks, so I've decided to delay pursuing that completely.

So, since I don't have the comic to use for Saturdays, I decided instead to do some random odds and ends, entertainment-wise. You know, for things I couldn't really do a full post on, but that still interest me. For example...


- Did you know Paris Hilton can be funny? Me either! And surprisingly, it took Jimmy Fallon to get it out of her. The above is still one of my favorite Saturday Night Live clips. She wasn't hosting this episode, just doing a guest spot, which is probably why it was decent. (The episode she did host wasn't that well-received by the cast, apparently.)

Always funny and awesome though is Kenan Thompson in "What Up With That." I notice something new each time, like how Kenan doesn't slap Lindsay Buckingham's hand.


- I caught some of the Betty White-featuring Hot in Cleveland the other night, and I thought it was pretty enjoyable. If you like The Golden Girls, but wish they weren't all effing ancient, then this is funny in a similar way. The only annoying aspect is the persistent laugh track. It's a good, old school style scripted comedy, with a completely ridiculous premise of three showbiz workers deciding to leave it all behind for the relaxed life of Cleveland, but it is overall a bit of a throwback to a somewhat bygone era.

However, it does make me question whether it is wrong for me to be quite enamored with Jane Leeves. She's almost 50, but between the accent and the general good looks, she's still quite foxy.

The picture of Jane comes from this TV Land photo gallery, which is also the network the show is on.

TV Review: SNL merely average with sub-par host

Hey, Saturday Night Live still has new episodes this year! For some reason, I find this surprising. Because of their rigorous writing and rehearsal schedules, it always feels like they start later and finish sooner than every other show out there.

In an iffy season like this one, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The best part of last night's show was the embed clip above, which was actually by one of the show's writers, not even a cast member. I definitely agree with his take on Girl Scout cookies; I could eat boxes of those god damn Thin Mints at any point of the year. (As a bonus, Seth Meyers and I apparently think alike - I wrote my blog earlier today about the Lane Bryant models before his thing on the Charmin bears with toilet paper stuck to their ass.)

Beyond Weekend Update, the only other skit I really enjoyed was the recurring one with Tina Funnylastname, the doorbell tone saleswoman. This time though, she was working on alarm clocks. Much like "What up with that?" and Astronaut Jones, the sketch is just so silly and weird that I can't help but laughing every time I see it. While Jenny Slate will probably still be remembered mostly for dropping an F-bomb on her debut show, I like this character of hers.

Beyond that though, the show was very meh. Gabourey Sidibe sucked as the host, which didn't really surprise me. Her, uh, unique look kind of limits what sort of skits and roles she can be in, so I was subjected to her as an angry black lady in an apartment complex and as a disgruntled federal worker. Also, she apparently studied for her hosting stint by reviewing nothing but Jimmy Fallon tapes, since she flubbed lines and cracked up laughing at several points.

If you didn't catch this episode, then I recommend you just watch Weekend Update and the alarm clock skit - it's about 10 minutes after Update - instead of subjecting yourself to the entire thing.

Grade: C-