Archive for March, 2005

Ellen DeGeneres not funny

March 6th, 2005

I saw the HBO special "The Beginning" and unfortunately it wasn't very good. The material isn't bad but she doesn't perform well. Sometimes she will be so brief about it as to suggest that this stuff is so good, I'll just say it and you'll laugh at that, I don't need a performance. Another problem is being too gentle, if she would push the envelope on some of her ideas, it could be much better.

just one morning

March 6th, 2005

I'm sure you've seen that commercial a bunch of times. It doesn't even matter what product it's for because you don't notice the product anyway. It's all about the atmosphere.

Let me describe it for you. A person wakes up one morning, in most cases it's an attractive woman, you see a shot of the bed, the clean and slightly curled up bed sheets, the bed has a head board, above it there's a small shelf or a picture or something like that. On both sides of the bed there are night stands with small lamps above them. The carpet is white or at least a very light color, that's what dominates the scene, plenty of white. The walls are white and quite plain but the room looks elegant, like you see in one of those home decorating magazines, the modern look. You can't see the window in the opening shot but there are scattered rays of sunlight protruding the bed and the room, not enough to blind the woman in bed and make the room too hot, just enough to create a nice effect of sunlight entering the room. The cherry on the cake is the soothing music being played over this sequence. The woman opens her eyes, stretches her arms and begins to exit the bed. She goes into the bathroom and takes a shower, the product is usually soap, shampoo, deodorant, perfume, something like that. But the whole point of the scene is to create a decidedly peaceful atmosphere in the room just as morning sets in, not a care in the world, perfect harmony. The woman wakes up perfectly rested, eager to start a new day. It's like a piece of paradise.

I would like to have *one* morning like that. I never get that, even if I buy the soap. ;) My morning looks like that Wella Shockwaves commercial, with the gorilla dragging the guy - who's asleep - through the room by his hair, doing everything to mess up his hair. I also never feel fully rested when I wake up, it happened to me once in years. It doesn't matter if I sleep early or late, if I go to bed early or late, what time of year it is, what the weather is, what the temperature in the room is, it just doesn't happen. Everyday I wake up I feel like I could use a couple more hours of sleep.

If you figure out a way to have that morning from those commercials, let me know.

next on the list

March 5th, 2005

Hotel Rwanda
Mar Adentro (omg it IS screening in Trondheim, call the president!! :o)
Hitch

message of the day

March 4th, 2005

- You know I'm not doing any more tv appearances, I feel like I've had enough publicity because people only go after the scandals, I want people to appreciate the story. I'd rather be a good person with bad book sales than a bad person with great book sales.
- Would you settle for douchebag with a library card?

pictures weeee

March 3rd, 2005

Pictures from my recent excursion to Salerno have been published. There's also a series of pictures taken through an aircraft window going back to Amsterdam should that tickle your fancy.

Feel free to go nuts. ;)