I think I have adult ADD.
This is based entirely on reading a couple articles and watching the ads on TV for whatever drug is being hawked to people with the disorder and not by seeing any actual doctors. You know the bit where they ask if it seems like your mind keeps changing channels and you don't have the remote? That's me. I can't keep my mind on one thing for very long without a serious effort. I'll be going along, thinking things through in my head and suddenly realize I'm not working on whatever problem I first set out to work on. Worse, after backtracking through several other things I thought of in the meantime, I can't remember where the hell I started in the first place. Damned annoying really. On the other hand, I've adapted by making a point of juggling multiple projects/ideas at once. When my focus slips, it moves on to something else I want to work on and that way I stay productive. The downside is that I rarely ever finish anything. My desk is littered with notebooks of half-written reviews and editorials. It's been really getting on my nerves of late though. So bear with me as the Psychotic Reactions column is indefinitely hijacked into getting all these random thoughts out. This might seem a bit choppy.
Music
There was an article in the New York Times the other day about the resurgence of styles, music and even musicians from the 80s. The idea is that Generation-X has come down with a serious case of nostalgia and have started looking for ways to get that old 80s feeling back, whether it be with theme parties, 80s hits on the radio or trying to bring back leg warmers. Smelling money, record labels have talked several 80s groups into regrouping and making a new album. This has proved to be a wildly unsuccessfull venture. The record companies are surprised by this. I am not.
There are two big reasons why this hasn't been a hit. One is that the 80s were overflowing with one and two hit wonders. They have no real track record to inspire anyone to plunk down hard earned money for a name they only vaguely remember from twenty years ago. For every Madonna, the 80s spawned a couple dozen other acts like Kajagoogoo. Even their once young fans aren't interested enough to hear their new stuff.
The other reason is simple embarassment. One hit wonders are akin to one night stands. You briefly are thoroughly intoxicated by one band/song/lover, have a wild fling and then move on. Bringing back these acts is about the same as running into someone you had a one night stand with. It's awkward. You're embarassed by the situation and would prefer it just went away so you don't have to think about it. Don't believe me? Go through your music collection and see if you don't eventually come across something you now find yourself somewhat embarassed to have liked. I did the same thing and was horrified to discover not one, but two Poison CDs. I will go to my death bed insisting that I simply forgot to send back the response card in a music club and never actually intentionally bought them. I sure as hell won't spend a penny to get new Poison or go see them perform. Along the same lines, does anybody actually want to see a 50 year old guy sporting a Flock of Seagulls haircut?
TV
In short order, two announcements turned sci-fi on TV on its head. Paramount cancelled Star Trek Enterprise after only four seasons and SCI FI renewed Battlestar Galactica for a second season. The shocking thing about all of this is that for once quality won out. The sharply written and acted Galactica gets more time on the tube and the lackluster Enterprise gets sent to the showers early. You can of course expect the usual "Save Our Show" campaigns from Trekkies going into withdrawal even before Enterprise finishes out its last season. It's a noble effort but unlikely to succeed. If Enterprise couldn't find a respectable size audience by now, it probably isn't going to happen. I suspect Paramount waited this long simply out of loyalty to the Trek cash cow. Any other show would have been wrapped in a sack with some heavy stones and tossed in the river by now. Oddly, the same could be said of the fans, who seemed to acknowledge the show's weakness but watched anyway simply because it was Trek.
The cure for the entire sputtering Trek franchise can be found in Galactica's success. Galactica producer Ronald Moore, who used to write for Trek, has spoken of the heavily defined Trek style that writers cannot deviate from. In getting the job to reimagine Galactica, he was freed to go with his instincts and try new things. Bound only by a loose framework of ideas from the originals series that needed to be used, Moore was able to develop a series that was genuinely involving and not coincidently, a hit. I'm not here to heap added abuse on the Trek franchise, plenty of others are out there beating on its corpse as we speak. The abuse won't abate though, until Trek breaks out of its increasingly rigid style. A complete house cleaning isn't necessarily in order but change is. The franchise needs a new voice. The universe of Trek trumps all others in sci-fi for depth and expanse. It doesn't need to be changed. What it does need is to be looked at with new eyes. Let some different styles in, break from standard plot formats, anything to make it breathe again.
Academy Awards
Former MPAA head Jack Valenti was on CNN earlier today. Mostly he was being subjected to a frighteningly chirpy anchor trying to make every question and answer sound like the most exciting thing ever. But the standout moment was when he was asked about Chris Rock hosting the Oscars this year. Valenti responded that Rock was very funny, very bright and Valenti owned several of his albums. My head just about exploded in shock. The image of Valenti laughing along as Rock yells "I prefer syrup!" is just too much for me.
Does the world think that Rock is going to head out on stage and just start spewing profanities? Sure, the guy swears in his act, but so did Steve Martin in his day. Give the guy a break. He's a pro. He'll be fine. I'm sure the Academy is hoping he'll skirt the boundary of taste enough to make the show a big topic of conversation without actually launching an FCC witch hunt. As long as Rock doesn't whip it out in the middle of the show, it should be fine.
As long as I'm on the subject, I will have my Oscar predictions up in the next couple of days. I also want to remind everyone who is interested to stop by the site during the Oscars as I'll be hosting a live chat during the show. I've done it the last three years and we get a bigger crowd every time. It's a good chance to debate the movies and poke fun at celebrities.
Sports
The NHL went and did it. Canceled an entire season because the players and owners couldn't figure out how to divy up the pie. As a passionate hockey fan, I could go on a long winded rant about how evil commissioner Gary Bettman is and how greedy the players and owners are and how the fans are the ones who get hurt. But I won't. In truth, the people most hurt are those who earn their living on the sidelines of the sport. The people working the front offices and concessions at the arenas and the folks who work on parking, restaurants and bars around the arenas are the ones getting hurt. They have no say in this and they lose a lot to all of their income as a result of these idiots. No, the loss of an entire season and all the staggering damage it does to the NHL's image and income is just reward for such incompetence.
I think I'll go back to watching college hockey. Amateur hockey is what kicked off my love of the sport in the first place. Sure, my old school Clarkson isn't having a great year but they aren't playing any worse than the Rangers were and I don't have to bitch about all the money they waste to play this badly. Watching a game is often more rewarding when you know the players are doing it for the love of the game and not the love of the paycheck.
Movies
I was going to go into a long discussion of Million Dollar Baby and the outcry from conservatives about one element of the movie. I will say that the outcry is ridiculous but I've decided to shelve my entire argument after reading this article. It's so level headed that I'm astounded that nobody, myself included, thought to add this angle to the discussion before. Sometimes the obvious is right in front of our face and we never see it. Be warned though, the article is spoiler heavy so you probably want to skip it if you haven't seen the movie yet.
More random thoughts tommorrow...
- John Shea
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