I know I can't be the only person who finds HBO's Big Love to be hilarious CME. What I wonder about is this: Is it intentionally funny? If you've never seen it, the show is about polygamists, how they live their lives, how they get along with each other, and how they get along with the outside world. There is also a little bit of intrigue, jealousy, double crosses, backstabbing, and a dash of religion. There are three worlds on display in this show. The first is the outside world, where polygamy is illegal. The second is the compound, where it is practiced. The outside world doesn't care what's going on in the compound and just leaves them alone as long as they stay inside it. The third encompasses the main character, who was forced off of the compound by his father, is a successful, very high-profile businessman but also a polygamist living in the outside world trying to keep his private life a secret. Got all that? The secrecy is not working. The situations this guy, his three current wives and a fourth prospective wife, and all of their children find themselves in are what I find funny. They're all self-inflicted and thoroughly ridiculous. There's a little intolerance from the outside world portrayed in the show but not very much. That's appropriate. Intolerance is pretty low on their list of problems. If I'm not supposed to be laughing at these situations, you can add that to their list.
Super Bowl Week begins. Yawn. I'll watch the game but don't expect much more than that from me, NFL, network execs, sports pundits, pre-game and halftime show producers, and to all who use any form of the phrase "breaking it down". I think that's easily the most overused, tiresome phrase in media. For those who watch and listen to the sports experts during Super Bowl Week to try and get a handle on what's going to happen next Sunday, think about this: The players and coaches of the five teams that lost to the Steelers and Cardinals in the playoffs are also experts, watched way more film than any of those clowns, had way more at stake, and still got it wrong.
I offer one from the CrabAppleLane backyard today. For an idea of what kind of day it is here, bear in mind that the image below is in color.
CrabAppleLane Gum Tree - January 25, 2009
Quote of the Day
Scouts Inc. breaks down the Super Bowl offenses, defenses and players.
ESPN
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: "First, raucous goober might be the most fitting description ever for Philip Rivers."
