Elaine Smith Writes

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Tag Archives: TV

Over thinking it

Is that even possible?

In general, I suppose I would lean towards a “no.”  Thinking is almost always a good thing.  I think, however, if you’ll take a look at this Friday’s Find, you will probably agree that over thinking is possible.  (Over rehearsing is not.  That’s a myth.  We’ll take that up at another time.)

In some instances—like this Friday Find—we might all agree about over thinking.

Take a look at OverThinkingIt.com.  Their descriptive line says the site ‘subjects popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn’t deserve.’

This is true.

But it’s great geeky fun when they happen to subject any of your personal favorites to analysis.  I found them because a post analyzing the Law & Order verdicts of the past 20 years popped up on Digg, and, of course, I had to take a look.

Firstly, having worked with statistics for more years than I care to remember, I find statistical analysis of TV shows that I have viewed to be oddly fascinating.  Secondly, I was an extra on a Law & Order episode once.  I feel a proprietary interest.  (My episode was called Bait, and I am briefly visible when the camera pans the grand jury.  Don’t worry if you can’t find me.  My own parents didn’t recognize me.  I am also briefly visible as a lawyer at the end of a hallway in another courthouse scene.  I’m so out of focus in that shot, I wouldn’t have recognized me.)

Anyway, I’ve watched a lot of L&O over the years.  Part of it is for the fun of seeing friends—since practically every New York actor worked the show at some point in some fashion.  Part of it is the scripts are smart enough to hold your attention while you’re watching and not memorable enough for your brain to recognize that you’ve seen them before while you’re watching them again.   So, they’re a reliable temporary distraction.

Which is sort of the point of the OverThinkingIt website.  Another excellent distraction.

Like we need one of those, right?

Have fun!

Didn’t I ever tell you about Bumbles?

Bumbles bounce!

That, for anyone who has been living in a cave since 1964, is a quote from the Rankin/Bass Christmas TV special produced in stop motion animation and entitled Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  (If you have been living in a cave and want to see a little clip of the relevant section, click here.)

For some reason, it’s pretty much all I remember about that TV special–other than the totally unimportant fact that Rudolph’s girlfriend is named Clarice.  But I do remember that line, because it always made me laugh.  (Upon investigation, I discover that it was said by Yukon Cornelius–and wouldn’t you think that name would be the thing that made me laugh?  It was his explanation of why he wasn’t killed when he fell over the cliff with the Abominable Snowman [the Bumble].)

I thought of it today for a totally unrelated reason.  I find, to my surprise, that grasshoppers eat window screens.  It’s not enough that they are tearing my plants to shreds.  They have started in on the screens–which were not in the best of shape anyway.

When I discovered this, a voice–more like a wail–sounded inside my head.  Why didn’t anybody ever tell me about grasshoppers eating screens?  The next voice in my head was Yukon Cornelius’s Didn’t I ever tell you about Bumbles?  And then I laughed.

(Nobody ever knows why I laugh suddenly for no apparent reason.  Usually, I try not to do it out loud.  As you can see, an explanation probably wouldn’t actually convince anyone that I am not crazy.  But I am endlessly entertained by the amusing things bouncing around my brain, even if they are only amusing to me.)

The grasshoppers, however, are not amusing.  They are destructive.  I would have thought, as I posted previously, that the lizards would have helped me in this regard.  But, no.  We have to do it ourselves.

And another disconcerting fact about grasshoppers is that they don’t die quietly.  They crunch.  (Shudder!)

But this Friday’s Find is the worst.

The plants will grow back.

The screens, however, are not self-regenerating.

You’d think a grasshopper would find them indigestible.  You’d think a grasshopper that was crazy enough to eat window screening would die quietly, poisoned by the aluminum or the fiberglass or whatever it is. But no.  They continue on their inexorable path.

I like to live in harmony with all living things, but I gotta say. . .I’m starting not to mind the crunch so much.

 


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