Random Pop Culture

It was this kind of day and I mostly just sat around (excepting some magic with the lawnmower), watching various movies and trying to empty out the DVR:

• I had never seen 48 Hours before and when it popped up as a recommendation on Netflix Watch Instantly, I figured I'd check it out. Not as funny as I expected, but entertaining. You could see flashes of chemistry between Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy, but Murphy didn't quite have that charisma that he did in Beverly Hills Cop, which is a much better movie.
• I have rarely seen a movie as frustrating as Capturing the Friedmans, the Oscar-nominated documentary about a father and son on Long Island that were accused of hundreds of counts of child molestation. There are questions about their guilt or innocence that still linger even twenty years after the fact and the movie presents these questions with no lean to it either way, so you end up being confused as each new piece of the story unfolds. It's really good, though; fascinating that a family would take so many home movies and end up having these videos of them arguing about allegations and plea bargains.
• I've become quite the Civil War geek and had seen a recommendation somewhere about a PBS documentary about Lincoln's assassination. Not only was that online (it was well done, but didn't offer many new insights), but PBS actually has a huge array of historical shows that can be viewed online. I saw American history titles that varied from Jonestown to World War II to the creation of Earth Day. We'll see how bored I get at some point.
• The next three Sundays are big TV nights. Next week is the season finale of The Amazing Race. I'm rooting for the cowboys, obviously, and think they have to be the favorites because of how cool they are under pressure. The following week is the season finale of Survivor. Parvati's probably the favorite, but I don't know if she can get the jury since she's won already. Danielle? Can Colby somehow sneak in? The series finale of The Pacific is also that week. Three weeks from tonight is, of course, the series finale of Lost.
• You can just stop reading here. So Annie's totally better than Naomi, but I just can't see her and Liam together. Liam's the bad boy and Annie's the geek. Not feeling that chemistry, but I get the sense that that's where the season might end up. Weird, since last season ended with the whole thing where Jen told Naomi that Annie and Liam slept together, leading Annie to lose focus and kill Jasper's uncle. Speaking of Jen, you had to know she would come back because she's too evil a character. The Dixon-gambling thing is pretty contrived, but I guess most things are on this show. I feel like it's almost Lost-ish with all the characters; very little Adrianna and Navid this week, but next week is an Ade- and Navid-centric episode. Meanwhile, we finally got to see the fabled Spence Montgomery! Kind of fell short of expectations. There was a story that Rob Estes isn't returning next season to West Beverly, so we'll have to see if it's the divorce thing or the blackmail thing that does him in.