You are currently browsing the daily archive for August 8th, 2007.
i traveled by plane this past weekend. i’m not a fan of airtravel and haven’t been for a very long time. i’m not afraid of heights, and i’m actually not really afraid of dying in a plane crash (my fears run more in the being eaten alive by crocodiles, bears, sharks, etc. vein). however, i despise airports, which have only gotten worse over the years, and i am afraid of being desperately miserable and trapped with a bunch of strangers for five plus hours (depending on your destination) with no escape. i think we can all agree that traveling coach is pretty miserable these days, it doesn’t matter if you’re thin or fat, short or tall, smart or stupid, if you’re stuck in coach you’re pretty much going to uncomfortable for the duration of your flight and subjected to passive aggressively angry flight attendants and frustrated passengers.
so that said, what am i bitching about if it’s just a fact of life that all coach air travel sucks? well, my current rant is about the fact that there is no generally accepted standard when flying. forget about there being a standard between airlines, or standards between specific airline planes, or as i came to realize this past weekend, there aren’t even standards amongst general non-exit row/non-bulk head airplane seats. i was flying Delta and was exhausted getting on my plane Thursday and did something very unusual for me (perhaps proving that i am prematurely ageing) i sat in the wrong seat. i was in the correct row and i was in an aisle seat, but i sat on the wrong side of the plane. i have never done such a ridiculoulsy stupid, although easily correctable thing before, but i’m glad i did it so that this weirdness was brought to my attention. basically i was sitting in my incorrect seat and quietly groaning to myself as my long legs had maybe less than an inch between them and seat in front of me. i would not only not be able to put a book or an ipod in the ”helpful and handy pouch” without eliminating that precious inch, but once the guy in front of me decided to lay back that would also be the end of my precious inch. as i silently lamented my sad fate, a bitchy woman and her two equally bitchy daughters informed me that i was in their seat(s). i, feeling like a rube, realized my mistake and immediately moved across the aisle. once seated in my new and correct seat, i was astonished to find that i had about eight inches of space between my knees and the offending seat in front of me. what the hell? now in this case luck was with me…but seriously, what the hell!?
sitting in my horrible seat, but with my precious inches of extra leg room, i remembered flying to Hawaii the year prior, on a different airline, and finding on the leg from New York to Chicago, that i had NEGATIVE inches of extra leg room, and was almost reduced to tears for fear of what a painful journey it was going to be to Hawaii, only to happily discover on the Chicago to Hawaii leg (same airline) that i had maybe three or four extra inches between me and the seat.
i’m a pretty boring person i guess, but i really think it would be nice if a body could know what to expect on a flight. that if you’re flying Delta you know you’re getting a certain kind of seat and with American you’re getting a certain kind of other seat, and even if they can’t do that it would be nice to know what you’re getting with a certain kind of airplane versus another. is this really too much to ask? i guess with the death of customer service it is.
one last thing…as i bitch and moan about airlines…it’s important to mention that first class just keeps getting better and better as coach gets worse and worse. coming back to New York this past weekend my boyfriend and i were seated in the bulkhead seats, thinking wrongly, that it would be good, and as such we could see through the gauzy curtain right into first class. while we were having bags of chips angrily thrust at us and a quarter of a can of some kind of soda begrudgingly gifted to us, first class was literally dining on steak, potatoes, steamed vegetables, and some kind of dessert, all with real silverware and while relaxing with blankets and pillows. i guess airlines are just another little example of how the world is spinning these days. the rich just getting ever richer and reaping all the benefits of life, while us poor just get poorer and are subjected to more and more pitiful low standards of living.
i guess i just wish i was a rebel and i had the energy and passion to work on changing the system. instead i looked at my boyfriend and said, “we have got to be rich…soon.”
i tried real hard to think of a fun title for this post, but it was just not coming. my favorite was “damages schmamages” but that sounded like i didn’t like the show, which is untrue, so i had to go for boring old “damages”.
so this is a good show. it is beautifully shot and has really invested some time (and money) in great actors. Glenn Close is riviting and as my boyfriend says, “you can see her make very good choices”, which is true, she is magnetic to watch and has given her Patty Hewes a depth in only a few episodes that many characters never achieve. Ted Danson has never been better. Rose Byrne is not a favorite actress of mine, she always seems to have the same concerned/worried look on her face (in every SINGLE shot) but she holds her own here. the plot/story is truly interesting and it winds and turns in a beautiful and well planned out way. i definitely don’t have the answer to the mysteries that are coming our way, and every episode has surprised me at least once. there are great creative writers and directors working on this project – people who have been involved with very good shows in the past (The Sopranos to name one) and it shows. Tate Donovan and Zeljko Ivanek both turn in nice supporting performances as well, particularly Ivanek.
i have to admit a bit of bias as my boyfriend works on this show, however he’s worked on a lot of shows and movies in the past and i usually hate them all (except the upcoming We Own The Night, which has potential, and also has two guys from my top 10 list – Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg) but this show is just good.
[episode #2 spoiler below]
i am three episodes in and very intrigued. i think they made a few casting mistakes though, the actress who plays Katie is annoying and whiny. i am just not invested in her and can’t sympathize with her in the least (perhaps this was the creators goal? could be). also, the fiance of main character Rose Byrne, David, is a bit of a miscast as well. it’s not that i don’t like him, just that he doesn’t quite seem to fit the type they want him to be. who knows though, maybe he’ll grow on me (i hope not too much, since it is obvious from episode two that he’s dead in 6 months/by the end of the season).
anyway, if you haven’t checked it out you should – Tuesdays 10pm on FX. plus, it seems to be playing in encore format about 24 hours a day, so it shouldn’t be hard to squeeze it in at some point. also, while i’d recommend seeing it from the beginning and i expect that doing so will give you a better shot at piecing things together, i don’t think it’s a necessity. if you read up on the first couple episodes i don’t think it would be too difficult to catch up at this point.
here’s the trailer for We Own The Night as well: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809425430/video/3558370/
