What’s going on?

Went to see the Al Gore movie again. The sign at the top of the stairs where it was showing said "Truth" next to an arrow that pointed in the right direction.  God, I’ve been looking for that sign for so long now.  The movie would have been more compelling if Al hadn’t spent so much time on himself.  But, hey, if you were one of the first ones to see the problem of global warming then I guess it’s part of the whole story.  The grainy muted-color footage of Al schlepping through airport security as a lonely warrior was a little tough to swallow.

During one of the trailers there was one film that was tagged as having "strong language and mild thematic elements."  Am I missing something? I thought that thematic elements were desirable, or at least not harmful.

I got home and decided to see what thematic elements there were on TV.  As I flipped from one channel to another I felt like a patient in a psych ward.  Sometime in the past few years it seems that TV shows were revamped to appeal to people who regularly take Thorazine.  Obviously, the local news has long been ground zero for drool-inducing commentary.  But a somewhat recent development are the fulltime entertainment news shows, where catty fashionistas offer clever repartee about celebrities (yes, Katy Couric showed up at the premier with a bathroom rug on her shoulders and waved to her kids to tell them that they should wear slippers until mommy can bring the rug back heh heh heh heh).

Everyone is so smart and so smug on television.  Gee, I wish I could be clever like them. Of course all of these people had to pay their dues so I can’t expect to get to the top overnight.  Maybe I could get a job in one of the fancy restaurants that Paris Hilton goes to, and if she sat at one of my tables I could offer her some butter –which she would turn down with a dismissive wave of the hand, but I’d be exhilarated that she at least acknowleded my existence.  Okay I’m exaggerating a bit.  Not everyone is smug on TV.  On the religion channel there was a smiley guy in a tropical shirt singing a song about Our Savior with a sophisticated electronic pop jazz accompaniment.  It would have been slightly better from a thematic element standpoint if he’d had some pretty vocalists like the ones in Jimmy Buffet’s band. Who knows, though? Maybe they’re already testing that idea with the focus groups.  Like they do when they try to figure out what new constitutional amendments to propose.

So, anyway, back to the Al Gore movie.  Say what you will about Al Gore’s awkward self-promotion, you have to admit he does a good job of explaining what produces global warming.  Now if somebody could only explain to me where all the morons are coming from.