Three for Thursday

~1~

Very soon, a day will come in which I don't write about my frozen elbow and bore everyone to tears. As frustrating as the limited use of the limb might be, for the past two days I've finished my work at a reasonable hour and could have finally hit the gym, were I not concerned about aggravating the injury.

I've had my heart broken, but never a bone. I really should be wary of typing as much and twisting fate. In elementary school I went to a party at a friend's house. There was a big crowd and no one was paying attention. Since I always had to be the center of attention and there was no railing on the stairs leading down to his basement, I leapt through the gap and landed at a bad angle. I thought for sure I twisted my ankle, and when my mom came to pick me up, did my best to conceal the limp. Fortunately it was fine in a day or so.

I was less fortunate a few years later when an adversary aggressively hurled a dodgeball at me and it bounced off my finger tips. Once again I concealed the injury, but by the time I got home my pinky was purple and the size of my thumb. Thankfully, it turned out to be a small fracture and sprain, and my finger just had to be splinted. Unfortunately I did this right before my big annual all-county concert and had to play my instrument with a splint.

Once I slept near an open window, and found the next morning I couldn’t turn my head to the right at all. I was in high school or college at the time and still collecting comic books, and it was a new release day so my mom had to drive me. Thank God that only lasted one day.

My mom once slipped on black ice in our driveway and broke her arm. To my knowledge, my dad has never officially broken anything though he's had plenty of sports- and mechanic-related injuries. In most cases he ignored it too, and now has gnarled, swollen hands and needs help buttoning shirts. He also is incapable of raising his arms over his shoulders. This past week, I've had some empathy. My mom spoke with one of my uncles who had the same elbow problem years ago, and said it went away instantly after the doctor drained the swollen area with a needle. So, I suppose I could have gone to a doctor on Monday and avoided the challenges to driving and operating my computer at work. Like father, like son.


~2~

I'm getting closer and closer to adopting my pal Rey's policy of avoiding any and all advertisements for his favorite shows. Heroes is one exception, as their trailers are true teasers, that give a taste of the next episode without revealing too much, and even throwing in some misdirection so when you watch, there are things you weren't expecting because they zigged when they gave you the impression that they'd zag.

More and more, though, 24 commercials are summaries of what is to come. Within one minute of a cliffhanger episode, they'll let you know that everything will be okay next week, how it will be resolved, and what the next ending will probably be. The detailed, sequential presentation of spoilers is insulting to viewers and out of control.

Now, Lost commercials aren't as bad as 24, and closer to the teasers that air for Heroes. My real reason for being annoyed with Wednesday night's episode is because of the build-up. Without spoiling too much for those who haven't seen it, the advertisement promised “the answer to THREE of Lost's biggest mysteries!" I'm certainly not one of those people who thinks the show drags things out, and I don't expect all to be revealed, because the show will be over once that happens. And I know advertising thrives on hyperbole, and that the mysteries would either not be that big, of that the answers would yield more questions(sort of like a round of Perilous!) No, my biggest gripe is how much one of those “mysteries" was utterly pointless. We needed an hour to find out what Jack's tattoos said? That's really one of the “biggest mysteries" that has been plaguing us? Really? And what they said turned out to be anticlimactic. Maybe it's just a pacing thing though, and after the awesomeness of the last two episodes this one fell short. I can't help thinking that the promo raised my expectations though, and affected the way I watch it.

So maybe I will try the commercial skipping thing, if I have the willpower. Even though the last two episodes of Battlestar Galactica have been disappointing on their own, by watching that series exclusively online I'm not exposed to commercials and go into each episode cold. So, from the amazing episodes in the first half of this season up until the last two, I haven't known what to expect and it was a good thing.


~3~

I'm debating whether or not to do the Myclofigs again this year. TVGoddess has posted Oscar nominations and reminded me of why I did my own awards “show" last time. Since the real Oscars snuck up on me and are this coming Sunday already, I won't even have time for the long process I went through last year, in which I listed all the movies from 2005, accepted nominations via e-mail, and then had my readers vote. I have quite a bit of those movies to see still, too, not to mention a few from 2005 and earlier.

It's also been quiet around here lately, so I'm not even sure how much audience there is to participate. Maybe I'll just post the official list and ask for everyone's predictions, then see how close we come. How does that sound? Either that, or I'll throw an impromptu Blog Party in which we all write mock acceptance speeches.

I have to think about it, but I'll probably come up with something by the weekend and I'm definitely open to suggestions. Thoughts?