Most of the bad things I had heard about the movie centered on it’s ending and how dark and out of place it is.  Seth Rogen and the writer/director were quick to defend the movie, stating that the ending makes more sense if people had realized that “Observe and Report” is a dark comedy and not a silly comedy like Rogen’s other films.  After now having seen the movie, I can’t say that I agree with them.  “Observe and Report” is a silly comedy that has a lead character that should be in a dark comedy.

Honestly, Seth Rogen’s character is straight out of a dark comedy.  He’s tortured and tragic, barely coping with bi-polar disorder, an alcoholic mother, and a father that left before he was born.  Yes, he occasionally does something silly, reminiscent of the characters in his other movies, but in the end he is playing a deeply troubled and struggling individual.

Where everything falls apart is the characters around Seth Rogen.  They are all crazy silly just like the supporting cast in all of his other movies.  The other security guards that he manages are all incompetent fools.  The woman he likes is a stereotypical, airhead blonde.  The real cops are always pulling pranks on him.  The mall patrons are nutty.  There’s an over-the-top homosexual character.  His mother, while very alcoholic, is a very comedic alcoholic.  The greatly tragic character that Seth Rogen is playing is almost completely lost and buried beneath a supporting cast that is straight out of “Knocked Up” or “Superbad”.

I think that is why the shocking, dark ending is so shocking.  It’s a dark comedy that is not dark at all.  When it finally takes on that dark tone, it’s out of place.  And then it doesn’t even stay in that dark place.  In a matter of minutes, the supporting cast shows up, acts wacky, and the moment is lost.  I can see how this uncomfortable ending, combined with a Seth Rogen comedy that isn’t nearly as funny as other Seth Rogen comedies, had most viewers disappointed.

Sadly, I think the writer had a great concept in his mind when he started writing it.  Seth’s character is complex and tragic and would have made a much better story if it wasn’t for all the zany antics going on around him.  I hope the suits in Hollywood give him another chance to write and direct a movie.  I think he could put together a fine goofball comedy or dark comedy, just not a fine goofball, dark comedy.

After a few days I was feeling pretty good about my progress, despite not having too many opportunities to listen to my iPod. I looked down at my iPod and it said I had listened to 78 GBV songs. That made me feel even better about my progress. I know that Bob Pollard, the lead and brain-child of GBV, is a very prolific songwriter, but 78 songs is still several albums worth of material. I had to have put a sizeable dent in the catalog, right? After the split-second that it took for all of this to flash in my mind, I read the rest of the line and realized just how many GBV songs I have.

684. Yes, there are 684 Guided By Voices songs on my iPod. There are some duplicates, but that’s probably only about 100 of those songs, and I still “have” to listen to them in order to actually listen to my entire catalog. Doing the math, that leaves almost 600 original GBV songs. Bob Pollard certainly IS prolific. But I really should have known this prior to starting this endeavor, as I have both “Suitcase 1″ and “Suitcase 2″, two box sets that Bob released that each include 100 previously unreleased songs. So, that’s 200 original songs that weren’t even officially released until the box sets. The amount (and quality) of his output is amazing.

At this moment I’m on song 390. I’m making progress through the catalog, but it’s slow going. I can’t listen to anything else with my iPod because then I’ll lose my place in the shuffle and I’d have to start over. This kind of stinks, as I could really stand to listen to some Lady GaGa or The Decemberists right about now. I’ve taken to filling my non-GBV wants by listening to last.fm on my Xbox 360 when at home or to the actual radio when I’m in the car. Unfortunately, these are times that I normally would be listening to my iPod, which means these are times when I could be putting a dent in my sizeable GBV task.

It’s a good thing I like GBV.

Both of my cars have digital radios that offer this feature.  On my Prius, I have to push a few buttons to find out what song is currently being played.  On the other hand, my Torrent constantly displays the information sent down with the digital signal, so I only have to glance in the direction of the radio to learn the name of my new favorite song (well, it will be my favorite for at least the next 5 minutes).  It is really quite convenient.

As great as this technology is, someone has found a way to abuse it (in my opinion) and make money off of it.  There is a digital radio station in my hometown of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, that does not send the name of the song and artist to digital radios.  It doesn’t even send the call letters of the radio station.  The only information they send is advertisements for local businesses.  This is particularly bad in the Torrent, as it turns the radio into a mini-billboard in the center of my dashboard.  I look over to learn the name of a song or adjust the volume for a Lady GaGa single, and instead I learn about a deal on fried chicken at Ma & Pa’s Grocery.

I don’t have a problem with radio stations showing advertisements on digital radio screens when they are on a commercial break and advertisements are playing, anyway.  However, I’m not a fan of them hijacking my dashboard and sending nothing but advertisements to it all the time.  That behavior crosses a line for me.  At least I can always get away from the ads by choosing another station or even turning off my radio entirely.  Their plan has now backfired.  Instead of having another listener who gets some extra advertising, they have a former listener who will not receive any of their ads while paying too much for fried chicken.

Saturday, November 14th
9:00 PM - 10:00 PM Central Time

Listen live at TalkShoe

The show will also be available for download (presumably at the same link) after the fact if you can’t listen live.

On this recent trip I had the pleasure of going to WDW with my girlfriend, who was not only a first-time Disney visitor, but a first-time Florida visitor.  I was really looking forward to once again introducing someone new to WDW.  We did all of the major attractions, including a few that I hadn’t done before.  As I always do, I had a great time visiting Disney, but my experience was even better as my girlfriend oohed and ahhed all week long as she took in all the neat things that Disney has to offer.  In a way it was like I was experiencing it all for the first time again myself.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the feeling of taking in Disney with a significant other.  I’ve been going to WDW about once a year since I was 4 years old.  Even when I was little, I’d notice all of the couples that would visit Disney.  Of course you have your moms and dads, but then you also have couples without children, and teenage children who are traveling with their sweeties.  Several times on each of my trips to WDW, I’d see an especially happy couple on their own trip and think to myself, “Someday that is going to be me.”  As of last week it was.  As of last week, I have vacationed with my significant other.  Last week I walked hand-in-hand through the Magic Kingdom with my girlfriend.

It’s already quite a magical place, but being there with her made it even more magical; more than I ever dreamed it would be.  She has thanked me time and time again for bringing her to Florida and Disney World with me, but I can’t thank her enough for coming with me.  It’s always been a dream of mine to take a big vacation, especially one to Walt Disney World, with a significant other.  That dream came true and it was simply amazing.  Thank you, hon, for making our trip together even more amazing than I imagined it would be.

Of course, the conversation turned quite silly.  Someone mentioned the wolves should be like Michael J. Fox’s character in “Teen Wolf”.  Someone else mentioned that the vampires should be like The Count on “Sesame Street”.  Everyone laughed a bit and then started picturing this battle in their minds.  But my mind couldn’t go there, because I couldn’t possibly see it as a battle.  I argued that if all the vampires and werewolves in the world were like these two types, there couldn’t possibly be war between them, but only peace.  I can only picture these “warring” creatures being in a peaceful, almost symbiotic relationship.  In actuality, they’ll need each other.  Why?  The Teen Wolf werewolves would want to play basketball and The Count vampires would want to keep score.