"Ode to New York City," politics, picking bad movies, and calorie counts...

Politics -- so I was out of the office the past couple of days attending a conference in NYC.  As a result, while checking into my hotel, I got to catch more of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's testimony (on the AIG bailout) than I normally would.  Geithner was getting fried to a crisp (which I admit was kind of fun to watch) and more and more Congressmen were looking forward to their five minutes of "appearing tough on Wall Street."  And honestly, given the ridiculous links between Goldman Sachs as the huge beneficiary of the AIG bailout and Geithner's inner circle of Goldman advisors, the potential "conflict of interest" scandal looked pretty juicy.  (Don't take my word for it...here's the mainstream media recap.)  But right then, Committee Chair Edolphus Towns called the testimony to be over!  Several Congressmen, whose time to question Geithner was forfeited, argued vehemently.  But Towns said time had run over, and that due to time constraints in former Secretary Hank Paulson's schedule, they had to cut short the Geithner portion and get to Paulson.  Many members of the Committee opposed this, and as one eloquently put it, "it's more important to continue questioning the current Treasury Secretary than the former Secretary."  Towns denied the appeal, however, and Geithner was off the hook.  If I had not seen this happen on live TV in front of me, I would not have believed it.  In essence, Towns' response was "we can't make changes to the schedule, and we have to move on, because Paulson has somewhere to be."  Yes, he actually said that.  So Congress was bending to the schedule of Hank Paulson!!  Think about this for a second...the guy is retired...he stepped down as Secretary a year ago...and even if he was now gainfully employed, where the hell else would he truly need to be?  What is more important  - as an American - than being called before Congress to testify before the Representatives of the American people?  You know what I think?  I think the guy had $100k speaking engagement that he needed to get to, and Congress just got steamrolled.  Again.  What a joke.  So the net result was that the Geithner testimony, just when it was building momentum, was cut short so that Paulson could get his over with and not disrupt his schedule.  That's just insane to me, and goes toward 1) what a lack of respect politicians garner today and 2) how the real power guys (like ex-Goldman alum Paulson) walk all over them.  What a shame.  Anyway, we need sports announcers to cover these types of hearings and call this kind of stuff out in real time, so our less-than-attentive American public sees it for what it really is.  Could you imagine how much nonsense would be exposed if we devoted 1/10th of the airtime and effort to covering Congress that we do to covering the NFL and the Superbowl?

Bad movies -- I am starting to figure it out...  The longer the "free preview" is for a particular On Demand movie, the worse that movie is.  I am theorizing that when the cable provider or studio knows a movie is weak, the insecurity causes them to show you more and more in terms of the preview so that you ultimately click that "Buy" button.  There's nothing worse than getting something that looks good, and then soon discovering that you already saw every funny/cute/scary/romantic scene in the damn preview.  [And, in some ways, this theory explains The Hangover... due to a lack of major stars - like we had in Wedding Crashers, for example - the studio was insecure about getting people out to see it.  So they showed us too much, especially the Mike Tyson cameo.  In hindsight, if the previews showed less, I would have been blown away by the The Hangover.  But as it stood, every funny scene was already in the previews.  I am willing to bet the studio would take that back if it could.]  Bottom line - when you are surfing for On Demand choices, if the preview is a little long and a little "all-encompassing," walk away.  Do not buy.  Trust me. 

Calorie counts -- ok, so I already mentioned that I spend the last two days in New York, and I learned that I really, really miss The City.  More on that later, but let me highlight one absolutely awesome development up there... Every deli/restaurant/sandwich shop lists total calories next to each menu item!  This is incredible.  It is a total "game-changer" in terms of helping you make healthy choices at mealtimes.  I loved the ability to cross-reference what I felt like eating with the calorie count, and then compromising on the best tasting and healthiest choice.  For example, my Chicken Curry Salad sandwich at Le Pain Quotidien was 520 calories...so that was my lunch, in total, and I loved knowing that.  What a sense of empowerment, what a sense of control over what you eat.  I love it.  I vaguely remember Mayor Bloomberg discussing this when we left New York two years ago, and I was indifferent at the time, but now I'm a believer.  I even ducked into a McDonald's to check, and - yup - they have it too.  A Big Mac is like 540 calories and a Big Mac Meal is something like 1200.  How do you not make healthier choices when the calorie "scoreboard" stares you in the face like that?  So how impactful is it, really?  Well...after 24 hours, I was thoroughly hooked - when I was wandering around the Newark Airport last night, pre-flight, looking for dinner, I was absolutely deflated that the rules did not apply in New Jersey.  It was as if I saw everything with x-ray glasses for 24 hours, and then someone took them away.  Once you cross that "information threshold," you really can't go back.  Meanwhile, I am not holding my breath on this coming to Miami anytime soon. There's a reason this city was named "Fattest in America" last year.  Depressing...

Ode to New York -- this is what I saw, and emailed to my wife Brielle in real time while traveling back to New York... Remember homeless guys singing great songs in train stations?  Remember how everyone knows exactly where they are going?  Remember leaning out and peering down the subway tracks to see if there were headlights indicating the train was finally coming?  Remember when you finally picked up the "surfing" skills necessary to ride a train without touching anything?  Remember knowing exactly which car to get on so as to position yourself right at your exit stairway at your destination station?  Remember that underground smell?  Remember the conductors yelling "step in or get off" as people tried to hold the train doors open?  And for that matter, remember workers with attitude - and this is a critical distinction - not because they are lazy or just jerks (Miami?), but because they have just seen it all and know better?  Remember exiting a train station and having no clue which direction was north, east, west, or south...and then feeling like a true local when you always knew?  Remember a wino/junkie grabbing an empty Snapple bottle from a ledge and then huddling in a corner alcove to pee in it?  (Yes, that happened, 54th Street, 5pm, Jan 27th)  Remember the nutjob on the train or on the street just yelling random stuff at the top of his lungs...and the people just taking it in stride but widening their walking path around him?  (Yes, that was yesterday in Grand Central...he was yelling "Peter, peter, shame on you...[cackle, cackle]...shame on you Peter!" at the top of his lungs.)  Remember how to walk really fast on the sidewalk?  Remember the NY "attitude?"  (This was best exemplified in the NY Post editorial the day of Obama's State of The Union which basically said, "stop whinning about the Bush Administration leaving you a mess - it's yours now...and spare us with the fancy speeches - we've heard it from you before...actions, not words...put your money where your mouth is."  It was awesome...)  New Yorkers reading this will be bored, for sure.  It is part of the everyday fabric of City life.  But when life changes, and then you come back to it, this stuff stands out so much more... It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway...I miss NYC.

Jay Leno's gay viewers -- ok, amidst all the late night hub-bub, I have a more serious question.  Assuming everyone has seen the flamboyant gay guy on Leno, I am wondering if anyone besides me has a problem with this guy's "shtick."  Seriously, gay is mainstream now...there is no shock value here.  But doesn't he negatively reinforce stereotypes that might offend homosexuals?  How is this guy any different from the 1940's-1960's black maid on Tom & Jerry that was cut for racially derisive reasons?  Isn't there a group of homosexuals that struggle everyday for equal treatment - and to escape prejudicial or narrow-minded thinking - that cringe at this dude?  I mean, I don't find him funny in the least.  I dunno...I just think that if this guy "represented" my lifestyle on prime-time TV, and this was some of the American population's only "interaction" with a homosexual, I would be offended... I'm just sayin'.

Random Stuff -- they called my return flight to Miami "very full"...  Isn't full an absolute?  Can you qualify it with very?  Isn't it like saying "very dead" or "very pregnant?"  Open letter to the guys that wear those skinny, super-tight jeans:  how sweaty are your balls?  And how long does it take you to get into those things?  Do you need help?  Do you have to baby powder your legs or something to slide them on?  Please explain... Hey, since when does reality TV get reported as "news?"  As I was sitting at my gate, CNN actually reported on the previous night's American Idol winners and showed clips.  Huhn?  This is news?  Speaking of which, I watched American Idol for the first time ever last week... I mean, I have heard the names Adam Lambert and Clay Aiken, but probably could not pick them out of a line-up... So here was my take-away as a first-time viewer:  the terrible singers have to be staged, no one can be that unaware (or stupid), can they?  And if not, how can you not be absolutely freaked out by the future of this country?  Holy moly.  Looking back, when they point to the beginning of the end for us - just as Roman scholars mention gladiators and "bread & circuses" as indications of a lazy, uninvolved, restless citizenry of an Empire in decline - future American scholars will surely point to our obsession with reality TV as our version of gladiatorial entertainment... Tyler brought up an interesting point the other day - do cell phones ruin relationships?  The theory is that people are so used to 24-7 access to each other, that one missed phone call, one ignored text, leads to a fight.  Could be some truth there.  But remember the old days when your home phone never rang before 9am or after 9pm unless it was an emergency?  And remember when you had nooo idea who was calling, and you were actually surprised when you picked up?  Ah, the good old days...

That's all for now...

Until next time...All the best, Ben