Saturday, December 21, 2019

Marci Maven


I had never heard of Sarah Silverman before binging on “Monk,” the TV series, via AmazonPrime. Sarah guest-starred magnificently in Series 6, Episode 1: “Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan [Marci Maven].”  (She had been in a prior “Monk” episode, years earlier.)

I started Googling à Sarah Silverman ß and found lots of “video clips” (is that still a proper term?) on Youtube and wherever else the search results took me.  Some shows are free, some are for rental and/or sale.  I started viewing the free stuff first. The stand-up comedy shows are raunchy but good.  I especially liked how in "We Are Miracles" (FREE!) Sarah handled the tennis ball and the obnoxious guys in the blue convertible (altho, on second and third viewings, it seems that a stunt person was handling the tennis ball).

Later I bought "Sarah Silberman's 'Jesus Is Magic'" (notice who got star billing there). I rented the video and watched it twice.  I thought the work was brilliant, in a way, but I didn't laugh much.  

Meanwhile, I've read Sarah's book “The Bedwetter,” which I had purchased in paperback.  A quick read.  I submitted a review to Amazon: 4 stars overall: 5 stars for the first half, 3 stars for the second half.  Amazon has published my review.

While reading "The Bedwetter," I got the feeling that I was getting to know Sarah, intimately.  Of course, it could all be an hallucination.  In any event, I was entranced by Sarah's words, and especially her superlative and efficient use of language (maybe her editor deserves credit). 

Miraculously, thru her creative use of language, Sarah transported me into the worlds within which she existed.  How painful the bedwetting scenes.  Entering the pro- (semi-pro-?) comedy world of the 80s was beyond amazing and somewhat horrifying. No author has ever transported me that way, or in any way.  Ever. 

Sarah's experiences in her worlds are beyond extraordinary.  Again, I felt while reading Sarah's words, that I had experienced the events that she had  experienced.  What a great buy for the paperback at $7.50 (plus tax).

I love how Sarah writes. 

I can’t wait to see Sarah on Broadway in April, 2020.  Some sort of musical version of “The Bedwetter,” the show will be, according to Amazon video notes that are attached to "Monk".  

Actually, I detest Broadway musicals, but must go see Sarah in this one.  She is obviously also very talented musically (vocals and guitar), as her work shows.  I very much like that her very tight back-up band is called "The Silver Men."  

And since she is the one who turned me onto "Fan Fiction" (during "Monk") I promise to write a Fan Fiction story starring Sarah and me (notice who gets top billing).  


Postscript:  Just before Christmas 2019, I bought all of the available episodes of "The Sarah Silverman Program" on Amazon, kind of a present from me to me, I thought.  Set me back about forty-five bucks.  No big deal but the problem was that the show is absolutely awful.  Sarah and her real-life/on-show sister Laura are very charismatic, but the other characters and the stories told, well. . . not for me.   Now re-thinking whether I should do that Fan Fiction piece I was thinking about doing, the one featuring Sarah who, as Marci Maven, had turned me on to the Fan-Fiction genre during the "Monk" episode mentioned above (Season 6, Episode 1).  If I do proceed with the project, it would probably be after I see Sarah on Broadway, and also after we see how well the show does economically and critically.  Unless inspiration hits before then.

3/14/20 -- As of this point, I do not plan to see Sarah on Broadway as her show will be a musical.  I am not a fan of musicals. Also, no Fan Fiction planned.

And then the coronavirus lockdown went into effect.  And still is, as of this writing, 5/10/20.

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Transporting


It sometimes seems that I've been transporting sitcom (and other) ideas into the Future, telepathically.  Pot seems to be an influence, or perhaps a stimulus for hallucination. I lean toward the former.

It also sometimes seems that my telepathic messages are being received by inhabitants of the Future, and used for profit in the entertainment industry.

Thus, I hope there will be, in the Future, a copyright-type law that allows me (and/or my heirs) to share in any profits generated by my transported communications--if those communications were in fact so transported, received, and used to generate profit.

The Future is not that far away, methinks.  Yesterday was the Future ten years ago.

Truly.


Friday, December 6, 2019

Rotten Apple Policy


Recently, I had an issue with my Apple MacBookPro laptop computer.  The problem involved me trying to get rid of an Office 2011 icon which had come alive after I had inadvertently clicked on it at the bottom of the screen (amongst the vertical row of default icons).  There was no minimizing, or closing down of, the icon.  So I trashed it.  Bad move. 

As a result, I lost Word capability, and thus many valuable (to me) Word documents.

Goal: I had to get back my old Word documents, which I figured involved getting back Word and Office 2011. To do the latter, I was pretty much forced to take certain steps on my computer and sign up with Microsoft to get my Word documents back.  These steps included registering with Microsoft, getting a password, and taking a 30-day free trial subscription to Microsoft Office 365 which includes Word, Outlook, and more.  

After becoming a Microsoft subscriber, I was able to resurrect my Office 2011 Word documents from my laptop Trash file.  Success!

I then began to test Office 365, which didn't work for me.  Thus, I now wanted to unsubscribe from Office 365 before they started billing me $75 annually.  However, there was no way on the computer to cancel the subscription!  No [expletive deleted] way!

I then telephoned Microsoft Support.  The agent's name was "Charms" who was in the Philippines.  She finally determined that to cancel my Microsoft subscription, I had to go thru Apple!  I was like, "What?  Aren't you two competitors?"  

After ending the conversation with Charms, I dialed the Apple number she gave me and connected with Rhonda.  There was a lonnnng wait On Hold.  Through Rhonda, I canceled the subscription.  Or so I was told.  

A couple of weeks later, Apple charged me the $75 annual fee!  I called Apple.  After again spending an eternity "On Hold," I became fed up with Apple, hung up, went on line, and simply protested the charge with my credit card company.  It was interesting that they had a format for just the type of situation I was in, which indicated to me that this 30-day trial period thing is some sort of known (to some) scam.  A few days later, my credit card company gave me credit for the bogus $75 Apple charge.  

Then, a couple of weeks later, I get an email from Apple cancelling my “payment method” for Apple iTunes, iCloud, etc.  The payment method being cancelled, of course, was the credit card company that had nullified the bogus Apple charge. 

On line, I could not resolve the situation.  The system wouldn’t let me. I couldn't even substitute another credit card as a payment method. 

So again I had to call Apple Support, and after another eternity On Hold, I spoke with Michelle who informed me that Apple would not let me use the aforementioned credit card due to the fact that the credit card company had disallowed the bogus Apple charge.  Now, may I ask you, “What kind of a rotten Apple policy is that?  You disallow participation from a major credit card company because they righted a wrong you did?”  Way to go, Apple!

Finally, I was able to set up a new Apple payment method with the help of Michelle who said there is an Apple Support app that I might want to use in the future.  Someday, I probably will download it, but in the meantime, I’m pretty much sick of Apple and their method of: luring you into a trial subscription, and then not letting you out, unless you go thru phone hoops.  And even if an Apple rep says things are ok, Apple will still bill you for the subscription you canceled. And if you get that bogus bill erased by your credit card company, Apple will punish you by banning your credit card company from being an Apple “payment method.”  How rotten can Apple get?

No more trial subscriptions for me.