Poor Carl was perusing the blog today when he came across a Das comment that made reference to “skeevy Carl”. He was both horrified and offended, despite the fact that he had no idea what “skeevy” actually meant. Well, my writing partner, Paul, was more than happy to provide him with the following wiktionary definition of the word: “disgusting or distasteful; Perverted, strange in a sexually unpleasant way” – ensuring that Carl was even more horrified and offended. Das, how could you?!!! Someone else was quick to point out that Das was simply following up a reference I had made to Carl’s attire in yesterday’s entry that read: “Whoa! And you thought I looked skeevy! I suspect Carl must’ve rolled a hobo for this inspired ensemble.” HOWEVER, in truth I bear no responsibility because, if you continue reading, I go on to state: “Oh, no, sorry. Check that. Those are his regular clothes. Please disregard this comment.” Please disregard this comment! In other words, having read the offending comment, you should have immediately deleted it from your memories. But you didn’t! Shame on you, Das! You made Carl cry! He was even considering boycotting this blog until a rather fortuitous comment popped up, this one compliments of Jeff O’Connor who wrote: “I’ll never understand why Carl didn’t just do a double and sign up as one of the actors for an SG while he was at it. He’s seriously the best recurring thing on your blog.” (Next to me, of course, but that was implied.) Catastrophe averted, but I think we’ve all learned a powerful lesson about the power of language and how words can prove as destructive as a slap or a punch or a puppy left unattended in a sea of new shoe purchases. Even a seemingly innocent offhand comment, a remark made in jest, can injure, leave scars, even kill! Well, maybe not kill, but certainly injure and leave scars – nasty, deep emotional scars invisible on the outside but all too present deep within, located somewhere between the aorta and the left pulmonary artery, a painful reminder that lingers like an annoyingly catchy pop tune you hear on the radio while you’re on your way to work in the morning. So next time, THINK before you make a comment – for YOUR sake, MY sake, and, most importantly of all, the sake of poor skeevy Carl.
Oh, and a bit of trivia. Script coordinator Lawren and Exec. Producers’ Assistant Ashleigh were actually good friends prior to Ashleigh’s joining the production. How good? Clearly their body language in the proceeding picture demonstrates a comfort level characteristic of the very best of pals:
Hey, remember way back when the U.S. led the way in technological innovation? It seems like not that long ago, every other country in the world was following the trail they blazed. Well, today, I came across this interesting article (http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5geVAigQHJyD1t4c76NfgHdhPfs8g) outlining Canada’s new method for gathering television ratings data. It’s called a Portable People Meter, a device capable of following people’s viewing habits wherever they are be it at home, a friend’s house, or a local sports bar. According to the article: “…there is an encoder in each and every radio and television transmission facility in Canada. It emits a code every four seconds into the station’s audio signal.” Initial results are impressive with this new system recognizing a significant number of hitherto undiscovered viewers. The season premiere of House, for example, drew an astounding 4.4 million pairs of eyeballs [as, er, opposed to just eyeballs which you’ve all been kind enough to point out amounts to the same number]. That’s roughly double the previous season’s average!
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