Jeff(rey) Rhodes Project - Pt. 2

Update! As I learn more and more about my fell Jeff Rhodes', I'm doing a census of sorts to figure out all of my alternate realities.

So far, I've become friends with 23 Jeff Rhodes' around the world. It's a pretty diverse group of Jeff Rhodes', the only constant being that they are male and they have some command of the English language. Due to privacy concerns, I cannot in good conscience mention to which Jeff Rhodes I am referring to, though due to the nature of this post, it is safe to assume that their names are indeed Jeff Rhodes:

*Texas Jeff
*Pennsylvania Jeff x 4
*Tennessee Jeff
*UK Jeff
*Virginia Jeff x 2
*Massachusetts Jeff
*California Jeff (besides me)
*Arkansas Jeff
*Arizona Jeff
*New York Jeff
*Ohio Jeff
*Mississippi Jeff
*North Carolina Jeff
*Florida Jeff
*Australia Jeff... "is looking forward to playing cricket today in 41 degree heat."
*Indiana Jeff

*A few I can't tell where they're from...

Uncool Hollywood Report - 1/8/10

The Jeff(rey) Rhodes Project - Pt. 1

Jeff Rhodes (left) enjoying a little time with his pal Jeffrey Rhodes (right).

So I'm traveling time from Seattle to LA and I get out of my meeting early and dash to the airport as fast as I can to try and get an earlier flight. When I swipe my credit card, I notice that the kind folks at Northwest Air had already put me on an earlier flight. Great. I board the plane, grab my seat, and close my eyes. Some dude walks up tells me I'm sitting in his seat. I double check my boarding pass, double check my seat number and politely tell him he's wrong. He goes to the flight attendant. The flight attendant comes back and asks for my boarding pass. I oblige and hand it to her. She compares my boarding pass to his boarding pass, "Which one of you is Jeffrey Rhodes?"

We both raise our hands.

This is the first confirmed meeting I've had with another Jeff Rhodes. I thought it was kind of funny. The other Jeff Rhodes was kind of a jerk. I was hoping to compare Jeff Rhodes notes but no dice.

So it got me thinking about how many Jeff Rhodes' there are out in the world. Who are they and what do they do? So I decided to become friends with as many Jeff Rhodes' as I could find. I've started with Facebook and sent friend requests to 272 different Jeff or Jeffrey Rhodes'.

So far:

One Jeffrey Rhodes is a high school kid from Indiana.
One Jeff Rhodes is from Mississippi
More than a few Jeff Rhodes' seem to be from Ohio
One Jeff Rhodes likes to play games on Facebook
Another Jeff Rhodes doesn't like people who play games.

Further reports to come on the Jeffrey Rhodes universe as I make friends with my found pals...

Uncool Music Playlist - Cheap Trick "Surrender"

The Uncool hits keep on rolling... Live, from Jeff's iPod it is the #1 song on his most played list CHEAP TRICK "Surrender".

This is one of my Uncool favorites from Guitar Hero 2.

TV is Superior to Movies - Rome

I'm pretty sure this is going to be the best evidence to date that I am indeed Uncool so here goes... TV is superior to movies example this month: ROME

Without A DOUBT, when done correctly, the best of television is far superior to the best of movies. Period. End of story.

The best novels are better than the best short stories... the best pro is better than the best college... It's all physics.

Think about it. How well can you tell a story if you have 22 hours versus two hours? Sure, the pacing is different and there's more hit-or-miss and there's clearly art going on during a concise two hour flick but... please.

Let's look at characters: In a well made television show, you can develop real characters over time. Changes and arcs are more realistic and believable and true to life. You can show many, many more characters to minimize the use of the dreaded 'composite' character. Your characters can interact more realistically and without having to rely on character who serve contrived story purposes. The stakes for characters are greater because we have more sympathy and investment. More characters are truly dynamic.

Let's look at story: Plot can unravel at different, realistic paces. You can have multiple arcs that are more complex and layered. With a TV show, you can have true epic proportions for even a small story.

An example is one of my favorite shows...

Title: ROME
Episodes: 2 seasons, 22 episodes
Status: Cancelled

How else can you truly tell the epic tale of ancient Rome's transition from republic to empire? How can you possibly tell this story in a two hour slug fest. Like a fine novel unfolding, we see the complex relationship between Julius Caesar and Mark Antony and Augustus Caesar and all of their families, soldiers and enemies.

Too expensive to continue, too quick to die. For an absolute treat on a grand scale, ROME.

Twinkies: Robot Twinkie

The Best Gift of All: Socks

Nothing pleases a father like getting a new bag of fresh socks for Christmas. As a child, nothing would have repulsed me further than to get any item of clothing for Christmas. The child mind filters out any item of clothing and never quite connects "clothing" with "gift" on any level. As a kid, if I had received $5,000 worth of suits, clothes, shoes and one small toy I would have remembered that Christmas as the one where I got only a small toy.

Fast forward to my manhood. I'm not sure when the switch happened. I'm thinking sometime around the time when I had to buy my own clothes that I started to 'value' getting socks for Christmas. Then somewhere along the line... I started to 'like' getting underwear and socks for Christmas. Now it is one of the highlights of my year.

That whole week after Christmas, there is no bigger smile on my face than when I pull a fresh pair of socks out of that resealable back and put that virgin cotton on my size 12's. Oh, life gets no better. I always said if I won the lottery, one of big extravagances would be that I would wear new underwear and socks every day. I may try to figure out a way to make that happen without the whole lottery thing.