Here are five random observations:
1. I’ve been listening to a lot of Minnesota Twins games on the radio this year and for some bizarre reason, the chorus of The Cranberries’ 1994 hit “Zombie” often plays over the loudspeaker at the Metrodome. Regardless of the game situation, it strikes me as an odd time to play a protest song about the British occupation of Northern Ireland.
2. During high-speed car chases in movies, the other cars never pull to the side of the road. I don’t just mean the unsuspecting cars that the speeders catch up to. Watch closely next time: There are still cars traveling along at normal speed behind the dangerous chase.
3. There are now TV channels entirely devoted to golf, tennis, the Big Ten Conference, movies, the environment, food, science and music (although, oddly, MTV — Music Television — and VH1 — Video Hits 1 — are not devoted to music). But there is no TV network that focuses on current TV dramas and comedies (although game shows and reality shows have their own channels). Even the TV Guide Channel splits its TV time with movie coverage. If it existed, I would watch the TV Channel.
4. In horror movies, the victim is always surprised by the killer sneaking up on him or her from off-camera. The filmmakers are confusing what we, the viewer, can see (what the camera shows us) with what the character should be able to see (the whole room).
5. Early in their careers, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg made great movies when everyone told them they couldn’t. Then, after they finished the film, the studio tampered with it and made it worse. Now that they are successful, Lucas and Spielberg make bad movies when no one tells them they shouldn’t do it. And they tamper with their old films and make them worse.