Saturday, February 25, 2017

Internet Famous Yet?



So, I've heard that the key to achieving Innternet fame is to take bad pictures of birds and post them on the Internet.

In that spirit, here is my offering from lunchtime on Saturday.

I await the spike in hit count numbers. (And if anyone wants to identify the bird, that would be fine.)

Monday, February 20, 2017

MaY Cellphone Watch: "The Alan Brady Project" and "Mad Without You"


Recently, Lynda and I have been watching Mad About You reruns. This is one of our favorite shows. But . . . looking back on it, you see how the plot of this show (as with many others) would have been utterly destroyed had they only had a cellphone.

[Season 3, Episode 16] "The Alan Brady Project"

Paul is working on a documentary film about the history of television. He has worked to convince Alan Brady (a famous television actor from the 1950s) to narrate his film. Brady is played by Carl Reiner--himself a famous television actor from the 1950s and 1960s. Turns out that Brady is a real jerk and Paul is struggling to accommodate the actor's ego while making self-serving edits that Brady wants to add to the documentary. 

At Paul's request, Jamie shows up for a dinner with Brady, but when Brady negatively reacts to Jamie's (eminent) arrival, Paul wants her to leave quickly. 

How a cellphone would have helped: It would have been more efficient--if not comedic to quickly call or text Jamie and tell her not to arrive at the restaurant. Instead, there was a time of quick conversations and some slapstick hiding before Brady showed up.

[Season 3 Episode 17] "Mad Without You"

Jamie leaves Paul in the city while she goes back to Connecticut to help her father for the weekend. While Paul is re experiencing bachelor life, he discovers that he has no idea what goes on around the apartment when Jamie is in charge of things.

How a cellphone would have helped; During one scene, as Paul and Jamie are discussing whether she can leave Paul alone for the weekend, he is seen playing a pre-Game Boy handheld game.Obviously, he would have been playing a phone app game instead.

In another scene, while she is getting ready to leave Paul alone, Jamie gives a list of things to do while she is gone. Obviously, this could have been done via text or some other digital method. But it would have had the advantage of leaving him a checkable list of tasks and knowledge, which would have eliminated the comedic fact played upon during the episode that Paul doesn't know what to do at any point.

Later, while Paul is looking for friends to get out of the house with, he flips through a physical telephone "black book" to check phone numbers and addresses. This would definitely have been done with a cell phone app in our time.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

MaY Cellphone Watch: "Just My Dog"

Recently, Lynda and I have been watching Mad About You reruns. This is one of our favorite shows. But . . . looking back on it, you see how the plot of this show (as with many others) would have been utterly destroyed had they only had a cellphone.

[Season 3, Episode 15] "Just My Dog"
Paul has gotten an opportunity to direct a chewing gum commercial in New York City. As Jamie comes to visit him (with Murray) during the filming, the corporate observers decide that they love Murray's "look" and demand that Paul put the dog into the commercial. This leads to Murray becoming an animal actor (featuring Brent Spiner as his agent).

How a cellphone would have helped: Surprisingly, the impact of a cellphone would have played very little role in this episode. Maybe the Buchmans would have emailed videos of Murray to an animal talent agent rather than take him in person to an agency?
The only other spot where new technology could have played a role was in the B plot where Paul and Jamie are trying to read through a large backlog stack of magazines. Perhaps they would have been subscribing to digital magazines on their tablet device and would not have cluttered up their apartment with physical magazines?

BUT . . . if we are going to go there, then we need to address the shelves of analog/tape video equipment that film maker Paul uses in his career. All of that would have been obsolete in a digital world of cell phones. And THAT makes you realize that the Buchmans did not own a computer at all.


Wednesday, February 15, 2017

MaY Cellphone Watch: "Love Among the Tiles"


Recently, Lynda and I have been watching Mad About You reruns. This is one of our favorite shows. But . . . looking back on it, you see how the plot of this show (as with many others) would have been utterly destroyed had they only had a cellphone.

[Season 1, Episode 16] "Love Among the Tiles"
Paul and Jamie frantically get ready to attend Fran and Mark's annual Valentines Day party. Jamie is getting ready at the bathroom sink and Paul is finishing up his shower. They are already late to leave for the party.

Murray (the dog) leaves the bathroom and either jostles the bathroom door, causing it to close or maybe Paul closed the bathroom door. When Paul turns the knob to leave the bathroom and get dressed, the bathroom doorknob comes off from the inside and the two are trapped in the bathroom.
The rest of the episode is a series of scenes in which we see the couple try to escape the bathroom, break the door down, communicate with Murray, and find ways to scavenge food (Tums antacids) and occupy their time.
Meanwhile, we see flashes of the ongoing Valentines Day party where Fran, Mark, and Lisa (Jamie's older sister) wonder why the Buchmans are not showing up and then bad-mouthing them for ditching their friends.

How a cellphone would have helped: Pretty much instantly, a cell phone could have been used to a.) call the building superintendent (Mr. Wicker) to arrive and open the door. And while they waited to be released b.) they could have called Fran and Mark to explain what happened, apologize, and avoid being thought poorly of.
Alternatively, they could have used their cell phones to order up some food to prevent resorting to eating Tums antacids to stave off hunger. And probably, the delivery boy might have been able to open the bathroom door--assuming he could access the building's lobby and get through their unlocked (?) apartment front door?

Temporal impact of cell phone's existence: Assuming the existence of a cell phone, the central plot conflict of this episode would have been attacked in the first three minutes. The amount of time then required to resolve the broken door might have been an additional five minutes for Wicker to arrive or possibly 30-45 minutes for a food deliveryperson to show up.

Of course . . . the Buchmans might have called their British neighbors across the hallway and fixed things in 90 seconds. But since the two couples typically feud, this might not have been the best solution?