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Hornswaggle is an alternate spelling of hornswoggle, an archaic word that means to bamboozle or hoodwink. I take my pronunciation from the late Harvey Korman in "Blazing Saddles" -- "I want rustlers, cutthroats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, conmen, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswagglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass kickers, shit kickers and Methodists!" |
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Sunday, February 22, 2004The surprise of Saturday Night Live this weekend was Christina Aguilera's impersonation of Samantha during a "Sex and the City" skit. Ignoring the obvious jokes about a slut playing a slut, Aguilera did the voice impressively.Tina Fey and SNL took their shots at "Sex and the City," but the final two episodes of "Sex" were far better than any of the SNL's I've seen recently. The only reason I watch "Sex" is because of my lovely girlfriend and I'm typically not one to praise the show, but the last two episodes had their moments: Carrie letting Big have it on the sidewalk in Part One and Carrie wandering Paris in Two, for instance the moment where the little girl on her dad's shoulder's batted Carrie on the head, then stuck her tongue out at her for good measure. The better half was ecstatic when the writers revealed Big's name is "John." Stephanie Zacharek of Salon wrote a long article about how Charlotte, played by Kristin Davis, is the overlooked cornerstone of "Sex and the City." While Charlotte's quirky humor is amusing, I don't think anyone ever needs to devote 1,000 words to analyzing her character. I know what one of you might be thinking: How much time did you waste putting together that football post the other day? A) Leave me alone. B) Sports are different, and I'm not pretending football is important. (Speaking of that post, now that USC's Mike Williams has declared for the draft, I'll have to update it.) The only real question I've ever asked myself, re Kristin Davis, and I think it's a question many a red-blooded male has asked himself over the years, is why couldn't she get naked all the time instead of Kim Catrall? Returning to SNL: I've complained about the frequency of Britney Spears' and Christina Aguilera's appearances on the show before. This was Aguilera's first gig hosting the show. She's been a musical guest twice, as she mentioned during her monologue. Is SNL just another kettle of pop cultural mush? Shouldn't they have some standards as far as the hosts and musical guests are concerned? Their satirical barbs lose their bite when the person they're roasting one week is getting their ass kissed the next. (One skit, where various backstage guests give Aguilera backhanded compliments after a concert, saying she can be as much of a slut as she wants since her voice is so good, provides the pop star with a few clunky editorial lines about double standards and how she's just expressing her sexuality onstage.) A lot of the blame for all of this falls on Lorne Michaels. He makes the final call on everything, from the script to the guests. But a good portion belongs with Tina Fey, as head writer, who I think has kind of lost it a bit post 9/11. A profile in the New Yorker last year detailed therapy sessions in which she plays out combat scenes with imaginary terrorists. Once a staunch critic of Rudy Giuliani, she fairly fellated him in his first post-9/11 SNL appearance. Did Giuliani do all New Yorkers and many Americans a great service on that day with the leadership he displayed? Yes. Does that erase the fact that prior to that day in September he was an elephant dung-obsessed barnacle head and a glorified cop? Nope. New Yorkers were obviously affected by Sept. 11th much more profoundly than those of us on the West Coast. Tina Fey was clearly traumatized. But by now her satirical instincts should be fully recovered. I'm just not that interested in a kinder, gentler Tina Fey, one who hugs Christina Aguilera during the gathering at the end of the show and tells her how well she did. I like the Tina Fey who, doing a Weekend Update bit two years ago on female Viagara and how it increases vibrations in the clitoris, said Aguilera tried it and her vagina achieved light speed. Regarding the show that until Sunday followed "Sex and the City" on HBO, Heather Havrilesky recently wrote a piece for Salon, the premise of which just seemed to me to be manufactured, criticizing Larry David for transforming from "Everyman" to "Angry Man" and becoming merely annoying. Then tonight was one of the best "Curbs" I've seen, with Larry mistakenly leaving a profanity-laced tirade on the voice mail of David Schwimmer's father and faking heart attacks to get out of two confrontations, etc. Everyone ought to watch "Arrested Development," if they're not already. The other shows that are most worth watching these days are "The Apprentice" and "Chapelle's Show," for utterly different reasons. Regarding Chapelle, the Rick James installment of Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories is an instant classic. Notes: Max/Cam Cleland, Ann Coulter increased scumminess, Joe Conason, GOP crying foul while fouling, Natl. Guard - not settled. Vietnam - thought it was settled, Kerry fights. .: posted by hornswaggler 8:08 PM| |
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