That ending makes a bit more sense than the real ending. It’s a Wonderful Life isn’t the straightforward Christmas tale we think it is. There are lots of facets to consider when you take a moment to scratch the surface. Or you could just search blogs online and find what other people think.

Since I was a child there was one aspect of the movie that really bothered me. We, the audience, are left to think the money problems at the Bailey Building & Loan are taken care of thanks to George’s friends coming to his aid. I think the bank examiner tears up the arrest warrant for George too. That really bothers me. Just because George scraped together another $8,000 doesn’t mean you can ignore the fact that the Building & Loan’s books don’t add up. George should still be arrested and there should be a criminal investigation. He, and possibly Uncle Billy, would be sent away to jail for a few years. That’s hardly a happy ending, but it’s real and obvious. Who believes everything would be set right by simply collecting another $8,000? That movie ending is just lazy writing.

While I’m nitpicking, you know what else bothers me about that movie? George Bailey is such a total whiner. We’re supposed to see him as nobly sacrificing himself for his friends and family. All I can see is a pushover. Giving up his world travels to pay for his brother Harry’s college education was a selfless act, as was running the Building & Loan during that education. However, once George’s father was dead and Harry refused to take over that job, George should have had the independence to live his own life. Instead he cocooned himself in pity. Poor George, he has “no choice” but to stay in Bedford Falls and run a savings and loan. Did it ever occur to him that years of experience running a savings and loan could be used to further a career in banking? Why didn’t he ever pursue a job with a bank in another town? He could have packed up the family and that hot wife, Donna Reed, for a better job that would earn him more money so he could afford to see the world.

If anything you can finish It’s a Wonderful Life and learn the lesson that dedicating yourself to serving the community leads to a bleak life of disappointment. George stuck with the Building & Loan to give Bedford Falls an alternative to Potter’s evil bank. It never fulfilled him. Don’t live your life for others. If you take care of yourself, then you’ll have a wonderful life.

Here we have a fairly standard attack ad. You have a concerned sounding voiceover and stock footage of the politicians you’re demonizing. I think we’ve all seen a million of these especially if you’re one of those to live in a battleground state. Being in solidly Democratic California, I don’t see them all that often.

Even though this ad is so ordinary, CBS refuses to air it because the appearance of Nancy Pelosi would confuse viewers. I can’t even fathom the logic there. Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer are in it but I guess there’s nothing confusing about them. Is CBS sneaking in a hidden dig at Pelosi by saying her very appearance would addle the brains of viewers? Or perhaps CBS is playing catch up with MSNBC in toadying to the Democratic Party.

So Don Cheadle has a new movie out. Out of sheer boredom I clicked on an interview with him on MSNBC. In that interview, two answers shocked me.

You were on the “Golden Girls” spinoff, “The Golden Palace.” Can we say it? Betty White’s a bitch, right?
Yes, she’s only angelic in every other thing you see her in, but on the show she was completely evil. Made out of evil.

Did you ever try playing “Password” with her?
No, I hit on her. I wasn’t married yet. I wanted to take her out, but the May-December thing wasn’t her thing.

Cheadle’s joking right? Betty White is evil? I never, ever imagined it. I could see it now that it has been suggested, but still I find it hard to reconcile. Oh and can you imagine Betty White dating Don Cheadle? He couldn’t have been more than 30 when he was on The Golden Palace. He wanted to date her? She wasn’t a hot old lady. She was just an old lady! This interview has got to be a joke.

I hate to admit it, but I’ve caught Olympic fever. On Tuesday I sat down and watched women’s team gymnastics, a bunch of swimming relays, men’s volleyball, and women’s rowing. And I was completely sucked in. I don’t know what’s come over me, but I was actually holding my breath when Michael Phelps was swimming. Watching those gymnasts come so close to stumbling or falling would make my feet sweat and put my stomach in knots.

I’m a little embarrassed because I’ve written off the Olympics since the Atlanta games in 1996. It all just seemed so boring to me. The results never seemed to matter. US wins a bunch of medals, blah blah blah. Russians and Romanians are good at gymnastics, blah blah blah. Olympic spirit this, dreaming of gold that, blah blah blah. And always Bob Costas’s steady baritone narrating the soft-focused, feel good stories of the athletes who must have some struggle to overcome. Yet this year I’m eating it up. Well, most of it. I’m getting Phelps fatigue. How many times can you hear “eat, sleep, swim” before you start to hope he fails?

But last night I watched badminton for the first time in my life. It was China versus Germany (who actually had a Chinese athlete) and it was a fantastic game. Badminton is FAR superior to tennis. Those two women really fought for every single point. The shuttlecock would get slammed back and forth dozens of times before a point was scored. In tennis you’re lucky if you see the ball get returned three times. Booooring! The only time one of those badminton players didn’t practically kill themselves to hit the shuttlecock, was at the second game’s matchpoint when Germany’s athlete didn’t move because she was doubled over gasping for air. Now that’s sport!

Oh but don’t let me leave out Bela Karolyi’s great commentary with Bob Costas after the US women’s team won the silver medal. Now, let me preface this by saying, I don’t pay any attention to gymnastics so maybe this was old news to you aficionados. When Karolyi started ranting about how half the Chinese team was under age 16, well I was just beaming with excitement. You just don’t hear that kind of rumor-mongering on TV, and I want to applaud it. It really brings you inside the sport.

Also, I feel I should say thanks to Alicia Sacramone. She’s the first gymnast I’ve ever thought was hot. Gymnasts have a certain status in pop culture I’ve never agreed with until now.

So I’ll probably be staying up late to watch more tonight. There’s the women’s gymnastics individual competition tonight. Plus who knows what else? I never knew how much I liked badminton until last night and I saw a really interesting rowing competition too.

Alex Trebek is synonymous with Jeopardy. He’s been the host of that game show for as long as I can remember. For all I know he’s been hosting since the show began. The thing is…I can’t think of anything else he has done. Can you? I know he’s had some bit parts, but they all play off his Jeopardy fame. But what did he do to get that show? Seems like one day God formed Trebek from clay and charged him with hosting a new game show.

Well to my astonishment I actually found pre-Jeopardy Alex Trebek footage. I feel like I glimpsed a moment before the Big Bang.

Sorry I couldn’t record the whole game show. I only stopped on Game Show Network because I saw the name “Double Dare”. I was all set to travel down memory lane with Marc Summers and green slime, but instead I got this show. I spent about a minute watching in quiet astonishment before I bolted up to my room to record what I could.

I can think of one person who will complain about this so I might as well come out and say it. I am aware the video loses sync when the show comes back from commercial. That’s probably because I chopped the commercials out. No, it is not worth my time to fix the sync. Just enjoy it for what it is; a chance to see Alex Trebek with some ridiculous 70′s hair.

Here’s the situation. I’m folding my laundry on Thursday night. I’m scrolling through the TV channels trying to find something to watch while I fold. That’s when I come across a show called “Texty Videos” on the LATV network. No, it has nothing to do with the city of Los Angeles. It’s a compressed way to write “Latin Television” meaning Spanish-speaking.

I never heard of this show before but for fun I decided to give it a try. The premise is to scroll people’s text messages while videos play. Yeah I don’t understand the desire to send text messages to a TV show either. I was only half way through the thought that this was a pretty stupid idea when this text message scrolled by.

I miss you baby. I promise I will get a job and stop trickin.

Two sentences, fourteen words that instantly tell you ALL about the audience for this show.

I read lots of snarky complaints by The Commentarat on Curbed and Gothamist about Midwesterners moving to or visiting NYC because they want to live the Sex and the City lifestyle, but I never seriously believed those complaints. I always took them to be sarcasm. It was just an exaggeration of some obnoxious tourists. I mean what kind of person visits a city because of a TV show?

Yet they exist. Here I am during my Saturday 12 hour shift, and I’m checking for anything slightly interesting on MSNBC. I happen upon the headline, “‘Sex and the City’ fans flocking to New York“. There’s no mistaking that. Women are visiting NYC because of that show. I am just stunned.

I don’t understand why the storyline of a fictional show would inspire people to visit the location. I guess that’s why I’m such a lousy tourist. Way back in high school, my astronomy teacher told us about a NASA lecture being held near Columbia University. He also said the building was right near “the Seinfeld diner” (actually named Tom’s Restaurant). I planned to attend the lecture (it’s so long ago I can’t remember if this was because it was required or I was being extra nerdy) with a friend who was also in my class. They thought we should go see the diner because it was on the way. I went and was unimpressed. It was just an ordinary diner. The interior isn’t even the same as the set on Seinfeld, so really we visited to look at a sign.

I found visiting Tom’s Restaurant to be a pointless waste of time and that’s all I can think these ‘Sex and the City’ visits are. It’s not as if I was going to have a cup of coffee and eggwhite omelet with Jerry at the diner, and these women aren’t actually going to hangout with Carrie and the other three.

But there’s enough demand to sustain an actual tour based around the show. On this you can…

• Sit on Carrie’s apartment stoop
• See the furniture store where Aidan designed his pieces
• Stop at the store where Charlotte bought her Rabbit

It just strikes me as sad. People, it’s not actually Carrie’s stoop! Carrie Bradshaw is a character and she never actually lived there. Some location scout walked around, saw the building, and thought to themselves, “Ooh! That looks so New Yorky!” Seeing the stoop shouldn’t change how you watch the show because whatever happened there didn’t actually happen. It’s not real. I appreciate the joy of escapism, I really do. It lets you imagine a more fun, exciting version of yourself. But I think when you actually spend time in the real world visiting places that are part of your fantasy world, well, you’ve crossed a line.

By the way, is Sex in the City the show that started the bizarre obsession with cupcakes or did it just introduce that to the rest of America? If understand right, Magnolia Bakery is a stop on the tour. Cupcakes do not have strong culinary roots in NYC, unlike say a Black & White cookie, so I don’t get why they’ve become such a big fuss.