How punctual of us to devote nearly an entire episode to the phenomenon known as "Black Friday" the same week that it occurs. Like many things on the show, it's a happy accident. The story was scrubbed last week because we ran out of time... so it got bumped to this week. Stand by for Black Friday rage.....
Before we engulf ourselves in that, there are a few other things we need to get through first on the show. For example, Jenna. I do enjoy offering alternatives to Apple stuff. And I do enjoy talking about technological advances that fascinate me. Case in point, Siri on the iPhone 4S. It's so incredible that voice recognition is advancing to the point where we can carry on a conversation with a computer without having to sound like a computer ourselves. Siri is impressive... but you don't need an iPhone to get a piece of ass-istant. On Android we have Speaktoit. Like Siri, this virtual assistant can do your bidding and offers witty replies to your juvenile requests. I named mine Jenna. And customized her outfit, hair color, eye brows, skin tone and lips. Lets see you do that on Siri... oh wait, Siri is just a silver button. Of course, the avatar is useless. Her lips don't move and you can turn her off if you want to. But it's something fun to mess with none-the-less. Hear my demonstration of the Speaktoit Personal Assistant on this show.
The somewhat robotic voice behind my phone-flunky reminds me of Waffle Bot from the new A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS. We spew a few spoilers during the show, so I won't mention too much of it here. But, we highly recommend this movie. If you go back far enough in our archive when I first read off the premise, you'll hear our apprehension. We are thankful to say, it wasn't necessary. The film delivered what you'd expect from these 2 potheads, plus more. Not the best of the films, but certainly a worthy addition. We would love to see a 4th!
We also have an update to the news of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT's return for another season. We first told you about this a few shows back. It was announced that the series would return for a 10-eppy run leading up to a feature film. What wasn't known was where it would air. Well, we have that information now... and it's awesome! The 4th season of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT will run exclusively on Netflix. This is just one more step forward for the company in its attempt to become a content superpower outside of just streaming already-made movies and TV shows. They've said before their goal is to ultimately provide original content as well. Sort of like a streaming HBO or FX network. This is good news for us all!
Okay, now onto the bulk of the program... Black Friday... or in this case, "Black Midnight". Stores are caught in a never ending attempt to outdo one another and as a result, many will be opening late Thanksgiving night. Some will be open Thanksgiving Day. Just when you thought it couldn't get anymore outrageous after that poor man was trampled to death at a Wal-Mart last year; here we are now on the cusp of Thanksgiving becoming "Black Thursday". Where do we draw the line? The retailers won with Christmas. They've turned that into nothing more than a card-swiping extravaganza. Now they're working on doing the same with Thanksgiving. The 2 holidays in the USA that are meant for family, togetherness and reflection are gone. They're nothing more than a representation of EVERYTHING that's wrong with our consumerist-driven economy that is NOT sustainable. You may have heard of something called "Respect the Turkey". It's a new movement in which people and businesses are being asked to hold off on Christmas related activities until Thanksgiving is over with. What a concept! Celebrate that holiday AFTER you're done celebrating the current one. Some small businesses are taking the idea seriously. I heard on the radio last night while driving home from recording this episode that some stores in a local mall here are refusing to put up Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving has passed. Now if we could just get K-Mart, Sears, Kohl's, JCPenney, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Fry's, Bed Bath & Beyond, any shopping mall in America, Barnes & Noble, Old Navy, GAP, Toys 'R' Us, Target and the rest to follow suit, we may actually be able to enjoy the holidays. And yes, I know, the consumer is just as much to blame for this Black Friday bullshit as the stores are. They should be ashamed as well.
My soap box is getting a little rickety. I wonder if Home Depot has any Black Friday deals on a new one?
