jPod Rock-Paper-Scissors

Have you been watching jPod? I have. It's moved from Tuesdays to Fridays, but what the hey, I'd follow that show anywhere, even if it means sometimes taping it to watch later. For that reason, I finally watched last week's show today, and one part of it has me perplexed.

Two characters engage in a best-of-three rock-paper-scissors duel. One character, Ethan, the protagonist, is given a cheat sheet of sorts in order to beat his competitor, Alistair, who was once a three-time world champion at rock-paper-scissors: a phone call from a mysterious Babette telling him to watch the lights on an electrical box - the blue light is rock, the green light is paper, the red light is scissors. On first go, green flashes and Ethan throws paper, as does Alistair. Then red flashes and Ethan throws scissors, as does Alistair. At this point, it should already be clear that the light operators are consistently predicting what Alistair is going to throw, so all Ethan needs to do to win is throw whatever beats the prediction. But the duel continues with tie after tie after tie, ad nauseum. Finally, a duel-ending tie is agreed upon.

Okay, maybe Ethan didn't want to show up the world champion in front of the crowd of four people by beating him. Merely tieing him would suffice, getting the jPodsters what they want, and so mission accomplished. I can accept that.

But hang on, after the duel there's another call from Babette. Ethan thanks Babette, then says, "There's one thing I don't get. If you knew what he was going to throw, why didn't you help me win?" Babette's response: "Ethan, it's far too soon for you to win."

WHAAAAAT? This doesn't compute. Babette did help him win. He was given all the information he needed to secure victory. Sure, the lights didn't correspond to what Ethan should throw in order to win, but they did show him, with 100% accuracy, what Alistair was going to throw. It's a pretty easy win with that information.. Ethan is a very bright lad, he could have figured it out.

I did like seeing Douglas Coupland in the episode, even though it was just for a few seconds and he was laying dead in an elevator. He gave himself a substantial role in the book, so I'm hoping that this lifeless appearance is the start of his televised role.

3 Sleeps 'til jPod!

On Tuesday evening CBC debuts a new show. The show is based on Douglas Coupland's novel jPod and, fittingly, the show is called jPod. I've read the novel, and I urge you to too, before Tuesday at 9pm if possible. Click here to read a review of the show, and then watch the trailer below. Or watch first and read second, it doesn't matter. You could also choose to only watch or only read, or to neither watch nor read. You know what, I don't care what you do, as long as you don't interfere with my jPod watching.

Be Good, Lose Weight, Pics of Kittens

I recently discovered that Douglas Coupland blogged during the summer of 2006 for The New York Times. In one post he writes about an experience while in Cologne:

I met Nick Hornby in the hotel lobby. His flight was canceled and so he had to kill the afternoon at the hotel, which is the most boring thing that can happen to you on a tour, so I commiserated. His new book is coming out in May. I think its title is, “How to Be Good.” His publisher told him he’ll sell thousands of copies unintentionally to people who’ll think it’s a self-help book, especially in the U.S. We then tried to think up names for novels that would sell thousands of copies based purely on the name. My best idea was, “Lose Weight Fast With Pictures of Kittens.”

A different post on the blog includes a link to Jenny Holzer's list of truisms.