HDNet Movie Programming

Sometimes I sit idly, imagining the programming meeting between the HDNet staff and Mark Cuban.

HDNet Staff:  "This month we're looking at programming movies shot from 1971 to 1975 and set in the deep south."

SILENCE

HDNet Staff: "Mr. Cuban?  71 through 75?  Deep south?"

Mark Cuban:  "You know what I want to know.:

HDNet Staff: "Honestly, no, Mr. Cuban.  I'm new here and..."

Mark Cuban:  "It's in the employee manual, for Christ's sake.  Page 75."

HDNet Staff:  "Right.  I see it."

Mark Cuban:  "Then you now know the sole criterion for programming movies on my movie network.  I don't give a fuck when they're shot, or where they're set, or whether they're historical or whatever nonsense you people want to talk about."

HDNet Staff:  "Yes, sir.  Now I know, sir."

Mark Cuban:  "And?"

HDNet Staff:  "And yes."

Mark Cuban:  "And yes WHAT, you maggot?"

HDNet Staff:  "And yes, Harry Dean Stanton's in it."

Mark Cuban:  "OKAY THEN."

And he hangs up the phone.

, "is Harry Dean Stanton in it?"

Teen Drinking

I've been watching Friday Night Lights (short version: the best TV show ever made about the kind of person who used to beat me up), and the level of teen drinking is notable.  I'm no prude (though I was much more of a stoner than a drinker in high school), but all the teen drinking (and the teen drinking in other recent series, like The O.C.) has gotten me thinking.

Where are our beloved institutional scolds on this issue?  Surely the drinking age in this country is still 21?