Sweating Bullets

Things I noticed today:

• BloodRayne II doesn't deserve its 2.4 rating on IMDb. It's a bad movie, to be sure — bad acting, bad dialogue, bad cinematography, bad directing, etc. — but I've seen far worse movies with higher ratings. It certainly deserves more than a half-point lead on Santa with Muscles. Trying to step back from all the Uwe Boll hate, and think about what I was really watching, I realized that it was no worse than a typical mid-week made-for-TV movie. Since it was released direct-to-video, I don't see the problem.
• During one of the commercial breaks for BloodRayne II*, a promo ran for one of the SyFy Network's own shows. I don't remember what the show was actually about (effective advertising there), but I do remember hearing the announcer say, "And the team...", and then looking up to see the phrase, "Is At It's Mercy," displayed in white type on a black background. Not as egregious an error as renaming the network after a venereal disease, but honestly, it's not that hard to run QA on the text in a thirty-second commercial. People pay to watch cable, you know.
• After stirring some hope a couple weeks ago, the Lions have since proven that they are, definitively, a bad team. Maybe they aren't as completely pathetic as they were last season, but I don't think we're going to see a Dolphins-esque turnaround. I must say, though, I did think they had a chance at triggering a Steelers meltdown at the end... but then Pittsburgh's defensive coordinator realized that the Steelers defensive line could literally run over the Lions offensive line, and Culpepper was sacked into oblivion. At least they get to play the Rams pretty soon. That ought to be fun.
• "YOU STEVEN SEAGAL!" Really? Really.
• "What would you say if I told you drivers who switched from GEICO to Allstate saved an average of $473 last year? Would you stand up and walk out on me?"
• The next season of The Venture Bros. starts in a week. I'm excited.

* Yes, I watched it on TV. Did you expect me to pay to see it? I hope not...