Monday, January 23, 2006

I think 81 points is worth two pictures in one day, don't you?

So, I've been thinking about Kobe's performance and watching the highlights, and it really is an amazing feat he accomplished, even if you aren't a sports fan. It's the equivalent of a great musician playing a song better than they have ever dreamed, or a great writer finding inspiration from a place they may never again visit, or an accountant finding a tax loophole that was thought to have expired in 1927.

There is one shot Kobe took, in the middle of the fourth quarter, where his body was twisting in mid-air as he flung the shot towards the hoop. Of course, it was a perfect swish. The more I have seen the replays, the more it has made me think about what kind of discipline and training and committment it takes to be able to do anything at such a high level.

For me, I can think of twice while playing basketball that I was better than any other time. I can think of maybe three or four comedy sets that I felt were truly something special. And once, just once, I was involved in a sexual experience so amazing that I felt I had taken it to a whole new level. I just wish someone had been there with me to experience that one.

Moving on, I just caught a few minutes of a new show on VH-1, called, "Web Junk 20". This show seems to signal that television is finally throwing in the towel and admitting defeat to the internet. The show just plays clips of internet videos that are probably sitting in your in-box right now. Why then do we need to see these grainy, often poor-quality clips on our television? Is there nobody out there who can bring anything interesting or new to TV? How do network executives get away with this crap? And most importantly, when will the internet challenge television to a Steel Cage Match?

Hot damn, I just had an idea. The Daily Dave on TV. Groundbreaking, irreverent comedy on television...Excuse me, I have to make a phone call...

Oh, forget it, groundbreaking and irreverent have nothing to do with TV. And anyway, I was just gonna call my grandma.

Actually, I do think it's a solid idea. Me doing a live version of this, but in TV format. Like the O'Rielly Factor, but funny. Or Tucker Carlson's show, but funny. Or the Colbert Report, but funny.

Can someone from NBC or HBO or Fox that are reading this shoot me an e-mail? It's time to get the ball rolling on this.

I should mention that I don't watch The Colbert Report, but it just fit there.

Okay, time for something personal. One thing that I've been thinking about lately is what if I give everything that I have to my art and still come up short? That's an incredibly scary thought to me. But then I think that maybe I have to share that fear to truly get better at what I do.

Don't worry, I haven't had my Kobe game yet, so I'm not going anywhere, but that question is something that I think about almost everyday.

Okay, I gotta go now, I'm off to practice that jumpshot. It's all in the follow-through...

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