Looking out across the vast wasteland that is television, plus other thoughts
I have a lot on my mind tonight, so bear with me. You shall be rewarded with a cookie.
Eins. Some of you scamps are quite reticent about leaving comments on my blog, which makes me sad. How can I have validation? I know you're out there, because I have a site meter. You can't hide! Well, that's fine, you silent majority, but check out my GuestMap! Tell me where you're from! It's totally neat-o. I found out all about the GuestMap from Erin.
Zwei. My excellent wife has become angrier and angrier, and you don't want to mess with that! Therefore she has jumped in the blogging pool with Angry Liberal Mommy, because she's, you know, angry, liberal, and a mother. Funny how that works out. She's only posted once, telling us how women are idiots. I'm not allowed to say that, but she is, apparently. Check it out! I will make sure she posts often, because she tends to hang out in the real world a lot instead of in cyberspace like us cool people.
Drei. Smokey had surgery today, and it was a resounding success. The surgeon was a little concerned, because he wasn't sure what kind of tumor it was, but after going in, he said all is well. He thinks Smokey might even recover some, if not all, of his sight, since the tumor was pressing down on his optic nerves, which may have caused the blindness in the first place. He's staying at the vet's overnight, but he should be back home tomorrow. He still has a ton of health issues, but it appears the worst is over. Of course, I have no kidneys left because we had to sell them to pay for it, but I don't need kidneys, do I?
Vier. Okay, I'm watching 24 right now, and I decided to write about the television shows I watch, for a number of reasons. First, I don't do it that often, and second, Thomas told me I should, and I must listen to him! And third, well, that's coming up under number funf.
24 is a great show. It's not as good now as, say, the first season, when it was a bit fresher, but it's still better than most of the stuff on TV. This season has been kind of strange, though. I'm really not comfortable with all the torture, because I have become a bit numb to it, and I shouldn't feel that way. In Season Two (I think), Kiefer cuts some dude's head off! That was shocking. Now, it's a joke - Krys and I look at each other and say, "Oh look, another suspect - time for torture!" It's like they don't even try to question people anymore - they skip straight to the torture. I also don't like the overall arc this year. In years past, the subplots were all building toward a big threat. This year, The Mummy has like eight different plots, all of which are relatively independent of each other and all of which come to fruition on the same day!?!? He's like a freakin' supervillain, for God's sake. And I hate the new president. And I miss Kim. Yes, she was really stupid and really annoying, but she brought some comic relief to the show, which it kind of desperately needs. I still love the show, because it's just excellently done action and all dramatic and stuff. And Kiefer RULES!
[UPDATE] What a cool fucking ending. They are good at ending episodes on 24.
I enjoy Desperate Housewives, and I'm glad it seems to be moving toward some resolution, but I HATE LYNETTE!!!! Fuck you, Lynette, and your fucking simpering ways. God I hate her. I feel so bad for Gay Matt. Lynette needs to go play in traffic or something. I also don't like the fact that the women are falling into stereotypes. Teri Hatcher is the ditz. WE GET IT! Brie is uptight. Brie rules, though, and it's actually interesting that we keep getting more into her character. Marcia Cross is the best actress on the show. Gabrielle is okay, but her fight with her husband is just boring. The mystery is fine, but I hope we get more answers by the end of the year. Not the whole thing, just more than we already have. I fear for Bebe's life - I love Bebe. And I HATE MARY-ALICE'S VOICEOVERS!!!! Please stop them. We know everything she says. She's freakin' dead - shouldn't she know more than she's telling us?
Arrested Development is over for the year. What a great show. I think it's coming back, which is fantastic. Watch it when it returns. Do as I say!
I won't go into the finale of Carnivale, because some people who watch it get it on DVD and haven't seen the last show yet, but it was disappointing in a Twin Peaks/X-Files way, where it seems like the writers aren't quite sure where things are going and simply want to keep things going. Shows like this should have a specific time frame to tell their story, and that's that. I think if Carnivale had added maybe three or four shows to the two seasons and not moved so ... incredibly ... slowly, they could have told the whole story and we would be talking about two amazing seasons. Instead, we have a third season, with incoherent plot threads that may or may not pan out. Sigh.
Deadwood is awesome. I haven't seen the latest episode, so don't tell me about it! This is a great show, one that is just wonderful to sink into, with the filth (both literally and language-wise) and the drama and the Shakespearean dialogue (in between the curses, of course) and the sudden, brutal, and sometimes inexplicable violence. Just when you think you have a handle on things, it changes you up, someone dies, someone acts nobly, and all sorts of things go topsy-turvy. Ian McShane and Timothy Olyphant are excellent, but the entire cast is brilliant. Just a fabulous show.
I also still love Lost, but I do have issues with it. Yesterday I linked to this, because it does point out some of the logical fallacies of the show, some of which I'd like to examine. First, the number of people on the island. When I worked in a big company, I knew a whole hell of a lot more than 48 people by name, yet these people (the stars of the show, I mean), who have been trapped on an island for, what, two weeks (Lost time), haven't even bothered to try to learn everyone's name? WTF? I wish there had been fewer survivors of the crash in the first place, so that we wouldn't have unnamed extras wandering around. It's just annoying to think that there's all these people on the island who presumably know nothing of the drama being played out. And what drama it is. Clare gets kidnapped and no one looks for her? No one seems to be bothered that there are polar bears on the island? Everyone wonders why Locke and Boone are such awful hunters, but no one follows them to see why? Jack seems to have no set personality - sometimes he's a nice guy, sometimes he's a total dick, sometimes within a couple of minutes of each other! Charlie's heroin withdrawal lasted like a day? No one seems to care where Ethan came from? I know it's all very mysterious, but when people act contrary to basic human emotions just to service the mystery, it gets annoying. I always say I would never be caught in a horror movie, because I'm just not that kind of person - if my house told me to get out, I bloody well would, I don't care how cheap it was! However, this lack of curiosity about the kookiness on the island is frustrating. Don't they wonder what the hell is going on??? Still, Lost is a gripping show. It's absolutely unlike anything I've seen on television, and as long as the creative minds behind the show have a plan (see above) and don't just keep stringing us along, I'm there. It would be nice if next season was the last one. Everything gets figured out and everything gets resolved. These would two unbelievable seasons of television. If the ratings stay up, however, that won't happen - it will keep coming back, and eventually will suck. Sigh.
Funf (I can't do umlauts in HTML, so just visualize it over the 'u'). Now that I've gone over the shows I watch, I have a question. This was brought up to me many months ago, when my friend Frank told me I watch too much television. Maybe I do, maybe I do. But I would like to know - what the hell does everyone else do? What fabulous stuff are you people doing on weeknights that precludes television watching? Am I just a television-watching loser because I have a child who needs to be in bed every night at seven and I can't go out? Are you childless people going out drinking one night, dating some honey another night, playing mah-jong with your buddies another night, getting together with your volleyball league another night, and curing cancer on the other night? I'm not picking on you, you understand, I just wonder. My friend Frank has a kid, and I presume he's not leaving Frank Jr. Jr. at home alone while he and his lovely wife cruise around Bucks County looking for cheap thrills. Krys and I are exhausted by the time eight o'clock rolls around, and we're just happy to vegetate in front of the TV for a while. It's off now (24 is over), and it's not like it's on all the time - we don't watch anything on Tuesdays, so it will probably be off early tomorrow - but I just wonder about you guys. Give me some options so that I don't turn into a complete television junkie! I seek help!
Sechs. More updates on Smokey tomorrow. And Mia gets new medicine! Be sure to check out her blog for news on the big switch!
Sorry, no cookie. How would I give it to you?
Eins. Some of you scamps are quite reticent about leaving comments on my blog, which makes me sad. How can I have validation? I know you're out there, because I have a site meter. You can't hide! Well, that's fine, you silent majority, but check out my GuestMap! Tell me where you're from! It's totally neat-o. I found out all about the GuestMap from Erin.
Zwei. My excellent wife has become angrier and angrier, and you don't want to mess with that! Therefore she has jumped in the blogging pool with Angry Liberal Mommy, because she's, you know, angry, liberal, and a mother. Funny how that works out. She's only posted once, telling us how women are idiots. I'm not allowed to say that, but she is, apparently. Check it out! I will make sure she posts often, because she tends to hang out in the real world a lot instead of in cyberspace like us cool people.
Drei. Smokey had surgery today, and it was a resounding success. The surgeon was a little concerned, because he wasn't sure what kind of tumor it was, but after going in, he said all is well. He thinks Smokey might even recover some, if not all, of his sight, since the tumor was pressing down on his optic nerves, which may have caused the blindness in the first place. He's staying at the vet's overnight, but he should be back home tomorrow. He still has a ton of health issues, but it appears the worst is over. Of course, I have no kidneys left because we had to sell them to pay for it, but I don't need kidneys, do I?
Vier. Okay, I'm watching 24 right now, and I decided to write about the television shows I watch, for a number of reasons. First, I don't do it that often, and second, Thomas told me I should, and I must listen to him! And third, well, that's coming up under number funf.
24 is a great show. It's not as good now as, say, the first season, when it was a bit fresher, but it's still better than most of the stuff on TV. This season has been kind of strange, though. I'm really not comfortable with all the torture, because I have become a bit numb to it, and I shouldn't feel that way. In Season Two (I think), Kiefer cuts some dude's head off! That was shocking. Now, it's a joke - Krys and I look at each other and say, "Oh look, another suspect - time for torture!" It's like they don't even try to question people anymore - they skip straight to the torture. I also don't like the overall arc this year. In years past, the subplots were all building toward a big threat. This year, The Mummy has like eight different plots, all of which are relatively independent of each other and all of which come to fruition on the same day!?!? He's like a freakin' supervillain, for God's sake. And I hate the new president. And I miss Kim. Yes, she was really stupid and really annoying, but she brought some comic relief to the show, which it kind of desperately needs. I still love the show, because it's just excellently done action and all dramatic and stuff. And Kiefer RULES!
[UPDATE] What a cool fucking ending. They are good at ending episodes on 24.
I enjoy Desperate Housewives, and I'm glad it seems to be moving toward some resolution, but I HATE LYNETTE!!!! Fuck you, Lynette, and your fucking simpering ways. God I hate her. I feel so bad for Gay Matt. Lynette needs to go play in traffic or something. I also don't like the fact that the women are falling into stereotypes. Teri Hatcher is the ditz. WE GET IT! Brie is uptight. Brie rules, though, and it's actually interesting that we keep getting more into her character. Marcia Cross is the best actress on the show. Gabrielle is okay, but her fight with her husband is just boring. The mystery is fine, but I hope we get more answers by the end of the year. Not the whole thing, just more than we already have. I fear for Bebe's life - I love Bebe. And I HATE MARY-ALICE'S VOICEOVERS!!!! Please stop them. We know everything she says. She's freakin' dead - shouldn't she know more than she's telling us?
Arrested Development is over for the year. What a great show. I think it's coming back, which is fantastic. Watch it when it returns. Do as I say!
I won't go into the finale of Carnivale, because some people who watch it get it on DVD and haven't seen the last show yet, but it was disappointing in a Twin Peaks/X-Files way, where it seems like the writers aren't quite sure where things are going and simply want to keep things going. Shows like this should have a specific time frame to tell their story, and that's that. I think if Carnivale had added maybe three or four shows to the two seasons and not moved so ... incredibly ... slowly, they could have told the whole story and we would be talking about two amazing seasons. Instead, we have a third season, with incoherent plot threads that may or may not pan out. Sigh.
Deadwood is awesome. I haven't seen the latest episode, so don't tell me about it! This is a great show, one that is just wonderful to sink into, with the filth (both literally and language-wise) and the drama and the Shakespearean dialogue (in between the curses, of course) and the sudden, brutal, and sometimes inexplicable violence. Just when you think you have a handle on things, it changes you up, someone dies, someone acts nobly, and all sorts of things go topsy-turvy. Ian McShane and Timothy Olyphant are excellent, but the entire cast is brilliant. Just a fabulous show.
I also still love Lost, but I do have issues with it. Yesterday I linked to this, because it does point out some of the logical fallacies of the show, some of which I'd like to examine. First, the number of people on the island. When I worked in a big company, I knew a whole hell of a lot more than 48 people by name, yet these people (the stars of the show, I mean), who have been trapped on an island for, what, two weeks (Lost time), haven't even bothered to try to learn everyone's name? WTF? I wish there had been fewer survivors of the crash in the first place, so that we wouldn't have unnamed extras wandering around. It's just annoying to think that there's all these people on the island who presumably know nothing of the drama being played out. And what drama it is. Clare gets kidnapped and no one looks for her? No one seems to be bothered that there are polar bears on the island? Everyone wonders why Locke and Boone are such awful hunters, but no one follows them to see why? Jack seems to have no set personality - sometimes he's a nice guy, sometimes he's a total dick, sometimes within a couple of minutes of each other! Charlie's heroin withdrawal lasted like a day? No one seems to care where Ethan came from? I know it's all very mysterious, but when people act contrary to basic human emotions just to service the mystery, it gets annoying. I always say I would never be caught in a horror movie, because I'm just not that kind of person - if my house told me to get out, I bloody well would, I don't care how cheap it was! However, this lack of curiosity about the kookiness on the island is frustrating. Don't they wonder what the hell is going on??? Still, Lost is a gripping show. It's absolutely unlike anything I've seen on television, and as long as the creative minds behind the show have a plan (see above) and don't just keep stringing us along, I'm there. It would be nice if next season was the last one. Everything gets figured out and everything gets resolved. These would two unbelievable seasons of television. If the ratings stay up, however, that won't happen - it will keep coming back, and eventually will suck. Sigh.
Funf (I can't do umlauts in HTML, so just visualize it over the 'u'). Now that I've gone over the shows I watch, I have a question. This was brought up to me many months ago, when my friend Frank told me I watch too much television. Maybe I do, maybe I do. But I would like to know - what the hell does everyone else do? What fabulous stuff are you people doing on weeknights that precludes television watching? Am I just a television-watching loser because I have a child who needs to be in bed every night at seven and I can't go out? Are you childless people going out drinking one night, dating some honey another night, playing mah-jong with your buddies another night, getting together with your volleyball league another night, and curing cancer on the other night? I'm not picking on you, you understand, I just wonder. My friend Frank has a kid, and I presume he's not leaving Frank Jr. Jr. at home alone while he and his lovely wife cruise around Bucks County looking for cheap thrills. Krys and I are exhausted by the time eight o'clock rolls around, and we're just happy to vegetate in front of the TV for a while. It's off now (24 is over), and it's not like it's on all the time - we don't watch anything on Tuesdays, so it will probably be off early tomorrow - but I just wonder about you guys. Give me some options so that I don't turn into a complete television junkie! I seek help!
Sechs. More updates on Smokey tomorrow. And Mia gets new medicine! Be sure to check out her blog for news on the big switch!
Sorry, no cookie. How would I give it to you?
posted by Greg | 8:10 PM
9 Comments:
Yeah, I admit I've ben lax on the commenting. I tried to sign up on your map thing, don't know if it worked. I just signed up for Site Meter, too, and am trying to learn how to get more traffic to my site and be aware when and if it does.
"I can't do umlauts in HTML"
ΓΌ = ¨
Erm, well that was interesting. Blogger showed the HTML code when I previewed the comment, but not when I posted it...
Anyway, you can see all the HTML character entities at http://www.ramsch.org/martin/uni/fmi-hp/iso8859-1.html
I will beg for the cookie. And you're wife is right about being able to say what she likes about other women, but not you. It works that way for us. We are our own worst enemies. Why add men into that mixture as well. Enough said.
I too have grown to love Desperate Housewives. Something really trashy about the show that makes it so damn luring.
Instead of watching TV, I read comics, read books, play board games with friends, play on the computer, work in the yard, goof with Legos, run around with the dog...
...things that, for me, are far more satisfying than just sitting down and watching stuff happen.
I love 24, but, really, I hope someone calls Bauer to account for his multiple torture episodes. I know, I know, he has to get the information somehow, but I like his character less every time he breaks a finger or shocks a guy.
Thank you, Dave, for the info - I will now use all sorts of umlauted words! Ha-ha-ha!
Let's see, Dave (too many Daves!) - all my friends live far away, or I would probably play board games with them more (if they wanted to). Krys and I sometimes play chess, but it's been a while. I have no dog, I don't have a big yard, but I did weed it this weekend! We're hoping that once Mia becomes more mobile and the next kid is born and gets bigger, we'll be able to do more "family stuff." Maybe then I can turn the demon box off!
Hi Dita! I don't know where you came from, but Hi!
I would comment more, but I didn't want to seem stalker-esque.
What are you wearing?
I agree with you on Arrested Development -- I just hope it does make it back on to the air.
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