family guy

one of the funniest animated scenes is also one of the grossest and if you've ever seen it, you might agree, or not, but when i see peter griffin strip out of his cop costume at meg's bachelorette party and juggle his blubber i am almost grossed out until he ass-dances with meg's face at which point i am grossed out but what breaks me up every time is the silent surprise of meg's hands reaching around in front her face after peter pulls away and for a moment it's like "what's she doing?" and "what's going on? and "what's different?" and of course "how gross" as we look for brown smudges on her face until suddenly you realize that her glasses are gone and two plus two suggests they got stuck in peter's fast ass and that blubber is suddenly funnier than gross...

just saying, seth mcfarlane is a fuckin genius...

been watching

all sorts of crap, including late night movies, occasionally, like 12:01 which seems like another groundhog's day and i wonder which came first, but that's besides the point and when there is no point, that's a strange place to be (beside a point that isn't, ya see)... sci-fi fun like fringe has had some attention, but i miss most and catch them in re-run cuz i don't remember which nights which shows are on and i'm busy most nights so, been watching, but been watching randomly...

and still, mostly in the background...

night of too many stars

and i would watch it if i did not have work in the morning so perhaps i'll find a few hours to catch it in on demand or reruns or something as if i'll find time (there are not enough hours in a day, naturally, but i don't have time to properly complain about that just now)...

catch it if you can :)

so tired (how many times)

that is how many times has so tired been the title of a writing, a babble, a journal entry, a diary page, a blurb, a blog, a bit of me in words... not that i was asking, actually, just noting the passing of another... probably reminded by the virtual zoe in caprica which is so full of hope for the stupid optimist in me who wants to believe innocence will finally overcome the typical normal macho fight club crap... but the one represented as the most innocent is thrown into the heart of the fight club crap and the stupidity continues... the writers are protraying the monotheists as corrupt and evil and yet, the one represented as most innocent may bring it back around to the jesus story to save everyone who corrupted the god concept and that would be so very disappointingly predictable and i am soo tired, so very tired of the same old story and all i come back to is when will humanity grow beyond the delusions...

not that i was asking, actually...

sg:u

star gate: universe is still as it first came across to me, a cross between several popular shows of the day, especially what i've heard of lost and that taints it for me for i never could find my way into lost as it reminded me too much of survivor and that was just a step away from big brother and all the other psuedo-reality shows that were pandering to the most banal base aspects of human stupidity and fear and stereotyping... and then there are slightly religious undertones showing through that are even worse, but that is the worst part of human creativity, the lack of it... always returning to the same fear of death and the walk into the light explanation for what happens after death, complete with angel wings for those who need them...

but it's all that's left of the star gate series, so i'll keep hoping there is less focus on the same old same old human archetypes and a chance there might be an original thought, the hope of sci-fi dreamer...

college football

it's not as much fun as it used to be, especially watching along, but that is partially because it is early in the season and i have no ties to any school in particular and i am not playing any fantasy college games and the commercials test my limits for banality and the games are a bit boring cuz some of the popular teams are way overrated (at least in this area) and there is a wonderfully needy doggy begging non-stop for attention and exercise and sitting home along with him means he expects constant interaction and looks so sad when i want to write or watch tv or just close my eyes and relax in the living room, but he is lovable, even as a constant shadow :)

the best thing about the college football saturday was the food, new york deli ordered in by mail for the first time in more than ten years... it was an impulse late thursday night after someone on facebook reminded me that katz's deli on houston did mail order via fedex... the rest of the day was boring blowouts and a few close games where coaches made big mistakes (spurrier putting in a freshman who is not as good a passer as the veteran who was having a great game until the first five minutes of the fourth quarter) for the last two drives of the game when they were eight points behind was just dumb ego and the freshman threw two interceptions to prove the bad coaching move was a bad coaching move)...

and the commercials, sheesh, they are worse than ever... i am obviously watching too much tv lately, so that's gonna change... how have you been? :)

fringe

and yet another show on the edge of attraction (we might say the fringe, aye?) with enough possibility to keep me coming back for more, but not enough writing and character development to really become a favorite show, but it is one i want to try to watch when i am home, always hoping it takes the leap to the unknown infinity where an original thought might emerge...

hopefully, next time :)

warehouse 13

yeah, so it has some qualities that rub me a little the wrong way, but as the first season progressed and came to an end, the characters developed, though thinly, and the story became a bit more interesting... still, i watch it more for the possibilities than for the actual writing or characters so far... a lot of shows have been like this (no, we're not gonna find time for a list here either... i can barely catch up these days, as you can see by the datestamps, if yo8u notice those sort of peripheral linear things)...

maybe more will bring more later...

ncis

yes, ncis has grown into one of my favorite shows, top twenty along with, well, nineteen or so others (nyuk nyuk, you expected maybe a list?)... while the los angeles version doesn't have the same attraction for me, the original draws me in to watch regular re-runs over most any other re-run these days... there is great balance of writing and character development, especially once the ziva character joined the show (it was pretty good before, but she's got a great character and she does her well...

meanwhile, in the background, a very seldom watched face of lois lane on smallville smiles a very attractive smile when she finds out clark's secret, but then, i've always been a sucker for secret smiles... and dark sultry, oh never mind... what was i saying?... oh right, ziva is solid, yeah :)

youtube

i must admit that lately, youtube has been stiff (no pun or double entendre intended, i mean, youtube is not tube8, after all... what?) competition for the tv in recent months and you can get a bit of a taste for what i mean in the new links blog if you have the time (all we need are a few hundred hours in each day and a few hundred more years in each life, aye?)... even as i considered all the shows i might want to watch if i am home in front of the tv, the computer sits right next to the chair and often shares my attention and more often lately replaces the tv after prime time (thought there is still a bit of a draw for some celebs on letterman and craig, well, if he was on earlier i'd watch regularly, but many nights when i am awake past prime time {which is most}, youtube has me turning the tv off, especially past 2:07am (and that's what i learned on the show tonight, craig)...

snarf :)

saturday night crisis

none these days as i am usually out somewhere away from a tv on saturday nights and i don't think there's anything i feel like i'm missing...

pity, i know... snurkle :)

sunday night crisis

none at the moment, thought sunday night football and the simpsons and other fox toon shows are on, i am often drifting away from tv on sunday nights... s'pose it's a good night for catching up on reruns and on-demand stuff...

yeah, i know, boring without all the conflicts and crisises... i'll try to make it more exciting in the future, m'ok? :)

friday night crisis

there used to be friday night crisises, but i don't have easy access to the friday night listings at the moment so this post will be like a kind of placeholder (as the others may be as well)... i recall dollhouse on fridays and there was eureka until this week and there is haven for the moment, but the other shows are not coming to mind so alas, no great dramatic crisis for fridays for now...

stay tuned, or something like that (snurf :)

thursday night crisis

not much to say, with american idol and so you think you can dance gone for now, there's just one show i want to watch on thursdays and that is fringe, though the mentalist used to appeal to me (and i am not sure what replaced it, probably something jackson chooses when we watch on thursdays, but there is thursday night football that takes me away most thursday nights so i will have to catch fringe in on-demand reruns)... and then, there is football season to consider as they hand thursdasy night games on quite often... but that's all thursday night offers for now and i'd rather be playing softball :)

wednesday night crisis

apparently i watch master chef on wednesday nights when i am home and in the living room cuz jackson (and pollack) really like the show and there's nothing else on i am interested in at this point in the tv year... there is a cute young cook on the show i would not mind in my kitchen (what?... i love to eat good food... whatcha think?)...

i'll let you know if the drama of crisis comes to wednesday night in the future, but without american idol or so you think you can dance (which is one of jackson's favorites) and nothing on sci-fi, wednesday nights are kind of dull in terms of critical decisions between tv shows... sigh, alas, we can't have a crisis every night i suppose (snarkle :)

monday night crisis

there used to be heroes on mondays opposite other shows i liked so i have not watched heroes in a couple of seasons, but at the moment the listings for this week do not show the monday night crisis of television that i seem to recall (can we get any more ambivalently dramatic?... whistful must be next, no doubt)... as it stands, there's the closer and rizzoli & ilses which jackson really likes, so that's what we watch cuz even though the lead character in the closer has a personality i would aboid like the plague in real life, i like to share shows and am learning to enjoy the storylines and rizzoli & isles is one i might watch on my own, say in one of the the reruns lists (what?... no sci-fi on mondays?... there was, i swear, and it was why i stopped watching heroes once upon a time... or wait, maybe that was 24... and there is monday night football know and then, cha know... my aged swiss cheese memory is so much fun :)

there is lie to me which i used to watch now and then and i would like to catch in reruns, so there's a bit of crisis for us... stay tuned for the next episode of the monday night crisises, aye? (snarf :)

tuesday night crisis

ah, the sarcasm in the title bleeds tears of irony, or something like that... so there we are, shows on tuesday nights that i would probably watch if they weren't on opposite each other and i actually had a hundred hours each day to do all i'd like to do each day... in no particular order at the moment, there's warehouse 13, ncis, and glee and returning for the fall season (probablly bumping warehouse 13 until next season), caprica and star trek: universe (further crossing the same time-space continuum as ncis and glee...

what to do, what to do (snark :)

probably similar crisises (crisises?) on other nights if i research the tv guide, so stay tuned for the dramatic series of nightly tv crisises as the tv blog returns to life for however long it lasts this time, aye? :)

haven

is that what tv has become, perhaps, to some extent (shiver me timbers, aye?) for the human masses and (giggly-puss?) for me?... well, as a substitute for reading as a solitary activity, that may be the case (though i still watch the same sort of stories that i would be reading if i was reading, like haven, for instance, which is based on a favorite author's (Stephen King) book Colorado Kid which i really want to read again so i can thread together the fun and games stephen and whomever else is creating haven slipped in... when i want something dark, stpehn king is my favorite non-sci-fi story-weaver...

eureka!

well, not so much, at least not as all fired up excited as an exclamation point is supposed to be, but i do enjoy the theme and some of the story lines and most of all, the possibilities in the show, even though this throw-back season is not my favorite theme cuz it adds a bit too much (ok, way too much) soap opera type human drama to an otherwise quirky sci-fi techno-geek bit of fun... it did, however, bring me back to writing a few words supposedly inspired by, what else, background tv :)

fascinated, no doubt

while i am watching tv with half an eye and listening with half an ear and even watching with almost both eyes and listening with both ears more often than i have in a long time because my roommate enjoys tv and i enjoy watching with someone (but we both often are somewhere else on the computers or on the phone during even the shows we both enjoy just the same), i a still only sitting in front of the tv for an hour at most before 11pm and catching up on the shows on the (if i can find time) list when i stay up past midnight and find them on the on-demand channels... i do watch more since re-installing cable, so i'll make a note to myself to find time to come here to relate whatever the tv might inspire in me cuz that's what this blog is about and it exists to continue, not to end in forgotten obscurity... i mean, in case anybody other than me wondered, aye? (smirk snicker nyuk narf)...

watching, not much

though the tv is on a lot, i am not watching much except to glance up and sort of follow the re-runs listed in catching up on the revised lists on the left... though this week i caught the first new episodes of eureka and warehouse 13 and will probably catch those in first run cuz they are on at least a half dozen times a week and in free on-demand... i don't stay awake for craig as much, but can find him on youtube... wonder if he is on free on-demand too... actually, i am watching/listening to audio and video on youtube a lot more than on tv... anyway, since you are so fascinated by my tv viewing habits (is your name neilson?), i've revised the lists on the right and continue reporting just for you... and for me too, posterity, and the one, but until they get here it's just for you :)

lost interest

principle too... in idol, that is... i mean, surely i knew the audience was seriously skewed and had no appreciation of talent or personality or, go figure, vocal ability, but still, they could have gone with pretty boys with better voices this year... the best voices went early in the top twelve, except for crystal who ran circles around lee head to head last night and tonight... it is sad and even pathetic to see such an undeserving winner, i mean, is it is really a talent contest...

it is not though, it's a middle america white bread teenage cirl bland fest... last hyear was obvious, this year even more obvious... when the girls stopped splitting their vote between lee and casey, crystal didn't have a chance... meanwhile, lee will sell a little to the artistically uneducated who don't mind stiff clones who wouldn't win most neighborhood bar karaoke contests, i mean, it was fitting joe cocker showed up... they probably couldn't get the boss out to sing for his bland imitator...

so the idol season was disappointing right up to the end... i wouldn't pay to see the top twelve with lee as the lead, just as i felt the best talent last year was not given the win either... middle america votes for the bland, which makes the show disappointing for anyone who thinks the most talented singer-performer should win...

might be time to return to forgetting to turn the tv on :)

the end of time

or at least the end of 24, at least until the movie (they did it for X-Files, i doubt they'll miss this chance)... i admit a large part of me was disappoint that jack kept it together and didn't just blow the murdering head of states heads off, all three in fact, or at least the two guys... but i suppose the suicide was more humiliating for the former president... so they made jack human with a conscience and a noble do-anything-for-the-flag true partiot to the end, which works best for a movie follow-up...

chloe needs to man-up for the movie (at least a little, aye?... i mean, challenge the former president's aide a little more for keeping the head of ctu who just shot jack bauer detained while she's supposed to be coordinating protection for the president and world leaders)...

ok, so i look forward to 24 on the big screen, even if i only watched it as background noise about half the season at most over the years... the question will be how do you fit 24 hours into two?... ah yes, cut out all the meaningless soap opera crap and focus on the action...

what's on now? :)

missing craig, but...

disappointed in him even more... first off there was a fun happy birthday video floating around facebook and youtube and mentioned on twitter, all places craig exploits on his show so it would seriously surprise me if craig did not know about the happy birthday video created by his devoted fans...

and then, someone at warner brothers or another greedy company shut down the youtube channel that had been sharing craig with the world (many millions of views by people who cannot get craig on tv) for some bogus control-freak reason (cuz going viral on youtube certainly helps a publicity machine and profit margin)... the disappointment was craig's silence on the shut down even as many hundreds of his faces expressed sorrow and even pain at the loss of the abil;ity to see his show... i mean, he could have at least joked about the conspiracy to stop his world domination or blame it on that conan guy or something clever to nudge youtube about the action... i never expected craig to be politically correct or so out of touch with his fans...

so i am missing watching him because i am getting to sleep earlier these days, but i am still quite disappointed and not as big a fan as i was last week before he dissed his fans with silence just when they needed him most...

where are all the heroes?...

the sub show, i suppose...

narf :}

idol is run by teenage girls

the final five makes that pretty obvious... with the best voice gone, the show becomes more disappointing every week as mediocre and very inconsistent male voices are praised for ratings... sadly, real creativity scares the masses and conformity is praised and cheered...

but then, humanity is a very sick species in so many way, it's a wonder we're not already extinct... just watch the news if you have doubts...

who's sleeping at the wheel?

reality tv

is mostly a sign of failing creativity...

take it to the limit one more time

that's what 24 seems to be gearing up to do... won't be surprised to see waterboarding and all sorts of tortures before the end... they can justify it with some logic like exposing the american people to the reality of what our government does in our name under the guise of protecting us might wake people up to the inhumanity we allow and support and cheer on while simultaneously condemning others for doing the same...

just watch the news with your mind open if you need more proof...

besides, it's fox, so they've got to made the bleeding heart liberals look bad, pathetic, even corrupt... will jack shake them all up by the end of the show?... will the show shake all of us up?... what sort of surprise is in store?...

yawn, pass the chocolate :)

another idol

missed crystal, who is a favorite of mine and andrew, who is not, so woke from a nap as tim was singing and he so made simon and company flat out wrong when they started on him in the first show of 24 by saying he didn't belong and kept on him week after week until finally simon admits tim has something this week by saying he went from zero to hero in two weeks... he's not my favorite, but he's got what an american idol winner needs, just like last year's winner...

and they seem to like the bruce springsteen clone, but lee still does not do much for me... he might make it another week, but he does not belong in the top five or beyond... aaron, on the other hand, just might... i think he snuck ahead of michael and tim this week for the fifth spot...

the judges have played with soiban's head lately and she's just got to shut them out, stop listening, stop thinking, and just sing because she's got the best voice on the show this year by far... and her response to the judges attempt to box her into a specific style was so right...

michael disappointed me this week, sleepy and not as emothional as the song needed to be... he looked like a tooy big little boy singing a song and that song needs a deep man (or woman) telling a story with a tear in the eye and a cry, not a wine, but a serious plea in the voice... still, he deserves to be ahead of others and not be in the bottom two...

katie was kind of odd for me this week, needs more maturity and energy, but she's got style and personality and definitely remains in my top four...

casey sings a song that was not really elvis, but a reminder of a time white singers stole blank singer's songs because of the racial prejudice of the time... a lloyd price song made even more popular by little richard, except for the prejudice white folk of the 50s who went for the elvis version, though not that much...

and in the end, andrew and lee are gone for me... casey is shakey this week as is michael and the rst, the top five... crystal, soiban, tim, katie, aaron (the last three in variable order)...

sg:u fail

no time for much tv this week, but caught the news episode of sg:u and continued to lose interest in the lost survivor st:voyager firefly wanna be that pitifully fails and once again only attempts to prove how stupid people are and how limited tv writer imaginations are... pretty much the popular destiny of human space travel is to wander aimlessly through the universe fighting with each other and everyone else, but like humans are on this planet... the stupid destructive virus spreads into the universe and goes on and on...

so sad...

more idol

i watched the singing show, but missed the elimination show and last night found out the judges used their save and good news, cuz michael deserves to go farther but it also shows how young the audience has become and black male singers do not seem to be too popular with idol voters...

no surprises, still the same top few, crystal, soiban... katie has risen, casey probably, and rounding out the top five, almost anybody except andrew... since two have to go, tim, aaron, lee, and michael are at risk... i say lee, though people seem to like his bruce springsteen imitations... time keeps surprising everyone with his positivity and pure pleasure in singing... aaron could have a bad week, but he's got a lot of raw talent for his age... michael might not win the young crowd over, but any way you look at it, i see the top four staying crystal, soiban, katie, and casey... though not necessarily in that order...

rah rah...

craig is not my only friend

i missed last night's debut of craig's new robot sidekick and tonight hung out with my friend jackson to share a pizza for my birthday while watching idol and the womens ncaa championship game and then i found time for craig... we really do have a similar thread running through our brains...

tv has been way in the background lately, how about you?

sg:u

so now that i have cable i am finally figuring out that the sci-fi tv show stargate:universe is an actual tv series and not a movie or web thing or whatever and today they had a catch-up marathon and i am getting to see a half dozen or so shows and i am finding it too much like survivor and lost and not enough like stargate (which was about at the limits of my tolerance for war and conflict and personalized human drama and, ultimately, soap opera)... at least there was a team of interesting characters, serious ideals, humor, and intelligence (even if it was sci-fi and sometimes fake intelligence) in the show... so far sg:u us all about surviving, kind of like st:voyager, though there were some interesting aliens and other characters and a bit more storyline in that one...

i'll watch a few more episodes and hope...

idle idol

kinda boring start, what with soiban blowing the pitch all over the room and becoming a character... she needs to find her soft depths and more variety to win this, and most especially she must stay on pitch... even more, she must learn to take criticism and deal with not being perfect cuz everybody has off nights, especially early on in a career... her sheltered, maybe spoiled diva showed tonight... or just too sensitive?... two sides of the same coin... either way, she's becoming too predictable... maybe she should try some janis ian or minnie ripperton or mariah or even barbara streisand...

luckily, there are a few others who don't have a fraction of the talent, like didi, andrew, and tim (though tim does have personality and a contageous positivity which should carry him a few more weeks, maybe)... they have some talent, but not enough to go much further... or farther, for that matter... we shall see what they do tonight... meanwhile, casey locked in another week doing what he does, which is what so many have done before, which is entertaining, like last years winner, but not amazing... i want amazing...

and while michael was not amazing, he was closer than casey... there are soft depths i was talking about... that is michael's element, the soft teddy pendegrass melodic bluesy songs, sad or happy, emo sells...

didi almost sold the song on performance, but it got overdone and hammy and off and i did not enjoy her voice at all... ryan may have saved her by exposing (or suggesting) the personal heartbreak behind the song and yet, her inability to talk about it dropped her even further from idol status... got to be able to make the people cry with your story when you've got one if you want to climb to the top...

am i taking this crap seriously?... lol lam

every one of these ten singers are going on the americal idol tour and if they do not feel that bliss every week, they are fools and more egocentric than i want to root for, so yes, soiban disappointed and dropped a bit, michel rose... and tim exemplifies what i mean about enjoying the once in a lifetime opportuninty, but still looks way too goofy to sell a beautiful love song to the camera, even as his voice gets better each week, it still stays way too white bread flat to be another surprise like chris from last year, and then again he could go surprisingly far (he already has, actually) just cuz he's got the right attitude... maybe...

andrew, i find boring... low energy and no personality and not entertaining, but he might have skated through this week, unless the blatent blast of personal pity-the-girl melodrama saves didi...

katy has guts taking on songs and artists that may be beyond her years, but she's surprisingly carrying it off more often than not and tonight, choosing aretha, follows her bold pattern... the outfit was so potato sack looking that it distracted from the performance... trying to look hot and raw and sexy and full of attitude in a potato sack does not work, but her voice improves each week and she moves on easily...

lee is a bruce springsteen wanna-be with potential to make it into the top five if he lets himself go and finds more confidence... and he came closer than he has in a few weeks to performing up to his potential, i do see the bruce in him rising, so he moves on for sure... he could have dropped into the bottom three, but he didn't...

crystal has put on a lot of weight since early on, maybe the diabetes, but she's got the pipes and personality and talent and style... and if she gets up from the piano to really sing (cuz she's concentrating too much on the fingers)... and she did, and it was almost amazing... she's still #1 for me, even if, in the end, she isn't america's idol...

aaron has so much potential for his age, he could go top few if he hits every note and grows into his songs... and he sings a great song and pulls it off, even though i didn't like the last note or a few others and he was boring during the i know, but he still moves on...

so bottoming out remains didi, andrew, and tim... maybe soiban if they want to bring drama to the show (and that means either they fix the voting or the majority of viewers are fickle and have add voting many times each), but she has too much voice to be knocked off this early if talent means anything on this show... and the judges would save her if they have any integrity... anyway, the top few don't change much for me... get on with it, aye?...

commercials

are switching to geico commercials getting more and more stupid?

why?

how, why, wow... how did paige get as far as she did on american idol... since before the first 24 i wondered how she got through to hollywood... and then i wondered how she got through week after week... and for her to have beat out lacy last week was a crime... i have said it week after week, she's got to be gone... what could possibly be keeping her on the show, her looks?... her skin color?... she is embarrassing to the show...

and i lost interest in the show and switched over to ncis... whatever the voters decide, the show is much more a popularity contest based on superificial whatever and not any sort of real talent contest, no less singing contest... but then, that's the entertainment business, after all, just look who is the guest artist giving advice this week... a world of life experience, no doubt... and people ignore the shallowness because of the skin and glitz and hype...

ok, switching back and forth, tim was ok, not great, no personality, but he didn't deserve the worst of the judges and i think the judges needed to drag tim down to balance paige for whatever reason, they want paige on the show... and aaron was good, but now i'm excited to hear crystal sing janis...

ok, she is not janis... and the song was too short for the reve up it needed... maybe she could given the runway, but too short for the energy the song demands... still, she is good... dang good... and so what's the point of week after week when the two best singers-performers are crystal and soiban and if they are not there at the end, the show blew it again and it really doesn't matter because they will both have hit records and careers... lacy should be on the tour too... michael is good, he's through...

i like ncis much better than ncis:la mostly because of the ensemble, but also for the quirkiness, especially abby... and oh wow, they must know it cuz there is abby stumbling on to the set as if right on cue...

the others will have to carry andrew through the top ten tour, but he still can't go because paige was the absolute worst once again and and she really should not be on the top ten tour unless the show simply needs a cute black girl to balance out the top ten... and katie gets better each week... the top six or seven are gonna be fun to watch...

casey will be there for a while, he's got the package they want around in the top few... but he's still just an imitation, a good imitation, but nothing original... and simon nailed because the casey charisma doesn't effect him... it was a copy, a good copy, but a copy...

and didi is another copy... jessica simpson wanna be and jessica is no great talent... this show will finally get good when they get down to the last six or so... crystal, soiban, katie, michael, aaron, casey, lee, it really trails off after the first few though... they are all still too scared on stage, so rarely are any of them letting it all go...

and soiban nails it... i didn't like the song choice, didn't life some of the beginning and middle, but she seems like can handle just about anything... yeah, let's get it down to the top few already...

cable strangles the mind

yes, there are many more channels to choose from now and while there are still just a limited number of shows that interest me, there is, for the first time in years, a choice between two, three, sometimes (though not often) four different shows on at the same time that i might watch, at least glance up at in the background, if only one of the shows was on...

so i suppose i ought to revise the side bar one of these days, but not until i have a bit of mind to space... until then, i'll just take it one moment at a time...

idol boys

ok, ellen is getting on my nerves... how many times will she use the words adorable and great and think she can get away with it just by following it with her dumb grin (and i adore her, mind you)... but she is adding so little to the show beyond the i'm just a goofy fan bit and occasional silly amusing lines... and cara does little more... the judges are the most annoying and boring part of the show... and that's the impression the first five minutes gave me...

first contestant?... oh, was there one?... yeah, the bruce springsteen clone will probably do well, especially if he chooses the right songs because he has that good old american grittiness and sincerity in his voice... like many of the third or fourth place finishers have had in previous years... maybe even a second placer, aye?...

ok, so lee is americana and moves on to next week... and number to, alex, too stiff and performing and not in the song... he might not make it... and the stupid intellectual pit bull war between ryan and simon is juvenile and the slurpy flirtation between cara and simon is too put on and the atmosphere is losing authenticity and drowning out the voices... and poor randy, his dawg schtick used to be annoying, but i almost miss it because it was more authentic than the soft soap he's peddling now... the absence of paula and her emotional connection with the idol dream and the contestants is becoming more evident with each show...

and tim does a decent job with halleluya, but no roof is being blown off... he moves on in my book though... andrew sanitized christina's genie in a bottle and is did not work for me at all... and the brevity of the performances is also killing the show... they should have stayed with two hours and let the singers sing whole songs... the show is not about the music, it's about the judge's soap opera antics and quips and way too little music... the judges are disappointed a lot this year, and this idol viewer is very disappointed in the judges and production... was it paula that kept the emphasis on the performance of the singers?... or is the transparency of the egocentric judging finaly showing through... or both...

casey has what it takes to be in the top three... he has a style that takes over a song, a genuine performance quality that is uniquely his which is what a star is about, becoming part of the song and give it your mark... not great, but he'll move on... and the judges remain annoyingly innocuous... aaron has something like clay aikin did, a nerdy nebishy surprising quality that will probably keep him in it, but he's not a favorite for me... but the judges are reading way too much into things, especially cara... two women trying to do what paula did and they fail miserably... and all four judges are contradicting themselves so much week to week, it's making their input into the show, which is the majority of face time, meaningless... they are so not giving me the impression that they have any credibility in judging singers or performers... maybe because none of them are (turn on the sarcasm sign)...

it's sad that most of my impressions of the show are about the judges, not about the eight singers... but that's what is most wrong with idol season nine... the spotlight is turned in the wrong direction...

toddrick trying to do freddy mercury was sad... good karaoke version of the somebody to love, but it did not win me over... for me, he's got to be gone next week, but the theatrical quality of the song might get him more votes than others who gave lackluster performances tonight... all in all, the girls impress me much more than the guys, but that's not saying too much this year as a day later, in spite of enjoying a few of them a lot last night, i am not remembering any of the girls as must see again performances...

michael has grown on me... i want him to do well... not impressed with the song at all, but that's just taste... the voice and performance, however, definitely got my attention... he moves on for sure no matter what the judges might say... and after listening to the judges all i come away with is how self-serving and put on they are... and cara is so getting on my nerves way more than ellen did at the start of the show...

so michael leads, casey second, lee third, tim, aaron, alex bunched behind them and the other two are gone for me... so who cares, aye? :)

idol growing on me

ok, so i adore the dream of singing because i love singing and so i tune in again to american idol and i am hopeful that someone will seriously wow me and while there's still no absolute wow, anyone singing house of the rising sun without making want to scream shut up has me smiling (cuz it's a favorite song)... simon was right, she could have done it better, especially with her range, but she must go on another week and is in my top five for tonight... lacey makes it too, but just behind siobhan… the first one is not ready, katie, too young and inexperienced, but definitely has potential talent… katelyn disappointed, but still should move along… before the show started didi and paige were the ones who should go… let’s see if they can change my mind…

meanwhile, I love what somebody is doing on wikipedia…

didi challenges me with a stevi nicks song (I adore stevi)… didi is no stevi nicks… she might make it in a folk club, but she’s gone from idol… wow, the audience almost didn’t applaud… that was so karaoke… club talent, maybe, but not superstar… and simon and kara are amazing in their positive comments (which other singers on the show tonight deserved but did not get), but maybe they do what they do for the show… and the paige singing another of my favorite songs… and she is gone for me too… and all four judges agree… will voters react to save her because the judges all put her down… I stand by my two elimations…

crystal rises to the top once again… she’s my top candidate for American idol and win or lose, she’s got a career ahead of her… she really does need to fill the gap in her teeth though, in spite of the authenticity it gives her, an idol winner can afford perfect teeth… but perfect look or not, she’s my number one this week…

coming into this week, lilly shared that number one spot with crystal last week or whenever I last saw them, so it’ll be interesting to see what she can do tonight… sioban and lacey fill our my top four girls.. katelyn and katie make it for me, but with kara and simon behind did, she might beat out katie…

lilly is adorable… and so my six are picked in this order (I know you’ve been dying for me to do this, shhh, don’t pretend you aren’t dying to know… we won’t tell)… she’s number two for me, soiban a close third, then lacey, katelyn, and katie…

of course the best singer or performer does not always win idol…

but I love singing and the dream…

caprica

as i watched another episode of caprica, the prequel series to battlestar gallactica i remembered why i did not watch battlestar after catching a few random episodes... on a subconscious level the series turned me off at first glance for a number of reasons... war does not appeal to me at all... i have not sat through star wars, for instance... i've seen bits of some of the nine films, but the whole buck rogers war genre of sci-fi turns me off (i only glanced at buck rogers as well)...

so why did i choose to pay for the downloads of caprica a few weeks ago?... impulse, yes... the same impulse that leads me to occasionally glance up and get into smallville and that seventies show and dollhouse (though dollhouse had the dual appeal of a mystery and/or intriguing premise like the dead zone and dead like me and heroes, maybe) and even dawson's creek, simply, a pretty face... though caprica's pretty face is not in the same league as others, maybe smallville, which i seldom actually choose to watch... caprica offers an intriguing premise and possibilities, though i sense it will not live up to the possibilities i see in it because, after all, humans are creating it and it will most likely reinforce all the stupid human beliefs in the end...

give me some heinlein or sci-fi that actually challenges human beliefs and that i will want to see, probably go out of my way to see, even... and after seven or so episodes the grating aspects of battlestar are starting to reach a repetition that is challenging to ignore... the moronic use of the word frack, for instance... i mean, fucking frack this and frack that and even substituting frack for shit and other words... the lack of creativity (and guts) is a purtid stench in the script and the puritanical language fear is nauseating to my ears...

and then there are other ignorance fears and prejudices played upon to what the writers must believe is either an ignorance audience or an audience who wants to see human superstitions and prejudices and fears played out by other races, maybe in that insecure human desire to validate their own fears and prejudices... like a train wreck or a plane crasj attracts an audience... and yet, i want to see if the possible enlightened outcome might be where the writers are going (that is so very rare in human literature and arts)... so i download the episodes...

then the next irritant shows itself, the ultra-slow pacing of the story as draggin on and on as any soap opera ever was... i will further alienate most of my human audience by stating that i feel the only way i could actually watch a soap opera day after day is if i was severely retarded... at least... i have yet to see one, and i have tried watching for stretches of time in this life, that does not move so slowly that is is utterly predictable and overall, asks so little of the brain outside of sit and watch in a vegetative state...

meanwhile, the commercial for the news just urged me to watch to see the opening of python humping season... yes, tv news, python humping, the news... the founders of the fourth estate would no doubt be proud...

anyway, back to caprica, i'm tired of talking about it at the moment (awwww, what a let down, aye?)... there's more, but perhaps now we see why, at least for me in this life, tv is little more than background noise...

idol not

the worst idol show i've watched in a long time, maybe since the beginning (though i've not watched more than half the shows i think... some talent, some potential, but the performances were boring and karaoke... still worse, the judges were boring... that show misses paula and the cutsie kara begging to be liked and the carefree ellen’s flippant irreverence does not make up for the lack of knowledge of being in the contestant’s shoes… ellen is is a comedienne and I love her for many reasons, but she is not a musical judge and the show needs a singer-performer on that panel…

the show lacks an authentic performer judge… a performing artist who knows the experience of trying to make it as a singer and dancer and performer … can I emphasize there must be a legitimate musical performer on the judges table enough?… I truly didn’t think I’d miss her often cheesy comments and sometimes weepy personality as much as I do, but she had the dream in her eyes and that is missing now… her artistic musical focus cut through the music business advice that the boys give (and often give well)… she found words to reach the dream of being the star, the winner, with the feeling of the singer’s personality…

and I’ve got to wonder if a lack of paula is part of the reason the first show bombed as it did because it were her energy that was missing from the show and that same energy was missing from every one of the contestants… alas, there is a whole lot of work to be done and maybe that’s why simon might not be calling this his last year cuz he is smart enough to know what does not work…

2/24/10 update... the boys weren't much better, if at all, and the judges banter was worse... maybe i'll tune in again when they get to the final four or so... they've pretty much lost me for this season...

get out of the office

i've gotta wonder if fans of the office ever actually worked in an office because the last thing i want to see after i get home is more office... or maybe it's people who work in an office who want to see people dummer than in their office... i suppose i need to be in the mood for it, but i am finding it below boring on the entertainment scale, but this could just be a really bad episode and it is the first time i am watching an episode... is it always done as a documentary with the characters introducing themselves to the camera and each other and telling the camera about each other and saying and doing stupid (below funny) things?... maybe you can tell me what i am missing...

ok, i looked it up, it is a mockumentary, mocking documentaries and whatever else might be funny to the writers, i suppose... i have no clue how this show became or remains popular, but it seems to be very popular... maybe this is just a really poor episode (apparently it is possible, even among fans i see... apparently the guy at the bottom of this page {comment 119) thought there were 11 episodes worse than this one and he's one of the most frequent posters on the site... yes, i did research) and i am not giving it a fair chance...

but for me, the characters are unappealing, so how much more can good writing do?... it's kind of a prolonged monty python bit without the any of the cleverness, odd faces, slapstick, or intelligent humor... just a sleepy barely irreverent series non-sequitors deadpanned for thermian humor value...

yeah, go for that reference and you in a giggle... but seriously, the office?... why?...

craigyferg

yes, that's right, craigyferg... craigyferg is craig ferguson's official twitter name and he started tweeting and has close to 50,000 followers in two days and whatacoinkydink! her started yesterday or so it seems... he must have been celebrating my move and there i went ahead and fell asleep during the first few minutes of letterman... and reports have it that craig and his followers overloaded the twitter servers and shut the site down... i experienced that tonight right at the start of his show and for the first fifteen minutes in... so the headline is

CRAIG FERGUSON FANS FAIL WHALE TWITTER

oh well, the perils of popularity and genius :)

movies and the superbowl

a few entries could have been written here as movies and other tv has passed through the background and amused or distracted me in the past week, along with the usual tv that can hold my attention (i could have sworn i made a list somewhere... ah, yes, on the right side of this blog, silly me, i forget so easily... come to think of it, i may have missed a 24 and definitely haven't been catching caprica since i do not have the sci-fi channel and i don't catch every craig ferguson cuz i do try to get to sleep before 1am at least once a week, but anyway, i occasionally catch some of the ones on the list just below that and whatever, like anybody's talking tv shows with me these days, right?... like anybody even knows i'm alive out here on the web, right?... like anybody would join my little self-pity party, right?... what?... you didn't get your invitation? :P :}

ok, so the superbowl caught some of my attention as it played in the nackground as i was packing and cleaning cuz i am moving tomorrow, which is just a matter of hours from now, today, actually, but after the sun rises... pretty good game, though i didn't watch it closely enough to be too critical... the gample the defensive back took on the interception that pretty much iced the game was well done as they were blitzing, but if payton had kept his head and floated the ball... always the what ifs... the gamble worked, as it did against farve (though farve might have been less of a gamble), and that defensive back should get some accolades for doing his job so well...

surprised to see bush get so little playing time, but when the coach finally gave drew brees the ball to do his thing, he did it well... and now, back to packing and cleaning...

random seinfeld

randomly, the last seinfeld appeared on the tv tonight in the first half hour of the nightly seinfeld hour and instead of silence after the last scene, the tv jumped right into another seinfeld episode from somewhere in the middle of the long running series...

random series episodes are so appropriate for what might have been the most random show on tv, though laugh-in, monty python, benny hill, and others have been pretty random, thing is, none of those tried to present themselves as sit-coms, meaning actual stories about characters talking about random life stuff week after week...

friends was not as random, there were threads running through the stories developing the characters, changing relationships, developments, learning, growth... cheers had story lines and character development all through the series... even M*A*S*H was rich with continuing story lines in spite of being the same scene over and over... wait, maybe the original i love lucy was close... and they all got serious, had endearing qualities, even brought a tear to the eye (or more)... but characters who remained the same from start to end, no character development and minimal connections between episodes, characters you could not take seriously because of their ridiculous randomness and yet, they compelled you to watch just to see what next randomness would get them excited over nothing... just loads of randomness and nothing and more, the drama of random nothingness... word after word after word saying nothing...

but to go to jail for it?...

what do we expect?

with a theme song that includes you can always sleep through work tomorrow (which he co-wrote and even sings himself) the brilliance of craig ferguson's manipulation of nocturnal and closet rebel america with cute puppetry and clever irony and sophmoric fart jokes and best-friend secret winks, double-entendre smirks, intimate collective conversations with the audience, mocking sensuality, and are you serious? mugging at the camera all the while slipping subtrifuge in the way of intelligent incites disguised as irreverent sarcasm and comedy (which includes his nightly it's a great day for america everybody, naturally) and the sense of belonging and agreeing in his coyly pleading i know, we agree to be mocked as he mocks himself and forget how late it is...

or maybe i'm his only viewer?

ave

audio-visual entertainment... that may be the subject or theme or reason and purpose for this blog... a list and some reactions to the media i choose to watch, the music, movies, tv, and books i read... not necessarily any sort of formal or structured reviews, but simply a place for me to list and record some of my impressions of the creative (and not so creative) product of other minds...

we shall see how interested i remain in doing this as time goes by :)

Defined

(CURRENTLY ON TOP) the shows i try to find time to watch regularly cuz i enjoy them enough to want to watch them regularly, as if this one needed explaining... i don't get to watch anything regularly and seldom to i feel compelled to try, but i know what i like...

(IF I CAN FIND TIME) used to be SORTA WATCHING and are the shows i enjoy watching or my roommate enjoys (asterisks) so it's on if we're home (maybe one of these days i'll separate this list into two or three lists cuz that's what this is about, after all, making lists)... i've not scheduled myself to be home to watch a specific tv show in years, but these are as close as i am at the moment to wanting to and if i shared life with someone who also wanted to, we might make a date to watch these and others...

IF THEY RETURN are shows that are gone as in no new episodes, but if they returned they'd be on the list above so they rate a bit higher than the shows on the lists below this one... the main difference between this list and the lists above is that these are mostly reruns while the ones above are still in production, i think...

CONSIDERING (NOT WATCHED) are shows i might enjoy based on genre, theme, word-of-mouth, or whatever, but i have not found myself in front of a tv when they were on...

RERUNS (WHEN THERE"S TIME) are the shows i will choose over other shows if i am in the mood to watch, or at least listen to and glance up at, tv (most of the time i turn the tv when i am home alone and in the mood for more than music, mostly just to have some audio-visual stimulus in the space while reading something online or writing or cooking, eating, cleaning, playing, or some other activity and now and then something attracts my attention to watch a show...

RERUNS (OCCASIONALLY) are the shows i will choose to watch before the RE-RANS but after the list of RERUNS above this list, partially cuz there are so many shows and therefore, so many lists (or something like that)... I'll usually pay less attention to these than the ones above, more than the ones below, and so on...

RE-RANS are the shows i will chose after the RERUNS primarily because i've seen most of them more than once, but in some cases cuz i simply like the shows lsted in RERUNS better... and once again, I'll usually pay less attention to these than those above, etcetera...

HAVE WATCHED are the shows i have watched at one time or another in this life, however given the choice, i would probably choose one of the shows on the RERUNS lists or RE-RANS list over these, or maybe they are just old shows i've seen in reruns so much over the years that i've seen enough for the moment (until memory fades further into the dim light of forgetfulness as it so conveniently does when i want to watch something i love but don't want to remember it all so i can enjoy it's magical experience all over again, thought that usually happens with movies much more than tv and i may digress, aye?), though some are not that special, or something like that... no really, i absolutely loved some of these shows the first time around and still do if i find them (and someday maybe i'll divide them up and maybe even make a all-time favorites list from a gazillion to one if anybody is ever really that interested to share that experience)...