what i'm watching..

Before I get into specifics of tv shows, here's an overview of the shows I've keeping up with this season:

Sunday
The Amazing Race - I've only watched this sporadically in the beginning, but have upped it to regular status as it nears the finale

Dexter - I first read a review in a magazine a while ago, and after I checked out the first episode, I was hooked. Maybe one of the best new shows this season.


Monday
Heroes - I was pretty excited to try out this show before the season began, but some storylines have dragged and some characters are unlikeable or boring, so it's the kind of show that I keep up with, but I need to be doing something else at the same time (like playing Zuma) so I can stand to keep watching.

How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) - I tried this show last year based on the reviews, and it was suprisingly funny at times. Funny enough to keep watching, at least. In its sophomore season, this show has only gotten better. It's now on my must-watch list.


Tuesday
Gilmore Girls - There have been a lot of complaints about this show since the original showrunner left, and it's true that the tone of the show is not quite the same, but it's a perennial favorite for me, and at this point, I just need to keep watching to find out what happens.

Veronica Mars - I had my doubts about this after an overly complicated second season, but this season has been a little better. Still doesn't compare to season one though.


Wednesday
South Park - I think season 10 just finished, but I recently became addicted to this show. It's crass, but really funny sometimes.


Thursday
Survivor - I was intrigued by the "race wars" premise, but this season is so much more than that!

The Office - Love it.

Scrubs - Returning tonight!

30 Rock - At first, I didn't like this show, but I gave it another shot when iTunes was offering a free download of one of the episodes, and I really like it now.

The O.C. - As I stated in a previous post, the O.C. is back!

Ugly Betty - I loved how Salma Hayek had a cameo in the telenovela inside the show in episode one! At time this show is a little formulaic and overly sappy, so it doesn't quite fall into my "must watch" category, but I do keep up with it.

Grey's Anatomy - Even though I hated the whole Denny storyline, I'm still watching. McShumbot mocks it, but I still love it!


Other shows I sometimes watch: Everybody Hates Chris, Dirty Jobs, Mythbusters, Law and Order:SVU

Thursday is a busy day. So many shows, so little time. On the other hand, Wednesday is super empty for me. I'm not a Lost fan, I'm tired of Top Model, and Project Runway and South Park are over, so I've got nothing to watch that day. (That's not a complaint though - I've got plenty of other things to occupy my time...Tetrinet, anyone?)

"Bimbo Summit"

That's the headline on the front page of the NYPost today. The paper has an article entitled "3 Bimbos of the Apocalypse" about Lindsay, Britney, and Paris. My favorite part:

"Anyway: With full knowledge that the unholy alliance of these three may be over and done with by the end of business day today, we present a tale of the tape illuminating just what these three probably have in common. And regardless of how long these friendships last: Skanks for the memories!"

haha...awesome.

i've converted..kinda

I recently got this:


That's right, I converted. I've been needing a new laptop for quite some time now. My old MISM laptop was having overheating and fan issues, and one day while I was in the middle of an intense game of Luxor (the full version), the screen suddenly faded into black and I was never able to get it to come back to life. So I bought the Macbook. Kinda on a whim, actually, because I was really attached to my IBM laptop and always ignored McShumbot's praises of the Mac. But it was cute and white and small and with the Intel processor, I figured that I could run Windows on it if I hated Mac OS X. But it turns out that I LOVE my new laptop and the Mac OS.

The best thing about it? The remote!! That's right, my laptop has an awesome remote that has volume control and the ability to scroll through a playlist. Suggested uses include listening to music and slideshows. My personal favorite use? Watching my favorite TV shows in bed. Now I don't have to reach out and use the keyboard to control everything..the remote does it all. I LOVE IT! (so far I've only gotten it to work in itunes though)

Sidenote: I'm not a huge fan of the Camino web browser yet. I'd agree that yes, it does seem faster than Firefox, but a lot of sites don't support it yet, so it gets really irritating to use at times. Also, I kinda miss my games! There aren't as many good games for Mac OS X. Like Diner Dash 2 is only on Windows. Good thing I beat it already.

I'm using a spreadsheet

For you Google Spreadsheets users, there is a new feature that allows you to publish and embed you spreadsheets for the public to see. Take, for example, this sheet:



Normally you'd have to read that Simpsons reference in left-to-right text, but with the magic of the internet, the quote appears in grid form!

[waving hands and wiggling fingers] magic!

(edit: I apologize for the dimensions. You get the idea.)

urban etiquette

a few months ago, NY Mag had an article about urban etiquette that i found both humorous and informative. It had rules for subway, cab, office, and ipod etiquette, among other things.

I'd just like to add a few guidelines based on some recent observations and experiences.

On the subway:
- Do not fart or eat smelly food. We're all sharing an enclosed space with little to no air circulation and nowhere to escape to. Depending on the train conductor, the ride can be smooth, jerky, or brake-happy. Do us all a favor and hold it in or eat outside to reduce the nausea factor.

- When the train is super crowded, don't hug the poles in the middle of the train as if you own them. Other people need to hold onto them too. And not everyone is tall enough to grab onto the metal bars above the seats.

On the street:
- When walking around, don't make sudden movements or stops.
- If you own a dog, pick up its crap and don't let it pee in the middle of the sidewalk so that the pee runs all over the place and stinks up the block and mothers have to roll their strollers straight through your dog's urine. No one likes to have dog crap or pee on their shoes, so do us all a favor and curb your pets. We're living in a society, people!

target audience

We've decided that our target audience will include our friends, tv fans, and tech enthusiasts. But we can only think of one person who falls into all of those categories....Crystal!! So Crystal, I guess this is for you. Thanks for reading!

Just a bunch of links

Nothing really insightful here.


The 25 Funniest Analogies (Collected by High School English Teachers)

http://writingenglish.wordpress.com/2006/09/12/the-25-funniest-analogies-collected-by-high-school-english-teachers/


Waves in a Large Free Sphere of Water (In Space!)



This quiz really works.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."

What American accent do you have?

This Sundance winning documentary is available free on bittorrent.

Filmmaker Mark Achbar just released an updated “official” torrent of it. Everyone is free to download, watch, discuss, and share it.

http://torrentfreak.com/sundance-winner-the-corporation-released-for-free-on-bittorrent/

the o.c. is back!

The O.C. is good again! i finally watched the first two episodes of season 4, and i have to say, it's back to the same compelling, twisty drama that first captivated viewers in season 1. Killing off Marissa at the end of season 3 is probably the best thing they could've done to fix the dying show. It's a huge change for the show, as some of the most memorable moments from season 1 revolved around her (the o.d. in Mexico), but by the end of season 3, they had pretty much done all they could to the character. After dealing with alcoholism, drug problems, being taken hostage by fellow druggie and show killer Oliver, sleeping with the gardener, a brief stint in lesbianland, expulsion, partially being the catalyst for a friend's death, sleeping with the resident bad boy of the town and (gasp!) going to public school, I guess they couldn't think of much else to do with the character. They'd also really stretched Mischa Barton's limited acting abilities as far as they could . Admittedly, I teared up a tiny bit in the first episode of this new season when Ryan was looking at old pictures of her, knowing that The O.C. of old is dead for good, but again, I think that's a good thing. The show had a long sophomore slump (seasons 2+3), filled with stories of alcoholic moms, almost adultery and over-the-top cheesy spiderman kisses and unnecessary drama between Seth and Summer and many bad or worse, boring, storylines, but it's back now! With her death, not only did they get rid of the wooden, robotic actress that was weighing them down, they've actually brought the characters to new and interesting places. And I for one, am actually looking forward to watching new episodes of the show again!