Skiing Special

Since last year, Jon and Kate Plus Eight has become my favorite show on tv by far, and is the (only) one I look forward to each week. This would be true even if the writers' strike never happened. Julie and I have Tivo-ed tens of episodes (a few of the reruns are taped twice), and we watch them all the time. It's on at 9pm, but it reruns at midnight, so the two of us usually end up watching the same two episodes twice a night, and then again later in the week (Tivo). Tonight on TLC, the Gosselins go skiing in Utah in a one hour special. Catch the fever!

Definitely in the Top 3

HBO is genius. Something to whet your appetite:

[Witty Vonnegut quote]

Someone please tell me why this was necessary?
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/16/kurt-vonneguts-lifefox-news-style/

This appeared on air the day after his death.
It's pretty bad throughout, but the kicker is at the end.

I want to say more, but the clip speaks for itself.

that's brilliant!

Isaac likes to tease me because he thinks I don't like anything if there are accents involved. Like I've never been able to watch "Snatch" without falling asleep because I can't understand it. Literally. And I never wanted to watch the British version of "The Office" because I couldn't decipher what they were saying.

But I do like some British exports. Namely their music. This past Saturday, we saw Bloc Party play at the United Palace Theater all the way up at 175th Street. They were awesome - they had a ton of energy AND they sound awesome live. I love their music, but I couldn't understand a word that frontman Kele Okereke said between songs. I wasn't alone though - I could hear the people around us asking each other what he was saying too.

The opening act was also very good. We missed most of Sebastian Grainger so I can't comment on that, but we caught all of Albert Hammond Jr.'s opening set. He's a lead guitarist for the Strokes, but he's touring with Bloc Party for a solo album that he produced. I just picked up his cd last week, and it's Strokes-esque, but slightly happier. I like!

In general, I've been listening to a lot more music since I've moved out to New York. Well, actually, ever since I left school. Pittsburgh was like a desert for new music. Every single station out there played Hoobastank's "The Reason" as every 4th song for at least 6 months. Whenever it played, it felt like someone was hammering an ice pick into my brain. Because of that and the general quality of radio play in this area, I no longer listen to radio. Weird - "The Reason" is the reason I don't listen to the radio anymore. Instead, I just focus on finding music for myself.

I've found that it's nice to have some music to energize me as I walk the long blocks to the subway or to distract me from being in such close quarters on the crowded train. It definitely helped the one time the back of my head was being used as a newspaper rest while my forehead was in someone's armpit and the bottom half of my face was practically in someone's huge furry hood. I just focused on the soothing beats of "Close Your Eyes" by the Chemical Brothers and it felt like I was alone on the train. Well, not quite, but the music helped.

By the way, I eventually did watch the British Office (good job, closed caption!) and it was pretty good. I can see why it was received so well by critics, but I have to say that I actually enjoy the American version of The Office better. Perhaps because I can relate better since our working environments are different within our countries. By the way, if you're home tonight, check out NBC at 8pm tonight - there's a supersized episode of the Office, followed by my new fave 30 Rock at 8:44pm.

Seven Minute Sopranos

Here's a recap, before the final half-season begins:

fun with animals

This past weekend, we participated in two of our favorite pastimes: shopping and the Discovery Channel. We got some great deals through my work discount and spent much of our weekend at the store. In our downtime, we watched some Discovery Channel. Isaac has a sampler of Discovery Channel DVDS, and at first, I wasn't really interested in watching, but after about 2 minutes, I was hooked. In "The Deadliest Catch", which was actually made into a series on Discovery Channel, we witnessed the difficulties of snow crab fishing, an occupation which has been termed "The Deadliest Job In the World" because of the many dangers of fishing in the Arctic Ocean. I actually experienced a little phantom seasickness while watching the fishermen run around on the boat as it was tossed around 30 foot waves. It's crazy to see what fishermen have to endure so that I can enjoy a nice meaty crab claw.

Later, we watched "Living With Wolves" (watch the video clip!), a documentary about two filmmakers who spent 6 years living in Idaho with a pack of wolves. It's actually pretty captivating, except for the storyline about their romance. I could have done without that. But the wolves are interesting and cute, even, and you get to see their personalities and a little bit about wolf society. It was fascinating.

Watching the intimate lives of wolves awakened my usually dormant interest in animals and I ended up perusing Wikipedia to learn more about various animals. I learned some random things. For instance, did you know that a group of tigers is called a streak? Or that hyenas eat their prey alive? Or that a single well-placed kick from a giraffe can shatter a lion's skull or spine? Or that zebra's stripes act as camouflage from lions who are colorblind? Well, maybe you knew, but I had no idea. It was a feast of information for me. So just now, I checked the TV schedule for tonight, and while there are no animal specials on, National Geographic is airing "In the Womb: Multiples" at 9pm tonight. I saw a commercial for this a while back, but forgot about it. Fortunately, National Geographic is airing repeats, so if you're at all interested, you can catch the showing tonight or next Sunday.

wherein "The Hills" causes me to think about life

I've been watching "The Hills" lately, and it's brought a question to mind..

How important is it to be honest in your friendships?

In the show, Heidi is seriously involved with a guy (Spencer) who is, in the words of her best friend LC, "a sucky, sucky person". He's tried to hook up with another one of their friends and various other girls at clubs while dating Heidi, but she insists that he loves her. Since LC has shared her distaste for Spencer, her friendship with Heidi has suffered greatly.

So..what if you think your best friend's significant other is a total ***[insert your derogatory descriptor of choice]***? If they were having a problem with the SO and asked your opinion, would you tell him or her in the interest of total honesty and to try to open their eyes? Or would you just keep your opinion to yourself?

If you tell your friend your honest opinion, then..

// if they end up together in the long run despite the fact that the S.O. is a *****, your already stated opinion could cause a rift in the friendship

// if they break up, you helped your friend out of a bad relationship, but you're a little bit at fault for the demise of the relationship, right?

// not necessarily exclusive from the other two scenarios above..your friend is hurt and offended and cuts off communication with you..basically, you damage the friendship - and it's possibly irreparable.


If you don't tell your friend...

// if they end up together in the long run, then you may regret never sharing your opinion at a point when it could have made a difference

// your friendship is not as open and honest as the other person thinks it is..so there is some imbalance there

// you will have to bite your tongue forever everytime the ****** S.O. hurts your friend


what's the best course of action here? what would you do?

**note: i'm not actually in this situation..but i thought it was an interesting dilemma

other questions: how honest are you with friends who have been known to receive critical opinions badly?

thursday tv on friday nights

Thursdays are the best night of TV. Unfortunately, the networks all compete with each other by putting their best shows out (leaving the rest of the week empty on my tv schedule), so all the shows really lose in the ratings. Thankfully, Survivor finished its "race wars" season so the 8:00-9:00 timeslot is less packed these days.

I'm actually going to be out tonight, but I'll catch up with everything on Friday. It turns out that Fridays and weekends are my favorite times to stay in. I'd heard similar sentiments from people who lived in the city before I moved here, but I never understood until I lived here too. I have nothing against B&Ters (bridge and tunnelers -ie, people who need to take a bridge or tunnel to get to Manhattan), but the city just gets really crowded on Fridays and Saturdays. Movies are constantly sold out on weekends and sidewalks and restaurants are packed. I hate navigating through hordes of people on the streets and putting up with long waits at restaurants when I can go easily go any night of the week. So Fridays are my stay-in night, or maybe they'll soon be a small group night, if Isaac and I ever get around to signing up for one.

Anyway, Isaac's sister, Lanie, is in town, so we'll be heading out tonight instead of being glued to the TV the way I usually am, but here's a quick TV guide for those of you who stay home on weeknights and go out on weekends.

What I'll be Tivo-ing:
8:30 The Office (nbc)
9:00 Scrubs -the long-awaited musical episode! (nbc)
9:30 30 Rock (nbc)

What I'll get later:
9:00 The O.C. (FOX)
8:00 Ugly Betty (abc)
9:00 Grey's Anatomy (abc)

In other TV-related news, The Hills is back! Tune in for the spaced-out misadventures of LC and Heidi. I totally missed the premiere on Monday, but was alerted to its return by an awesome recap at TVGasm. The recaps make the show worth watching...

960 minutes

What's the best season of 24?

I watched the first season and was really put off by Kim Bauer, and the soap opera predictibility/craziness of the 2nd half of that season, so much so that I've never wanted to watch another season. I've heard that other seasons are better/different though, so I'm thinking that I might be willing to give it another chance. I want to watch a good season though, so which one is the best and is the show really worth watching?

convince me.

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?)

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!