Thursday, May 14, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
My Name is Bob and I have a problem.
I'm scared that my current addiction will catch up with me this summer.
Over the last year I started to watch current television shows. It started with dvd collections of past tv shows. I was safe when I stuck with shows that had ended. I loved it. Serialized shows became a minor addiction to me. During a single week I watched character and story arcs that had taken years in their original run. Movies that only took 90 minutes could no longer satisfy my needs with their puny character development. I was hooked.
Over the course of months, I found myself cruising Amazon for my next hit. I was jonesing bad for a new experience. Amazon taunted me with a sale. The first three seasons of Lost were bundled together. Curiosity and the monkey on my back forced me to click the taunting "Add to Shopping Cart". Amazon Prime rushed me my fix in the next couple of days. That's when I was screwed. I was mainlining a current tv show...and Lost, in my opinion, is one of the greatest. Soon I was buying other current shows like Eureka, Burn Notice, and Heroes. I caught up to shows just before the new episodes started to come out last season. That's when I became a slave to my DVR- and not just to those shows, but to new shows with a tenuous link to shows that I'd enjoyed. I loved Lost, so Fringe was a natural leap. Buffy and Angel were gateway shows to Dollhouse.
This week has brought with it a sick dread. Fringe and Lost are going into hibernation (or is it remission? I don't know the term for when shows go into reruns). Luckily, I easily kicked the Heroes habit quickly, so that is one less problem. But I'm scared. I haven't built up a tolerance to summer reruns that others might, I haven't been much for tv shows since high school. I don't know how I'm going to handle it. I have a feeling that I'll soon be trolling the TV Series aisle of Fry's looking for my next fix or checking Hulu for shows I might have missed. I just hope that I'm not shivering in a dark corner watching old procedurals on USA, waiting for new episodes of the shows that I miss. God help me if I get so bad that I start watching sports.
Over the last year I started to watch current television shows. It started with dvd collections of past tv shows. I was safe when I stuck with shows that had ended. I loved it. Serialized shows became a minor addiction to me. During a single week I watched character and story arcs that had taken years in their original run. Movies that only took 90 minutes could no longer satisfy my needs with their puny character development. I was hooked.
Over the course of months, I found myself cruising Amazon for my next hit. I was jonesing bad for a new experience. Amazon taunted me with a sale. The first three seasons of Lost were bundled together. Curiosity and the monkey on my back forced me to click the taunting "Add to Shopping Cart". Amazon Prime rushed me my fix in the next couple of days. That's when I was screwed. I was mainlining a current tv show...and Lost, in my opinion, is one of the greatest. Soon I was buying other current shows like Eureka, Burn Notice, and Heroes. I caught up to shows just before the new episodes started to come out last season. That's when I became a slave to my DVR- and not just to those shows, but to new shows with a tenuous link to shows that I'd enjoyed. I loved Lost, so Fringe was a natural leap. Buffy and Angel were gateway shows to Dollhouse.
This week has brought with it a sick dread. Fringe and Lost are going into hibernation (or is it remission? I don't know the term for when shows go into reruns). Luckily, I easily kicked the Heroes habit quickly, so that is one less problem. But I'm scared. I haven't built up a tolerance to summer reruns that others might, I haven't been much for tv shows since high school. I don't know how I'm going to handle it. I have a feeling that I'll soon be trolling the TV Series aisle of Fry's looking for my next fix or checking Hulu for shows I might have missed. I just hope that I'm not shivering in a dark corner watching old procedurals on USA, waiting for new episodes of the shows that I miss. God help me if I get so bad that I start watching sports.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Of Fringe and Dollhouse
I started watching the shows Fringe and Dollhouse out of some kind of obligation for the creators. I've enjoyed their past shows, so I felt that I had to watch the new. I hated both shows at the beginning, neither had characters that I enjoyed - and for me, characters are paramount.
I've been watching them religiously, out of some strange misplaced faith- and for a while I started to lose my religion. Lucky for me, Fringe got better. They started to add more emotional contact through new supporting family members. Characters started to become emotionally involved in story lines. The long term plot started advancing too, which was nice. Fringe has become a treat that I look forward to- and I'm glad they are back from their mid season break.
Now on to Dollhouse. So far, there isn't a single character on Dollhouse that I give a damn about. The long term story isn't grabbing me. I don't give a damn about the mysterious Alpha, the dolls, or anybody else. Sadly, I've been watching it so long that Stockholm Syndrome has been setting in. I'm starting to feel sorry for the show. I really want it to be better for its own sake. I want to say, "Come on little buddy, you can do better. You can create something that actually reaches out on an emotional level. Keep trying slugger."
It took a while for Fringe to grab me. I hope Dollhouse will too.
I've been watching them religiously, out of some strange misplaced faith- and for a while I started to lose my religion. Lucky for me, Fringe got better. They started to add more emotional contact through new supporting family members. Characters started to become emotionally involved in story lines. The long term plot started advancing too, which was nice. Fringe has become a treat that I look forward to- and I'm glad they are back from their mid season break.
Now on to Dollhouse. So far, there isn't a single character on Dollhouse that I give a damn about. The long term story isn't grabbing me. I don't give a damn about the mysterious Alpha, the dolls, or anybody else. Sadly, I've been watching it so long that Stockholm Syndrome has been setting in. I'm starting to feel sorry for the show. I really want it to be better for its own sake. I want to say, "Come on little buddy, you can do better. You can create something that actually reaches out on an emotional level. Keep trying slugger."
It took a while for Fringe to grab me. I hope Dollhouse will too.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
The economy and Vegas
Sorry about punctuation and such- blogging on the road using the iPhone.
The economy has been sucking for most people, but nowhere shows it better then America's playground - Vegas. Last season there were a lot layoffs here- makes sense, layoffs are everywhere. But it's the trickle down effect. People that are worried about money are hardly going to blow a grand on a weekend. Restaurants that have been around for years have shut their doors forever. Most places that are still open are only open five days a week. Hotel stores that used to be open all day, every day now spend as many hours closed as open. Vegas has been struggling as much as anywhere else I've seen, more so then some. I really feel sorry for what some of the people I know here have been going through.
There does seem to be a light at the end of this tunnel though. It's a Sunday night and Vegas seems busier then it has been on my last couple of visits. The restaurant I had dinner in had as much business as I'd ever seen in there. People may not be spending massive amounts of money yet, but at least they are showing up. Maybe things will be back to their wild and craziest soon. I certainly hope so.
The economy has been sucking for most people, but nowhere shows it better then America's playground - Vegas. Last season there were a lot layoffs here- makes sense, layoffs are everywhere. But it's the trickle down effect. People that are worried about money are hardly going to blow a grand on a weekend. Restaurants that have been around for years have shut their doors forever. Most places that are still open are only open five days a week. Hotel stores that used to be open all day, every day now spend as many hours closed as open. Vegas has been struggling as much as anywhere else I've seen, more so then some. I really feel sorry for what some of the people I know here have been going through.
There does seem to be a light at the end of this tunnel though. It's a Sunday night and Vegas seems busier then it has been on my last couple of visits. The restaurant I had dinner in had as much business as I'd ever seen in there. People may not be spending massive amounts of money yet, but at least they are showing up. Maybe things will be back to their wild and craziest soon. I certainly hope so.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Watchmen A.R.G.
Just played around with the small A.R.G. associated with the Watchmen film- www.6minutestomidnight.com -
The premise of the site is that Rorshach shows you tests and you enter what you think you see. Correct answers will unlock clips that tell you about the characters from the film. I went through the usual answers that were expected (I won't spoil it here- there are other places to go for that kind of info), but I got stuck on the final one and had to look it up. Now comes the fun- I've seen the site as it was intended, so now comes entering random things to get unexpected responses. I went with "Dog" first, because I've read the graphic novel, and got a good response. I tried several others, but responses weren't all that great. On a tip from a forum post I found, I went with "Alan Moore"- the response was great. If you want to know what was said, you can try it for yourself.
All in all, I found it to be a fun little A.R.G for ten minutes.
The premise of the site is that Rorshach shows you tests and you enter what you think you see. Correct answers will unlock clips that tell you about the characters from the film. I went through the usual answers that were expected (I won't spoil it here- there are other places to go for that kind of info), but I got stuck on the final one and had to look it up. Now comes the fun- I've seen the site as it was intended, so now comes entering random things to get unexpected responses. I went with "Dog" first, because I've read the graphic novel, and got a good response. I tried several others, but responses weren't all that great. On a tip from a forum post I found, I went with "Alan Moore"- the response was great. If you want to know what was said, you can try it for yourself.
All in all, I found it to be a fun little A.R.G for ten minutes.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Resolutions
Back when the clock struck midnight and this year was rung in, I made a list of resolutions (something I'd resolved never to do in earlier life- but what the hell, I need to change things up). I even signed the list. My dearly beloved put the list on the fridge, lest I forget. She's not holding my feet to the fire or anything- these are my resolutions, I doubt she cares too much.
Anyway- here's the deal. I've decided to post the list here too, as a public act of...I don't know... something or other.
1)Perfect these recipes:
a)Mulligatawny Soup.
b)Pub Curry (which isn't defined on the list, but it's a Tikka Masala- I'm still trying to decide between Tofu for dearly beloved or Chicken for me to enjoy alone),
c)Scrambled Eggs (my scrambled eggs are edible, but far from perfect),
d)Pancakes (again, I do a nice pancake, but I think I can do better).
e)Fish dish to be determined later (I didn't want to be specific, because I might cheat here and make Fish Tikka Masala if the end of the year is coming quickly).
f) Completely random dish to be determined by whim...which has turned out to be french vanilla ice cream. Check this one off- I've done it, and can replicate it whenever I feel like- wahoo! It's good to see I achieved something in the first couple of months of the year.
2) Perfect my Bread & Tortilla "Instinct" - I've put this under a separate number and away from "Number 1) Perfect these recipes" because I've already got this somewhat down. This challenge is to keep making bread and tortillas, not just to perfection (for my taste) but to make them so often that I can make them by instinct alone. Well, instinct and flour and water and so on...but instinct instead of doggedly following a recipe in some book. So far this year, I've made a couple loaves of bread that were fine and one batch of tortillas that weren't.
3) Make Marshmallows - I'm not going for perfection here. I'll settle for "yummy".
4) Make Penuche Fudge - One of my great aunts gave me penuche fudge when I was just a wee lad. I love penuche fudge, but it costs an arm and a leg and a couple of extra toes to buy it. I want to at least try a batch by the end of the year. I've really got to work on the whole "soft ball" fudge making thing.
5) Lose 30 pounds - Okay, this is the problem. Look at the above list...I'm going to "perfect" all that food and still lose weight. How? Well, I've been going to the gym most days (at least 4 times a week) which helps, and I've been sick for the last few days (hurray lost water weight!). This is going to be the problem spot.
That's the list- and I resolve to do these things in 2009!
If I don't, well, there's always 2010.
Anyway- here's the deal. I've decided to post the list here too, as a public act of...I don't know... something or other.
1)Perfect these recipes:
a)Mulligatawny Soup.
b)Pub Curry (which isn't defined on the list, but it's a Tikka Masala- I'm still trying to decide between Tofu for dearly beloved or Chicken for me to enjoy alone),
c)Scrambled Eggs (my scrambled eggs are edible, but far from perfect),
d)Pancakes (again, I do a nice pancake, but I think I can do better).
e)Fish dish to be determined later (I didn't want to be specific, because I might cheat here and make Fish Tikka Masala if the end of the year is coming quickly).
f) Completely random dish to be determined by whim...which has turned out to be french vanilla ice cream. Check this one off- I've done it, and can replicate it whenever I feel like- wahoo! It's good to see I achieved something in the first couple of months of the year.
2) Perfect my Bread & Tortilla "Instinct" - I've put this under a separate number and away from "Number 1) Perfect these recipes" because I've already got this somewhat down. This challenge is to keep making bread and tortillas, not just to perfection (for my taste) but to make them so often that I can make them by instinct alone. Well, instinct and flour and water and so on...but instinct instead of doggedly following a recipe in some book. So far this year, I've made a couple loaves of bread that were fine and one batch of tortillas that weren't.
3) Make Marshmallows - I'm not going for perfection here. I'll settle for "yummy".
4) Make Penuche Fudge - One of my great aunts gave me penuche fudge when I was just a wee lad. I love penuche fudge, but it costs an arm and a leg and a couple of extra toes to buy it. I want to at least try a batch by the end of the year. I've really got to work on the whole "soft ball" fudge making thing.
5) Lose 30 pounds - Okay, this is the problem. Look at the above list...I'm going to "perfect" all that food and still lose weight. How? Well, I've been going to the gym most days (at least 4 times a week) which helps, and I've been sick for the last few days (hurray lost water weight!). This is going to be the problem spot.
That's the list- and I resolve to do these things in 2009!
If I don't, well, there's always 2010.
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