there are worse things I could do…than get Max and Laura’s autograph April 21, 2008
Grease is the word. (Click for photos.)
my boyfriend’s back April 19, 2008
http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?videoId=166019
sorry I can’t embed it!
“It’s called a medium because nothing is well-done.”* March 4, 2008
Well, this weekend’s move went beautifully. An orgy of shelves, bins, and de-cluttering. Who can ask for anything more? Well, you can ask for “after” pictures but the closet isn’t quite done yet…I’m waiting for a couple of precious organize.com shipments. And Train doesn’t seem to think it counts as “after” if all of the stuff I took out of the downstairs room is in various piles around the house waiting for its new home (either Goodwill or a different closet). What a stickler. Hopefully tomorrow.
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Now that the writers’ strike is over, we can expect new shows as soon as this week. But I think I might need to have a come-to-Jesus with my Tivo.
There isn’t much that I watch live, and the main reason I love my Tivo is because I’m not held hostage by the tv schedule anymore. I don’t have to put things aside, or cut things short, or rush home or skip things because it’s time for my show to come on. So if I am watching television during prime time, it’s probably something recorded from another day.
Sherman goes to bed at 8. I am usually in bed by 9 (coincidentally, the writers’ strike lasted for the entirety of my bone-tiring first trimester). That gives me an hour to do whatever I want. Watching one of my recorded shows takes about 40 minutes. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the queue on the Tivo and I end up watching things before dinner while Sherman plays.
With no new episodes to watch, I find myself with more time to read, straighten up the house, catch up on bills and blogs, and generally just hang out with Train. It may not sound like fun to use your scant free time to do chores, but coming downstairs in the morning before work (at 5:30am) and seeing a messy kitchen is enough to set me up for a terrible day. Train usually handles the kitchen but he has been super busy with grad school (another reason the strike was timely).
And besides, watching Tivo while I’m supposed to be hanging out with Sherman is cheating. He watches enough of his own programming as it is, and he is old enough now to know if/when I am not paying my full attention to him.
So in the past few months, I’ve had a cleaner house, spent more quality time with my husband and son, read more books, and grown a sesame seed into a bell pepper. I can really say that I am overall a happier person.
I can’t really think of many shows I am excited to see come back. Strangely, How I Met Your Mother is the first that comes to mind. Grey’s Anatomy, out of loyalty. Of course, The Office. The Daily Show has been back for a few weeks, thankfully.
Normally I would say Brothers & Sisters, because damn, I love that show. But I still haven’t watched the new episode they aired 3 weeks ago. I have Boston Legal backlogs from November, and it took me until January to catch up on Men in Trees episodes from before the strike (now I’m behind again because it started last week, and I don’t even know if Jack’s boat has been found).
Desperate Housewives and Private Practice…meh. I like these shows but I guess I’m not invested in them. I’m frustrated because everyone says October Road is one of the best shows on tv and I never got on that boat.
I never could keep up with the three-times-a-week schedule for American Idol and Dancing With the Stars so that’s not an issue; in fact, this season I swore off reality television entirely because I can’t commit to watching the episodes in the week they air. No Amazing Race, Big Brother, or Apprentice: Celebrity for me.
Even on the weekends, I haven’t seen Rock of Love or John & Kate Plus Eight because I don’t have time to watch television. I’m not whining or complaining; I could make time. But now I’m so used to doing other things that television is the last thing on my list.
My mom never watched a lot of television when I was growing up. She liked to go to bed early, and would usually be in bed reading by eight, when all of the good shows started. My dad and I would watch television (including, if I was lucky, Cheers, which came on at 9) until my bedtime. Dad usually stayed up until midnight or later, and he was the king of Nick-at-Nite and Discovery Channel. Now that they are retired, my mom has three VCRs and a large matrix on her computer to make sure she doesn’t miss anything. Dad stays up even later watching The History Channel and TLC.
So I see myself now in my mom’s shoes. Pretty soon there will be a second child in our house, which means that much less time to get stuff done while they are both awake. While I don’t consider tv watching to be selfish or a waste of time, I also don’t think I value now it as much as the sense of accomplishment and peace when I hit the hay for the night. I would have never gotten to this point without the writers’ strike, so I’m not being sanctimonious.
So the question is: do I even bother continuing with my Tivo Season Passes? Is now a good a time as any to give up on Bree, Addison, Marin, and hottie Senator McCallister? (Okay, wait…I totally forgot about Rob Lowe. Put Brothers & Sisters back up on the must-see list.) Or will I regret not staying up-to-date? Are you planning on adjusting your post-strike tv viewing habits?
If you should ever leave me, life will still go on, believe me January 18, 2008
Is it totally idiotic that Big Love has changed the way I feel about (consensual, legal-age) polygamy? Well, “changed” is a poor choice because I never really had strong opinions about it. But now I feel about it the same way I feel about gay marriage…it’s not for me (unless Bill Paxton was involved of course) but it’s not affecting me either, so what do I care what these people do? (Just to reiterate…the underage/forced marriage thing is totally not okay with me, whether you have one wife or ten.) We have been watching Season 2 on Netflix (we’re on Disc 2) and it is so compelling. But you can’t believe everything you see on TV, right?
Last season I couldn’t stand Nikki (Chloe Sevigny) but I am really starting to see her torn loyalties affecting her. I love her name (Nicolette Grant…so elegant!) and how her kids call her “Mother”. Margene (Gennifer Goodwin) is so earnest but she can usually get away with her screwups. As for Barb (Jeanne Tripplehorn), it’s like I can’t stand her wardrobe (short, short-sleeved button down crepe shirts) but it’s so perfect for her. I’m surprised that she started this season as the more selfish sister-wife, but things seem to be balancing out as they work through all of their drama. Bill’s mom (Grace Zabriskie) and “Cousin Rhonda” (Daveigh Chase) are both absolutely perfect in casting. They are lunatics. Mary Kay Place is so good as Nikki’s mom, the first wife of the Prophet. Creepy Albie looks like Joseph Smith to me. And of course…there is something about watching Bill Paxton juggle three wives (and maybe more???) that is really, really hot. His and Barb’s kids all look kind of weird to me, but they fit in with the group. My only complaint is that it’s so long between seasons and, subsequently, DVDs (although we have HBO now, we didn’t during Season 1 and 2) and it’s hard to keep up with all of the plot lines.
