Water skiing with the Fonz.
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You're gonna find this stunning but I really enjoy weekends. Here's the play-by-play, thus far:
And here we are! The less I do, the more productive the weekend. In fact, this blog entry is cutting into my weekend productivity and that's very disturbing. Christ, I'm under a lot of stress here! Stop crowding me! Fuck!
****************************************************************************
Recently, my iPod suffered a severe system breakdown (probably the bacon), prompting me to buy the handy-dandy newer video iPod. I knew you could download and watch TV shows...but holy shit! You can download and fuckin' watch TV shows! It's pretty cool. And when I'm not hating technology, I love it.
And a big difference between this year and last: Instead of struggling to keep up with 24, which airs the same night I'm schooling everyone in poker, now I can go to poker and just download the show to watch later.
As two out of the five of you might remember, I became a habitual 24 user when I got back from Caracas, going through culture shock, looking for gainful employment, and generally having nothing else to do. The first three seasons were amazing. The fourth was pretty cool. So I was stoked when Season Five aired not long after, but disappointed when it didn't deliver.
I was worried: You could see the Fonz waiting in the wings, trying on his water skiis.
Well, it looks like it finally happened this season. When a suitcase nuke detonated near Magic Mountain, 24 officially jumped the shark. (By the way, that's the second God's Country nuclear event in the last three seasons. How do you think the housing market's doing here?)
Boozemyer informs me that even Tony Kornheiser over at Pardon the Interruption is talking about how absurd the show's become. I know, I know - it's always been absurd. But the real-time concept, with its minute-by-minute suspense allowed you to suspend disbelief and invest yourself.
Season Six is unsettling, and I don't mean the "suspensful" narrative but rather the show's direction. It's so ridiculously over-the-top - even by 24 standards - it shamelessly capitalizes on post 9-11 fears to top previous seasons and get ratings. And sure, maybe it's always done that to a certain extent, but this season just blows past whatever subtle line they'd teetered on. Watch the first four episodes and you'll see what I mean.
(Also, speaking of Empire, Season Six of 24 has the lamest "Luke I am your father" rip-off I've ever seen.)
What happened? It turns out a lot of people were wondering, and The New Yorker ran a really interesting profile on conservative 24 producer Joel Surnow, close friend of Rush Limbaugh. Seriously, even if you've never watched the show, do check it out. Writer Jane Mayer focuses on how the show continues to use torture as a standard, effective plot device to get stubborn detainees - terrorists and others - to spill info fast. By no coincidence, it falls in line with Surnow's personal philosophies, too.
This was so past the mark, the dean at West Point flew to God's Country and met with show producers. In the era of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, secret CIA prisons, and a president who refuses to denounce torture, 24's stale reliance on the device as it ropes in more and more viewers is getting worrisome. Surnow didn't attend - he had a meeting with Roger Ailes (of Fox News) that he said conflicted, even though another person was able to attend both.
Again, this isn't some goddamn dirty hippie talking - this is a frickin dean at West Point.
Mayer focuses on the torture aspect, but I think that's just the most obvious piece of the puzzle.
In the last episode I caught, the U.S. government started profiling its own agents - making Middle Easterners jump through excessive security hoops preventing them from doing their job. The show denounces this as excessive, mainly through a guy who rants about how loyal his Mideastern co-worker is to the U.S. - "she's a registered Republican for crissake!"
Henry Winkler, please report to Stage Six. Winkler to Stage Six, please.
Surnow's developing the "half-hour news hour" - that lame conservative alternative to The Daily Show. Because Jon Stewart's so unfair when he skewers Bush and his Iraq policy, or Cheney for shooting a party donor in the face - instead of the real threat: Democratic presidential hopefuls.
Anyhow, we'll see where 24 goes this season, and that's probably it for me. Mayer does mention that the show's producers do have diverse political views. Think last season's whole "big business pulling the strings to create a war and protect their oil interests" thing. But it looks like Surnow really took the reigns this year.
What's going on over at Lost? Oh yeah, America suddenly hates Lost now, cause it's, like, too weird and complicated and shit. Oh well. Back to Britney's cooch and Anna Nicole's corpse. These colors don't run, dammit.
- Yesterday, I woke up.
- Watched Your Georgetown Hoyas defeat our hated rivals over at Villanofun and seriously jeopardize their tourney chances. It was tight during the second half, with both teams trading baskets and Nova's Scottie Reynolds draining a ridiculous NBA three, but I knew it was over when, with about three to play, they flashbacked to Villanova's 1985 title game upset. If I were a Nova fan at that point I'm throwing my remote through the screen. Final score: GU 58, Nofun 55. Ha, bitches!
- In joyous celebration, I ate a whole packet of bacon (cooking it, first)
- Fell asleep on my couch all afternoon. Eventually, I woke up.
- Took Nameless to Swank Rat Pack Hangout for a delicious prime steak au poivre,
- Came home.
- Listened to my stomach expand and my heart labor under the day's added stress.
- Passed out watching Comedy Central
- Woke up and Empire's on HBO. Marveled at how much better that 1980 flick was than the prequels, even with all the cool new effects at Lucas' disposal.
And here we are! The less I do, the more productive the weekend. In fact, this blog entry is cutting into my weekend productivity and that's very disturbing. Christ, I'm under a lot of stress here! Stop crowding me! Fuck!
****************************************************************************
Recently, my iPod suffered a severe system breakdown (probably the bacon), prompting me to buy the handy-dandy newer video iPod. I knew you could download and watch TV shows...but holy shit! You can download and fuckin' watch TV shows! It's pretty cool. And when I'm not hating technology, I love it.
And a big difference between this year and last: Instead of struggling to keep up with 24, which airs the same night I'm schooling everyone in poker, now I can go to poker and just download the show to watch later.
As two out of the five of you might remember, I became a habitual 24 user when I got back from Caracas, going through culture shock, looking for gainful employment, and generally having nothing else to do. The first three seasons were amazing. The fourth was pretty cool. So I was stoked when Season Five aired not long after, but disappointed when it didn't deliver.
I was worried: You could see the Fonz waiting in the wings, trying on his water skiis.
Well, it looks like it finally happened this season. When a suitcase nuke detonated near Magic Mountain, 24 officially jumped the shark. (By the way, that's the second God's Country nuclear event in the last three seasons. How do you think the housing market's doing here?)
Boozemyer informs me that even Tony Kornheiser over at Pardon the Interruption is talking about how absurd the show's become. I know, I know - it's always been absurd. But the real-time concept, with its minute-by-minute suspense allowed you to suspend disbelief and invest yourself.
Season Six is unsettling, and I don't mean the "suspensful" narrative but rather the show's direction. It's so ridiculously over-the-top - even by 24 standards - it shamelessly capitalizes on post 9-11 fears to top previous seasons and get ratings. And sure, maybe it's always done that to a certain extent, but this season just blows past whatever subtle line they'd teetered on. Watch the first four episodes and you'll see what I mean.
(Also, speaking of Empire, Season Six of 24 has the lamest "Luke I am your father" rip-off I've ever seen.)
What happened? It turns out a lot of people were wondering, and The New Yorker ran a really interesting profile on conservative 24 producer Joel Surnow, close friend of Rush Limbaugh. Seriously, even if you've never watched the show, do check it out. Writer Jane Mayer focuses on how the show continues to use torture as a standard, effective plot device to get stubborn detainees - terrorists and others - to spill info fast. By no coincidence, it falls in line with Surnow's personal philosophies, too.
This was so past the mark, the dean at West Point flew to God's Country and met with show producers. In the era of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, secret CIA prisons, and a president who refuses to denounce torture, 24's stale reliance on the device as it ropes in more and more viewers is getting worrisome. Surnow didn't attend - he had a meeting with Roger Ailes (of Fox News) that he said conflicted, even though another person was able to attend both.
Again, this isn't some goddamn dirty hippie talking - this is a frickin dean at West Point.
Mayer focuses on the torture aspect, but I think that's just the most obvious piece of the puzzle.
In the last episode I caught, the U.S. government started profiling its own agents - making Middle Easterners jump through excessive security hoops preventing them from doing their job. The show denounces this as excessive, mainly through a guy who rants about how loyal his Mideastern co-worker is to the U.S. - "she's a registered Republican for crissake!"
Henry Winkler, please report to Stage Six. Winkler to Stage Six, please.
Surnow's developing the "half-hour news hour" - that lame conservative alternative to The Daily Show. Because Jon Stewart's so unfair when he skewers Bush and his Iraq policy, or Cheney for shooting a party donor in the face - instead of the real threat: Democratic presidential hopefuls.
Anyhow, we'll see where 24 goes this season, and that's probably it for me. Mayer does mention that the show's producers do have diverse political views. Think last season's whole "big business pulling the strings to create a war and protect their oil interests" thing. But it looks like Surnow really took the reigns this year.
What's going on over at Lost? Oh yeah, America suddenly hates Lost now, cause it's, like, too weird and complicated and shit. Oh well. Back to Britney's cooch and Anna Nicole's corpse. These colors don't run, dammit.
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