Random Entertainment Notes

In advance, sorry EDMC for the lack of pictures. Anyway, Fall is here, and with the change in the season (at least the change going on everywhere but in Texas), we get new television shows! Yesterday, Jennifer and I got to sit and watch a good number of these new shows, so I thought I would give a couple of quick reviews. For the record, a couple of new shows that I'm interested in have not yet aired, so I will have to save those reviews for a future blog.

Chuck- Chuck is an example of a couple of current trends that I'm enjoying. The first is the whole concept of the average person put into extraordinary circumstances (Here, a computer nerd accidentally views a top secret email and must become a super spy). The second is a real blurring of genres (Chuck blends action and comedy far more seamlessly than I've ever seen it done in previous years). The final trend is the recognition that we nerds watch a lot of television and should be television producers target audience. This is a show I really enjoyed.

K-Ville- This is one of those standard procedural dramas, but it is set in a post-Katrina New Orleans, which adds a degree of tension that makes the show more watchable. It loses some points because Anthony Anderson, the main character who is supposedly a life long New Orleans resident, can't seem to summon a Cajun accent, but all in all the show is enjoyable.

Big Bang Theory- This is the other show about nerds, and one of the only new standard style sitcoms this season. Since it deals with science and math geeks, alot of it is going over my head, but Jennifer is still laughing, so it must be good.

Journeyman- This is the show that keeperofbooks34 compared to Quantum Leap a while back, and I have to admit that in concept it is a fair comparison. Still, this show is slick and clever, with those open ended questions that make shows like Lost and Heroes worth watching. Perhaps more than any other new show (with the exception of Pushing Daisies), this is the one that I'm rooting for. Of course that means it is the most likely to be cancelled first.

Reaper- Again, this was one of those quirky shows I enjoyed and will therefore probably lose. Sam learns that his parents sold his soul to the devil and he must now become Satan's bounty hunter (think Ghost Rider). This was another show that blurred the lines between comedy and drama, and did so well. It was alot like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which makes sense since Joss Whedon directed the pilot. I hope it works as well with other directors.

Bionic Woman- Perhaps the most overrated show this year, the first episode didn't live up to the hype in my opinion. Still, Jennifer liked it and I'm willing to give it a few more viewings.

Life- As an established fact, procedural crime shows with quirky detectives don't tend to do well (with the exception of the originator of the genre Monk), but I really enjoyed Life. Part of the series is shot in a documentary style, which gives the show a different feel as well as allowing an easy plot device for exposition. This one is definitely worth a view.

Moonlight- Jennifer is correct when she says that Angel did this concept better, but if you are hungry for a vampire as private detective story, this fills the need pretty well. Plus, it features Logan Echolls from Veronica Mars as a 900 year old Vampire.

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I wanted to give you a sense of exactly how much television we watch, so as a special bonus, here is what my DVR is set to record this week:

Monday

7:00-8:00
Prison Break (FOX)
Chuck (NBC)
How I Met Your Mother / The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

8:00-9:00
K-Ville (FOX)
Heroes (NBC)
Two and a Half Men / Rules of Engagement (CBS)

9:00-10:00
Journeyman (NBC)

Tuesday

7:00-8:00
Bones (FOX)
Carpoolers (ABC)

8:00-9:00
House (FOX)
Reaper (CW)
Eureka (Sci-Fi)

9:00-10:00
ECW (Sci-Fi)

Wednesday

7:00-8:00
Back to You / 'Til Death (FOX)
Pushing Daisies (ABC)
Kid Nation (CBS)

8:00-9:00
Bionic Woman (NBC)
Private Practice (ABC)

9:00-10:00
Life (NBC)

Thursday

7:00-8:00
Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader (FOX)
My Name is Earl / 30 Rock (NBC)
Survivor: China (CBS)

8:00-9:00
Don't Forget the Lyrics! (FOX)
The Office (NBC)
CSI (CBS)

9:00-10:00
Big Shots (ABC)

10:00-11:00
Smallville (The West Coast Feed of the CW)

11:00-12:00
Supernatural (The West Coast Feed of the CW)

Friday

7:00-8:00
Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader (FOX)
WWE Smackdown (CW)

8:00-9:00
Moonlight (CBS)

9:00-10:00
Numb3rs (CBS)

Saturday

8:00-9:00
Solitary 2.0 (FOX Reality)

10:00-12:00
TNA Impact (Spike TV)

Sunday

7:00-9:00
FOX Animation Block (FOX)

9:00-10:00
Shark (CBS)

In addition, I have to watch WWE Raw in a back bedroom and Jennifer watches Grey's Anatomy on-line because we are already taping too many other things when those shows air. So you understand why we might be a little busy.

R.I.P.

Yeah, it's going to be that kind of post. As most of you know by now, I came home from work one week ago today and found that Booger had passed away. All I can think is that I am this big guy; I've literally moved a couch by myself, and an eerily still ball of fur can break me down in ways that I could never imagine and can't easily get past.

The loss of a pet is an interesting thing. You can't really take time to grieve, because no job has a policy on how many days you get off for the death of your animal (Does it even count as a death in the family?), and it may just be me, but it feels odd to ask for prayers like you would if your grandmother died (although in truth I was closer to Booger than I was with any of my grand parents).

I've realized one thing through this experience, however. I'm ruining a communion thought here (I'm sorry for those of you who will here this again in a couple of weeks), but that Wednesday after Booger died was so hard. No one at my work cared; my students actually laughed when I told them about my loss. I didn't bother telling people at the comic book shop. It was only when I got to church that night that I could really express my grief. It is only at church where there were people who would mourn with me (regardless of their personal feelings about Booger in particular or cats in general). I think so often we come to church and we try to leave all of our cares at the door and put on our happy faces, but what I have realized is that church is the only place where we can come with all of our baggage, all of our pain, all of our sin, and find people who will share the burden and a God who will give us strength and healing.

Thank you guys for being there for me. I love you.

Quick Update

Because some of you, like EDMC, just can't wait to learn about my life, here is a quick update.

1) Tonight is Meet the Teacher night, which I loathe. Is it possible that everyone will stay home to honor the memory of those who died six year ago?

2) My room is beyond frigid. I don't normally complain about being chilly, but I'm growing icicles on my nose here.

3) Networked printers are awesome. Yesterday I was running late to work, and needed to make copies before my morning duty at 7:45. Instead of coming to my room, turning on my computer, waiting for it to boot, pressing print, waiting for the printer to warm up, and then going to make copies, I was able to turn my computer on during the commute and hit the print button as soon as I saw the IISD wireless connection, (which was as I was stopped by the crossing guard before I even pulled into the parking lot), and have my paper waiting for me on my printer as I walked into the room. It saved me 10 minutes.

Love you guys!

Two Birds, One Post

So I have two problems. 1) Either there isn't enough going on in my life right now to give you a good blog entry or, more likely, there is too much going on to organize my thoughts into a coherent blog entry (funny how those two things can feel the same) and 2) I am plagued by Joanna's requirement that good blog entries have photos, and I haven't dragged out my camera in a while so all of my pictures are old. In order to get a blog entry, therefore, you are going to have to sit through a bunch of older pictures as I explain what you see, even though it has nothing to do with my life right now.

The first picture requires very little explanation. This is me goofing around with the cats. This picture always makes me laugh, not just because I have the cheesiest smile on my face of all time, but because you can imagine the conversation the cats are having as they stare at each other wondering what the heck the weird fat guy is doing. As a matter of fact, let's make it a contest. Whoever writes the funniest conversation in the comments sectionwill get credit in the next post. By the way, since this appears to be a constant source of confusion, Duchess is in my right arm and Booger is in the left. Seriously, guys, I don't get your kids confused, you could at least remember which of my cats is which.

The next picture is the only one I have on my computer from my wedding. Now, I'm quite confident that somewhere in my house is a big oversized album just chock full of pictures, but this is the only one that I have on my hard drive. A couple of comments here, the big blob of light is my camera's flash, because instead of using some fancy scanner I was lazy and just snapped a digital picture of a paper picture. Worse yet, I snapped a digital picture of a paper picture while the paper picture was still in its glass frame. It's kind of scary thinking about all the people at work that come to me to solve their computer issues when I look at the brillant solutions I've devised like this one. Secondly, the man in the picture with me is my father. Those of you who know me well know that I don't talk alot about my family. Alot of that is because I'm a largely self-focused individual who lives in the moment and doesn't reflect on the past, and part of it is that my parents went through a bitter divorce shortly after I got out of college and I'm not yet in a place to deal with it myself. Be that as it may, my father is just about the greatest man I've ever known, someone I aspire to be like, and someone I am thankful to have as a part of my life.

And on a lighter note, here is a picture of me eating pizza in North Carolina. This is from the now infamous Nags Head vacation. I'm sure I shared the story that our plane left DFW at what I affectionately call before-o-clock in the morning, and because of all manner of hiccups, didn't arrive until late in the afternoon. Jennifer and I were famished when we finally got to sit down and have this pizza, so it was the best pizza ever! It's funny how when you are particularly hungry, anything tastes like heaven. Is there a spiritual parrallel here? Do we encounter people in our lives who are so hungry for truth that anything they are given seems like the Truth? Are we some of those hungry people? Let's just call that food for thought.

Okay, last picture. It is of Kaleb, shortly after Jennifer and I tried to feed him during one of our baby-sitting adventures. If you can't tell, he was eating peas, or some similarly green vegtable. He was a better man than I am to eat the mashed up paste, but he finished it all up (That's my second food reference, I may need to go eat dinner). Anyway, I grabbed this picture because Kaleb looks beyond cool here, but it is only one of a ton of pictures I have of friends' kids. Jennifer and I decided a couple of years ago that children probably weren't in our future, but I can't tell you how blessed I am to be able to interact with the children in our little circle of friends. My weekly conversations with Katelyn about what comic books she is reading are starting to become one of my favorite reasons to come to church, and I know Jennifer feels cheated if she gets out of the building without a little "Kaleb-time". This weekend, we were able to spend some extended time with Lukas, who is really shaping up to be quite the little man (little horizontally, not vertically) and looks beyond spiffy in his helmet. It takes my breath away some times to look forward five or ten years and watch what great young people all of these kids are going to become. With the parents they have, I am confident that our future is in great hands.

Alright, I'm rambling. I love you, guys.