Which Serenity Character Am I?
Your results: You are Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)
| Honest and a defender of the innocent. You sometimes make mistakes in judgment but you are generally good and would protect your crew from harm. |
The L-Word and Hot Sex (or lack thereof)
While we were watching this weeks episode of The L-Word, (episode 4, season 3) we noted that so far this year, there has been a distinct lack of hot sex such as existed in previous seasons. In the past, the characters were shuckin’ clothes and doing the deed several times an episode, whereas this season has been quite tame. Shockingly so, in fact. Every episode, we wait breathlessly for the Parental Warnings screen, hoping against hope for Adult Content and Adult Situations, and every week, the screen reports only “Brief Nudity.” (“Only brief,” Stephanie says bleakly, each time.) They are apparently not participating in my new years resolution campaign.
I’m not saying the show is boring, or anything. I enjoy character-driven drama. But there are some advantages to being on cable, and this show should be taking advantage of them.
Oscar Classic Movies on TCM
Beginning February 1st, Turner Classic Movies will air 360 “Oscar winner and nominee” movies, 3 per evening, until the Academy Awards (which airs March 5th). All of them are uncut and commercial free.
Of course, the criteria to qualify as an “Oscar winner or nominee” is pretty open; they’re not talking all “best picture” noms here, but including any movie that was nominated in any category. Which means that Benji and The Karate Kid are among of the selections. (I will be DVR’ing Benji, because I haven’t seen that in years.)
But there’s more than enough great films to jam up your DVR; see TCM’s list here. It’s a bit frustrating that they don’t have a single page with the complete listings to link to. Entertainment Weekly magazine has a great pull-out page with all the movies, times and air dates.
There are quite a few movies on my “to watch” lists, which is really bad considering it’s also sweeps month and the Olympics will be on, too. Good thing I have this new TV, since I’ll be parked in front of it for all of February.
New TV
My friend Joel gave me his old 36″ TV because he upgraded.
It’s funny, I’ve never actually bought a TV myself. My very first TV was a 13″ color set given to me by a college roommate. My second TV was a really old 19″ color TV that wasn’t cable ready and didn’t have a remote. I picked it out of the trash near my apartment building on Delaware street, and it worked great. So I hooked up a cable adaptor and changed the channels with my VCR remote. I had that TV in my bedroom until a couple years ago. After that, my dad gave me a new 19″ TV for Christmas, which I used in the living room. Then my friend Brad upgraded his TV, and gave me his old 29″ set a few years ago. So I shifted everything around and the TV from the trash went to Goodwill, the 19″ went upstairs, and the 29″ went in the living room. Now everything is shifting again, and the 19″ will go to my mom.
Super Size Me
Stephanie and I finally got a chance to watch Super Size Me tonight. We had DVR’ed it last year, but never got around to watching it, and it deleted itself after awhile.
I knew the basics about the film, and we have already seen most of the first season of 30 Days. But actually seeing it was pretty eye-opening, especially some of the facts and figures. I’m going to record it to tape and keep it to watch again, because I want to go over some of the data in the film.
I’m going to bite the bullet and keep a food journal. I’ve tried that off and on over the years, but I’ve never quite made it stick, because I’d eventually get busy and forget to write stuff down, even when I was on weight watchers. I think that was the part of the WW program that was hardest for me, and what made me eventually give up on it; trying to keep track of what I ate all the time was too tough to manage. We’ll see how far I get this time.
Four Things Meme
Four Jobs I’ve Had
- Public Library Page
- Assembly Worker of Industrial Gas Shut-off Valves
- Chicken Restaurant Cooking Staff
- Website Designer
Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over
- Auntie Mame
- The Wizard of Oz
- Southpark: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
- Much Ado About Nothing
Four Places I’ve Lived
- Ankeny, Iowa
- Canton, Ohio
- Muncie, Indiana
- Indianapolis, Indiana
Four TV Shows I Love
- Veronica Mars
- Lost
- Gilmore Girls
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Four Places I’ve Been On Holiday
- Munster, Germany
- Luray Caverns, Virginia
- Chicago, Illinois
- New York City
Four of My Favorite Dishes
- Lasagna
- Pizza
- Fried Chicken
Four Sites I Visit Daily
- Flickr
Four Places I Would Rather Be Now
- At home in bed
- New York
- In the car on a roadtrip
- London
Four Bloggers I Am Tagging
- Stephanie
- Anyone else
ABC kills reality show because winners are gay
The television show “Welcome to the Neighborhood” was supposed to be a huge hit. Seven families compete to win a McMansion on a cul-de-sac in an suburban neighborhood, with the winners being chosen by the neighbors. Turns out, the popular couple who won, by changing the hearts and minds of the redneck republican residents, were gay men. And ABC, fearing a backlash from the religious right in the form of a boycott of their pet film Chronicles of Narnia, killed the show because they thought viewers might object to a neighborhood embracing gay people as friends and neighbors.
Now the gay couple who won the house, and the neighbors who changed their minds to support them, are speaking out about what happened.
The Book of Daniel
Man, you ignore political news for one day around here, and the shit hits the fan. Everyone’s talking about the Terre Haute TV station that’s refusing to air the NBC TV show “The Book of Daniel.” that premieres tomorrow night. I hadn’t even heard of it, and had to go look up what all the fuss is about. Here’s a hysterical and freaked out synopsis of the show, from the American Family Association’s newsletter:
It is time to make our voice heard at NBC that we will not long remain silent about their anti-Christian bigotry. Here is what NBC considers to be a positive portrayal of Christians and Christianity:
The program’s main characters include Daniel Webster, a drug-addicted Episcopal priest; his alcoholic wife; his son, a 23-year-old homosexual Republican; his daughter, a 16-year-old drug dealer; a 16-year-old adopted son who is having sex with the bishop’s daughter; his lesbian secretary who is sleeping with his sister-in-law; and a very unconventional white-robed, bearded Jesus who talks to the priest.
It is written by Jack Kenny, a practicing homosexual who describes himself as being “in Catholic recovery,” and is interested in Buddhist teachings about reincarnation and isn’t sure exactly how he defines God and/or Jesus. “I don’t necessarily know that all the myth surrounding him (Jesus) is true,” he said.
Practicing homosexual? Man, that Jack Kenny better work harder if he’s only practicing. Most of us have got this stuff down already. Ahem.
Anyways… the AFA is leading a huge campaign to contact TV stations all over the country to try to persuade them not to air the show, and some wingdings in Terre Haute and Little Rock, Arkansas have taken their disinformation at face value.
You can contact the stations yourself, if you want:
Indianapolis station 317-636-1313
Terre Haute 812-696-2121
Me, I went right out and DVR’ed the show so I can see what all the fuss is about. Sounds like a hoot. Seems like the best way to get a ton of publicity is to get the AFA to boycott you. Hmmm.
Jesus is a pussy! That’s right! He’s a yellow-bellied, pink-wearing nancy-boy! And did I mention I’m a homo? I really am!
Outrageous Firsts in TV History
YesButNoButYes lists controversial first in TV broadcast history.
1947: First Couple to Share a Bed – Mary Kay and Johnny, on…Mary Kay and Johnny
1957: First Toilet on Television. – Leave it to Beaver
1957: First Exposed Rack on Television – Jayne Mansfield, 1957 Academy Awards
1967: First Time the Word Hell was Used on Television – Star Trek
1971: First time the phrase God Damn It was used on Television – All in the Family (also one of the first gay characters: A closeted football-playng friend of Mike’s came out on the show)
1972: First Abortion on Television – Maude
1974: First Rape Scene on Television – TV movie Born Innocent (I remember hearing about this in school.)
1977: First Recurring Gay Character on Television – Soap (although “The Corner Bar” had one in 1972)
mental notes
I need to remember to set the DVR in January for:
Fox’s “Skating With Celebrities” – Wednesday, January 18th
Showtime’s “The L Word” – Sunday, Jan. 8th
“My Name is Earl” – Thursday, Jan 5th
NBC’s “The Office” – Thursday, Jan 5th
CBS’s “Love Monkey” – Tuesday, Jan 17th
CBS’s “The New Adventures of Old Christine” – March?
Sci Fi’s “Battlestar Galactica” – Friday, Jan 6th
FX “The Shield” – Tuesday, January 10th, 10 pm