Participatory Democracy

All hail Dr. Robert Adler, the inventor of the 1956 Zenith Space Command wireless remote; the inventor of the mute button. I cannot wait until Wednesday, November 5th. It makes me long for the days of annoying Subway commercials. It's literally one 30 second long vicious political attack after another - roughly 8 minutes of hell per 1/2 hour. It's making me a bit nostalgic for George III.

In slightly scarier news, I had a neighbor ask me today where we voted. I believe she's lived here longer than I have. WTH has she been doing these last couple of years? I never understood the old Federalist concept (assuming I am remembering correctly that this idea comes from the Federalists) that the people can't necessarily be trusted to elect their own government, but the more idiots I see, the smarter John Adams becomes. I surely wish people would educate themselves. It's not like it's hard.

The fact that people actually believe what they see in TV ads. Talk about a WTH.

Horsemen

In today's sign of the Apocalypse, I have decided that there are three - count them, three - television shows not on PBS that I like.

I shall pause here whilst you pick your jaw up from the floor. Be sure to dust off the cat hair and Cheeto crumbles before they fall on your keyboard.

Nowthen.

Three! This is a new world's record only surpassed for my childhood love for Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, The Electric Company, and The Muppet Show.

Wait. Three of those four are on PBS... Dang.

Anyway, the three are these:
Chuck (NBC, Monday, 7 p.m.)
Pushing Daisies (CBS, Wednesday, 7 p.m.)
The Office (NBC, Thursday, 8 p.m.)

There's clever writing, there's great characters, there's humor, there's pathos. I care about what happens. I actually turn on the TV and even pay attention. Wild.

P.S. It bugs me to no end that when I Googled "the muppet show," I got Disney. That is just wrong. Wrong, I tell you. Wrong.

Reality TV

As happens every two years, I'm in the middle of spending exorbitant amounts of time glued to the TV. It's easier during the summer, but it doesn't stop me during the winter. I'm up past 11 every night, watching events unfold some 6000 miles away. It's thrilling, fascinating, and heartbreaking all at once. It's an addiction.

I feel a bit like an idiot yelling "Go! Go! Go!" at the TV. I mean, they're thousands of miles away, and wouldn't hear me through the tube even if we were on the same continent. But that doesn't stop me. I even sometimes get a little teary-eyed, watching these people - kids, really - at the topof their game, trying the hardest they've ever tried.

Citius, Altius, Fortius. So true. So true.

Humanity

I've been staying up way too late recently. I don't know why. This happens every summer - I hit a stretch where I just can't get to bed before 1. This of course makes the next day a little odd but there it is. Anyway.

This means I've been watching late night TV. I've decided I just don't like most of it. Leno's jokes are all the same, every night, and are all mean and mostly about sex. He panders to the lowest common denominator, and part of what bugs me is he never used to. Dave is much better, smarter, funnier, but I usually (there are exceptions) don't like his interviews and still there's this retread aspect to it. Easy for me to say - these guys have to be funny every night and in Letterman's case that's for a good 25 years - but it's mostly about sex and making fun of people. They take the easy road. Can't stand Conan. That's unfunny slapstick, with again the sex and making fun of people. And his band leader drives me crazy; good musician, but annoying. The interviews are all about shilling for some movie or book, and people - both the interviewer and the interviewee - are obviously going through the motions. Leno, Dave, and Conan - they don't trust their audiences to be smart. But what do I do? Flip around and try to find the good parts best I can and then get mad when I can't. Why do I do this to myself? I'm an idiot.

Until Craig Ferguson comes on. I like Craig. He's a little manic, a little weird, and I don't always like the sketches, but he's smart and he trusts the audience to be smart. His monologues are different every night, not just the same old retread jokes from the previous night. He seems to be actually interested in the people he interviews. He appears to actually think. He's willing to be brave and try stuff. Sure, there's some making fun of people, there's some sex jokes, but he has more than one note to play on.

So I was dinging around a bit last night and looked him up online to try to find biography stuff. Was wondering if he was a musician, truthfully, as I noticed in the credits he performed the theme song on the show (he has no band). He does play drums. Anyway, Google being the marvelous thing that it is, one thing led to another and I found a wonderful video on YouTube.

Craig, you see, is a recovering alcoholic. He makes no bones about that on his show, occasionally making cracks about his previous life and the things that happened before he got sober in 1992. One of the things about him is that going along with the willingness to be brave, the trust in his audience, and all that, he's also willing to be serious. This little clip dates from February 2007, during the whole hoo-ha over Brittany Spears and the whole concept of battering and making fun of those who truly need help.

What the hell is wrong with our society that we insist on stomping on those already downtrodden?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7bbaRyDLMvA

More blah blah blah

There's an article in today's paper about the local schools and their test results under No Child Left Behind, that boil on the face of education in the United States. I was interested to see that in the paper's rather unscientific poll, results are running about two to one against testing as a reliable way to judge a school. Now if only the idiots that are running things in this country would get a clue before everything really goes to hell...

I just get so pissed at these people who seem to think the schools stink and it's all the fault of the schools when they don't bother to look in their own backyard. It's not the teachers who should be raising your child, it's you. If you value education, chances are your child will too. If you are interested in their education, they will be too. If you see to it they do their homework, if you keep on them about their test scores, if you go to their games and concerts and events, if you show your child you care about them, it will show in their learning and how they are as human beings. If you buy them stuff and hope that makes up for it, that will show as well. You reap what you sow, people. Get with it.

In the "you learn something new every day" category, I just found out there exists a professional women's tackle football league with 39 teams and 7 more in the 2009 expansion. No kidding.
National Women's Football Association
You go, girls.

Went to the dentist today and of course they had forgotten to write my appointment down and so there was no record of it. Good thing I had today off anyway; I was able to take it philosophically. The person who made the mistake wasn't in at the time but - serious points for her - called me later to apologize. Service like that is rare these days, and very much appreciated.

Side note: darn hard to do anything with the computer when the cat is using the "enter" key for a pillow.

History Detectives season premiere is tonight, which makes me pretty close to the happiest clam in existence. This just may be my favorite TV show, period.

Opportunity Costs

I'm dying, here.

I haven't yet seen this evening's episode of The Office. I can't read any fanfic, can't go on any message boards, can't do anything.

Granted, the trade-off was a good one - I ended up over at K's with T and H for dinner, drinks, conversation, and a viewing of Gone Baby Gone, which I hadn't seen. Darn fine flick. Been a while since I read the book as well - the book is incredible, terribly complex and terribly hard to read. Lehane's books are just wrenching. No good really comes out in the end, for anyone. Dark. Oh, so dark. But good.

Upshot of all this is, I'm too tired and too wound from the movie to watch my tape of The Office. So to bed for me. Dangit.

Did finish applying for my own job this afternoon. So that's done.

'Kay... really need to go to bed now.

After I find those Lehane books on my shelf. Now where did they go...

Chair Model

Aaannnnddd... this is why I love The Office: episodes like tonight. Funny, romantic, sad, awkward, and pathetic, all in 22 minutes.

Not much to say; just figured I may as well say something as it's been a while.

Not so pumped about the TV writers' strike. Moonlighting had to deal with the last big one, back in '88. It's not a federal case or anything, and Lord knows there's plenty in this world that's more important, but it's nice to have an escape, once and a while. And Jim and Pam finally got together. Darn it!

Today traded places with one of my co-workers and did his job for the day. What fun. Things are totally different where he works. Everyone was very nice, helpful, welcoming, willing to try anything. Just different. Had a great time.

Am tired but just can't make myself go to bed. Hm.

Spent time cleaning today, some stuff that has been sitting around gathering dust for quite some time. Hung up piles of clean clothes, made the bed, etc.

Got a book the other day - Country Wisdom and Know-How: Everything You Need to Know to Live Off the Land. Stinkin' awesome. Covers everything from how to build a chicken coop to cooking with tofu to chair caning and seat weaving. You can't go wrong with that.

Went out with T yesterday to Penzey's, lunch, and a yarn shop that is unfortunately closing. We had a good time. Got some sock yarn. Think I'm going to try to crochet some socks. Have been crafty lately. This weekend did some canning, crocheting, soap making.

I can't "p" again. Stupid keyboard.

Darn that Ken Burns and curse PBS. I should know better than to watch that station. I get sucked into a program and then before I know it I've lost a week. Happens every time. The music is particularly good; generally Burns sticks with folk and popular music of the time but this time he included some classical stuff including the Faure Elegy and I think I might have heard Beethoven 7 at some point. As usual from Burns, incredible work.

Gotta go now - 3rd installment on any minute now.

"Personally, I feel that some such setback as that -- tragic though it was for many Americans, for whom it would always be too late -- was not entirely a bad thing. It was all right to have a good opinion of ourselves, but we Americans were so smug with our cockiness. We somehow felt that just because we were Americans we could whip our weight in wildcats. And we had got it into our heads that production alone would win the war."
-Ernie Pyle on the disasters in North Africa