Expansion

We naturally expand to fill the capacity that we're given in all kinds
of contexts. When I first got AT&T's Uverse television service, I
thought the concept of needing to record 4 channels at once was silly.
This Wednesday at 8pm, I'm recording 4 shows. I found this out when
I scheduled the system to record a 5th.

Iconic

Speaking of iconic moments.... how long did it take for you to figure out what was going on here:

Let Your Game Speak



Let Your Game Speak Split Screen Version



Version #8

Bad Things Man

Not sure how I got Dennis Hopper's early 90's Nike Football commercials in my head.

Bruce Smith: Bad Things Man



That's Junior Seau's Footprint!



Sterling Sharpe:  Like a Freight Train!  Chooo Chooo!  Chooo-choo Baby!



Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin:  They Have ESP Man



Hardy Nickerson: Act Casual

The Mentalist

Why didn't anyone tell me about The Mentalist? Seriously. Cool show.

Tivo Time Machine Pt. 3

My 2006-2007 Season Passes, in order of priority:

How I Met Your Mother (NBC)
Scrubs (NBC) (changed networks, deleted)
House (Fox)
Criminal Minds (CBS)
Bones (Fox)
CSI (CBS)
Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
60 Minutes (CBS)
NUMB3RS (CBS)
Good Eats (Food)
Wishlist: Diamond Makers (There's a documentary out there somewhere, but I've never seen it)
Wishlist: Tenacious D (music/comedy duo)
Wishlist: Ozomatli (The music group)
Wishlist: Strange Luck (cancelled television show from the ... 80's?)
Wishlist: Pablo Francisco (comedian)
Wishlist: Navy Seals (deleted; too many copies of The Abyss and random Discovery Channel re-enactment shows)
Wishlist: Patton Oswalt (comedian;  except he's now doing a voiceover for a kids cartoon)
Wishlist: Tuva
Wishlist: Feynman
Wishlist: Bjork (sometimes picks up the 1954 movie Night People, starring Anita Bjork)
Wishlist: Lifestyles/Cooking "Test"
Wishlist: Themes/Music "Unplugged"
Dinner for Five (IFC) (cancelled show, should delete this)
Wishlist: Themes/Drama "The Wire" (Greatest televison show ever.  Ever)
Wishlist: Real Time Maher
Wishlist: Navy Seal (deleted; too many random movies have "former Navy SEAL" as a character)
Wishlist: Greg Geraldo (Comedian)
Wishlist: Real Sports Bryant
Wishlist: Sports/Hockey "IIHF" (Hockey world junior championships)
Wishlist: Sports Tour France (changed to Sports/Cycling Tour De France)
The Closer (TNT) (delte;  interesting, but I don't miss it)
Anthony Bourdain (Travel)
Wishlist: Kelly Clarkson (OK, that's embarrassing.  deleted)
Wishlist: Freakonomics
Wishlist: Linkin Park
Pride Fighting Championships
The Showbiz Show with David Spade (deleted; cancelled?)
Wishlist: Show Types/Series "Sleeper Cell" (cancelled.  got boring)
Wishlist: Hydroponic
Iconoclasts (Sundance)
Wishlist: "Ira Glass"
Wishlist: This American Life
Law & Order Criminal Intent (NBC)  (I think this is cable-only now)
Wishlist: Michael Pollan
Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares (BBC)
Psych (USA)
Life on Mars (BBC)
30 Days (FX)
Wishlist: Gordon Ramsay (deleted; hate Hell's Kitchen and F Word)
Namaste Yoga (FIT) (Awesome workout.  Was really into it for about 2 months)
The Class (CBS) (No recollection of this show at all.  Oh wait, now I do.  deleted)
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC) (deleted; show is canceled)
Heroes (NBC)
Dirty Jobs (Discovery)
Wishlist: Show Types/Series Dexter
Gordon Ramsay's F Word (BBC) (deleted)
Wishlist: Show Types/Delayed Kings Los
Wishlist: Robson Green
Wishlist: Ramsays (deleted; redundant)
Wishlist: Sleeper Cell (deleted)
My Boys (TBS)
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)
The Colbert Report (Comedy Central)
Eleventh Hour (BBC)
Hardware (BBC) (don't remember it, delete)
The Dresden Files (SciFi) (meh, keep it)
The Sarah Silverman Program (Comedy Central) (funny, but I don't miss it.  Delete)
Wishlist: Hajj (I saw a documentary once which had the most heartbreakingly beautiful "Call to Prayer" that I've ever heard)
The Riches (FX)
Painkiller Jane (SciFi) (Hey, whatever happened to this show?)
John Safran vs. God (Sundance)
Wishlist: Show Types/Series Burn Notice
Wishlist: John Cincinatti (delete)
Big Medicine (TLC) (delete)

Holy crap that's a lot of television.

Tivo Time Machine Pt. 2

Strolling through the 8(!) years of television archives on my Tivo, I'd saved the following segments of The Daily Show, because they stood out.



What's the Matter With Denmark? Pt. 1

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

What's the Matter With Denmark? Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Poll Smoking - American Education:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Poll Smoking - American Education

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Al Jazeera English

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Al Jazeera English

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Tivo Time Machine Pt. 1

Soon after I started swing dancing, about two years ago, I started having some problems with my living room television set up. Because of the system I had set up, I was able to watch DVDs but not television through my Tivo. A fairly easy solution, get the malfunctioning piece of equipment (my switch/amp) repaired. Well, I didn't have as much time to watch television, so I kept putting it off. A month or so ago.

Today I picked up the repaired unit and brought it back home to test out. And came face to face with the fact that my expanded Tivo has been recording television for me to watch for two years. With all the preferences I set two years ago.

First pass, I went through and deleted the things I knew I didn't need any more. I've watched all of The Wire, so I trashed the two seasons I had recorded. I've watched all the BBC episodes of Kitchen Nightmares (and don't particularly like the F word).

What does that leave me? Well, I'd been building up a back-log of television long before two years ago. Long before. And many of the wish lists and season passes were set to record all new episodes without deleting. It's a miracle that there were actually new television shows still being recorded. Not everything was set to stay indefinitely. The oldest recorded show is from August 2002 (A Cook's Tour: Stuffed Like a Pig; Portugal to France). There are quite a few singleton episodes of television that wasn't out on DVD yet. Season 5, Episode 14 of Angel, "Smile Time," which is has a hilarious demon-possessed Sesame Street muppet plot.  Season 3, Episode 19 of Mad About You, "Two Tickets to Paradise".  Season 5, Episode 10 of Mad About You, "Chicken Man".  The show wasn't my favorite, but these episodes... these fucking episodes... they're flat out brilliant.  There are some episodes of The Daily Show I've saved because of specific segments.  Back in the day, they weren't available online.  Now they are, and I'll note them in a separate post.  Some canceled shows (Love Monkey, Line of Fire).  Some one-offs like a re-broadcast of the Pilot episode of "Cop Rock."  A Los Angeles Kings anniversary special.  UFC 44.  "The Human Behavior Experiments."  An episode of a Fine Living Network show called "Dinner Date."  Not sure what the heck that's about.  Oh, people take a cooking class and speed date at the same time.  Or something like that.  Erased.  An IFC Short Film Showcase featuring the Ocean's Eleven spoof, "Seven's Eleven."

But the bulk of the storage is season passes or wish lists to my favorite shows circa 2006-2007.  "A Cook's Tour" and "Good Eats" from The Food Network.  "Scrubs" from NBC.   Oh man, it moved and I doubt I have the current season.  Bummer.  "America's Test Kitchen" from PBS.  "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations," from The Travel Channel.  "How I Met Your Mother," on CBS.  "This American Life" on Showtime.

And that's it.  Those shows represent over 200 hours of programming on my Tivo.  I have to admit, it feels weird to watch television in my living room.

Volvo Is Not Subtle

You might be trying to be subtle, but you're...
Not.  Subtle.  At.  All.

Entire commercial, but especially the logo at the end.

"Buy this car, and a hot woman like this will stroke you.  Men buy Volvo's."

Doogie!

pilgrimsteps is in the hospital, so this one's a shout-out to her.

In-Depth Review of BBC's "Top Gear"

Car-enthusiast porn

"It's like an ax-murderer with headlights!"

"Why would you want a car that's trying to kill you?"

"How many gears have you got?"
"Six."
"[Mine's got] Seven.  One better."
"That's too many."

"His wind mirrors are an inch bigger than mine.... I've got the smallest windscreen wipers... [But] My gearstick's got the largest knob diameter by half and inch!"

Annoying Dew

OK, this is a personal failing, but I really find this Mountain Dew commercial annoying.



I hate made-up retro. Especially when the real thing is so much less cool. It really tickles my innards.



But it's also about the mismatch between today's positioning of Mountain Dew as a young, hip drink, while my embedded memories from the 1980's have it positioned as the "redneck outdoorsy" drink. "Dewin' It Country Cool" indeed!



Oh, not redneck enough for you?



[EDIT: Hey, I just noticed that professional skateboarder Tony Hawk is in this commercial! If you pause at 0:24, you can clearly see that it's Tony Hawk. But if you go back, he's everywhere (I'm basing that on matching his clothes). He's the very last skater at 0:11 (out of focus). Looks like his legs doing the flip at 0:13, and all the tricks from 0:16 to 0:21. I am SHOCKED to find out that there wasn't really a huge cowboy-skateboarder revolution during the 1980s!]

Oh, still not redneck enough for you?!



That's right, they progressed from serious "hick" positioning (tickling' yer innards)



to extreme indy teen behavior:



No hint of the "mountain hick" origins at all. So I figured I'd tell all eight of you who read this. :-)

SSC 22

Short Shameful Confession:

Sometimes someone will mention a brand name and I'll sing a snippet of the 1980's commercial jingle that no one else remembers. And everyone will think I'm insane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DB9GxrcjUQ

The Real Housewives of Orange County

It's what was on television when I came home and turned it on 15 minutes ago.

It's like My Super-Sweet 40-Somethingth Birthday.

Rich egotistical people act self-centered.

I can't stop watching. It's like watching a train-wreck.

The Best!

If you've ever met me, I've probably bullied you about watching "The Wire," perhaps the best show on television. Ever. Fuck probably. It's the best show it's ever been my privilege to watch.

The Sopranos? I admit that I only watched the first three seasons, and there were some brilliant episodes. But it couldn't begin to approach the scope of The Wire.

The West Wing? Brilliantly written dialog, and some terrific episodes. But ultimately, it was episodic television with some interesting story arcs. The Wire didn't have quite the same level of dialog, but kicks ass in the characterization and story arcs. You couldn't expect an episode to end having wrapped something important up. It was a 10+ hour story. Maybe a 60 hour one.

On the surface it seems like a cops vs. gangs show. But really, it's about the drug trade and the city of Baltimore. Fascinating. The story of the city is a tragedy, but the story of the show is a triumph. The ratings were never high, like The Sopranos, but it was critically acclaimed and a growing audience.

P never watched it, and I've had fun seeing it all over again with her. We're in the middle of season 3. But at the same time, I've been watching Season 5 as it's been broadcast. And today, I watched the series finale. Yes, the final season is done. My TiVo recorded it on Sunday, but I didn't want it to be over.

I admit it, I was tearing up at the end. And I didn't even feel the need to do any push-ups after. They were very manly tears.

If you're a Wire rookie, Netflix the first disk of the first season, set aside 3 hours or so to watch the first three episodes straight through. There's a "hook" point somewhere in there. Probably the "fuck" scene. No, not a sex scene, a crime-solving scene. But some language and dead body nudity:



As long as I'm posting my favorite scenes:

"I robs drug dealers."
"Day at a time, I suppose."



Snoop buys a nail gun.



Weebay and Stinkum execute their plan to kill Scar.
"Ayo! Lesson here, 'bay..."
By the way, that tune is "The Farmer in the Dale"



For you "Airplane!" fans, here's State Senator Clay Davis in a scene I'll call "Major crimes? Golly!"



Also, the desk shot:



Oh man, I could go on for ever.

Best. Fucking. Show. Ever.

Dunk

I think these Dunkin Donuts latte commercials are hilarious. And maybe just a bit too late. By 8 to 10 years.

"It's a Large"




"Fritalian"

SSC 19

Short Shameful Confession:

I really enjoy Reno 911!

Pinball Number Count

I never knew it was the Pointer Sisters.

Family Guy Parody is a must see.



I miss watching Sesame Street. But I'm not adding it to my Season Passes.

Make Me A Muslim

Wow.

Very interesting. And so reminiscent of the LDS limitations my friends tell me about in the areas of modesty, homosexuality (hilarious misconceptions about that, by the way), alcohol, etc.

WGA Strike

Normally, I'm a fan of the Guys With Feelings podcast, but the November 15th 2007 episode was a bit frustrating to listen to. I guess it pushed my buttons a little. Which button? When an opinion I believe is argued badly.

Nash and his buddy Dry Times are discussing the WGA strike and Dry Times states that he doesn't like the strike tactic and kind of sides with the studio position that they'd rather pay writers a flat fee for their work. Nash is completely incapable of arguing his point effectively, re-stating his position that there is "money to be made" on content and that writers should be able to participate in the profit of a venture.

Completely ignored issues:

Writers are selling something important, not just their ideas and creativity, but the copyright to the writing.

Selling a script is not like selling a chair. If someone sells a script idea to a show that gets made, the recipient of the copyright has the ability to sell the show over and over again. Broadcast television and it's advertising revenue. Syndication revenue. Theater sales, in the case of movies. DVD revenue. On-line revenue. Ways of selling content that haven't been dreamed up yet. The original Star Trek series ran in the late 1960's. Today, I can buy the episodes on iTunes.

It isn't as simple as asking writers to accept some kind of up-front deal for their work (get paid a little more at initial sale, but not participate in on-going revenue streams). The reason is that studios have a competing agenda: controlling the up-front costs of a new venture. It doesn't make sense that every pilot episode writer should be paid as if they're writing for Seinfeld. An easy remedy is for writers to be profit participants for every revenue stream that a show generates. That way, up-front costs are controlled, but as a show becomes successful and generates more an more revenue, all the people instrumental in making it a success share in the windfall.

Residuals are better than studios just licensing the copyright of a script for specific media than only exists today and needing to negotiate payment for the rights of every new outlet for them to sell the content.

Found a funny clip from some Daily Show writers:

Banana

Apparently Comedy Central has made every single segment of every episode of The Daily Show available on-line. So here's the banana episode:



Got it from A Look Back at Jon Stewart's Greatest Gay Moments.