WORDS. the interrobang

i'm not entirely sure how or why i came across this, but i recently found this strange little grammar anomaly. its a punctuation mark that is meant to be an exclamation point and a question mark. strange. in the official rules of grammar it is not allowed to have more than one exclamation point at the end of a sentence. so when ever anyone ends a sentence like this: 'he said what?!?' it is improper grammar. instead, you are supposed to use the interrobang. huh. will the wonders of the english language ever cease?!?

TV. 2009 emmys

the emmys were on last night, hosted by neil patrick harris. i'm always a sucker for award shows (and love nph on 'how i met your mother'), so i tuned in hoping it would be good show and barney would do a good job hosting. i was not disappointed! there were a few changes this year, including the fact that almost no one expected to win won, which always keeps things lively. nph started things off with a little song and dance number about how everyone should make sure they watch and 'put down the remote'. it was a fun intro and played to nph's strengths. they also started with the best categories, in my opinion: the comedy awards. there were quite a few surprises here with not all the awards going to '30 rock', as was expected. unfortunately, my favorite, jim parsons from 'big bang theory' did not win. maybe next time.

one of the best additions of the show was the color commentary from john hodgson, the daily show's resident expert. as the winner walked up to accept the award he would briefly speak about that person making random comments about them that werent necessarily true- very funny! another bit that i really loved was when nph would introduce the presenters he would not reference their most well known role, but rather cite a very random bit role that they had played in, for example when jon cryer came on to present an award, nph referred to him as 'photographer number four in 'my two dads'.' or something equally absurd.

my big question for the night, though, is this: why do they have so many awards for the movie/mini-series category?!? who really cares?!? no one watched those! why must we waste 45 minutes of the telecast to that stuff? oh, and that 'dancing with the stars' tribute was completely worthless. good thing nph did such a great job of keeping it moving that it was easy to overlook such timewasters. in fact, the whole show was only about five minutes over their time- amazing!

anyway, hopefully there were enough people watching this year for cbs to renew its contract with the emmys to show it again next year, because if not, it will most likely be banished to bravo or lifetime i'm sure...

TV. you are what you eat

diana and i recently came across this little british gem. its a show on bbc america, hosted by gillian mckeith, that tries to help overweight people get healthy again. it starts with showing how badly the people have been eating, in fact they make a list of all the foods that person has eaten in the last week and then puts all of it on one table for them to see. usually the person is rather disgusted by it because it always contains much more terrible food then they would have thought- and not much fresh food at all. gillian then gives them an eight week regime of healthy foods and exercise. we peek in on them a couple times over the eight weeks, and at the end of the episode we see the results. almost without fail, the person looses 30-50 pounds!
the show was on twice a day over the summer, so diana and i tivoed all the episodes we could! after watching them for a little while we got motivated to eat healthier foods ourselves and are in the process of loosing weight as well. one little thing about the show that i really loved was the british weight measurement they would use: they measure their weight in stones. apparently a 'stone' equals 14 pounds, and every time they would talk about their weight it would always be in stone. for example if someone weighted 300 pounds, they would say that they weigh 21 stone 6. cool! well, diana happened to look at the back of our scale and found that it had a setting to measure in stone! awesome!!! we have been weighing ourselves in stone ever since!

TV. eureka

ah, a fun summer diversion. this series on the syfy network is loads of fun, it follows a small town sheriff as he tries to deal with the little problems that arise in eureka. the only problem is that eureka is a small town filled with scientific geniuses who are creating crazy futuristic stuff and doing the strangest experiments ever! each week there is a new experiment gone haywire that they have to deal with, everything from a landing space ship, to a haunted piece of ice. the great part of the show is the fact that it doesnt take it self seriously at all, which helps with the unbelievable situations they find themselves in. colin ferguson plays the local sheriff as he tries to deal with all the nut jobs, government conspiracies, and hardest of all: a teenage daughter. colin does a great job of playing it all off like he's seen it before, making wise cracks the whole time. he's kind of like the jack o'neil of eureka. and if you actually understood that reference, then you are probably already watching this fun show...

TV. warehouse 13

the sci-fi channel (sorry, its 'syfy' now...) tries it's hand at another original series. i gave this one a try because i have been impressed with most of their other shows. ranging from 'stargate sg1', to 'battlestar galactica', to 'eureka', i have typically enjoyed the scripted shows on this network.
this one is about a couple of new agents recently assigned to the middle of nowhere. now they have to work in a place called 'warehouse 13'. its a huge storage area for all things strange, weird, and unexplained. the two of them go out and hunt down objects with powers we dont yet understand. they get them and bring back the objects to the warehouse where they are catalogued and stored until they know what to do with them.
the season started slowly (not necessarily a bad thing), but has since picked up. the two main agents are pretty fun, they have a great chemistry together, playing off each other well. the highlight of the show, though, is definitely the guy who runs the warehouse, he tells them where to go and what to look for. the show does a good job of balancing out the sci fi mythology stuff with a lighthearted sense of humor that all the characters share. each week the show gets more interesting, so i think i will keep watching!

TV: virtuality

its too bad that fox dumped this one, because this is a really good story. fox aired this two hour 'movie' recently, but its not really a movie, it was a pilot for a new television series by the creator of the 'battlestar galactica' reboot on sci-fi. fox must have paid for the pilot to be made but then canned the show, figuring they wanted to get something for the money they spent, they aired the pilot even though there is no show coming. the story is that of a crew on a deep space mission that has recently left earth, it is filled with many different types of people and each of them has an interesting story to tell. the crew is, apart from being on a mission to find a new inhabitable planet, also on a reality show. the company behind the mission used that as a way to pay for the trek. so we get to see these crew members going about their ship activities, and we also get to have interviews with them explaining what they are thinking, like a reality show. also, in order to allow the crew members some r and r, each of them has a virtual reality helmet that they can wear which takes them to a holodeck type fantasy. as they crew gets closer and closer to the point of no return, bad things keep happening. the vr helmets start to have mysterious visions, the doctor is diagnosed with an incurable disease, and the captain is mysteriously killed. with no way to turn back, the remaining crew must do the best they can. all this makes for a really interesting premise for a continuing show, but unfortunately, instead we get a great start with no chance of ever seeing where their stories will lead. way to go fox, you totally ruined another great sci-fi show that could have been.

TV. hollywood's best directors

i recently came across this show on the reelz channel. after watching a half dozen episodes, i must say that i really enjoy it! the format is pretty standard, a well known director talks about his films. but here's the part that makes it so special: its only the director talking about his films. there is no reporter or journalist trying to look smart by playing off of them, its just the director reminiscing about his work on the films during his career. the only form of structure that is placed on the show is a few themed headings such as 'first film', or 'pre production', and at the end 'last thoughts'. it allows the director to talk about whatever part of the process, or whatever part of their careers they choose to. watching such directors as chris columbus, jan van bont, rob reiner, george lucas, and others, one of the interesting aspects of these guys it how they honestly talk about their hits and misses. for the most part, they are honest about their work and acknowledge where there may have been missteps. the only drawback to the show is the obvious lack of production money, which doesnt have any baring on the interviews themselves, but is apparent when they try to show the movies the directors are talking about. reelz channel obviously doesnt have enough money to pay for the rights to show clips of the films, choosing instead to just show still photos from the movies being discussed. other than that, though, the in depth exploration of the directors about their own career and craft is really very interesting!

DVD. true blood

diana suckered me into seeing this. i had no interest in it, but she got a copy from her friend, so we gave it a try. on a friday night we watched one, figured we had some extra time, so we watched another. by sunday evening we had finished the whole season! the story follows a southern town as they deal with the fact that vampires are real. sookie, a local waitress, becomes entangled with a vampire who is traveling through. over the course of the season we follow their relationship as they try to make sense of their differences as well as everyone elses opinion of what's going on. also, there happens to be a slew of murders going on in this town and some people are pretty curious about the vampire's involvement.over all the series is pretty good, there is a strong southern dirty style to the show and an interesting premise at its base: if vampires no longer need to feed on humans, could they be accepted and live among us? this question is just one of many different layers that the show deals with, this question in particular is used as a metaphor for the plight of gays in america. there are other deep issues as well, but the show rarely takes time to linger on the issues, the depth does not bog down the action. i enjoyed the twists and turns, the murder mystery, and the relationships between many of the different characters. with that said, this show falls into the same problem that so many other shows succumb to: the characters are not even remotely believable. they act one way during one episode, and then change completely to suit the story told in the next episode. and worst of all- almost all the problems they face could be solved with just a little clear thinking and a good honest discussion. i always think that its a bad sign of writing to contrive a conflict instead of dealing with any real issues. sookie, the main character is one of the worst culprits of them all. she's about as clear headed as a bowl of mud. most of the time i didn't really feel very sorry for her, she brought it on herself! oh, but even worse then her is her brother jason! what a complete idiot! he life is terrible and falling apart because he just does whatever others tell him to do- grow a pair already! but back to the good: the quality of the show is very high, it looks great. another aspect that i really enjoyed, which is easily noticeable when you watch the episodes back to back, is that each episode starts off immediately after the last one like its one big giant movie with no wasted time to slow down between episodes.

TV. philanthropist

after watching a couple episodes of this show, i've got to say: i'm hooked! the premise is simple, its about a billionaire who realizes that he can use his money to help others so he does. its a scripted show that follows teddy rist as he travels the globe helping out those he meets along the way. the first episode found him meeting a doctor in africa who desperately needed medical supplies but kept getting stopped by crooked government workers. rist takes it upon himself to make sure the supplies get to where they need to be, he bribes people who stand in his way, he even buys a motorcycle off a guy and delivers it as far as he can himself while being shot at by the ganglord's own men. the show is able to keep a high level of excitement through out and we quickly begin to care for those who are involved. using the plot device of rist retelling the story at a bar, we are able to flash back to the story and see how he got to where he is now. its really cool because this guy is basically batman but without the costume- a rich bruce wayne who decides he must help those around him. the show includes some of his coworkers as well and even shows how rist is able to do all this good stuff while still making sure that his companies are turning profits.
this is a summer show and is limited to only an eight episode run for its first season. unfortunately i am getting a strong feeling that this is going to be all we see of 'the philanthropist', so i'm making sure i enjoy it while i can!

DVD. twin peaks

i dont get it. i have heard so much about twin peaks, how great it is, how strange and unusual it is, how it is david lynch at his best. diana and i recently watched the first season and i'm afraid i just don't get it. the show i watched certainly wasnt amazing, wasn't really that strange or unusual, and i thought it was actually kind of lame. the stories arent very connected, they dont really go anywhere of much interest, the dialogue is very stilted, and the acting is, to put it kindly, wooden. the only thing that seemed very interesting to me was the strange dream where a short guy talks backwards and dances. other than that it just felt like a bad primetime soap opera with no resolution. the whole thing is supposedly about the murder of laura palmer, but by the end it seems like no one cares that much and are focused on their own subplot instead of the original mystery.
the thing that really confuses me is that diana and i watched a few of the dvd extras after finishing the season and in the cast interviews they talked about a bunch of things about their character and some of the themes of the season. both she and i were totally confused about what they were saying. one actor was saying one of the themes was 'about how laura was abused by her father' huh? there was never any mention or hinting at the idea that she was abused! either i am loosing my ability to understand films, or they are totally making stuff up that wasnt in the show... diana suggested that maybe if we rewatch it we might start to see some deeper themes. my question to her was why would i want to watch it again? i didn't even like it the first time!

TV. brink

i happened to be scanning through the tv show schedule and saw that there was a show named after me! i tivoed it so i could check it out. turns out that its a british show all about the latest technology and stuff. it was kind of cool, but i just really liked the name of the show!

GAMES. xbox 360 natal

earlier this week they had the E3 conference. its a video game conference where each of the three video game console makers announce what they have planned for the coming year. first up is microsoft, then nintendo, then sony. i, of course, an a huge nintendo fanboy and felt huge satisfaction when the wii outpaced all the others after most said that nintendo should quit after the gamecube. i am such a nintendo fanboy that i actually still own every system they have ever put out (including the rare virtual boy). i have always swore that i would never own any other gaming system. until now. the mircosoft keynote address about their upcoming products introduced this thing called 'natal'. it is video gaming with out a controller! they showed it off and it totally blew my mind! i am still picking up pieces of my mind off the carpet two days later...

i dont know how real it is, but if it actually comes out- i will buy an xbox 360 for it!

check out a little bit about it here.

AUDIO BOOK. our dumb world

an audio book atlas from the guys over at 'the onion'. if you are unfamiliar with 'the onion', its basically a snarky fake news source in the same vein as jon stewart and stephen colbert. in this audio book they give a brief synopsis of every country on the planet, covering 'everything you need to know about' each one. some range from longer entries, such as the entry for america, to just a short sentence about other nations that they say we dont need to know anything about. its a humorous look at each nation and really focuses on the incompetence and apathy most americans feel toward other nations. they report stereotypes and ignorance as fact in such nations as italy where they say everyone is a gangster who just sits around eating their mother's meatballs. over all, the audio book is filled with wit and sardonic insights that are really funny. one warning, the 'book' is covered over three cds, but this type of humor really works best in small doses, so i wouldnt recommend listening to it all in one sitting.

AUDIO BOOK. born standing up

this is an autobiography of steve martin's life as a stand-up comedian. his story takes him to many places and gives a great inside look at this unusual comic. there are some really interesting anecdotes, such as his first job as a young boy working at disney land. he loved magic and performing all his life, and this book chronicles his start in performance theater and follows him all the way through to selling out stadiums with his stand-up routine. the author reflects on the steps that lead him to craft his unique style and some of the career decisions that lead to him being the most popular comic ever at the time. his honesty and candor is surprising as he tells of his home life, his losing touch with family and trying to rebuild the bridges burned, as well has his opinion of what it was like for him at the top. the best part of this memoir is that it is actually read by martin himself, so you get to hear him talk about his life and the events that shaped him. we learn a lot about what he did, but it still feels like he is a bit guarded about himself, glossing over many of the personal aspects of his life, instead focusing on the professional path he took. by the end i better understood and appreciated his comedic voice, even if i didnt feel like i knew the man behind it any better.

GAMES. sequence

i had never played this game growing up, but diana said she really liked it, so we added it to our wedding registry. we ended up getting it. recently we pulled it out and diana taught me how to play- and i've got to admit i really like it!
its a card game and a board game all in one. the cards you have in your hand are on the board and when you lay one down you can put a chip on the spot on the board. once you get 2 five-in-a-rows, then you win! its been fun playing with diana because its pretty different each time you play, and can be enjoyed with just two players, unlike some of the other games we got... oops.