breathless

So we’re currently watching “30 Days of Night” and it’s one of the creepiest films I’ve seen in a while. I didn’t have high hopes for it, but it’s pretty darn good! It has both of us on the edges of our seats. I’m finding myself out of breath, waiting to see what will happen next. (Wonder if a respironics oxygen concentrator could help?) But seriously, although I am generally not big into vampire stuff (I prefer zombies), watching this movie makes me want to read the comic book. I think I might be checking that out.

great old tv shows

In today’s mail we got our Netflix disc for the Wii. I’m so excited about it! I watch a lot of stuff instantly, but it’s not always convenient to stream it on my laptop (like if more than one person wants to watch). For example, right now Drew and I are watching old episodes of “Knight Rider.” Awesome! I wonder if Michael Knight would have to look for car insurance online for KITT if it were in this day and age. I mean — a car like that? Insurance can’t come cheap. You’d need to shop around for the best quote! LOL…

I think it’ll also be great for kids’ shows. Noah was watching Fraggle Rock the other day. Now we can watch it on the television without having to connect my laptop to it!

Watching the Oldies

Lately we’ve been on a Dragnet kick. Drew found a DVD with several episodes at the library sale back in February. It’s very clear where Law & Order got its inspiration! The stories are great and “ripped from the headlines.” Some of them are grittier than I’d have imagined for the the early 50s, though.

Having been without cable/satellite TV since last July, watching shows on DVD has become our preferred method. No crazy infomercials, no lawyer ads trying to get together folks undergoing Mesothelioma treatment to put together a class action law suit, no annoying toy ads… it’s pretty good. Granted, I am a little behind the times with movies and I didn’t know a thing about the Olympics or any of the awards shows, but I didn’t really care. There’s so little of interest on these days, it’s a small price to pay.

That Ain’t Country

The other day my six-year-old asked me what country music is. We listen to a lot of music in this house, but it tends to be mostly jazz/blues/folk/indie rock. There’s not a whole lot of left my wife/lost my dog/now I’m looking forNashville apartments twang going on here. And that’s when we realized that it really is hard to explain to Jake *what* country music is. Is it the crappy pseudo banjo-rock that passes these days? You know, the Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Shania Twain, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland type of stuff. Or would we be better off explaining it as Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, etc.? Real country that I can actually listen to without wanting to stick an ice pick in my ear. In the end, we talked about both types and when we were at a restaurant and heard some modern country, we pointed it out to Jake. And then we explained that these days, unfortunately, it’s all about the money and less about the music. And that’s really too bad.

I Need Some Good TV

I don’t watch a lot of TV, really. I mean, I watch “Hardball” and “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” but I don’t know if those really count. I’m not a fan of shows like “Lost” and “American Idol” makes my ears bleed. (How can people still watch that crap year after year? It’s karaoke! And the people on it suck!). I guess the only popular show that I watch with any regularity is “The Office” and I believe that the season finale is tonight. I could really go for a new round of Top Chef right about now. I know Drew hates it, but it’s my guilty pleasure. I especially love the episodes when they do “restaurant wars.” Imagine how stressful (and yet exciting!) it is to put together a restaurant in such a short time period — deciding on a theme, a menu, shopping for food and wholesale housewares. But I know I’m out of luck on that wish.

Looks like I’ll be falling back on some DVD sets that we’ve accumulated. It’s about time we watch some of them, so that’s a good thing. And then we might just get rid of satellite TV altogether. I mean, you can watch a lot of shows online now for free. Saving nearly $60 a month would certainly be nice.

But then again, so would some interesting television programming…

As Seen On TV

I have a confession: I have a weakness for infomercial-type gadgets. Somehow they make the products look and sound so compelling, don’t they? Of course, nowadays you don’t always need to call the 800 number to buy the product. A lot of them are available in regular stores, too. For example, Drew really wanted a Shamwow for Christmas (seriously!). Mostly for drying off the car when he washes it, but who knows where else it might be useful, right? Well, I was able to find it at Target. And remember Floam? It turned out to be nowhere near as cool as in the commercial, but I’ve actually seen it in dollars stores lately, LOL. And then there are some products that I probably wouldn’t buy, but I love the infomercials anyway, like Magic Bullet. When Noah was really small, the Magic Bullet commercial would be on in the middle of the night and I would watch it every time. They made all those tasty treats that looked so good! Ah, adverstising…

Cool Old Videos

Last week I was going through old VHS tapes and I found my bootleg copy of “Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story.” If you have never heard of it, it’s a short film about the tragic death of singer Karen Carpenter. But what makes it cool (and yes, slightly creepy), is that it’s done using Barbie dolls. After a while you barely notice that they are dolls — it’s unreal! Of course, Karen Carpenter died of an ipecac overdose (so tragic). I suppose back then there weren’t that many diet pills or diet supplements. Well, I guess diet supplements wouldn’t harm her anyway. They might have actually made her healthier, who knows?

If you are interested in checking out the movie, you can view it here!

The Office

I would consider myself a pretty loyal fan of the TV show, “The Office.” That is, until this year. I had a bad feeling last year, while the writers’ strike was going on, that the quality of the show was going to degrade. Now, I’m not sure if that’s it, or if it’s just gotten too formulaic or what, but I am so bored with it. Holly is irritating. The Pam-Jim thing is going nowhere. There’s no real tension.

 Eh. I don’t know. Last night’s episode was OK, but I just don’t think the spark is there. I suppose my prime-time TV watching will revert back to switching between The Daily Show/The Colbert Report and Countdown with Keith Olberman at 8, and Rachel Maddow at 9.

I could really use some good old-fashioned TV entertainment. But I doubt I’ll get any.

My little Tiger

Somehow, over the past few weeks, Noah has become obsessed with golf. I don’t know where it comes from because Drew hasn’t golfed in YEARS, but when he saw the mini-golf course at Lake George he wanted to go so bad. And just this morning he told me that he wants to go golfing! LOL, do they even make golf shoes that small? Maybe in the spring we can go to a driving range or something. My brother loves golfing and Drew enjoys it too. It’s something I think would be fun to try, so why not?

Fall is in the air

Oh, I am *so* looking forward to fall. It is my favorite season! Of course, my birthday is in the fall, but aside from that I just love the weather, the beautiful foliage, the comfort food, the holidays… pretty much everything! Since only four kids came to Jake’s birthday party, I am toying with the idea of a harvest party of sorts. I’ve been looking at Halloween invitations and thinking of fun games to play: bobbing for apples, make-a-mummy (where you divide the kids up into teams and they wrap one child up in toilet paper — it’s really funny). I could make an autumn snack mix with pretzels, dried cranberries, popcorn, and candy corn. And of course we’d have to have candied and caramel apples! Then again, in my head these childrens parties are very “Martha Stewart” and in reality they don’t turn out to be, LOL! So we’ll see. But it would be fun, don’t you think?