A Minor Clarification

January 16, 2009

So a few days ago I wrote that I didn’t really have any shows that I watch on television. It turns out that this is not 100% accurate. There are, I believe, three television shows, that are still active, that I watch and have seen all the episodes aired so far. They are:

Tricia Helfer: Not ugly
Tricia Helfer: Not ugly

Battlestar Galactica: My wife seems to think that this show sucks, but that’s because she’s not watching it. The final season begins tonight and I can’t wait to see how this all wraps up. This is one of those sci-fi shows which has more to do with human condition and not so much lasers or blowing up planets. The questions raised in parallel with current events are really interesting and make me think. And, yeah, I guess Tricia Helfer is pretty easy on the eyes, which doesn’t hurt.

LOST: My wife does not think this show sucks. Although it was touch and go for a while there with me, but I think they’ve gotten back on track. I bought episode 1 of LOST from the iTunes Store sometime after about 30 episodes had aired. Then I bought another, and another, and another, until I had watched the first 38 episodes of LOST and then I had to wait each week like the rest of America to find out was going to happen to Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke and the rest on The Island. In addition to the big mystery, just what is this island, there are all these little tangents and side mysteries to unravel. Lostpedia lists 99 mysteries with 30 solved, 32 partially solved and 27 unsolved. Plus I really love all the little easter eggs and cultural references built into the show. I was, for a time, quite obsessed with The Numbers. It’s the only show I’ve ever watched a second time just to try and find little clues in the background or in single frames. Just a lot of fun in so many ways. Only two seasons left for them to wrap up those 72 mysteries plus the other dozen or so that they’ll introduce over the next 2 seasons.

Don't mess with Betty!
Don’t mess with Betty!

Mad Men: Another one Susie and I agree on. And another one I started watching on iTunes (specifically Apple TV) after people on Twitter would not shut up about it. I can’t quite put my finger on why I like this show so much. I guess it’s a combination of seeing what appears to be an authentic unvarnished look at the social, cultural, and political changes taking place as a backdrop to some really interesting characters working in a Madison Avenue ad agency during the 60s. In addition to a variety of minor characters, I keep watching to see how Dick Whitman becomes Don Draper and whether this dual life is ever reconciled. Peggy Olson’s climb to the top of Sterling Cooper in a man’s world and Betty Draper finding the role of housewife not what she had expected.

So those are my three shows. I can say that I have never seen a complete episode of any the the 37 different CSI shows. I watch the comically bad singing bits of American Idol from time to time, but could give a crap when it actually comes time to vote. I’ve not seen House or Prison Break. I nearly started watching Pushing Daisies but then I stopped. 24, Desperate Housewives, and Heroes were also good for one season, then I’d had enough. Just not a lot out there that grabs me and keeps me interested for any length of time I guess.

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Geek Measurements

January 13, 2009

O’ Google how hard do you rock? Very hard indeed.

Maybe this is common knowledge but I just stumbled across this on Google Maps today. I knew about Google Maps of course, but I didn’t know about the measuring tool. To get to it, open Google Maps, then click on My Maps which will open a little sidebar on the left. Next click Distance Measurement Tool and follow the instructions to trace a path on the map and measure it in miles or kilometers. I made a line between my hometown of Detroit and Nashville and it tells the distance between them is 473.044 miles or 761.291 kilometers. Pretty cool, right? But wait, there’s more. Muwahaha.

Next to the Metric / English buttons, I noticed another link called “I’m feeling geeky” and seeing as I was feeling geeky I clicked it. Now I’m offered a whole smorgasbord of units to measure in. How did I go this long without knowing that it’s 15,225.8 Olympic swimming pools in length between here and Detroit? Or 3784.35 furlongs, 6937.98 football fields, 0.0000000000804685 light years, 447,292 smoots, or 1,534,470 cubits of Lagash! That’s Babylonian cubits. Not to be confused with Arabic nil-cubits, Egyptian royal cubits, Greek Kyrenaika cubits, Hashimi cubits, or a bunch of other cubit variations. There’s a whole bunch of other units to select from including cana, Gunter links, potrzebies, Ramsden’s chains, Russian verst, and so many more. Anyway, check it out. In the meantime I’ve got a 204,242,000,000,000 angstrom commute home tonight.

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Heard But Not Seen

January 13, 2009

I don’t really listen to music on the radio or spend much time looking for new artists and such. Nor do I watch much television, but I’m glad my wife does. She tends to watch the kind of sucky shows that feature music by new artists or established artists with new music, and if I weren’t for that my iTunes library would probably be much smaller.

I remember a long time ago (turns out this was in 2000), ABC was running a promotion for their shows which had a song running in the background that I liked and, thanks to Google, I found out the song was called Yellow by some band named Coldplay (yeah I know, I like Coldplay, therefore I must be gay). Turns out that Coldplay has done pretty well for themselves since.

Another time she was watching, I dunno The OC or something, and I first heard Keane. I think the track was Bedshaped. And, of course Hide And Seek by Imogen Heap (when’s she going to come out with something new!?). There were several other artists on the OC and its clones, I can’t be sure which I first heard there. Maybe Snow Patrol? Guster? Muse? Gomez? In any case I don’t really watch these shows, but I don’t mind listening for the occasional music discovery.

Last night my wife was watching Gossip Girl and I heard a melody that I really liked. Susie didn’t know who it was and the only artist mentioned at the end of the show was Franz Ferdinand. I knew it wasn’t them, so I did some searching this morning and found out that the name of the band is Greycoats and the name of the track was Watchman, What Is Left Of The Night.

It turns out that “Watchman, What Is Left Of The Night” is from Greycoats first release Setting Fire to the Great Unknown which just came out a couple months ago, and after previewing a few of the tracks on Amazon I decided to go ahead and buy the whole CD. So far I’m really enjoying it. Maybe this will turn out to be Greycoats big break too… Not this post, the Gossip Girl thing. If you like any of the bands I mentioned above, you might want to give it a listen.

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Terrible

January 11, 2009

It wasn’t just that they lost. It was how they lost. As if the football gods decided, for whatever reason, that not only were the Titans going to lose, but do it in such a way as to extract the maximum amount of frustration out of the team and its fans possible. As if the entire game, or season for that matter, was designed by a higher power to to taunt us repeatedly with the prospect of winning. Time and again the Titans marched down the field poised to take command and bring the AFC Championship game to Nashville. And each time we took careful aim, slowly squeezed the trigger, and blew off another bit of badly mutilated foot.

There was a great defensive series that ended in a penalty and 48 yard TD pass for the Ravens. A 7 minute 58 second drive that seemed destined to drain the Ravens defense, instead ended with an interception just 19 yards from a 14-7 lead. Followed shortly by another turnover at the 15 yard line that could have sent the team into the locker room up by a TD with the ball to start the second half. A drive late in the game that ended with a fumble on the one yard line! And another drive that ended in a field goal on 4th and 1. One yard short.

One yard short.

I think I realized we were done in the third. We’d had our chances and missed them I thought, especially once I realized Chris Johnson was out. And by the time we started down the ramps I had already moved through all five stages of grief and I was ready to get home and put the season behind me. Unfortunately the shuttle bus operators had other ideas.

This was the second time this season I’ve decided to park down at Greer Stadium and take the shuttle bus to LP Field. I didn’t feel like walking in the rain, wind, cold, etc., so this seemed like a good idea. But, apparently someone forgot to tell the shuttle bus operators that we’d be needing shuttle buses to get back to our cars, because we waited for over an hour after the game for them to arrive. Hundreds of disappointed Titans fans waited as the winds rose and the temperatures fell. It was not a happy time.

Eventually we made it home, safe and sound, and I’ve had a few hours to digest the loss, and I thought: despite having hopes of an AFC Championship or even, dare I dream, a trip to the Super Bowl dashed this evening, it is still probably better than being a Lions fan.

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Do Not Disturb

January 9, 2009

He had just rolled his seventh strike in a row. Ten if you consider the 3 strikes he had in the 10th frame of the last game and his teammates, as well as my own, were politely clapping after each one just as we did when anyone else got a mark. In the 8th frame he left a nasty 2-10 split and at the same time I noticed my teammate shaking his head, laughing incredulously at his wife, who is also my teammate. Her head down, face red, avoiding eye contact with the man who’d just bowled a 2-10 split in the 8th. She had, unintentionally I am certain, jinxed him. It turns out that after the seventh strike she had gone over to him and bowed saying “We’re not worthy!” and I was horrified!

Of course she didn’t mean to mess the guy up. She didn’t shout “Noonan!” as he began his approach or anything like that. She was genuinely impressed and wanted him to know it. And she felt terrible about it afterwards. But, just like no one on a football team talks to a kicker as he warms up for a game winning field goal, you do not disturb someone in the midst of a perfect game. You clap politely after each strike, act as if nothing unusual is happening, mentally transmit happy thoughts if you are a nice person, and unhappy thoughts if not.

So to the guy on team Town Drunk, if you happen across this post, please accept my apologies on behalf of 101 Bowlers. Oh, and sorry we won all four points, but we really needed them pretty bad.

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