If you think this looming government shutdown is really about anything other than John Boehner's willingness to dismantle this entire country so that a woman will never be able to make any of her own health decisions again, I have some prime land in the Everglades to sell you. They can cry budget issues all they want, everything from Boehner's office speaks volumes (literally; they've been releasing a lot of paper in the past couple of weeks) about his disgust and hatred for a woman's rights to choose. That's all it is. An ideology that says the most important problem facing America right now is a woman's reproductive freedom.
Get to work, you asshole.
Thursday, April 07, 2011
Dear John Boehner: Go Fuck Yourself
The Brave and the Weird
I forgot to mention: the fantastic episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold that had Batman and Robin teaming up with Scooby Doo and featuring Bat-Mite's meta-commentary? It all took place at a "Weird Al" Yankovic concert.
This is pretty much the most perfect episode of anything.
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Monday, April 04, 2011
Sunday, April 03, 2011
The Meme of Terror
Once again, questions are taken from TV Tuesday.
1. What's your favorite sitcom?
Currently, How I Met Your Mother. Ever? Probably M*A*S*H. I also love Frasier and Cheers.
2. Is there a sitcom you really don't like?
Sure, tons of them. I hated Friends. Never cared much for Seinfeld. Reruns of Two and a Half Men and Everybody Loves Raymond send me diving for the remote. But the worst sitcom ever is probably Will & Grace, which is a shrill nightmare. You want Afghanistan to submit? Force them to watch Sean Hayes for 10 minutes and they'll be handing over the keys.
3. Which sitcom did you used to like, but now it just seems too hokey?
The Office. I'm telling you, we're just minutes away from an appearance by the Great Gazoo.
4. If your life was a sitcom, what would the title be?
I don't know... what's the point of a sitcom about a guy who sits at his computer all day?
5. Did you watch any of the marathons running this year? In part? In whole?
I watched a marathon of Freaks and Geeks on IFC at... some point recently. I don't remember why it was on, if it was a holiday, or what. I just get caught up in that show.
6. Is there a show you'd like to see run an all day marathon? On the flipside is there a show you'd avoid in marathon?
I've just mentioned several of the shows I'd avoid... I'd love for IFC to do an all day marathon of The Larry Sanders Show. I've been catching the reruns during the week and had actually forgotten just how much I loved that show.
7. What show featuring those who protect your country (fiction or non-fiction) is your favorite?
If we're counting miniseries, Band of Brothers blows me away every time I see it. If we're not counting that, I'm still going to say M*A*S*H.
8. Out of curiosity, what's the longest you've ever watched TV in one stretch?!
I've watched TV from the time I've woken up to the time I've gone to sleep more times than are even worth bothering to count.
9. Do you watch daytime talk TV? If so, which shows do you watch? Do you prefer the calm shows like Oprah or the wilder side like Jerry Springer?
I like The Steve Wilkos Show, which is somewhere in the middle. Not self-promoting fluff like Oprah, nor caterwauling at pathetic people like Jerry Springer. I get the sense Steve is trying to be helpful and listen rather than just exploit people for a living.
10. Which daytime talk TV show would you like to be on? What would the topic be?
I'd love to be on Rachael Ray if the subject were how much I want to do Rachael Ray.
11. Is there a daytime talk TV show you miss that's no longer on the air? Is there someone you'd like to see get a daytime talk TV show?
Nah, not really. Bless Bonnie Hunt for trying; I can't figure out why people don't like her shows!
12. Before talk TV took over game shows ruled the airways during the day, which do you prefer? Or are you a soap opera fan?
Again, the only game show I ever really loved is Jeopardy, and that's on here in the late afternoon. I hate the majority of game shows. I used to watch All My Children during the summers when I was in high school, but other than that, I'm not a soap opera guy. I tried to watch whatever show it was while James Franco was on, but it was dreadful and I didn't make it through his first episode (even when I just tried to forward to only the scenes he was in).
13. Which TV Dad would you have most liked to have for your own dad? On the flipside, who was the TV Dad you'd have least liked to have had?
I always liked Steven Keaton on Family Ties, and now that I'm in my mid-thirties, I understand him even more. I think my favorite TV dad of all time, though--though I don't think I'd have wanted him as my own!--is Red Forman from That '70s Show.
14. Who do you consider the most realistic TV Dad? Who did you consider simply too good to be true?
You know who always rang true to me growing up? Jack Arnold on The Wonder Years. He reminded me quite a bit of my own dad. Ward Cleaver is a fantasy, though.
15. Do you watch infomercials? Be honest now!
Not usually. It has to really grab my attention or have a Kardashian on it. My Mom says there's some infomercial out there for some ab device that has Kris Jenner in a leotard, and I still haven't been able to find it! Kris Jenner in a leotard? More like unfomercial! (If you were on Tumblr, you'd get that.)
16. What's your favorite infomercial or infomercial product?
There used to be an infomercial for a knife that could cut anything that Carl and I used to watch because the guy wielding the knife was bugfuck insane and had this evil glint in his eye every time he brandished it. So that.
17. Have you ever bought anything from an infomercial? If so, what was it?
No.
18. What's the stupidest (most annoying, most worthless) infomercial you've ever seen?
Again, I don't really watch any. But that ShamWow guy really pisses me off. And I never liked Billy Mays, either.
19. One of the latest trends in Daytime TV is re-runs of 80's & 90's hit shows, what is your favorite that's re-running now? If you don't have one which show would you like to see re-running?
I don't really watch the reruns during the day. I watch The Simpsons and King of the Hill at night. I'd like to see more 80s reruns, but we've passed that point, I think, and moved on into the 90s. I did like to watch Frasier reruns in the morning on Lifetime, but the schedule changed and they're gone.
20. On the whole do you feel most Special Reports are really that special? Or are they simply annoying?
Depends on what's happening. These days networks seem to feel almost anything is worthy of a Special Report, unless it happens in another country... And too many Special Reports are of the "We don't have any new information, so we're just reiterating" variety. Tell me new information as you get it, but don't just talk to talk.
21. What special report has effected you most? (IE: (9/11, Reagan being shot...etc)
9/11. That was a terrifying day, watching the second plane hit live and then gradually hearing about other planes. It almost felt like we were being invaded. It was very scary.
22. What's your fondest memory of something on TV?
Weirdly, it's that old McDonald's commercial where Ronald skates with the little boy. It just kind of affected me as a kid somehow. And now when I see it (only on YouTube, sadly), it just reminds me of being a little kid and being together with my family.
23. What's the first show you remember watching regularly?
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears. I made sure to wake up early on Saturday because it was the first show on and I didn't want to miss it.
24. What is the (pick one: stupidest, saddest, silliest, most disgusting..) thing you've ever seen on TV?
The stupidest thing I've ever seen on TV? It was probably on VH1. Or NBC...
25. What's the best series finale you remember?
I loved the Lost finale. Also, I have a special place in my heart for the last episode of The Prisoner, in large part because it pisses so many people off, and I love that sort of thing.
Marvin Gaye: "Stubborn Kind of Fellow"
Here's yet another great singer that I can't believe I've never had up before. What interests me most about Marvin Gaye's career is how reluctant he was to pursue soul music and how he hated disco music, yet was so great at both genres. This is his first big hit, a classic R&B tune that supposedly made Phil Spector so excited when he first heard it that he lost control of his car.
TV Report: Wookies and Less Important Things
Chewbacca appearing on the season finale of The Clone Wars--and then working with Ahsoka Tano to survive, taking time to show us just how much she's really grown as a character (always bittersweet, because I figure she has to end up dead at some point)--was a total nerdgasm for me. And more than just having Chewie appear, the episode itself was fantastic. This has been another great season for this excellent show. And I remember a time when I didn't really care about even seeing... such a mistake. I adore it.
Other thoughts...
:: I am loving The Big Bang Theory. Ever since Leonard and Penny broke up, they've done a great job of giving Penny her own geeky circle of friends in Bernadette and Amy. It's a better match with the guys on the show than just "they're geeks and she's a hot girl." Now if they could just ditch Priya before they make her any bitchier.
:: I thought Michael's proposal to Holly on The Office was sweet and well-intentioned (and a much needed step in the maturity of the character), but it was still pretty over-the-top with the candles and the procession of proposals... does Chris Claremont write for this show now? Because the show can't have an emotional scene without throwing in five other layers that don't need to be there. I don't think the producers and writers even know what emotions are anymore; they just know they can get away with the manipulation because people adore this to Friends levels now. When Michael's gone, so am I.
:: If you missed this week's Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode where Batman and Robin teamed up with Scooby Doo and Mystery Inc, with meta-commentary by Bat-Mite (once again voiced by Paul Ruebens) you really missed something spectacular.
:: I loved the How I Met Your Mother episode where Barney finally found his father. I didn't check the fan reaction--I can't check it on this show anymore, because I think people are missing the point of it now. I think they just want more of the same forever, and aren't grasping that a major part of the show has always been that Ted is really telling the story of how he and his friends grew up. Sorry, Barney's going to have to grow up sometime. He can't always be a cartoon. The first half of this season was uneven, but this second half is paying off.
Did they just drop the Zoey storyline, though? It was so obvious that it was coming, and then they kind of justified it, but now they seem to just be ignoring it... I hate when this show does that. They did they same thing with Stella. They made it a big focus of the show that Ted win her love, and then when he did, all we ever saw of her was how wrong they were as a couple, which made her an intensely unlikable character.
:: I just love Castle so much. I know I say it every time I do one of these, but it never stops being true.
:: And before I go?
Wookies. Wookies make everything 100 times more awesome. It's science.
Saturday, April 02, 2011
Random Thoughts
:: So not only does GE make a $14.2 billion profit and take a $3.2 billion tax benefit and pay nothing in taxes, but now it's asking employees to take benefit cuts? They're demanding a wage freeze, a cut to lower quality health care, and the elimination of a defined contribution pension. To steal a thought from Lewis Black, I'm amazed that their workers don't rise as one and slay these robber barons.
GE; they take good things from life.
Bet this story doesn't get any play on MSNBC...
:: Rand Paul: "I was happy to see that Newt Gingrich has staked out a position on the war, a position, or two, or maybe three. I don’t know. I think he has more war positions than he’s had wives." Also: "Fox News can’t decide, what do they love more, bombing the Middle East or bashing the president? It’s like I was over there and there was an anchor going, they were pleading, can’t we do both? Can’t we bomb the Middle East and bash the president at the same time?"
I'm no fan of Rand Paul, but that shit's funny.
:: According to a CNN poll, the Tea Party has a 32% favorable rating in America. And their disapproval rating went up 15% among low income households. Was it the ignorance or the racism that did it? Or is it too much to hope that poor people (and in this case, that constitutes households making less than $50,000 annually) have figured out that Teapublican politicians are just as into money and payoffs as any other politicians?
:: In another poll, Quinnipiac has found that President Obama's support is at an all time low. 48% disapproval, 50% saying he doesn't deserve re-election, and only 37% saying they'd vote for him against an unnamed Republican candidate. Not looking good. I don't like Obama, either. You all know how disappointed I am in him. But if the Republicans run some idiot like Bachmann, where do you go from there? Voting for Obama seems pointless, but voting for Bachmann is just stupid and destructive.
:: President Obama's big energy plan is to reduce dependence on foreign oil by a third in the next 15 years. Really? That's it? That's so weak. Look, it's the fucking future, all right? I'm sick of dicking around on these things. In 15 years, I'll be 50 years old, and the best you can do by the time I reach the half-century mark is that we'll maybe possibly be a third less dependent on foreign oil? Fuck you. That is not an energy plan, especially since we're going to be reopening the debate on ANWR drilling as a result of it. Not good enough. I'm sick of this country's half-measures. Nothing is ever going to get done if we keep saying everything is the next generation's problem.
:: So... Libya.
I don't even understand what our commitment is in Libya right now. We're bombing, which isn't doing much to help. We've got clandestine CIA agents there now, and that's not helping, either. Hillary Clinton has talked openly about the possibility of arming the rebels. You know that, if it does happen, we're going to be talking about military advisers and people to train the armies, and then Special Forces and a battalion... when is it going to end? There's already talk of bringing down some of our troops in Afghanistan. Just how involved in the Middle East do we have to be and how much good has it really done for them and for us?
By the way, 56 people were killed in Tikrit this week in a siege by Sunni militants. Even though military actions are over in Iraq.
Illinois Representative Tim Johnson introduced a bill to defund whatever it is we're doing in Libya, and I have to say, he's got a point. Barack "Rule of Law" Obama didn't consult Congress before committing military resources in Libya, and honestly, I'm beyond sick of the executive branch jumping into military action on its own whims. I didn't like it when Bush did it, and I don't like it when Obama does it, either.
But since Obama's political strategy is to let everyone else frame the parameters of the debate, I guess we'll see how he reacts, since acting just seems like too much of a stretch.
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