Televisor

Happy Thursday! It was a crazy television day today. Okay, what day isn't? But today we had a wide range of samples from across the buffet, not just a binge of the old standbys. We'll get to that soon.

I know there was something about this weekend that I was supposed to remember. I think...I think on Saturday I ended up hanging out with Carolyn. Because we rented Little Big Planet for the PS3. And it was due on Weds, so it must have been Saturday. We also...

I gotta start a memory exercise regimen.

Edit: (I was reminded that I also saw CLOVERFIELD on that day. Looks nice on Blu-Ray. It didn't affect me as much, which I expected, so I stand by my original conclusion: average monster movie, outstanding filmmaking.)

Sunday was work (and no one told me about the special Superbowl ep of the OFFICE! But more on that later), and on Monday I did something ridiculous. Here is a map of it http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2539579 . The unnumbered marker is my house. Each number is a mile farther and farther away. Until I turned around and went back. From my house to the beach took about an hour and a half. Then I sat there for I don't remember how long...maybe like 45 minutes, had a cute lunch, and hobbled back. It was kind of an intense day because I'd downloaded the podcasts for a set of BSG writer's meetings, and I was all up in their hypothetical end of season two world for most of the day. Very informative! Podcasts + walking is a perfect combination. It's the only thing that is unconscious and time consuming enough to warrant listening to three hours of whatever at a time, and being distracted by the podcasts keeps the three hours of walking from being deathly boring.

Needless to say, I'm still recovering from that adventure, but I have full mobility returned to my left leg!

Monday was also brand new CHUCK and HEROES! CHUCK was very nice, although the 3D aspect was distracting. I don't have any other complaints. There were also a couple of hilarious ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT tributes (three if you count Tony Hale), which just made my day. Followed up by HEROES, though.... Sigh. That show. Throwing a character out of a plane as a cliffhanger is one thing. But when that character can fly? I mean COME ON. No points for morally indistinguishable Nathan and Bennet, half points for Sylar fighting off people like a wild animal. I think that's what it's going to be for a while. Solid F show, earning half points for Sylar alone. Hopefully I will be wrong.

Tuesday? That might have been the day I went and saw QUANTUM OF SOLACE at the cheap theater. Entertaining. Not as impacting as CASINO ROYALE, but in their case I think that might not be a bad thing. I found it an appealing blend of the superficiality the franchise is known for and the substance that gave weight to its immediate predecessor. Not too meaningless, not too meaningful. An action movie that utilizes its sets and situations to the fullest. And always a thumbs up for Daniel Craig, my personal Bond. Definitely worth the $5.75 ($2.75 box of Junior Mints).

After that I went to the library and picked up an assortment of books on genetics, comics, short stories by Arthur C. Clarke, and "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking. Then I took Steven home because I went to the movie at 12 and Steven lives by the library circa 2 PM. Steven also lives at Carolyn's house, so that's where I spent the rest of my day!

Yesterday I caught ALIENS on tv, which had been an assignment for Sci-fi class and is now on my list of movies to watch in life because I didn't watch anything for that class. I liked it so much more than ALIEN, which I thought was pretty dumb. But then I went to pick up Steven again. Then I came home and watched about the last of the disc of UGLY BETTY me and my mom were on, and then I returned all of season two. Work was stressed because the Regional Director of Operations was supposed to be coming in today to kill whoever's in charge if things aren't perfect. So we did a lot of cleaning. Then I rerented the last two discs of UGLY BETTY and also 2001 and GATTACA on Blu-Ray (not gonna lie, those were both for sci-fi class as well).

Now to sampler day. Caught the last half of STARGATE on the same channel as ALIENS. That's a good movie. Then I caught up on the long OFFICE--that teaser was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. This show is not an absurdist comedy, and this pushed a fine line, I thought. I do admit, however, that seeing a cat hurled up into the ceiling cavity to come crashing down a few feet over, is a sight I will cherish until my last moments. Overall, I think this hour long episode succeeded where the last batch of hour longs did not; it didn't seem stretched or watered down. It wasn't the OFFICE at its best, but it didn't fall short, either.

LOST from last night. I was disappointed to see that that stupid girl is not about to be killed off, and that her hopeful cause of death might kill everyone else, too. Glad to see they're not mucking about with the timeline. I hate when people do that, so I was really grateful for Farraday's "you can't change the past, whatever happened, happened" speech. That was previously, not this week, though. Overall I thought it dragged a little, but I look forward to what's to come.

UGLY BETTY season two disc three. This includes the paintball episode which was in fact the first episode I ever saw that inspired me to one day seek this series out as televised nutrition. It was a very good disc and I don't have anything negative to say about it! It's just so funny and so heartfelt. And increasingly and increasingly wacky, what with post-mortem childrens and toxic perfumes. I love it.

Took a slight detour and caught the end of SMALLVILLE--what can I say, Thursday is comedy night--and was not disappointed. Inexplicable is the word I would use. Lana absorbs kryptonite powers! Clark wants to kill Lex! A truck explodes! And then there was this little gem: Lana, trying to dissuade Clark from his inexplicable intended murder, imparts true wisdom, "you won't just lose this or that. You'll Lose Yourself." But then the truck exploded and did the deed for him??!?!???? I could make neither heads nor tails of it. But then at the very end there was an unexpectedly heartbreaking sequence where Clark refuses to let Lana out of his life even though her very presence could very well kill him. I found it poignant and inspiring. That show is like a grab bag of surprises.

New OFFICE. Shrug. I remember I laughed, but I don't remember at what. I liked Pam listlessly throwing the candies at the audience. I liked the to be continued. Edgy new territory!

New 30 ROCK. The strength of this show, which I may have said before, lies in its ability to form a coherent plot out of extraneous information. WAIT. I previously said that about CHUCK. Oh well, 30 ROCK does it, too. The melding of the A, B, and C plots is convoluted and masterful. And hilarious, yet meaningful. It's a very smart show, top to bottom.

Now that I think about it, I must have also watched the new BSG on Saturday--I did, at like 1 in the morning. Ah. It spawned my Facebook status, "Stephanie is oh Gaeta honey no," which will remain a mystery until you get to that episode. All I can say is hopefully the darkest hour will in fact be followed by the dawn.

So that's my media week! I dub myself a televisor. You can be one, too!

The other thing I did was cook dinner today, which I think was one of my rare and complete successes. A menu: meatloaf from a recipe off foodnetwork.com. Garlic mashed potatoes from a cardboard tube. Green beans and pine nuts in sesame oil from my mind. A romaine salad with walnuts, feta, and golden raisins, also from my mind because the meatloaf was still cooking and I had nothing else to do. Hooray cooking!

And the other day I made a curry tuna salad sandwich: tuna, curry powder, goldens, walnuts, pinenuts, celery, and mayo to keep it all together. Curry is like, my favoritest thing. Here, let me give you a list of recommendations for the week:

Curry powder
a dash of cinnamon in your cocoa
The Middle by Jimmy Eat World
This sketch by Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry

Have a Happy Thursday!