Tag Archives: entertainment

Tired Monday

Posted on by

Don’t worry, only the first paragraph is politics:

As I was scrolling through Twitter and Facebook this weekend,  I saw several people posting that a “conscience vote”, a “protest vote” or any 3rd party vote is a wasted vote. I was thinking how tired I am of hearing this every election. I might agree that the protest votes are dumb, especially if you are voting someone with whom you don’t agree on the issues. I don’t agree, however, that any 3rd party vote is a wasted vote of that voting your conscience is bad. If you truly believe that a 3rd party candidate is the best candidate then it is not a wasted vote.

Other things that I’m tired of:

Betty White – I know everyone loves her and her feisty old lady act, but I just find it tiring at the point. I saw the news that she will be on Bones again for the final season and I feel like that just means a large part of the episode will be wasted with her “I’m an old lady who talks about sex” routine.

Quitters – People who declare they are never watching a show again because an actor left or a character was killed. People who declare they are leaving Facebook or Twitter(and then inevitably return). People who stop watching their team because they have a bad season. Quitters never win.

Nerds and Introverts – I’m both, bur I’m still tired of the “celebration” of both. Big Bang Theory, Scorpion, articles about how great introverts are, celebrities and random people declaring they are nerds or introverts. People who aren’t either pretending they are because they are being celebrated. Just stop already.

Bandwagon Jumpers – Since my team was not in the playoffs and my second team(the local one) lost I had two things I cheered for in baseball – a Cubs win and a Nats loss. I got both of them. I was happy the Cubs won, but now I go back to being a Braves fan. I’m not going to buy a t-shirt or be a Cubs fan until they are bad again. One good thing about the Braves being bad for a while is that we shed all of the bandwagon fans who once laughed at me for being a fan of the worst team in baseball. There is nothing worse than someone who is so desperate to feel like a winner that they latch on to winners to feel good about themselves.

Complainers – people who make lists complaining about things they are tired of. Also, people who end sentences with of.

Edit: I’m also tired of me forgetting to add a title to posts before I hit publish. That’s really dumb.

Advertisements

Changing my reading and tv habits

Posted on by

Each year I set a reading goal. That reading goal has always been a quantity goal. Usually 100 books. I always meet that goal and this year I am ahead of my goal. I sometimes add in a page number goal. I’ve been thinking that I need to change the type of goal I set next year. I read a lot of books that I finish, but don’t love. They aren’t bad, but they are forgettable. I read a lot of authors out of habit even though they write the same book over and over again. I can read a Stuart a woods book in a day, but it’s not different than the last Stuart Woods book I read. I don’t discover new books anymore because I’m reading through my books from my reserve list instead of browsing the shelves. Many of those books are on my reserve list because they are written by authors I read regularly. Some of these authors are still consistently good their books might be in my top ten list for the year. Some of them are like the aforementioned Stuart Woods. They are consistent and boring and after I finish I wonder why I still read them. It is time for me to stop reading based on habit and start discovering new books and authors.

I do the same thing with TV. It’s really hard for me to give up on a former favorite show once it is not as good as it once was. Watch them becomes a chore. Something I’m doing out of habit not because I’m still enjoying it. I think in addition to habit, this also stems from my misguided belief that the show will return to its former level of entertainment. This never actually happens. If I can cut the cord on some of these shows, I will probably find time to read some of the new books mentioned above. I need to remember quality is better than quantity.

When There’s Something Female in Your Neighborhood, Who You Gonna Call

Posted on by

It was announced recently that Paul Feig will be making a new Ghostbusters movie and that the new Ghostbusters will be all women. From reading twitter it seems that a lot of people are really upset about this and will not watch a new Ghostbusters if it stars all women.

Personally, if there was going to be a new Ghostbusters, I wish it could have been done before Harold Ramis died and was an actual sequel with all of the originals. I’m not against reboots and remakes like a lot of people, but bringing back the original three would have been great. Obviously, with Ramis dead and Bill Murray not interested anyway, that will not happen. So, if there is to be a Ghostbusters, it will have to be a reboot. Here’s what I think about the reboot and the women issue:

I think the script is much more important than the gender make up of the cast. If you have a bad script, the gender of your cast won’t make a difference. Bad script equals bad movie. Of course, the cast is important and if you have a good script, you need the right cast to make it a good movie. Once again, this is not dependent on gender. I would much rather see a Ghostbusters with women like Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Aubrey Plaza, Emma Stone, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Mann, Aisha Tyler etc. than a Ghostbusters with less talented male actors. The gender isn’t the issue for me. The talent is and all of those women, plus plenty more, are extremely talented and would make a good movie with the right script.

I assume the people out there who think I am wrong and that an all female Ghotbusters will automatically suck are the morons who believe women can’t be funny. I think Paul Feig is probably ok with them skipping the film.

What’s in TV Tonight, September 26, 2014

Posted on by

The good news for boring old people like is that Friday night is no longer a TV wasteland where they send bad shows to die. There is things to watch tonight even with Grimm, Last Man Standing and Whose Line is it Anyway premiering later in the season.

NBC – repeat of Mysteries of Laura, 2 hour Dateline NBC
FOX – Utopia, repeat of Gotham
ABC – 2 hour Shark Tank, 20/20
CBC – Amazing Race, Hawaii 5-0, Blue Bloods
Cable – for the kids, Jessie, Girl Meets World and Dog with a Blog are new on Disney. Syfy has a new episode of Z Nation(Sharknado version of Walking Dead)

Tonight will be all CBS. I’m happy to be able to watch Amazing Race with no football delay. I don’t watch Hawaii 5-0 but others in my house do. I still really like Blue Bloods.

What’s on TV Tonight, September 25, 2014

Posted on by

Another night with not much on that I plan to watch. Looks like as much as I talk about a possible DVR crisis, I won’t watch enough this year to really have one. Last night I did try Black-ish. It seemed OK, but I was half asleep through a good portion of it. I am happy that it seems Survivor will have a strong season this time around. So, on to the list

NBC – Biggest Loser(2 hours), Parenthood
FOX – Bones, repeat of Sleepy Hollow
ABC – Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal(Grey’s In the White House), How to Get Way With Murder(Grey’s in law school)
CBS — Thursday Night Football
Cable – Project Runway on Lifetime

The only series premiere tonight is How to Get Away With Murder. Another Shonda Rhimes show, this one about first years law students. If you like Grey’s and/or Scandal you should watch this.

Normally. I would just recommend football, but I have to admit that I am addicted to Grey’s, so I will start football late to watch Grey’s first. I’m also a big fan of Bomes, but we still haven’t watched the end of last season, so I will have to record it. I will also give How to Get Away With Murder a shot at some point. So, my advice, watch Grey’s and then football. Record Bones and Murder for later.

What’s on TV tonight, September 24, 2014

Posted on by

Day three of the new season and I’ve only watched a couple of shows. If this keeps up, I will have a major DVR crisis. I did watch Gotham last night. I liked it, but I’m not a comic book nerd who will get angry about changes to the story. So, tonight..

NBC – The Mysteries of Laura, Law and Order: SUV, Chicago PD
FOX – Hell’s Kitchen, Red Band Society
ABC – The Middle, The Goldbergs, Modern Family, Black-ish, Nashville
CBS – Survivor, Big Brother
Cable – TNT has Legends and Franklin and Bash

The only new show tonight is Black-ish, a sitcom starring Anthony Anderson as an ad executive who, as the Post puts it, ” upset with his family’s blithe acceptance of the whiteness all around them.” I’ve always liked Anthony Anderson and this was well reviewed, so I will give it a try.

What to watch: watch Survivor live. Always watch Survivor live if possible. Tonight’s episode is 90 minutes, so record The Middle, Modern Family, Black-ish and Red Band Society for after Survivor is over. I’m a big fan of the ABC comedies. I should probably try The Goldbergs as well. I will also record Franklin and Bash for later.

What’s on TV Tonight, September 23, 2014

Posted on by

The first Tuesday of the new season and the first night I will actually be home to watch shows. All I managed to watch last night was Scorpion. It was OK, my family loved it, but not one I would be sad to see canceled early. So, tonight…

NBC – another 2 hours of The Voice followed by Chicago Fire
FOX – Utopia, New Girl, Mindy Project
ABC – Dancing With the Stars, Agents of SHIELD, Forever
CBS – NCIS. NCIS: New Orleans, Person of Interest
I see nothing of note on cable.

The only new show premiering to tonight is The newest edition to the NCIS family that I shall call NCIS: GUMBO. This is NCIS relocated to New Orleans and starring Scott Bakula in the Mark Harmon role. I like Scott Bakula and NCIS isn’t horrible, but I think Dawn will be the only person at our house watching this. If you are a big fan of NCIS you will probably enjoy this.

My suggestion: watch The Voice until 9, switch to Shield and finish The Voice later. I like New Girl, but my DVR can’t record Voice and New Girl while we watch Shield. I should really upgrade to the new one that can. I will also be recording the entire CBS lineup for my wife who is apparently an elderly person with a love for CBS procedurals.

What’s on TV Tonight, September 22, 2014

Posted on by

Tonight the new TV season starts in full with every major network airing premieres. A synopsis of the new shows will be below.

NBC – two hours of The Voice(with new judges Pharrell Williams and Gwen Stefani) followed by the season premiere of The Blacklist
FOX – series premiere of Gotham, season premiere of Sleepy Hollow
ABC – two hours of Dancing with the Stars, series premiere of Forever
CBS – an hour of Big Bang Theory, series premiere of Scorpion, season finale of Under the Dome
Cable – MNF Chicago @ NY Jets

I work until 9 on Mondays so I watch everything delayed. If I was home, here is what I would watch: record The Voice, watch Gotham, start The Voice late to fast forward over all of the useless filler. If you aren’t old and tired like me, follow that with The Blacklist. Record Scorpion and Under the Dome to watch later.

New shows

Gotham – the Batman prequel. Bruce Wayne is a kid, commissioner Gordon is a rookie detective, the major Batman villains are not yet major villains. I will give it a try, but I’m not sure I will stick with it. Batman without Batman doesn’t sound promising.

Scorpion – What if the nerds from Big Bang Theory were crime fighters? Scorpion is about a group of geniuses who go to work for Homeland Security to use their skills to fight crime. It sounds promising, but is not well reviewed. Destined to become Dawn’s new show I have to record because she likes bland procedurals.

Forever – Ioan Gruffuld(Fantastic Four) is a NYC medical examiner who comes back to life every time he dies. For some reason(excuse to show Gruffuld naked) he comes back to life in a nearby body of water, completely nude. He uses his job to try to figure out why he is immortal. I know if is as immortal I would definitely spend 200 years looking at dead bodies…Well reviewed, but not sure I will watch it.

What’s on TV Tonight, September 21, 2014

Posted on by

I guess tomorrow is technically the big, official fall season kickoff, but one network has season and series premieres tonight.

NBC – football – Pittsburgh @ Carolina, hopefully a big Carolina win and another bad game for Rottenburger
CBS – 60 Minutes at 7:30, series premiere of Madame Secretary at 8:30(synopsis below), season premiere of The Good Wife at 9:30 and an encore of Madame Secretary at 10:30. These times are approximate as there will likely be football overrun.
ABC. – repeats
FOX – repeats
Cable – Boardwalk Empire on HBO, Witches of East End on Lifetime, Masters of Sex on Showtime, Manhattan on WGN

Madam Secretary – Tea Leoni as a former CIA agent who is unexpectedly asked to be Secretary of State. Also stars Tim Daly as her husband, Bebe Neuwirth as her Chief of Staff and Keith Carradine as the president. One of the best reviewed new shows of the season. I’m a fan of Leoni, so I will give it a try.

What to watch – watch the football game unless it is a blowout, though it is fun to watch the Steelers lose big. Record Madam Secretary and watch after you get bored with football. I’ve heard Good Wife is good, but I’ve never watched an episode.

What’s on TV To Tonight, September 19, 2014

Posted on by

I considered skipping today because there’s really nothing on TV until the fall season officially starts on Sunday. I decided to go ahead and do today and tomorrow anyway since I’ve already started the series.

NBC – Biggest Loser followed by a 2 hour Dateline NBC
FOX – repeat of the Red Band Society pilot followed by Utopia
CBS – Big Brother followed by repeats
ABC – all repeats
Cable – Fashion Police on E has a special Joan Rivers look back episode at 8. Disney has new episodes of Jessie and Girl Meets World.

If we can all agree on a movie, we will watch a movie instead of any of the above. If you missed Red Band Society, give it a shot. We enjoyed it. You could also consider not being boring like me and actually go out and do something on Friday night.