TV Obsession

Yes, it is dark.

But I am liking dark comedy right now. Hell, I have teenager daughters! My life is a dark comedy.

So naturally, I am enjoying Breaking Bad on AMC.

I could hardly believe it when my friend Matt told me about this show last year mostly because I kept thinking of AMC as the place to watch The Gay Divorcee, when I was in the mood for a fix. But now? They are making TV Shows. Like that Mad Men that I haven't watched yet, but all the characters are following me on Twitter (oh my dear sweet Pushing Daisies, would this have stopped your demise?).

Anyway. Breaking Bad is about a crazily overqualified high school chemistry teacher (like he was a researcher at Los Alamos) who finds out just before his 50th birthday that he has inoperable lung cancer. Oh. and he has a teenage son with cerebral palsy (and is allowed to be a typical normal shithead teenager and not "noble") and a wife who has just found herself to be unexpectedly pregnant. He also has a sister-in-law who is a klepto and a brother-in-law who is a DEA agent.

In order to make money for his family before his untimely demise, our hero (anti) decides to team up with a ne'er do well former student and cook meth.

I know. I said it was dark.

But the geek in me loves to see the science applied. and to see how one small mistake can make a huge difference. All I will say, is that fulminated mercury was fun.

On the Comcast, you can catch up with Breaking Bad On Demand. You'll enjoy it, despite yourself.

Oh, and if you are total nerd, you will love that George Smoot, Nobel Prize winning physicist on The Big Bang Theory. Apparently he watched the show, loved the science theme and ASKED TO BE ON!!! Who said that scientists don't have a sense of humor.

Thank God

I am home!!! yeah!

I am back in the land with a constant and strong internet connection that I can adjust as I please!

I can watch anything on television that I want!

I can sleep in a bed that is soft and comfortable!

Now the bad news...

My tomatoes are dead. As doornails.

But I am home!

And I am going to be watching Paranormal State!!!!

I am a cruel woman

I know. Not exactly a news flash.

But tonight, for my own amusement I played the tv show, Emergency on my computer for the girls to watch. Why on my computer? Because it is on NBC.com for FREE!!!! Why Emergency? Because Randy Mantooth was one sweet bit of candy.. even if I was just 6 when the show came on.

Nurse Dixie McCall was a smart a sassy career gal who you know got stuck washing the coffee cups in the break room cuz she was the girl.

So, yes, I made the girls watch it with me.

Things that they couldn't understand?

What those glass bottles were that they hung from the IV pole! haha..
Why the girl in the car accident didn't have her air bags go off.. (bitch, please! it was 1972. I don't even think that there were seat belts in that car)
Why didn't they use a cell phone to call the hospital?

Yeah, it was hysterical.

Who is the Loser?

I am watching Dancing With The Stars.

Why?

I blame Imelda.

But now I am hooked. It is crazy.

So who do I like in out lineup?

That is a short list: Penn Gillette and Marlee Matlin

Penn, because I saw him in person once in Chicago at the Museum of Contempory Art with his friend, Noted Unemployeed Film Critic, Tony Fitzpatrick (sorry, you might need to be from Chicago and have listened to Steve Dahl or Buzz Kilman to understand (Steve Dahl=Disco Demolition. Buzz= "Something Wild", "Silence of the Lambs", "Married to the Mob", etc., just check IMDb)).

Penn Gillette, I thought was the male dancer that most stood out from what I had seen of him previously... He burned up the stage. Was he stiff? Yeah. But he is HUMONGOUS. Like 6'7"... ooops no, as I check Wikipedia... only 6'6". I mean, a fucking WALL of a man. Is he EVER going to be able to glide across the floor like one of those 5'8" waxed eunuchs? I don't think so. Was he a manly man? Damn straight! Is he a performer? Also damn straight! AND he was first dance up! Cripes!

As for Marlee Matlin? She is FUCKING DEAF, people!

Showing us what the deaf community can achieve? Genius. My God. She is brilliant. I watched her tonight. I watched as she and her professional dancer worked their way across the floor. I watched as he worked interesting hand signals and body touches into the dance. These dances to me showed how easy it is to help the deaf and hearing community work together.

And yes, we pretend that there are chasms between us that are unassailable.

Why do I mention this?

One of my best friends, (I have three) has a sister who is a deaf interpreter. Bethany has committed herself to this endeavor from a young age. Ironically, there were questions in her family about her intelligence. But she has proved that ability is different from capacity. I as one of her sister's best friends has always felt proud of Bethany and I know that most of her family feels that way too. And even more so at this point as she is a newly singly mother of three boys (including a teenager... so you know I have true sympathy... and her son is older than MonAnge).

So I have to take an evening and question who is and who is not the frontrunners of this competition. Either way, I see a bunch of people stepping outside of their comfort zone and trying to overcome those seeming limitations...

Who is going to win.

No idea.

But I am fascinated and will continue to watch!

Random Thoughts

'Cuz I am up too late and can't sleep... I am now asking these questions of the internets:

Why does Letterman have a 12 year old with his own jazz trio on? He is 12. Ok... maybe 15. still

Why did the NFL change the damn date for the Superbowl so that it now interferes with the weekend of my birthday? Yes, I know that over the last week or so, it has become passe to have a birthday on your blog as all the better bloggers have done it (Chicka, Avitable, Miss Britt... to name a few just this last week). And certainly everyone celebrating a birthday is WAY younger than my fat, old wretched self. Also please not that I LOATHE the word 'wretch' as it rhythms with my actual real-life name. And that sucked all through childhood, Thank you very MUCH, Dr. Randy.

I suppose that my bad attitude comes from Superbowl XL being my XL birthday. 'Cuz no one's birthday should be XL. So FUCK OFF NFL.! Stop telling everyone how bloody old I am.

Next question? What happened to Elizabeth McGovern? I was watch SVU this evening and kept looking at her trying to guess who she was. She looks really different. Virtually unidentifiable.... I was only able to guess from her eyes. They seem to still look kinda like her.

Is the problem that I am using the HD TV?? Does it make everyone look creepy, old or somehow crazy? So far I am finding a positive correlation between oddness and HD. Is anyone else experiencing this? Damned if I know.

Dr. Randy? Jim? Darren? Do any of you know what happened to Robbie Watkins? I have only been thinking about him because I was explaining how much of my adolescence was spent in odd (there is that word again) pursuits such as Dungeons and Dragons, which Robbie was part of (as Dungeon Master) Did we ever kill off our 12th level Palladins or did we just give them permanent cloaking charms so they could wander through every level of the dungeon? And why has me watching Superbad made me consider this portion of my life again. Because I was neither Becca nor Jules? Just the freak playing D&D on a Friday night and having Robbie trying to touch my boobs.

Sigh. It is midnight and I still can't sleep. Perhaps some Angel Juice is in order (and by that I mean cheap boxed wine.... I am still me, after all... there would NEVER be anything more sinister involved... Just good old dependable Maman.) Not that Poppy would have ever suspected otherwise!

TV v. Newspapers

Who says that newspapers deliver the news slower?

I got the info (bad, boo, sad) about the Nevada Primary Caucus Whatever at 3:14 PM Central Time.

When did NBC break in with the news? 3:23!

Take that you Talking Head!

News Alert: A.P. and Television Networks Project Clinton as Winner in Nevada

From: NYTimes.com News Alert (nytdirect@nytimes.com)

Add contact

Sent:

Sat 1/19/08 3:14 PM

Reply-to:

nytdirect@nytimes.com

What would you ask?

I was on the website for my new favorite tv show, Pushing Daisies... I love the surreal colors and quick and clever repartee between the characters...I love Swoosie Kurtz's eye patch and Jim Dale's narration (it makes me feel like I am listening to a Harry Potter book with my girlies...) oh, and I love the idea of a shop called the Pie Hole.

But, I really loved this...

You go to their site to plant a daisy.

It asks you who you want to talk to one more time.

Then it asks you what you would ask them.

If you click mine, you will see that I didn't have a question... I just want a hug and to whisper in his ear.....

Who would you want to see? And what would you ask them?

And asking for Kristen Chenoweth's boobs doesn't count!

Btw, if you haven't seen the show? Get your tush over to the website where you can watch the episodes for FREE!

Grrrrr

I think that the corollary to the adage, "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world" should be "She who controls the remote rules the house".

And I had control.

It was necessary. See when the kids can pick up the remote, the next thing you know the dulcet tones of themes from "Fairly Odd Parents", "Phil of the Future", "Sponge Bob Square Pants" "Hannah Montana", "Drake and Josh" or "Zoey 101" fill my house. Children don't listen. Chores don't get done. Bitching and moaning ensues.

So I did what I needed to. I took the remote and I password protected every remotely cartoony/teenyboppery/tweeny channel. What can the family watch with impunity? The Learning Channel... The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, PBS. Hey! My kids will watch those. I once caught the Angel completely absorbed in a show about cartography. (hehe... perhaps my geekish tendencies eventually catch up with her.) They can watch their shows when I agree. HA! CONTROL!

Of course, I also know that the chain of command is only as strong as its weakest link. And who is that link? Fun Daddy. That is why for a long time he did not have the code. I used to joke with him that he would roll over at 7 am some Saturday and give it to the kids without thinking...

Finally, a couple of weeks ago I broke down. Gave him the code. Just so I could go to the bathroom in peace occasionally. He is 43 years old. He should be responsible enough at this point, right?

WRONG.

Would you believe that he gave Imelda the code? LET HER WRITE IT DOWN!

I know he was upset... The Angel was sick and he had to come and help me with her... but he could have given the code to my mother!

What's worse? He never mentioned it to me.

Yesterday, as things were settled down, I noticed Imelda entering in the heretofore secret code in herself. "How are you doing that?" I asked her. She gave me that impish look and giggled... "Daddy gave it to me." And she and her sister proceeded to laugh in a "See how we pulled one over on the old cow" kind of manner.....

So, humiliation, disrespect, undermined authority are what I get. Again.

All I can say, is that I hope he stays out of town until I cool down. Grrrrrrr