TV for Me

The fall season started just in time to give me something mindless to do when recovering from the last miscarriage.  I tried a whole slew of new shows, most of which I'm no longer watching. None of them were awful but they just didn't capture my interest.  The only new show that I'm still watching is Modern Family.  It's like an updated Cosby Show and it makes me laugh.  Oh, and Adam and I have watched a couple of episodes of Outsourced but it remains to be seen if we'll continue with it.  Adam is watching some kind of Zombie show and I try to watch it with him but I keep falling asleep.  I also gave up on Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica spin-off.  It would be nice to have a great sci-fi show again.

My old standbys aren't very exciting right now either.  I'm watching this season's Survivor but I have to force myself to keep up with it.  Some seasons are fantastic and some suck.  I watch it as a game show or almost as a sport, and there is no team worth rooting for this year.  I still watch House but the thrill is gone.  Mad Men was great but it's over for the year already.  The Office is always good for a couple of laughs, but it's really past its prime.

I guess my favorite show right now is Intervention.  I'm totally addicted to it! There's something about seeing drug addicts totally self-destructing that is fascinating to me.  I don't think I'm enjoying seeing them suffer or reveling in depravity.  I think part of what fascinates me is the "co-dependence" of the families involved.  (I don't really like the term co-dependence; I think it's more accurate to say that the friends and families of the addicts are evading the consequences of the "help" they are giving.)  I have some firsthand experience in this area and it's good for me to get a reminder of how counterproductive and self-destructive it is to try to "fix" another person.

Also, I don't think all the addicts are totally immoral, hopeless losers.  Many of them had severe trauma in their lives and they never figured out how to deal with it and they've put themselves in this kind of limbo as a way to cope.  And then they have the physical addiction which makes it that much harder to get out of the whole mess.  I do believe that their problems are 100% a choice, but that doesn't mean that moral, healthy choices are equally easy for all people.  So I root for the ones who seem like they want to face reality, but just haven't figured out how yet.  There are some addicts like that.  There are also some who are too far gone, and some who are nihilists at heart and just slowly committing suicide and burning a path of destruction while they do it.  Sometimes I can't watch the show if it is about someone like that, but usually it's not.  Most addicts are somewhere in-between, and I like to try to guess which ones will make it and which ones won't.  Unfortunately, at the end of the show you find out how they've done, but only a few months later.  I'd like to know how some of them are doing years later.

The other thing I've been trying to watch on TV is football.  I joined a Fantasy Football league as a way to try to jump-start my efforts to watch more football, but it didn't work.  I've watched about 2 half-games all season.  There is no reason I can't invest 2-3 hours a week to watching one single football game on Sunday or Monday night.  Sam is asleep and I watch that much other TV in a week anyway.  I think I'd enjoy just that much, but there is another problem: the games are on way too late here on the East coast.  I just can't make it through a night-game, and I have no interest in watching the last half the next day if I record it.  So, I think football is going to have to wait for a while.  I'm hoping Sam will want to watch with me on Sunday afternoons when she is a bit older.

It's interesting to me, though, that my favorite shows, reality television shows, do seem to replicate watching sports.  Survivor, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, and even Intervention, all involve rooting for someone who is trying to accomplish something challenging.  They all require a lot less time-investment, though, and the challenge is not usually purely physical.  Everyone seems to mock "reality TV" as something that panders to our baser instincts, and some shows do.  But as a genre, I think the appeal of reality TV over the past decade has been due to its similarity to sports and game shows.  So, I miss football, but I'm glad to have an alternative.

A Little Thing

By the way, we did get Samantha saying, "For a little while."  Looking forward to season 2!

From Choreography to Musical Composition

If you liked the dance video I posted yesterday, maybe you'll also like this video of Nora the Cat playing the piano.  The music was composed around what the cat played and I must say, the composer did a pretty amazing job.  (Full disclosure: The cat's mommy is my husband's aunt.  Does that make the cat my cousin-in-law or something?)

And More TV

I was listening to NPR yesterday and some blowhard music critic comes on bashing American Idol and the fact that Kris Allen won over Adam Lambert.  Now, if you didn't watch the show, Adam was a kind of glam-rock, goth, musical-theater-type and he had the most amazing range and technique.  Kris was the boy-next-door-type, but with an interesting voice and style.  I didn't really have a dog in that fight, since I was rooting for the 3rd and 4th place contestants, Danny and Allison, but for the record, I did vote for Kris because I didn't personally like Adam's voice, even while being blown away by his skill and creativity.

Anyway, this pompous creep starts out by bashing the entire show, saying how he's hated it every single year, and how an artist like Little Richard would never have had a forum on the show, the implication being that the show caters to the lowest-common denominator of poor taste and lack of originality.  He hated it, that is, until this year when Adam Lambert showed up.  Then this jerk spent a few minutes explaining why Adam Lambert is a god.  Thanks, mister, for your opinion.  And, of course, Kris was the most boring and pathetic singer of all time because, 1) he is handsome, 2) he is not "threatening", and 3) he can sing well in a way that pleases many people.

When Kris won and Adam took 2nd place, this guy said that a friend texted him, saying, "Adam Lambert's defeat was the delayed red-state backlash against Barack Obama's victory."  The critic said, "He was kidding. But not really."  I turned off the radio at that point to note his exact words.

Let's set the angry-left irrationality aside.  Still, I think this windbag missed the point:  American Idol is a popularity contest, by definition.  And Adam Lambert, a guy who wears eyeliner and turns a Johnny Cash song into a freaky, dirty, middle-eastern song (my favorite performance), came in second, and will now become a huge star.  I never thought he'd make it as far as he did.  If anything, his success on Idol mirrors the Obama victory.

The critique reminded me of a time when I was a little girl, watching the Miss Universe pageant on TV.  When the winner was crowned, I said, "Wow!  We're looking at the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world!" and my dad said, "No.  She's just the winner of this contest.  There are surely many other women out there even more beautiful than she is."  I was disappointed because I thought it was amazing to see the absolute best of something, and I'm not sure I was ready for that lesson.  But a grown-up music critic has no excuse for making a child's mistake.

Maybe we shouldn't let children such as him watch TV at all.

And More Tears...

...because I just watched Marley and Me.  Loved it.

Just for Fun

Here are a couple of neat dance routines to get you in the mood for the premier of So You Think You Can Dance on May 21. 

If you take your eyes off of this for just a second, any second, you'll miss something wonderful. I love the interpretation of the music - Coldplay's Viva la Vida - especially the spins through the break at 1:40 in the video:



This one is just smoooooooth:

Cosmos on Hulu

Thanks to Jim Woods for alerting me to the fact that Carl Sagan's Cosmos is available on Hulu.  I can't recommend this show highly enough.  Adam and I have been looking forward to watching this with our daughter since before she was born.  In fact, Cosmos is one of those things that makes you want to have a child, just to share that value.

Modern Medicine, Lots of Laundry, and Relaxing with the Remote

Three Good Things for the day:

1. Thank you, RotaTeq, the Rotavirus vaccine, for saving Samantha (and me!) from the experience of diarrhea and vomiting until this week, when she had it from antibiotics. 


2. I am capable of taking care of a child who is spewing foul-smelling stuff from both ends.  Seriously, I didn't know I had it in me!


3. I caught up a bit on my TV watching today.  I really enjoy American Idol, but I have to fast-forward the parts where they make fun of the bad singers.  I only started watching the show two seasons ago because, when I watched a bit of the first season, I was turned off by all of that and avoided the show for years.  I didn't realize that was just a small part of the show.  I like rooting for the singers I like, I like the singing itself, and I like the excitement of the competition. 

Confessions

Forgive me, Internet, for I have sinned.  It has been 34 days since my last confession.

I love Jon & Kate Plus 8.  This is the reality show about the couple with a set of twins and a set of sextuplets.  Before I watched it I figured that this was a show about a redneck religious family mooching off of gifts from people who think that cranking out a bunch of kids is the lord's work.

They are indeed religious, which is why they made the choice not to reduce the number of embryos early in Kate's pregnancy.  While I find that choice to be insane, like just about everything motivated by religion, I do love watching those kids.  They are just adorable.

Kate is also highly amusing.  She's bossy, controlling, and a total neat-freak, and yet she's likeable.  Jon seems completely spineless, but as you get to know him you learn that he is mostly just one of the most mellow people you'll ever observe.  They're both intelligent and, despite some faith issues, for the most part they parent consciously.  Somehow, they make their family work.  When I feel overwhelmed with my one child, watching this show sometimes helps me gain some perspective.  They have eight.  At one point, they had two 6-year-olds and six 2-year-olds all at once.  Can you imagine!

If you watch the show, tell me who reminds you most of your own child(ren).  Samantha is like both Alexis, the mischievous one, and Aaden, the one they call the "professor," not just because he wears glasses, but because he is "in his own head" so much of the time.

Ninja Cat

I nominate this for Best Cat Video ever!

 

Thriller Girl

Samantha and I found this cute video while trolling YouTube for "funny babies."  This 3 year old girl is awesome!

Date night, Daredevil, and Development

My blog was down last night so I'm late with my Three Good Things.  I missed them!

1. I saw Gran Torino.  It was a very well done movie and I loved some aspects of it, but Clint Eastwood is one dark dude.  I recommend it, but I wouldn't watch it again. 


2. We hit the playground in our development and Sam played very independently.  She played catch with the bigger boys and ran off far enough where I almost lost track of her, and she really had a blast on the slide.  This is all great stuff from our cautious child.


3. Sam climbed into the bathtub all by herself.  Again, a big deal for her.  Her legs are barely long enough to get over the edge.  She was so proud.

Children, Chuckles, and Checks and Balances

Three Good Things for the day:

1. Samantha had her first neighborhood play date.  One of the very first ever, in fact.  I love to observe her in new situations.  I wasn't surprised to see her gravitate towards the dolls and the toy guitars.  She was her usual cautious self and needed mommy to hold her hand in the beginning, but by the end she was fairly comfortable.  We had a nice time. 


2. Scrubs is back, and it's still funny!


3. Today I watched the remarkable achievement which is the 43rd peaceful transfer of power in our government.  Thank you, Founding Fathers.

Somersault, Singers, and Steak

Three Good Things for the day:

1. Samantha did her first unaided somersault.


2. I watched American Idol.  I'm hooked again.


3. We used our grill for the first time since moving here to our new house.

Soup, Sam, and Science

Three Good Things for the day:

1. Cooked an excellent barley and vegetable soup tonight, thanks to Six O'Clock Scramble.


2. Decided to try eliminating time-outs for Sam and work on positive discipline.  I don't think I'll figure it all out unless I give it a try.  Thanks, readers and friends, for sharing your thoughts.  I'll keep you posted.


3. Brian Malow is definitely the find of the day (thanks Kim!)  This guy is a "science comedian" and it's really just good stand-up comedy, but with basic science as a running theme.  This vid starts out a bit slow so hang in there - it's worth it.

 

Busch Gardens

I've been meaning to write about the great time we had at Busch Gardens in Tampa over Christmas break.  It's a combination of an amusement park and a zoo.  I really loved it because you could look at all the animals on your way from one ride to another.  Also, the park was not too big, so I didn't feel overwhelmed, the grounds were attractive, and there weren't a lot of hills or big loops that take you nowhere.   Adam and his stepmom both get motion sick, and Samantha doesn't quite meet the height requirements, so Adam's sister and I went on two coasters: Gwazi, a wooden roller coaster, and SheiKra, which starts with a 200 foot 90 degree drop before twisting you into a pretzel.  It was awesome!

We also saw an ice skating show (outdoors in the 75 degree Florida weather!)  Our tickets to the park and the show were given to us courtesy of the female lead in the show, another wonderful girl named Samantha.  My own Sam loved the show, and when she saw her namesake on the ice, she cried, BARBIE, BARBIE!  It was a fantastic day, and really kicked off our vacation in a good way.

Tonight I was reading Go, Dog. Go! to Sam.  We got to the page where there is a dog roller skating.  She pointed to the skates and said, DOH DOH, which is her way of saying, "what is that called?"  I said, "roller skates."   She said, BARBIE.

Troy

We just finished watching Troy.  It took us two nights, but even so, I was surprised to find it was a good movie.  I enjoyed it much more than reading The Iliad because the creators of the movie accomplished a rare feat: proper modernization of a classic.  The story is mostly the same, and what was changed just makes the conclusion more satisfying.  The gods do not participate, but belief in them plays a role in mortals' motivation.  The battle scenes are not gratuitous and serve to advance the plot, while being quite thrilling to watch.  There is no cynicism or self-mockery in the movie at all - it takes itself seriously.  Each character is unique and you can understand the motivation for all of their actions.  The central conflict is between two good men, not good versus evil, which is an important element to me, as I've written before.  And somehow, the creators of this movie essentialized the story so well that I actually found the plot compelling.  Homer left me cold in comparison.

I wish Achilles had been played by somebody other than Brad Pitt.  As Adam said as the movie began, it's getting harder and harder to watch a movie with him in it because of what we know about him as a celebrity.  Ditto Tom Cruise.  Maybe we need to stop watching The Soup so we can enjoy our movies more.

Movie, Music, and Map

Three Good Things for the day:

1. I went to a movie in the middle of the day!  What a luxury.  This whole Christmas season has reminded me what it means to relax and enjoy.  (We saw Yes Man and it was pretty funny.  Classic Jim Carrey.)


2. We bought Samantha a harmonica after seeing her play on Kyle's iPhone.  And I thought the phone-as-harmonica was a joke.


3. I was introduced to Tom Tom.  Wicked cool.

Friend, Funny, and Food

Three Good Things for the day:

1. Our friend Kyle is visiting from Orange County.  He's a teacher at the best school in the country, as far as I'm concerned.


2. Watched Dr. Horrible.  Joss Whedon is a genius.


3. Cooked and ate an excellent dinner, if I do say so myself.  Top sirloin with garlic and thyme, baked potatoes, and a basic salad.  You just can't go wrong with The Joy of Cooking.

OK - One more post before Christmas

I'll never hear YYZ the same way again.  I thought we were supposed to think that Rush was an amazing band for making all this sound with only THREE musicians!

 

(via list of the day)