The Mentalist: Losing Interest

So, The Mentalist has started a new chapter. Patrick Jane now works for the FBI, based in Austin. Why Austin? For us here in Texas, at least for me and Ross, setting the show in Texas makes the show ridiculous. Why? Because for the show to happen as shown, it would require time travel. On the last episode we watched a guy declare "I'll have a chopper there in an hour."  He was talking about some place near Santa Fe. An hour from where? Anywhere in Texas? No. Not even the New Mexico/Texas Border. So to say an hour from Austin is just silly.

Unlike Llanview, Pennsylvania, Austin, Texas is a real place. In the MIDDLE of Texas--and Texas is Big, in case you didn't know. Watching a show where the characters go back and forth between Austin and Corpus Christie like it's the next town over is enough to make me stop watching the show.

Simon Baker as Jane is sexier than ever, but the writers need to get a clue.

Flashback: Twin Peaks

This week I watched the pilot of Twin Peaks on Netflix. Man, that took me back.  Back to Jr. High.  I love the music.  I remember I had it on cassette and listened to it over and over again on my Sony walkman.  And I remember I was totally enamored with Agent Cooper.  I thought he was so handsome and charming.  I wanted to be Dianne on the other side of that tape recorder, listening to his voice as he went on about pie and coffee.

Twin Peaks was the Lost of it's day.  We all wanted to know who killed Laura Palmer.  And there were so many twists and turns and so much weirdness that if you hadn't started at the beginning it was impossible to follow.  Watching Twin Peaks again is going to be a trippy trip down memory lane.

Another Pet Peeve

So the other day I was watching CoolTV and their Dance and Tonic hour came on. No dance music, and the tonic was diet. You see, I watched for at least half an hour and every song had the same characteristic--the artist mentioned his/her own name. That really bugs the crap out of me. I want to hear you sing a song, not hear you sing who you are. It was really lame and annoying.

My Favorite Show

Right now my favorite show is Waking the Dead. I've mentioned before how complicated it can be. I was happy to discover that Netflix now has seasons 1-5 (of 9) of Waking the Dead available on instant watch. I watched the very first episode and it was a fine example of everything I love about the show.

D.S. Peter Boyd is a grade-A bastard. He treats everyone like crap. He may be the leader, but everyone is an equal member of the team. No one is the bumbling side-kick or lab-tech who aspires to be part of the team. Everyone on the team is intelligent and contributes to the case. The cast changes up a little as the show goes on, but Boyd is always in charge.

This series is a bit dark. The criminals are always sick, twisted folks, who commit sick and twisted crimes. The plots are always complex. The shows are mentally stimulating, challenging. You try to solve the crimes along with the team. If you aren't paying attention, you could miss something important. They generally don't repeat the clues or hit you over the head with explanations of who did what when. The show treats the audience like an intelligent member of the team, not like a clueless bystander. I think that is what I like best about it. I also like that the characters aren't sleeping together. There is some personal drama, but it is usually subtle.

I might actually watch the episodes in order just to see how the characters develop. The only other series that measures up to this is Wire in the Blood. I watched all 6 seasons on Netflix instant watch and loved it.

80's at 8

The Cool TV is a new TV channel that is supposed to have all music all the time. I like to watch 80's at 8. I know the songs, but I've never seen most of the videos--for at least 3 reasons. First, we didn't have cable in the early 80s. Second, we were overseas in the mid 80s (and didn't really have TV at all.) When we did get cable in the late 80s I'm not sure we had MTV. I don't remember watching it.

I love to rock out to the hits of the 80s and I'm completely fascinated by the videos. Most of them are terrible, and very strange. I have no idea what a lot of the groups looked like. Now I get to see them in all their 80s glory.

Latest Addiction

16 and Pregnant is a train wreck of a reality TV show. Depressing, awful, predictable, but I can't look away. I can't get enough. Each episode follows a separate 16 year old girl from 24 weeks pregnant through birth to a couple months after birth.

The episodes are so similar that they are all starting to run together. The girls want the fathers to help more. The fathers are usually older, and much more immature. The teenagers, are, well, teenagers. They don't understand how a baby will completely change their lives. They fight over the silliest things. They don't understand or accept the responsibility. They are the future of America. Depressing. Still, I keep watching.

The good part of this addiction is that I find myself thankful. I'm thankful that I never had to deal with that situation. I'm thankful that even now I don't have to deal with a baby. I'm thankful that Ross has a job. I'm thankful I don't have to pay for daycare for Bailey. I'm thankful Ross and I both have educations. I'm thankful I have internet and I can watch awful reality television whenever I want.

Hoarders

I finished watching the first season of Hoarders on Netflix. Hoarders is like a train wreck. Horrible, but you can't look away. I come from a family of hoarders. My parents are hoarders. My mother's parents were both hoarders. I try really hard not to hoard. I can be messy, and there are certain things I find hard to resist. I love paper. I love shoes. I don't love putting things away. I was looking for something in the back room recently and I found two other things back there that I didn't know I had. That's bad. I didn't find what I was originally looking for. I need to clean up back there. The last episode of Hoarders featured a 7 year old hoarder. The psych gave him rules. 1. Don't drop things. 2. Everything has a home. Not dropping things is great advice. That's how things get messy. That is how things get lost. Hoarders makes me feel good because I'm not as sick as the folks on the show. Hoarders makes me sad because those people are so sick that they lose all their relationships. Hoarders makes me feel bad because I know I could be better about keeping the house clean. I can't wait for more episodes.

DVR, Hallelujah!

When we turned on the DVR just now it was recording the season premiere of The Biggest Loser. I had no idea the new season was starting this week! The trusty DVR knows. The trusty DVR records. Hallelujah.

Random Stuff

1. Friday was my day out. I drove around Baltimore with the top down on the car. It was so nice and sunny and I got to see parts of Baltimore I hadn't ever seen before. I really didn't get out much when I lived there. I went nuts at H Mart. I hadn't been to an Asian grocery store in a couple of months. I loaded up on veggies and meat to make beef bulgogi. Cucumbers 4/$1! Mint! Ooh, I think I'll have a mojito and a Gordon's cup this week.

2. Ross is currently obsessed with fail blog.

3. No luck with the job search so far. Lisa Diane is in Singapore. She has a job she loves and she gets to travel. I'm jealous.

4. I fell below my previous low (weight wise) and have been below it for the last two weeks. I think I will meet my weight goal for this month. I worked out a lot this week (350 mins so far). I have been doing a lot of leg exercises. Man, I'm feeling them today.

5. Today we drove 75 miles (one way) to eat Logan's rolls. Damn they were good, but I don't think we'll be doing that very often.

6. We still have cable, but the cartoon network has disappeared. What Not To Wear has become my daily dose of crap tv. I'm beginning to feel the need for some structured jackets, but I don't think I'll give up my platform flip flops. That show makes me want to shop, but I resist because no one has given me a Visa card with $5,000 on it.

Ross's New Pastime

Since Ross got the digital TV converter box he has been desperately trying to get all the channels tuned in at the same time. He turns the antenna this way and that and steps back to see the picture. He constantly flips between the analog channels and the digital channels. He flips through all the channels to see how the latest antenna tweak affected the rest of the channels. It is sort of amusing. I must admit, the episode of the Simpsons we watched on the digital channel last night was the clearest picture I've seen (on our TV) ever. I hope he gets it all straightened out. The digital channels are nice (when they come in).