Blogging In Plain Site

So Good.

HBO keeps rattling them off: this one a mini series on the life of John Adams. Paul Giamatti is amazing playing Liam's great (10x) grandparent. Such a great portrayal.

I've always been fascinated with Jen's family and her straight line connection with the Adams presidents. What's really funny is to gleam insights into John Adam's personality and confirm that the gene hasn't been watered down that much in 300 years. Some quotes that made me think of Jen and her family:

"John, you must try to temper your impatience and disdain for those less intelligent than you."

"Mr Jefferson, your pen is quite eloquent, you must draft this document. It cannot be me: i am obnoxious and unpopular, you sir, are quite the opposite."

"John, everyone knows and admires your command of the English language, there is no need to engorge your closing statement with evidence of your considerable intellect and education."

I know this matters to me way more than any one else, including (and especially) the present day Adams family, but I'm really proud to have those genes in my family and in Liam. Liam may not have the name John Quincy Adams like his cousin Quincy, but he has the stuff, I can already tell. And I'm pretty sure he could take Quince in a brawl.

To Boldly Go...

OK, wait....I can explain....

Today, I bought the original series of Star Trek DVD Collection. This surprised me.  The bug was planted while I was testing my new  TV Phone (which will be released next year). Part of the programming on this phone are old Star Trek episodes. I started seeing them when I turned the service on and it got me thinking...

When I was a kid, I liked that show. It might be cool to have those old episodes lying around.

Now, let's get one thing straight...I am not a Trekkie. I do not speak Klingon nor do I follow the new Star Trek series, or the movies, or anything. As I kid, I really liked the show. And, to quote Eddie Murphy's character in Boomerang, I share his opinion that "Captain Kirk is the coolest white man in the universe."

So I bought the series and started watching them tonight and man its great to take in that flash back. Here's why i like this series...

a. Kirk is a serious bad-ass.
b. The lame fight scenes, where a gentle karate chop to the neck brings a man down gently like a crumpled flower
c. The plot lines are intelligent and feature to advanced meta physical theories being bandied about by nut-jobs today
d. The bad special effects, the Styrofoam set pieces for alien planets and the outside shots look surprisingly like Southern California...hmm
e. The oddly hot green space alien chicks
f. The embodiment of Kirk, Spock and McCoy as the Id, the Ego and the Super Ego (respectively)
g. Kirk never saw a situation he couldn't solve with his personality, fist or penis

And, I wish I could do a flawless Kirk impersonation. I think that could come in handy some day...

Since then, William Shatner has become a cartoon character, the Truman Capote of our time. George Takae has come out of the closet in a big way and has hilarious guest appearances on Howard Stern. Leonard Nimoy recorded 12 studio albums and they are horrible. Many of them are just plain dead.

 

But lots of people talk of those things. My real reason are more personal...When I was living with my grandparents by the airport in Burien (read: bleak) in the 5th grade, Star Trek episodes that came on Sundays at 5:00 PM on KSTW was the only thing cool going on. They were as old, musty and campy as my grandparents house. Even then, it was so kitschy, it was cool.  They were sandwiched in between Laurence Welk and Hee-Haw. Aside from Porno's and the Weather Channel - this was all my grandpa watched on TV so I was DESPERATE for anything cool to watch.

This was the one hour when I could use my imagination to escape the fact that my family was shacked up with my grandparents in a depressing little industrial town while my dad looked for a job after moving there from Florida. That scene in Wayne's World where Wayne and Garth are watching planes land at the airport from the hood of their car whistling the Star Trek theme - that was not far off from that part of my childhood.

Star Trek gave me that escape for an hour a week and I made the most of it. This is why I have a soft spot for the show. The rest of the freakdom and geekdom that surrounds the show, kind of grew up around the show as I grew up.  I think everyone has a song, movie or TV show they hold on to for personal reasons. This was mine and it was kind of cool to relive some old episodes.

But man, they were bad. But, at the same time, sooooo good. Warp speed, Mr Sulu.

Where is this train going, anyway?

The Office
I am a "The Office" junkie. I have been since the original BBC series. When The Office moved from crisp, perfectly executed 30 minute episodes to over bloated Hour long episodes, I was bummed. Then I found out the lead executive for The Office had been promoted to chief executive of NBC programming. And it all made sense. The first thing he did is front load The Office Season Four with hour-long "specials" to drive early advertising revenue and show promotion.

Watching "Money" last night, i felt the strain of the writing being forced to expand their comedy to a full hour. It was strange, dull, flat. There was a scene where Michael and Jan were sitting on an old, abandoned train, despondent. Jan asked Michael, "so where is this train going anyway?" An obvious metaphor for their relationship. "I don't know. The engineer seems to have left."

To me, this was an open plea from the writers to the public: bring this show back down to a half hour. Strangely, though, all the blogs have been raving about this episode. Making me wonder, what did I miss? Looks like I'll have to watch it again. I hated Lost in Translation the first time I saw it, so  you never know.

New Comcast UI

When the UI for our cable changed, I was irked. Forget that its ugly, it's clumsy and worse, it makes Microsoft look GOOD. That takes some work. I imagined users quietly and publicly barfing on it. Then I saw this blog from the P-I, and felt somewhat justified in my hatred of the new UI.

I Love Flight of the Conchords

OK, this show had me at Hello. Wow, sharp transcendent stuff that really breathes. Bizzare, blunt and very, very deadpan. And, you can watch their hilarious videos right here. Check it out.

I'm Sorry, But Project Runway is the Best Reality Show on TV

I'm not into fashion. At all. I watch football, war movies and eat like a pig. I could care less about fashion and I have no idea what so ever what is going on within it except on Wednesdays when PR comes on.

It's the most well put together reality show on TV. For all you nay-sayers who are caught up in the latest pap ABC and the other networks have put together (juggling bears, clowns jumping through rings of fire, tap dancing and heavy metal bands), I put to you the following argument:

1. PR has NO FAT. It is perfectly edited and paced. It fills up an hour with lean programming, great character development and genuine delivery. Its focus is the talent and the characters, but ultimately the characters. However, the fuel of the show is creativity, pressure and high standards. Tell me where else this exists on TV.

2. OK, maybe she's not doing runway anymore and yes, she harbors Seal's love rocket each night, but Heidi Klum is fucking HOT.

3. Tim Gunn is unintentionally hysterical as the preening, overbearing queen with the heart of gold, but the heart never comes out. It would be impolite. While he's convivial, he never gives in. "Stacey, it was a very difficult decision but someone had to go. Now get your shit our of the design room, skag."

4. The show markets so well. Their web site is amazing, they auction off each piece each week. Behind the scenes SMS, video mashups are all over the place. It's a truly modern show.

Is it still about fashion at the end of the day? Well, yes. But, for me, it's about creativity, resourcefulness and hard core competition. The rest is beautifully crafted drama. It restrains itself from all the other shark jumping the other shows gorge themselves on. It's what reality TV should be.