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Monthly Archives: April 2013

friday five, the television edition (minor spoilers possible)

Posted on April 26, 2013

Some random thoughts about things I’ve been watching on the idiot box:

Two and a Half Men

I liked this show when it first came on, but these days not so much.  It’s not the addition of Ashton Kutcher or the removal of Charlie Sheen that lost me, it’s that they’ve made the Alan Harper character into a douchebag, which process began well before Charlie left.  At first, Alan was likable, if a doofus.  It didn’t take long for me to grow weary of listening to Walden rag on Alan about him living their for free.  If he doesn’t like it, kick him out.  The Jake character has grown terribly unappealing also.  In fact, Walden, kick out Alan and Jake and hang out with Alan’s ex-wife’s husband Herb more.  Bring back Rose and Evelyn Harper…and give Berta a lot more air time.

Or her own show.

Walden has improved a little since his debut, becoming more consistent, and the haircut didn’t hurt matters at all.  He had the funniest line in a comedy for this entire comedy season, but I’m not going to tell you what it was.  I will say it was on Season 19, episode 19, “Big Episode: Someone Stole a Spoon.”

One more thing.  If they were going to rebuild this show from scratch to my specifications, they should convince Jaime Pressly to stay.  The way they have allowed the female characters to dissolve into the background is a huge part of my disaffection for this series these days.

The Middle

I hated this show at first.  If I have to have Patricia Heaton as not Debra Barone, I want her as Kelly Carr on Back to You, a program on the list of cancellations that tick me off right after Whoopi and somewhere before $h*! My Dad Says and Family Law.

Somehow, even though I only watched it if I was excruciatingly bored, it grew on me.  It’s the characters here more than the story line.  The Hecks are a little bit like a skinny Conner family, and–if you can wrap your mind around this–even quirkier.  Unlike Two and a Half Men wherethe characters seem likable until you realize how obnoxious they are, all the characters on The Middle are sweet weirdos. Even horrible teenage son Axl is actually adorable.  Kinda how I hope we are.  Which is probably the appeal.

One other downside of this show is when mom Frankie Heck (Heaton) went back to school and I thought, “Whee, a character is doing something relevant to my life!” but she graduated in about two episodes.  Bummer, that.  I would have liked to cheer her on longer.

The Walking Dead

This program stresses me out!  I’m glad the season is over.  The nine p.m. Sunday timeslot doesn’t really work for me because that’s Mr Moth’s bedtime, and I’m always worried some nimrod will tell me something I’d rather not know before I get a chance to watch.  I don’t really believe in spoilers, but I do believe in surprises, or reversals if you prefer, and I actually had to “unlike” The Walking Dead’s fan page because they post their own spoilers the day after the original airing.  Furthermore–and perhaps unsurprisingly–the person on Facebook who screams the loudest about film and book spoilers has decided there’s no such thing as series spoilers, and even though he allegedly doesn’t watch TWD, he discusses it in detail with his friends.

He’s on haitus from my Facebook feed until the season and my annoyance have passed.

Bates Motel

This is a new one, and the cosmos knows I wasn’t looking for a new show to watch.  It’s a prequel of sorts, showing the teenage years of Norman Bates of Psycho fame, his mother Norma, and his heretofore unsuspected brother by another daddy Dylan Massett.

I wish someone could explain the allure of this program.  It’s all mood.  There are maybe two likable characters, and they are in the supporting cast.  (Dylan has some potential, but he’s not living up to it yet.)  Everyone in the town is either crazy or dying or both.  They all drive ancient automobiles yet text on iphones.

Yet, whenever I see this show waiting on my dvr, I drop everything and watch it.  The entire time it’s on I ask myself, why?  why?  what is the hold it has on me?

And I don’t know the answer.

 Whose Line is it Anyway?, last on this list, but definitely not least.

I love this show and all its predecessors and clones (BBC Version,Green Screen, Drew Carey’s Improvaganza*) and I still mourn its passing.  My love for this show is so well known that a friend I had not heard from in years dropped me a line to let me know it was coming back!  

True this return will be sans Drew Carey because he is tied up with The Price is Right.  I mean to try not to let that bum me out; maybe he can be the fourth performer during his off seasons.  The new host will be someone named Aisha Tyler, who I had never heard of until she showed up on an episode of The Talking Dead.  All I can say is, I hope she’s funny.

Whose Line.  Everybody watch it so it doesn’t get cancelled!  I’m so excited.  😀

===========
*I tried to watch Trust Us With Your Life, but it wasn’t on long enough for me to get used to it and I never ended up liking it much, and in fact forgot about it until just now.

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Posted in Entertainment | Tags: friday five, TV |

to-do today

Posted on April 20, 2013

I know how these types of entries fascinate everyone.  😉

Let dogs out
Start laundry
Scoop cat litter
Let one dog in
Make tea (iced)
Let one cat look out in case the view from the door is different from the view from the window
Empty dishwasher
Soak meatloaf pan again
Let big dog in
Make coffee
Take pills
Let cat out, finally
Finish Friday Five entry, save to post on an actual Friday
Cafe World, with coffee
To-Do list
Grocery list
File papers piled on desk
Reboot laundry
Let cat in and dogs out
Breakfast
Project work (five still due by end of term)

  • Portfolio Piece (two page spread on a logo project)
  • Portfolio Piece (pictograms, maybe this should be the two-pager, angst…angst…twitch)
  • Constitution Day Poster
  • CD Cover
  • Web Site Final Project
Groceries
  • Save-a-Lot
  • GFS
  • Aldi
  • Kroger
  • Meijer
Put groceries away
Collapse onto sofa and let T-moth cook pre-made pizza for dinner (ranch dip sounds good for some reason)
Eat dinner
Retreat into the boob tube zone

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Posted in Diary |

thankful thursday

Posted on April 18, 2013

It didn’t seem appropriate to bring up, what with the explosions and carnage and all, but on Monday we noted Whee Kelly Doll’s birthday.  We don’t know what day is her for-real birthday, only that it’s in the middle of April some time.  Since Tax Day is the only day in this week when no member of T-Moth’s family has a birthday, I assignedit to her.  It seemed appropriate, since Ms Terrierist can be taxing!

We didn’t really do anything particular for her birthday except say Happy Birthday a lot and give her lots of cuddles.  I’m hoping to buy her a new brush this weekend and go to work on her ear mats.  Her feathers are the worst, and with school so crazy I have been lax in her grooming.  We are going to spend some serious brush-time very soon…and maybe some scissors time.  Let her start fresh at both ends, although her buttfeathers are growing back (post-surgery) nicely already.

Anyway, I am thankful that, no matter how insane the world is, dogs are still dogs, and a good dog is good medicine for when the world is too much with us.

I am thankful that stores have changed and are changing their coupon policies, because nothing in life is free, and I use a reasonable amount of coupons, but I resent getting stuck helping to pay for extreme couponers’ hoards because you know the company isn’t eating the cost of all that; they’re passing it on.

I am thankful for a sense of humor.

I am thankful for warm weather and cool weather and sunshine and rain.

I am thankful for family and friends and other critters.

I am thankful for storytellers.

I am thankful the end of this degree program is in sight.

I am thankful for hope.

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Posted in Diary | Tags: kelly |

thankful thursday

Posted on April 11, 2013

Today I’m thankful again for my new lapatop, and the bag that lets me tote it around with me, and the super-cheap spare cord that I found on e-bay so that I don’t have to crawl around under the desk unplugging before I can achieve mobility.  I just close the lid, unplug the power and the external monitor, slide the machine in the bag, zip, and go.

I am thankful for the work of GB Trudeau, whose vintage Doonesbury strips are currently a large part of the wall between me and utter loss of mind.

I am thankful for hope.

I am thankful for critters who amuse me, and for people who tolerate me–and maybe even love me, sometimes.

Although it got a little too warm a little too quickly–my old body thermostat doesn’t adjust as fast as perhaps it should–I am thankful for weather both warm enough and cool enough to leave the door open so critters can come and go sometimes without me having to dash the length of the house.

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Posted in Diary | Tags: thankful thursday |

graduation, stress, self-pity, and panty hose

Posted on April 7, 2013

I received a letter from Clark State telling me all the details of graduation:  time, place, ticket availability, cap and gown purchase information, etc..

And then, it said, because they are having the graduation the same day as the last day of school, they will not actually be giving out diplomas, but blanks. Duds. Fakes.

Fah.

Now I am on the fence about this ceremony.

Thirty years ago in May, I received a vocational certificate.  In June, I received my high school diploma.  Both documents were the real deal, and I still have both of them. 

Why do they have to have the ceremony so soon that they can’t tell who is going to actually be eligible for graduation?  It seems so, well…stupid to me, to do it that way.  Why not wait two weeks?  Or a month?  The last week of school is the first week of May, so they could take plenty of time to be sure and still have the ceremony in June like a normal school.

I can’t imagine the soul-slaying humiliation of inviting my family to see me graduate and then…finding out weeks later that I didn’t actually graduate.  And it could happen; I am feeling pretty grim about Professional Development.  If I flunk that class, or any others, I will not be able to retake it (or them) until next spring, so next year would be the earliest I could actually graduate.

“Hi, Mom.  You know the graduation cermony you went to the hassle of attending?  Well, PSYCH!”

Also, the last time I bought pantyhose was thirteen years ago for our wedding.  I swore that would be the last time in life I would wear them.

If I’m going to break my promise and buy pantyhose, I by-the-cosmos want a real document.  Otherwise, I’m leaning toward no…

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Posted in Diary | Tags: school |

thankful thursday

Posted on April 4, 2013

Today I am thankful for warming weather.

For family, for friends both past and present, and for T-Moth, but special mention to Mom this week.  She is 72 and still has all her cognition, although she has expressed her doubts at times.  I think any slippage on her part has more to do with the volume of information there is in one’s brain after 72 years of life.

For reruns of Roseanne and Designing Women, which take the edge off.

I am thankful the Walking Dead is over for the season so I can concentrate for one more hour a week on my schoolwork.  I am also thankful for all you late arrivals to the zombie party (noob! fans) without whom there would be so many fewer zombie stories being told today.  True, there would be fewer bad ones also, but there would also be fewer good ones.

I am thankful (sad, but thankful) for a couple of hateful drama mamas that are no longer actively involved in my life.  I miss them, but not their…stuff.

I am thankful for the forgiving nature of dogs, dog cuddles, dog fur, even in my coffee, and Oliver, who somehow tolerates dogs and still comes around at least a couple of times a day to give and receive affection, and who is impervious to my mood.  “Busy?  All stressed out?  Nobody cares.  It is now time to pet me.  Commence stroking, Servant.”

And I’m thankful for ideas.  They don’t always–or even usually–come when I need them, but this time one did, and as a result I finished my portfolio cover page on time.

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Posted in Diary | Tags: school, thankful thursday |

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