New Season 9/28

First Friday of the new season and not as much new stuff as the previous days.

Moonlight - Vampire investigator, shades of Angel. But not as good or compelling. Its pretty average vampire stuff, but nothing like this on television currently so points there. Will give it a few more eps to grab my attention more.

Numbers - Same as the previous seasons. The wonders of math (and most probably exaggerated and not true). I liked it last season so probably will this season.

Las Vegas - James Caan (darn) and anarexic plastic surgery loving Nikki Cox are gone. Replaced by Tom Selleck. Who plays a cowboy. Literally. In both look and approach. To soon to tell if it too stupid to get past or just stupid enough to entertain. Ultimately Las Vegas remains popcorn movie of television. Its not there to study the human condition or teach. It just wants to entertain and most of the time it does just that.

Stargate: Atlantis - Sigh I miss Stargate. It did its job well - be entertaining. Atlantis does to, just not as well as the orginial. Still they do what no other show does on television (now) and have great cliffhangers and over the top story telling. Some compare it to Star Trek and Star Wars which isn't a fair comparison. Its not meant to be them. It just wants to tell a lot of stories in its own universe in an enteraining way which I have enjoyed immensely for 10 years and plan to continue to do so.

New Season 9/27

Ah the crowded Thursday. So many channels so little VCRs.

My Name Is Earl - Continues to be funny. The delicious Jamie Pressley continues to chew scenery.

The Office - I am entertained by the show but I notice I don't actually laugh that much. Its one of those that if I missed it, I wouldn't particularly care.

ER - Its ER. The formula hasn't changed a bit with just enough interesting characters to overcome the crappy ones. With the help of the trusty remote can usually speed through an hour ep in about half hour by skipping the uninteresting story arcs of the ep.

Smallville - Drool, the lovely and gorgeous Allison Mack. Her character continues to be the emotional center of the show and she continues to show why with acting skills that far far outpaces the others. I was entertained by the ending teaser with Supergirl flying...well they might want to spend a little more on those flying effects.

CSI - The original remains the best. Sara remains alive (darn) but the episode was intense and well paced. Remains on the must see list.

Without a Trace - More episodes I watch the less interested I keep becoming. Even the introduction of James Marsters may not be enough to keep me watching through the season.

Ugly Betty - More of the same of first season and thats not a good thing. Lot of storyline recyling and I am simply getting bored with it.

Grey's Anatomy - Me thinks the launching of Private Practice is running the writing staff and others ragged as its clearly suffering. Hopefully it will find its legs but I don't know if I have the patience to wait. The long series of will he or she that goes on and on and on is getting really really boring.

Big Shots - I like the cast. The funny comes and goes but don't know if will stick with. I will give it a few more eps to make sure.

New Season 9/26

Oops thought I had done this already and discovered I hadn't. So on to pocket reviews of Wednesday programs.

Private Practice - DOA unless it improves and quickly. It frankly bored me. The addison character is lovely, but the emsemble as a whole doesn't hold my attention. Considering the calibur of the cast, I am thinking its the writing thats dropping the ball.

Dirty Sexy Money - Hmmm Zoe McCellan. Fan of hers for quite a while. Lovely women. Not enough to get me to keep watching this show. Its has a lot of potential but the whining of the rich and famous just doesn't grab my interest.

Criminial Minds - Fabulous as always and good job of making use of Mandy in the one episode he will be in before his famous walkout. I hope more shows learn from this and remember that the talent can be and should be replaced when their ego gets in the way of getting the job done. Any case, another outstanding if depressing ep and a show that remains on my must see list.

CSI:NY - Still the red-headed stepchild of the CSI franchise. Despite my best efforts I just can't get that into this show. I think I watch more out of habit then real interest. I notice I zone out more and more while watching this show and just don't seem to care.

Back To You - Its got Fraiser playing Frasier as a newscaster. I laughed and was entertained so mission accomplished. Probably already clearing shelf space for Emmy's even though its no where near that good.

Bionic Women - Lots of potential. Katie Sackhoff pretty much steals every scene she is in. Also she somehow became sexy. Not sure when that happened. Very odd. The show could be good, very good but something is holding it back but can't put my finger on it. Lack of imagniation might be part of the problem...or budget. Saddling Jamie with a sister she has to raise wasn't a good move either. They want to humanize the character and rather doing it the hard way - through the story, they decided to go lazy by giving her the abusive father abandons sister she must raise backstory. The problem is the usual problem with giving characters kids in dramas...you have to keep dealing with them. To ignore their existence is to make the person a crappy parent which is not a good characteristic for the hero. Even the pilot ep showed how they had no idea what to do with the kid now that they where saddled with her. Big problem. Jettison the sister as soon as possible and focus on the rest of the adult emsemble. Dang that was long but the sister bit really really dragged the pilot episode down and is very very lazy writing which doesn't bode well for the future of this series.

Life - This is a strange show with a strange character. Sarah Shahi and Brooke Langston where yummy throughout but I can't determine if I like it or not. I am going to give it a few more eps before making up my mind.

Gossip Girl - Didn't watch this week but did last week. Was bored throughout. Once again the whining of the rich and famous just doesn't interest me.

New Season 9-25

More TV, more comments to share on the stuff I decided to watch.

House - Hey its House. Same as the last seasons. He is still a dick. He still gets it "right" yet somehow wrong. In the real world he would have been tossed out long ago and broke from lawsuits. But in TV land he continues to amuse and I personally am looking forward to his interviews "survivor" style that will be running theme of the next few eps.

Law and Order: SVU - Same as last season. Continues to entertain while being a bit disturbing. One of the best dramas on TV.

Boston Legal - Hmm I like and don't like the show. The casting director continues to have an eye for beauty. The writing (and acting) continues to be over the top. Shatner continues to chew the scenery while really having very little to do. Basically at this point its 50% boring, 50% entertaining, but the entertaining part is usually so well done its worth the boring.

Beauty and the Geek - I am a geek so it speaks to me. Sadly the "Aspiring" Playmate Amanda was kicked, probably resulting in an excellent rebound that would make a basketball proud if she landed chest first when kicked out. The sentiment and humanity of the show's first season remains on vacation and unlikely to return.

Reaper - The pilot ep was directed by Kevin Smith. How do you know this? Because the credits tell you. Otherwise its presentation was no different then any other show. As for the show itself, its like Supernatural with a better sense of humor. Overall entertaining and worth checking it.

New Season 9-24

The new season has started across the board for the big 4. Yesterday Fox started things with their cartoon lineup. Simpsons missed a step on the ep and wasted Colbert. King of the Hill was good if slightly over the top. Family Guy was completely over the top and hilarious as always.

So now to Monday. Lots of new stuff and lots of returning favorites. Being lazy, not going to do paragraphs of reviews, more just blurbs of what I thought of the stuff I watched or recorded.

How I Met Your Mother - Hilarious as always. I miss Alyson Hannigan's red hair. She is still hot, but considering how rare natural redheads are, just don't get this tendency to die it away.

CSI: Miami - New season, same stories. Its entertaining enough but it appears the Horatio with son storyline is going to be as tedious as all his family related storylines from seasons past.

Prison Break - Second ep. Still not sure if my attention is grabbed. Everything is a little to easy this season. "Whistler" has been hiding for years in a hole and suddenly everyone knows where he is. The water pipes have been broken for a year and boom, our hero knows exactly where and what to do to fix the problem. I don't know, its tiresome. Hopefully the prison break will not take all season long. Don't think can wait that long.

Chuck - The pilot ep was very entertaining. Overall its a show I will continue to watch and it doesn't hurt to have the beautiful eye candy in the form of Sarah Lancaster (currently wasted) and Yvonne Strzechowski. Worth checking out if you haven't already.

Heroes - Woot season 2 begins. New mysteries to discover including the murder of George Takai (darnit). If you liked the first season, there is not reason not to watch the second.

Journeyman - Good first ep. The time traveling motif can be very entertaining if handled well. So far so good. The only problem is while the dude is in the past, time still moves forward in the present. The result is having to explain sudden and sometimes long disappearances to his family and friends. This is fine as a short term character device, but 22 eps of explaining those disappearances is going to get very old very quick. Hopefully a permanent solution will present itself by mid-season.

Google Sued For Secret SSN Code

In a sign of the stupidity of many in our times, Dylan Jayne is suing Google for 5 billion because of their name. Or as he puts it "I, Dylan Stephan Jayne, plaintiff, has a social security number that when the social security number is turned upside down in its entirety it is a scrambled code that does spell the name Google." Oh yeah, and all five pages of the lawsuit is handwritten in the format that most lawsuits of this nature follow.

Ironically, considering how much traction even obvious frivolous lawsuits get in the US, Jacob has a 50/50 chance of actually winning this.

Special Comment: Bush's Hypocrisy

Keith Olbermann had another special comment yesterday on Countdown (transcript here). This time he tears into for his comments regarding the "Betray Us" ad from moveon.org. Olbermann does an excellent job of point out Bush's hypocrasy using recent history with Swift boating Kerry, Max Cleland "cowardice", the overall fear focused campaigning and how apparently for Bush's goals, there is not such thing as a low blow. Olbermann also uses American history to highlight that until Bush, Presidents tried to keep a clear line between the military and civilian branches. Basically the rules is leave the politics to the politicians and the generals to protecting the country. Instead, thanks to Bush, a general has been used to promote a political agenda. The "pimping" of General Petraeus. Bush is the worst president in the history of this country and he continues to prove why this is the case.

Kathy "the Anti-Christ" Griffin Larry King Interview

Kathy Griffin is enjoying a little bit of the controvery spotlight do to her comments of not thanking Jesus for her Emmy win, saying "he had nothing to do with it." Christian groups, mostly wanting more donations, pounced all over it. Apparently, it IS actually a rule you are supposed to thank Jesus for helping you win stuff. As Kathy points out, you would think Jesus would have better things to do then help celebrities and athletes win awards. According the the Christian groups, I guess that is not the case.

Countdown 9/11 To Iraq Summary of Failure

Keith Olbermann on Countdown yesterday put together a solid list of the lies and failures of the bush administration in using 9/11 to bring about the Iraqi War. Its just highlights what a complete and utter failure the Bush administration has been from day 1 where failure gets you promoted and awards.

A video can be found here.

Jon Stewart Hosting 2008 Oscars

According to the New York Times, Jon Stewart has been tapped to once again host the 2008 Oscars. He previousily hosted in 2006.

Great news as I thought his hosting performance last time was great and hoping he brings more Daily Show humor to it this time. He had a touch last time but I say more the merrier. The Oscars are too darn stuffy as it is.
(source)

9/11 - Six Years Later

Its now been six years to the day. A lot of things have happened. Some good, but sadly most bad. The years in between have not been good for this country as the leadership has failed in every way possible. As always time moves on. Below is the post 9/11 commentary from Jon Stewart that really summarizes everything. Its continues to be a solid message of hope and one worth repeating.

Insurance Tactics to Cheat Victims

Bloomberg.com has posted an article that covers the tactics the various insurance carriers use to avoid making payments or full payments. The worse offenders seem to be State Farm and especially Allstate who hired consultants to develop new methods to avoid payments that have become industries standard practices. Suffice it to say, read the article so know how they are trying to screw you and consider switching insurance carriers if your with State Farm and Allstate.

Click here to read the full article.

New iPod Lineup from Apple

Today Steve Jobs hosted a keynote that introduced an entire updated line of iPods and modified iTunes store. The highlights include a new colors for the iPod Shuffle, a new designed nano with screen, the iPod Video (now Classic), and the iPod Touch. In addition iTunes has got an update with allowing the creating of ring tones (for 99 cents) and wi-fi music store. The details are below.

iPod Shuffle
- same design, same price ($79), additional new colors of dark red, purple, light blue, light green and red (for AIDS charity program for various electronic products).
- In stores this weekend

iPod Nano
- 2 models 4GB ($149) and 8GB ($199)
- basically a tiny iPod Video
- now has video capability and new user interface with Cover Flow and 3 games built in
- 2 inch QVGA 320x240 screen that is 65% brighter then previous models with 204 pizels per inch
- comes in dark red, purple, light blue and light green colors
- battery life: 24 hours audio or 5 hours video
- Available in stores this weekend
- Hands-on and pics: here and here and here

iPod Classic
- now 80GB ($249) and 160GB ($349) in size
- new GUI interface, but overall same as iPod Video its replacing
- all polished steel body except for clickwheel
- Cover Flow built in (but not as smooth as on iPhone)
- battery life: 40 hours audio or 7 hours video
- In stores by the weekend
- Hands-on and pics: here and here and here

iPod Touch
- basically the iPhone without phone capabilities
- touchscreen Cover Flow, Wi-Fi, Safari web browswer, iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store and YouTube but no email application
- Flash drives so 8GB model ($299) and 16GB model ($399)
- 3.5 inch widescreen display with light sensor to autodim the screen
- 8mm thin
- battery life: 22 hours audio or 5 hours video, no info on wi-fi does to battery though
- Ships worldwide by end of the month
- Walkthrough video here
- Hands-on and pics: video, and here and here and here

iTunes
- Now ability to create customized ring tones from 12 to 21 seconds in length using a graphic editor
- Ring tones made from existing library but costs an additional 99 cents.
- Ring tones for iPhone only.
- iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store available to download purchased songs directly from a wi-fi connection and later sync to new purchases back to desktop on iPod Touch and iPhone
- No mention on if/how podcasts and the like would work.
- Deal with Starbucks to sample and later purchase songs playing at Starbucks stores nationwide. Will take a year or so to roll out in the stores though.
- Hands-on and pics: here and here

iPhone
- $200 price drop for 8GB model (now $399), 4GB discontinued (remaining discounted to $299)
- update in less then month will introduce iTunes Wi-Fi store (I assume will come out at same time as iPod Touch)

Overall, if you in the market for an iPod, its a tough choice to make. Want video, just a player, like the bells and whistles of a touch screen? Five models, but lots of choices depending on your needs. Personally, I want the iPod Touch but the price is making me pause and wait it out. Not enough memory to make it worthwhile. Besides I want to see what the hack community does to that puppy.

Olbermann Special comment: No Credibility

Keith Olbermann tears into the Bush for playing with the lives and future of this country for his cavalier attitude about Iraq. Bush has said in a new book approved by him "I am playing for October-November...To get us in a position where the presidential candidates, will be comfortable about sustaining a presence." This statement makes it clear that Bush's goal is to sustain the war for indefinite period of time, no end in sight and no definition of what that end is. Basically Haliburton wants its fiscal year and be damned with the lives it costs. Or as Keith puts it "your holding our troops hostage." Most people call behavior like this evil. Because couched in terms of unproven terrorism fears though, we call it leadership. Pathetic.