The No Camera Lament

Why oh why did I not have my camera on Saturday when I drove past a bank on route 50 that had obviously just been robbed. The parking lot was cordoned off with yellow police tape and there were cops all in the parking lot. Would have been a great picture.

TV Reality....or something

The TV reality season is definitely winding down. I'm sort of sad, but also sort of happy. Sad because it will be four months until I can once again enjoy Phil Keoghan of the Amazing Race in my living room. But also...no more Donald. And, more importantly, no more crazy Paula Abdul/Simon Callow/Randy Jackson. So let's take these one by one.

1. The Amazing Race
I'm an unabashed fan. I love Phil, I love the competetion, I love the vicarious travel. I mean, I know I would never want to eat giant bowl full of deep fried crickets, but through the magic of television I can enjoy dirty hippies doing this exact thing. With Three teams left. Eric and Jeremy (aka the Frats) - previously annoying because of their constant attempts to convince the home audience they are straight and can get plenty of chicks, thank you very much. My reaction? Just admit you are gay and in love with another because you're a totally cute couple and would be much more tolerable if you weren't totally overcompensating. Ray and Yolanda - she's awesome (amazing legs), he's a stiff, they've probably already broken up. Get a personality please, haven't offended me, but I don't love them either. Bj and Tyler (aka the Hippies) - yikes. A divisive team, since I hate them, all my friends like 'em. I'll give all three teams: they seem to be enjoying the race, and they don't have a tendency to yell at each other and blame each other for small mistakes.

Verdict: I don't have a clear favorite. I'd be less thrilled if the Hippies won, but they are less objectionable than other teams that have won in previous seasons.

2. American Idol
The whole reason this post exists. Because there were two brilliant articles in the Washington Post today: this one by Robin Ghivan (who so completely deserves her Pulitzer prize because she has an incisive eye for decoding the meaning of fashion): We Get the Idols We Deserve, and Lisa de Moraes continuing series of We Watch So You Don't Have To, which analyzes each episode. I don't really have a favorite in American Idol, I'm not really invested. But Robin Ghivan's article made me laugh outloud on the bus this morning, and that, alone, is reason to highlight her and spread the Cult of Robin (I've been a member for several years.).

3. The Apprentice
Ah, The Donald. I'm old enough to have had a subscription to the late, lamented Spy magazine (warning: the Wikipedia article has a nude picture of Schwarzenegger), which lambasted the Donald as a "short fingered vulgarian", a term I still apply to him. However, I am completely addicted to the antics of the Apprentice. The horrible people who apply to be on the show (though last season had the nadir of the awful, useless Toral) are the main attraction. I freely admit that I have bought products because they were highlighted on the show, so they're accomplishing their goal: to get Americans to buy Trail Mix Grape Nuts. And I'll tell you this not for nothin': those Grape-Nuts were downright tasty. We're down to the last five contestants: it's hard to know quite who will go next. I can only hope the weasly Lee goes next. Or the oily Sean. I will say that I do quite like Trump's improbably named daughter Ivanka. She's very sensible with good observations and comments.

The season winds up in the next few weeks - different endings for different shows - but all will certainly come to an end. It's been a decent season for reality television. Especially since The Amazing Race was recovering from the hideousness that was the Family Edition. The Apprentice is par for the course, and every edition of American Idol is "the best" ever, so I take that with a grain of salt. But all of them hugely entertaining, which is all I really require.

It must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

Just a quick middle of the morning post because I found this awesome site with many Douglas Adams quotations. And this makes me happy.

I've been IMing on GoogleChat lately, and all week I've been doing daily quotes for my status that correspond to the weekeday (Monday was "Another Manic Monday"), and today I didn't think I had one until I was like, ah yes, "It must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays." One of my friends asked about the quote, never having read Hitchhiker's, which sent me out on a search for a list of Douglas Adams quotations, since the man seems like he was a reincarnation of Oscar Wilde, what with the pithy quotes at the ready and all.

Water, Water Everywhere

You know, I've had my share of water related disasters. The water seeping into my bedroom from the condo above me. Waking up at 5:30 am and hearing dripping coming from inside the house, signaling that my pressure release valve needed to be replaced, like, right then. And then, yesterday, I got home and I heard this sound by the couch. At first I thought the cat was scratching the couch, and I hollered "Stop!" And the cat walks in from the bedroom like, "What?" So then I'm like, what the hell is that noise? Yeah. Water is dripping in through my window casement from upstairs. Luckily it was mostly dripping on the window sill. So I went upstairs, rang the bell, no one home. I came back, put a towel under it, wrote a note, and went to the gym. When I got back they were like, "Oh my god! We're fixing it right now! Is everything okay?" They came down and looked at it and apologized and were very nice about it. I actually think there's no damage, since it wasn't coming though the ceiling. So, that's my three, right? My three water related things? I'm done, right? My own and then one each from the two sets of condos above me, right? At least I didn't cry this time.

I'm going to level a book recommendation at y'all. I missed my last book club because I had to work, so I put off reading the book. So I finally did read it, and I have to say, I highly recommend Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (most well known for The Remains of the Day). I will admit, I have never read him before, but I just loved this book. He's deceptive. The book seems very artless, but it builds the tension of the story and is essential to how the plot of the story unfolds. I can't really say more than that without revealing more about the book, but...go out and read it. Great book.

Also, I'll go ahead and recommend Akeelah and Bee. It is sort of predictable, but solid performances. Angela Basset is beautiful and could kick my ass blindfolded (she's got some guns on her), Larry Fishburne solid, as always. Keke Palmer was cute and believable. And the guy who plays the Crab Man in My Name is Earl was in it as a gangster, which I just realized randomly this morning at work.

Edited like, ten seconds after I posted the above:

The Washington Post has an article about Sopranos stars running into trouble the dude who plays Artie Bucco got pulled over with a blood alcohol level of .12 (limit is, of course, .08), and the kid who plays Tony's new driver (recipient of a beat down from the big guy), for breaking into a woman's home. However, to me, the funniest part of this article is this:

"Robert Iler, who plays Tony's rebellious son, pleaded guilty to mugging two other youths and stealing $40. He was given three years' probation."

Damn. What was he thinkin' on that one? Forty bucks isn't even worth it.