Quick Hits

So, I’m probably the only person who will check out this page; it’s just a way to keep track of the things I watch on a given day but don’t blog about.  Just trying to get a handle on where all my watching time goes, especially considering the stack of DVDs I own but have never watched.

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15 March 2009- let’s just say I’m up to date on 30 Rock, Lost, Battlestar Galactica (sadly about to end), and Dollhouse (which I’m definitely not sold on yet).  Watched Kung Fu Panda, which was nice eye candy but pretty dull and predictable, unfortunately.

3 March 2009- AND, I’m back!  Wow, what a layoff.  The latest episode of How I Met Your Mother (I’m a full on fan now) and Lola Rennt (stylish filmmaking, Manni is the worst whiny boyfriend in history, and Franka Potente is gorgeous).

5 December 2008- Yikes!  Been a long time since I updated this.  Let’s just say that as of today, I’ve seen a bit of Sportscenter just about every day, I’m caught up on 30 Rock as of last night (“Class Reunion”, which was a bloody brilliant episode), and I’m up to date on Dexter, too (the inevitable showdown between Dex and Miguel is a comin’, and it’s about time).

20 November 2008- a wee bit of O Brother, Where Art Thou? in HD (looked very nice); the last two eps of Fringe (an actual post will actually be coming by next week); 30 Rock 3.3.

19 November 2008- the most recent two installments of Dexter.  Extended digression time: this is kind of a maddening show.  Michael C. Hall is a terrific actor and the best thing about this show by a mile.. which says a lot about him but also a lot about how bad other parts of Dexter are.  I really like Dex’s strange new friendship with Miguel, not to mention the ongoing commitment to a “normal” life, but I find the concept of Dexter as an actual force for social good to be confounding.  From the beginning, it’s been clear that Dexter really isn’t interested in following the Code of Harry because there’s some righteousness in it; the Code is strictly a means of evading detection, and the removal of bad people is merely a side effect.  It doesn’t bother me that Dexter has forgotten this; it bothers me that the writers have.

18 November 2008- After a looooooong layoff from the telly, a return to the DVR.  Last night’s How I Met Your Mother, plus 30 Rock 3.2.

8 November 2008- the most recent episode of Fringe; last Sunday’s Dexter.  Also, Sandra and I had Rounders and L.A. Confidential on while playing our new favorite board game, Agricola.  Oh, and then we thought it’d be fun to check out a movie On Demand, and so chose Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.  Among many phrases I might choose to describe this movie, “thoroughly unfunny” seems most apt.  Maybe it’s just because Johnny Cash is a sort of sacred cow to me, but I really really really did not find this comedy to be funny.  Yikes.

6 November 2008- the third season premiere of 30 Rock.  Also, a side note- I haven’t really watched a movie in awhile, but Blade Runner has been on my mind a lot lately, so it’s probably about time I revisit that old friend.

5 November 2008- the most recent How I Met Your Mother (this show is really growing on me), Dexter from a week and a half ago (I haven’t made up my mind on this third season yet, but I’m intrigued by the serial-killer-becoming-devoted-family-man storyline).

4 November 2008- election coverage, as you might expect.  Flipping back and forth between Fox News and CNN HD is kinda interesting…

1 Novermber 2008- more episodes of 30 Rock season two.

31 October 2008- actually, quite a lot of viewing today.  The Midnight Meat Train, Kill Bill Vol.1, Meet The Parents (does this film qualify for oldie but goodie status now?), a little bit of Night Of The Living Dead- it is Halloween, after all.

29 October 2008- Episode 1.5 of Fringe, and then a few more episodes of 30 Rock.  Also, I started trying to catch up on Entourage, but decided that would be a waste of time and just deleted the most recent installments from our DVR.

28 October 2008- the first day after a good visit from my mother, so Sandra and I are catching up on TV; the season finale of Mad Men and an episode of Dexter.  Also, we watched several episodes from the second season of 30 Rock.

23 October 2008- the first hour of Zodiac with my visiting mother; I’ve been pushing this movie on her for awhile, and we’ll hopefully finish it this weekend.

19 October 2008- the penultimate Mad Men.  An interesting episode, it kind of followed the pattern of The Sopranos- the typical episode focuses more on character and small developments, but occasionally (usually right before season end) you get a big push on the big plots.  “The Mountain King” was all about those big plots.  A good one, but not as good at last weeks “The Jet Set.”

14 October 2008- the newest episode of Mad Men, “The Jet Set”- my friend Natasha led me to believe this was a mediocre episode, but I couldn’t disagree more.  I thought it was spectacular, just absolutely brilliant.

13 October 2008- the latest episode of How I Met Your Mother, “Intervention”, which was pretty good; a bit of Braylon Edwards frustrating my fantasy football team on Monday Night Football

11 October 2008- assorted bits of College Football; Atonement (which I’ve seen and enjoyed previously)

10 October 2008- Real Time With Bill Maher, and not a very good episode.

9 October 2008- Fringe 1.3 and 1.4- the show is definitely getting better, and it’s conjuring images of another J.J. Abrams show, Alias.  This is good and bad, good like the exciting and mysterious first coupla seasons, but bad like the last several when the show collapsed under the weight of its own overloaded mythology.  I’m cautiously optimistic…

8 October 2008- Heroes 3.3 (“I Am Become Death”), which may have finally kicked me off of the show’s bandwagon, just a profoundly disappointing (but sadly typical) episode of the show

7 October 2008- Presidential Debate #2

5 October 2008- lotsa catching up; 2 eps each of Mad Men, Dexter, and the new show Fringe.  Fringe will likely get its own blog post soon.

2 October 2008- The Vice Presidential Debate, and I have just one comment: why do people (in this case, one of the VP candidates) still pronounce the word “nuclear” as “newk-yah-ler”?

1 October 2008- After a long layoff from TV watching (working a lot, then a great weekend in Chicago, then more working a lot), I finally started watching some new Fall programs.  Caught the first two weeks worth of “Heroes”, and enjoyed it but found the storylines a bit too familiar.  Oh, and at some point last week I watched the season finale of “Burn Notice”.

25 September 2008- Oregon State’s glorious victory over Southern Cal, and all the Sportscenter gloating afterward!

22 September 2008- after a rather extended break from any viewings, the season premiere of “How I Met Your Mother” (started paying attention last season as my wife watched it, and it’s growing on me)

16 September 2008- “Mad Men” 2.7 (or is 2.8?  Can’t recall, but I haven’t missed an episode yet); a little bit of the season premiere of “House” (which, as a hypochondriac, I typically can’t watch).  Otherwise, not much TV at all this week.

14 September 2008- the season premiere of “Saturday Night Live” on DVR (I swear, there really was a time when the show was funny.  Seriously, I used to laugh while watching it.  I’m telling you these are real memories, I’m not inventing them!)

13 September 2008- the last half of Spiderman 3 (what a POS); the Michigan/ND football game (what a POS).

12 September 2008- the last 30 minutes of The Devil’s Advocate; the penultimate “Burn Notice” (I’ll probably be doing an extended post on the the complete second season when it’s done).

8 September-11 September 2008- working a ton at my job, so not much viewing beyond a little Sportscenter here and there, and a little bit of the “Burn Notice” marathon before work yesterday; pretty rigorously stayed away from news yesterday.

7 September 2008- a little football (wanted to find a way to watch the Lions, but was quite glad I didn’t see that slaughter); “Mad Men” 2.6; a little bit of the pilot for “True Blood”- it looks well made and all, but I didn’t feel much of a hook, and besides that I’m getting plenty of metaphor from “Mad Men”.

5 September 2008- not much TV lately, other than Sarah Palin’s speech and a little sports news here and there; our friend Laura has been visiting, and she likes playing Rock Band, so that’s been most of our TV time lately; did see a few minutes of Gus Van Sant’s copy of Psycho (just as bad as I remembered); no TV this evening- more Rock Band and then Salsa dancing with Laura!

31 August 2008- the last half hour of Last Night (a personal favorite of mine; if it was available on DVD, I’d definitely own a copy); CNN coverage of Hurrican Gustav; bits and pieces of Transformers, “Dexter”, and Casino; “Mad Men” 2.5

30 August 2008- the U of M/Utah game; sigh.

25-28 August 2008- The Democratic National Convention; highlights for me were speeches by Hillary Clinton, Brian Schweitzer, John Kerry and Barack Obama (whether you agree with his politics or not, that guy’s an amazing public speaker, isn’t he?)

19 August 2008- Superbad (quite rather funny, which is pretty much all that needs to be said about it)

18 August 2008- the final 2 episodes of Season 2 of “Dexter”, Grindhouse (I think my original take on the film was that Planet Terror makes a weak first half, while Death Proof is pretty good; this viewing reconfirmed those opinions for me.)

17 August 2008- “Mad Men” 2.4, “Dexter” 2.7 & 2.8 (quite a variation in show types there- “Mad Men” episodes tend to be self-contained and set in this particular world with character development serving as the superstory, so to speak; “Dexter” is more about the continuation of the plot throughline, and the tension is ratcheting up as we get to the end of Season 2.)

16 August 2008- not much TV, due to a pool party and lots of Wii games- Rock Band and Mario Kart Wii!

15 August 2008- more of Zodiac (while checking email and headlines), Bad Boys, a few minutes of Ocean’s 13, “Dexter” 2.4, 2.5 & 2.6

14 August 2008- the first half of No Country For Old Men, “Mad Men” 2.3, “Burn Notice” (the new episode), the last half of The House of Usher (2007) which was a waste of time, bits and pieces of Zodiac (which I could watch almost every day)

11 August 2008- a little “Sportscenter” this morning, but that’s about it-  been working on a script revision; Shooter (2007, and not great but definitely BTIT… until the last 20 minutes, where it goes from entertaining but preachy to batsh!t crazy)

10 August 2008- the last half of Saw (because I’m a moron), the first 15 minutes of Saw II (because I’m a moron- seriously, I get home from a very good meeting of my screenwriting group, and then lazily watch parts of Saw and Saw II???), Transformers (while Shia LaBeouf does have more charisma and acting ability then I typically give him credit for, I still maintain that he’s a movie star strictly because Hollywood keeps telling us that he is; nice SFX too, obviously…)

9 August 2008- The Dark Knight again to allay my cabin fever, Saturday night olympic programming

8 August 2008- CNN (expecting to see news on Georgia-South Ossetia conflict and civilian deaths, but treated to much more important story of John Edwards’ affair), “Dexter” 2.3 & 2.4

7 August 2008- “In The Edges- Grizzly Man” (doc about creating the music for Grizzly Man), “Burn Notice” newest episode, “Dexter” 2.1 & 2.2

6 August 2008- The first 30 minutes of Mr. Woodcock (rancid), “Metalacolypse” Season 1 Disc 2 (awe. some.), Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (oldie but goodie POS), the last 30 minutes of The Insider

5 August 2008- The Asphalt Jungle, “Mad Men” 2.2

4 August 2008- Jackass, Jackass 2, Kill Bill Vol. I and Kill Bill Vol. II

1 August 2008- 40 minutes of Air Force One, the first 4 episodes of “Metalacolypse” (awesome), Vantage Point (so bad that it’ll get a blog post when I’m not sick)

30 July 2008- Ocean’s 13

29 July 2008- Missing