Netflix Tuesday - 8/24

 I need to hear from someone who was around in the 60's and early 70's about the quality of movies that were made about the Vietnam war during this period. Off the top of my head I can't think of any movies that actually addressed the war directly. MASH made a commentary on the war but used a backdrop of the Korean war to make its point. The John Wayne vehicle The Green Berets turned out to be more of a pro-war propaganda piece rather than a film that made any kind of statement on the war.

It wasn't until the late 70's that powerful movies like The Deer Hunter and Coming Home began to show up in theaters. However, these movies attempted to make their point by examining the struggles of those returning home from the war. Aside from Apocalypse Now, it wasn't until the late 80's early 90's, nearly twenty years after the war ended, that we began to see movies that told the story of the soldiers and their experiences in the jungles of Vietnam.

So, how good have the films made about the Iraq/Afghanistan war been? Whether you're for or against the war you probably have to agree that we've had one truly great film on the subject, The Hurt Locker, a really good miniseries, Generation Kill and a mixed bag of other mediocre to terrible movies. Unless you're a big Jake Gyllenhaal fan and you thought Jarhead was the tits (it wasn't).

And on that note......

Green Zone - Don't See -This is just another in an increasingly long line of mediocre to bad movies made about the war in Iraq. Unfortunately, Green Zone follows a very familiar recipe. Get a cast of good talent, Matt Damon, Greg Kinear, Amy Ryan and Brendan Gleeson. Then provide them a poor script to shoot. Ugh. I found myself bored throughout the movie. Maybe it was poor writing or maybe it's just too hard to write a good mystery when the secret is obvious and pretty well known. Either way this movie misses big.






One Day in September - See - Pretty good documentary on the Israeli hostage crisis during the 1972 Munich Olympics. I say good but not great mostly because it drags on a bit too long. The most compelling part the documentary is how badly the Munich/German authorities handled the situation. From their refusal to bring in an experienced military strike force their use of terrible intel to having a strike team quit minutes before they were to spring a trap on the terrorists. The interviews with family members of the hostages border on gut wrenching and you can't help but feel a bit sick and angry while the one surviving terrorist proclaims how proud he is of what they accomplished.



The Losers - Don't See -I hate when actors I really like are in movies I really hate. This is the case with this movie and Idris Elba. You should know him as Stringer Bell from The Wire. If not, stop reading, go to Best Buy and get The Wire box set. You can then return once you've watched all 60 episodes. Don't worry, I'll wait. Don't waste your time with this movie however. It's ridiculously terrible. On top of it being a terrible movie, it stars Chris Evans. The same d-bag that plays The Human Torch in those horrible Fantastic Four movies. I wanted to make a rule that I wouldn't see any more movies this guy is in until I looked up his IMDB resume and saw that he's in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and has been cast as Captain America in the upcoming movie of the same name and then plays the role again in The Avengers. Thanks Hollywood for trying to ruin one of my favorite comics.

The Day of the Jackal - See -The latest in my 70's classics series. There is very little chance a movie like this could be released today. It takes patience to watch this movie. They tell you upfront what is going to happen and when but the story is the journey to the accomplish the objective. The journey develops slow and methodically but never boring. There is a beautiful cat and mouse game being played between the Jackal and the authorities trying to hunt him down and you never know whether he can stay one step ahead of them. All the way up until the last scene the movie keeps you captivated and even in those final moments you're still unsure who you want to succeed. There's a crappy Bruce Willis remake from about 10 years ago called The Jackal. Don't waste your time, it sucks. Go rent this instead it's worth it.

Rollergirls season 1 disc 3 - ? - One disc left then my verdict but I do love me some Roller derby chicks.

Are you ready for some TV? pt. 5 AMC/FX

The good and bad about AMC and F/X is that they generally don't run their shows in the traditional Fall and Spring time periods. It's good because they keep all of us in fresh programming year round. The bad part is I'm never really sure when new seasons start.

Luckily for everyone, AMC and F/X are home to some of the best, most innovative shows on all of television. It helps that they aren't required to conform to the over censored restrictions of network television. Don't underestimate the value of this for the writers. The commercial breaks during the hour long shows are better spaced than on network television and allow stories to flow more evenly and lead to more natural breaking points.
 
The All-Pros
 
I'm not including Mad Men or Breaking Bad on this list because they won't be back until next summer. However, it goes without saying that both are All-Pros and two of the five best shows on television. This is not to disparage It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League and Sons of Anarchy because all three of them are also All-Pros.





Fall Roster

Sons of Anarchy - FX Tues 9c - I was late to the Sons party but I'm here to stay now. Katie Sagal was completely jobbed by the Emmy's. Her season two performance was more than outstanding. I would like to comment on the story lines going forward into season three but I won't have a chance to see the season two finale until next week. Long live SAMCRO.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - FX Thur 9c - By far, this is the funniest show on television. I have the entire series on DVD and I still keep about thirty episodes saved on my DVR. If you've never seen Sunny then before you read any more you should go out buy the first 5 seasons on DVD and watch them back to back. If you don't want to do that at least start DVRing the four repeat episodes Comedy Central is showing every Monday night.



The League - FX Thur 9:30c -When I wrote about Community and Modern Family being the best rookie offerings last year, I completely neglected The League. Both of those other shows had full seasons to work with while The League packed just as many laughs into just six episodes. I loved the cast and being a long time fantasy football veteran there were a lot of truths in the writing. They were able to cleverly weave actual NFL story lines into the episodes. I'm interested to see how the show wears over a full thirteen episode run but I'm confident they'll get it right. Here's hoping Taco has enough Three Penis Wine to last all thirteen episodes.




Veterans trying to avoid being cut

None. These networks aren't making half-assed shows. Their entire lineups are worth the DVR space.

Rookies trying to make it

Terriers - FX Wed 9c - I'm a big believer in track records that goes for actors, directors and producers. If you ever wonder if a show is going to be good take a look at the IMDB resumes of the people involved. You'll find people who are involved with one successful show will work on others because producers and directors like to work with people they know and trust.  The creators of Terriers were the producers of Ocean's Eleven and The Shield. Based on that knowledge along with Donal Logue as the lead, I'm expecting a gritty drama with slick witty dialogue.

Rubicon - AMC Sun 8c -Rubicon has been on for a few weeks now and has been getting better with each episode. The story moves at a slow methodical pace allowing the audience to form a relationship with the characters and the underlying conspiracy driving the show. I've heard the ratings have been pretty abysmal so I'm hoping the show is given a chance to develop an audience. Based on the first month or so it appears to be heading in a similar direction as The X Files, where the writers divide time between stories involving individual cases at API and the series long conspiracy story.



Walking Dead - AMC Oct - Post apocalyptic zombie world. OK I'm in.

Are you ready for some TV? pt. 4 NBC

Ron Swanson American Hero

Seriously, what's the best we can hope for from the same people that put The Jay Leno Show on in prime time five days a week. These people have already proven their stupidity, now they can only build on it. That's exactly what they've done this season. It takes a special kind of idiot to take one of your best shows, Park and Recreation, out of your lineup and replace it with what sounds like one of the dumber premises this season, Outsourced. Parks and Recreation had really hit its stride last season and was only building steam with the additions of Adam Scott and Rob Lowe so of course it should be pulled from the fall lineup and not be brought back until the spring. That strategy has never backfired.

NBC is the only network that doesn't have a new show worth checking out. The Event? No thanks, I'll keep getting my conspiracy fix from Rubicon. The Chase? Jerry Bruckheimer and I'm out. Maybe I'll Netflix Chuck and give it a shot. Although, since I've heard good things about it NBC will soon give it the Friday Night Lights purgatory treatment.

Fall Roster

Alison Brie. That is all.

Community - Thurs 7c - Community ran neck and neck with Modern Family for best new show all last season. Unlike, Glee when Community broke out a theme show, they nailed it. The Modern Warfare episode was probably one of the five best episodes in all television last season. Each member of this outstanding cast (Britta not withstanding) has found their comedy sweet spot and the writers have continued to find creative story lines in what seems like a limited setting. I pray they can keep it up for a few more seasons.

30 Rock - Thurs 7:30c - 30 Rock still very solid. Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan make it a must watch every week.

Veterans trying to avoid being cut

More Nard Dog

The Office - Thurs 8c - The Office has enough equity built up that it really doesn't have to worry about being cut. However, the past two seasons have been very disappointing. Note to television producers everywhere, anytime you want to kill a show, kill the sexual tension by allowing lead characters to get together. Since, The Office has already made that mistake my suggestion is less Jim & Pam and much more Nard Dog. They also need to rekindle the Nard Dog v. Dwight rivalry. This season I'll still be watching but I just don't think I'll be enjoying it as much.

Rookies trying to make it

None. Congratulations NBC you suck. Keep running The Apprentice and finding new cities to throw a Law & Order in. No one really expects more from you.

Netflix Tuesday on a Weightloss Wednesday - 8/18

Netflix Tuesday on a Weightloss Wednesday? Just think of it as breakfast for dinner but not nearly as delicious but just as fattening. I'm taking a week off from weight loss updates so I can spend more time admiring my new sexy body.

I've enjoyed my 70's classics project so much, I'm extending it for a few more months. One of the best parts about this has been seeing actors that I know for their more recent work in their younger less famous roles. There is a certain joy I get from watching a movie and not being able to put my finger on where I know that guy from for about 3/4 of it then finally figuring it out. I had this experience this week with The Warriors. The Warrior Ajax, who wanted to fight everyone in sight, seemed very familiar to me. "Looking at him kind of makes me uneasy. Where do I know this guy from?" Then it hit me. Holy Crap! That's Dexter's dad Harry Morgan. Well one thing's for sure, James Remar didn't develop his creepy demeanor over the past 30 years, he was born with it. 

With that in mind....

The Warriors - See - This wasn't a new movie to me but when the ultimate director's cut came out on Blu Ray, I knew I had to add it to my queue. Just as I suspected, The Warriors continues to kick as much ass as it did 30 years ago. For those who have yet to see it, when you do you should realize how many of the jokes and catchphrases you've been laughing at for years but wasn't sure why, were taken from this movie. The different gangs are so beautifully cliched and stereotyped. I don't know what it is but something about this movie always makes me think of KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park. If you have seen The Warriors you should see it again in all of it's HD glory and if you haven't you need to fill that huge hole in your movie watching resume.

Greenberg - Don't See - Initially, I was very disappointed in this Noah Baumbach film because of how much I loved Kicking and Screaming and The Squid and the Whale. Then I remembered how much I hated that piece of crap Margot at the Wedding. So ultimately I decided I should only watch Noah Baumbach movies that have the word "and" in the title. At the beginning of Greenberg, I couldn't stand the lead character, Roger played by Ben Stiller. By the end of the movie, I still couldn't stand him and he did nothing in between to influence me otherwise. Look, there's nothing wrong with having unlikeable characters be the focus of a movie but either the acting or writing has to be outstanding to overcome the viewers inclination to be repelled by them. This movie had neither.

Saint John of Las Vegas - See - Steve Buscemi owns roles like this, lonely, quirky, single guys. Add a solid cast including Sarah Silverman, Perter Dinklage and Romany Malco and you have a very watchable movie. It's part comedy, part mystery and part very strange love story. Steve Buscemi is a recovering gambling addict who is sent to investigate an insurance claim in Las Vegas. From there, everything just gets weird and wonderful, including strippers in wheel chairs giving lap dances.





She's Out of My League - See - This is a very marginal "See." My real recommendation would be to wait until it's on one of the movie channels and check it out then. There are no doubt some really funny parts and laugh out loud moments but most of the the movie is very predictable and not all that original. BTW Alice Eve is smoking hot and almost worth the price of admission.

Are you ready for some TV? pt. 3

On average, I lend about 95 minutes of my television watching attention to FOX per week. That's an hour of Glee, 33 minutes to watch the actual American Idol performances, fast forwarding through Ryan Seacrest and all judges comments and 2 minutes for the AI results show.

By all accounts, there are some pretty good shows on FOX; House, Lie to Me, Fringe. I've just never been interested enough to give them a shot. Not even the network stalwarts like The Simpsons or Family Guy have been able catch my eye. In the twenty or so years The Simpsons has been on the air,  I've only ever watched one full episode. I don't know what it's called but it involves pirates and a monkey named Furious George. Strangely, I've seen this same episode about five times. I never needed to check out Family Guy because when I worked at HP every fourth person there could and would quote entire episodes whether you wanted them to or not.


Let's see if Fox has anything worth me upping my viewing time to at least 2 hours a week.


Fall Roster

American Idol - ? - This isn't a fall show but it will make my viewing rotation when it comes back in January. I don't start watching until they get to Hollywood. I love a good train wreck but only when it's real. The audition rounds are just a bunch of goofs trying to get famous by being bad. No thanks.


Veterans trying to avoid being cut


Glee - Tue 7c - Glee was a lot like the Houston Texans last year. A great half followed by a terrible half. It came out of the gate dominating. It even looked like the show would run away with best new show of the season. The characters were good the songs were great and Sue Sylvester, was well, Sue. Then the holiday halftime came and it all fell apart. I guess once the show became a hit labels behind music artists became interested in getting their music featured on the show. The show started with the theme episodes, special guests and terrible musical numbers including Quinn's pregnant dance fiasco. The two special guests were the exception. Kristen Chenoweth and Neil Patrick Harris were both outstanding adding depth to Will's back story instead of being a distraction like the other guest stars. The story lines they had created and cultivated the first half of the season were derailed and the new story lines lacked the authenticity of the originals.  Even though Glee stumbled in the second half, it closed strong with an excellent finale.  I have high hopes for Glee this season but if the rumors of Britney and Justin Bieber episodes turn out to be true, I may be gone before Thanksgiving.

Rookies trying to make it
 
Lonestar - Mon 8c - I'm seriously considering suing the producers of this show for using my life's story without my consent. Lonestar revolves around a guy living in Houston married to a wealthy oil man's daughter, who leads a double life in Midland with a girlfriend and cons people out of their life savings. Now if that isn't me what is? If the premise isn't enough to get you to watch then maybe this will Adrianne Palicki. 

Running Wilde - Tue 8:30c - I can only think of two successful 30 minute sitcoms on FOX ever, Married with Children and Arrested Development. And the success of Arrested Development at least ratings wise is debatable. However, I can't resist Will Arnett. Whether he's playing Gob or Devon Banks on 30 Rock, Will Arnett kills. Honestly, I think he'd be the perfect replacement for Steve Carell on  The Office. I'll give it a shot but I'm not holding out hope for it to make a long run.

I love Texas but not HEB

Recently I decided that I wanted my grocery dollars to stay in the state of Texas rather than go to a company based in Ohio like Kroger. With this in mind, I decided to give HEB a chance. Central Market down on Westheimer is a great place to shop and the few times I've been to our new HEB out here in the sticks, they seemed to have excellent selection in the produce and seafood departments. The latter being an important factor to a person on a pretty strict diet plan. The following is the GOOD and BAD of my HEB experience.

The Good

• You won't ever have to worry about finding a cart. There are about 12,000 on hand.
• Produce is the first stop upon entering. Makes sense to me.
• I don't have to use a customer card to get the lowest possible price.
• Everything I've had from their On the Go cafe has been quite good.
• Large selection of seafood and butcher items.
• Very nice cheese selection.

The Bad

•  Off the top of my head, I don't know what I pay for apples at Kroger but $14 for 10 apples seemed a bit out of whack.
• Placing the butcher and seafood counters as the second places in the store is ridiculous. Who wants to pick up their flounder fillet and carry it around in a shopping cart for an hour. Personally, I don't like giving salmonella a head start on me.
• The self weigh & label stations are a fine idea unless only a third of them are operational to speeding up the shopping experience. Plus any decent, well trained checker can ring this stuff up much faster than I can.
• Why can't I buy fresh non packaged chicken in your butcher shop? Do you mean to tell me I can buy some nice veal and a bison steak but can't buy some fresh chicken breast?
• As I made my way past the butcher and in to the main aisles, my first thought was "this place was organized by a drunk chimp." I'm sure he used a scientific customer study in making his decisions but a drunk chimp none the less.
• I'm sure if I needed one, I would appreciate the 15 shopping larks but when I'm stuck in a shopping traffic jam. Not so much.
• Bread in the middle aisle? I blame the chimp.
• So after going up and down each aisle three times I determined that HEB doesn't sell tomato paste or Melba Toast. At this point, I'm not sure whether to blame the chimp again or if this is HEB's way to telling the Brits and Italians to F@#$ Off. 
• My checker Boris was simply a delight. Remember my comment about a decent and well trained checker? He didn't meet either qualification. He was quite adept at playing grab ass with the sacker Brittany though. 
• Ah Brittany, what can I say about Brittany? Not only did she appear to not want to be there sacking groceries, she said it and then proved it. Between rounds of grab ass with Boris, Brittany liked to spend her time opening my bottles of baby shampoo, smelling them and then shoving them in Boris' face so he could smell them too. Once Boris finished ringing me up and our transaction complete, I then got to stand there a full three minutes while Brittany found the will to finish sacking my groceries. 

 The final score, I love Texas and I want to do my part to keep my local economy and that of my state growing and strong. What I don't love is an inefficient, unpleasant shopping experience and that's what I had at HEB. Looks like I'll be putting the Kroger shopping card back in wallet.

Are you ready for some TV? pt. 2

The baddest man on the planet

A decade or so ago, CBS was the preferred network of anyone over the age of 60. They provided such geriatric pleasers as Murder, She Wrote, JAG, Touched by an Angel, Diagnosis Murder and Walker Texas Ranger. Then in 2000, they came out with a little show called CSI. Now with three franchises, CBS is THE network for the amateur forensic scientist and potential murderers. In fact, up until about a year ago, I thought there were five franchises. Then I noticed two of them were something call NCIS. I assume this is CSI for the functioning dyslexic.

In the ten years of the CSI, I have seen exactly one episode. I was having dinner at a date's house, cheese tortellini. She was a fanatic of the show, so we watched. A few hours later I left her house disappointed. I never saw the girl or CSI again.

This was a long way of telling you I'm not watching any CSI, NCIS or any other show like Criminal Minds, The Mentalist or Medium.

Fall Roster

I hope they have beer on the Island

Survivor - Wed 7c - I've watched Survivor since the beginning. I still remember wishing Rudy would win season 1 by cutting the throats of all the other competitors. Such a let down. These days I usually watch it after it's been recorded so I can fast forward through most of the fluff and watch the challenges and tribal councils. This year I may watch a little more of scheming just to see how Jimmy Johnson does. There's also the question of on which day of not bathing and swimming in the ocean will his hair finally start to lose its shape. My hope is that someone who deserves to win does. That's a rarity on this show.


Veterans Trying to avoid being cut

Big Bang Theory - Thur 7c - This is a new day and time for BBT. This show is still one of the better written 30 minute sitcoms but after three full seasons, I think the joke of two scientists living across the hall from a supposedly hot waitress may have run its course. I'll likely give it an episode or two to prove itself but the odds are against it.

How I Met Your Mother - Mon 7c - I'm still a fan of Jason Segel and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) is good for a laugh or two but I've grown tired of the rest of the cast. If my dad had tried to tell us a story that lasted this long, we would have turned off the DVD and put on MTV after the first episode. During football season MNF rules this time slot so I'm not sure I'll ever find out how Bob Saget met those kids mother.

Rookies Trying to Make it

All the reason you need

Hawaii Five-O - Mon 9c - This show looks to have a lot going for it. By a lot I mean Grace Park as a local surfer who I assume will be running around in a skimpy bikini at some point. Scott Caan and Danial Dae Kim are nice to have on the cast but mostly this trial is about Grace Park.

S#*! My Dad Says - Thur 7:30c - This is based of one of the first great follows I found when I joined Twitter. I'm more than a little skeptical of how it will translate to prime time television though. I would be much more excited about the show, especially with William Shatner on board, if it were on a cable network like FX. Unlike most broadcast networks, they are willing to push the envelope on language and subject manner over there.

As for the rest of the CBS lineup...

I'm not sure what amazes me more. The fact that someone at CBS gave Jim Belushi a show or that they expect anyone to believe he could be a lawyer. Either way, I'm not going to insult your taste by listing the name of the show.

Mike & Molly - A fat, blue collar couple trying to make it through the beginning of their relationship. No thanks, I lived it, I don't need to relive it. And by the way, I'm pretty sure the eight years my ex and I made it is about seven and a half years longer than Mike & Molly will.

Up next FOX or as I like to call it, Joe Buck, Animation and Dead Air....

Weightloss Wednesday - 8/11

This was not a good week for me. I held true to my word and started walking and wouldn't you know it by Monday's weigh in I had gained a pound. In the spirit of full disclosure I will admit that Monday for lunch I went to Barry's Pizza for my niece's birthday. Yeah, I could have had just a side salad and some chicken but I WAS AT BARRY'S PIZZA. So I had a side salad and one slice of pizza. Do I feel guilty about this? Not really. I've only cheated a couple times on the plan so far and each time it wasn't a total pig out but a cheat in moderation (if there is such a thing).

I have been fighting this nasty plateau for the past week though. Gain a pound, lose a pound. Finally, they started me on a plateau buster this morning. Maybe by this time next week I'll really be out of the Tub of Goo level.

The QWL "advisers" and I have been in a bit of a struggle of late though. I've been trying to convince them they have me on the wrong plan. Since I've had lap-band surgery before, I believe the QWL plan 4 isn't restrictive enough for me. I don't get hungry and actually have difficult time eating all the food on the plan because of the banding. Half the staff has agreed with me and told me they would talk to their supervisor about moving me while the other half has stuck to their manual and won't listen to such nonsense until I'm under 300lbs. At this point, I guess I'm just going to have to wait out getting down under 300 because that call from the "supervisor" doesn't seem to be coming.

Then yesterday, one of the staff was out sick so someone from the Willowbrook store was filling in for her. As luck would have it I drew her. I had lost a pound from Monday to Tuesday but that's not she wanted to talk about. She saw that I had had grilled catfish for lunch. Holy S*#@ you would have thought I had eaten a Texas sized chicken fried steak. She continued to remind me that catfish was not one of the approved types of fish according to the plan.  I thought I had done pretty well by eating a fish fillet and side salad and not touching the free biscuits and butter on the table. If I'd known I was going to be admonished anyway, I would've just ordered a stack of pancakes and extra butter. Needless to say I won't be weighing in at the Willowbrook store anytime soon.


Starting weight: 333
Current weight: 309
pounds lost: 24
weeks: 5

Netflix Tuesday - 8/10

Have I mentioned yet that football is coming? I want to go on record that football season should be a national holiday. Yes, the whole season.

Keeping with the football theme, this week's Netflix viewing was like a 125 yard, 2 touchdown Andre Johnson receiving day. Let's get started with the goodness.

A Prophet (Un Prophète) - See it - Maybe I should type that a few more times, See it, See it, See it. I know I can already hear you "I don't want to watch a movie with subtitles. I don't want to read a movie. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa." Get over it and start wearing big boy pants. This is a terrific movie. I heard Lance Zierlein talking about this movie one morning on 1560 The Game. Lance usually gives pretty good movie recommendations, so I checked it out. I was not disappointed. The story follows Malik during a 6 year stretch in a French prison. Malik (an Arab) finds himself caught in the delicate balance between the Corsican mafia, Italian mafia and the Muslims. For those of you who can't think beyond the lower 48, just think Mexican Mafia, Crips and Aryan Brotherhood. The story is riveting, acting superb and wonderfully shot frame by gritty frame. One of the benefits of watching a foreign film is that you usually don't know the actors involved and therefore don't identify them with characters they've played before. If someone were to tell me this film was shot using real prisoners, I wouldn't have an argument against it.  See this movie. 


Kick-Ass - See it - This is the first movie Nicolas Cage has been in that I've loved since Vampire's Kiss in 1988. That's 22 long years of crap movies but Big Daddy makes all those hours of horrible accents and Jerry Bruckheimer abominations almost worth it. Like I've said before, I'm a sucker for superheroes. Even when the superhero is just your everyday ordinary high school geek whose fed up with the local bullies taking his comic money. Now, if you're going to be an ordinary guy trying to be a superhero, it helps when a couple of extraordinary BadAsses like Big Daddy and Hit Girl have your back. Hit Girl is the cutest little killing machine since Natalie Portman in The Professional. Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays the perfectly bumbling, ineffective villain to balance Kick-Ass's superhero. This movie touches all the bases, comedy, action, bloody, teen outcasts, underdog vs. the world.


The Art of the Steal - See it - Albert C. Barnes was an early pharmaceutical millionaire and collector of art. In the early 20th century he became friends with such artists as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. Barnes had a keen eye for art and collected the works of many of the impressionist, and post-impressionist artists. A collection that is now estimated to be worth about $25 billion. However, this documentary is less about the art in the Barnes Collection and more about the lengths to which politicians and power brokers will go to consume and wield as much money and power as they can. The documentary shares the story of how Pennsylvania's politicians have taken it upon themselves to completely disregard the clear wishes of Albert Barnes will and move the collection to Philadelphia for the increased revenue. This movie will piss you off. If it doesn't piss you off then you're probably a Democrat and believe government should control everything anyway or you're a Republican and believe wealthy power brokers should be in control. Either way, the real loser here is individual rights and public trust.


Rollergirls disc 2 - ? - I am loving me some Lunatic, Punky Bruiser, Venis Envy and Jail Bait.

Are you ready for some TV?

The NFL's preseason started tonight so I thought it was time I finally got off my butt and started my own preseason camp. It's time to get the DVR ready for the fall season. Just like an NFL team I've got more shows on the roster in the preseason than I can take into the regular season. I've got my sure fire starters, my solid pros, the vets that slipped last season and need to win a their job back and I've got the rookies looking to push these slipping vets right off the depth chart.

I'm going to run through the schedule network by network. Why? Well it's my blog and I can do whatever the hell I want with it. On that note, ABC seems like the most logical place to start.

Fall Roster

Modern Family - Wed 8c - Last year Modern Family narrowly edged Community for Rookie of the Year honors. They come back this season ready to anchor Wednesday night. It was a can't miss last year and we expect nothing less from Phil, Cam and company this season. If Fisbo happens to make another appearance, all the better.

Grey's Anatomy - Thurs 8c - Ok this was the other reason I wanted start with ABC. I wanted to just go ahead and get this out of way. Yes, I watch Grey's Anatomy. I'm not particularly proud of it but I've watched it since it's first episode and have found it very hard to stop. There now you know. As far as the show goes, it has been slipping for some time now. Grey's has spent the past two seasons tip toeing the cut line, only to escape each time. The show made three adjustments that has kept it on my active roster. Getting rid of George was a great first step in redeeming the show. Letting Izzy walk was another great move. Those two moves alone probably keep them on the roster another season or two but just to make sure they added Kevin McKidd to the cast.  I'm not going to lie, I have a big man crush on the guy formerly known as Lucious Vorenus. Now if they let Meredith die in some horrible fashion they may be in for Pro Bowl contention.

Saturday Night College Football - Sat 7c - Yes please, may I have some more. I'm not going to be DVRing the games but I'll definitely be watching them.

Veterans Trying to avoid being cut

There are no veterans fighting for a spot from ABC.  ABC's program is down from it's heyday and is no longer producing a lot of top talent.  

Rookies Trying to Make it

No Ordinary Family - Tues 7c - Lot's of people are suckers for any kind of superhero show and I'm no different. It will good to see Vic Mackey uh I mean Michael Chiklis make a run at being a good guy again. Superheros, Michael Chiklis, Julie Benz that's enough to earn it at least a few episodes try out on this team. 

The rest of ABC is pretty much garbage

DWTS - No thank you, I don't think I've watched a dance show since Solid Gold and Dance Fever were tearing up the airwaves when I was a kid. Besides, if I really need my Cheryl Burke fix, I can just go the the Internet and download pictures while watching Sunny reruns.

Americas Funniest Hove Videos - Really? The fact that this show is still on may be the best argument for the Taliban in their fight against westernization.

Weightloss Wednesday - 8/4

I've been on the Quick Weight Loss system for a month now and it is going pretty well. I'm continuing to lose about 4-5 lbs a week. I'm even starting to see the difference in my face. Even though I'm doing OK, I know I can do better.

This week I added walking to my routine. I know this is going to help my continued weight loss as well as be good for my dogs, Neko, The Dude and Ghostbuster. These are some big dogs and when they get bored and restless, they can do some serious damage.

The thing I'm most excited about is possibly dropping below the 300 lbs mark. For those of you that don't know that is the point where you get downgraded from being a "Giant Tub of Goo" to "Fat Tub of Lard." I'm definitely ready to leave my "Giant Tub of Goo" days behind me.

Starting weight: 333
Current weight: 311
pounds lost: 22
weeks: 4

Netflix Tuesday - 8/3

First off, no I still haven't seen Inception but I did add it to my Netflix queue. So expect to see what I thought of it about 9 months from now.

I was a pretty slow week on the Netflix front. With the in-laws visiting this past weekend and the kid without a camp to keep her busy, there just wasn't much time to squeeze in 2 glorious hours of escapism.

Anyhow, I did work in 3 discs. 2 movies and disc one of Rollergirls.



Hot Tub Time Machine - See - My initial thought when I first saw the previews for this movie "probably the dumbest movie title ever." Now this movie isn't on the same comedic level as The Hangover but it's worth a watch. There's more than a couple laugh out loud moments as well as a few gags that fall flat. The lead cast is solid with Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry and Clark Duke. Surprisingly, John Cusack does and adequate job of playing John Cusack. He's like the Harlem Globetrotters of playing John Cusack. I still don't know why Lizzy Caplan or her character was in this movie. Overall, a few good laughs and a little T&A make it all right in my book.



Trust the Man - Don't See - This movie is terrible. I mean I have insomnia, it's on the only channel that comes in and I still wouldn't watch this movie again, bad. Look at the timer 15 times to see how much more I have to endure, bad. It had a promising cast of Billy Crudup, Maggie Gyllenhaal (crush), David Duchovny and Julliane Moore (meh). None of them however could overcome the terrible writing. I can't imagine Billy Crudup ever giving a worse performance. The only thing worse than Crudup's performance was the movie's ending. The ending of this movie rocketed into the pantheon of terrible movie endings. It's right up there with A League of their Own. Do Not See This Movie.



Rollergirls - ??? - I can't give an honest opinion on this yet. I've only seen the first 3 episodes. I will say that I am enjoying it so far but I can't tell if the show is good or if it's just my rollergirl fetish.






I'm very excited about this week's movies. I received Kick-Ass in the mail today and A Prophet arrives tomorrow. Thanks Netflix for getting me something at the top of my queue for once.

The week that was but I wish wasn't.

Anyone that has followed me on Twitter or Facebook knows the battle I've been having with my swimming pool this summer. The pool and I are in a vicious cycle of hatred and destruction. As soon as I get it swim ready something else goes wrong. A few weeks ago I finally had everything perfect and we actually got some good swimming in. Then the rains came and effed the levels up again. Early last week, I shocked the pool and left the pump running over night as directed. The next morning, I noticed the pool didn't look any better except for the small area where I had put the shock. I check out the equipment and find there's something wrong with the pump. Of course there is. Advantage pool gremlins.

Two days ago, Cash got his hands on Audrey's laptop and started pulling keyboard keys off of it. Advantage 16 mos old gremlin.

This weekend, My in-laws came to stay a couple of days. Now, I like my in-laws well enough but no matter how much you like your in-laws, no one looks forward to having them stay with you. This visit ended being nice and pleasant though. The kids love playing with their Grammy and I love when they have a distraction from their daily routine of destroying me and the house. I also got this little nugget of comedy gold. D was trying to help her mom install some software on her dad's computer. D tells her mom to google where to get the software. Her mom's reply "I can't he doesn't have google installed on his computer." Getting old is a bitch. Advantage Me.

Then at about 9 o'clock last night, our A/C stopped cooling. I got the joy of a sleeping in the comfort of a humid 85 degree house only to be slightly cooled off by the puddle of sweat I woke up in. The A/C repair guy showed up about 10:30 this morning. After looking at the system for a few minutes he comes in to tell me my flux capacitor is rusted out. At this point, I'm starting to freak out a bit. I don't know how much a flux capacitor costs but I do know that Doc Brown had to use Uranium or Plutonium to power his. This is not good. The A/C is back up and running now but it was quite a frightful morning. Advantage comfort gremlins.