I mean, it's evil. But it's good.
And evil.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Random Rules
There is a feature at the AV Club.com (a feature of The Onion) entitled "Random Rules" where they have famous people put their MP3 players on random, and then just talk about the first few songs that come up - no matter how embarrassing the tunes might be.
I first heard about this from this post at metafilter, and in the comments on that one, the "mefites" opted to talk about the first 5 songs on their lists.
I figured, hey, that seems like it might result in some entertaining blog entries, and so, here it is.
But.
I've got a twist to it.
I will only be typing about the songs - for the length that they are running. If the song ends and I'm typing midsentence, well, that's just tough luck.
So, to reiterate, here are the "rules" such as they are:
1. Put your music player on "random" or "shuffle" or whatever plays them in no order.
2. Talk about the first 5 (or more) songs that come up, no skipping allowed. The "discussion" can be whatever you want - how you first discovered the song, memories it induces, what you are planning on having for dinner...whatever you want.
3. When the song ends, so does the talking. You dont' have to type the entire length of the song, but you can not keep discussing that song once it is finished.
And with that, I'm gonna do mine:
Song #1 - "It Don't Mean Nothing" by Quasi.
This is a very catchy little tune, that I think may have been used in car commercials. It totally sounds like it could be. We were introduced to Quasi by Steph's superrad brother, who is way into lots of alternative bands.
Lyrically, this song "don't mean nothing to me" (heh.) I mean, it's very very simple. But it's really quite rocking.
Um.
Next!!
Song #2 - "Piggy" by Nine Inch Nails.
Oh, man. I remeber when NIN was my favorite band. I saw them perform live..twice? I think. And I've touched Trent Reznor's fingertips. Brush with greatness!
Now, though, maybe because I've aged, or maybe because the songs haven't...I'm just not as into them as I was. This album is still quite enjoyable, but I can't embrace the nihilistic attitude of "nothing can stop me now, cuz I don't care anymore" as I used to.
But, back in 94, when Downward Spiral came out, it was the shizzit.
(I've run out of things to say about this, and I still have a full mintue left to talk about it! Oh well. Next!!)
Song #3 - "My Generation" by The Who
YAY!! Man, this song rocks. Even Danny Tanner couldn't do a bad rendetion of it. (Remember when he sang this on Full House? Yep. I'm old. And lame.)
I wonder who else has done covers of this song. It really should be done every fifteen years or so.
And the question of "Why don't you all f-f-f-fade away?" always reminds me of the Buffyboard and when I asked that in a boq and answered that that was what Tara said in "Family". It's weird what connections brains make with songs, no?
Also, the line, "Hope I die before I get old" always makes me think about how the members of The Who are old now. Or, could be considered old, and I wonder if they ever remember/think about this song and regret living as long as they have. I doubt it.
Song #4 - "Interlude (Milo)" by Modest Mouse
Instrumental. And pretty short. But I like it. This whole album ("Good News For People Who Love Bad News") is awesome. I highly recommend it.
Oh yeah. This song has the baby gurgling in the back ground, which always used to make me t
Song #5 - "Fred Jones, Part 2" by Ben Folds
Oh, man. Out of all the depressing songs on Rocking the Suburbs I end up on the one that really bums me out the most. This is about a man who is being forced to retire ( think) and just how the company he worked for for most of his life just doesn't give a crap. They used him, they're done with him, and they'll move on, and he won't. Really sad.
I think it might be about his father, which makes it a tiny bit more personal.
Hmm. Well, that wasn't really as entertaining as I had hoped it would be. The extra pressure of the time restraint made it more typo inducing than anything, and, oddly, a lot of songs, I just don't have that much to talk about.
(Song #6, which just kicked on, is "Father Christmas" by The Kinks - YAY!)
However, if anyone else wants to do their own version of "Random Rules", I'd look forward to reading it.
I first heard about this from this post at metafilter, and in the comments on that one, the "mefites" opted to talk about the first 5 songs on their lists.
I figured, hey, that seems like it might result in some entertaining blog entries, and so, here it is.
But.
I've got a twist to it.
I will only be typing about the songs - for the length that they are running. If the song ends and I'm typing midsentence, well, that's just tough luck.
So, to reiterate, here are the "rules" such as they are:
1. Put your music player on "random" or "shuffle" or whatever plays them in no order.
2. Talk about the first 5 (or more) songs that come up, no skipping allowed. The "discussion" can be whatever you want - how you first discovered the song, memories it induces, what you are planning on having for dinner...whatever you want.
3. When the song ends, so does the talking. You dont' have to type the entire length of the song, but you can not keep discussing that song once it is finished.
And with that, I'm gonna do mine:
Song #1 - "It Don't Mean Nothing" by Quasi.
This is a very catchy little tune, that I think may have been used in car commercials. It totally sounds like it could be. We were introduced to Quasi by Steph's superrad brother, who is way into lots of alternative bands.
Lyrically, this song "don't mean nothing to me" (heh.) I mean, it's very very simple. But it's really quite rocking.
Um.
Next!!
Song #2 - "Piggy" by Nine Inch Nails.
Oh, man. I remeber when NIN was my favorite band. I saw them perform live..twice? I think. And I've touched Trent Reznor's fingertips. Brush with greatness!
Now, though, maybe because I've aged, or maybe because the songs haven't...I'm just not as into them as I was. This album is still quite enjoyable, but I can't embrace the nihilistic attitude of "nothing can stop me now, cuz I don't care anymore" as I used to.
But, back in 94, when Downward Spiral came out, it was the shizzit.
(I've run out of things to say about this, and I still have a full mintue left to talk about it! Oh well. Next!!)
Song #3 - "My Generation" by The Who
YAY!! Man, this song rocks. Even Danny Tanner couldn't do a bad rendetion of it. (Remember when he sang this on Full House? Yep. I'm old. And lame.)
I wonder who else has done covers of this song. It really should be done every fifteen years or so.
And the question of "Why don't you all f-f-f-fade away?" always reminds me of the Buffyboard and when I asked that in a boq and answered that that was what Tara said in "Family". It's weird what connections brains make with songs, no?
Also, the line, "Hope I die before I get old" always makes me think about how the members of The Who are old now. Or, could be considered old, and I wonder if they ever remember/think about this song and regret living as long as they have. I doubt it.
Song #4 - "Interlude (Milo)" by Modest Mouse
Instrumental. And pretty short. But I like it. This whole album ("Good News For People Who Love Bad News") is awesome. I highly recommend it.
Oh yeah. This song has the baby gurgling in the back ground, which always used to make me t
Song #5 - "Fred Jones, Part 2" by Ben Folds
Oh, man. Out of all the depressing songs on Rocking the Suburbs I end up on the one that really bums me out the most. This is about a man who is being forced to retire ( think) and just how the company he worked for for most of his life just doesn't give a crap. They used him, they're done with him, and they'll move on, and he won't. Really sad.
I think it might be about his father, which makes it a tiny bit more personal.
Hmm. Well, that wasn't really as entertaining as I had hoped it would be. The extra pressure of the time restraint made it more typo inducing than anything, and, oddly, a lot of songs, I just don't have that much to talk about.
(Song #6, which just kicked on, is "Father Christmas" by The Kinks - YAY!)
However, if anyone else wants to do their own version of "Random Rules", I'd look forward to reading it.
Friday, May 26, 2006
je ne sais qua
Random time! Mostly TV related, but other stuff too.
What is it with series finales (and several season finales) sucking?
Cases in point.
Scrubs. Didn't mind the cliffhanger, but the episode itself was rather meh.
Simpsons. Most of the time, The Simpsons season finales are pretty much just another episode. Since there is no "arc" on that show, there's no need to end it with a cliffhanger to draw people back in next year. They either will, or they won't. (The one exception being Who Shot Mr. Burns) And while the current Simpsons episodes are, of course, not nearly as great as those from the days of yore, this season was on an upswing lately. The finale, however, was a weak installment. Three laughable moments, tops.
Survivor. - I'm just glad that...um. I guess I'll tag this, just in case. Highlight to view:
I'm just glad that Terry didn't win. That man was the biggest ass in the history of asses.
It's a pity that Cirie didn't win, because she totally was one of the greatest players ever. Very strategic. Very likeable. And just plain-out FUN.
But once it came down to Aras and Danielle, it was just ...not as entertaining.
Of course, I'll be watching next year, and most likely make the same complaints (only with different names.)
And then there were the series finales:
Charmed and Will & Grace both sucked - from what I was told. I didn't watch either one, but people at work complained to me about the quality (or lack thereof) from both wrap-ups. Of course, look at the shows that they were talking about... but still. Finales are supposed to be ...I don't know. Good. er.
7th Heaven... which maybe can't even really be considered here, since it was a fake out finale. And, also, you know, 7th Heaven. But it's still another notch in the "sucked" camp.
Alias. Grr. Spoilers for the Finalias are below. Highlight to read:
They were on such a roll! And then they dropped the ball!
SpyDaddy dies.
Sloane doesn't. (Although it was pretty cool to have him get the eternal life under a rock treatment) SpyMommy dies. And worse - her character (one of the greatest characters in recent history) is completely and totally assassinated. For four years, Lean Olin made Irina Derevko an extremely fascinating, watchable, amazing character. For four years, we knew whenever she showed up that there would be mystery and intrigue and we were in for some good times. For four years, the baddest bad ass KGB spy in the world was there and was evil, but at the same time, you knew she loved her daughter.
And then, in 20 minutes of the last episode ever, they threw that out the window and made her a simple-minded one-dimensional James Bond villain.
ARRRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!
The redemption of Irina was something I had been looking forward to immensely on this show. And something that we were fucking promised from the writers, all the way back in Season 2, when Irina herself told Sydney, "Truth takes time"
From that day, we had all pretty much known that in the end, Irina would come around, prove to us, and the world that she was a good person. Well, maybe not a good person, but she definitely loved her family.
In the end, though, she attempted to kill her daughter, and blow up Washington DC and London, because... she wanted power? I guess? I don't know, man.
They could have done it better, is all. I mean, I could have been okay with her being straight out evil, and even dying, but she deserved to go out better. And her agenda shouldn't have been as stupid as "I'm gonna blow up the capitols of the Western World." That was never Irina's style. She was much more subtle and ingenious with her villainous ways.
Sigh.
Oh, and there needed to be a Jack/Irina confrontation/showdown/scene. Those two were HOTT. The fact that they didn't wind up even talking to each other in the last episode is criminal.
Another screw up? The lack of Rambaldi. If Rambaldi's endgame was immortality - and, DUH, not a big surprise there - then the frickin' prophet should have been on the show at some point. Since they didn't actually disprove my theory, I'm sticking with the idea that Marshall was, and always had been, Milo himself. So there.[/spoiler]
Oh well. The show is over, and there's not much to say or do about it now.
And besides, Lost is apparently the new king of appointment TV.
The finale for that show was done right.
And, the best part of all is that now that all the shows are done, there's no need to ever watch TV again!!
Until September.
Moving on.
My step mom called me today, and informed me that Star, their pet dog that they have had for ...geez, twelve years now! - had to be put down. :(
She had stopped eating for a while, and was getting very skinny, and her barks were becoming more and more hoarse. The vets said that she had cancer in her throat, and that it was merely a matter of time. Not wanting to see her suffer, my parents opted to ease her pain and put her to sleep. It's a bummer.
Poor Star. She was a big, dumb dog, but I did love her. She'll be missed.
In other animal news, Angel is currently at the vet's office, being fixed. Hopefully getting that procedure done will calm him down some, and also stop him from marking parts of the house with his urine. If it doesn't... well, we may become a two cat household.
Lastly (unless I think of something else while I'm typing this part), I re-found the disk with my nanowrimo story from last November on it. (You know, the Perth/Choset epic story that has been in my head for 8 years and is supposed to take place on 06/06/06, and which I have not finished) I was re-reading it, and ...I think I might start to work on it again. There is no way that it is humanly possible to complete it by The first Tuesday in June, but...
What is it with series finales (and several season finales) sucking?
Cases in point.
Scrubs. Didn't mind the cliffhanger, but the episode itself was rather meh.
Simpsons. Most of the time, The Simpsons season finales are pretty much just another episode. Since there is no "arc" on that show, there's no need to end it with a cliffhanger to draw people back in next year. They either will, or they won't. (The one exception being Who Shot Mr. Burns) And while the current Simpsons episodes are, of course, not nearly as great as those from the days of yore, this season was on an upswing lately. The finale, however, was a weak installment. Three laughable moments, tops.
Survivor. - I'm just glad that...um. I guess I'll tag this, just in case. Highlight to view:
I'm just glad that Terry didn't win. That man was the biggest ass in the history of asses.
It's a pity that Cirie didn't win, because she totally was one of the greatest players ever. Very strategic. Very likeable. And just plain-out FUN.
But once it came down to Aras and Danielle, it was just ...not as entertaining.
Of course, I'll be watching next year, and most likely make the same complaints (only with different names.)
And then there were the series finales:
Charmed and Will & Grace both sucked - from what I was told. I didn't watch either one, but people at work complained to me about the quality (or lack thereof) from both wrap-ups. Of course, look at the shows that they were talking about... but still. Finales are supposed to be ...I don't know. Good. er.
7th Heaven... which maybe can't even really be considered here, since it was a fake out finale. And, also, you know, 7th Heaven. But it's still another notch in the "sucked" camp.
Alias. Grr. Spoilers for the Finalias are below. Highlight to read:
They were on such a roll! And then they dropped the ball!
SpyDaddy dies.
Sloane doesn't. (Although it was pretty cool to have him get the eternal life under a rock treatment) SpyMommy dies. And worse - her character (one of the greatest characters in recent history) is completely and totally assassinated. For four years, Lean Olin made Irina Derevko an extremely fascinating, watchable, amazing character. For four years, we knew whenever she showed up that there would be mystery and intrigue and we were in for some good times. For four years, the baddest bad ass KGB spy in the world was there and was evil, but at the same time, you knew she loved her daughter.
And then, in 20 minutes of the last episode ever, they threw that out the window and made her a simple-minded one-dimensional James Bond villain.
ARRRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!
The redemption of Irina was something I had been looking forward to immensely on this show. And something that we were fucking promised from the writers, all the way back in Season 2, when Irina herself told Sydney, "Truth takes time"
From that day, we had all pretty much known that in the end, Irina would come around, prove to us, and the world that she was a good person. Well, maybe not a good person, but she definitely loved her family.
In the end, though, she attempted to kill her daughter, and blow up Washington DC and London, because... she wanted power? I guess? I don't know, man.
They could have done it better, is all. I mean, I could have been okay with her being straight out evil, and even dying, but she deserved to go out better. And her agenda shouldn't have been as stupid as "I'm gonna blow up the capitols of the Western World." That was never Irina's style. She was much more subtle and ingenious with her villainous ways.
Sigh.
Oh, and there needed to be a Jack/Irina confrontation/showdown/scene. Those two were HOTT. The fact that they didn't wind up even talking to each other in the last episode is criminal.
Another screw up? The lack of Rambaldi. If Rambaldi's endgame was immortality - and, DUH, not a big surprise there - then the frickin' prophet should have been on the show at some point. Since they didn't actually disprove my theory, I'm sticking with the idea that Marshall was, and always had been, Milo himself. So there.[/spoiler]
Oh well. The show is over, and there's not much to say or do about it now.
And besides, Lost is apparently the new king of appointment TV.
The finale for that show was done right.
And, the best part of all is that now that all the shows are done, there's no need to ever watch TV again!!
Until September.
Moving on.
My step mom called me today, and informed me that Star, their pet dog that they have had for ...geez, twelve years now! - had to be put down. :(
She had stopped eating for a while, and was getting very skinny, and her barks were becoming more and more hoarse. The vets said that she had cancer in her throat, and that it was merely a matter of time. Not wanting to see her suffer, my parents opted to ease her pain and put her to sleep. It's a bummer.
Poor Star. She was a big, dumb dog, but I did love her. She'll be missed.
In other animal news, Angel is currently at the vet's office, being fixed. Hopefully getting that procedure done will calm him down some, and also stop him from marking parts of the house with his urine. If it doesn't... well, we may become a two cat household.
Lastly (unless I think of something else while I'm typing this part), I re-found the disk with my nanowrimo story from last November on it. (You know, the Perth/Choset epic story that has been in my head for 8 years and is supposed to take place on 06/06/06, and which I have not finished) I was re-reading it, and ...I think I might start to work on it again. There is no way that it is humanly possible to complete it by The first Tuesday in June, but...
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Completely Worthless
(It was a toss up between that, and "Curiously Worse". Came up heads.)
So. The CW's upfront was this morning. Which means we're in for another longwinded exP@nation of it all! Get ready to scroll!
Before upfronts begin, there is always music playing. Generally, the WB's music choices have been from hip cool bands that you would hear on WB type shows. And usually in the rock/alternative/emo genre.
This year was different. Maybe because it was a "new" network. But the music choices were much more... hip hop. Which... no.
But! Then, right before it began, they played a really cool "mash up" (get it? Because the CW is a mash up of UPN & WB?). Generally I dislike mash ups (most are not done very well and just cause my brain to have audio whiplash) but this one was an exception. They mashed Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" with Oasis' "Wonderwall". It was pretty darn good. Until the end, when it kinda fell apart a little, and they snuck in some Aerosmith. Huh??
But, yeah. That was neat.
So while the music is playing, we see that the CW has changed their logo to a new 'retro' type of font. (I can't explain it. Go to the wikipedia entry on the CW and you'll see the new (green) logo compared to the original (blue) logo.
I didn't like it at first, but it's grown on me.
So, show starts. and as usual, they have clips from all the upcoming shows edited together to some chart-topping song(s) and it's pretty darn neat. Then some guy came out, spoke. "Blah, blah, blah, the CW is great. Blah blah blah." Then he introduced Leslie Moonves and some other guy.
They both spoke. "Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. CW is great, and we are responsible for it. Aren't we great? Blah."
Then they introduced Dawn Ostroff, who is currently president of entertainment at UPN, and will be for CW, came out. She was the woman I was waiting for, because that meant that we'd finally get to the lineup.
But nope. First we had to have the Black Eyed Peas perform.
They did a song called "Get Ready", which incorporated (or, um stole, maybe is the better word?) bits of the classic Motown song by the same name. I couldn't understand all the rapping part lyrics, but I know that "CW" was thrown in there a lot.
Anyway. The point is that "Get Ready" (by the Black Eyed Peas) is going to be the CW's "launch song". So, you know, get ready to get sick of that.
Finally, all the unnecessary crap is out of the way, and half an hour in, we can begin getting to the freakin' lineup already. Sheesh. At least My Network pretty much got to the point right away.
So we get to the lineup, starting with Monday.
Monday nights at 8pm will be.... 7th Heaven.
WHAT!???!
7th Heaven, which is "TV longest running family drama".
7th Heaven, which two weeks ago had it's SERIES FINALE.
7th Heaven, which will. Not. Die.
They had some clips, but they were all from the 10th season, which is hilarious, because from what I've heard, Simon (David Gallagher) will not even be on the show. And of course neither will Jessica Biel (No Biel!!) or Barry Watson. But I'm sure Happy will be! (Happy is the dog.)
It was funny that they all glossed over the fact that six months ago it was announced they were canceling the show. And that the freaking SERIES FINALE aired two weeks back.
But the best part - which almost (almost) made it all worthwhile - was when the clips were done and the camera came back to Dawn speaking - NOBODY in the audience applauded. HEEEEEE!!! I think maybe they were all either too pissed off or all too busy going WTF?
I mean seriously. 7th Heaven. Well, hopefully we'll continue to get recaps at TWOP.
Monday at 9p - a new show called Runaway.
Basic premise - The Fugitive meets Everwood.
It looks halfway decent, actually. "Successful" family (dad is some big shot lawyer, so they're super rich. And we all know $ = success) with beautiful children are all happy in generic WB town. Then, dad is framed for a murder. So he packs up the family and they move to some other WB town. The kids all have to assume new identities, and the teenage son misses his girlfriend back home, while the females in the new town drool over him.
Meanwhile, back in murder town, the CSI lady is trying to track them down.
It has a very CBS look/feel to it, and I'm like 90% sure that it was originally going to go to CBS, but they chopped it, and so, since CBS is a parent of the CW, voila.
Tuesday is "Girls Night". 8pm is Gilmore Girls, followed by Veronica Mars at 9. I've never gotten into either show, but the audience seemed ecstatic about it. As did Dawn. (It's been widely publicized that she is a huge fan of VM.)
Wednesday will be America's Next Top Model and One Tree Hill.
Except in our family, where Wednesday will be Lost.
:)
After the clips, they had some of the actors come out and talk for like, ten or fifty seconds. After the ANTM bit, they had Tyra Banks come out. And she tripped *but didn't fall) on one of the tiles. Then, she called out previous "Next Top Model" winners to be on the stage with her - and one of them tripped (but did not fall) on the same tile. Heh. I still won't watch this garbage, but I might consider it if it was people tripping each night. (See Three's Company)
Thursday
8pm - Smallville returns for it's 6th season. Will I still watch? Absolutely. Will it suck? Absolutely.
9pm is Supernatural.
Pretty good Thursday lineup, actually. Out of all the shows, those are the ones that I find most appealing.
Friday is Smackdown night.
Nothing on Saturdays. (Except Kids WB, which will be called "Kids WB on the CW", and which was not spoken about at the upfront)
Sundays
7pm - Everybody Hates Chris
7:30p - All of Us
8pm - Girlfriends
8:30p - The Game (a new sitcom. It's a spinoff of Girlfriends. Okay, then.)
9pm - America's Next Top Repeat (hee)
After they came back from the clips of the Sunday shows, Dawn was not at the podium. Instead, Chris Rock was.
This was definitely the highlight of the upfront.
I can't remember everything he said, but here were the parts I do recall:
"This year, Everybody Hates Chris is gonna make you care about it more, because Chris will be played by a white girl."
"All of the shows are going to have white people. They'll just show up, wave, and not even have any lines."
"This is the CW. We're not going to change the letters anymore. We have a slogan for the network, even though you don't see it up here right now. It's 'The CW - we ain't bullshittin'.'"
and he ended his speech with:
"Now, I want you advertisers to go out there, and spend some motherfuckin' money on this!"
Hee! I totally want that to be the slogan. "The CW - Spend some motherfucking money!"
When Dawn came back she had a look on her face that was a mixture of terrified and highly, highly amused. She said, "Thank you for being here, Chris!" but she was most likely thinking, "I am so freaking fired."
So that's the lineup. Other stuff that was mentioned:
Two midseason shows: Beauty and the Geek will replace America's Next Top Model during it's seasonal break, and a drama from Kevin Williamson called Hidden Palms, which appeared to be a cross between Supernatural and The OC. I have "meh" feelings about it, but who knows.
The website, cwtv.com, (which I can't get to work while here at work, ironically enough) is going to be much more interactive with the programs. There will be a thing called the CW Lab which will allow viewers to put up pictures of themselves and create 15 second promos that could make it on the air. They're calling this "Famous for :15" and it looks like absolute crap. "Here. Put your picture on our website, and create a promo for us! We'll air it!" I mean, granted, it's a brilliant marketing move - have the viewer do the work for you, and then they'll tune in in the hopes of seeing themselves on national television - but fuck a doodle do, it 's boring to watch on tv. I don't want to look at pictures of people I don't know!
The OTHER (and this is the last thing, I swear) thing that was interesting (note - interesting does not = good) was something they're calling "Content Wraps" or, "CW".
These are "shows within the show". There will be 3 "pods" per hour show (the length was not mentioned) that will air during the commercial breaks. They'll have a 'storyline' and are designed to coincide with the them of the night they're airing on. (Monday being Family Night, Tuesday - Girls Night, Wednesday - Crap Night, Thursday - Hunk Night? SciFi Night? [shrug]) It's all just another way of trying to get people to not fast forward through commercials. Good luck with that.
So, yeah. Now that it's out there and done, it feels a little anti-climatic. Basically the CW will bring in the loyal viewers from WB and UPN. But (this season at least) will do little else to bring in new viewers.
It's gonna be an interesting fall.
So. The CW's upfront was this morning. Which means we're in for another longwinded exP@nation of it all! Get ready to scroll!
Before upfronts begin, there is always music playing. Generally, the WB's music choices have been from hip cool bands that you would hear on WB type shows. And usually in the rock/alternative/emo genre.
This year was different. Maybe because it was a "new" network. But the music choices were much more... hip hop. Which... no.
But! Then, right before it began, they played a really cool "mash up" (get it? Because the CW is a mash up of UPN & WB?). Generally I dislike mash ups (most are not done very well and just cause my brain to have audio whiplash) but this one was an exception. They mashed Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" with Oasis' "Wonderwall". It was pretty darn good. Until the end, when it kinda fell apart a little, and they snuck in some Aerosmith. Huh??
But, yeah. That was neat.
So while the music is playing, we see that the CW has changed their logo to a new 'retro' type of font. (I can't explain it. Go to the wikipedia entry on the CW and you'll see the new (green) logo compared to the original (blue) logo.
I didn't like it at first, but it's grown on me.
So, show starts. and as usual, they have clips from all the upcoming shows edited together to some chart-topping song(s) and it's pretty darn neat. Then some guy came out, spoke. "Blah, blah, blah, the CW is great. Blah blah blah." Then he introduced Leslie Moonves and some other guy.
They both spoke. "Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. CW is great, and we are responsible for it. Aren't we great? Blah."
Then they introduced Dawn Ostroff, who is currently president of entertainment at UPN, and will be for CW, came out. She was the woman I was waiting for, because that meant that we'd finally get to the lineup.
But nope. First we had to have the Black Eyed Peas perform.
They did a song called "Get Ready", which incorporated (or, um stole, maybe is the better word?) bits of the classic Motown song by the same name. I couldn't understand all the rapping part lyrics, but I know that "CW" was thrown in there a lot.
Anyway. The point is that "Get Ready" (by the Black Eyed Peas) is going to be the CW's "launch song". So, you know, get ready to get sick of that.
Finally, all the unnecessary crap is out of the way, and half an hour in, we can begin getting to the freakin' lineup already. Sheesh. At least My Network pretty much got to the point right away.
So we get to the lineup, starting with Monday.
Monday nights at 8pm will be.... 7th Heaven.
WHAT!???!
7th Heaven, which is "TV longest running family drama".
7th Heaven, which two weeks ago had it's SERIES FINALE.
7th Heaven, which will. Not. Die.
They had some clips, but they were all from the 10th season, which is hilarious, because from what I've heard, Simon (David Gallagher) will not even be on the show. And of course neither will Jessica Biel (No Biel!!) or Barry Watson. But I'm sure Happy will be! (Happy is the dog.)
It was funny that they all glossed over the fact that six months ago it was announced they were canceling the show. And that the freaking SERIES FINALE aired two weeks back.
But the best part - which almost (almost) made it all worthwhile - was when the clips were done and the camera came back to Dawn speaking - NOBODY in the audience applauded. HEEEEEE!!! I think maybe they were all either too pissed off or all too busy going WTF?
I mean seriously. 7th Heaven. Well, hopefully we'll continue to get recaps at TWOP.
Monday at 9p - a new show called Runaway.
Basic premise - The Fugitive meets Everwood.
It looks halfway decent, actually. "Successful" family (dad is some big shot lawyer, so they're super rich. And we all know $ = success) with beautiful children are all happy in generic WB town. Then, dad is framed for a murder. So he packs up the family and they move to some other WB town. The kids all have to assume new identities, and the teenage son misses his girlfriend back home, while the females in the new town drool over him.
Meanwhile, back in murder town, the CSI lady is trying to track them down.
It has a very CBS look/feel to it, and I'm like 90% sure that it was originally going to go to CBS, but they chopped it, and so, since CBS is a parent of the CW, voila.
Tuesday is "Girls Night". 8pm is Gilmore Girls, followed by Veronica Mars at 9. I've never gotten into either show, but the audience seemed ecstatic about it. As did Dawn. (It's been widely publicized that she is a huge fan of VM.)
Wednesday will be America's Next Top Model and One Tree Hill.
Except in our family, where Wednesday will be Lost.
:)
After the clips, they had some of the actors come out and talk for like, ten or fifty seconds. After the ANTM bit, they had Tyra Banks come out. And she tripped *but didn't fall) on one of the tiles. Then, she called out previous "Next Top Model" winners to be on the stage with her - and one of them tripped (but did not fall) on the same tile. Heh. I still won't watch this garbage, but I might consider it if it was people tripping each night. (See Three's Company)
Thursday
8pm - Smallville returns for it's 6th season. Will I still watch? Absolutely. Will it suck? Absolutely.
9pm is Supernatural.
Pretty good Thursday lineup, actually. Out of all the shows, those are the ones that I find most appealing.
Friday is Smackdown night.
Nothing on Saturdays. (Except Kids WB, which will be called "Kids WB on the CW", and which was not spoken about at the upfront)
Sundays
7pm - Everybody Hates Chris
7:30p - All of Us
8pm - Girlfriends
8:30p - The Game (a new sitcom. It's a spinoff of Girlfriends. Okay, then.)
9pm - America's Next Top Repeat (hee)
After they came back from the clips of the Sunday shows, Dawn was not at the podium. Instead, Chris Rock was.
This was definitely the highlight of the upfront.
I can't remember everything he said, but here were the parts I do recall:
"This year, Everybody Hates Chris is gonna make you care about it more, because Chris will be played by a white girl."
"All of the shows are going to have white people. They'll just show up, wave, and not even have any lines."
"This is the CW. We're not going to change the letters anymore. We have a slogan for the network, even though you don't see it up here right now. It's 'The CW - we ain't bullshittin'.'"
and he ended his speech with:
"Now, I want you advertisers to go out there, and spend some motherfuckin' money on this!"
Hee! I totally want that to be the slogan. "The CW - Spend some motherfucking money!"
When Dawn came back she had a look on her face that was a mixture of terrified and highly, highly amused. She said, "Thank you for being here, Chris!" but she was most likely thinking, "I am so freaking fired."
So that's the lineup. Other stuff that was mentioned:
Two midseason shows: Beauty and the Geek will replace America's Next Top Model during it's seasonal break, and a drama from Kevin Williamson called Hidden Palms, which appeared to be a cross between Supernatural and The OC. I have "meh" feelings about it, but who knows.
The website, cwtv.com, (which I can't get to work while here at work, ironically enough) is going to be much more interactive with the programs. There will be a thing called the CW Lab which will allow viewers to put up pictures of themselves and create 15 second promos that could make it on the air. They're calling this "Famous for :15" and it looks like absolute crap. "Here. Put your picture on our website, and create a promo for us! We'll air it!" I mean, granted, it's a brilliant marketing move - have the viewer do the work for you, and then they'll tune in in the hopes of seeing themselves on national television - but fuck a doodle do, it 's boring to watch on tv. I don't want to look at pictures of people I don't know!
The OTHER (and this is the last thing, I swear) thing that was interesting (note - interesting does not = good) was something they're calling "Content Wraps" or, "CW".
These are "shows within the show". There will be 3 "pods" per hour show (the length was not mentioned) that will air during the commercial breaks. They'll have a 'storyline' and are designed to coincide with the them of the night they're airing on. (Monday being Family Night, Tuesday - Girls Night, Wednesday - Crap Night, Thursday - Hunk Night? SciFi Night? [shrug]) It's all just another way of trying to get people to not fast forward through commercials. Good luck with that.
So, yeah. Now that it's out there and done, it feels a little anti-climatic. Basically the CW will bring in the loyal viewers from WB and UPN. But (this season at least) will do little else to bring in new viewers.
It's gonna be an interesting fall.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
My My My
So. The My Network Television Upfront was yesterday.
And since one of our stations will be the Las Vegas affiliate of My Network starting in September (the other station will be the CW), I was witness to it.
And, since I promised I'd report on it, I'm doing so.
A little backstory, in case you need it (I keep forgetting [we're not in love anymore] that not everyone is "in the biz" and thus not up to date on the upcoming television shakeups):
Back in January, it was announced that the WB and UPN would be combining to form one new network, dubbed the CW. This meant that a lot of stations across the country would be forced to be affiliate-less. Which could have proven to be an interesting way to go, actually.
But. Instead, about one month after the CW announcement, Fox Company decided that they would start up a new network to fill the void. This new network would be called My Network TV (or MyNetwork TV. I still don't know if they officially have spaces between "my" and "network", but whatever. For the ease of my writing, I'm going to shorthand it to MN or MNTV.)
Anyway.
Our WB station [because as it stands right now, we have two stations. 21, which is currently the WB, and 33, which is currently an independent (no affiliation)] was in competition with the UPN affiliate in town (ch. 25) to see which station would become the CW. That negotiation took a LONG time. While we were waiting, the MN announcement came out. And Sinclair Broadcasting did a deal with them, so 21 was granted the MN affiliation, so that it would at least have SOMETHING to affiliate with in the fall.
CW was still up in the air, and we were still trying to get it, as was 25. If we got it, we would put it on 33 instead.
Long story short (too late) we did get the CW, and it will go on 33. MN will go on 21. And 25 gets nothing.
(I plan on keeping a tally of how many times in the next 4 or 5 months I will have to explain that situation to people who will be calling wanting to know. Because viewers are, sadly, pretty dense sometimes. No offense to anyone out there who watches TV.)
What the hell was my point?
Oh. Right. So we're getting both new networks. Which is way cool. Very exciting, very busy times for me. This next summer will be ...busy.
Anyway. Since May is usually when networks do their upfront presentations (that's when they unleash their fall schedules to everyone, letting them know what shows will be on what days), we got to watch the MyNetwork upfront yesterday.
Whew. I overexplain things a lot, don't I?
The upfront started at 7am, which is why I got to the station at 6, which is why I was awake at 4.
We taped it, of course, but people were urged to arrive and watch it in person. I'd say the turnout was about 45%. (Most folks who work the 'office' side get here at 8, so 7 is kinda early for them.)
Anyway. Here (finally) is the recap of the upfront::
It began with a title card that read:
Insanity
Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results
~ Albert Einstein
Except that the screen was cut off, so it was actually attributing the quote to Albert Ein, whoever that is.
The title card was black on white lettering.
It then switched to read the same thing, only white on black lettering.
Then back to the original.
Then back to the reverse.
I think it switched one more time.
All the while there was some kind of classical music playing. Something familiar, but unidentifiable (by me at least) that is generally associated with "wackiness".
A title card then informed us that for years the networks have been trying to bring life to the way things are scheduled. (Or something along those lines. It's been a while, and it was early, so details are fuzzy.)
They then played a scene from "Young Frankenstein" - where Dr. Frankenstein is trying to bring his monster to life.... and failing. Heh. That was a good movie. I think we have it in our queue. If not, we should definitely put it there.
Um. Oh. Right. Topic.
FInally it cut to the stage, where the speakers would be. Voiceover introduced some guy - Roger Ailes - who was a stereotypical rich, fat, white man.
(No, really, he is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Ailes
See?)
Anyway. He comes out and says the network system is not working, and they should blame it on [some name I didn't catch] because NBC has been doing it for years.
Which, I guess, was supposed to be a joke.
Except NOBODY laughed.
The Man kinda chuckled nervously, and I swear to god he looked at his cue cards like, "Okay. They're gonna hate the rest of my material too." and he stumbled a little bit then said, "We're going to be doing something completely new and different. Wanting to win isn't enough, you also have to hate to lose. Blah blah blah." (Only he didn't really "say" blah, blah, blah.)
He then cut to a prerecorded segment where the announcer gave the (very short) history of My Network.
Feb. 22, My Network created,
On March whatever, Sinclair signs up with My Network,
On March whatever, some other stations signed up with My Network.
On this day, Bo Derek agreed to star in one of our shows.
On this day, MORE stations signed up with My Network.
Boring!!
It included another "joke" about "aspiring actor" Les Moonves auditioning to be in one of My Network's new programs and that it was "under negotiation". Ugh. [Les Moonves is the president of CBS, so this was, I'm presuming, some sort of dig at him?] These people have a really poor sense of humor. (The strangest "joke" was yet to come, though.)
So.
Finally we get to the programming. And, I've got to give it to them, what they are trying is way different. My Network is going to have two shows. Two hour long dramas that will air 6 nights a week. These dramas will have story arcs that run for 13 weeks. 65 episodes per show, and they will not have any reruns - EVER. Monday through Friday will be the actual "story" of these programs (they weren't referred to as "telenovellas" - they called them Short Scripted Dramas- , but in every other part of the world where they've tried this form of programming [and they've worked HUGELY successfully, apparently] that's what they're called. ) and Saturday will be a sort of recap show for the previous week.
At the end of the 13 weeks, the story arc will conclude, and a NEW storyline - with completely different actors and actresses will start up.
Basically, these are soap operas that are being run in prime time. And they have all the draw of daytime soaps - sex, deception, sex, intrigue, drama, sex, actiony violence stuff, sex, and sex. Also, since they're lifting this type of programming from Spanish stations, a lot of the cast is of Latino descent.
(Interestingly enough, the MN logo looks similar to the logo of Telemundo. It's almost like MN is the Taco Bell of television. It's "americanized" Spanish tv)
So. How do you fill an hour long upfront when you only have two programs? Well, since each storyline only runs for 13 weeks... they showed clips from 3 "sessions". 6 shows total.
Here's how it played out:
"Desire" will run at 8p, "Secret Obsessions" will run at 9.
Starting on September 5th, 2006, it will be "Desire: Table for Three" and "Secret Obsessions: Fashion House" (which is the one with Bo Derek)
Table for Three - I've seen the pilot already. It's totally a guilty pleasure, and I can see these being addicting. If people can get into them. But, the drawback with the 13 week run style is that if someone doesn't like the storyline, you've lost them as a viewer for 3 months. Doh.
Anyway. Table for Three is the story of two brothers. One of them sleeps with the daughter of a mobster. Mob daddy gets pissed and tries to kill the brother. So they move across the country. There, they both fall in love with the same girl. Meanwhile, Mobdaddy tracks them down, and kills the brother who slept with his daughter. Except he didn't kill him. He comes back. Only to find that his brother is now sleeping with his girl.
Oy.
Fashion House - Bo Derek is ....welll, actually. Remember Models Inc? (Okay. You probably don't. Do you remember Melrose Place? Because Model's Inc was just Melrose Place) It's that. Only for 13 weeks instead of years and years.
Next up will be Desire: Dangerous Love, which I don't remember exactly what it was about. Appeared to be a Romeo & Juliet ripoff, actually. And Secret Obsessions: Watch Over Me looked to be a ripoff of The Bodyguard and The Transporter. (Some rich (mafia??) guy hires a guy to protect his wife. They sleep together. His goons find out, and report it back to the mafia guy. Mafia guy orders them to kill him. Wheee!
Thirdly will be Desire: Rules of Deception and Secret Obsessions: Art of Betrayal. AofB has Sean Young in it, so, um, there's that, I guess. RoD was just as generically blah as the previously mentioned storylines. I think it had sisters who fall for the same guy, or something. So, you know, that's a twist! [rolleyes]
I don't know. The shows themselves are pretty tawdry and lame, but it's television. It panders to the lowest common denominator, and it appears that these shows will do that very very well. Plus, supposedly, each show will end with a cliffhanger to draw people back in each night. (Well, cliffhanger for 13 weeks, anyway. It's kinda cool that they actually have an ending they work toward. And you know that they'll get to it, and it won't allow the show to go on and on and on, unlike some dramas *cough*Buffy*cough* that don't know when to quit.)
The other things of interest:
The website.
Mynetworktv.com (not up and running yet, sadly) is going to play a HUGE role in these shows, and in the way the network operates. Apparently, EVERYDAY there will be new "hidden scenes" that is only available online that didn't make it into the shows. They aren't necessary to see to enjoy the storyline, but they "enrich the experience". For example, you can fire up the website, and watch some character's "confession" of something. The online material will, of course, instruct people to tune in that night to watch the show.
Also. My Network is owned by News Corporation (Fox, Fox News, FX) which owns a little site called MySpace.com. I guess that's pretty huge or something. Anyway. Expect a LOT of tie in with MySpace and MyNetwork. I wonder if this means that I'll have to eventually break down and actually visit a Myspace website. [shudders] (I've avoided them so far basically out of spite. It's gotten way too much press and hype for me to bother to care. Maybe I'm elitist, but I just don't care. And I don't WANT to care.)
Anyway. The MyNetworktv.com site looks like it will be very very slick and cool and way too time draining for people who get sucked into things like that. So, um. Yay?
The other thing that was pretty interesting, and I need to get clarification on this, exactly, but it appears that MNTV will be very open to product placement. My understanding is that different markets will be able to have different product placement. So, a scene where someone is drinking a coke in one market could be a pepsi in another. How? Ah, the joys of the digital age.
This bothers me on some fundamental level. Product placement has always been a pet peeve of mine. And the MyNetwork folks seem to be embracing it full on. It's ...I don't know. A coworker and I had a conversation about it after it aired, where he complained that product placement made art more commercialized. And, yes, he conceded that calling shows like Table for Three "art" was a bit of a stretch. But it still stands that this really draws attention to the fact that while we may like to think that TV shows are there for our entertainment, they really are there for people to make money. I don't like that. I prefer to live in my bubble of denial where I believe that the creators of programs are doing it solely because they love to and want to entertain folks, not due to the almighty dollar.
Anyway. I've rambled for a long time now. And I've pretty much covered it all. Oh! Except for the strangest part of the presentation. It was before they went on the shpiel about the website. The voiceover said, "The difference between involvement and commitment is like the difference between ham and eggs. The chicken is involved. The pig is committed."
What. The. Fuck?
I mean, okay. That sentence - while bizarre - makes sense. But what?? What!?? All that scene did was
a) confuse all of us in the room and caused us to laugh/make jokes/discuss whether that meant the network was a pig and the viewers were chickens/etc.
and
b) made me hungry for some ham and eggs.
Well. That is pretty much it. My gut feeling is that the MN has potential to be huge. Rupert Murdoch and his cronies have built networks before, and have done a pretty good job of it. But I guess we'll have to see how things play out in September.
And of course, tomorrow is the CW's upfront, so I can't wait to see how screwed up that's gonna be!
And since one of our stations will be the Las Vegas affiliate of My Network starting in September (the other station will be the CW), I was witness to it.
And, since I promised I'd report on it, I'm doing so.
A little backstory, in case you need it (I keep forgetting [we're not in love anymore] that not everyone is "in the biz" and thus not up to date on the upcoming television shakeups):
Back in January, it was announced that the WB and UPN would be combining to form one new network, dubbed the CW. This meant that a lot of stations across the country would be forced to be affiliate-less. Which could have proven to be an interesting way to go, actually.
But. Instead, about one month after the CW announcement, Fox Company decided that they would start up a new network to fill the void. This new network would be called My Network TV (or MyNetwork TV. I still don't know if they officially have spaces between "my" and "network", but whatever. For the ease of my writing, I'm going to shorthand it to MN or MNTV.)
Anyway.
Our WB station [because as it stands right now, we have two stations. 21, which is currently the WB, and 33, which is currently an independent (no affiliation)] was in competition with the UPN affiliate in town (ch. 25) to see which station would become the CW. That negotiation took a LONG time. While we were waiting, the MN announcement came out. And Sinclair Broadcasting did a deal with them, so 21 was granted the MN affiliation, so that it would at least have SOMETHING to affiliate with in the fall.
CW was still up in the air, and we were still trying to get it, as was 25. If we got it, we would put it on 33 instead.
Long story short (too late) we did get the CW, and it will go on 33. MN will go on 21. And 25 gets nothing.
(I plan on keeping a tally of how many times in the next 4 or 5 months I will have to explain that situation to people who will be calling wanting to know. Because viewers are, sadly, pretty dense sometimes. No offense to anyone out there who watches TV.)
What the hell was my point?
Oh. Right. So we're getting both new networks. Which is way cool. Very exciting, very busy times for me. This next summer will be ...busy.
Anyway. Since May is usually when networks do their upfront presentations (that's when they unleash their fall schedules to everyone, letting them know what shows will be on what days), we got to watch the MyNetwork upfront yesterday.
Whew. I overexplain things a lot, don't I?
The upfront started at 7am, which is why I got to the station at 6, which is why I was awake at 4.
We taped it, of course, but people were urged to arrive and watch it in person. I'd say the turnout was about 45%. (Most folks who work the 'office' side get here at 8, so 7 is kinda early for them.)
Anyway. Here (finally) is the recap of the upfront::
It began with a title card that read:
Insanity
Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results
~ Albert Einstein
Except that the screen was cut off, so it was actually attributing the quote to Albert Ein, whoever that is.
The title card was black on white lettering.
It then switched to read the same thing, only white on black lettering.
Then back to the original.
Then back to the reverse.
I think it switched one more time.
All the while there was some kind of classical music playing. Something familiar, but unidentifiable (by me at least) that is generally associated with "wackiness".
A title card then informed us that for years the networks have been trying to bring life to the way things are scheduled. (Or something along those lines. It's been a while, and it was early, so details are fuzzy.)
They then played a scene from "Young Frankenstein" - where Dr. Frankenstein is trying to bring his monster to life.... and failing. Heh. That was a good movie. I think we have it in our queue. If not, we should definitely put it there.
Um. Oh. Right. Topic.
FInally it cut to the stage, where the speakers would be. Voiceover introduced some guy - Roger Ailes - who was a stereotypical rich, fat, white man.
(No, really, he is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Ailes
See?)
Anyway. He comes out and says the network system is not working, and they should blame it on [some name I didn't catch] because NBC has been doing it for years.
Which, I guess, was supposed to be a joke.
Except NOBODY laughed.
The Man kinda chuckled nervously, and I swear to god he looked at his cue cards like, "Okay. They're gonna hate the rest of my material too." and he stumbled a little bit then said, "We're going to be doing something completely new and different. Wanting to win isn't enough, you also have to hate to lose. Blah blah blah." (Only he didn't really "say" blah, blah, blah.)
He then cut to a prerecorded segment where the announcer gave the (very short) history of My Network.
Feb. 22, My Network created,
On March whatever, Sinclair signs up with My Network,
On March whatever, some other stations signed up with My Network.
On this day, Bo Derek agreed to star in one of our shows.
On this day, MORE stations signed up with My Network.
Boring!!
It included another "joke" about "aspiring actor" Les Moonves auditioning to be in one of My Network's new programs and that it was "under negotiation". Ugh. [Les Moonves is the president of CBS, so this was, I'm presuming, some sort of dig at him?] These people have a really poor sense of humor. (The strangest "joke" was yet to come, though.)
So.
Finally we get to the programming. And, I've got to give it to them, what they are trying is way different. My Network is going to have two shows. Two hour long dramas that will air 6 nights a week. These dramas will have story arcs that run for 13 weeks. 65 episodes per show, and they will not have any reruns - EVER. Monday through Friday will be the actual "story" of these programs (they weren't referred to as "telenovellas" - they called them Short Scripted Dramas- , but in every other part of the world where they've tried this form of programming [and they've worked HUGELY successfully, apparently] that's what they're called. ) and Saturday will be a sort of recap show for the previous week.
At the end of the 13 weeks, the story arc will conclude, and a NEW storyline - with completely different actors and actresses will start up.
Basically, these are soap operas that are being run in prime time. And they have all the draw of daytime soaps - sex, deception, sex, intrigue, drama, sex, actiony violence stuff, sex, and sex. Also, since they're lifting this type of programming from Spanish stations, a lot of the cast is of Latino descent.
(Interestingly enough, the MN logo looks similar to the logo of Telemundo. It's almost like MN is the Taco Bell of television. It's "americanized" Spanish tv)
So. How do you fill an hour long upfront when you only have two programs? Well, since each storyline only runs for 13 weeks... they showed clips from 3 "sessions". 6 shows total.
Here's how it played out:
"Desire" will run at 8p, "Secret Obsessions" will run at 9.
Starting on September 5th, 2006, it will be "Desire: Table for Three" and "Secret Obsessions: Fashion House" (which is the one with Bo Derek)
Table for Three - I've seen the pilot already. It's totally a guilty pleasure, and I can see these being addicting. If people can get into them. But, the drawback with the 13 week run style is that if someone doesn't like the storyline, you've lost them as a viewer for 3 months. Doh.
Anyway. Table for Three is the story of two brothers. One of them sleeps with the daughter of a mobster. Mob daddy gets pissed and tries to kill the brother. So they move across the country. There, they both fall in love with the same girl. Meanwhile, Mobdaddy tracks them down, and kills the brother who slept with his daughter. Except he didn't kill him. He comes back. Only to find that his brother is now sleeping with his girl.
Oy.
Fashion House - Bo Derek is ....welll, actually. Remember Models Inc? (Okay. You probably don't. Do you remember Melrose Place? Because Model's Inc was just Melrose Place) It's that. Only for 13 weeks instead of years and years.
Next up will be Desire: Dangerous Love, which I don't remember exactly what it was about. Appeared to be a Romeo & Juliet ripoff, actually. And Secret Obsessions: Watch Over Me looked to be a ripoff of The Bodyguard and The Transporter. (Some rich (mafia??) guy hires a guy to protect his wife. They sleep together. His goons find out, and report it back to the mafia guy. Mafia guy orders them to kill him. Wheee!
Thirdly will be Desire: Rules of Deception and Secret Obsessions: Art of Betrayal. AofB has Sean Young in it, so, um, there's that, I guess. RoD was just as generically blah as the previously mentioned storylines. I think it had sisters who fall for the same guy, or something. So, you know, that's a twist! [rolleyes]
I don't know. The shows themselves are pretty tawdry and lame, but it's television. It panders to the lowest common denominator, and it appears that these shows will do that very very well. Plus, supposedly, each show will end with a cliffhanger to draw people back in each night. (Well, cliffhanger for 13 weeks, anyway. It's kinda cool that they actually have an ending they work toward. And you know that they'll get to it, and it won't allow the show to go on and on and on, unlike some dramas *cough*Buffy*cough* that don't know when to quit.)
The other things of interest:
The website.
Mynetworktv.com (not up and running yet, sadly) is going to play a HUGE role in these shows, and in the way the network operates. Apparently, EVERYDAY there will be new "hidden scenes" that is only available online that didn't make it into the shows. They aren't necessary to see to enjoy the storyline, but they "enrich the experience". For example, you can fire up the website, and watch some character's "confession" of something. The online material will, of course, instruct people to tune in that night to watch the show.
Also. My Network is owned by News Corporation (Fox, Fox News, FX) which owns a little site called MySpace.com. I guess that's pretty huge or something. Anyway. Expect a LOT of tie in with MySpace and MyNetwork. I wonder if this means that I'll have to eventually break down and actually visit a Myspace website. [shudders] (I've avoided them so far basically out of spite. It's gotten way too much press and hype for me to bother to care. Maybe I'm elitist, but I just don't care. And I don't WANT to care.)
Anyway. The MyNetworktv.com site looks like it will be very very slick and cool and way too time draining for people who get sucked into things like that. So, um. Yay?
The other thing that was pretty interesting, and I need to get clarification on this, exactly, but it appears that MNTV will be very open to product placement. My understanding is that different markets will be able to have different product placement. So, a scene where someone is drinking a coke in one market could be a pepsi in another. How? Ah, the joys of the digital age.
This bothers me on some fundamental level. Product placement has always been a pet peeve of mine. And the MyNetwork folks seem to be embracing it full on. It's ...I don't know. A coworker and I had a conversation about it after it aired, where he complained that product placement made art more commercialized. And, yes, he conceded that calling shows like Table for Three "art" was a bit of a stretch. But it still stands that this really draws attention to the fact that while we may like to think that TV shows are there for our entertainment, they really are there for people to make money. I don't like that. I prefer to live in my bubble of denial where I believe that the creators of programs are doing it solely because they love to and want to entertain folks, not due to the almighty dollar.
Anyway. I've rambled for a long time now. And I've pretty much covered it all. Oh! Except for the strangest part of the presentation. It was before they went on the shpiel about the website. The voiceover said, "The difference between involvement and commitment is like the difference between ham and eggs. The chicken is involved. The pig is committed."
What. The. Fuck?
I mean, okay. That sentence - while bizarre - makes sense. But what?? What!?? All that scene did was
a) confuse all of us in the room and caused us to laugh/make jokes/discuss whether that meant the network was a pig and the viewers were chickens/etc.
and
b) made me hungry for some ham and eggs.
Well. That is pretty much it. My gut feeling is that the MN has potential to be huge. Rupert Murdoch and his cronies have built networks before, and have done a pretty good job of it. But I guess we'll have to see how things play out in September.
And of course, tomorrow is the CW's upfront, so I can't wait to see how screwed up that's gonna be!
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Oh, right.
I was supposed to blog today.
But. Seeing how I've been awake since 4 am, and I have to wake up in, like, ten mintues, I think I'll just wait until tomorrow to do that, huh? Besides, my ntoes are at work, so I'll blog from there. Cool? Cool.
oh. On the brighte side, we are totally getting a new vehicle tomorrow.
But. Seeing how I've been awake since 4 am, and I have to wake up in, like, ten mintues, I think I'll just wait until tomorrow to do that, huh? Besides, my ntoes are at work, so I'll blog from there. Cool? Cool.
oh. On the brighte side, we are totally getting a new vehicle tomorrow.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Lyrics... explained!
...or something. Answers to the below-mentioned music meme. (I know that this meme is super tough, but it's also one of the coolest I've ever seen. I think it should be done on a semi-monthly basis. Quarterly, maybe?) Anyway. Answers!
1. "He says he knows me, but I don't know that guy."
Bastard Wants to Hit Me ~ They Might Be Giants
2. "I'm awake, you're still sleeping."
I Hope Tomorrow Is Like Today ~ Guster
3. "Pangs of silence from the room upstairs."
The Ascent of Stan ~ Ben Folds
4. "You say that I am all about being tasty."
Your Attitude Towards Cuttlefish ~ Paper Moon
5. "Everyone gather 'round now, sing us a song, just in case tomorrow it happens he's gone."
Steven's Last Night in Town ~ Ben Folds Five [Oddly, my iTunes refers to this as Steve's Last Night in Town. I guess iTunes knows him better.]
6. "I can't stop myself from calling out your name."
In the Morning ~ Norah Jones
7. "It's a junkie dream, makes you so uptight."
Some Song ~ Elliot Smith
8. "The lights are off again, she took me by surprise."
Losing Lisa ~ Ben Folds [Mr. Folds is quite popular here.]
9. "You look like a perfect fit, for a girl in need of a tourniquet."
Save Me ~ Aimee Mann [from the incredible Magnolia soundtrack. Highly recommended.]
10. "Crab if you wanna, she won't be coming down."
Crab ~ Weezer [This song always makes me think of Cletus. My brain is odd.]
11. "Istanbul was Constantinople."
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) ~ They Might Be Giants
12. "Gonna make my move. Gonna make it stick."
Glorious Day ~ Weezer
13. "I'd like to tell you, like to tell you, like to tell you everything."
Where's Summer B? ~ Ben Folds Five
14. "There is [something] so wake up, run your lips across your fingers."
Three Peaches ~ Neutral Milk Hotel
15. "I met this girl, she looked like Axl Rose."
Julianne ~ Ben Folds Five
16. "I don't get many things right the first time."
The Luckiest ~ Ben Folds
17. "Well she crept back in the house at half past three."
The Last Polka ~ Ben Folds Five
18. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go."
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas ~ Bing Crosby [from Soupytwist's Xmas CD]
19. "Dance Hall, Dance Hall Everyday!! I'm gonna dance hall, dance hall everyday!!"
Dance Hall ~ Modest Mouse
20. "Two headed boy all floating in glass."
Two-Headed Boy ~ Neutral Milk Hotel
The other meme that I mentioned? I'll do that on Wednesday. Or Friday. Because tomorrow is the My Network Upfront (and the CW's Upfront is Thursday) and I plan on blogging about them both.
And holy christ I'm tired.
1. "He says he knows me, but I don't know that guy."
Bastard Wants to Hit Me ~ They Might Be Giants
2. "I'm awake, you're still sleeping."
I Hope Tomorrow Is Like Today ~ Guster
3. "Pangs of silence from the room upstairs."
The Ascent of Stan ~ Ben Folds
4. "You say that I am all about being tasty."
Your Attitude Towards Cuttlefish ~ Paper Moon
5. "Everyone gather 'round now, sing us a song, just in case tomorrow it happens he's gone."
Steven's Last Night in Town ~ Ben Folds Five [Oddly, my iTunes refers to this as Steve's Last Night in Town. I guess iTunes knows him better.]
6. "I can't stop myself from calling out your name."
In the Morning ~ Norah Jones
7. "It's a junkie dream, makes you so uptight."
Some Song ~ Elliot Smith
8. "The lights are off again, she took me by surprise."
Losing Lisa ~ Ben Folds [Mr. Folds is quite popular here.]
9. "You look like a perfect fit, for a girl in need of a tourniquet."
Save Me ~ Aimee Mann [from the incredible Magnolia soundtrack. Highly recommended.]
10. "Crab if you wanna, she won't be coming down."
Crab ~ Weezer [This song always makes me think of Cletus. My brain is odd.]
11. "Istanbul was Constantinople."
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) ~ They Might Be Giants
12. "Gonna make my move. Gonna make it stick."
Glorious Day ~ Weezer
13. "I'd like to tell you, like to tell you, like to tell you everything."
Where's Summer B? ~ Ben Folds Five
14. "There is [something] so wake up, run your lips across your fingers."
Three Peaches ~ Neutral Milk Hotel
15. "I met this girl, she looked like Axl Rose."
Julianne ~ Ben Folds Five
16. "I don't get many things right the first time."
The Luckiest ~ Ben Folds
17. "Well she crept back in the house at half past three."
The Last Polka ~ Ben Folds Five
18. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go."
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas ~ Bing Crosby [from Soupytwist's Xmas CD]
19. "Dance Hall, Dance Hall Everyday!! I'm gonna dance hall, dance hall everyday!!"
Dance Hall ~ Modest Mouse
20. "Two headed boy all floating in glass."
Two-Headed Boy ~ Neutral Milk Hotel
The other meme that I mentioned? I'll do that on Wednesday. Or Friday. Because tomorrow is the My Network Upfront (and the CW's Upfront is Thursday) and I plan on blogging about them both.
And holy christ I'm tired.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
MemeP3
Yeah. I'm finally getting around to doing the Music Meme that Annika posted, like a gabillion years ago.
Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Also, I'm going by what I hear, so if any of these are mondegreens, well... I don't know what I've been told. :)
1. "He says he knows me, but I don't know that guy."
2. "I'm awake, you're still sleeping."
3. "Pangs of silence from the room upstairs."
4. "You say that I am all about being tasty."
5. "Everyone gather 'round now, sing us a song, just in case tomorrow it happens he's gone."
6. "I can't stop myself from calling out your name."
7. "It's a junkie dream, makes you so uptight."
8. "The lights are off again, she took me by surprise."
9. "You look like a perfect fit, for a girl in need of a tourniquet."
10. "Crab if you wanna, she won't be coming down."
11. "Istanbul was Constantinople."
(Yay! A freebie!)
12. "Gonna make my move. Gonna make it stick."
13. "I'd like to tell you, like to tell you, like to tell you everything."
14. "There is [something] so wake up, run your lips across your fingers."
(Sorry. I honestly couldn't make that first part out.)
15. "I met this girl, she looked like Axl Rose."
16. "I don't get many things right the first time."
(In fact, I am told that a lot.)
17. "Well she crept back in the house at half past three."
18. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go."
(Another freebie! But, can you guess the artist?)
19. "Dance Hall, Dance Hall Everyday!! I'm gonna dance hall, dance hall everyday!!"
20. "Two headed boy all floating in glass."
Phew! That took much longer than expected.
I have my own (psuedo)music meme, but I'll wait until we later to post it. We have to get ready to go to Saren's soccer game now.
Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Also, I'm going by what I hear, so if any of these are mondegreens, well... I don't know what I've been told. :)
1. "He says he knows me, but I don't know that guy."
2. "I'm awake, you're still sleeping."
3. "Pangs of silence from the room upstairs."
4. "You say that I am all about being tasty."
5. "Everyone gather 'round now, sing us a song, just in case tomorrow it happens he's gone."
6. "I can't stop myself from calling out your name."
7. "It's a junkie dream, makes you so uptight."
8. "The lights are off again, she took me by surprise."
9. "You look like a perfect fit, for a girl in need of a tourniquet."
10. "Crab if you wanna, she won't be coming down."
11. "Istanbul was Constantinople."
(Yay! A freebie!)
12. "Gonna make my move. Gonna make it stick."
13. "I'd like to tell you, like to tell you, like to tell you everything."
14. "There is [something] so wake up, run your lips across your fingers."
(Sorry. I honestly couldn't make that first part out.)
15. "I met this girl, she looked like Axl Rose."
16. "I don't get many things right the first time."
(In fact, I am told that a lot.)
17. "Well she crept back in the house at half past three."
18. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go."
(Another freebie! But, can you guess the artist?)
19. "Dance Hall, Dance Hall Everyday!! I'm gonna dance hall, dance hall everyday!!"
20. "Two headed boy all floating in glass."
Phew! That took much longer than expected.
I have my own (psuedo)music meme, but I'll wait until we later to post it. We have to get ready to go to Saren's soccer game now.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Cars are teh suck
They really really are.
That being said, we need a new one.
Or, no, not a new one.
And not a car. A minivan. Or [shudder] an SUV.
Or a RV!!
Barring all that, we could just go back to horses and buggies.
That being said, we need a new one.
Or, no, not a new one.
And not a car. A minivan. Or [shudder] an SUV.
Or a RV!!
Barring all that, we could just go back to horses and buggies.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Superchicken!
It's officially hot now.
And I'm reminded that I really don't like sweating.
But I know from previous years experience that my bitching about the heat won't make it go away any quicker. (See? I do leaern!) So, no complaining about the excessive heat.
Instead, I'm just noting it, and moving on.
I put in my vacation request time today. July 3rd - July 11th. Can. Not. Wait.
I also want to take off September 6 - 9....but seeing how that coincides with the launch of two new networks, I suspect that that request would be denied. :(
Um. I had other stuff i wanted to say, but holding a sleeping baby while I blog makes thinking difficult. Plus, dinner smells really good...
And I'm reminded that I really don't like sweating.
But I know from previous years experience that my bitching about the heat won't make it go away any quicker. (See? I do leaern!) So, no complaining about the excessive heat.
Instead, I'm just noting it, and moving on.
I put in my vacation request time today. July 3rd - July 11th. Can. Not. Wait.
I also want to take off September 6 - 9....but seeing how that coincides with the launch of two new networks, I suspect that that request would be denied. :(
Um. I had other stuff i wanted to say, but holding a sleeping baby while I blog makes thinking difficult. Plus, dinner smells really good...
Monday, May 08, 2006
Ummm.
I keep forgetting stuff. I'm sure it's due to being constantly tired - which is due to work and my weird habit of waking up earlier than I really need to - but I feel like ...I forget what.
We watched the finale of 7th Heaven, which didn't suck as much as I expected. (But don't get me wrong, it was still very, very bad.)
And just now we watched David Blaine try to kill himself on national television, and then thousands of New Yorkers applaud when he didn't. Humans are weird.
I had a point/something to say, but, yeah. You know.
We watched the finale of 7th Heaven, which didn't suck as much as I expected. (But don't get me wrong, it was still very, very bad.)
And just now we watched David Blaine try to kill himself on national television, and then thousands of New Yorkers applaud when he didn't. Humans are weird.
I had a point/something to say, but, yeah. You know.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Winner!
Area 108 is giving away copies of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' new (double!) album, Stadium Arcadium this weekend in one of their "Win it Before You Can Buy It" weekends. (The album comes out on Tuesday)
I totally won!!
They'll call me on Monday to tell me where to pick it up. Um. I just realized, though, that we have, like NO gas, and no money to get gas. I'm sure they'll hold it there until I am able to retrieve it, but that does belittle the idea of owning it before anyone else. Oh well. It's still a free CD! Righteous! (and Wicked!)
I totally won!!
They'll call me on Monday to tell me where to pick it up. Um. I just realized, though, that we have, like NO gas, and no money to get gas. I'm sure they'll hold it there until I am able to retrieve it, but that does belittle the idea of owning it before anyone else. Oh well. It's still a free CD! Righteous! (and Wicked!)
Church Sign Wisdom 5*
They changed the sign at the church, about a week ago, actually, but this is the first time I've been awake enough to blog about it.
SELF DESTRUCTION
COMES FROM WITHIN,
NOT FROM WITHOUT
and
WORRY
GIVES SOMETHING TO DO
BUT NOWHERE TO GO
Semi-related to Church Sign Wisdom... yesterday while driving down in parts of town that are ...not so pleasant, I saw a message spray painted on the side of a building. It read:
Going to Work? Fuck You.
Heh. And also, slightly, frown.
*I have no idea whether this is really the fifth installment of Church Sign Wisdom or not, but I can't be arsed to look up how many times it has been done, and 5 sounds about right, so five it shall be.
COMES FROM WITHIN,
NOT FROM WITHOUT
and
GIVES SOMETHING TO DO
BUT NOWHERE TO GO
Semi-related to Church Sign Wisdom... yesterday while driving down in parts of town that are ...not so pleasant, I saw a message spray painted on the side of a building. It read:
Heh. And also, slightly, frown.
*I have no idea whether this is really the fifth installment of Church Sign Wisdom or not, but I can't be arsed to look up how many times it has been done, and 5 sounds about right, so five it shall be.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
TGIF
Oh. Wait. It isn't yet.
GDIIFY
Heh.
I'm so bloody tired.
June mayvery well end up being the month from hell. Heh. JuneMay. But, yeah. We'll see.
I think, tomororow, if I'm awake and coherent enough, I might actually blog something that makes sense.
GDIIFY
Heh.
I'm so bloody tired.
June mayvery well end up being the month from hell. Heh. JuneMay. But, yeah. We'll see.
I think, tomororow, if I'm awake and coherent enough, I might actually blog something that makes sense.
Monday, May 01, 2006
2006 mileage update
January - 730
February - 1357.8
March - 872.4
April - 1056.9
Total this year to date: 4017.1
So. I know it's only May (!!) but, anyone want to take a guess at what the total amount of miles driven by the end of the year will be?
February - 1357.8
March - 872.4
April - 1056.9
Total this year to date: 4017.1
So. I know it's only May (!!) but, anyone want to take a guess at what the total amount of miles driven by the end of the year will be?
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