Arrested Development gets arrested

It's sad to hear about the 'hiatus' on Arrested Development. I even own the DVD set of season one (and I rarely buy DVD's). Here's an idea about how to save the show.

The PJs in JP

I live in the PJs. Sort of. Found out the new apartment complex is home to a bunch of government funded apartments. I haven't met many other residents, but they seem to be a bunch of families and some young professional types. And many of them have much nicer cars than I do. JP itself is very organic.

It's not all bad. The new roommate is very cool. Among other good qualities and a nice disposition he's Jewish and can fix things. It will be nice to have someone to light the menorah with this year. And the digital cable rocks! (New roommate works for the cable company so we get free cable). This On Demand shit is the best. Instead of being depressed because it's Thanksgiving and I'm sitting in my pajamas in the PJs I am delightfully distracted by Weeds on Showtime On Demand, at least for the next few hours.

Later today I'm going into work. They'll pay time-and-a-half but this way my boss will be able to spend the holiday with his family. He's a good guy so I don't mind too much. Besides, it's not like I have a family of my own (or any at all around here) so I'm not missing out on spending a holiday with my offspring.

The eagle has landed, sort of

Please excuse any tardiness or spotty blogging. The move is in progress. I may have computer use, I may not.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

My life in boxes

Most of my life is currently sitting in boxes and other assorted containers in my living room.

Flanks are still a bit tender and the doc has no good answer for me yet. She's still waiting for bloodwork to come back. So for now her instructions are that I not overexert or strain myself. Easy for her to say. She isn't moving 99% of her stuff to a new metro area in two days. Thankfully I have some wonderful friends who've offered to help me with the actual moving and lifting. But not the packing- I'm enough of a control freak to feel the need to do this myself. For some reason the idea of someone else packing things for me seems kind of odd. At least to me.

Pain in the....

..back. That has been the dominant thing in my life since Saturday night. Stabbing pain in my flanks (yes, we humans have those) that has slowly dulled down to sort of tolerable. Mainly I've been trying to find a position that is comfortable without much success. If only this were a muscle thing so that I could take some Aleve and get on with my life. I've spent the majority of the past few days on the couch. I feel lethargic and desperately want to go to the gym.
Went to the doctor today and she's sending me for some tests tomorrow. This is frustrating, as it inhibits my ability to pack- not being able to lift, bend, etc.... It is also scary. I just want to know what's wrong so that I can fix it. And make this pain go away.

Texas: sodomy still OK

Gay marriage is out in Texas. Sodomy still OK though.

Enemies list, but better

This is scary stuff. (via Fark) I wonder if anyone I know is on it?

Blogging the West Wing (East Coast version)

'Hawkeye' Pierce vs. Det. Bobby Simone

I'll probably have to go back and watch this again on my wonderful TiVo but here are my thoughts so far.

• Fascinating way to break into sweeps. Give NBC points for creativity.
• Live theater. This is what TV must've been like when my mom and dad were kids. Live TV is pretty rare now, especially for an hourlong drama. It does seem a bit staged.
• Forrest Sawyer looks annoyed. Not sure if he is acting (can he act?) or if he's really annoyed. How'd he end up with this gig anyway?
• Props for taking on unpopular topic of what's really wrong in Africa (corrupt governments, debts, taxes, etc...). Not sure how Bono would feel.
• Are any of the audience reactions prompted or are they spontaneous? How did those people get a chance to be in the audience anyway?
• In some ways this is almost as boring as a regular political debate.
• Seem to be using a very realistic NBC News bug**
• How will this fair against the season premiere of The Simpsons over on FOX?
• I am laughing inside because Alan Alda is such a well known liberal. Actually, seeing Alda as a Republican senator has amused me for the past little while on the West Wing.
• Some things seem stilted, sadly, not unlike a real debate. These guys probably rehearsed less than George W. Bush and John Kerry did for theirs last year.

Aftermath: My thoughts a few days later

• Jimmy Smits seemed to be dwarfed by the small screen presence of Alan Alda. If you watch any scenes they have together on the (non-live) West Wing episodes they seem to have decent chemistry and Santos/Smits does not seem easily out shined (out acted?) by Vinick/Alda. Steve told me that he thinks that Alda really shines on TV vs. the movies. I have to pretty much agree (minus his great role in Flirting With Disaster).
• Yes, they were able to say things in more plainspoken ways that lacked mucho market research and polling than might be said in a 'real' presidential debate. But in many ways the two talking heads made it just about as boring as watching a real one. One reason that I like the WW is that it presents topics learned about in Civics or American History in a way that makes them easier to swallow. (To quote a former retail co-worker of mine "It's like learning without knowing you're learning").

I rewatched the show later on with my roommate. He's not really a huge West Wing fan, more like he watches it when I have it on. He had a few interesting points to make-

• That the news bug** that they used was missing the 'ELECTION 2005' graphic
• The presidential seal and/or corresponding graphic was nowhere to be found on the set or in the 'coverage'
• Africa- this topic and the things that were said about it are not '"real political issues" but are the "pet projects" of the producer, John Wells*. But that everything else debate was "real". (I think Africa is an issue issues, but the opinions voiced in the debate are not the kinds of things said in the popular media, mainly because there is not good way to put them. Also, Africa has been in the news lately, thanks to Bono).

* John Wells has definite opinions about what's going on in Africa, just check out reruns from seasons nine and ten of ER.

The Jews are back

Jews are back in Boston. I had no idea they were missing.

(Thanks for the article Esther)

Blog block

I'm having writer's block with regard to the blog. Maybe this is due to the fact that I spend most of my time at work writing things. I also want to make sure that what I write here is of quality and not just because I feel a need to fill some sort of online void.

Girlcott

Is this what feminism has lead to?

I've been thinking about this lately in light of a recent article by Maureen Dowd in the NY Times Magazine where she points out that in this post-modern society " women of all ages are striving to become self-actualized sex kittens". I've never really thought of myself as a sex kitten. I do value my sexual (and reproductive) freedom, but I don't feel the need to take a strip-aerobics class to feel better about myself. I'm hardly bound for the world of June Cleaver, nor am I as radical as Andrea Dworkin or Catharine MacKinnon since I don't think that all porn can be equated with rape.

Some girls in Pennsylvania are staging a 'girlcott' against Abercrombie & Fitch. They feel that the some of their t-shirts enhance negative images of women. While the shirts do make me chuckle, I kind of agree that they're not helping my gender get the amount of respect we deserve. Would my mother and her contemporaries have worked so hard to make the struggles against sexism and gender bias less prevalent for my generation if they knew that 14-year-olds were going to wander around the mall in shirts that say things like "I make you look fat" and "if at first you don't succeed, try buying me some diamonds" ?