Ready to Save the World

Well, it's Thursday, so that means it's time for me to reiterate my love for Heroes!

What? Well, of course I know it was on Monday! Yes, I watched it then! Tuesday was no good for me, that's why! Wednesday? I had no power Wednesday!

Anyway, it was a good thing the power went out on Tuesday and not Monday just before Heroes, because I surely would've thrown a fit. A fit in the dark, but a fit nonetheless. It wasn't an episode to be missed. In an uncharacteristically helpful move, I'm going to not spoil the episode for those who've recorded it and couldn't find an hour to watch it in, yet. Still, it set the stage for a great season finale (along with the final build-up to it). I think I'll try to do some Heroes drawings and post them here. You know...right after I get some work done on that webpage for my uncle.

He only asked me to do it back in February...

No, I haven't been slacking! You know I had that logo thing to do! ...Yeah, I could've worked on it whilst waiting for word on revisions to come back... Shut up!

...Ok, here's the thing. I've forgotten whatever else I was going to say. Probably wasn't that important, but still...it's been a couple days and I wanted to fill the space talking about stuff. Stuff I don't remember, now. So...I think I'll leave.

Bye.

Oh, wait...er...nevermind.

Feh, Art...

I mentioned before how I was an art major in college. Got my BA, which, as is proven by not having a job in art, is BS. The thing about art is that, while I enjoy drawing (and to a lesser degree, photography, sculpture & painting...in that order), I don't care for art.

Or, really, I don't care for artists and art lovers. I'm talking about high art, here. Popular art is more real to me. Graphic design, cartooning, that sort of thing...that's unpretentious art. The problem is (generally) people who make gallery art (and the people who fawn over them). I watched a video with Andria last night (after ER but before I turned on the end of Wednesday's Jericho episode) on John Cage, a "composer" and general flake responsible for the "musical" abomination 4'33", a piano piece which is four minutes and thirty-three seconds of whatever the crap happens to be going on in the room except the piano. The pianist approaches the piano, sits down and then, for the next four and a half minutes, keeps an eye on his watch.

This is EXACTLY why I hate art. You can do the stupidest crap and call it art and people will think you're some sort of visionary. That's just screwing around!

In short, the emperor's freaking naked!

I propose a piece of performance art. Go down to the busiest part of the town you live in or nearest to. Scream, as loud as you possibly can, "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am!" Then, when people are gawking at you, run over and suckerpunch the nearest one. Then, when the cops come, tell them it was art.

Great News...pbbbttt!

Just found out that NBC will not be airing The Black Donnelly's again. Soon or ever. Good thing, because we need more vapid shows like the waste of airtime that is Thank God You're Here.

Ok, that might've been a bit harsh. I didn't HATE the show, but other than the possibility of someone marginally famous making a fool of themself by not being funny (which is probably the funniest possible outcome), there isn't much to it more than a bunch of adults playing pretend. Wayne Knight, Seinfeld's nemesis Newman and Jurassic Park's thieving programmer Dennis Nedry, was good, but the others in the two episodes that aired were....meh. I mean, Bryan Cranston was fine until I realized that his whole bit was making out with everyone. Like Michael Scott's gun, how do you top a guy who makes out with everyone? And Mo'Nique, good grief...I totally lost respect for Dave Foley for picking her as the best in the second show...her entire comedy is based on being fat and, when that fails, black. OOOOOOH. Edie McClurg was at least able to rise above using the same crap that she rose to fame on (unless you count her appearance as a nice normal lady clashing with her behavior...but it's not like she's going to have plastic surgery just so she can escape THAT), but what the heck happened to Richard Kind and Kevin Nealon? Apparently, Nealon lost his ability to be amusing sometime after SNL, and Richard Kind...man...he failed, but in the least funny way possible. The first episode was vastly superior, and...well, that's pretty dang sad. Dave Foley, other than his award screw-up (which I suppose I could give him the benefit of the doubt and say was due to fear of Mo', since she could probably take him in a fight), was somewhat amusing in his brief parts, but more because he seemed to be laughing at himself for sinking to being a second-fiddle host on a show where the host isn't even on that much. The highlight for the whole thing had to be the audience. Not the whole audience, but the people that sat behind Dave Foley, because they didn't seem to be into it, either, which pleases me greatly. Before writing off the series entirely, I'll hang around long enough to see Angela Kinsey, who plays Angela on The Office. I don't know that she'll be any better, but she's on The Office. I watch things those people are on, such as when Rainn Wilson was on SNL.

Ugh.

Unfavorable Exchange Rate

I like the Black Donnellys. I mentioned it in the last post, but I really do enjoy it. Something about the characters who are sympathetic, in spite of being ill-tempered and not terribly wholesome folk, is interesting. It's like Payback, the '99 Mel Gibson remake of Point Blank. Porter was a bad guy. Technically, not a great guy in any sense, really. However, he was the one you cheered for since he was as "in the right" as anyone in a movie filled with organized crime, crooked cops and a bunch of people deserving defenestration can be.

I love that word.

Anyway...like I mentioned before, I missed the first half of the episode and thus the last half made sense in the way that anything can make sense when you come in late. Not much. Well, unless you factor in what you know about the characters already. Then, at least, you can guess what's going on to a degree. You still miss a lot, though. As such, we were finally able to watch the first half online. Last night. Sadly, we had better connectivity on Easter than we've had the entire preceding week and a half. This is particularly sad because the NBC was dragging like a dog with worms.

If you've seen it, you know what I mean.

So, an hour long episode, minus commercials (except the 14 second ads in between 10 minute segments), which shouldn't have taken more than about 45 minutes (I suddenly realize I have no idea how much time out of a normal hour is devoted to commercials....it's like I don't even know TV anymore...). An hour and a half later, we'd watched 3 and a half segments and I decided to call it since I had a vague memory of the rest of it from last Monday.

If it's not one thing, it's another.

100, 3.5, 1/2, 3, 36

100, 3.5
Well, it happened. Aaron's gotten sick for the first time. Apparently, he has an infection in both ears (how does that happen?) which has made him a little ball of unpleasantness. This is not to say that I've stopped enjoying his company. Just that it's a lot more work keeping him calm. He is, most assuredly, not enjoying himself. I'd checked his temperature before I left for work yesterday, but it wasn't until after work that he actually registered a temperature. 100 is a lot for a 3.5 month old. Of course, I worry about the accuracy of our little digital ear thermometer, but since you can't put a thermometer in a baby's mouth, I'm sure he appreciates this to the more traditional alternative.

1/2
Especially with Heroes gone...again, I've been enjoying the Black Donnelly's. However, I enjoyed it a great deal less last night. About 1/2 the enjoyment was had. This can be attributed to the fact that because of exhaustion, and going with Andria's suggestion that we turn off the tv for a bit before the show, I fell asleep about 20 minutes before it came on and missed half the show. In her defense, she actually intended to sleep. I just passed out. I plan on watching the first half online at home, but that's entirely dependent on our DSL NOT sucking, which it did most of yesterday. I get the feeling that CenturyTel was not entirely truthful when they said we could have DSL at our place.

Or they omitted the fact that we couldn't have it CONSISTENTLY.

3
I've been working on a logo for the children's ministry at my brother's church. What they've got me doing is nothing groundbreaking, but I've enjoyed it. Unfortunately, it's taxing the crap out of my laptop. It's newer than the desktop, but it really isn't appreciating the workload I'm putting on it with the file size. The thing is, I KNOW I could be doing it a different way with one of the other programs I use. I just don't know how to use that program very well and I'm not sure how to learn. Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, here are the 3 versions we've gone through thus far. Note how they're essentially the same with just slight changes. That's what's annoying. If I knew how to use that other program, it'd be 10 minutes of work. Instead, it's a week (given I have other things going on during that time as well).




36
I am, again, at the limits of my pants. As such, I will now endeavor to lose in the vicinity of 36 pounds over the next...however long it takes to get there. The time is entirely dependent on how much will power I have and how many of those wonderful, available only once a year, Cadbury Cream Eggs I ingest over the next couple weeks. I have to admit, losing that much will put me in a size smaller waist, but I can cinch up my belt. There's not a lot you can do when you've out distanced the waistband, though. Walking around with your pants open is socially frowned upon. I need to lose the weight for reasons beside that including, but not limited to:

1. When Aaron becomes mobile, I need to be able to keep up with him
2. I don't want to be an old, fat guy, and the old is coming whether I like it or not
3. The idea of being filmed from behind for a Dateline special on weight in America doesn't appeal to me.

The thing is, I'm not a diet and exercise guy. I can do a diet if need be, but exercise is something I don't even have time for. Unless you count carrying Aaron about, and it's getting warm enough that he doesn't really appreciate my added body warmth. I'll probably have to up the activity level a bit, but I'm not looking to be doing anything particularly spectacular. Maybe run the "Peach Festival" race in...whenever the Peach Festival is. July, perhaps. But I wouldn't count on it. I'm way more broken than I was last time I ran a race like that, and it wasn't like I was in great condition then. Mostly, I'm just afraid that I'll end up doubling the distance for all the times I have to go back and pick something up that fell off.