13 posts tagged “tv”
Ta-da! Here is my interview with the local news about Bookins. Although, pretty much everyone who has seen it says my voice sounds different in real life.
http://cbs13.com/savewithdave/save.with.dave.2.956724.html
If anyone can tell me how to get this onto YouTube, I would be forever grateful.
Today I'm feeling significantly better from my bout with viral bronchitis over the weekend. I'm still exhausted and my throat is scratchy and sometimes I sound like I'm coughing up important organs, but at least my voice is (mostly) back and I have enough energy to sit at my desk at work and get some stuff done.
That doesn't mean, however, that I'm not going to drive home after work and crawl right back into bed. Because that's my plan.
I'm missing my tennis lesson tonight, which makes me sad. It's been a while since I've done anything remotely athletic and I can feel it in my muscles. I feel all...atrophied and lazy. I can't wait until I'm back in working order so I can get out there and get my blood pumping again, even if it's just for a walk or something.
So over this Sick Weekend of Watching TV, as I said before, I watched Pride and Prejudice. I also watched Definitely Maybe, which I liked more than I thought I would (mostly because I'd heard such awful reviews -- I set myself up to be disappointed and was pleasantly surprised). Also, Ryan Reynolds is a big bag of yum. I watched some shows on the Science Channel on crazy things crazy people are doing to save the planet, including making giant turbine balloons to capture wind energy (we only need 10 million for the world and we'll stop global warming!) and the huge pumps that bring cold, nutrient-rich ocean water to the surface so more plankton thrive so they soak up more carbon dioxide so when they die the sink to the bottom of the ocean, taking the carbon dioxide with them. Hmmm. Not sure about those. But the shows were interesting nonetheless.
I also watched reruns of Project Runway, which I not-so-secretly LOVE. I really need my own Tim Gunn to stand by my front door so he can approve/reject all outfits before I leave the house, so I always look fabulous. Because if there's one thing I learned from ProjRun, it's that Tim Gunn is Always Right. I also watched some Ugly Betty episodes that I needed to catch up on so I'll be ready for this next season, as well as some episodes of Numbers, which is my secret shame. I heart that show.
It's really nice to have a few relaxing days. But after a while, I just get bored. I don't do idleness well. Hopefully I'll be back in tip-top shape. I need all the energy I can muster to not attack the John Krasinksi on my TV on Thursday, when the Office starts! JOY!
[EDIT: I forgot to say that I watched the 49er's game too! I was supposed to go to the game with my dad, but this STUPID FLU made it impossible. Anyway, who WAS that team out there in red? J.T. O'Montana, is more like it!]
Last night we had youth group for the first time since before Christmas. Instead of having our normal study, we all gathered at our pastor's house to hang out, play some Wii, eat some pizza, watch some TV, and play some board games. It was an opportunity to get everyone together again now that the new year is rolling. We'll start our new study next Wednesday.
Anyway, I somehow stuck with the group watching American Idol (I would have much rather played Guitar Hero on the Wii, but it was a bunch of surly teenage boys who I'm pretty sure think I'm ancient and therefore inept at GH. They wouldn't necessarily be wrong.). Other than the season finale with Ruben and Clay, I've never seen a full episode. Of course, since I watch the evening news (don't even get me started), I've seen snippets, but this really is the first time I've ever watched the audition process.
Good Lord. I know a lot of my Vox neighbors who watch and I don't mean to offend, but I found it to be the most cringeworthy two hours of TV ever! Now, many of you know that I don't like karaoke, and I don't like christmas caroling. I basically don't like to hear any singers unless they can really sing.
I think this all hinges on the fact that I am so embarrassed for people who think they can sing but can't. And then they tell these sad stories (I'm-a-middle-linebacker-girl-and-my-momma's-in-a-wheelchair-etc) and I get my hopes up that they can make it to Hollywood to live the dream of being a pop star and making a gagillion dollars and getting the heck outta Dodge. And then they totally suck at singing. And I cry. In front of all of my youth. It's not pretty.
And then there's the dude who has kept all his fingernail clippings for seven years. What. The. Hell.
Plus, the judges are mean and laugh at the contestants, and Paula might just be on drugs. And a lot of people just go on to get their three minutes of fame and it makes me wonder if their mothers didn't love them enough.
Gah.
And why is it that 95% of the singers are good lookin'? I would like to see some manfreak wearing a fur jumpsuit, Madonna bra, and an afro come out and just tear it up. Wouldn't that be awesome? But no. The freaks can't sing. They are just freaks.
Maybe this is why I don't watch reality television. Except for Project Runway. And the occasional marathon of America's Next Top Model, but only because I love fashion. And cat fights.
You all are fans, aren't you? You're deleting me from your neighborhood right now, aren't you?
Dear AMPTP,
I am writing to tell you of my support for the WGA. My support, while it affects all WGA members, is geared toward the unnamed, lower-level writers, those who depend on residual rights payments to make their rent every month. Big name writers aren't in any immediate danger, but it takes a lot of guts and determination to strike when you're making the bare minimum, or, like many writers, are not currently employed at all. My support is behind these writers.
I understand that your organization is looking out for its best interests, but to cut writers out of any money for "new media" is a crime -- one of these days everything will be new media. I also understand that you have yet to work up a revenue model for new media -- it's difficult to concretely define something that doesn't exist in any fully known capacity yet. But to deny writers a portion of new media revenues is ridiculous. I work in publishing and know that many standard book contracts have new media rights written into them. I fail to understand how this is any different for writers for television and movies.
Once new episodes of my favorite TV shows stop airing, I will be turning off my television. You are losing a faithful viewer for a large number of shows: Chuck, Heroes, Bones, House, Pushing Daisies, Ugly Betty, My Name is Earl, the Office, Scrubs, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, Battlestar Galactica, the Riches, the Simpsons, Lost, 24, and Numb3rs. I will not be watching any of the reality fillers, nor will I be purchasing anything related to television or movies -- DVDs, online content (there goes your new media), etc. I will not make my usual visits to television websites. When the new content from my favorite writers dries up, I'm out. Feel free to forward this letter to your advertisers.
(And, by the way, I do make a concerted effort to support the advertisers on my favorite shows. For example, I changed my purchasing habits to align with the advertising on Friday Night Lights so I can do my part in keeping that amazing show from being canceled. So yes, as a viewer, I matter to your bottom line, despite whether or not I am a Nielson household. Maybe I am. That would be bad for your organization, wouldn't it?)
All I ask that your organization is reasonable at the negotiating table (in addition, I am forwarding this letter to the WGA, and ask that they be reasonable as well -- both sides need to be willing to compromise) so that this issue can be resolved quickly and fairly. A writer deserves his/her portion of the work as much as the next guy/girl. It's only fair.
In solidarity for the WGA,
Cori Ashley
* * *
Note to my readers: if you support the WGA, I highly suggest sending a letter or, in support of new media, an email to the AMPTP, outlining your position on the strike.
Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers
15503 Ventura Boulevard
Encino, CA 91436
You can also write to the WGA to show your support:
Writers Guild of America
7000 West Third Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
I'm back! My weekend away was fantastic, just like I knew it would be. Jessy, my brother, Ben, Jeremy, and Robert are in a band called Cornerstone (well, they were until Jessy moved to Iowa). I joined them and Jessy's wife Robyn and Ben's wife Carrie for the weekend. The band was leading worship at a men's conference at Hume Lake Christian Camp, so basically it was 500 men and me, Robyn, and Carrie. Let me tell you, I've never felt so female in my life!
On the one serious note for this blog, I must say that I think I experienced something this weekend that very few women get to experience: 500 men singing Amazing Grace. We sat up in the balcony with the staff so we didn't intrude with our girl-ness, but we could still see and hear everything. And it was such a blessing to hear all those men lifting their voices to God, and I'm really thankful that I was able to experience it.
The Drive There
I am also very thankful that I had the GPS. Hume, CA is in The Middle Of Nowhere. I left at 4:00 from work (woo!), and it took me almost five hours to get up there. From the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain, I didn't see any other cars. Not one. As I was driving, I knew that there were sharp drop-offs into a canyon, but luckily I couldn't see them. The mountain was dark and there were no signs of civilization. I kept thinking, "this is how stupid girls in movies die." But then I finally reached Hume -- the lake and camp are in the middle of this beautiful valley. After a few minutes of "where the heck are my friends?" Jessy came out and found me.
Friday Night
After the evening session, we all went back to the Hospitality House (basically the nicest digs at the camp) and sat around laughing. And laughing. I'm going to take a risk and retell one conversation, although it will most likely fail spectacularly in you-had-to-be-there style. We had a huge bag of Jelly Bellies and my brother pulled out one, and fearfully asked, "what flavor is gray?" The answers were as follows: Cobwebs. Floor. Fog. Grandma. The Eighteenth Century. Okay, maybe it was funnier if you were there. But I'm laughing right now and that's all that matters.
Saturday
Some stuff happened in the morning, including an insane foosball tournament during which I suffered a foosing injury, and after that, we all hopped in Ben's Band Van and drove to see General Sherman. It's a tree. The biggest tree. In the world. It's actually the largest living thing in the world. The biggest, must underwhelming tree in the world. There are taller trees. And trees with a larger diameter. But, General Sherman has the most volume. It's the densest tree. We saw the densest tree. I have photos, but they are on other people's cameras because somehow the memory card in my camera wasn't there. Sad. Saturday also involved some card games, and a lot more laughing. (True.)
Rescue
There was another music group called Rescue who appeared at the conference. These four guys are uh-may-zing. They sing a'capella and absolutely blew us all away. One of the guys can beat-box with the best of them, and their bass can hit the E below the lowest note on the piano. When he sang, the floor vibrated. They were phenomenal on stage, and really great in person. They threw an Office party when season 4 premiered, and dressed as the characters, for goodness' sake. We saw photos. They need to be our friends. Too bad they hail from Portland.
The Drive Home
The only reason I'm talking about the drive home is because my brother and I had something crazy happen to us on the freeway. We were driving down the highway, and Robyn and Jessy (who were in the car in front of us) ran over something in the road. That big, flat, scary something flew up and headed straight for the windshield. It looked like a piece of sheet metal, so Chris cussed and I ducked so hard that I strained my neck. The object smacked off the windshield, banged its way over the top of the car, and then who knows where it went. A few seconds later, we saw a truck off to the side of the road hauling an enormous old TV -- missing its screen. We hit a TV screen! Or, more accurately, the screen hit us. Scary!!
All in all, GREAT WEEKEND. Pictures to come when someone emails them to me!
My brother came over, and after re-doing a bazillion cables I have HDTV! Woohoo! Through an antenna! Bunny ears! Didn't even know that was possible. He's freaking awesome -- an A/V geek without the geek. Okay, a little bit of the geek. But not that much. I'm way geekier.
And lo and behold, college football has never looked better!
But apparently there is a problem with my DVD player. Using red/blue/green cables, everything is magenta. Not just pink, but radioactive. So it's back to the regular red/white/yellow cables. I just can't watch Friday Night Lights in pink. It's about football, for goodness' sake.
A long time ago, I said that I would punch anyone in the neck who didn't watch Pushing Daisies when it premiered (at this point I am very sad because Jen sent me this fantastic photo of a guy totally ninja punching another guy in the neck, and for some reason I can't upload it).
As of this morning, I had no internet. Therefore, I had no TiVo (yes, the two are oddly connected). And I work with the youth at my church during the time that Pushing Daisies airs. Which mean that I couldn't watch it. And I couldn't TiVo it.
Lucky for me and my neck, I got my internet working. Thank goodness. Now we don't have to mooch off of our neighbor so I can leave long, rambling posts on Vox, and I no longer have to punch myself in the neck.
And because I've been a little fragile as far as my emotions go lately, I decided to skip youth group anyway. I hate doing that, but I realized that I would have been pretty much useless this evening. Instead, I stayed home and watched Pushing Daisies as it aired (and as I TiVo'ed it for repeated viewings in the upcoming week).
And I loved it. Then again, I knew I would.
I thought it was all the words that Jen came up with: "Magical. Whimsical. Enchanted. Vibrant. Beautiful. Touching. Clever. Quirky. Funny. Smart."
I'm going to add "Addicting." Like magical, whimsical, enchanted, vibrant, beautiful, touching, clever, quirky, funny, and smart crack. All I want is some more.
Lee Pace was fantastic. A total Acronym. I loved him in Wonderfalls ("I'm somebody's brother") and I love him even more after one episode of PD. He's plays the part of Ned, the pie-maker, to a T. Speaking of T's, that boy can pull of a plain black T-shirt like no one's business, am I right?
I loved Anna Friel (who is British, by the way. My friend Hillary would have wanted me to tell you all that. She would also want me to say that Anna Friel was fantastic in Me Without You, and that you should rent it without delay.). I loved the aunts. I loved Kristin Chenoweth. I loved Chi McBride. I loved Jim Dale's narration -- especially how he referred to Ned as "the pie-maker" all the time. I loved how Ned had a device to scratch his dog. I loved the whole basis for the world Bryan Fuller has created.
I love whimsy.
Oh, how I looooooooved how it was filmed. Like a less creepy version of Tim Burton (whose work I really like) had gotten his hands on the technicolor machine (yeah yeah, I know that there's no such thing). It was all so fantastical and wonderful and...perfect.
It also made me miss Fuller's other work, and mourn the cancellation of two of his shows: Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me.
I really hope that ABC gives this a chance.
A Movie.
Tonight I went and saw Pirates III: We are Really, Really Wet. It was long, but I was generally entertained. I've read some reviews from people who were confused, but I seemed to follow the plot of this movie a lot more easily than I did Pirates II: I Have a Starfish Glued to My Face. I think I'll have to go back watch the second movie because many of my questions were cleared up during number three.
And my goodness, will someone give Kiera Knightly a sandwich or something?
A Book.
I started reading Anybody Out There? today. I really like Marian Keyes. I feel like her characters are less ... vapid than in other chick lit books. And I've decided that I don't like the term "chick lit." Does Nick Hornby write man lit? Dude lit? Bro lit? Not so much.
A TV Channel.
Siobhan found channel 194 on Comcast the other day. It's a music station called The Tube and it's awesome. It plays music videos from the past six decades. I've heard the Who, Modest Mouse, Norah Jones, Genesis, Michael Jackson, Dave Matthews Band, the Rolling Stones, KT Tunstall, Fleetwood Mac, Lenny Kravitz, and Journey just to name a few. It's all music. None of that other MTV crap. It totally and completely rocks.
An Audio Book (and a play).
I'm listening to Son of a Witch in my car. It's read by Gregory Maguire. He tries to do the voices, but they all sound the same. It's a little strange. But I loved Wicked, so I'm giving it a shot. And if you take one bit of wisdom from my blog, let it be this: see Wicked (the play) when it comes to a city near you. It's different than the book, but oh how I fell in love with it. *makes wistful noises*
Other Non-Media News.
I have tomorrow off. It's my first holiday since February. You know what I have planned? A big, fat NOTHING. Sigh. I should have gone to San Diego.
because I got TiVo! EEEEEEEE!
I just received my TiVo in the mail. After one trip to Circuit City for a network adapter, it's up and running. I am watching Numb3rs. I've paused it to answer a phone call and now I've been able to fast-forward through some commercials. I'm also taping it so Siobhan can watch it later. Watching TV will never ever be the same!
People in my family have said the following things to me on holidays past (including this Thanksgiving). Normally I love hanging out with my family, but sometimes I just want to jump off the balcony.
- You really should find a husband. You'll be barren by 30.
- You could at least brush your hair (I had JUST brushed it)
- I don't like the hairstyles of young people these days
- Your skin -- it's not good.
- You're getting wrinkles.
- You're never going to meet anyone if you don't expand your friend group.
Sigh. Those are direct quotes.
But I am thankful for my family and friends. I just wish they'd learn a bit of tact. :)
So I heart TV. I really do.
