Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy lost me when we had to sit through a two night season finale last year to watch all of the young doctors participate in (ultimately) helping to kill a guy under the premise of moving him up the heart transplant list. When those doctors were not reprimanded, stripped of their medical licenses and thrown in jail at the start of the next season I wrote it off and have not watched an episode since.
Since then I've been telling everyone how much Grey's Anatomy sucks. I just had no idea how much of a feminist I am.
New York Times:
The New Modern Woman, Ambitious and Feeble
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
Published: May 5, 2007
It’s time to play the blame game.
Everything wrong with “Grey’s Anatomy” and its soon-to-be spun spinoff is the fault of “Ally McBeal.”
Mary Tyler Moore and Marlo Thomas were early prototypes of the quirky but lovable career girl. David E. Kelley’s hit series about a deeply neurotic lawyer named Ally McBeal marked a turning point in the devolution of women’s roles in television comedy — the moment when competent-but-flaky hardened into basket case.
...The HBO series “Sex and the City” made light of female insecurity and let its flighty heroines come out ahead. Here even the most successful women are left behind in life.
It wouldn’t matter, since the show is admittedly over-the-top escapist fantasy for women, except that it is troubling that even in escapist fantasies, today’s heroines have to be weak, needy and oversexed to be liked by women and desired by men.
...Shonda Rhimes, who created “Grey’s Anatomy,” also came up with the spinoff. Somehow, even in the hands of a woman, a show about female doctors finds humor and solace in their distress. Self-deprecation has been replaced with self-denigration.
People complain that hip-hop stars use obscene lyrics and lewd music videos to demean women. Sometimes, so do even the most bourgeois women’s television shows.
And This Is How You Would Choose to Present America to the World?
The Republican presidential candidates held another debate Tuesday night. All of the "top tier" candidates and the "soon-to-be also rans" were there.
The guy who many Americans don't know what he's really about but who enjoys headliner status on the GOP side due to his fundraising prowess is former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
And what did we learn about Romney from the debate? Well, if you are worried about America's increasingly diminished respect on the global stage resulting from repeated policy and moral failures, then Romney isn't your guy.
Why's that? -- here's the New York Times' coverage of the debate:
The scenario presented to the 10 Republican presidential candidates was chilling: Three American shopping malls had been bombed, producing scores of casualties. Terrorists with detailed knowledge of another imminent and deadlier attack had been captured and taken to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.Voters will have to decide what type of America and what image of America they want in the world.
The question: How far can the authorities go in interrogating the terrorists to get information to avert a fourth attack?
...Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts said he would support “not torture but enhanced interrogation techniques." And taking a tougher line than President Bush and Mr. McCain, who have said they would like to shut down the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Mr. Romney said he wanted the facility doubled in size.
...As they went through the doomsday terrorist scenario presented by the moderators, the candidates did not offer precise definitions of what they considered terrorism, though their nuanced responses suggested differences about how far they thought it was appropriate for interrogators to go to avert a terrorist attack.
Enhanced interrogation techniques, which Mr. Romney said he would support, refer to methods outside those allowed by the Army’s code of justice or the Geneva Conventions. The most publicly discussed technique that has reportedly been used on terrorism suspects involves what is known as water-boarding, where a prisoner is strapped down, head beneath his feet, as water is poured repeatedly on a cloth covering the mouth until the person thinks he is about to drown.
For Romney, he's probably fortunate that 99% of the country didn't even know there was a GOP debate Tuesday night.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
This News Is LEGEN-wait for it-DARY!
After watching this week's How I Met Your Mother -- which will hereby be referred in this posting as the Best Sitcom Currently On Television (BSCOT) -- I was certain the show was cancelled.
The episode had all the little endings, references to the pilot, and storyline conclusions one would expect if the writers of the BSCOT were told that there would be no next year and were forced to prematurely bring conclusion to the show. (A faithful reader of this blog had even heard a report on E! that the BSCOT was on the bubble).
And just as it appeared that primetime television was going to losing its most consistent source of laser tag references, Variety (well, more accurately CBS) saves the day:
Eye skeins getting better news this week include "How I Met Your Mother," which has been picked up for a third season. Eye's most buzzworthy laffer might seem to be a no-brainer for renewal, but CBS execs make producers sweat it out until the last minute.Thank you! (It just wouldn't have been fair if we didn't get to meet the mother).
Season three -- suit up!
According to This Guy, Wii Are Out of Luck
Nintendo's Wii is, as Mugatu might say, "so hot right now." The white video game console the size of a hardcover book has been harder to find than Waldo since it launched and things haven't gotten better post-holiday shopping.
But, hey, the holidays have been over for months. The Wii supply should be meeting demand in no time, right?
What do you think industry analyst #1?
Punchjump:
"I believe the Wii will continue strong growth although supply continues to be a problem," said Billy Pidgeon, video game analyst, IDC. "I’d like to see Wii hardware shipping in larger quantities or mass market consumers may cool on it. Having said that, I don’t believe supply will meet demand for the Wii until 2009."2009?!?
Guess that is just in time to get your Wii before a Wii 2 is launched.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Wii Are Still Waiting
This "report"from Play.tm:
Reports filtering in from across the information motorway reveal that Wii stocks are on the up in the UK, with large shipments flooding into starved retailers in the last week or so. News in suggests that the arrival of fresh supplies has already seen Wii sales soar in the charts.Ahem! Middle of the U.S.A. still waiting here...
..."Nintendo chose to release quite a large supply of Wii stock last week, meaning that those eager to get their hands on the innovative new system would finally get their wish, thus impacting greatly on the UK charts," read a statement from Chart-Track, compilers of the official UK charts.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Be Happy, Be Creative
In multiple studies, [Alice] Isen, a professor of psychology and S. C. Johnson Professor of Marketing at Cornell University, made subjects feel happy through a number of means, including gifts of candy and words or pictures with pleasant associations. The subjects were then asked to perform tasks that measure creativity; over the course of 20 years, Isen and her colleagues regularly found that subjects exhibited much more creativity when they were in a good mood.Interesting. Maybe fuddy-duddy workplaces should see how a little bit of happiness (and humor) could increase productivity. Perhaps David Brent was right...
How'd These Windows Get in My "Mac"world?
Is it me or is it a bit odd that Macworld UK is using text adds that appear to be powered by Windows Live technology?
What am I talking about? See the green, underlined text on this page.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Yo Ho! Yo Ho!
I think this video does a pretty good job of illustrating just how awesome pirate Lego is.
Pirate Lego
Looking back at my favorite toys from my childhood, two stand out as especially great: Star Wars action figures and pirate Lego.
Star Wars is, of course, alive and well and the toys are cooler than ever. Pirate Lego on the other hand has been dealt a tough blow. To the best of my knowledge the pirates aren't in production anymore. Why? I have no idea. With all the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean, one would think that a pirate based building set revival would be a no brainer.
Since the pirates sailed away I haven't been able to get excited about a Lego set. Hey Lego, bring back the pirates!
Syn-er...gee, forget it!
OK, so you're Google and you bought YouTube for a billion-plus-infinity dollars. You're probably putting all of your energy and resources into making that the greatest video site on the face of the planet, right? Right...? So what is the deal with Google Video?
What the...?
Not sure how this works, but I'm pretty sure if we give this guy big enough cups he can solve gasoline shortages worldwide.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
1,000 Visitors
Spaulding just made the 1,000 mark on the hit counter. I'd like to thank all four of my readers for their regular visits.
Mr. 1,000 appears to have been none other than Swede in America himself. Nice.
At the for reader mark, all I need each of you to do is visit five times a day for the next 50 days and Spaulding will reach 2,000.
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