Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

Rottweilers. Computers. Cameras. World Domination. Not necessarily in that order.

Rottweilers.
Computers. Cameras.
World Domination.
Not necessarily in that order.

Another TV break

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Please, please, please don’t spoil me on Mad Men! I now have three episodes to catch up on before we can talk, including tonight’s season finale. I’ve complained before about Comcast’s delay in adding Mad Men episodes to On Demand in a timely fashion, particularly the non-HD versions. When I last checked earlier tonight, last week’s episode still wasn’t available for either HD or non-HD.

One show I am completely caught up on is Sons of Anarchy. It’s only Sunday and I am already looking forward to Tuesday’s 90-minute episode. One of the most interesting and surprising things about Sons of Anarchy is the large number of non-bikers who have embraced the show. That is obviously a good thing for the future of the show (as evidenced by its strong ratings) because I doubt any show could survive very long with a niche audience only. But no, I meant watching those non-bikers discuss the show on any number of blogs and forums. And by discuss, I mean overanalyze based on misconceptions of the “biker lifestyle” as they perceive it. The funniest ones are those who think they know everything about outlaw bikers because they watched all the A&E Gangland biker episodes. Or because they are slightly acquainted with one, count ’em, one outlaw biker, or at least they think he is an outlaw biker because he wears a vest with something on the back.

I suppose I shouldn’t make fun of these people. I don’t know anything about their hobbies or lives either. Then again, I don’t go acting like I do know anything about… ummm… fly fishing, or bowling, or Formula One racing, or life in [insert country or region of U.S. that I have never lived in or even visited]. And I try not to post ridiculous stuff based on that lack of knowledge all over the internet. Except for here, of course. But this is my place!

Speaking of bikers, I guess I should say something about South Park and last week’s “The ‘F’ Word” episode. I think in general I’m way too old for South Park anyway, although I still find many uses for a quote from the original “Spirit of Christmas” episode: “Don’t belittle my people, [insert appropriate insult here]!” I actually use it quite a lot because a surprising number of people who would never make racial jokes about other minorities think it’s ok to make stupid flied lice/Engrish jokes about Asians. But I also don’t think the show is as funny as it used to be. Or maybe they are just too caught up in sending messages. Yeah, yeah, I get it. Using the word “fag” as a generic insult is Wrong and Not A Good Thing. You guys sure got GLAAD upset about how you sent that message, too.

But really, there weren’t that many big laughs in “The ‘F’ Word” other than bike curious (someone who hasn’t yet bought a Harley, but might be interested in buying one) and the bikers making motor noises with their mouths.

I am also somewhat surprised that I haven’t yet seen anything about legal action. Harley-Davidson is extremely protective of their trademarks. Although I would think that the use of the word “Harley” and the cartoon bikers and bikes as portrayed in South Park are well within the limits of free speech, I’ve thought that about other instances in which Harley-Davidson did file lawsuits. I also wonder what will come of the reference to “Hades’ Divinations” and the image on the patch.

Buh buh buh buh buh BUH BUH BAH BAH BAH!

(NaBloPoMo | November ’09: 8 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 253 of 274)

Miscellaneous catch-up

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Just catching up on a number of things that happened while I wasn’t paying attention:

Dog handler Mary Wild’s case has been continued again, this time until November 24, 2009. The wheels of justice certainly turn slowly. While I know this is true of many criminal and civil cases, not just cases involving animal cruelty, it just doesn’t seem right that it will be winter before this case involving dogs dying from heat stroke due to Ms. Wild’s neglectful actions will be heard.

Nail polish killer Lora Hunt pleaded not guilty to reckless homicide and is free on $100,000 bail. Trial is scheduled for December 7. There are links to news stories from the arraignment on October 8 on the Black Nail Brigade website.

I was looking forward to a late fall return of Southland only to find that NBC has cancelled it. WTF, NBC? Cancelling Medium (thank you, CBS, for picking it up), Life and now Southland? And you give me Mercy and Trauma? Dear Lord.

(NaBloPoMo | October ’09: 19 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 241 of 274)

TV break

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If you’ve stopped in here before, you know that none of my favorite TV shows are on Thursday night, so you might be wondering why I’ve picked tonight for a TV break. I’m catching up, thanks to TiVo, Comcast On Demand and Hulu.

In general, I like the concept of On Demand and it allows me to keep up with some shows that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to keep up with. I do have a gripe about how Mad Men has been handled so far this season, though. The HD version always appears right on time, shortly after the scheduled episode is aired. The non-HD version sometimes doesn’t appear until a week or more later. We’re not planning to replace our non-HD TV until it truly needs to be dumped, so I hope that Comcast wakes up to the fact that we’re far from the only subscribers in that situation.

For a couple of weeks, it appeared that Sons of Anarchy wasn’t going to be an On Demand show. Thankfully, that did not happen, and all of this season’s episodes were added starting about two weeks in. This has really become my main must-watch show. I saw it described somewhere as “soap opera for bikers” and it’s that, but deeper, too. My one disappointment so far is that rogue FBI Agent Cohn was killed off in the first season, so there’s now no reason for the Sons to travel to Chicago to hunt him down. I would have loved to see shows filmed here, even though the chances for that would have been extremely remote for a number of very good reasons.

I’m disappointed so far in Dollhouse. I was so glad it was renewed for another season, but the first two episodes really haven’t lived up to the promise I saw in the last few episodes of the first season. I’m even more disappointed in this year’s crop of medical/emergency medical shows. I’d be hard pressed to tell you whether Mercy or Trauma contains more stereotypes and recycled plot lines. Three Rivers seems slightly more promising. I guess I’ll give them each another episode or two to grab me. If they even make it that far, that is.

The show I didn’t expect to like and find myself liking way too much is Glee. Judging from on- and off-line conversations about the show, I’m far from alone in that feeling. My favorite musical numbers so far: Maybe This Time (you did know I’m a huge fan of Cabaret, right? I know it’s a bit out of character) and It’s My Life/Confessions.

I thought I might like The Good Wife and I planned to watch a few episodes anyway because it is set and partially filmed in Chicago and the suburbs. I actually do like it, and glad it’s an On Demand show, because it’s on at the same time as SOA. I wasn’t a huge fan of Julianna Margulies as Carol Hathaway, and I really hated the last legal drama she starred in (I can’t even remember the name) but I’m pretty much liking her as Alicia Florreck.

That’s enough TV talk for now if I plan to actually catch up on the watching!

(NaBloPoMo | October ’09: 8 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 230 of 274)

Covering my eyes and ears

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Somehow I managed to miss the start of the new season of Mad Men tonight. This in itself is not too tragic. The three shows I follow, including Mad Men, are all Comcast On Demand shows, so I can watch missed shows any time I want. I may complain about Comcast service now and then, but I have nothing but good words to say about the convenience that is On Demand.

The hard part is going to be avoiding spoilers for a day or two until I get a chance to watch. Easy enough to avoid places where I know for sure there will be show discussions going on. I can just click past Television Without Pity until I’m caught up. At work, I’m actually pretty safe as well. We’re all pretty good about not spoiling each other and waiting a reasonable amount of time for people to catch up on missed episodes. It’s more fun when everyone who watches a show can weigh in anyway.

No, what I’m afraid of is stumbling over incidental off-topic conversations in forums (just saying “sorry, OT” does not make it okay when it comes to my shows, yeah, selfish of me, but that’s from the heart) and blog entries from people I didn’t even know were fans.

So if I click past you so fast you feel like you’re in a wind tunnel, it’s nothing personal. I’ll be back once I catch up on that first episode of the new season!

(NaBloPoMo | August ’09: 16 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 204 of 274)

More to life, other than being really, really ridiculously good looking?

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Yesterday I mentioned that most dogs have a rather large number of nicknames. My dogs are no exception, and Axel probably has more than his share. Sorry to the poor dog that has only one or two names because Axel has taken so many! One of those came from his budding show career: Zoolander.

His return home after a few months on the show circuit happened to coincide with a showing of Zoolander on cable. I like Ben Stiller, and I have always enjoyed this satire that makes fun of modeling and fashion. And really, what are dog conformation shows? Okay, fine, I guess they are more like beauty pageants. But the thought of Axel as Ben Stiller’s “really, really ridiculously good looking” but slightly dim male model Derek Zoolander character just makes me smile. For the record, though, I don’t think Axel is dim. But he is ridiculously good looking.

If you are not familiar with the movie, Derek Zoolander does have a problem. He is not an ambi-turner: he can’t turn left. This is hugely funny to me as it applies to Axel Zoolander, because in conformation showing, all you do is turn left. Watch the next time a dog show is on Animal Planet or something. The dogs are gaited counterclockwise around the ring, and if you watch when the dogs go down and back individually, the dog usually turns to the left to come back.

This gets even better when practicing Rally Obedience. Derek Zoolander compensated for his inability to turn left by making 270° right turns. Imagine my delight that 270° right is one of the stations for Rally Novice. By now, Axel Zoolander is probably getting a little tired of hearing my stupid jokes about ambi-turning.

Fortunately, even though he has to put up with my lame jokes, Axel is in fact getting very good at ambi-turning, with some very nice work on all of the required turns, including the 270° right and left and 360° right and left turns. I think he knows there’s more to life than just being really, really, really good looking!

(NaBloPoMo | August ’09: 12 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 200 of 274)