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Archive for the ‘Project Runway’ Category

TV Fall 2010

Posted in 30 Rock, Adventure, Arrested Development, Better with You, Chuck, Community, Corporate skewering, David Cross, Entertainment Weekly, Gilmore Girls, Glee, How I Met Your Mother, John Krasinski, Lauren Graham, Life Unexpected, Mad Men, Mike and Molly, Modern Family, New Adventures of Old Christine, Outsourced, Parenthood, Project Runway, Running Wilde, That 70's Show, The Big Bang Theory, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, The Office, Tosh.0, TV 2010 on October 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »

The new Fall TV season is pretty much underway.  It brings back a lot of old favorites, as well as a few new series that we’re going to check out. (more…)

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BEA 2010

Posted in Comic Strips, David Foster Wallace, David Lipsky, Gordon Korman, Graphic Novel, Martin Amis, Mo Willems, Project Runway, Tim Gunn, YA Books on May 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Thursday I went to BEA–Book Expo America.  I wasn’t all that thrilled to go this year as last year was kind of a drag (and publishers were stingy).  But this year I had a very good time.

By the time I got there it was already 11.  But I was thrilled to see that at that moment Mo Willems (we own all of his books, and my kids are huge fans of Pigeon and Elephant & Piggie) was signing posters for his new book.  He signed a poster for Clark (only one per person, sorry Tabitha).  And then over the course of the day I managed to lose the poster (sorry Clark). (more…)

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TV 2007

Posted in 30 Rock, Aliens in America, Carpoolers, Chuck, Corner Gas, How I Met Your Mother, Little Mosque on the Prairie, Mercer Report, Project Runway, Reaper, Robson Arms, Scrubs, The Big Bang Theory, The Office, TV 2007 on March 14, 2010| 2 Comments »

This is my final TV recap post.  It was the first entry on my TV page (except for TV I have killed, which will come shortly.  2010 comments are in brackets.

Down below Soon, you’ll see the TV shows that I have killed. It was a sad day when two of my favorite shows were canceled for good last year. However, we move on. And so, this is our current [circa 2007] household lineup: (more…)

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TV 2008

Posted in 30 Rock, Beverly Hills 90210, Chuck, Corner Gas, Fringe, How I Met Your Mother, Life on Mars, Mercer Report, New Adventures of Old Christine, Project Runway, Pushing Daisies, Robot Chicken, Robson Arms, Rush, The Big Bang Theory, The Mentalist, The Office, The Simpsons, Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!, TV 2008 on March 7, 2010| 2 Comments »

I’m continuing to move all of the old TV Posts from my TV Tab to individual posts. So here’s some thoughts from the 2008 TV season.  There were some updates midway through on this one, but I’ll add some updated thoughts as necessary.

With the Fall 2008 Lineup mostly underway, I’m listing the shows that we are giving a chance this year.  There are some new ones, but mostly its a continuation of last year: (more…)

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TV 2009

Posted in 30 Rock, Bob the Builder, Chuck, Corner Gas, How I Met Your Mother, Little Bear, Maisy, New Adventures of Old Christine, Project Runway, Robot Chicken, The Big Bang Theory, The Office, Thomas the Tank Engine, Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!, TV 2009 on February 14, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I’m moving all of the old TV Posts from my TV Tab to individual posts. Why?  I’m not sure.  But here’s the one from last season.  I’m going to put any thoughts from today at the end of each post, as necessary.

[ORIGINAL POST BEGINS]

Okay, the TV season is half over, shows got canceled by the networks and also got canceled by us.  So, we have pruned ourselves down to just a few shows, mostly sitcoms. The really bad news is that our Canadian satellite is no longer active.  Bell Expressvue has kicked us out so we no longer have our access to TV up north.  Sigh.  Wither Corner Gas? (more…)

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TV 2010

Posted in 30 Rock, Better Off Ted, Chuck, Community, Craig Ferguson, Glee, How I Met Your Mother, John Dore Show, Jon Stewart, Jools Holland, Late Late Show, Later with Jools Holland, Life Unexpected, Modern Family, New Adventures of Old Christine, Parenthood, Project Runway, Robot Chicken, Scrubs, The Big Bang Theory, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, The Inbetweeners, The Office, The Simpsons, The Whitest Kids U'Know, TV 2010 on February 7, 2010| 1 Comment »

In addition to reading, Sarah and I watch TV, too.  In the past, I posted occasional updates to a Tab devoted to TV.  But I’m going to put new information in individual posts instead.  So I’m starting with this season’s TV.

Of course, in the last couple of years, TV has changed from working on an easy to summarize Spring/Fall schedule to having shows appear almost at random.   This really undermines the very idea of a “season,” so I’m including a show or two from the end of 2009 as well.

One surprising thing about recent TV is how I watch almost nothing on the CW or Fox.  These were my mainstays as recent as two years ago, but they’ve totally dropped the ball lately.  And I can’t believe how much I’m enjoying shows on CBS (isn’t that the old people’s network?).

And so, for 2010: (more…)

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Terry Pratchett–Unseen Academicals (2009)

Posted in Black Sabbath, Corporate skewering, Death, Discworld, Douglas Adams, Dreams, Drinking, Fantasy, Funny (ha ha), Gods, Magic, Oddities, Project Runway, Racism, Red Dwarf, Religion, Sports, Supernatural, Terry Pratchett, Universities on December 7, 2009| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Vol. 4 (1972).

When I was younger I liked this Sabbath album a lot more than I do now.  There are some absolutely stellar tracks on here, but most of the songs are a rather peculiar for Black Sabbath.  It showcases ballad-y nature that Ozzy would have for some of his biggest hits twenty years later.

“Wheels of Confusion” opens the disc with a fascinating bluesy sounding guitar solo that turns into a straightforward rocker.  But, as it’s 8 minutes long, there’s a lot of twists and turns.  And it ends with a two and a half minutes of upbeat guitar soloing (with a tambourine keeping the beat!).

“Tomorrow’s Dream” opens with a rocking bendy guitar riff  but in the middle the chorus turns the song into a delicate ballad.  This is followed by “Changes” a full-on piano ballad (!).  It’s catchy, no doubt, and I loved it when I was younger, but I’m not entirely sure it passes the test of time.  This is followed by “FX” which is literally almost two minutes of echoing blips and bleeps, some of which go back and forth on the headphones.  It’s a very strange addition to any disc and is really the perfect example of “filler” unless by some chance this was majorly cutting edge at the time.

This is redeemed by “Supernaut” one of the all-time great Sabbath tunes.  It’s heavy, fast and features a great guitar riff.

“Snowblind” is a another fantastic song.  A great riff, and of course, it’s totally pro-cocaine!  How can you tell?  Well, because at the end of the first verse, you can hear a very unsubtle whisper of “cocaine.”  My, how the band has changed in just a couple of years.  This song also features a ballady mid-section.  It also features an awesome middle bit that rocks very hard (and can be summed as: don’t tell me what to do).  The drugs hadn’t deteriorated Sabbath’s songwriting yet, but give it a couple more records!

“Cornucopia” is one of the weird songs that you find on the second side of a Sabbath album.  It’s a got an awesome slow, doomy opening riff which then turns into a speedy rocker.

When I was kid I really liked “Laguna Sunrise” and I still do.  It’s a pretty acoustic guitar number (with keyboards or strings or something).  After “Changes” you’re not surprised by anything that Sabbath will throw at you, but this song is really shockingly delicate.

“St. Vitus Dance” is probably the most schizophrenic Sabbath song.  The opening guitar riff is so incredibly upbeat, happy and boppy; who knows what will come from it.  And then the verses turn dark and edgy with lyrics about a breakup.  And then the happy guitar bits come back!

The disc ends with “Under the Sun/Everyday Comes and Goes.”  It is once again another wonderfully sludgy guitar riff that turns into a fast rocker (“I don’t want no Jesus freak to tell me what it’s all about!”).  After the verses, you get this wonderfully weird guitar solo that’s like an ascending scale on acid.  Fun!  About three minutes in, it turns into “Everyday…” an uptempo rocker that’s not out of place with the other half of the song, but which does seem like an odd placement.

This disc was strangely experimental for Sabbath.  And, while it’s nice to see them not getting stuck, some of their choices were certainly weird.  And yet all Sabbath fans seem to regard this disc pretty highly (I think it’s the iconic cover that we all remember so fondly).

[READ: December 10, 2009] Unseen Academicals

Terry Pratchett knows football (soccer)??!!  In all the years of Discworld books, I don’ think there has been any mention of football (or even any sport).  Who knew he had a 400 page book about football in him?

Oh, and what is wrong with US book publishers?  Look at the utterly lame US cover at the top here.  First of all, the book is about soccer…why are they reaching for the ball with their hands??  Second, look here at this awesome UK cover by Paul Kidby (the official illustrator of Discworld).  Does he not have publishing rights in the US?

American readers, check out this cover.  It is awesome!  It gives you the whole cast, it gives a wonderful graphic of just what you’d be up against when you play this team.  Look, there’s the Librarian!  And, of course, the drawing is great.  Well, at least we have the internet.

But back to the football.  As with any Pratchett book it’s not just about football.  There is a whole bunch of stereotype-busting, inner-strength growing, pop-culture raspberrying, and general hilarity as well.  Oh, and Rincewind is back!  Hooray! (more…)

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