Too Many Words 2005 October

Archive for October, 2005

Nothing big to say, so Happy Halloween. If you think that college kids don t care about the children, go see Denton this evening, where they re bringing children to trick-or-treat. To keep it friendly, they asked students who were willing to do it to put a small paper ghost on their door.

This works well, except that Doran has this paper ghost on his door right next to his Ghostbusters sign. It really sends a mixed message to the kids.
Oh, The Bureau.

meeting was a blast. Mike G had another great idea and Doran came through with some great music. Tech Director for a reason.

Joyce s party was a blast. I know you re all anxious to see how I dressed up - it s but you can only see it if you re on Flickr and I know you - it doesn t need to be spread around the Internet for all eyes to see. I think the best part was when Pei-Shan kept screaming That s not how you talk to Captain Jack Sparrow!

She was really into it - a method actor I suppose.
And after tonight, I can cross off cross-dressing from my life list, and never have to do it again.
I went to my brother s hockey game today.

He had a breakaway and was tackled before he got to the net, but not before he faked one of their defenders out of his skates. I had no idea he even had the presence of mind or the agility to do it. I ve always been able to catch him when we play tag during the public session.

But I guess that s why I don t play for the 14/15 travel team. He s definitely come a long way even since last year. Since I know he ll read this, good job, James.

Don t forget to set your clocks back. And Old Navy is having a clearance sale on nice shirts. And IKEA is having a 15% off sale on home furnishings for their 20th anniversary.

As if this site is where you need to get that information. Enjoy. I ve been working on this one for three days.

Step 1 was to list all the TV shows I used to or currently watch. I noticed a trend that I used to watch a lot more TV than I do now. I organized them into categories, because that s what I do.

Sesame Street - Come on, every kid grows up with Sesame Street. It s as American as morbid obesity and corporate affluence. Seriously though, I loved the entire thing.

Oscar and Kermit were my favorites. My mom claims to this day I used to stand on the top of the playground and shout lines from . Maybe that s where I got the Asian interest

The Muppet Show - This was the Muppet version of The Tonight Show.

I was too young to know who most of the guests were, but I still laughed at almost every sketch.

Muppet Babies - This animated show introduced me to Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, and many other classics. Probably my favorite cartoon until Animaniacs (later).

Fraggle Rock - What can I say, Jim Henson was a genius. Though it has often been described as the Muppets on acid, it was still a fun show for kids.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Another staple of the child of the 80 s.

Revisiting it now, this show had some of the most famous voice actors and the best theme song of the 1980 s.

Mathnet - Probably the geekiest show ever on TV, this was part of MPT s afternoons. It was a Dragnet parody with two detectives who inevitably solved mysteries using fascinating crime-fighting tools like triangulation or projectile motion.

While the stories may have been contrived, the show definitely inspired me to learn as much math and science as possible. I should have watched more Ninja Turtles.

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air - Possibly the sitcom with the largest number of people who could laugh while watching it, regardless of the ratings it got while it was on.

It was funny when I was 10, and when I was 15, and it s still funny now. Chris and Sam and I watch the reruns on Nick at Nite.

Pete Pete - The sitcom for middle schoolers.

It had the most random humor ever, but it is a reminder of how great children s television was before it became 24 hours of Japanese merchandising commercials.

Doug - Doug was the everyman with the best dog in the world. And amongst my friends, the consensus is - Patti Mayonnaise = perfect woman.

Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron - Apparently no one else ever saw this show but my brother and I loved it. It was an action-packed blitz of technology, heros, villians, and cats. And the theme still gets me pumped up.

The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest - I watched the original Johnny Quest reruns when I was little. When this show came on, it had all the makings of a good followup. The use of CGI was fairly unprecedented for a cartoon, and the villians and storylines were intriguing.

Once we realized there were only five or six storylines that were just repeated, it got tiresome. But I d still probably buy a DVD of it.

Tale Spin - Oh ee aa!

Tale Spin! What s not to love about the Jungle Book characters as 30 s bush pilots? Great action and plots.

When they put this on DVD I will have it immediately.

Duck Tales - Another Disney masterpiece. These two series made up my favorites for much of my childhood.

And the movie was like Indiana Jones Lite. Great stuff.

Animaniacs - Spielberg did a great job with this one.

Pretty much every aspect of the show was perfect - the Warner siblings, the supporting characters, Good Idea, Bad Idea , and of course, Pinky and the Brain. And the songs were crazy.

Saved By the Bell - I think it s no shock that this is on the list, because apparently every college student still refers to a large cell phone as the infamous Zach Morris phone featured in a few episodes.

Nothing special about the show, just a staple of the generation.

Dexter s Laboratory - Surprise, another show about science. Dexter s Lab was awesome, though.

And the humor was on a level that appeals to older people as well. Tell me Justice Friends wasn t hilarious.

Samurai Pizza Cats - A parody of the Ninja Turtles, the title animation was itself quite epic.

Good show.

X-Files - I think this was the first primetime show I started watching and really liked. I got into it after it had gotten pretty big, and moved on a couple years before it went off the air, but for three or four years I loved it.

I have the movie that bridged the fifth and sixth seasons and it s still one of my favorites.

Spin City - Michael J. Fox is one of the great actors of our time.

No one gives him the credit he deserves. I told Sam tonight that if someone were to play me in the story of my life, I d pick Michael J. Fox.

Conan O Brien - Still my favorite of any of the late night hosts. In the year 2000 was great.

Saturday Night Live - I vaguely remember watching the early shows with my parents when I was 3 or 4, but I got reacquainted with the show during the 25th season watching with my cousins in Florida.

This was back when the show was still decent. I remember Jackie Chan hosting, I remember seeing the Cowbell sketch live and knowing it would be an instant classic, and I remember Nick Burns inspiring me as to my life s goal.

The Daily Show - I started watching when Craig Kilborn was still hosting, but Jon Stewart definitely makes the show.

Mo Rocca, Steve Carrell, and Stephen Colbert were also great. I still tune in occasionally, but not daily like I used to.

The Simpsons - The Simpsons was never supposed to be watched when I was little.

But between all the reruns on Fox and the decline of the show in the last five years, I ve seen all the episodes I wanted to and I have a pretty encyclopedic knowledge of the show.

Clerks - Kevin Smith produced 6 episodes of Clerks: The Animated Series for ABC in 2000. They aired two episodes.

I remember watching the DVDs over at Ian s house in sophomore year and dying. It s a very specific type of humor, but if you get it, it is amazing.

Drew Carey - I really liked this show and it s willingness to break the fourth wall with the April Fool s episodes and the Oscar attempts.

And The Presidents of the United States of America sing a pretty nice theme.

Law Order - Finally, a show that made police work interesting. I hated NYPD Blue just because my parents liked it I think.

But Sam Waterston was good stuff.

Family Guy - I have the first three seasons on DVD. I think it did end before it was ready, and I was excited for it s return, but I realize it jumped the shark at this point, and it probably shouldn t have come back.

I refuse to watch it now.

Ed - Technically I watched this in college, but it s not aired anymore, so it doesn t belong in the bottom category. The show had a very unique type of humor which wasn t overly-saccharine but was very quick and had a lot of banter, of which I am a fan.

The repartee and frequent repetition was reminiscient of Sports Night. I really enjoyed this show during syndication on TBS during the middle of the afternoon.

Sports Night - I caught this in reruns on Comedy Central at 2 am Sunday mornings, and it killed me.

I had never been exposed to this style of writing. Very underappreciated.

(This doesn t mean I don t still watch the other shows - I do.

They just fit better into other categories/periods of my life.)

Seinfeld - I didn t get into it until the end of high school, but it truly is a TV classic. It did something everyone else was afraid to do, and it did it exceptionally well.

And it made people laugh while doing it. Everyone now says after some unusual event - It s like an episode of Seinfeld.

Jeopardy - I mean, it s Jeopardy!

It is the best game show ever, and it sometimes challenges me. And you re not answering 15 simple questions for $1 million, you re competing with two other brainiacs for an average around $17,000. Ken Jennings was a beast.

Whose Line Is It Anyway? - Some of the best improv and comedy out there. It works because not only are they each very experienced, they have worked with each other for so long that it is second nature.

They can read the others and fit together so well.

Law Order: SVU - By far the best of the 2046 Law Order franchises. Compelling stories ripped from the headlines.

What else could you want?

Monk - People either love it or they hate it. I love it.

Prison Break - How can you have a series with the climax in the title? people asked. Apparently it doesn t matter, because this show rocks.

It s just filler until 24 starts, but it s doing a pretty good job keeping me at my TV Monday nights. It s one of only two shows I make it a point to watch.

24 - Not only is the real-time episode technique interesting, it s just a damn good show.

Period.

Futurama - What s the best-written animated show ever? This is.

When every writer on the staff has some kind of degree in advanced science and you have an alcoholic robot and a crustacean physician, it s really a win-win situation. Best voice acting ever? Check.

Entire series run on DVD? Check. with the entire original cast, writers, and producers in 2007?

Check. Definitely my favorite cartoon, and second favorite show, ever.

Arrested Development - The greatest TV show ever.

It is underappreciated, under-understood, and undervalued on whole. It is, by far, the best writing of any moving picture production in the history of man. It is fast-paced, witty, biting, hilarious, and can cure cancer.

Go watch it now.

Google has been innovating for years, and they ve created some of the best search services in the world. From the to to to , Google has it covered.

They ve even developed a tool for searching your desktop, which enables you to find files you forgot you had or had lost.
Now they need to develop something that searches my actual desk, or better yet, my apartment. I am pretty organized, especially my workspace.

But over the last two days I have not been able to find two important items, and I think Google Desk trade; could help with this quite a bit.
A few days ago my stapler ran out of staples. I know I have a box around here somewhere, but I never think to look for it until I m printing out a paper 20 minutes before class.

That, of course, is not the ideal time to tear around my room looking for the box. That s minor compared to the next one.
I own the movie on DVD.

I am positive I do. I know exactly what it looks like and where I put it on my DVD shelf. Last night at 1:30 am I decided I just wanted to make sure it was there.

I don t know why. Perhaps it was a premonition. When I looked at the DVD shelf, it was not there.

I scanned it two or three times. I turned on the lights and started looking around. I cannot find it.

This means I let someone borrow it but I have no idea who. So if I let you borrow The Siege I d really like it back. But in this case, even if Google Desk trade; could not find the DVD in my apartment, it could confirm its absence.

Just sayin , Google. You might want to get on that. I already did a over on The Bureau.

website. Everyone had a great time and I got to meet some very cool people. I have a long post that I m working on, so it will probably be up tomorrow.

I am quite ashamed to say I accomplished absolutely nothing today other than inflicting massive amounts of pain (physical and emotional) on myself in preparation for this Halloween costume. It had better be worth it. I ll post pictures on Sunday because, in the immortal words of Mike Birbiglia, my self-esteem had been hovering around 0, and I d been meaning to knock it down to -1000.

And check out . My absolute favorite line from the site is If I had a dollar for every time I had sixty cents, I d be in Canada. How do you not laugh at that?

The pan flute flowchart is pretty good, too. This is short and sweet. I m about to tell you how jealous you are of me.

Here s how attractive one of my friends is - even 3-year-olds try and pick her up.
Well, he was kind of running rampant through the store and his mom was ignoring it so I decided to play babysitter to prevent the havoc that he could potentially create. So I struck up a conversation about his Thomas the Tank Engine toy, not meaning to insinuate anything whatsoever.

Well, when it was time for him to leave, on the way out he called back over his shoulder, Maybe I ll see you later at my house next time.
This kid already has better moves at age 3 than the majority of the male population here at the university, myself included.
(Reprinted without permission but I left out her name and fixed all the typos, so we re even.

) Let me start by saying, there is a lot of crap on TV that does not belong anywhere near a device which transmits ideas to millions of people.