Here's a good Buffy review - I especially like the stuff about the 'stick-like object.' Spoilers if you care and haven't watched it yet. ZENtertainment
posted by Chris at 3:06 PM

 
PBS is getting Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore together again in "The Gin Game," which seems kinda pointless, because Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy certainly nailed it, but... "It's like nothing has changed," said Moore. "I don't know where the time went," echoed Van Dyke. Then giddiness takes over and he veers into a skillful bit of tap dancing and an impromptu concert watched by an amused Moore. "Just what makes my little old aunt think she can smoke that cannabis plant. Everyone knows an aunt, can't, smoke a cannabis plant," he sings to the tune of "High Hopes."
posted by Chris at 10:03 AM

 

So maybe you missed your chance to buy a pet rock, or you slept through the Pokemon craze, or you never quite got around to collecting pogs? Well here's your chance to own a little piece of history. Support the troops and buy an Iraq's Most Wanted deck. (Don't bother clicking the picture, there's no link - this is supposed to be sarcastic.) I find all of this nonsense patently offensive, and it's in my face as often as those ubiquitous pop-under ads for the X10 camera. Here's something that's not offensive. It's actor Tim Robbins speaking to the press on behalf of his wife Susan Sarandon and the rest of his family: click to read By the way, I did spend about 6 1/2 continuous hours weeding out in the back yard yesterday, so now I have separated things into a big pile of dirt and a big pile of weeds, but it feels like progress!

posted by Chris at 5:45 PM

 
Just a quick update. The week without TV lasted until about 10 minutes after I got home from work. Wife says I should have consulted her before putting the caution banner on the TV because daughter was right in the middle of a Bob the Builder tape from the library. Daughter says, "Hey, I was watching something, daddy!" and runs around the house with the banner, so I end up watching an American Idol where there wasn't even a vote, the premier of Mr. Personality, and a tape of the Survivor rehash from last week, again with no vote. And all of that suits me just peachy.

Here's a pretty cool idea if you have a diesel engine: Run your Car on Salvaged Vegetable Oil!
posted by Chris at 6:30 PM

 
We're back in business! You may have noticed that we've finally gotten our website and my blog moved over to the real domain for the company that acquired our defunct ISP a few years ago. Only problem is that with the new FTP setup, they're actually limiting us to 10 MB, and that is a real bummer. We're gonna have to go through and do some selective pruning.

Speaking of which, the biggest chore on my plate for the next week or so is pulling weeds. I was listening to Wayne Dyer the other day, and he said something really asinine like, 'There are no weeds - the only difference between a weed and a flower is a judgment you put on it.' Clearly the man is not a gardener. Harvey Mackay makes a little more sense when he says, 'Don't water your weeds,' but the best I've heard is still Jim Rohn, who says, 'Everything of value will be attacked, not to think so is naive. As soon as you plant a garden, the busy bugs and the noxious weeds begin to attack, and if the weeds take the garden, the family doesn't eat.'

OK, that's the sermon for today. Today is also the first day of National Turn Off Your Television Week. Emily got a box of goodies at the library and she's been very excited, and asking every day, 'Is this the week we don't watch TV yet?' The kit includes a black and yellow plastic 'CAUTION' banner that you stick across the screen as a reminder, and she was disappointed because she thought it would actually keep the TV from turning on. Oh well, we're going to give it a try this week, so I'll be curious to see what she really thinks about life without television... there's a lot going on on our favorite shows, so we'll be cheating a little and taping everything to watch later.
posted by Chris at 6:50 PM