August Shows

Travel and vacation = low media consumption.

TV:

• Star Trek - DS9 (Season 1), Enterprise (Season 1) and TNG (Season 1) - I still think DS9 is the best of the ST series. 
• Supernatural - Season 8
• Orange is the New Black (latest season)

Movies:

• I got nothing... 

What my Daughter is obsessed with:

• Octonauts - At least there is some learning here.
• Paw Patrol - not so much...

What my Son is obsessed with:

• Anything his sister has
• Anything he can eat
• Pretending everything is a phone
• Walking, everywhere

June Shows

Amazing how little reading gets done when you are stuck in a whirlwind of requirements that come with being a Company Commander during Annual Training in the National Guard. Basically for 2 weeks I didn't read or watch most anything. And then, in all fair turnabout, my wife went out of town for 10 days and I became the primary parent for a fast and strong willed 3yo girl and a 10 month boy that decided that walking was what he needed to do right now! (Thank God for family, my MIL came into town during the weekend and my parents are helping out for the rest of the time) All of which means I watched even less stuff (not that I am complaining).

I did finish the Flash and have just one episode left of Babylon 5 (I am now convinced I never saw the last season).

May Shows

Still keeping up with

• The Flash
• Arrow
• Supergirl - Catching up on
• Babylon 5 - On Season 5 (of 5) - I feel like I may have not seen most of this. It was around here that I first started my post-college jobs
• Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt - Finally some quite time to watch with my wife
• Amazing Race - Though we just aren't digging this year (YouTube stars, of which I was aware of one and my wife zero..... way to make us feel old)
• iZombie
• Jane the Virgin
• Fear the Walking Dead
• Chelsea Handlers new Netflix show! Yeah, just a bit excited about it. Though the wife and I cannot watch it in the mornings anymore like we did when we just had our daughter, Sydney, at almost 3 she has a remarkable ability to soak up words.

Movies (yep, I see so few now, even on DVD. I used to see 1-2 movies in the theater every week!):

• The Martian - A nice adaption of the book. It was interesting to see where they cut out from the book. I am glad I "read" the book first.

What my Daughter is obsessed with:

• Octonauts - Cannot complain too much, at least there is some bit of learning/science involved.
• Team Umizoomi - Which I really like since it focuses a lot on shapes and colors.

What my Son is obsessed with:

• Anything his sister has
• Anything he can eat
• Trying to walk (and he may still make this benchmark this month)

Shows

It is ironic, given my site's name, that my consumption of "media" has taken a nosedive. I mostly blame it on the whole "being a responsible and caring parent" thing.

I mean, really, no one (I know there are exceptions) went to their grave going, "man, I wish I hadn't wasted so much time interacting with my children." BTW, this is my favorite recent picture... because, yes, that is the Medal of Honor hanging around my daughters neck (though she was probably more excited about the dog to her left). That is Army COL Crandall, MOH awardee (of "We were Soldiers" fame, he was the aviation guy who returned multiple times with supplies and to get the wounded)

But I still find some time to watch a few shows. Right now we seem to be in a new golden age for comic books, not just in the movies (everything from the Avengers to Superman seems to be doing well) but also on TV (and off TV, Netflix has been dropping some awesome stuff as well), which pretty much is taking up most of my viewing cycles. These are about the only shows that I am caught up on:

• Arrow - because the world seems to love moody rich people with no super-powers kick butt. And well.... Felicity....
• The Flash - much less moody and more bright, with bigger and more extreme bad guys.
• Supergirl - still on the edge on this show, not quite caught up on
• Walking Dead - smaller set and way more spoilers floating around
• Fear the Walking Dead - even though I find myself rooting for the zombies against these guys
• iZombie - pretty novel take on zombies and very different from other zombie shows
• Jane the Virgin - what can I say, it is entertaining and I watch it with my wife (interestingly the only one on this list that didn't derive from a comic book)
• some miscellaneous sitcoms (everything from 2 Broke Girls to Big Bang Theory)

Ironically since if I had to describe myself I would say that I was a Marvel Comics guy (vs a DC Comics guy) but overall the DC stuff has been producing a better/more watchable set of shows (I want to like Agents of SHIELD, but it doesn't have the same level of watchability that the DC set does.  Agent Carter is much more watchable (as well as the Netflix shows Daredevil and Jessica Jones) but is a much smaller commitment.

The only other thing I am really watching is a re-watch of Babylon 5, because I can have it on in the background and do other things while I go through the show. Somewhat dated but overall it held up well (JMS did a great job writing this show).

And of course I still make a pretty good dent in the reading pile (based on my other posts). 

Dirty Secret

For a guy whose blog name is "Media Addict" I have a dirty secret...  While I watch a lot of shows that are "critically acclaimed"/shows that people who say they "don't watch tv and yet they still watch these so called good shows..

I
Love
Bad
Sitcoms.......
Yes, I am that guy who watches Whitney, Two Broke Girls and Rules of Engagement (even Two and Half Men). And I like them! I really do laugh at a lot of the jokes, I like simple humor at times.  Maybe it is a nostalgia thing for the shows I watched when I was younger. Because as my fiance can attest, I can call the plot of these shows a mile away (even for other shows she has accused me of pre-watching them I am so good at calling the plot points) but there is just something comforting about them.

So while I know some reviews cannot understand who is watching these shows, there are people like myself (who loves the smarter shows as well (Arrested Development, Modern Family)) that are bumping up the numbers....

Summer TV

Way long ago, when I was a kid, Summer was the Dead Zone. And by that I do not mean the TV show.... Summer was downright awful, rerun hell basically.
Fast forward to today. Some of the most interesting show no longer follow the network's traditional format. The networks themselves continue to put out shows (though they are often fairly weak shows, burn-offs of failed shows or (occasionally) novel shows like Wipeout) but almost all of the excitement is on the Cable side of the house.

SyFy (shudder, how I hate that name) and USA are the main powerhouses. Though AMC and others are nipping at the heels of those networks. I seriously love the SyFy shows. Eureka and Warehouse 13 are just plain fun. I personally think that WH13 is probably one of the best shows I have seen, the show has a huge backstory and overarching storyline, but they really do a good job at making most of the episodes something that anyone can jump into. I am also looking forward to discovering more about Haven. I tried to jump into Sanctuary but it just isn't clicking.... I have all the shows stored up and at a truly bored moment I will give it another shot.

USA continues to deliver with a really good shows like Burn Notice, In Plain Sight and Pysch. I plan to give Royal Pains a try and I am definitely interested to give Covert Affairs a try as well.

Then you add in all the other shows, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, True Blood, Entourage?

Kids today will never quite get it why they have it so good.....

What I am obsessing about (Early Feb)

Games

• Mass Effect 2 - When I leave this game? I feel the urge to turn it on again and ignore real life. Really, games are getting so good nowadays they create borderline addiction (I guess there are far worse things to have an mild addiction to.... Drugs, alcohol, etc)
• Borderlands - Same as ME2 above... I addicted my roommate to it.. He has lost several afternoons to someone who I have only seen pick up the controller 4 times in the past 1.5 years.

TV

• Life Unexpected - I knew I would like this. And damn if I didn't.... I am afraid that my like will doom it like so many other cool shows...
• Lost - So addicted. Can't wait until the next episode!
• Chuck - They say it is an all new Chuck. But I think it is only slightly different (and that is a good thing)
• Amazing Race (yes, one more week..... can't wait. Best reality show ever!)

Movies

• Up - It's cute. Bittersweet but an uplifting story.
• Angels & Demons - Meh... it was ok.

Oh, and I am also obsessing on my Final for my graduate class, which after a bit of peer editing (Thanks Mom and Hannah) is now done and ready to turn in!

Vampire Diaries

I watched all 9 episodes of Vampire Diaries this weekend with my good friend M.

I really wanted to not like this show... And the first 3 episodes? They were making me feel pretty smug in estimation (it was feeling very Twilight-ish). But then it was like they brought in a new writing team. There suddenly was this bigger universe (more people aware of the vampires, magic, more vamps and a whole new universe. Hell, they even make fun of Twilight ("This Bella chick seems really bossy", "Why don't you shimmer?")). And now I find myself eagerly awaiting the next episode.

Bravo for turning something that easily could have become a CW suckfest and given me an intriguing new show to watch. Now you just have to keep it up.

Two fun treats last night.

And that is not even counting the election results....
Left 4 Dead 2 Demo was released on the Xbox 360 yesterday. Fun!! I like the wider variety of weapons, from the new melee weapons (ranging from a guitar, nightstick, machete to skillet), the wider range of regular weapons (multiple pistol types, new variations on weapons), new special zombie types (even body armored ones!) and just overall coolness. I cannot wait for my copy of the full game to arrive in the mail... my friends and family will know this has happened when I stop tweeting and emailing for a couple of days. Between L4D2 and COD:MW2 this is a good time for games!

And last night I watched the premier of V. And enjoyed it. Well done, interesting adaptation of the storyline, updated tech and more sinister Vistitors (having them already infiltrate Earth is a cool twist). I love that they are having a counter-terrorism expert get involved in a resistance cell, it will be interesting if the skills used to hunt cells can be used to avoid detection as well. Overall it was good... good enough that it lured in my non-SF watching roomie (who requested that I keep the episodes and not delete them until he gets back from travel).

Summer TV

Even though Summer is the slow season for TV affictionado (my list of shows on my Tivo's is rapidly shrinking as I watch though some of my second and third tier shows that were accumulating) it definitely has changed a lot since the time of my youth. Good god it has changed for the better. Thanks to cable (which pretty much owns the summer) there are a number of great (or interesting) shows that are on now or coming on soon:

• True Blood - HBO finally booted something out of the infield. Looks like they have a home-run here. I got addicted to it last fall and was eagerly awaiting the new season. And based on the one episode I have not been disappointed.
• Burn Notice - It has Bruce Campbell in it. Do you really need any more reasons? If you do, these should cover it; Good plots, engaging characters...
• In Plain Sight - My new favorite basic cable show. Mary and her crew are just fun, with each episode being able to stand on its own rights but skillfully interwoven.
• Pysch - Still watch it. Still entertained.
• Eureka - SciFi Channel (I am going to ignore your new name since it looks like the product of the marketing retards), you consistently produce shows that I really do enjoy watching (BSG, SG, SG:A). The average joe surrounded by the big brains? It just makes for fun TV.
• Warehouse 13 - Color me intrigued. I will definitely be giving you a shot. I eagerly await the chance to see this story expand.
• Nurse Jackie - I liked the first episode. I am amused that it already has been renewed.

It is also the time for the burnoff. We have already seen the end of Pushing Daisies (those last 3-4 minutes felt so rushed but at least they offered a little closure) and the upcoming burnoff of some of the cancelled shows (Cupid, etc). I do look forward to the handful of episodes of Better of Ted (so happy that show dodged the axe).

And I would be remiss to not mention my 2 favorites of the summer network reality shows: Wipeout (god I love the big balls... I so, so, so want to do this show... though I think my little brother D may try and kill me if I do) and I Survived a Japanese Game Show.

Upfronts: Fox

Sad

• Really only one sad note. Poor Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Good show. I would have liked to have seen it play out a bit more

Glad

• Dollhouse. Really, it still is a a happy note, even now... A pleasant surprise. A rare survivor of the "Death Slot" aka the slot that Fox sends SF shows off to its early death.
• Fringe. Really good. Took a bit to catch but I really enjoy it now.
• 24 - needs to redeem itself for the meek ending of the last season
• Bones - solid fun TV
• Human Target - could be interesting
  

Meh

• Family Guy - seems to be on a steady decline.
• All the new shows. As always, the jury is out. Will I watch them? Yes. Will I give them much of a chance? Nope....
  

NBC Upfronts

Excitement

• Chuck. I know kung-fu.... 'nuff said!!
• 30 Rock and The Office. Solid comedy.
• Heroes. I want to see how this goes. It got a lot better in the second half of the season.
• Day One. Intrigued am I...
  

Bleh

• Parks and Recreation. Just not impressed.
• My Name is Earl. Probably should die but this show, like According to Jim, has nine lives and will reappear on another network.
• Jay Leno - Dude.... you just killed like 6 hours of prime time scripted TV. You and your jaw are officially on my shit list. Right above reality TV.

We shall see

• whatever else new. Other than Day One nothing really leaps at me. Hopefully the new comedy on Thursday is better than the drek that was Kath and Kim.... Talk about a low bar....
  

CW Upfronts

Since I am displeased, lets start out with the ugly...
Ugly

• They killed Privileged.... :( Cute show, well written and entertaining. One of the closest sucessors to Gilmore Girls.
• And Reaper... not quite so tragic but still entertaining
• How is One Tree Hill still alive?
• And the same to Smallville.....

Good

• Supernatural got renewed. At least one more year of fun
• Gossip Girl is also coming back. Another no brainer....

Meh, we shall see

• Vampire Diaries. Somehow it just feels like Twilight, the TV Show.....

CBS Upfronts

Yes, I am doing these out of order... It's my blog and I will blog when I want to

Excitement

• Well, Amazing Race got another season. Hands down the best Reality show on TV so that is always exciting, since it always seems to be on the bubble....

No Surprise But Happy that I get more of them

• Big Bang, HIMYM, 2.5 Men, NCIS, the CSI's (more meh than anything, but good background), Numb3rs

Really!?

• Much as I appreciate JLH breasts, Ghost Whisperer needs to crossover into the light.
• Same to you Medium. Time to move on to the next plane.

Meh

• Everything new. I might watch it (and NCIS spinoff will get a real look) but nothing to get worked up over.
  

ABC Upfronts...

Ah, the exciting times for a Media Addict. While we have gotten early confirmation that some bubble shows (Chuck, Better off Ted, Dollhouse) have been renewed it is interesting to see where it all fits together...

Yep, late.... busy at work....
Hm...

Excitement

• Better off Ted is coming back!!
• V, Flash Forward and Eastwick all look like they are worth a look.
• Looking forward to the last season of Lost!
• Jim is dead.... now we cut off the head, sew in Garlic to the mouth and bury it in a crossroads and hope it stays there.

Apathy/no surprise

• Grey's, Private Practice, Brothers and Sisters. And that's pretty much all other than the above that I watch...
• The new sitcoms... I will give them a try, but I am not expecting much...

Sadness

• Samantha Who?.... Cute show. While not tragic,
• Scrubs - Was this necessary? While I love me some Scrubs, this years ending felt like so perfect of an ending that this just leaves me conflicted...

Media Notes

Movies

• I Love You Man - saw this while I had freetime at drill (shocking). Pretty entertaining.

TV

• Dollhouse - Still loving it, all the way to the end. Me and CG gasped when we saw the reveal (I called it a little before it was stated). Next week looks... fantastic!!
• Chuck - OMG. I know Kung-fu!!! God, I love this show and really hope that all this bubble talk is just that. I really want to see how this plays out.
• Amazing Race - Really, the editors of this show are great. While there are no teams that I really love, there are a few I don't like (yes, I am looking at you deaf boy.... your mom sooo carried your whining ass)
• 24 - really, I think this may have been the most twisty season yet... Go Jack! Go Chloe (kick Janeane Garafalo's characters ass.. that woman pisses me off so much)
• Big Bang/How I Met Your Mother - This must be just about the best comedy block on TV right now. The season enders/near enders have just been entertaining..
  

I think my external drive for my Tivo is about to die. Already moving some shows off and have a replacement ordered....

Video Games

• I got nothing... a few games of Halo 3 and that is about it..... Rare for me..
  

Watchmen and other Recent Pop Culture stuff.

The GF (who now bears the name of CG, Cupcake Girl) and I went to see Watchmen on Friday.
All I can say is whoah! That is a whole lot of blue penis.... (there may have been blue balls (hehe...) but in the standard hetero manner all I saw is penis and I then had to reframe what I saw of the scene). They may as well call it the blue penis movie....

After that it was off to drill (oh yeah, I am in a good mood this week... nothing like 2 workweeks sandwiching a weekend where I am under even more stress than while at work.). I didn't even get back until around 10 PM since for some reason we decided that it was a good idea to run a land navigation course from 1300-1700 on a Sunday afternoon, so of course it ran long.

Some of the shows on my hot watch (shows that do not sit on my Tivo for any period of time)

• 24 - The wait was long but OMG.... this season has been awesome! Is it wrong that I want to see bad things happen to the Senator (Red from That 70's Show) and Janeane Garofalo(who joined the show because she hated Jack Bauer!)? Nope, not really..
• Lost - It really has picked up this season. I watch it every week with CG and the twists and turns are a lot of fun!
• Life on Mars - Poor show. I liked it. At least it gets a chance for a graceful exit.
• Chuck - Please do not cancel it. This show is great TV!
• Gossip Girl - Another fun series. I am so not in the target demo, but it is still entertaining to watch.
• Dollhouse - Love it! Like all Whedon shows, it takes a bit to "burn in" and establish itself.

Friday Night - Fox's Slot of Death for SF shows

So I am somewhat concerned... An interesting show with an awesome show runner (Joss Whedon) and a great actress, Eliza Dushku, has been slotted in what I call "The Death Slot." (Alternatively titled the slot that only "The X-Files" survived) I fear for Dollhouse....

I know Fox thinks it is clever to put 2 SF shows (the show being "The Sarah Connor Chronicles") in that slot (since, y'know, geeks/nerds don't go out on Friday nights..) but this really has never worked in the past. As noted, only one show has really survived this slot, and given that Fox is steadily becoming the master executioner (a momentary dip and onto the scrap heap you go) it is not looking good for either show..

The Italian Store

First of a bunch of reviews of places that I love to eat (generally corrosponding with me eating there the night or day before):

God I love this place. While I of course have my Arlington bias (notable since I can often go a week or more and not leave my beloved A-town), The Italian Store is one of the best places for 2 notable items in the area:

• Hands down? The best NYC style pizza in the area? Whatever they do, its so close to a good slice in NYC that it defies description.
• Great classic subs. Awesome bread (I always do hard so I cannot comment on the soft), quality ingredients, and top notch meats and cheese.

I had the pleasure of dining there (or picking up for a night in front of the TV with some gread subs and some good TV(finished True Blood) and a great girl to watch them with). We got a classic slice, the Tradizionale, (just cheese) and a slice of the supreme, Pizza Suprema (tomatoes, pepperoni, onions, italian sausage and black olives). Then we got subs to go with them, The Capri (Prosciutto (a delicately cured ham) blended with genoa salami, provolone cheese andspiced capacola ham) and Philly (Genoa salami, capacola & Danish ham, and provolone, on a hard crusty roll finished off with lettuce,tomato, onions, peppers, oregano, & our famous olive oil dressing).

I think I am still full today.. We didn't even have room for the dessert that we picked up there.

They also have an excellent selection of wines and pretty much everything else you need to make a delicious Italian meal.

I consider that I am lucky that I live so close to this awesome store. And other people seem to share that opinion since the wait to get a sandwich at the prime times are impressive, somtimes exceeding 30 minutes.

The Italian Store
3123 Lee Hwy
Arlington, Virginia 22201-4207
Phone: (703) 528-6266

2008

What is a year without a recap? The theme of 2008 is Army.... Given that I spent 5 months on active duty for my Army training this Summer, combined with the trepidation before and recovery from it been the prime factor for this year.

Obviously I feel great relief that I finally went to and completed BOLC II/III (though of course it now leaves me open to being grabbed for a deployment, though that is pretty low priority right now given my states current plans). I got to meet some great people, have some fun times (and lots of VERY boring times (I played a lot of video games, watched a lot of TV, saw a hell of a lot of movies and drank a crapload of alcohol)). Interesting note? My BOLC II/III post

Relationship-wise I have a lot of ups and downs. Lots of first and second dates, lots of emails written and lots of anxiety and talking about myself (well, I do have a blog so obviously I like talking about myself and sharing my opinions). I got the "friend zone" speech twice and, as the icing on the cake, basically got "dear john'd" (or Jodie'd as we would say in the Army) this Summer. I am on an "up" right now, with my Match profile happily deactivated and no concerns about the midnight kiss tonight.
I can't have a blog with a title like mine and not go into my favorite subject, Movies, TV, Video Games...

• Movies - Quite a year. I think I saw more movies in the theater this year (thanks Army) than I have since 2000. My choice for movie of the year is simple, my brothers would not be surprised given that he has always been one of my favorites, Iron Man. Really, of all the movies this year this is the one that stood out.
• TV - Sigh... The damage that the writers’ strike wrought on this industry is still not easily calculated. So many freshman shows from last year took irreparable damage, including my much beloved Pushing Daisies. I think the damage will still reverberate for a while (Chuck and Terminator).
• Video Games -
  Big news was that I bought a Wii and wrought destruction on my parents house. Best game? Shocker I know... Left 4 Dead I mean, c'mon!! Zombies, teamwork and fun? Really no question. Most novel? Endwar. Fascinating user control (controlling the units with voice? sooo coool.....) and of course gives me a good Army fix.

Well, I am going to keep it somewhat short. I think I touched on the high and the lows and I am ready to move on to the next year....

Happy New Years everyone! I will be partying it up with my GF at the Gaylord at some big party this evening. I hope you have a great night and an even better New Year!