- How many TVs do you have in your home? – Only one. Don’t ask how many computers we have in our home, though.
- On average, how much TV do you watch in a week? – Maybe a dozen hours, give or take. I’ve been watching less and less over time, and soon we’re going to have our cable turned off (save $50 a month? you bet!) so it’ll probably drop down to almost no TV intake in a big hurry.
- Do you feel that television is bad for young children? – I feel that unsupervised, unmonitored television time is bad for children of any age. I also feel that there is age-appropriate television programming out there, albeit mostly on kid-oriented cable channels. As long as the TV doesn’t become the all-day babysitter, I don’t have a problem with young kids watching.
- What TV shows do you absolutely HAVE to watch, and if you miss them, you’re heartbroken? – There’s nothing on TV that qualifies anymore. I used to be religious about a number of shows, but I now realize that the world really will go on if I miss an episode here or there. And, damn Sci-Fi Channel for dumping Farscape. Damn them all to hell.
- If you had the power to create your own television network, what would your line-up look like? – You know, what’s weird about this question is that I was thinking about exactly such a scenario this morning. Wow. Anyway… my thinking was something along the lines of “Sci-Fi Channel Done Right.” We would pick up as many quality programs as possible, and also help produce long-form quality specials and series. (Remember, this is an imaginary scenario. Real television stations do not operate on pure motives like “quality of content.”) There would be no schlock-horror or cheesy low-budget cyberpunk crapola. When we commit to a series, we would really commit to it, with a firm timeline so the show’s creators can actually tell their story. By the same token, we would be very careful about signing new, open-ended programming. Oh yeah, and no goddamned ballroom-dance instructors masquerading as psychics. No pseudo-documentary alien-abduction crap, either. Hmm. Yeah, I think that about covers it.
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Boob Tube Friday Five
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Emotional Thrillrides
I’d like to start by thanking Mari and Doug for making a fun night of my second chance to see Spirited Away. Thanks! Much laughing and joking and banana taffy was enjoyed. Mari loves banana taffy, you know.
That’s not what this entry is about, however.
As part of the “good hard look into the depths of my soul” I’ve been engaged in for the past couple of years, I’ve noticed a trend. I’m not sure if it’s something everyone experiences, or if I’m just a weirdo. Here it is: Highs are almost always followed by lows.
Not terribly profound, you say? Maybe it isn’t, but being aware of this fact is helping me learn to cope with my sudden freak depressions. The other helping factor, of course, is my determination not to wallow. I hate being a pathetic wallowing lump. (I was told recently how awfully unattractive that is. The fastest way to get my attention is to appeal to my overdeveloped vain streak…)
My current situation is a bit like this: I had a wonderful time Monday night and Wednesday night, first with Wendi and the kids and Amy and her son at the movie, then with Mari and Doug at the movie. Now that the anticipation of moviegoing with friends is gone, the emotional pendulum has swung over and I’m feeling listless, moody and a bit depressed. Now, however, I can recognize why this is happening and try not let it get ahead of me. Hooray!
I may not be perfect, but I’m working on dealing with the worst of my weaknesses. Isn’t that what it’s all about? “To strive, to seek… and not to yield.”
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Geekery makes a fine distraction for the unhappy mind.
Testing, testing.
If all goes well, submitting this journal entry to the database will cause both Weblogs.com and Wander-Lust to recognize the fact that I’ve updated my page.
These are the things I do to pass the time between creative endeavors and emergencies, folks. Thank you for your patience.
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Things I Have Laughed Out Loud About
Linked via grillboy (whose BlogSnob link, oddly enough, pointed to Dragon Ink when I visited), go read “Things My Girlfriend And I Have Argued About.” Not only that, but also read the linked bit (you can’t miss it, honest) about how some tabloid rag stole his page without paying for it. And then read the other account of the saga of how some tabloid rag stole… you get the idea.
British humor at its finest, folks. No, I’m serious. Mostly.
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Wander-Lust, and other tinkering
On my daily rounds of the blogosphere, I found that leuschke.org is the featured site on Wander-Lust. I’ve seen the Wander-Lust buttons, but paid them no heed until today.
So of course, I’m now signed up as a member. I even managed to get the auto-spidering tags worked into the Monaural Jerk software rig so I don’t have to manually post updates at W-L. You can just bet I’ll be testing the feature sort of now-ish, in fact.
(UPDATE: I don’t yet have automatic notification on W-L working. There’s more tinkering to be done. What I have accomplished is automatic lifting of the most recent title and synopsis once I do let W-L know that a new entry has been posted.)
While I was tinkering around, I decided to rearrange some things along the ever-growing left-side column and add some colons to the navigation headers. Might as well go for a consistent style, eh?
Quack me up. Have I gone too far? Is this madness? Is it not enough madness? I need an outside perspective.
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Spirited Away? Yes, I was, and gladly.
Submitted for your perusal…
Spirited Away review