Saturday, November 14, 2009

Misc. Things.

Finished Imperium by Robert Harris, which ends at the high point of Cicero's life, when he is elected Consul. He foils Crassus and Pompey, and Caesar is indeed the man behind the curtain. Went to Wiki, and checked the 'rest of the story.'

Cicero met a bad end.

He was 'Proscribed.' His head lopped off and displayed on the gates of Rome.

So much for the 'Republic' of Rome.

**********

I was told that when you got older that you 'needed' less sleep. I don't know about needing less sleep, but I certainly get less sleep. I can't seem to sleep past 7 hours....

**********

Watching less T.V. this year, partly because they've put all the shows I want to watch on two nights; Mondays, House and Castle. Thursdays, C.S.I Las Vegas and the Mentalist.

Oh, and Dexter. My favorite.

Castle is pretty weak, but has it's moments. The Halloween episode had Nathan Fallon dress up with six shooters and a long brown coat; "What are you supposed to be?" his daughter asks. "A Space Cowboy, of course." "There is no such thing as Space Cowboys!"

The Mentalist is pretty formulaic, but still enjoyable.

Everything else I used to watch has either been canceled or finished (Life, Dollhouse, Battlestar, etc.,) or isn't currently shown (Lost, True Blood, Law and Order; Criminal Intent).

Shows everyone else seems to enjoy just seem really mediocre to me; NCIS, Bones, C.S.I. New York, Criminal Minds, and most Law and Orders.

C.S.I. Miami is excreta.

I seem to be missing the gene that enjoys either situation comedies or 'reality' shows or evening soap opera's (under which I include E.R. and all it's spawn: Traumatic Limb Removal, Falling Helocopters, Nurses Falling Apart, Doctors Screwing in Operating Rooms, and Desperate Anything.

Fringe is not X-Files. The promo's always look so promising, the shows are always so bad.

V -- Is NOT science fiction. I'm a snob about my science fiction.

If I go for the Big Screen T.V., it will be time for Netflix.

**********

The word "Won" keeps popping up in connection to Tami Sawyer.

I think Avoiding Jail is a pretty strange definition of "winning."

Tami has Won -- she's still breathing? She's Won -- she's still walking around?

Pretty low bar, if you'll pardon the expression.

*********

A forty acre soccer park at the north end of Juniper Ridge?

Have these soccer buffs really taken a good look?

Man, that's really in the Out in the Tulies....

It would be funny if it wasn't so sad that all Bend's mighty efforts have so far managed to attract three businesses that were already in Central Oregon, and acres and acres of soccer fields.

The Elephant had a long and difficult pregnancy, and finally produced...a little mouse.

**********

8 comments:

tim said...

You're just jealous that Tami keeps winning. Everyone hates a winner.

Unknown said...

Tami a winner? "Jealous" of Tami? What funny stuff are you drinking / smoking?

Unknown said...

Duncan,
I really enjoy your daily musings - thanks for writing this blog.

The story about clothes shopping was particularly funny. I loath the process of shopping for clothes - I believe this originated with trips to downtown Oakland in the late 1950's and early 60's where my mom took me (a chubby boy at the time) to buy salt and pepper pants, dark blue sweaters and white shirts (you can guess what that was for). Now a days a lot of my clothes come from Costco - no trying on required there. Occasionally when I need something nice, my wonderful wife accompanies me to a real clothing store and provides an invaluable service by making sure I get something that actually fits and encouraging me when I want to give up.

I noticed your comments about making the leap to a large screen TV. My advice is "just do it"! I've been enjoying the benefits of a 50" plasma HDTV, 5:1 sound and DVR technolgy for about 2-3 years now and for anyone that appreciates good TV and movies, it's worth every cent.

As to what's on TV - I too find today's situation comedies as a whole to be sorely lacking in humor. I also agree that V is proving to be a disappointment so far. However I do like Fringe. I think there may be more worthwhile programming out there than you realize - it just takes some research and experimenting and it's a much easier to do this with a DVR because you can set it to capture shows that come on when you are not in front of the TV or that conflict with another show you are watching and you can zip through the excessive amount of commercials. Here's a few ideas for you: The Good Wife (CBS) - a well done courtroom/legal show. Breaking Bad and Mad Men on AMC, The Prisoner - debuting tonight on AMC, WWII in HD 10-hour 5 night mini-series on History Channel. Once you have HD you will also find that shows about the natural world (like the Discovery series Planet Earth) are AMAZING. [admission - I do work for BendBroadband but am speaking personally here].

Unlike me, my wife is an avid reader and she's also a budding short story writer. We'll have to stop by your store one of these days for an in person greeting.

H. Bruce Miller said...

"I think Avoiding Jail is a pretty strange definition of "winning.""

I'm sure Tami is absolutely convinced she will be cleared of everything and soon will be riding high again. She's one of those "positive" types.

H. Bruce Miller said...

"trips to downtown Oakland in the late 1950's and early 60's where my mom took me (a chubby boy at the time)"

I don't think any men -- well, very few -- really enjoy trying on clothes. Especially pants. You have to take them into a little booth, take off your shoes, take off your pants, put on the new pants, put on your shoes -- and then you have to go through the process in reverse. It's a pain in the ass.

Trying on a coat is no hassle.

As a kid I also hated it when my mother took me clothes shopping. I hated it partly because we had to ask for the "husky" (i.e., fat boy) sizes. The one cool thing about the experience was being able to stick your feet in the X-ray thingy they had in the shoe department and see the bones of your toes wiggle inside your shoes. (People were a lot more casual about radiation exposure in those days.)

H. Bruce Miller said...

"I've been enjoying the benefits of a 50" plasma HDTV, 5:1 sound and DVR technolgy for about 2-3 years now and for anyone that appreciates good TV and movies, it's worth every cent."

Agreed, although we pretty much use our TV only to watch movies and sports. And Mad Men -- my wife's addicted to it.

One other thing: I'd recommend an LCD TV over the plasma type. If there's any glare on the plasma TV's screen the image becomes hard to see unless you're sitting right in front of it.

RDC said...

Duncan,

Since they canceled the shows you watched you don't need to buy the HDTV after all.

Leitmotiv said...

V is SO sci-fi. The sci-fi characters just happen to make Earth their theater. If you are unaware of all the conspiracy theories out there regarding the reptilians controlling our world... you might want to rethink your assessment of it not being sci-fi. There are people who study the reptilian theory for better or worse. V is a manifestation of these ideas.