Women and Politics

I did many things over my little break from work last week. I hung out with Chef, ate way too much, watched movies, got used to using my authoritative voice to get the Xbox One to obey my commands ("Xbox Watch TV!"), and watching tons of movies and TV.

I finally (and almost sadly) am now caught up on Scandal. It was watching this current season that I stumbled upon a monologue so well-written that I thought I was watching a different show. (The show is fairly well-written, don't get me wrong, but not a lot stands on issues per se). Oh and Lisa Kudrow delivers it like a bad ass so bonus for that.

My New Favorite Commercial: OH YEAH!!!

Pitch Perfect Advertising

I saw this video tonight watching the World Series. It's about a guy who decided he was going to win $1 million by learning to play a video game and win a content to pitch a simulated perfect game. It's a pretty long ad in TV terms-- about two minutes--and it aired during the world series, so I'm sure it cost a pretty penny, but I have to so that it was spot on. Google has been making some great ads lately. The one where the dad sets up a gmail account to email his daughter from birth? Brought tears to my eyes.

I don't know who's doing their advertising now (and if you google it, you get a bunch of results about "adwords"--coincidence? I think not), but the ads are well done. The question becomes: does google--whose consumer services are free to use--need to advertise? Are they losing market share or is this a tactical move to protect it?

Either way, I think they're good. Check out tonight's ad here--and GO CARDINALS!:

  

What I'm Loving Now: American Horror Story

The ads and billboards around town were very bizarre, but they must've worked because I tuned in. Or at least recorded, American Horror Story.

I don't like horror films and not a huge fan of being scared, but I figured since it was on TV it couldn't be too graphic. And I was right...kind of. But what I found out about American Horror Story is that it is AWESOME.

I would hate for this show to take a huge turn in the wrong direction, and it will probably happen, but for now, I'm hooked. It's scary, bizarre and actually has a back story. And Jessica Lange is perfectly cast. Chef asked me if she was so good because it was well written or because she's just that talented. I think it's a combination of both.

I love well written shows, and this one definitely is. It's bizarre and scary and well acted and fantastic. Give it a whirl. Chef and I are gonna stick with it for a while for sure. We can't wait for next Wednesday.

My Car Looks like a Miami Vice Rerun

The award for bonehead move of the week definitely goes to me. I was getting breakfast for co-workers yesterday and while in the grocery store grabbed  a few items for another recipe. I put everything in my car and when I came in to work, I was loaded down with stuff so I left the groceries for later in my backseat until I could get them.

I should've known better because as soon as I set my stuff down, I got whisked into an impromptu meeting, had calls to return and BOOM! The day started. I forgot about my car groceries, which sat in the not so hot, but always sunny backseat of my car, Liam Nissan. 

One of the groceries: a pound of butter. 

So I drive home in a car that smells like it should be used to coat popcorn and my back passenger side seat is an oily mess. I research online and see that after wiping up what I can, the recommended thing to do is coat the area with baking soda or cornstarch to absorb the mess. So I do, but then I wonder if passersby will think that I had an accident and that I have a big pile of cocaine in my backseat. I know it's not likely, but my neighbor is on the cusp of an area where that probably isn't too big of a stretch, so I covered the pile of cornstarch with a towel.

So now my car is retro because it's in to coke. Or at least it feels that way. It seems like its a prop from Miami Vice (the TV show not the horrible movie). 

Does anyone have any better ideas on how to get melted butter out of  car upholstery?

Sometimes Guys Can't Write Women

It's been a week since the series finale of Entourage and it took that long for me to really think about what bugged me about it. I've liked the show for a while and it's probably because I'm part dude. Not literally, but I've never been exceptionally over-feminine. I like make up, looking pretty and baking, but I also love nearly all sports, hate throwing parties, and can't stand the usual BS that comes with interacting with a lot of women.

But in the end, it was being a woman that bugged me most about Entourage. I can get over the hordes of women throwing themselves at a celebrity, as I've seen it happen on a much smaller scale. It was two things:

• Sloan and Eric: He sleeps with her former stepmother, knocks her up and her family hates him, but she can forgive him enough to run away with him in the end? I know he's the father of her unborn kid and all, but it seems like a little stretch. What mostly got me is that all the important scenes that happen between the two characters (breaking up, making up, etc) are either cut off by the end of the episodes are aren't shown on screen. There are few pivotal scenes that are actually shown. It could be that the actors aren't strong enough to pull it off, but honestly, I'm thinking the two male writers don't really know how to pull that scene off.
• Sophia and Vince: Seriously, Vince gets married to a chick he meets for a couple of hours? I actually might believe that because his character is so weird. But how am I supposed to buy that a serious "journalist" who went to Oxford and has a "i don't date actors" moral belief throws everything away to run away with a nice, but dumb actor? Entourage did not sell me on that at all. Mostly because We see NOTHING of their relationship together. Just her saying no and then all of a sudden we're seeing her show up on a plane to elope. Not believable.

I realize that this show is about the relationship of dudes in Hollywood. The finale should've been about the relationship of dudes in Hollywood. When they bring the women in, it just rings false.

Oh Project Runway, You Do Give Us Divas!

I'm loving Project Runway this season. Mostly because the characters are just outrageous. The casting on this one has been pretty damn good. The clothes--so-so, but the drama has been top notch. Maybe I was just missing the show after what seemed like a long ass hiatus.

But when it came back, BAM!--you give us the latest Diva of all, Joshua. Joshua can take someone cussing and use it to create a full minute tirade. If you know anything about TV editing, you know that the real tirade must have been close to 10 minutes to be dwindled down to that much actual usable footage.

I'm all about honoring dead mothers. I think I've proved that through my blog posts, but this guy makes grieving look like an art form. He's created an outfit in his mother's honor, blamed a tirade on her birthday, and had a crying breakdown on camera in the "confessional" because he couldn't afford to go home to visit her before she died. Did I mention she died two years before he was cast?

"It's the not being able to go home" breakdown that sent me from being sympathetic to being like "come on, dude." If your family wants you home (they were in Austin, TX and he was in NYC), I'm sure someone, somewhere would pitch in for a plane ticket. At the very least a bus ticket. If you want and need to go somewhere, there's always a way.

Second, instead of using that guilt for something, his argument was that he had better make it further on Project Runway to make the pain of not being able to go home worth it. (He said he was in NYC for his career and that he was bartending to make money, but couldn't use that money to get to Austin? Also, his bio lists a stint in Italy where he was doing design work. You can get to Italy but not Austin? How does that work?). I started feeling very manipulated by this guy. But I'm sure not I'm not alone on this and I'm positive Project Runway loves it.

Hate equals ratings and I'm still watching.

When Good Shows Go Bad

If only TV shows were like food and started to smell when they went bad. But no, instead the keep cranking out week after week of plot lines that make you wonder why you continue to waste your time and watch them. Here are my current top five that I continue to watch but each week question my own judgement:

• The United States of Tara: Love Toni Collette, but how many seasons can get out of watching Tara's alter egos wreak havoc on her life. She was molestered (yes, I meant to misspell that) by a stepbrother who she doesn't remember. That's it? That's the big reveal? Seems like a cop out and I'm getting less interested as the seasons click on.
• Weeds: It stopped being interesting when Nancy and gang left Agrestic. Mexican drug lords, homicide, prison life, more kids? It was better when the biggest tension, aside from getting caught, was whether Nancy was going to sleep with Conrad. Sometimes less is more. Two words on why I keep watching: Hunter Parrish.
• Law & Order: SVU: Double now that Christopher Meloni is going to leave, but I think I've previously outlined the depths to which the writers will go to weave three story lines together. One great case of this was a season finale entitled "Zebras" where Stabler famously tells Stucky not to look for zebras when he hears hooves. The whole show's premise is now one big zebra.
• Entourage: Last season was atrocious. Sasha Grey? Really? Drugs? I only kept watching (and will tune in this weekend) because its the last season. Sasha Grey made me miss the days of Mandy Moore and the AquaMan plot line.
• Glee: I admit it. I was originally a Glee-tard, but lately it's hard to defend. The plot doesn't move, songs are used as plot devices but the songs are only in the episode because they're featuring a particular artist, and I've been catching some of The Glee Project on Oxygen. Ryan Murphy thinks he's a God and that just bugs me. I'm fairly certain after Brittany "graduates" I won't watch any more.

Other shows that are on notice and a few words why:

• Trueblood: Fairies.
• Breaking Bad: Move it along.
• The Big C: repeatedly making bad decisions.

What shows can you not believe you still watch?

Something I refuse to watch

Let's face it. My taste in TV and music (and even movies) has always been questionable at best. I know and can recognize things that are well done and good, but that doesn't mean that I won't take my time to watch something that's pure crap. It's happened many time before and will happen many times again.

But even with all that, I have to draw the line somewhere and that's with "Mobwives." Really, VH1? Aren't you supposed to be a video station? But apparently that got thrown out the window as soon as Flava Flav spread his STDs to girls whose names he didn't bother knowing so he made new ones up.

I don't really like any show that features wives of famous people. This includes all the Real Housewives series. It doesn't take a lot of talent to keep your body in shape (in some cases), and be a bitch. I could do that, but instead I choose to make my own money. I also tend not to trick men into having kids with me to get child support (I'm calling you out "Basketball Wives.")

"Mobwives" is worse because it's not only that these bitches aren't famous. But they're basking in the glorification of their husbands, fathers, uncles, or brothers who are famous for breaking law in as many different ways as you can. Which, in some cases, includes murder. But I'm supposed to feel sorry for them because a man in their life got caught and went to jail so they have to fend for themselves? really? Is this what being a strong woman is being compared to now days?

That's what makes me even more mad. That these women think of themselves (and others buy into it too) as strong women. Is it really strong to be a 40 year old in a bar doing shots and getting angry because someone showed up who you don't like? Are screaming matches that I didn't even tolerate in high school, let alone as an adult, really being strong or just being a bitch? I know there are times when strong woman and bitch get wrongfully mixed in use. This is not one of those times.

I don't fear that smart women will see the show and decide that fake boobs, a spray tan and bad attitude are suddenly a fulfilling life. I have more faith in women than that. What I don't want is those bitches profiting on this horrible show. Seriously, VH1? There's a reason that I don't watch your network. At least the girls of "Teen Mom," have that whole under 21 thing to fall back on. But what about the "Mobwives"? What do they have? Hopefully nothing except cancellation and resorting to getting real jobs to make real money.

In the mean time, I think I'll watch "30 Rock" again.

Boxes, Boxes, and Kitty Xanax

I've spent the last two days buying, finding and creating boxes. I've learned that Lowe's has an excellent selection of boxes for a reasonable price. The large boxes top out at $1.25 each whereas the Uhaul and other packing places boxes can run up to $4 for a plain large box. That's just crazy talk. I mean, who would pay that much for a BOX??

Okay, so I did end up paying WAY more than $4 for one box, but it's a special box. It's a box for our flatscreen TV. If there's anything in our hours that's actually worth something (other than my jewelry) and needs some special TLC (not of the Left Eye persuasion, but of the loving care kind) it's the TV. Let's be honest. I'm a addicted to TV and its many hours of crappy entertainment and only a few hours of quality scripted programs. So, I spent a pretty penny on a special kit to move the blessed piece of entertainment across country in one piece.

So, the boxes are bought. Some have been created as I've got the bedroom packed (except for the clothes) and the furniture is cleared out. The kitchen is going to take a while, but Chef and I are going to work on that extensively tomorrow and Sunday.

So, it's a matter of clearing out some things over the next few days. I actually feel good about how much stuff we're purging and how little we really need to take with us. Honestly, I have come to the decision to only bring stuff into our place that I really love.

Speaking of things that I really love, the other thing we had to take care of today was getting the drugs for the cats. Four days on the road with cats is no way to spend time if the cats are meowing or freaking out the entire time. So, kitty xanax it is! Our vet gave us the pills today and we're testing them out on Monday. Wish us luck!

It's off to LA on Tuesday to find an apartment. Making some steps each day!