SNOWBALL FIGHT!!

It turns out that snow in Georgia is pretty rare. And even if it does snow, there's never enough to make a decent snowball. But now there's hope. Thanks to the computer box, you can have all the fun of snowball throwing from any location in the country, even the stupid no-snow south.

Check out this game from Cartoon Network.
http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/games/cc/readyimfire/

You throw your snowballs at a target and send the link to a friend for them to dodge. Then they can retaliate and send a link back to you for you to dodge. It's a pretty simple concept. It only sounds complicated.

Can you dodge my barrage?
http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/games/cc/readyimfire/index.html?Params=F258F2C7E1

Tooth Tunes

I'm sure "I could have thought of that!" is on the lips of just about everyone who's seen the commercials for Tooth Tunes.

I some times take for granted that I work for a kids TV network and don't realize that people don't watch toy commericals all day. If you haven't heard of it, Tooth Tunes is a toothbrush that plays music in your mouth while you brush. It sends vibrations through your teeth and skull into your ears. You can't hear it unless it's touching your teeth.

I just so happened to get a Tooth Tunes in an office gift exchange this year. It features "Rock N Roll All Night" by Kiss. I know. It's awesome. The brush claims to increase your brushing time. It'll play for a full two minutes, the recommended amount of time for brushing. But I don't care what song is playing in my mouth. I can't brush for two minutes straight.

It's a fun novelty gift, but hearing the high school musical song every time you brush is going to get old really fast.

Juno

After a horrible loss at trivia last week, my team was entered in a pity drawing for tickets to a sneak preview of the movie Juno. In typical loser fashion, we WON. And by we, I mean me. Because I took my friend Hadley from work and went to the movie yesterday.


It's about a spirited, spunky, independent, (how many times can I say the same thing?) girl named Juno. She gets pregnant from a nerdy track star, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera), and decided to have the baby and give it up for adoption. The dialogue is quick and witty. Fans of the Gilmore Girls would be right at home. The adoption couple is played by Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner. He's a wannabe rock star turned commercial jingle writer and she's a serious professional who is gung ho about motherhood. The interactions between Juno and Paulie and Juno and Jason Bateman's characters are some of the funniest in the film.


Overall, I think Juno tells a funny, relatable story. Although, I am disappointed that they kind of let Paulie take no responsibility for the baby. But I did get a kickin' free shirt after the movie, so that is a total bonus.


Anywho, it's a limited release. If your city was lucky enough to be selected, I'd recommend it checking it out. Otherwise, wait til it comes to Netflix.

This Week in Boob Tubery 11/16

With the writer's strike lingering indefinitely, This Week in Boob Tubery may be forced to take a temporary hiatus. I'm definitely not going to start watching reality shows. I guess I could chronicle my Guitar Hero games.

Heroes- Liars. You did not answer ALL my questions. In fact you pretty much filled in the blanks in the least inventive way possible. Good job. So Peter blew up and then was immediately fine and saved Nathan, then went to rehab for like 4 months. Thrilling. Why go through all of the trouble to bring DL back to life only to have a greasy pimp kill him off unceremoniously within 20 minutes. As for Nikki/Jeana (Apparently), I'm totally over that story. And I couldn't care any less about the wonder twins of doom. Showing their back story added almost nothing. I am interested to see what Adam's master plan is. He'd better have one! P.S. Sylar should be DEAD. But since he's not, he's definitely going to kill Alejandro.

Chuck- Hey, they finally starting doing something with this show. This week was what a bad episode of Chuck should be. They did several key things this week. 1. introduced the love triangle. Sure it's cliched, but hey, it works. 2. They took it over the top. Up until now the show has taken itself way too seriously. Finally, they crossed the line into ridiculousness. It's exactly what the show needs. I can only hope they keep it up. And 3. They got rid of the "I'm an asshole for no particular reason" Asian guy. Good job, Chuck. No don't go back to sucking next week.

Pushing Daisies- The over-narrated flashbacks are starting to wear thin for me, but overall there is always enough kitschy humor and murder mystery to keep me interested. The guy from The Soup plays a dog breeder with 4 wives who gets poisoned and also accidental stabs himself as he is dying. Of course, all of the wives are suspects and the 4 main character have to go under cover to question them. The biggest laugh for me was when Emerson was tied up and had a chew toy ball gag that made a hilarious squeak sound.

30 Rock- Despite it's unoriginal terrorist plot, plot, 30 Rock was full of it's normal laughs. This was Jack-heavy episode and focused on his relationship with a democratic congresswoman played by Edie Falco. I think they could ride that story out for a little while. I'm really liking how they are writing Tracy these days. He's not all superstar idiot.

The Office- Not a very good episode. It's back to being in and about real office-type things, but it just took itself too seriously. I was nice to see Michael's devotion to the company over his devotion to Jan. The ping pong story was a little under cooked. I really like the "Hiya Buddy" hot dog note in the beginning. Of course, there were laughs throughout. But it's not impressing me.

Global Housewarming

I threw my first real party ever this weekend. It was a modest-sized gathering to celebrate the fact that my roommate and I just moved into a new apartment. I made the mistake of calling it a housewarming party. Apparently, that's code for "hey everyone, bring us gifts." And that's embarrassing because I wasn't expecting anything. Although, when you consider some of the gifts we got, it's really more embarrassing for our friends than for us. A couple of co-workers got a Really Big Coupon Book. Hey, everyone likes a BOGO, but really? That's, you spent money on that? The best by far was the Party Ice Luge! Yes, it's just as exciting as it sounds. Basically, it's a rectangular piece of plastic with 2 groves in it. You fill with water and freeze it to make an amazing ice slide to pour your drinks down. It's like taking your taste buds on an amazing luge run!

Despite being pelted with gifts, the party was a really fun time. We had tons of delicious snacks and simulated rock star action with Guitar Hero III. By the end of the night we even broke out the Karaoke Revolution game. When you're singing "Hungry Like the Wolf" at 2 a.m., you know it's a good party.

Also, my friends are weird and they left Chris a message written in shampoo in his bathtub. All in all, it was a total success.

Tic Tac Girl

I think I'm in love with the girl from the Tic Tac commercial. You know the one. She's bouncing Tic Tacs off of her cubicle wall into her mouth. She has all the qualities I'm looking for: She's cute, athletic (that looks like more of a sport than NASCAR), has a steady professional job (though, who knows how long she'll keep it if she keeps up those antics!), has a wonderfully michevous smile (you heard me) and, most importantly, she always has minty fresh breath.

Tic Tac girl, I can only assume you read my blog. Will you marry me?

They Might Be AWESOME

I saw They Might Be Giants in concert last night at The Variety Playhouse. And it was the best show I've ever been to. As John Flansburgh put it in a funny anecdote, "our shit is golden." After the first song, they declared that it was the best show they'd ever played. And after the second, they decided that there was no way they could suck enough to make this not the best show ever. Then they announced that they'd be playing at about 60% for the rest of the night.

They played about half of their new album, including Mesopotamians, I'm Impressed, Climbing the Walls and Shadow Government. The only song I thought was missing was The Cap'm. But they played tons of classics as well. Istanbul is a given, plus they pulled out Doctor Worm (with confetti cannons), Meet James Ensor, Cyclops Rock, I Palindrome I and an extended version of Particle Man.

The songs were great, but the stage antics really made the show what it was. They put up a slide projector and showed an image of a telephone in a graveyard, then took Calls from the dead.

Needless to day, this was my first They Might Be Giants concert and it exceeded all expectations.

Go Team Venture!

The best part about working for Cartoon Network is that everyone dresses up in great costumes every Halloween. Well, maybe it's not the BEST part, but it's pretty good. We had some gems this year.

I was Dr. "Rusty" Venture from the Venture Bros. This is me with my faithful bodyguard, Brock.


My boss Chrissie and another writer Alan dressed up as Sonny and Yancy, characters from the show Out of Jimmy's Head. It's a terrible show, but their costumes were quite good.





There were a few characters from the new show Chowder. Not to mention that we got cool hats!!! And even a very convincing Dora the Explorer.


That's Truffles and Shnitzel from Chowder. These costumes were HOMEMADE! Crazy, huh?

This Week in Boob Tubery 11/2

With the writer's strike looming, who knows how long it'll be before all quality TV is replaced with the horrible goblins of reality TV. Let's enjoy while we can.

Best of the Week:
CHOWDER- Technically it hasn't aired yet, but it's still the your best bet tonight. It's a new original Cartoon Network series about a young chef-in-training. Watch it at 7:30 tonight on Cartoon Network. Try some. You'll like it.


Heroes- Almost everything interesting about last week's episode was negated by the go-nowhere stories of Hiro and Peter. Claire and Flyboy played a gross prank on the classically bitchy head cheerleader so she could make the squad. I like that they are planting the seeds that she can get what she wants by being bad. Evil Claire anyone? Mr. Bennet was up to his usual badassery this week as he interrogated a Russian member of the company to find the whereabouts of the paintings.

Chuck- Let's see, the exact same thing happens in every episode. Chuck sacrifices something in his personal life to accommodate something in his spy life and Sarah helps him cover for it with his friends and family. Then there's a heartwarming "someday you'll grow up" speech from big sis. The End. I've pretty much written this off. The writer's for this show can go ahead and strike.

Pushing Daisies- I still find it charming, though without Chi McBride's character there wouldn't be nearly as many laughs. I thought they had a lot of fun with the Halloween theme and it was a good chance to develop the characters. I hope this show does get too formulaic.

30 Rock- Not on this week due to an extra-large portion of Earl. NOT a sufficient replacement.

The Office- "The eyes are the groin of the head." Yeah, I lost it when I heard that one. You'll probably be seeing that on away messages and profiles across the internet. It was a very funny episode and I think a strong case for why they should keep them to a half hour. The idea of trying to prank the other branch was ridiculous, but not too far out there. The extreme awkwardness between Karen and Jim made it all worthwhile.

Discount Candy Bar

There's a point in shopping when ANY deal is too good to pass up. Like this weekend, I saw candy bars on sale... for a quarter. Full sized bars. 25 cents. Just a cart full right in front of me. I was lookin' around at the other people in the store like, "Are you people blind or just STUPID? Who cares, more candy for me." So I grabbed one. It was a Nestle Crunch...with caramel. What? So THAT's why it was on sale. Bastards.
They're always trying to put other things into existing candy bars that don't really go in them. Like this Crunch bar I had. Who are you trying to fool, Nestle? Caramel isn't crunchy. It says right on it "Crunch." That's what I'm signing up for. Caramel's anti-Crunch. This is the least crunch a Nestle Crunch has ever had.
Sadly, the Crunch bar wasn't alone. Reese's Cups with banana cream? Who would eat that? I want to know who heard that idea and said, "Yeah, let's make that. That sounds good. I want a mouthful of chocolate, peanut butter and Banana Cream. That's what I'm craving."
I won't lie, I bought the Caramel Slightly Crunchy bar and it was worth every penny.

Upset

I'm wearing black today in mourning of the Indians loss. I'm also STICKIN' IT to Boston with my Mooninite shooting the bird T-shirt. The Tribe was up 3 games to 1 on the Red Sox and they just couldn't close the deal. There were a fair share of bad calls that really hurt us, Kenny Lofton getting called out at second base in the 5th when he was clearly safe, and Kenny again getting screwed, this time when his own third base coach held him up from scoring, on a lucky shot by Gutierrez. Those plays could have really changed the game.

Well, it wouldn't be the Indians if they didn't screw up in the playoffs.

This Week in Boob Tubery 10/19

This one's a little late but I'm going to count it.

THE FOLLOWING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Worst of the Week:
Indians lose to Red Sox in game 5 of the ALCS. Josh Beckett threw 11 strikeouts. It just made me want to cry. Then I did cry on Saturday's game in Boston. Cleveland, get your act together and get to the Series already dammit! I'll be watching tonight for winner-take-all game 7 match up.

Heroes- Please, I'm begging you, don't introduce any more characters. I can't care about that many heroes. West is still a jerk. The unnatural dialogue is taking it's toll on me as well. "I recognize that man." "Who is he?" "He's, my father." Dun dun dun!No Hiro, no Peter this week. That's fine as long as they move the story along. This season is glacially slow.

Pushing Daisies- Despite the lengthy recap, the episode was a lot of fun. I loved the explanation of why Ned could sword fight. "I wanted to be a Jedi." I like how they are playing up the sexual tension between Ned and Chuck, but I'm not sure how well that will last. The Harry Potter audio book guy does the narration and that adds sooo much credibility to the show.

The Office- I wasn't as big of a fan as everyone else this week. Jim and Pam at the beet farm was kind of miss for me.

30 Rock- Always good. There was enough Tina Fey to make it a really good episode. I'd personally like to see less Kenneth and more of the writers.

Mad Men- Wow, if you aren't watching, you really should be. The character development is crazy good. I've been catching the repeats On Demand in HD. Love that! This week they dropped a few big bombshells. I'm a little angry at myself for not guessing them sooner. Peggy is preggers. WHAT?! How does a woman not know she's having a baby for 9 months? I noticed they had made her larger the last month or so, but for some reason a baby never crossed my mind.

This Week in Boob Tubery 10/12 -or- Things I watch on TV

The post went over so well last week (at least, I enjoyed it) that I thought I'd make a habit of it.


*New Feature*
Best of the Week

Colbert Report- Not only did I learn that Ohio Congressman and presidential hopefully Dennis Kucinich carries a pocket constitution (I, being a former Ohioan, also carry one. It's a thing we do.), but Colbert also released his new book this week and interviewed himself. If you can't stay up to watch, you should really record it or watch the highlights online.

Rest of the Week

Heroes- Better. The show feels like it's gaining some momentum.

Three Sheets- This one is on the HD network MOJO. Basically, it's a guy who travels all over the world to experience the drinking customs of different cultures. Every episode he's in a different city. He always tries the local drink and usually plenty of others, which leads to him trying the local hangover remedy. It's surprisingly funny, even for the sober crowd. The host is pretty charismatic and they make good use of sound effects. If you have the chance, it's good for a laugh.

Cartoon Network in 3-D!!- It's true. You can watch 3-D episodes of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and the less exciting Out of Jimmy's Head during the Fried Dynamite block on Cartoon Network tonight at 7p. I hope you have some 3-D glasses of your own. Because Cartoon Network did a terrible job of distributing them.

30 Rock- Pretty hilarious this week. Jack's story delivered the best lines. Will Arnett saying "I'm gonna make your heart explode" in the way only he can, still made me laugh even after hearing it on the promo. If anything, I thought Tiny Fey's story was too small in this episode. Jenna's "Me Want Food" thing took up all her time. I'm surprised NBC actually made shirts to go along with it. Now that's a network with a plan.

The Office- Sure an hour of hilarious office hi jinks sounds good. But I think the Office is better suited for a half-hour. The second half was a little drawn out. I loved Michael calling Angela "booster seat." And it did have a couple of it's genuinely sweet moments, like Andy and the confrence phone quartet.

Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie Jr.'s - It pains me to say this, but Jerry, that was TERRIBLE. They were unfunny at best and the idea of catching foreign animators as they enter the country (seemingly illegally) was utterly tasteless. Stick to sitcoms, Jer.

The Costume Makes the Man

It's true what they say. Clothes really do make the man, or in some cases the monkey.

Which brings me to my point: How you dress on Halloween can affect your life for the entire year. In fact, it may be the only really important decision you make all year. Do you really want to screw that up? And that's why there's so much pressure to be clever. That goes double when you work in MY office.

Of course, we're all constrained by own body types. There's no way I could pull off a Yoda, unless I'm willing to walk on my knees all day. (I'm not.)

Things to Consider-

1. Get a real costume. Halloween is about dressing up as something you're not. No showing up as yourself saying, "I'm my evil twin." And don't even get me started on these Meta-costumes. "I'm inner peace," "I'm the sound of a heart breaking," "I'm gravity." Wrong, wrong, wrong. If it's not tangible, it's not a costume.
2. No repeats. Sure, we're all guilty of this at one time or another. But the 10th time you show up as a pirate, it's really just sad.
3. Spend enough time and money to make the costume work. (Are you a mummy or did you just get TP'd?)
4. Be inventive.
5. There are probably more, but I can't think of any now.

As for me, I'm totally lost as what to be this year. My goal is to be somthing pop-cultural and fun. Am I missing something easy out there?

I ask both my readers, what should I be for Halloween?

This Week in Boob Tubery

It's that time of year. NETWORK PREMIERE TIME. And now that I have the power of DVR, I can watch more TV than ever!

WARNING: PREPARE TO BE SPOILED (somewhat)!!

Chuck- I WANT to like it. I think it takes itself a little too seriously. The lady spy is almost painfully good looking. As long as she keeps showing up in her underwear I'll probably keep tuning in.

Heroes- OK, so Claire cuts off a toe and grows it back. Cool. I can't wait until next season when they use the discarded toe to make an evil clone. Mohinder's part was cool and I like where they are going with that. But Peter and Hiro's stories aren't very interesting. Pete, why didn't you just punch the crap out of that guy and take your stuff back. Honestly. So frustrating.

Pushing Daisies- It's sweet and strange. Very much like the movie Big Fish. I liked the "Pie-lette" episode but I'm not sure if the series will hold my attention for a season. Also, I'm a little bit afraid to touch people now.

Bionic Woman- Still not crazy about it. Who cares about a show with ONE super-powered chick, when there are shows with MANY super-powered folks running around. But I'm not doing anything better at 9 on Wednesdays.

-Side Note-

Looking forward to NBC's comedy night. It's the return of my new fav 30 Rock. AND, as if that weren't enough, it's guest starring Jerry Seinfeld (he's also my fav). Plus an hour of the Office.

Upgraded

The new place is on it's way to feeling like home. Last night my roommate made a huge purchase (literally). He got a 30" DLP HD TV (That's a lot of abbreviating). We won't have cable set up until tomorrow, but we are enjoying the HD signal from the antenna on all the basic stations and a few local ones. Just look how crisp and clean that picture is.

Plus, it came in a sweet box. I'd have killed for a box like this when I was a kid.

Space Manpants - Deep space explorer.

Signing off.

Move It

Funny story about moving. It really sucks. But guess what? My new place is sweet! Here's a jem from my move this weekend.



My interaction with the UHaul people went something like this.

Me: "Hi, I'm here to pick up the 14 foot truck I reserved."

UHaul: "Yep, we've got that 24 foot truck for ya."

Me: "Okay. I ordered a 14 foot truck"

UHaul: "Yeeeahh, we have a 24 foot truck in the computer."

Me: "So that's wrong."

UHaul: "It's in the computer that way."

Me: "Do you have anything smaller?"

UHaul: "We got a 17 foot truck"

"I'lltakeit!" (Crisis overted)

P.S. I could totally be a truck driver. I was backing that thing in all over the place.


After that little hitch, moving was ridiculously fast and easy. The real tragedy is that I am currently without cable service!! And thus I cannot watch my favorite shows this week. Heroes is tonight, and despite a HORRIBLE season finale, I'm still excited to see some superpowered so-and-so's in action. I'm going to have to bum someone else's TV for the night.

Marvel Goes Postal

Hey there. true believers!

Do you like comic books? How about government postage? Thought so! Well, you're in luck. The U.S. Postal service has a set of Marvel stamps out now. They've got all your favorites: Spider-Man, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, Electra (I guess), The Sub-Mariner?!? Well, there's a few good ones in there. Plus, they have classic comic covers. All and all, I'm really excited about standing in line for most of my lunch break to buy these stamps.

I must say that the USPS is really kicking butt when it comes to partnerships. They had the Star Wars hookup earlier this year and they put out some great D.C. Comics stamps last year. (Although I did get denied after a lunch break's wait in line for those.) You don't see UPS or FedEx doing anything that cool. The best partnership FedEx ever made was with Kinko's. Hey, I like making copies as much as the next guy. But xeroxing just can't compete with a superhero. Now, give me the He-Man on a flat rate box and I'm yours.

http://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10152&storeId=10001&categoryId=11832&productId=31009&langId=-1

Lewis Black and the Emmys

Lewis Black's rant on TV lower third messaging was RIGHT ON! I couldn't have agreed more with what he was saying. In fact, excessive on-screen messaging is one of the top three things that bothers me about the TV network I work for. I'll paraphrase what Lewis said for those of you who missed it. (You'll have to imaging that this is all being shouted at you Lewis Black-style.) Hey TV executives! Quit interrupting the show I'm watching to tell me what's coming up next! I don't care what's coming up next! I'm watching THIS SHOW! And while you're at it, could you NOT shrink the end credits so they are impossible to read? You already have them going by so fast that no one can see them. I know no one cares about the credits. But the people in the credits care. And they're only the hardworking people that make this business possible.

I doubt this will have any real impact on TV, but it sure was nice to see that vocalized so well.

More thoughts and comments on last night's Emmy Awards (Or at least the last hour or so that caught)

Ryan Seacrest is annoying. I've actually know this for years, but last night's painful performance as host only further proved the point.

I love Tina Fey. I was very sad that she didn't win in any of the categories. Can't wait for the new season of 30 Rock.

When did Al Gore become a rock star? He has his own TV network now? And it won an Emmy? What? That's just stupid.

I respect Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as two of the funniest political satirists in the business, but last night they just fell flat. Possible exception: The leaf blower that runs on Al Gore's tears. But redeeming them all was Steve Carrell's acceptance of Ricky Gervasis' Best Lead Actor in a Comedy award. That was just fun.

My Pet Blog

It turns out that having a blog is a lot like having a dog. Dogs have tails. Blogs have tales. Dogs eat your homework. Blogs eat up the time I would have to DO my homework (if I still had to do homework). And let's be honest, you have to feed them at least 2 or 3 times a week, or it's just trouble. The similarities are seemingly endless.

Well, here goes nothing...