Taking the Scenic Route

Finally watched this week’s Parenthood (If  This Boat Is A Rockin’). Was ticked that there was a stupid KU game overriding the beginning, and during the program I realized we definitely missed something and went online to find the show. VERY worth the effort. The supermarket scene was awesome…totally see Zane doing something like that, and cheered at the dad’s response. I would have likely just stood there dumbfounded and wished I would have done it.

We saw a preview for Adam and were determined to find it.  It looked awesome.

Blockbuster listed it, but it was nowhere to be found IRL, and we ended up calling around to different video store to try and find it.  We finally found it at a place called Family Video, so Zach and Zora made a trek there.  I think we found a new video store.  Not only do they have a better selection of movies Zach and I want to see, but the kid’s videos kick Blockbuster’s butt to the curb, plus the prices are SO much better. And, as a result, we get to see the movie tonight. Yay!

Ok, I love tv. Really. I know it is bad for you, and I don’t care. We finally joined the modern ages when we got AT&T U-Verse for less than we were paying for DirecTV (and MUCH better customer service), and ended up with far more services for about half the price than we were paying before, and especially love the DVR service. No getting irritated because we want to watch something not appropriate for our kids because we can record it and watch it after they are down.

Our “Must Watch” shows:
Big Bang Theory
Monk
Psych
Hell’s Kitchen
Dexter
Medium
So You Think You Can Dance
Flash Forward
Glee
Royal Pains

Our “Like to Watch” Shows:
House
Kitchen Nightmares
Rachael Maddow
John Stewart
Stephen Colbert
Law & Order, but I like the episodes with D’Onofrio or Goldblum the best
NCIS

Our “Will Watch if We Have Watched Everything Else” Shows:
CSI
Ghost Whisperer
Numbers
Flashpoint
How I met your Mother
Dancing with the Stars
Pretty much anything on the Science Channel, National Geographic, and Most Discovery Channels
TLC Channel
Biography
American Idol
Those “How do they make that” type shows and Mythbusters
The History Channel (although not much of the war stuff)

I also recently discovered that the “Videos on Demand” have a bunch of fitness videos on it, which is pretty cool.

Since the TV I like is generally not kid friendly (big fan of shows like Law & Order, CSI & NCIS), we have had to look elsewhere for TV we can watch with the kids around.

I really am not a fan of most “reality” TV. I never got into Survivor, and didn’t even bother with Big Brother because it just seemed annoying to watch. I enjoy the talent shows enough to tune in when I think about it, especially the dance oriented shows, but it has been a while since there was a well written show that was family friendly, until now.

I have discovered a sitcom worth watching. It is called “Big Bang Theory“, and is sort of like a nerdy version of Friends. (Even the theme song is pretty neat) Zach and I both laugh through the whole show. It is smart, funny, and makes so many geeky references it has you astonished at the writer’s breadth of geeky knowledge. One of the main guys on the show is the actor who played “David” on Rosanne. Sarah Gilbert, who played “Darlene” on Rosanne, is also a reaccuring character…except in this show, they both have PhDs in Physics. Our favorite character on the show is “Sheldon”, although all of the characters are good. Sheldon, however, is a work of genius and exemplifies every wonderfully nerdy characterstic out there.

Right after that show is “How I Met Your Mother”, which is also pretty decent, but doesn’t hit our funny bone as much. It is sort of cool to see Neil Patrick Harris all grown up in another role though, especially one so different from Doogie.

For those of you that enjoy Star Wars, there is a new series on the Cartoon Network that is an all-animation version of Star Wars, and takes place during the Clone Wars. (between movies 2 & 3). It seems pretty cool so far, but they are just getting started.

Yesterday Zach went to retrieve his work email and it kept dropping after a bit, so he went to the window in hopes of a better connection.  Still didn’t work.  Found out when he went to work that the enire mail server system in North America is down for his company.  So, it wasn’t the connection this time.

However, I have noticed that the internet connection is pretty dang slow compared to what I am used to.  I finally have time to read blogs, but they don’t always come up, and almost every time I go to make a comment (especially on xanga blogs) I get dropped.  To reconnect I have to go through a huge rigamarole and lots of waiting again, so I am just not even going to try and comment any more.  lol. 

The TV is, naturally, almost all in German.  There is one channel that is in English, although I think it comes out of Britian, not America, and is another version of CNN.  Pretty much the only thing being reported right now is the War in Georgia (I think it was part of the former USSR).  There is very little Olympic coverage or non-war coverage, and there is a limit to how much I can listen to about war because it really upsets me.

Therefore, all the Olympic coverage I have seen has been pretty much on mute or very low volume (if my back is turned, so I can hear the difference when they move to another sport and see if it is something I am interested in).  I haven’t seen a single shot of Women’s Gymnastics.  None.  I am a little frustrated.  Watching gymnastics is about the only sport, outside of figure skating, that I enjoy watching, and the enjoyment of both of those sports formed when I was a little girl watching Nadia and Dorthy Hamill.  lol.  (that dates me, doesn’t it).  Finally, this morning (Thursday), I saw a few Men’s Gymnastics routines on the high bar. 

Most of the coverage is on syncronized diving (didn’t know this was an olympic sport), kayaking (didn’t know this was an olympic sport either), swimming, (although they do a lot of the prelims and I miss a lot of the finals with the Americans racing), fencing (not horrible), some sport that takes place on a field  that resembles a soccer field with teams and they use their hands to throw a ball around (I think, I am looking at a small tv at little bitty people), field hockey (I assume…I have never seen field hockey, but they have hockey sticks hitting a ball around a field), judo or karate or something like that, weight lifiting (most boring sport ever),  and some Equestrian stuff.  When the horses move around and jump over things, not so bad, but when they just walk around the ring in a pattern I don’t get what they are doing exactly and I can’t understand the commentary, so it just looks like a horse walking in circles.

I wasn’t too upset about the lack of gymnastics coverage at first because I assumed I could go online and watch it.  There were several places to watch videos online, and, naturally, some great sites from the US that would cover the people I have been following.  I learned something.  Even though I downloaded the Microsoft viewer (something I loathe doing, but it was the only way to view the videos) you can’t view anything on those sites if you are trying to connect from another country.  WHAT THE HECK!?!  I was so mad.  I tried other english speaking countries and they had the same dang policy.  So I will be watching no Olympics in English this time around.  Well, maybe the closing ceremony because we get home that day, but since TV will not be a priority, I will probably miss those too.

I just want to strangle the person who was supposed to get us the Rosetta Stone software and didn’t.  Arg!  Maybe I would understand a little more then, but you can’t really follow tv with a phrase book because they talk too fast.

For a short bit it is amusing to see American shows dubbed over because the voices are different.  In some instances, enough different to be comical to me.  I only watch about 3 minutes to hear the voices and then move on, but it is amusing for a bit.  Some of the shows I have seen:  NCIS (Abbi’s voice, in particular, is really wrong), CSI (the main redhead guy has such a distinctive voice that that one is funny to me too), Spongebob (rofl), Higglytown Heroes (annoying in any language), Rosanne (I could almost follow that one because I have seen so many of them), House (wrong, wrong, wrong), and a few other shows I recognized, but have never watched. 

The only thing we have watched more than 3 minutes of was Star Trek:  First Contact because we knew the dialoge well enough that we didn’t need to understand them, plus, we could almost understand them because we knew the English version well enough to hear the language similarities and could pick up on actual words. I bet if they showed Star Wars. Star Trek and Little House on the Prairie back to back a few times I could figure out the language because I have so many of them practically memorized.  (ok…I realize, that particualar combination is wierd, but that would be me)

I got an umbrella yesterday so that I am not stuck in the room every day because it seems to rain all of the time. I will probably still stay inside in the morning, posting, sipping coffee and tea, reading, etc, but after lunch I will go walk around the town a bit more. I feel a little better now so I want to go do something. (the stitches are now all out of my mouth. The final one let go this morning and my mouth feels much better. Still a little tender, but not horrible anymore)

I saw a trailer to a documentary coming out this summer.  I can’t wait to see the movie!

Windows Media Player link: 
www.strawbellyjerryfilms.com/movies/asperger/asptrailer.wmv

Quicktime link: 
http://www.strawbellyjerryfilms.com/movies/asperger/asptrailer.mov

Snow Cakes is an awesome film.  Lots of subtleties in the writing, and Sigorney Weaver did a pretty decent job of acting too.  Although some of the film had me laughing outloud at some of the lines, I doubt most people would find the same humor in some of it, but the writing was just so spot on and, at points, funny.  Like the townie that claims that she knows all about autism because she saw “that movie” and other similar things.  Don’t let me mislead you though, it is certainly NOT a comedy and belongs firmly in the drama.  It is a film more about the characters than the plot. 

After watching the film I searched around the internet to see reviews (something I often do, just to see how others viewed it).  I could definitely tell that many people did not “get it”, or that their interpretation of Sigourney’s character (the autistic woman) and her motivations, ect, came from a different knowledge set than I have, but that is to be expected.  They saw the autistic character as an allegory to how Alan Rickman’s character sees the world, and although that might be true to a degree, I saw much more in Weaver’s portrayal. 

It was good.  I highly recommend it.

I am also in the middle of “Dragons of Autism“.  The title initially put me off, but I went ahead and looked at it and am glad I did.  It is a memoir book and the “dragons” are her son’s obsession.  It is funny and poignant and I could see a lot of our lives in the book.  Some of the details are different, but the flow of life had me chuckling and nodding my head in recognition.

We think the tv is dying.  No, I have ZERO intention of going tv-free.  Movies, in particular, are a big, big deal in our house.  We watch a movie almost every night on our blockbuster monthly “rent as many as you want” thing.  I think we would all go stark raving mad without a tv in the house.  We will never make good hippies I guess.

It was a floor model at Best Buy back in 1993.  We got it on a great sale, and it was one of our first “big purchases”, paid for with tips we had been saving up.  It is 32″ and insanely heavy.  It takes at least 2 people to move it, often a 3rd to get it through weird spaces.  The distortion on the screen used to be almost imperceivable, but we noticed in the last week we are having problems reading the screen when there is writing and the distortion is getting annoying.  I am sort of sad to see it go.

*sigh*  The prices are good this time of year, but I don’t think we can swing it right now.  I hope it hangs on until January, when we will have the money.  Maybe we can even get a flat screen.  Ahhhh…that would be nice.  Easier to move too.  lol.