Friday the 30th

Commute:

• Story of the Day, I caught up with a piece from last week about a retired football player who now suffers from short-term memory loss. When he was younger, the team had a drill where the boys would actively butt heads like rams. Who thought that would turn out poorly? One of the most moving elements was hearing the player describe his nostalgia for his high school team, even though he'd won a college bowl game and played with the 49ers in a Super Bowl season. I can't put my finger on what is so resonant about sports in our psyche - especially since I have played on so few teams myself.

Late Night:

• 30 Rock. Pretty good episode, and I loved the Kenneth clone cameos.
  
• It's Always Sunny. I think I may have preferred the South Park wrestling episode. Is wrestling having some weird renaissance, or is it just always dependable comedy fodder?

Weekend the 23rd-25th

Friday Commute:

• Listened to a slew of Story of the Day podcasts and NOT ONE was about health care! They were great.

Weekend Viewing:

• 30 Rock. This feels like it should've been the premiere - much better than last week. I love the GE tie-ins. Maybe I just have a soft spot for microwave ovens.


• The State - Season 2. From Netflix, and it is about damn time this became available. Terrific sketch comedy, and their exuberance is so much fun to watch.


• Fringe. Caught up on everything else from this season. Still a pretty satisfying series.


• The Simpsons. Also caught up on this season's episodes. The Halloween was a definite middle-of-the-packer, but I did enjoy the kick-punch-choke ultimate fighting league episode.
  
• It's Always Sunny. "The World Series Defense". I laughed out loud when Charlie pushed Dennis in front of the car. Typing that, it really sounds like something I shouldn't have laughed it. But trust me. Hilarious.


• The Amazing Race. I admit, I didn't think the Globetrotters would be able to do the math challenge after the watch debacle. But I don't really blame them for razzing the girl who freaked out at the water slide. One word. RACE.
  
• Mad Men. What a fantastic episode. It was fascinating to watch so many characters lash out at the people who had broken their hearts in such controlled ways.
  
• World Freerun Championships. I turned this on just to see what the hell that meant. And it meant awesome. Parkour! Parkour!

Tuesday the 6th

Morning Commute:

• I was actually interested in Friday's Planet Money, on why it seems socialism is not taking hold right now the way it did after the Great Depression. They had a guest talking about recent elections all over the globe, and I rewound it 3 times and still couldn't focus. Sad.

At work:

• Co-worker had me watch The Contract. I giggled.

Nighttime:

• Torn between booze, pills, or maybe just Sons of Anarchy. Went with the latter as my drug of choice this evening, and it was an excellent choice. Y'all, this show is good.
  
• SYTYCD - the auditions are finally ending! I was not in sync with the judges for the first half - I thought the first b-boy was AWESOME and I hope he has a crew so we can watch him on America's Best Dance Crew, and I had to watch that one girl's crazy backbend 3 times to figure out what the hell she had done. But the dancers the judges loved? Meh. While I am thrilled we didn't have to watch that attention-seeking long-haired goofball this year, I was NOT happy to see the "Nigel is a letch" montage OR extreme close-ups of the bloody dance accident. Ech. Also, it was kind of them to bring that guy's wife to Vegas bc she was really not impressive. He was, though.

Monday the 5th

Commuting:

• Polished off Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me and then watched the "Charlie Goes America All Over Everybody's Ass" episode of It's Always Sunny on my iPod.

Nighttime viewing:

• Watched the baseball park episode of Man vs. Food. Adam Richman is totally one of my TV boyfriends - I love his good-natured enthusiasm and appreciation for the ridiculous. The concept of the shore is, of course, appalling - food challenges no one should attempt - and yet it is done with such unabashed glee.
  
• HIMYM, something about Robin school. Total meh-pisode. Keeping the Robin/Barney relationship as a focus is dangerous, shark-jumping territory.
  
• Trauma. Episode 1 - First thought, is that first guy is a "That Guy". Turns out to be Herc from Friday Night Lights. (Thanks, IMDB!) And so far... not looking like this is gonna stay in the DVR recording list. Watching car accidents occur in places where you drive is creepy. Also, the set-ups and the characters just seem so artificial. I think the idea of first response medical teams is dramatic enough without starting the characters off with a flashback to give them a "Troubled Past!" and "Complicated Relationships!" or characters with nicknames who holler catchphrases. Fast-forwarding to see where they filmed... and... HEY! It's Buddy from Friday Night Lights! I love when that happens, when you see multiple actors from one show on another. Anyway... fast forward... and... we're done. That was dumb.
  
• Starting on episode 2... and... realize I do not care at all. I don't need to watch this to see where they film because I live here, and can also just GO OUTSIDE to see San Francisco. But I do find it funny that people are just walking by in the location shots and ignoring the paramedics. I kinda think that's more likely to happen with film crews than with actual paramedics. City dwellers are jaded, but still full of schadenfreude.

Nightstand:

• Might push through to finish off Alive in Necropolis tonight.

Friday the 2nd

Morning Commute:

• Planet Money, another healthcare report I forgot as I was listening to it. Story of the Day was about the swine flu epidemic hitting Austin, Texas. The reporter interviewed his teenage daughter, who said she was afraid it would be a really scary thing but basically she just felt stuffy and tired for 6 days. Now I want swine flu. It would be a chance to clean out the DVR.

Night Out:

• Live! Saw "Rumbache" at Cigar Bar, and danced with random folk. Plug: my friend Alan's band "Manicato" plays there sometimes. I imagine it's tight quarters for a band with a horn section, but fun!

Late Night:

• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, something about the gang and the recession. The Dave & Buster's tie-in was a weird cross-promotion, but still hilarious.
  
• The Office - only made it through the intro and was too tired to concentrate anymore. Too tired to concentrate on The Office. Yikes.