Wednesday/Thursday the 4th/5th

• Man vs. Food. Detroit Rock City. I would not have liked either hot dog place. Raw onions? Blech.
  


• RW/RR Challenge. Remember when I used to like Jonny Bananas? Yeah, I can't explain that, either. Moron. And at times Kellyanne SEEMS like she could be likable, but she thought Veronica was... cool? NO. Plus she dates... Wes. Weird.
  


• Survivor. Lil' Russell was more irritating than ever - taking credit for things that really don't have anything to do with him - like photosynthesis - but I do think it made sense for him to just play the immunity idol and be out with it. Unlike Erik - hahahahahaha! Oh, Erik. Pretty - but pretty dumb. As soon as Russell played his idol and stated his reason why, I think he should've been RIGHT behind him. Having both immunity idols played WOULD have been a kick-ass Survivor moment.
  


• The Office. I'm bored. And she hit him open palm? Lame.
  


• Project Runway. Also boring. And predictable outcome. At least Gordana and Christopher went out on very nice pieces.
  
• 30 Rock. NOT boring. STILL funny. YAY!

Wednesday the 28th

Morning Commute:

• An entertaining Planet Money podcast, featuring an interview with Elinor Ostrom, who shared the Nobel Prize for Economics this year for her work demonstrating the tragedy of the commons isn't necessarily tragic. She was very down-to-earth and practical and I enjoyed her take on human nature. Namely, that it's in our best interests to get along with each other.

Work:

• All Songs Considered. The most recent podcast featured the best in jazz this year. I've always meant to like jazz, but can't quite get there. I did really enjoy this podcast, though, and downloaded a really beautiful piece by Robert Glasper called "Open Mind". It has humming. I like humming.

Late Night:

• RW/RR Challenge. An OK episode. The vote that put Ibis in was pretty hilarious. I recently rediscovered the recaps on TVgasm and they have brought me great joy.

Wednesday the 21st

Commuting:

• A Story of the Day about Jewish delis - I totally want to try rolled beef, and agree that anyone requesting pastrami on white should be ignored.
• Planet Money - healthcare for hedgehogs. Hedgehogs do sound awful cute, but I doubt I would spend thousands to keep one around.
• World Cafe, and All Songs Considered with a new track from Vampire Weekend! Woo-hoo!
• Half of Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me
• Somewhere in one of these I heard a piece on Ben's Chili Bowl and the half-smoke in D.C., but I can't recall where. This was an odd coincidence because...

Evening:

• Man vs. Food, Adam goes to D.C. and his first stop? Ben's Chili Bowl! Now I must go. His next stop featured some woman named Big Momma who is now my favoritest cook Adam has met. She was funny, and natural, and looovvveedd her food.
• SYTYCD - this was a rather irritating selection show, and dragging all of the contestants to a new location (Hollywood) just to dump half of them right away seemed cruel. I am exciteed about Ellenore, though! And Victor! And Legacy! And the krumper! And tapping!
• RW/RR Challenge I only wish Tonya had hit Veronica harder. That girl is awful.

Weekend 16-18th

• RW/RR Challenge. Ugh, I wanted Suzy to go home. I think I find her particularly vile because she was so cute on her season of Road Rules in Australia, and now she's a self-satisfied patronizing sanctimonious little creep.


• Fringe. A whole bunch of these from the new season are languishing in the DVR. I still think the show is entertaining, but it isn't a "popcorn" show where I enjoy watching one episode right after the other.


• 30 Rock. I loved Tracy Morgan's man-on-the-street moment.


• The Office. Still not enjoying this season much.


• The Big Bang Theory. I haven't watched this show often, but Kaela told me it's worth watching for Sheldon alone. And he is pretty awesome. I may have to start watching, and can just fast-forward through all the other geeks.


• Man vs. Food Who knew Boise was a home for such ridiculously large quantities of food? It seemed crazy that the first stop offered DOUBLE one-pound patties with multiple cheese slices, and people seem to order it as just a regular meal and not a competitive eating challenge. One could easily feed a family of 4. A FAT family of 4.
  
• The Soup One of my sources of "news". I loved Greg Kinnear on this show, grew to enjoy John Henson, loved Aisha Tyler, and it took me a while but I now love Joel McHale, too. But they could have cut that Miley Cyrus rap waaayyy shorter. Knowing it existed was awful enough, actually viewing it was unnecessary. Actually, all the clips seem to be running way too long today. But I am very glad they mocked the brainiacs on TAR who couldn't recognize Jackie O.
  
• The Simpsons - a whole mess of saved episodes, from the early days (Lisa enters Little Miss Springfield) to the latest Sideshow Bob foiled murder attempt to The Debarted where Bart's group is infiltrated by a spy.
  
• TAR - I'm surprised that Boston couple went out as gracefully as they did, but it was nice to see them both accept blame for the bad leg and to end with reasonable cheer. BTW, I would NOT have gone for that snowman in s snowmound challenge. That had loser written all over it.
  
• It's Always Sunny - "The Waitress Gets Married" and "Intervention! Intervention!"
  
• Mad Men. I'm enjoying reading the critical analysis of this how on Slate and - believe it or not - the Project Rungay website.

Friday the 9th

Morning Commute:

• Read Revenge of the Spellmans.

At work:

• Claire reminded me this week's Office episode was the wedding, which had completely slipped my mind. She mentioned they spoofed the Forever wedding march from YouTube, which I had never heard of. So we watched it. It was very cute - but we both agreed if we were the bride we would have choreographed the hell out of our entrance.

Late Night After Work:

• So I watched The Office when I finally got home. Worst. Episode. Ever. I'm not sure if I find it the worst because of the lackluster content, or because of the missed opportunities. This one just felt like it was trying too hard, and one of the things I hate most in comedy is forced hilarity. I did not like the gross-out humor (what's with the new "show, don't tell" approach to vomit?), the lack of knowledge demonstrated by the secondary characters (Pam's best friend didn't know about Dwight?), or the reliance on ridiculous stereotypes (Grandma will be shocked the couple lived together and will disapprove of the match, Pam's Dad is dating someone really young). I did think the "mental pictures" were adorable, and the filming of Pam and Jim's actual wedding was quite sweet, but the way they arrived there just felt contrived. Pam is upset because her veil was supposed to be in her control? I get the concept, but the dialogue was weird. Which also brings me to the missed opportunity - wouldn't it have been great to hear how Pam feels about Jim for once? Wouldn't that have been a great thing to save for the special episode? Instead, we get the whole gang from the workplace dancing down the aisle with only a few actual friends or relatives of the couple.
  
• Then I plowed through The Soup, Models of the Runway, and RW/RR Aftershow. Who would've thought Johnny Bananas would be one of the few to offer insight into what it really feels like to be a participant in such a ridiculous environment? I feel bad for Ev for taking the whole thing too seriously, but do think it made sense that she decided she was not going to let people who had no respect for her feelings use her muscle to help them win.

Wednesday the 7th

Morning Commute:

• I have no recollection of whether or not I put my headphones on. Read more Spellmans.

Nighttime Viewing:

• Home late, kinda bummed, thought maybe SYTYCD would cheer me up. Then I realized - it's WEDNESDAY! RW/RR CHALLENGE!!! And it did not disappoint. I love ridiculous people drama. I cannot believe these jokers are making me feel sympathetic towards Wes. Who is still a ridiculous d-bag.
  
• THEN I watched SYTYCD. That Elinor girl was a dream, and I loved that other kid's bounce style all over again. I would totally sign up for that class at the gym. I am also very excited about Russell the Crumper, but that Yveta woman freaks me the hell out.

Wednesday the 30th

Morning Commute:

• Planet Money and Story of the Day were both about health care and I now recall neither.

Evening Commute:

• Read The Orchid Thief by Susan Orleans. Enjoyed the movie, book reads well.

Band Practice:

• Not exactly media, but we played my song Unrequited about a gajillion times and then worked on Rachel's song Hide Away about a jillion times.

Before Bed:

• Glee, which I like but do not lurve. It has touching moments, and the songs are fun, but I can't really picture how this could be entertaining for multiple seasons. Kristen Chenowith sure rocked the hell out of this one, though.
  
• I meant to go to bed right after. I did. I got sucked into a few minutes of Oprah, because Chris Rock was on, and they were talking about his new documentary Good Hair and I was intrigued. I drifted to the DVR button, and was reminded that the following premiered that night:
  
• Real World/Road Rules Challenge. I freely admit that this is the single-most shameful thing I watch. And I have watched them all. And I get extremely excited about the return of the challenge. Even though it is terrible. And the contestants are, as TWOP once put it, "Professional Shot Drinkers". I will not tell anyone they should watch it, but I squeal a little when I find another follower.

On the nightstand:

• Had to read a little, bc I was still wired from watching the Challenge. Yes. That is sad. So finished another chapter of Alive in Necropolis.