Author: ssw15

Yesterday’s episode of “Alias” was quite good. Some gore, the usual amounts of violence, bizarre dream sequences, plot twistiness to jumble the brain (“uh, ok, so Secret Agent Sydney and Crew have to create a cover story to fool the Feds, and then do this, but then the Feds are on to them, and so Sydney et al. have to do what? And, Sloane has to kill Sydney, but guess who’s alive after all…??!!!”). Plus some really eccentric guest characters (were the writers taking some narcotics? Considering that one flakey character who likes hugs and making untimely remarks, hmm.).

Actually, come to think of it, the bizarreness reminded me of the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episodes (the one with Data and his dreams and all the crazy ones about the holodeck; but Star Trek never had the levels of gore and violence “Alias” has). It’s all about kooky fun, wrapped in a nice sci-fi/dramatic setting.

Ah, and will there be a revelation, as Sydney opens the door in her mind, to finally (!) resolve the half-season’s worth of questions? Am I glad next week is a new episode; the suspense will get to me…

True Value commercial – wherein Santa, the elf, Frosty, and some girl who looks like she’s the Tooth Fairy, are all on a road trip in an SUV. True Value says buy stuff from us. The elf says, “Read the map, Santa.” They see some plastic Santa up ahead and the real Santa says, “Am I that fat?” Uh… (funny commercial; but still wouldn’t know what True Value wants from me).

Target’s post-Thanksgiving weekend sale commercial – great. Bespectacled man plays a rockin’ drum beat; a young woman next to him plays along with her identical drum set. They look like they’re having loads of fun and yell, “Let’s go!” and played even more. Yeah, Target’s trying to get some energy into you to go out there and shop.

Not bad; right on message. Extra credit to Target.

Thanksgiving on tv involves: parade and football. I seemed to have been watching an excess of food shows (Jacques Pepin on PBS a lot this week), not to mention the Kennedy documentaries. The National Dog Show, on right now, after the parade on NBC – it’s a beauty contest without the swimsuit and question segments. Cute dogs.

Have a happy Thanksgiving. Try not to overeat, but live well.

Yes, Thanksgiving is coming. Check out the article on slate.com where they sample the turkeys and determine what’s the best. Look’s like Butterball beats the organic turkeys. Oh, well, big corporations have to be good at something, right?

If turkey is not your thing, consider an evaluation on Slate of “healthy” fast food (the new McDonald’s salad; the Burger King chicken baguette sandwich; and Taco Bell’s al fresco/salsa menu). I had liked the NY Times’ article about the subject, so I thought this complete contrast was a nice perspective. Personally, I’d go with Wendy’s, but I guess it’s not for everyone.

If you like more serious reading than what I’ve referred above, consider reading John Dean’s fascinating articles (Part 1 and Part 2 ) on Findlaw.com, where he’s analyzing the book, The George W. Bush Presidency: An Early Assessment, a collection of essays on the current administration. Yes, it’s that John Dean, the one of the Nixon/Watergate fame, who has been a contributor on Findlaw.com’s legal commentaries. Usually he’s extremely critical about the current administration, but he seemed very open to what sounded like a relatively balanced anthology. Even though the current administration can be very polarizing, it doesn’t hurt to consider something… less polarizing.

“Star Trek Enterprise” is on at 7pm tonight on Channel 9 (NYC Metro area); so feel free to catch it for the re-broadcast of this week’s episode of Trip the Clone. Nicely acted, like I said, even if not a perfect episode.

“Little Women,” starring Winona Ryder and Susan Sarandon, is also on tonight. It’s a movie that has its moments; I’m hoping to see the whole thing for once!

Another sidenote – I saw “Love Actually” yesterday. A nice fluffy movie about love being all around us, starring all the favorite British actors. Hugh Grant did a nice job as a bachelor Tony Blair-ish prime minister who stands up to Billy Bob Thornton’s George W. Bush-esque American president (partly in reaction to the Billy Bob character’s leering the prime minister’s pretty, female assistant and then partly because the prime minister’s cabinet was not eager to cave into American demands – aww.) Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman were good and demonstrated a range of emotions. Colin Firth – ah, dear Colin was also quite good too! Liam Neeson did a nice role as the befuddled stepfather of a young boy in love. If you like fluffy, romance movies and don’t look for too much complexity, I’d recommend this movie.

I will have to post again later; I do have things to say about this week’s episode of “Star Trek Enterprise” but didn’t want to spoil it for those who do watch “Enterprise” but haven’t watched the episode yet (yes, I think it’ll be on again on Channel 9 in NYC area on Sunday at 9pm, if you want to catch it; then again, I’ll be trying to catch ABC’s “Alias,” which has to wrap up this mad crazy storyline before Secret Agent Sydney gets the lobotomy!). But, I can say that I thought this week’s “Enterprise” was very nice. A B+ for effort and points off for some quibbling that didn’t necessarily hurt the episode’s goodness, so to speak.

Nice Saturday today; go outside and enjoy it, is my other-than-television recommendation.

Oh, and a happy belated birthday to FC!!!

Wonder why/how Britney Spears got herself a star on the walk of fame in Hollywood? Check out slate.com, the on-line magazine, for the answer. The “Explainer” explains it…

The newspapers reporting the Arnold Schwarzenegger’s inauguration – Maria Shriver with the 192-year old Kennedy family Bible; the Hollywood stars (Jamie Lee Curtis, aka Schwarzenegger’s “True Lies” wife; Rob Lowe (who I thought was a Democrat, in real life and on “West Wing”; etc.). It looks like an alternate universe, only it’s not. Meanwhile, it’s the week of the 40th anniversary JFK assaination and television networks (PBS being no exception) are showing Kennedy things. It’s the same stories about Jack, Jackie, Bobby, Teddy, etc. And, now, it’s Schwarzenegger – he is placed into context, in a way.

Of course, then there’s the picture of Andrew Cuomo in today’s NY Daily News; let’s not forget that he was a Kennedy-in-law who couldn’t be governor. Was that coincidental that his picture gets in, on the same day as the pictures for the inauguration of a victorious Kennedy-in-law was also published?

I’m watching the Colameco cooking show on Channel 13 (PBS) right now. Ah, when will I ever learn – just watching these things doesn’t mean I’ll know how to cook. But, Colameco’s show has a nice flavor to it, so to speak. He gives you a presentation of some really nice restaurant (usually a NYC one) and tries to cook variations on the restaurant’s stuff in his own home kitchen so that you, oh silly layperson/TV viewer, may be so inspired to try to cook in your own kitchen. Colameco’s not some stuffy chef (even if he has the background or training to be one) and he’s a good watch.

No “Alias” tonight – some kind of video music awards. Oh, well. Secret Agent Sydney’s fate will have to wait another week.

Crazy commercials – notice the Saturn Ion commercial with the scary-looking clowns, who get stalked and captured and dragged away by a Saturn Ion? Apparently, they’re meant to demonstrate how we can “put the fun” back into compact cars. Okay, sure. But, those are still scary looking clowns, not since the old “It” mini-series based on Stephen King’s book “It” had its own scary psycho clown.

Check out the M&M’s current commercial promotion. I’ve gotten a kick out of the commercial with the stoner dudes who recreate the M&M’s Christmas commercial (the one where they catch Santa; all scream, “They’re real!” “He’s real!” and the Yellow Peanut M tries to poke the fainted Santa into waking up – “Santa? Santa?”). Stoner Dude A plays with the plastic M&M’s and a hatless Santa doll. Stoner Dude B observes, “Yeah, like who defines what’s real?” Yeah. Good question, dude. All fun and laughs. Head over to the M&M’s website vote on your favorite M&M’s commercial, or watch your favorite commercial in streaming video. Enjoy “the milk chocolate that melts in your mouth, not in your hand.” www.mms.com

I’m not exactly having a Hawaiian adventure like FC, but the crazy New York City weather is enough to make me dream of Hawaii. Strong gales making leaves and trash and pieces of buildings flying all over the place. Please be careful out there tonight, folks!

Last night had some very good television. Pardon the vagaries of the following, since I don’t to give away plot lines for those who haven’t seen the episodes yet:

“Star Trek Enterprise” had a strong episode. It wasn’t nearly as predictable as I feared and had good hopeful for humanity moments, in the great Trekkian mode. Maybe all isn’t lost yet; so, I guess I can’t give up on Star Trek just yet. For those who missed it last night, Channel 9 (NYC’s local UPN) will show it again at 9pm on Sunday (yeah, I know – against ABC’s “Alias” time slot – just tape one or the other; “Enterprise” was good, really!). I’m scared about next week’s episode – the preview indicates that Trip, the chief engineer, will be cloned. The Star Trek writers run the risk of making this upcoming episode lousy; then again, I wouldn’t trust “Star Trek” previews with the way the bad habit of undermining the episodes they are supposed to promote, so maybe I’ll be proven wrong. That remains to be seen.

“Angel” continues to be on an incredibly strong streak; I really enjoyed last night’s episode. The subtext continues – the tension Angel feels toward his friends is almost palpable because only he remembers the timeline he arranged to delete. Meanwhile, Wesley is perplexed by Angel’s tension (not realizing that in the deleted timeline that he caused the grief in the first place) – but then becomes ultimately busy with his own unresolved issues. I get the feeling that the writers are able to better concentrate on “Angel” so far into the new season, because they don’t have to worry as much about dealing with “Buffy” episode to parallel at the same time (i.e., they don’t have to develop two simultaneously cataclysmic plotlines on two different networks, like they did last season). I hope they keep up the good work.

Considering all the hype on this new Fox sitcom (9:30pm, Sundays), I checked it out that Sunday night. Hmm…

Basically, it’s about the Bluth family – the eccentric George Bluth, Sr., (played by Jeffrey Tambor, a great character actor) is arrested for some bad investments and accounting in his corporation. The SEC continues to investigate, so the family has to watch its (extremely expensive) spending. Middle son Michael (played by the 1980’s child actor, Jason Bateman) is the Good Sane Son, trying to reform the family and claim the control of the family corporation. However, the family is undermining all his efforts. He’s a widower and has a 13-year old son, George Michael, who tempted (in a near incestuous sense) by his cousin Maebe (pronounced “Maybe”?), a 13-year old siren (who doesn’t seem that attractive in personality; more like a praying mantis). Maebe’s mother (played by Portia deRossi, formerly of “Ally McBeal”) is Michael’s spoiled-brat sister, who’s married to an out-of-work “actor.” The oldest brother Gob (pronounced “Job” (the tested man from the Bible), is a magician, who’s jealous that Michael is trying to make things better (but Gob is a total incompetent about everything anyway). Mrs. Bluth, the matriarch of this clan, loves her wealth, and is not helping Michael (but he’s able to predict his mother, more or less). There’s another brother, who’s apparently quite immature and eccentric too (I don’t recall seeing him in the episode I had watched; but he’s in the commercials, acting rather screwy).

So, there are lots of interesting characters. I like Jason Bateman’s acting (he’s convincing as the responsible, exasperated one). But, maybe I’m not totally impartial – I liked him in NBC’s “The Hogan Family” (he helped carry the show even after Valerie Harper left it). He deserves to finally have a good series, after being in a bunch of cancelled stuff over the last several years. But, it’s weird to see him as the father of a teenager; he has a baby face himself and just exudes a youthful exuberance.

I don’t think the series is a laugh-out-loud kind of funny; of course, then again, there’s no laugh track to give cues to the audience about what’s supposed to be “funny” (for better or for worse; take your pick). But, the scenarios did make a smile on my face and got me reacting “Geez, Michael; get with the program – where do you think your father was hiding the money!” There’s hope that this series will work. On the plus side (it’s not a negative, anyway) – Ron Howard (whose production company is behind “Arrested Development”) is the narrator. Think about it – “Richie Cunningham” of the old “Happy Days” is back on tv (well, his voice anyway). (sorry, I tend to still think of him as Richie, not Opie – I never saw the whole Andy Griffith show (I’m of a generation that knows Andy Griffith as Matlock. Kind of like how I’d think of Henry Winkler as “Fonzie” and John Ritter as “Jack Tripper” and the Dukes of Hazard as the Dukes of Hazard…).

Okay, enough rambling. I’m otherwise still looking for better Sundays…