TV

Wow, I can't believe Chelsie was voted off of SYTYCD today. Even though I'm a fan of Courtney, I thought she didn't do as well as Chelsie last night.

Unfortunately, I think that the Asian chick is going to win it all, especially since I've heard the judges pick the ultimate winner. It's not that I don't like her because she's Asian. It's that I don't like her because she's unattractive.

It sucks that the tour is coming to Baltimore on a Monday.
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Since the greatest show ever (aka Veronica Mars) has gone off the air and I already have all the DVDs, I needed a new show to watch and preferably one on DVD. Well, I remembered the short-lived but excellent dramedy called Wonderfalls that aired on Fox a few years ago and decided to buy it on amazon.

I have to admit I'm a little disappointed because I remember the show being a lot funnier (and the main chick being a lot hotter). It's kind of eerie to see the similarities between Wonderfalls and Veronica Mars though - both have a teenage girl as their main characters and very quick witty dialogue. And it's even stranger that I'm drawn to shows like this.

The show's about an Ivy League graduate who works in a Niagara Falls gift shop, and through some strange event, inanimate objects start telling her to do (usually bad, dangerous, and sometimes illegal/unethical) things.

What makes the show so creative and inventive is how the simple commands can be interpreted to mean different things. Well, that and the fact that her family is insane and she's usually reluctant to help anyone, ever.

Kristen Bell is back!

I used to watch this really great show called Veronica Mars, but then for some unknown reason, they cancelled it.

It was the greatest show on earth.  Definitely gave Ringling Bros. a run for their money ;)

I doubt they'll ever make a show that even comes close to being as good.

The main reason it was so good was because of the leading actress Kristen Bell.  Well, luckily, she hasn't faded from the spotlight.  She'll be on Heroes this fall and has the starring role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a new movie from the people that made Superbad and Knocked Up.

Remember all that stuff about me needing to find some new topic to rant/rave about? Turns out it won't be necessary since KB's still lighting up the screen.

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Speaking of Superbad, I saw it last night.  Hilarious.  

More comedies should adopt the style of improvisation.  There wasn't a single scene that appeared scripted.  The director simply said, here's the idea: run with it and make it funny.

Nerd Post (RIP Veronica Mars)

Now that Veronica Mars has officially ended its oh-so-brief run, I'm going to have to find some other equally superficial topic to rant/rave about. I'm not sure what it will be yet, but here's a fun nerd post for now (well, it's not really that nerdy -- I won't name names, but I've read some REALLY nerdy posts, and this doesn't come close).
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My new job requires me to use Windows XP. For the 3+ years before that, I had been using Linux for my work environment. It hasn't been a huge deal to switch (more point-and-clicking, less typing), but the main thing that I had gotten used to was the "virtual" desktops in Linux. Basically, you could have several different backgrounds and taskbars which made it easy to separate programs that had nothing to do with each other (email/chat on desktop #1, documents on desktop #2, source code on desktop #3).

Well, after searching for a bit online, I found out that Microsoft has developed what they call "PowerToys," and one of them is a "virtual desktop manager." It's not quite the same as the built-in Linux feature (the process to move a program to a different desktop is a little more complicated), but it's a lot better than just having one desktop. Now I have 4 "desktops" and 2 monitors at work.

Check it out: Microsoft's PowerToys
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They removed the mouseover in Gmail that revealed the sender's email address (or even displayed their picture if they set one) without opening the message. The feature appeared one day without notice and now it's disappeared just as quickly. Normally, Google makes a big announcement or at least describes the new feature somewhere, but I never saw anything about this one. I've also never seen them remove a feature from any of their products (especially without warning).

I hope they bring it back.

Good news, bad news, lunch

Me: You could be a trophy wife for some people.
Female friend #1: For some people?!? Could I be a trophy wife for you?
Me: Well... I dunno about that.
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First the good news:

Paris' sentence cut in half!

"the Sheriff has agreed to reduce the amount of time she'll have to serve to 23 days. The Sheriff has also agreed to put her in a celebrity cell, away from the general population."

Now the bad news:

Veronica Mars canceled!

I can't believe it. It was the only good show left on television. Now what am I going to watch?

As for lunch, we had this terrible waitress who couldn't get our orders right, forgot our drinks, and was overall very absent-minded. She was pretty hot though, and I felt sorry for her since she had to manage 10 tables on her own, so I gave her a big tip.

VM quotes

Veronica: How is it that you have so many friends? You don't even like people.
Logan: And yet they adore me.

Veronica: Why settle for something not good just because it's something?
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I don't know why I keep posting quotes. I think it's because I read the overheard* websites too much and like to pretend that my quotes are somewhat comparable ;)

Whatever happened to....

.. Paris' pet kinkajou?

That question has been bothering me for quite awhile. (I'm not even kidding; these are the things I think about.) There used to be reports about it all the time, and then one day, they stopped talking about it. I figured that the government probably took it away seeing as how it's not your typical pet (and from what I remember, she didn't exactly acquire it legally).

But then today I saw this:

Paris kicks out kinkajou

Paris Hilton has apparently gotten rid of her pet kinkajou, Baby Luv, because it kept scratching and biting her.

I wonder where you go to get rid of your kinkajou. Does the local humane society accept such animals? Or did she just give it to a friend? As with most things Paris, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Oh, in other mysteries, the last episode of this round of Veronica Mars is tonight and we'll finally get to see who murdered the Dean.

The Return of VM

I'm not sure why I didn't post about this last week, since that was the return of the greatest show to hit the small screen since... well since television was invented.

I know you've been anxiously awaiting my opinion on the new episodes of Veronica Mars!

Last week's episode was alright. Not quite up to par, but it still had its moments. My favorite part was when Veronica and Keith were discussing what 'manila' meant (as in manila folder) and my first thought was, you should look up it on Wikipedia. And, seconds later, that's exactly what she does! Good stuff. Oh, and the episode involved a monkey. And who doesn't love monkeys?

Tonight's episode was way better. More hurdles in the Veronica-Logan relationship plus hookers! Oh, and a "GFE" reference. Strangely enough, the term came up at work just last week and a co-worker was kind enough to explain what it meant to everyone. It stands for "girlfriend experience." When you solicit an escort, you can specify the type of experience you want. Another level (according to the episode) is "PSE" - porn star experience. You learn something new every day.

One of the hookers was pretty hot. I've watched the show for two and a half years now, and this was the first episode where a female actually may have been hotter than Kristen Bell.
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In other TV news, the show where they pick the new star for the Broadway revival of Grease is actually pretty good. It's funny to me that they could find so many talented people for this show, but P Diddy needed 2 seasons to find a halfway decent girl group. I was really hoping that the hot blonde Ashley would be able to pull it together and prove the judges wrong, but she might actually be tone-deaf. It's unfortunate because she's definitely the hottest girl in the group, and looks the most like the original Sandy.

Best Song Ever?

As you probably know by now, Britney has finally dumped her trailer-trash husband and is seeking a return to her rightful place atop the pop scene.

And what better person to turn to than the current pop star turning heads with her fabulous skills as a musician and artist? I'm talking, of course, about Paris Hilton.

Yes, it's true! Paris and Britney have become fast friends and have been spotted everywhere together since the divorce announcement. Can you just imagine the incredible songs that these two could record together? I'm not sure if the world is ready for it. I, for one, eagerly await the duet.

In other pop news, Veronica Mars (the best show on television) has been extended to a full season (although for some reason, "full" this year means 20 episodes instead of 22). If you haven't seen it yet, you're really missing out. Tuesdays on the CW at 8pm.

VM recap - Season 3, Episode 2

Last night's episode was pretty good. Much better than the season premiere. I was worried that the show may have lost its edge, but last night proved me wrong.

I was a little disappointed that there wasn't much character development in this episode though, one of the reasons I like the show so much. It was one of the few episodes in the entire series that could "stand-alone." Someone could watch this episode without ever seeing any VM beforehand and understand everything. Good for newcomers, but not so good for longtime fans who like the interactions between characters.

I guess it makes sense though, since they're starting college, and trying to break out of their old relationships to some extent.

My favorite part of the episode was the prisoner-guard experiment that Logan and Wallace take part in (based on the Stanford Prison Experiment). Interesting tactics on both sides, and I like how the show integrates real-world sociological experiments into the plots. The college setting works perfectly for this.

Veronica goes undercover to figure out if a sorority house is behind the season's first mystery. Hearst must be an ugly school or something (or maybe it's just the ugly sorority), because Kristen Bell is by far the hottest girl in the entire house. They'd be fools not to accept her.

Supposedly, the first mystery is supposed to be solved in the next episode, which is a little strange since there have been very few clues to work with through the first two episodes.

Yup, that pretty much says it all

Here's an excerpt from an article about the best show ever:

This show stars Kristen Bell as a sort-of modern-day Nancy Drew. Sounds corny, but it's not. "Mars" is whip-smart, funny and cynical enough to make me believe its writers actually went to high school. It found a small but loyal audience during its first two seasons on UPN (yup, that UPN. Who knew?).

But it's on the bubble unless "Gilmore" fans stay tuned. I happen to be one of those fiercely devoted fans who discovered the fabulously addictive charms of "Mars" during its first season.

So here's where I get shameless: I am begging you to watch this show. Begging. On my knees. I will even give you a dollar if you e-mail me with your favorite line to prove you watched. (Well, actually not, but I will give you a blow-by-blow account of what I love about the show if you're not convinced.)

It's engaging, believable, entertaining and has some of the best one-liner delivery on television.

And it's not just me. "Mars" got renewed because the network president and critics across the country are as in love as I am.

Season 3 starts Tuesday, Oct 3rd at 8pm on the CW. Be there.

VM

Woohoo.. found another Veronica Mars fan this weekend! Not sure if she started watching it because I mentioned it, or if she discovered it on her own (I didn't ask because I was surprised that someone else was bringing up the show -- normally it's me going on and on about how it's the best show on television). Either way, I'm glad someone else is watching too. I hope the ratings this year are good enough to get the show a full season (the network only ordered 13 episodes).