Category Archives: TV

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L Word Thought of the day

Alright, I finished the first season of L Word and I have to admit…I cried. Partly because I don’t have Showtime so I am unable to watch the second season until it comes out on DVD, but also because is was really well done. In the beginning, I was thinking the show might not have much to it, but then it started to develop itself and its characters a bit. I think that Jennifer Beals has really made a comeback with this show. In the last episode, you are so angry with her while still believing that she really doesn’t want to hurt her partner, Tina, played by Laurel Holloman. I was shocked to discover that sweet little Laurel is the same girl who played Randy in “The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love.”

The thing with Queer as Folk, which my sister was pointing out to me the other day, is that every episode is about sex or leading up to sex. It’s as if they are thinking, “how many minutes before we can get these guys naked.” With the L Word, there is more development of plot and relationships. I still get annoyed with little things and there are always moments of weakness in the writing, but in all I think it is extremely well done.

Now, if I could just get my hands on Season 2.

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L Word Thought of the day

In the first season of L Word there is this character named Lisa who is actually a guy who identifies himself as a lesbian. I know what you’re thinking. Genius! He only dates lesbians because he claims to be a lesbian. Clever. I could go on about how silly this whole thing is and how he won’t use his own “piece” for sex, but I fear I may offend some male indentified lesbians out there.

The reason I brought this up is because as I was watching I thought to myself, this guy is kind of cute and kind of famliar. Sure enough, he is none other than Brian Krakow from My So Called Life. Holy Shit. I love it when nerdy awkward characters grow up to be alternative characters in independent movies or a breakthrough series.

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L Word thought of the day

I’ve started watching L Word and I have some thoughts:

First off, maybe all the gay men who watched “Queer As Folk” feel this way too, but why is it that these shows continue to have BEAUTIFUL people play all the characters. Even the lesbians that are supposed to be butch are feminine. Totally bogus. Okay, I got that off my chest.

Next. I once had a woman tell me that you won’t be taken seriously in a gay bar if you have long nails (or something to that effect). They mention this on the first episode of the L Word. This got me thinking. I looked at my guitar sitting in the corner of the room. I can’t play it and I haven’t taken a single lesson (even though that was the plan). But how would you really know this? Because I have long nails. So whether you’re trying to figure out which side of the fence someone stands on or whether that guitar is just for show. I guess now you know. Although it could be said that lesbians grow their nails out in between girlfriends. Thoughts?

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Buffy Thought of the Day

I’ve been rewatching Buffy on DVD since getting rid of my Dish Network. It’s a whole new world of TV watching. So, in the future you can look here for cool quotes, observations or life lessons I’ve ascertained while watching Buffy. Because damnit, I won’t have my TV time mean nothing. 🙂 But for now, I want to start off with some inquiries for those Buffy fans who care.

When Buffy died in the first season, we realize later that another slayer was brought forth. Kendra. She shows up in the Second Season, but I have all sorts of questions. My old roommate Scott and I talked about this a lot near the end of the series and researched it quite a bit, but I have found a few other pieces that confuse things for me. It seems like the lineage goes like this:

  • There are numerous girls that are the “chosen one” but their powers don’t come forth until the last chosen one dies. (Question: this part bugs me, so what are your thoughts on this?)
  • The Watcher’s Council knows who could be called and they decide whether to train them just in case. (Question: How do they know?)
  • They didn’t train Buffy because they didn’t think she would be a good slayer so when the slayer before her died and she was called she fought on her own without a watcher. Proving herself enough so that when she moved to Sunnydale, they assigned her Giles. (Question: Before she met Giles, did she know she was a slayer or did she just know she had some superpower?).
  • SEASON ONE AND TWO SPOILER: When Buffy died, Kendra, who had been in training, was called upon and now had the superpower. (Question: Kendra never mentions not having had the power before, so do we think this is how they presented it in the episodes where she and Buffy talk about their upbringing?)
  • LAST SEASON SPOILER: At the end of the series when they call on all the potential slayers, they don’t have their superpower yet so there is a lot of training they do. (Question: this would jive with some of the mythology set forth, but are we really to believe there are that many chosen “ones?”)
  • SEASON THREE SPOILER: Faith comes forth when Kendra dies and Faith had a bad upbringing so she didn’t have any training either. (Question: Any thoughts here?)

I guess what I want to know is what you Buffy fans out there have surmised. Or mistakes you’ve caught.

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Reality TV IV Drip. STAT!

As I mentioned on The Book of Drivel, I did away with my Dish Network. Which doesn’t just mean I cancelled the dish and switched to something else. It means, I cancelled cable altogether. All I have now is DVD’s and Videos if I want to watch something.

So let’s first look at the process of getting rid of it and then we’ll discuss further the why and now what of the situation. I called Dish Network and told them I wanted to cancel my service when the month I had already paid for ended. They asked me assorted questions such as, “Why are canceling? Can we offer you a better package? If this is about money, can we give you a smaller package?” To which I responded with, “I want to save money, sure, but mostly I just don’t want TV anymore.” The woman on the phone didn’t seem to understand this concept.

    DW: “Well, I can offer you the smaller package which is only $29.95.”
    KT: “I don’t think you understand. I DON’T WANT TV. No matter what the cost. It’s rotting my brain.”
    After offering me a few more options to which I refused, she said,
    DN: “Well we can put a hold on your account so when you want to turn it back on, you won’t have to pay the install fee.”
    KT: “I won’t be turning it back on.”
    DN: “Well, see how it goes with it turned off and when you start to miss it, we’ll have this hold on it.”
    KT: “Yeah, you’re right. I might do something crazy like get stuff done, start reading, spend time with my friends and family. God that would be horrible.”
    DN: “I’ll put you through to the cancellation department.” Cue Hold Music.

Good. Done. That was a month ago. So Thursday was the big day. I have been really excited for this day to come. Dreaming about all the reading and blogging and socializing and cleaning I could get done if I just didn’t have TV. (Sidenote: a friend said, why don’t you just unplug it while you are waiting for it to go off. Whatever. I don’t have that kind of self-control and I want to get my money’s worth. Which subsequently sparked this marathon of TV watching on my part. Especially since I needed to get through all my TIVO’d stuff.)

So Thursday morning I get a phone call. Guess who. Dish Network.

    DN: “Is Mr. or Mrs. Toft there.”
    KT: “This is Ms. Toft.”
    DN: “This is Dish Network…I can offer you a smaller package…blah blah blah.”
    KT: “I don’t want any other package. Nothing.”
    DN: “May I ask which channels you watch when you do watch because some of the smaller packages have those channels.”
    KT: “It doesn’t matter. It’s an addiction. I have to quit cold turkey. You could give me one channel and I’ll watch it all night long.”
    DN: “Well, we do have our smallest package…”
    KT: “If I were an alcoholic would you offer me a drink?”
    DN: “Okay ma’am, I’ll put a note not to charge you if you decide to come back. Have a nice day.” Click.

Jesus Christ, people. Seriously. I told her it was an addiction and she kept pushing it. I was actually starting to get angry because I was thinking of America in general and the pressure she was putting on, a somewhat strong-minded, stick-to-my-guns kind of person. I do think TV is an addiction, just like porn or cutting yourself. Am I wrong?

So, here we are. My first weekend without TV. You wanna know what I’ve done this morning? I’ve been going through my DVD’s and finding all the Hidden Features. (Baby steps, people, baby steps). My good friend Dave taught me about Easter Eggs. You go to the Main Menu of a DVD and with a certain up or down or over of the arrow you can sometimes find extra treats. For example, on the move Saved! there is a hidden feature of Michael Stipe doing a interview where he offers a limited opportunity to get saved. Pretty cute.

So go check out the webpage linked above and it will tell you where there are Easter Eggs on your movies. How fun.

And so begins my life without Cable and perhaps more blogging.

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Shark Porn

Today I called in sick to work for the first time since I got this job. There was one other day I was sick before, but in that case I left work part way through the day. I am fighting off a sore throat and wanted to make sure I rested up and got better so that when I teach tomorrow I wouldn’t lose my voice. What I used to do to beat colds was pump up on Vitamin C and Zinc, but now it’s having a bad effect on me.

I remembered that the last time I took the vitamins without food I got really nauseous. So this time I took them with my lunch. Didn’t matter. I ended up puking most of the afternoon. Needless to say this didn’t help my throat.

But you’re all probably wondering about the title of my post. Basically what I did with my day was go through my TiVo and watch all the things I had taped so I could delete them and make room for more. (Although for a sidenote here, I haven’t been watching as much TV as I used to and I’m pretty happy about that.) One of the things I had taped was called “Shark Attack 3: Megalodon” which is your typical shark movie.

I was going to just delete it, but I really wanted to see specific parts. I decided to fast-forward through the whole thing and just watch all the shark attack scenes. When I reached the well written and extremely plausible scene where the shark bites a hold of a parasailers cord and flies them out to sea and then swims deep to pull her out of the sky and into the water, I thought to myself, “Wow, this is just like porn? I’m just fast forwarding to the good stuff.”

Among other things I’ve taped over the last few months, which I may watch today or at least fast forward through:
-In the Company of Men
-A Chorus Line
-Many “Reno 911” episodes
-Mr. Show with Bob and David
-Colonial House
-The Office
-Arrested Development
-Doing Time on Maple Drive
-Strawberry Shortcake’s Adventure
-The Irish Tenors
-Law & Order: SVU
And numerous other things that taped accidentally because I thought I was taping something else. In all, lots of crap. Cheers.

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Lazy Lazy Lazy Lazy Katie….

Atlanta, GA

…she wants a drink of water so she waits and waits and waits and waits for…it to rain? No…for Max to come home and get her a glass of water so she doesn’t have to get off the couch. Because she’s too damn lazy.

Not really. I actually did the dishes and sent off some e-mails and then realized the dishwasher must be broken since the kitchen floor is now covered in water. (Max, you may have wanted to mention that before you left me alone at your apartment to eat all your food, dirty all your dishes, and flood your kitchen?)

You see the reason I feel lazy is because of the sudden resurgence in TV watching I’ve been doing. Or at least TV shows I’ve been watching that are now on DVD. Jeanne will be pleased to know that I have too become hooked on “Felicity.” Now some of you may think to yourself, “You watch “Buffy”, I’m surprised you hadn’t already seen Felicity,” but really the shows are very different and I wanted nothing to do with the soap opera/cry me a river WB drama of such things as “Felicity” and “Dawson’s Creek.” But alas, Dave has harped on me for awhile now to give it a shot and seeing that I’m on sabbatical and he had them on DVD, I started watching it; and that was all it took. I’m hooked. Prepare yourself, but “Felicity” is actually a well-written, methodically thought-out, fairly accurate portrayal of what college might be like for someone. I have my complaints about things such as how freaking skinny everyone is, or how many mistakes she makes, or how they all seem to be friends throughout the entire series (I myself don’t know what most of my first two years of college friends are up to now), but basically it is enjoyable, believable, and I actually can’t stop watching.

Unfortunately, I don’t have Season 3 with me (it’s on tape back at Dave’s and I’m in Atlanta with Max). I was supposed to save at least four episodes from Season 2 for the plane ride home (Dave lent me his little DVD player, whatta guy), but I got carried away and found myself finishing up Season 2 at 3:30am the other night.

So where does that leave me? Watching “Queer as Folk” from Max’s DVD collection. Maddy, if you’re reading this, the woman at Broadway Video was right. The original British version is ten times better than the American version, but strange to watch since the story line is almost identical. God help me. I’m an addict. I haven’t left Max’s apartment since he left for work in Augusta yesterday. He gets back in a half hour and I’m still sitting here. Tomorrow we leave for Maine to see Aaron and possibly Jeanne! Maybe this will break my bad habit of slackerdom. New England, here I come. Break out the beer.

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Pink drops her pants

Hotel bed in hotel room in Sidney, NE

So here I am watching trash tv and trying to learn a bit about div’s and the like so that I can ditch tables and start using KB’s smooth ass process.

But don’t worry, I’m not getting on here to discuss that.

I was just wondering if anyone knows why Pink always wears her pants so freaking low? I mean, it looks really strange. Britney’s low pants are sexy, but Pink lowered them to the point of seeming like we are giving her a physical exam. Just wondering. Is there anyone of you out there that thinks it looks good? If so, let me know. Curiousity is starting to preoccupy my mind.

But then again, I was watching MTV to take a break from my constant Disney channel obsession, which Johnny and Gary had to hear all about the other day. Maybe soon I’ll go into it more on this.