12:16p.m. Ah, Politics

So I’ve been pretty quiet lately. I think this is mostly because I really don’t want to talk about Politics here, and I think its something that is on everyone’s mind. However if you follow me on twitter I’m sure you’re pretty clear on my political views.

So! Instead, I’m going to show you this awesome clip from The Daily Show. I was so impressed that they noticed this and pointed it out on the show….

6:51p.m. TiVo Addiction

For the first time ever, I had issues with my TiVo.

I noticed on Wednesday that my TiVo hadn’t recorded anything since Monday night (I hadn’t been home much in between).

So, I checked my To Do List. Turned out there were only two items for October 12th and nothing else scheduled.

So I restarted, etc. Nothing worked. Checked the TiVo support site, nada. So I called TiVo support for the first time. The first guy told me to spend an hour cleaning out all of my To Do List and Program Information. No go.

The next day, the next girl told to turn off TiVo Suggestions, which she didn’t know how to find through the TiVo Menus. Luckily I had remembered seeing it a couple of days before. Then she told me to restart. She said that while I was waiting to restart, she would get off the phone with me, and call me back in fifteen minutes.

Alas, she never called back. However, while I was waiting, I manually deleted all of my Season Passes and each “none scheduled” item in my To Do List. After I re-added all my season passes, everything has been peachy.

This post isn’t really about so-so customer service. This post is really about how thoroughly sad I was to be missing my TiVo for a couple of days, and how positively relieved I was when I had fixed it. So silly.

3:10p.m. Mad Men — A Night To Remember

So I wrote a ridiculously long review of last night’s episode of Mad Men. I just couldn’t help myself… its so good! Of course there are spoilers, so you have been warned…

• I love how Joan is developing. Giving her a taste of that she never thought she wanted… to find that it is what she wants. They’re bringing Joan and Peggy, two completely different women together. So cool.

• When Roger told Harry there would be a real job, he said “he” when describing who would get the job. Joan was never an option for the job to anyone, simply because she is female. I’m hoping they carry this further… if any woman in that office (other than Peggy) can move up the ladder, its Joan.

• Joan’s engagement is interesting. While Joan is trying to be an ideal companion, I think its worth noting that she didn’t spend a couple hours having to cook dinner for her fiancee. I do think he thought that perhaps when they got married she’d become more like Betty, however Joan is no Betty, which I think Joan herself is beginning to realize.

• Also that bon-bons line. Cravings? What kind of cravings are we talking about here? Hmmm….

(Read the rest)

2:51p.m. Emmy Picks

Ok so I can’t think of anything to post about. So I’m going to list who I think deserves this year’s Emmy Awards…

• Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
  Steve Carell as Michael Scott on The Office (NBC)

• Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
  This is a toughie. Jon Hamm (Mad Men) and Hugh Laruie (House) both deserve it, but I’m going to have to give it to MIchael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan on Dexter (Showtime) He’s just fantastic.

• Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series
  Tina Fey as Liz Lemon on 30 Rock (NBC)

• Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
  Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson on The Closer (TNT)

• Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series
  Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute on The Office (NBC)

• Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series
  John Slattery as Roger Sterling on Mad Men (AMC)

(Read the rest)

11:59a.m. Californication Season One

• Plenty of sex, which isn’t a bad thing.

• Duchovny, for the most part, does a great job. You can (almost) believe that so many women would throw themselves at him, while also believing how self-destructive he can be.

• However I don’t buy all the physical fighting. Is there anyone who really tries to get in so many fights? Especially when they’re normally not that hot-tempered (would never hit people he cared about).

• It can be difficult to see Evan Handler do “wrong” things after knowing him on Sex and The City. However for the characters on this show, he’s still a pretty decent guy.

• Marcy (Charlie’s wife) and Becca are definitely my favorite characters.

• The whole stealing of Hank’s work really really bothered me. I think it bothered me so much simply because it was his livelihood.

• While we’re at it, Mia stealing Hank’s work was far too predictable. Its a pathetic thing to do and in reality won’t get her anywhere once she realizes she has to keep writing.

• Its going to be interesting to see how the show handles Hank not being single anymore. No more random hookups means the show loses half of its content…

11:38a.m. Sun, Food and Surf

Oh my goodness, its been almost a week since I’ve posted.

So I spent the weekend out east for my grandparent’s 50th anniversary. I finally got some sun, which was long overdue. I also attended a fundraiser for at The Surf Lodge, which is Sam from season two of Top Chef’s restaurant.

The restaurant had an absolutely gorgeous view of the water and a very active outdoor bar. For hors d’oeuvres, there were spoonfuls of civiche (complete with popcorn, which I recognized from him preparing it on Top Chef), spoonfuls of spicy chopped vegetables, and skewers of beef. Eventually we were served a very casual dinner of watermelon salad with feta, potato salad, clams, and fried chicken. I have to say I was rather surprised with the style of food served for dinner, since I had heard the food was fantastic. However the watermelon salad and clams were impressive (and I usually hate clams).

After dinner was served we ran into Sam who had come out from the kitchen for a couple of seconds and complimented him on the party. Overall it was a lovely laid-back time, and I’m looking forward to going back to try the usual menu.

2:13p.m. Mad Men Season One

I kept putting it off, but I finally started watching Mad Men to see what all the fuss was about…

• Its completely engrossing. I watched the entire season far too quickly.

• Extremely well written. At times it really really bothers me, but doesn’t depress me. Its hard to explain.

• Compared to my other beloved show-set-in-the-past, Deadwood, there is no sense of urgency. Its different, but still great.

• My favorite characters are Betty, Joan, Peggy, and of course Don Draper.

• I identified with Betty more than I ever expected to.

• The men, on a whole, mostly disgust me.

• Especially Pete Campbell. I keep hoping an will anvil drop on his head. Just looking at him creeps me out.

• The finale was easily one of the mot well-written shows I’ve ever seen. It really encapsulated the entire season and was just so thought out. Betty’s scene at the therapist blew me away. So did Don’s presentation. Just plain fantastic.

• Clearly, I loved it. Not what I expected at all.

3:39p.m. I Wear My Glasses Far Too Often

• Ever since I got my new glasses, I am wearing them far too often. Pretty soon the world without them will be completely fuzzy.

• Love, love, love the Delicious redesign. I was part of the beta, but I didn’t really use it. Definitely seems speedier, which was my only complaint. I am such a delicious addict.

• Speaking of addictions, if Apple ever gets totally rid of Input Mangers, I’m screwed. Edit-in-TextMate is just indispensable.

• Not surprised that TiVo has let the Series 3 go.

• Loved the SYTYCD season finale. I voted for Katee, but I knew that Joshua would win. I’m very happy that she was the top girl, though. I would also like to point out that Katee was in four of the ‘favorite’ dances while the rest of the four finalists were only in two (or three, in Twitch’s case) dances each.

• I’m liking Shear Genius much more than Project Runway. I didn’t expect that at all.

• Cablevision added a whole mess of HD channels last week. Including Discovery HD, FX HD, AMC HD and Spike HD. All this really means are HD versions of MythBusters, Deadliest Catch, Rescue Me and repeats of CSI. Pretty awesome though.

• Incase you couldn’t tell, I’ve really been missing lists.

10:06p.m. The Thing About American Idol

Apparently executive producer Nigel Lythgoe is leaving American Idol.

I personally didn’t watch American Idol this year… I wanted to, but it just didn’t interest me. I think that this mostly has to do with the contestants that are being chosen for the show. They’re selecting people who aren’t always very appealing or at least very talented.

Regardless, the people they should pick should be people who just have not been discovered yet, instead of people who would never be discovered.

SYTYCD, however, picks more appealing/talented contestants, and the ones who aren’t appealing are off the show fairly quickly. I don’t know if this is because of the pairs, the fact that two people are kicked off each week, or the fact that the judges pick the first few people who are kicked off. For whatever reason, the contestants are more compelling and that is why I watch.

4:47p.m. Psychic TiVo

After having it only a couple of weeks, my new TiVo HD recorded Reality Bites and Top Gun. Like wow.

My TiVo Gets Me.™