Disaster Area

Twenty Four in 60 hours

Sue and I didn't start watching the TV drama "24" until this past season (5), and it was really amazing. I'm so glad I let the premiere hook me into watfching the first two hours. Truly remarkable television - a sort of ultra-long Diehard marathon (and I say this as someone whose favorite Christmas movie is Diehard ;)

Because we enjoyed it so much, sometime after this last season ended, and for some reason neither of us can remember, Sue bought me the first season on DVD.

Well, I've really wanted to sit down and watch it, but 16 hours of uninterrupted viewing time isn't easy to find. However, inspired by Adam over at Pomomusings, I suggested that we watch the entire series over the long Labor Day weekend that's just finishing as I write this. Well, we finished today, watching the last half over the past eight hours or so. And all I can say is "Wow!"

Not the mkost productive way to spend a long weekend, but it sure was fun, and a great way to let go of the outside world for a couple of days.

Ah, Daniel, We Hardly Knew Ye...

After a mere three episodes (well, technically four if you correctly count the two hour debut as two), NBC has pulled the plug on The Book of Daniel. Yes, it wasn't great TV, but dearth of advertisers = death knell.

It would have been nice to have the opportunity to see the eight episodes filmed play out, but even that seems unlikely at this stage. Oh well, it's a shame, because hell might freeze over before we get another Episcopal themed prime time TV show.

From Someone Who Really Knows TV...

After yesterday's crapfest that was the Book of Daniel, it was great to read a column today from Joss Whedon, he of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame (not to mention Serenity/Firefly... the importance of which will become clear if you read the article) on the future of TV.

Just one teaser:

"In a stunningly cost-effective move, CBS will air How I Met Your Biological Mother, That Bitch, which is just old episodes of How I Met Your Mother with snarkier narration."

Of course, that may not make too much sense if you're not in the US, but you get the drift...

Ah, Joss, when are you going to come up with something new?

An Absolute MUST SEE TV Moment

This one is absolutely too good to pass up.

Y'know, maybe Benny Hinn's wife shouldn't do TV preaching. To prove my point, may I present:

Suzanne Hinn And The Holy Ghost Enema

Sure, it sounds like a new Nancy Drew or Enid Blyton mystery, but trust me, this you have to see. And no, she didn't just mispronounce Holy Ghost Enemy.

Courtesy of the Boar's Head Tavern.

This and That

With packing and a music practice tomorrow night I figure I might not get much of a chance to blog tomorrow, then it's off to San Diego and emergent first thing Wednesday morning, so here a few random tidbits swirling around today...

Watching Airline on A&E it turns out that Yolanda, one of the Southwest supervisors at LAX, has two kids called Dallas and Kennedy. Man, who was paying attention when they picked those names? We can only presume her third child will be called Oswald...

What are we emerging to? Karen Ward passes on some observations from John D. Barbour, Professor of Religion at St Olaf's College, apparently a watcher of things emergent, and adds some cogent observations. Interestingly, I just got my copy of Mission Shaped Church from the UK today (anyone else in the US got or read a copy?) and I'm finding it fascinating. Of course, the UK context is different, but the concepts apply broadly. It also addresses the different approaches required for church planting and revitalization of existing church communities, which I find helpful, as the emerging church needs to encompass both.

Bill Arnold pulls another awesome post out of thin air... The joy is in the singing and playing, not the ending...

Skipping ahead to tomorrow's readings for Will's imagine bible blog, I read the first seven chapters of Leviticus. Lots of blood there - bull's blood, goat's blood, sheep's blood, dove's blood, pigeon's blood. And lots of it everywhere - this side of the altar, that side of the altar, on the door mantel (oh wait, that was Exodus)... Those Israelites liked their blood - just not in their food. Which made me realize for the first time in my life just how crazy it was for Jesus to offer his blood at the last supper...

Apprentice THIS!

I haven't been much of a fan of reality shows, but The Apprentice is starting to hook me in. (All of my liberal, anti-big business, "fast food is evil", "Donald Trump is the anti-Christ" friends should probably quit reading right here ;)

The third season started tonight, and with a delicious new angle - one team made up of college graduates (including many advanced degrees) versus the team with only high school diplomas. Now, I may have a Ph.D. but I also know just how annoying the educationally advanced can be, so my inclination is to root for the educationally disadvantaged team. (Don't cry for them though, Argentina, apparently their average salary coming in is three times the college team's.)

Naturally, in order to set off the contrast in teams to best effect, the first task was to sell burgers - in particular a new Burger King variant. There's nothing quite like watching lawyers and MBAs figure out how to flip burgers.

Not only that, the internet marketing consultant on the college team proved hilariously inept at devising any kind of marketing plan. Working on a baseball Triple Play theme (the featured burger had three types of cheese) his big plan was to have potential customers throw a ball into a hole in a cardboard box. This box was a nightmare that any self-respecting first-grader would have disowned.

Predictably, despite giving away two free tickets to Vegas as a promotional giveaway, the high school grad team won handily, meaning that one of the college grad team would get fired. It was no surprise to see the high powered sharks turn on the wacky marketing guy. All but one of the eight other team members told Trump they would fire him.

In the end, though, the trio of Trump and his henchman and henchlady saw through the crap and fired the inept team leader. In fact, the final three in contention for firing all deserved it, but the team leader guy was ultimately to blame. He refused to be trained in any of the burger flipping or cashier activities, instead choosing to swan around doing as little real work as possible. This was in direct contrast to the high school team who looked much more cheerful and who worked much harder as a team throughout.

The next few weeks should be interesting...

Guilty Pleasures

On a lazy Saturday (well, not so lazy - some cleaning up to do...) it's cool to just hang out and watch a little TV. One of my favorite shows is What Not To Wear. I really like the original British version with Trinny and Susanna, but for once the American version is possibly better.

If you've never seen it, the shows take people who have been volunteered by friends and relatives for a drastic style makeover. Their entire wardrobe is critiqued and most of it thrown in the trash. Then the victim gets either UKP2000 or $5000 to go replace it all, but with lots of pointers from the style gurus.

Now this might seem all materialistic and vain, but in reality taking an ugly duckling (and believe me, most are style train-wrecks) and turning them into a swan gives some remarkable insights into the transformation of the human spirit. And for a middle aged guy I've become quite adept at picking out fabulous clothes for my wife. Hey, I even bought a tux and we got season tickets to the ballet so we have a legitimate opportunity to dress up on a regular basis.

And with all this expertise filed away it's really fun playing your own version of "What Not To Wear" in people watching situations. Airports are particularly good.

One final thought - if you have ever, ever, ever even thought of wearing dress shoes and dark socks with shorts - shame on you.