Archive for the ‘Television’ Category
Variety Pack
I was going to start this week of posting with a funny anecdote involving Jeremy and Superman, but as I got distracted, you’ll just have to wait to read about why Six Flags might have to rename their Q-Bots to “Jeremy Cards.”
My brain was overtaken this weekend by television. We were watching the Law & Order: Criminal Intent from a couple weeks ago (isn’t TiVo awesome?). Thing is, my favorite crazy guy Goran wasn’t even in the credits! Not that I have a problem with Logan, he’s pretty awesome too, but I miss my crazy guy! So Mike picked up his laptop and did some crack researching. Turns out the actor that plays Goran had to be hospitalized due to the stress of the character last year, so they’re going to have two separate casts and alternate or something. I’m not so good at internet researching, so I can’t give you any good links.
Anyway, Mike followed a bunch more links in his quest to learn everything there is to know, and found that the character Munch, who is currently on Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit, has appeared in six different television programs. Woah!
Continuing down the information trail, Mike found this: the “tommyverse”. I’ll give you a moment to check that out. Please come back.
Back already? Sweet!
The grid there shows over 200 television shows that appear to occur in the same fictional universe. It is insane. It makes your brain want to explode. If you look at it too long, your brain will explode.
In other television news, the episode of Crossing Jordan that we watched last night (probably from like two weeks ago) was extremely stressful. At every commercial break I found myself saying aloud, “Oh no! Jordan!” The previews for the next one (last week’s) looked equally stressful, if not worse, so I opted to put that off for a while.
You might be guessing that I am a huge fan of the crime drama format. I love all of the CSI‘s, all of the Law and Order‘s, Crossing Jordan, Numb3rs… All of them. You are also probably guessing that I love television. You’d be right on that account as well.
Not that I am responsible for this situation (blame Mike!), but we have the capacity to record five different television stations while watching a sixth. Generally, however, we hardly ever turn on the VHS recorder. Actually, we really only own it so I can watch The Snowman during the appropriate season (which is approaching!).
Speaking of holidays, Mike and I picked up candy for Halloween at the grocery store yesterday. From last year’s experience, I estimated the need of at least 150-170 children’s worth of candy. I don’t even want to think about how much candy is in our house right now. It’s ridiculous. I do love handing out packages full of sugar to the little kiddies!
Now on to other stupid shit.
One of my coworkers sent out an email today stating reasons “you might live in New England” a la Jeff Foxworthy. I’m taking the opportunity now to reprint my favorites:
- If you’ve worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in New England.
- If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance, and they don’t work there, you live in New England.
- You know you are a New Englander when you measure distance in hours.
- You know you are a New Englander when you have switched from “heat” to “A/C” in the same day and back again.
- You know you are a New Englander when the speed limit on the highway is 55mph — you’re going 80 and everybody is passing you!
- You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching.
- You know you are a New Englander when driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
- You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction.
There were more, but I won’t bore you with mindless email forwards any longer. I have a couple comments on that, though… First, I’ve definitely not just switched back and forth from heat to A/C, I’ve actually had both running at once in my car in order to defog the windshield while trying to keep from freezing. Second, my coworker said that he actually gets annoyed when people don’t drive at 65 during a snowstorm. Finally, I thought everyone measured distance in hours. It’s the most relevant variable!
Disappointment
Before I start, I just want to state that being sick sucks. I’ve been coughing, sneezing, sniffling, and not sleeping for more than five days now, and I’d like for that to be over please and thank you.
Okay, moving on.
It came on Saturday, but I didn’t check my email until Sunday. There it was, the email from the a cappella group I’d auditioned for, telling me no.
It didn’t actually say “no” anywhere in it, to be truthful. It actually said, among other things, “thank you for auditioning.” Quite polite, really. Just like the audition itself. But it doesn’t matter what the email actually said. My head only heard. “no.” Not an emphatic “No!,” or an angry “NO!!!,” or even a disappointed “no…,” just a simply stated, “no.”
I read the email during half time of the Patriots game (which we will not discuss). Mike’s sister Kate was over, as she is most Sundays. I tried to remain calm, tell myself, “It doesn’t matter; I’ll just try again.” Then I noticed that my cheeks were wet.
I was (and still am) disappointed, but in more than one way. Part of me is disappointed that I didn’t get called back, and the other part is disappointed that I couldn’t handle it. I thought I’d grown up enough to be able to handle this. I thought I could just take a breath, and wait for my next opportunity, but apparently not.
I didn’t have a nervous breakdown, so I guess that’s great. I did babble for a bit, but Mike hugged me and helped me calm down. Nothing a couple tissues can’t help.
Rejection sucks. I don’t know how professional actors and professional musicians handle it. They don’t audition twice a year; they audition at every possible opportunity. They’re turned down twenty times more than I’ve auditioned for theatre and music combined.
I had a choice. I have always been good at math and science and at music and theatre. I could have gone to a less technically-devoted school and focused more on the artistic half of my brain. But I knew two things about myself. I like material things (you know, the kind you buy with money, that stuff that only a few artists ever really have), and I don’t deal well with rejection. I chose to apply to alphabet soup (doesn’t it seem like every tech school just goes by its initials?). Is that selfish? Hell yes. Is that a pathetic cop-out? Well, obviously. But it is the decision I made.
So here I am now: disappointed, but able to live a good life. I should be thankful for the decisions I’ve made. I should take these less important rejections and stuff them into a closet. Hey, what’s with the “should?” I will be thankful. So there. Hah!
And, in case you’re worrying about me, don’t. I’m mostly over it. And I will be completely over it soon. And I will audition again. And when I’m rejected again, I will like it! So there!
Back to current events.
My head is stuffed, my throat is sore, I slept maybe 4 hours last night, but I feel significantly better than yesterday, so I came into work. The guilty feeling I get when I’m home sick is retarded. I’m rather lucky. My company is pretty awesome, they encourage you to take a sick day; they don’t punish you for being sick. But I still feel guilty while I lay half awake on the sofa watching the Food Network all day…
By the way, yesterday was tailgate day on the food network. Or maybe it’s tailgate week. I don’t know, I don’t usually watch any more than just Good Eats. In any case, I would just like to state my disappointment in the way most of the chefs did tailgating. Rachel Ray made sandwiches which she toted in a Tupperware, and that was better than most. At least she made something tote-able. That southern lady had stuff that was completely dependant on ovens and stovetops (rather than grills) and she made much of it on immobile platters. The Italian lady made, get this, puff pastry. Michael… somethingorother from Easy Entertaining was the only one who showed an actual grill. But his guacamole had basil and olive oil in it, his chips were made of semolina, his sausages were wrapped on sticks, and his chili had chocolate in it. Chocolate! Gross.
Maybe it wasn’t all that bad. Maybe I was in a cold-induced haze. For that matter, I don’t really remember every show I watched yesterday… I had the food network on from like 11 AM on. And there were some things that definitely didn’t follow the theme du jour, like fish ‘n’ chips on Food 911.
Whatever.
I’m not making much sense anymore am I.
I guess I’d better stop writing now.