I read an article that basically said you should stop being a snob about which network your shows are on.

Guess what? I agree. I’m basically a gigantic snob, but funny is funny is funny. That’s it. I happen to think 30 Rock is hilarious. I have a hit-and-miss relationship with Scrubs. The Office is totally old hat now (it had a good run while it was fresh).

But you know what? How I Met Your Mother is made out of pure awesome welded to 100 proof amazing. Samantha Who is almost great television. The Big Bang Theory is comedy gold, maybe the funniest show I’ve seen in years, even if the humour sometimes feels like being repeatedly hit in the face with a funny stick.

My Name is Earl is not funny. Two and a Half Men is not funny. That is all.

• I am unbelievably sick of people who always say things like, “Well, what are you doing about it?” It’s one of those cop-out phrases. Like how you can say “lighten up!” as a way of being a jerk. Or how you can say “deal with it!” as a way of avoiding having to deal with it. Either you agree or you don’t. If you say “put up or shut up!” then you follow your own advice.
• How do you know when you’ve drunk too much coffee? Where’s that point where you say enough?
• I’m having one of those days where everything is terribly busy and nothing seems to get done. Yeah, I’m blogging for a minute, but the rest of the day seems to be filled with doing things and more doing things, only when I look back I don’t see the results of having done any of those things.
• Laura and I had tacos for dinner last night. A simple, cheap, and delicious meal. I think we might do that more often.
• There’s a writer’s strike going on in TV land right now, in case you didn’t know. That means that all our favourite shows are over and done with, maybe or probably for the season. No more How I Met Your Mother, no more Big Bang Theory, no more House, no more Scrubs, no more Pushing Daisies. Sad times. But we can go back and watch things we missed, like 30 Rock, and… that’s about it. It’s one of my favourite new shows now.
• I would like my desktop to be able to follow me anywhere I go. Why is that not possible? Why can’t I call my desktop up securely on a public terminal? I know, the staggering technical hurdles and the nightmare of implementing this idea. But… super cool, right?
• I’m away from the Rumour Forum for a while, guys. Except for the boards I have access to, and they’re not much. But when I come roaring back to the fold, my pockets stuffed to overflowing with cash money dollars, it’ll be a day to celebrate.


Attribution / License

You know, after last night’s How I Met Your Mother, I can definitively say the show is my favourite sitcom. It’s also my favourite show to watch; you know the one you can’t wait to sit down and watch? The one you gather the family around the couch to view? How I Met Your Mother is that show.

And yet the writers strike will disrupt my joy in the show. This does not make me happy.

While watching Boston Legal last night, I was disturbed by a particularly uninformed opinion. Not their usual flaming liberal bias — I can make my peace with that — but the inclusion of Steve Ballmer’s name in a list of innovators, along with the Woz and Steve Jobs. Mr Shore all but admitted they just wanted a list of people named “Steve”, but still. When has Steve Ballmer ever innovated anything? I can get on board with calling Paul Allen an innovator in some limited sense. Even Bill Gates.

But Ballmer? What?

I’m not trying to flame, but let’s at least include some real innovators, like — as much as I hate to say it — Richard Stallman, who literally changed software forever. Or John McCarthy, who invented LISP, among other things. Or Tim Berners-Lee, who pretty much invented the internet.

Ready your TiVos and your Torrent apps… How I Met Your Mother begins its stunning 3rd season tonight!

• I’m listening to the Beach Boys right at this very moment. Check my Last.fm page for more detailed information. I plan to follow Pet Sounds up with Brian Wilson’s SMiLE, though I might break down and find some more recent music first.
• The US government should split into divisions and IPO each one. You know, make it splashy. Why not? If America really values wealth more than anything else, should not those with the most wealth be able to participate more fully in the government?
• I had a hard time getting to sleep last night and then woke up early this morning. Not a good combination. Needs coffee.
• Why is it that when people see a problem with an obvious solution, they decide not to enact that obvious solution? I mean… I just don’t get it.
• Boston Legal is a pretty awesome show. David E. Kelley is a pretty awesome creator of shows.
• I’m especially boring today. That’s it, folks!

Later:

• As it turns out, my cousin Bethany has had a baby girl, and named her Mackenzie (not sure of the spelling!) Hope. Congratulations!
• I’m listening to Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin’ now. I sense a disturbing trend here.

I mean, it must have by now, right? I stopped watching in the midst of the second season, mainly because the plot stopped being even remotely interesting, and began to verge on the ridiculous. Like, I might add, every single J.J. Abrams show ever.

Readers, feed me back: has Lost jumped the shark yet? Or should I start watching again?

ABC is streaming full-length TV episodes on its website, something they should have been doing years before now, but hey, it’s alright. The quality is much poorer than regular television in much the same way as regular television is much poorer than a high quality HD rip torrent, but it’s something. And it’s on-demand, so it come when I call it.

One small problem: it’s only available in the US. Bummer. But with a little kung-fu magic of my own (open US proxy paired with ProxySwitch in Firefox), I can watch no problem. Oh you silly studios and your silly restrictions that are so easy to get around.

dan (but still… there you have it)

Tonight on House, Wilson says to House something along the lines of, “Did it ever occur to you that I might be going through something and want to have a real conversation about it?”

House brushes it off with a, “Then I’d say you’ve made some bad choices.” As if to say that he’s not the kind of person who does that.

Now, I know I’m wildly paraphrasing their conversation, but it does beg this question be ask: what sort of friend are you? What sort of friend am I? When people are going through something, are we the type of people they can trust to hear them out?

Do you even have any friends like that? I have at least one or two. People I can talk to and lean on. It’s not a mutual admiration club, but it’s something meaningful. I thank God for these people, especially when it comes down to crunch time and stuff goes wrong. And I hope that I can be that to other people as well.