I’ve been working on a new homepage for the last few hours so hopefully it will work.  There was an error message saying that the inline frame wouldn’t work, so let me know if anyone has problems with the pages loading below the banners.
Last week I was on vacation in Washington D.C. with my mom and sister.  Taylor and I had never been, and it was a wonderful experience.  We were originally supposed to stay at the hotel Patricia is working at, but we accidentally made reservations at the wrong Renaissance hotel (we didn’t know there were two).  Still, the Mayflower Renaissance was a gorgeous old fashioned hotel and we really enjoyed our time there. Aside from seeing all of the government buildings and monuments, we visited most of the Smithsonian Museums, the Spy Museum and the Holocaust Museum.  The best thing about D.C. is that almost everything is free to the public.  The museums were really incredible, and I you could easily spend a month going through all of them.  On Tuesday night we saw Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center.  It’s basically a play about a murder committed at a hair salon, but a majority of the play is improvised.  The actors remain on stage during the intermission and you can go talk to them as their characters, which is a lot of fun.  The highlight of the show was when the gay hairdresser open mouth kissed the detective and the entire cast broke character.  Evidently the kiss was not supposed to happen, and it took everyone completely by surprise.  While we were in D.C., we were also able to visit with Patricia’s family in Alexandria, VA.  Their house is absolutely gorgeous and we had a great time visiting with them.  The last few days we visited the Washington Zoo (complete with their famous pandas), the National Cathedral and the Pentagon.  We also got to witness the President’s motorcade driving through downtown with the Iraqi Prime Minister.  There were probably 20 cars, many with armed security visible for the President’s one limo.  This was the most security we saw, however.  I expected most of Washington D.C. to have far too much security, almost to the point of absurdity, but this was not the case.

Since returning, I have started working on a project archiving all of our family photos for my uncle.  We have approximately five binders full of pictures that I have to scan, identify and put in new binders.  It’s mindless work, but at least I get to spend time up in Houston and feel productive for a change.  Once I finish working on it, I’ll be moving up to Austin for the remainder of the summer.  I’m not sure exactly when I’ll be going up, but probably sometime this weekend, if not sooner.

So did everyone hear about Mel Gibson and his anti-Semitic tirades?  You’d think that after all of the claims of anti-Semitism following The Passion of the Christ he would know better than to open his Hitler-loving mouth at all, but I guess not.  He was arrested for drunk driving on July 27th and repeatedly threatened the cop, claiming that the “fucking” Jews were responsible for every war and then asking the cop if he was a Jew.  Like father, like son…at least now he can join Stephen Colbert’s book club along with his father, the President of Iran and Kim Jung Il.
Update: Colbert actually mentioned Gibson and his book club in tonight’s episode!  Prophet?  You make the call.  Also, I meant to talk about that crazy bitch Ann Coulter’s latest  rant about Bill Clinton.  You’d have to be as starved and retarded as Coulter to think that a) Joe McCarthy was a is truly great American and b) a man famous for his numerous sexual exploits with women is really just a closet homosexual.  Honestly, Ann, you’re an insult to skinny ignorant whores everywhere.
Joanna complained that my last entry made me the biggest loser in the world for repeatedly talking about Firefly, so I’m throwing in a Firefly shout out in defiance of her comments.  Today at lunch Charlie told me that Serenity is seen flying in a scene from the new miniseries of Battlestar Galactica.  As a nerd, I thought this was unbelievably awesome.  Speaking of BSG, I finished watching the second season last week, which was surprisingly great.  The finale was one of the best episodes of the series, and I applaud them for breaking convention in almost every way.  They set it up perfectly for the next season, which I now can’t wait to watch.  The preview for the season had a lot of wtf moments that I still don’t understand but I’m really excited to find out how they tie it all together.

Katherine and I think we should start planning a European vacation for next summer.  We both want to travel around the continent, and we wanted to see how many people were interested.  I’m going to Greece and Belgium for sure, but would love to extend the trip to include other places.  Plus, traveling with friends is much more enjoyable than traveling with family.  We would be able to save some money by staying with people I know in various locations, and the more time we have to plan that the better.  Also, Leahanne, this would give you a year to keep saving the money you were going to spend on NYC for Europe instead.  I would love to go to Prague, Berlin and Sicily, but there are tons of places we could go.  Discuss…

I have no idea where this week has gone.  I have done almost nothing of any merit, unless reading books out in the sun qualifies.  I just wanted to update to say that the server Kistenmacher used to host the sites sucks and they deleted everything, but he has risen to the occasion and fixed everything for us!  He’s easily the best web slave a person could ask for.  We don’t even have to provide him with shelter or food.  (Update: what the fuck is up with those banners? If I’m whoring my site out to someone it’s going to be Google Ads or nothing at all)  Anyway, I’ve been busy enjoying the gifts that my amazing aunt randomly decided to get for me and Taylor.  She got a bunch of DVDs, some chocolates and a few books, and I got:

1.  Finding Serenity: the collection of essays about the greatest sci-fi show ever made.  I got to read part of the book on the road trip to California, and it’s amazing.  The perfect assortment of philosophy, fanfare and speculation.  It’s a must have for fans of the show!

2. Rent by Jonathan Larson: the huge hardcover book about the original Broadway cast of my favorite musical.  The photographs are worth the price alone, but the stories of how Rent evolved and the overall presentation make this one of the best theatre books I’ve ever seen.

3. Citizen Kane: the DVD of my favorite film by Orson Welles.  I’ve been growing more and more obsessed with him this summer, and I can’t wait to hear the audio commentaries of both Roger Ebert and Peter Bogdanovich.

4. The Complete Mr. Arkadin: a massive DVD set chronicling every possible aspect of the Arkadin legend.  This include a novel, radio plays, three versions of the movie and an audio commentary, among other things.  I can’t wait to start watching the special features on this!  By the end of the year I’ll probably own every Orson Welles film out on DVD.  I just wish Criterion would release them all, because the other DVDs are seriously lacking in the transfer and special features.

All in all, she’s way up on my heroes list right now.  There’s nothing like relatives who like to spoil you with gifts.  By the way, thea, I keep my Amazon list updated frequently and take things off when I get them…everything on there now is current.  I’ll try to find some other things to put on there (that aren’t Frank Lloyd Wright books or DVDs that aren’t even out yet).

So I’m still here, just in a near vegetative state.  I get up every once in a while to go make a gyro, but that’s really the extent of my daily exercise.  Tivo really is the greatest invention since the Internet.

My obsession with Firefly has been reignited over the past week. It seems like my obsessions just cycle, with one taking over while another takes the backseat for a while. For example, when I stopped listening to Rent five times a day I began rewatching Firefly with Matt. This was then replaced by Orson Welles movies and documentaries. Last week was Rent-tastic, and now I’m back to Firefly. I just love the show so much that it actually makes me want to hurt Katie for not sharing in the love. I wish there was a way fans could contribute money to continue the series. Sure, there are DVD sales, etc. but I’m talking about something completely different. I want something where fans can donate to an account that would only be used if the second season or movie was greenlighted. This would prove to executives how much support they have and it would be backed up with hard cash instead of unreliable internet polls. This all came about from a Fireflyfans.net poll about how much you would be willing to contribute to continuing the show. Needless to say, I checked the $100 or more per season box. I’ve thought about it before, and the amount of money I would seriously give is borderline irrational.

In a geeky fit of joy, I pre-ordered the Firefly documentary DVD “Done the Impossible” this week. It’s basically a labor of love by hardcore Browncoats, complete with an 80 minute documentary about how it went from a show to a movie, and hours and hours of special features. Almost all of the cast helped with the DVD through interviews and narration.

I’ve also begun watching Battlestar Galactica season 2. Now it’s a great show, and I’m glad it’s getting recognition but I can’t help but feel some spite. The show basically uses the formula that made Firefly great, but to greater acclaim that Firefly ever saw during its run. They stole the shaky cam zooms, the empowered female heroes, the lack of hope, the realistic portrayal of space as a soundless vacuum (with music always playing over the space scenes). The storyline is undoubtedly different (and much more religious) but a great debt is owed to Joss Whedon.

“Why Can’t I Be You” is my new guilty pleasure of summer. The episodes are short, and focus on building self-esteem so it is not quite as brainless as other crap (like Laguna Beach, the Hills or whatever else Brandon is watching this week). My favorite episode is the one where the gay model helps the pizza boy realize how fabulous he really is. The only problem with the show is the host, Nick Zano. To quote from my IMDb board post, “I think the host is a total tool. He condescends to all of the people on the show, as if they should be honored by his talentless presence. The guy makes situations more awkward than they need to be, and makes geeky kids feel like there is something wrong with them because they don’t look like him…MTV, please find a better host who doesn’t make the participants feel like *beep* They’re the ones taking a risk and putting themselves out there…don’t let this jerk knock them back down.” This was met with a badass response from bitchy_br: “You take it too seriosly, how does he make them feel like *beep* He just asks them about themselves and what they want to change and if they did.” Normally I would just have “bitchy” shot for sticking up for Zano and misspelling seriously, but I thought I might instead offer some examples of his degradation. Most of these are obvious to ANYONE who has ever seen five seconds of the show, but some retards can’t pick up on the obvious. Zano always makes inappropriate sexual inuendos, slapping asses, proding people about their sexuality and staring the girls up and down. These are not that bad, however, because they don’t directly take away from these kids’ self-esteem. Zano constantly pokes fun at people’s weaknesses in front of their faces, as if they weren’t standing right next to him. They’re left to stand there foolishly while Zano just smiles and makes another ridiculous joke. He is also far too honest in telling people how much better they look as the “new” them. His comments make the person feel as if there really was something wrong with them before, which is a terrible message to give any of the contestants. For a show about self-esteem, MTV has chosen a cocky, arrogant host who ultimately hurts the show. May he burn in F-list hell.

Are we ever going to have an Unseen Movie Marathon? I still think we should, even if it’s just Brandon, Merbitch and me. It’s already gotten out that my movie is going to be Battle Royale, but I was also thinking about showing A Bronx Tale. This week I realized that the kid who plays ‘C’ at age 9 is Francis Capra, from Veronica Mars! He’s actually amazing in the movie, and I can’t believe I didn’t put the two together earlier. Funny side story; Lillo Brancato, who plays ‘C’ when he’s older is currently in jail facing murder charges for killing an off duty police officer. The kid was plucked off the streets and given the opportunity of a lifetime (by Robert DeNiro, no less!) and he just ends up becoming a drug addicted hack.

No matter how many movies I have to watch or TV shows I have downloaded, I keep putting them aside to watch and re-watch episodes of Scrubs. I also spent most of yesterday watching disc 1 of Arrested Development season one. This brings me to my next topic: I have ranked my top five favorite television shows of all time. This list was made in about ten minutes, and I’m sure it will change a lot over time, but all five shows are incredible. Let’s begin.

5. The Sopranos
This show probably has the best acting of any show on the list. James Gandolfini turns in one of the most nuanced and quietly brutal performances ever seen on television. Many critics have compared his powerful performance to those of Marlon Brando, which is pretty much the best compliment you can give an actor as far as I’m concerned. The storylines for the first five seasons are possibly the best dramatic writing in the history of television. The sixth season was hit or miss, but still better than almost everything put out. Of course, I love anything to do with the mafia, but the show can appeal to almost anybody (*Hint hint* people who claim to be my friends need to start watching this).

4. Seinfeld
This show about nothing that was so much more than that. I purchased the first six seasons on DVD and think it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. The episodes, while occasionally dated, continue to work incredibly well. The laugh track is occasionally annoying, but the show is so good that I’m usually laughing along with it and don’t notice. I’m sure that I will own ever season of this show eventually. I can’t say that for any other show with nine seasons. No other show with nine seasons is worth it, nor are they as consistently good.

3. Arrested Development
Probably the most quotable show on the list. This is Brandon’s favorite TV show and undoubtedly the best thing I have started watching this year. I saw the first episode of the show three years ago with Emily Driskill and thought it was amazing, but never took the initiative to watch the rest until Brandon encouraged everyone. I really had no idea what I was missing. Almost everything about the show is perfect, from the completely immoral characters to the outrageous plotlines. This will probably go down as the most underappreciated show of the 2000s.

2. Firefly
Joss Whedon’s gift to the world. I have an irrational love of Firefly. Actually, it’s completely rational and well-thought out, but the emotion I attach to these 14 episodes is overwhelming. I love everything about the show, and would do just about anything to continue seeing the stories put on screen, in whatever format. I have always said that if I had millions to spare, it would all go towards producing more Firefly. Unfortunately, as time goes on, it looks less and less likely that we will ever see these characters on film again. I can’t believe I’ve only known about this show for seven months! Regardless, I believe Firefly will remain the most influential sci-fi show of our generation. “Out of Gas” is an incredible accomplishment in every way.

1. Scrubs
This is a completely personal choice. This show probably doesn’t have the consistent greatness of Firefly or AD, but it is undoubtedly my favorite. I could watch Scrubs on repeat for the rest of my life and never get bored. The characters are all so rich with detail and the actors really bring them to the next level. I absolutely love every major character, which is rare for a sitcom. Bill Lawrence set out to make a live-action version of the Simpsons in a hospital, and he ended up with something far greater. It is the perfect blend of humor and tragedy, with enough quirkiness to last a lifetime. “My Screwup” is possibly the best 30 minutes of television ever filmed.
Hopefully this will be posted sometime in the next month, but it’s very likely that everything I wrote will be outdated by the time you are reading this.

Brandon updated twice in a two day period and I feel like he’s silently challenging me. I wish we still lived in the days where you could challenge a person to a duel.

This week I’ve been fairly productive. On Friday I completely cleaned my room and organized my closet (something that I’ve been meaning to do for almost a year). Saturday morning I woke up at 10 AM, a record for this summer, and organized all of Rick’s stuff because the mess was driving me insane. I’ve been doing random stuff around the house, and even spent quality time watching movies with my parents. My next big goal is to build built-in book shelves in our “apartment” for the hoards of books that nobody reads. I should start doing the prep work for that, and have a design ready by next week. Then again, I think that Next is on…

Speaking of Next, I have to agree with Brandon when he says that MTV destroys souls. After watching two episodes of Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat last week, I’ve begun tivo-ing them. At least now I won’t have to sit through mind-sucking Proactive commercials while I grow dumber watching these shows. That reminds me, Why Can’t I Be You premieres Wednesday! It’s already set to record, and it’s going to be amazing. Brandon, you should try to go on the show, and pick Coral as the person you want to be. I don’t think the difference in gender is a problem.

It’s been raining for the last few days, and it’s not going to stop until next weekend. I haven’t been able to go swimming in days. The only thing bright in my life is FX’s new show, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Man, I’m so funny/clever it hurts. Anyway, the show is about four friends (two are siblings) who own an Irish bar in Philadelphia and the crazy, rude, racist, ignorant things they do. Like Arrested Development, the genius of the show is that none of the characters are in any way likable. The humor is always controversial and fresh, and the characters are played with such realistic absurdity that everything just works. It’s a classical sitcom inthat you can begin watching at any time and enjoy the humor without getting lost. I definitely recommend watching or downloading it, because it’s the best thingyou’ll see all summer.

Today I was dragged to see the Devil Wears Prada, the new Anne Hathaway/Meryl Streep movie about the fashion world. The movie was fairly entertaining and engaging, but the subject matter just isn’t really my bag of tea. I don’t know why I use that expression, because I despite tea in all of its uses. Anyway, Streep is amazing, as she always is, as the “Dragon Lady” editor of Runway magazine. I’m getting a bit tired of Anne Hathaway playing unkept, fashionless characters who are madeover into a hot, fashionable, strong women. We get it, she’s really a hotty just waiting to come out. It’s old. Aside from that, the movie is a decent chick-flick, but I would’ve rather spent my money seeing Superman Returns. Oh, and Stanley Tucci is pretty amazing. That’s just a general statement.

I haven’t shaved in quite some time now, and am beginning to look like a bum. It doesn’t really matter, though, because I rarely leave my property. Seriously, I’ve probably only gone out of Friendswood twice in the last week. Why would I need to when there’s enough here to keep a 20 year old occupied for decades?*s. *s is something I created with Leah-what’s-her-bitch to signify sarcasm online. She’s not very quick, and needed the extra acknowledgment of jest to slap her in the face. I’d let up on her, but she hasn’t updated her site in about a year and a half, so the harrassment will continue.

I read a book last week called The Knight in Rusty Armor that my dad read to me when I was a child. It was nothing like I remembered it. I’m pretty sure when you read to kids, they only pay attention to minor details and just make up the rest. While the book was good, I remember my version was far more exciting, humorous and daring. The book only refers to the knight’s battles in passing, but I remember creating them all in my head when I was a kid. I wish I still had the creativity of a child; for them a broom can provide entertainment for hours. On a random side note (that connects in my head), I really want to invent a game. Not like Trivial Pursuit, but something we can play at home or in an apartment, involving obstacles, teams, etc. My freshman year we invented “can”, the game where you tried to throw darts at a car of Mountain Dew and it kept us entertained for days. I say we pick some random objects, such as tennis balls, a bucket, a lighter, pillows, etc. and make the rules for a game we play. If the game sucks, we just create new rules until it works. I think it would work best in the living room of Brandon and Leahanne’s apartment, because we could easily clear everything out of the way to make some sort of playing field.

My spacebar is incredibly lopsided, because I always hit it in the same place (bottom right). The left click button for my mouse is the same way.

Scrubs is incredible. It is beyond me how people continue to overlook it in favor of imitations like Grey’s Anatomy.

If a Genie came to me tomorrow and gave me one wish, I would probably use it to destroy Television Without Pity. But then what would Katie do if her opinion wasn’t dictated to her by random fat and ugly internet nerds she’s never met? “No, but you see what I mean, right?”

I’ve been watching the Newsradio DVDs that Joanna gave me for my birthday. It’s one of the quirkiest, most absurd shows of the 90s, and I think it probably had a lot of influence on shows like Arrested Development and Scrubs. It certainly doesn’t compare to them (what does?) but it’s hilarious. Phil Hartman’s egocentric Bill is the standout character in the show. It’s really worth watching just for him…and his cane.

I took a mock “Citizenship test” the other day online and aced it. I’d make an amazing American citizen. It actually is much more difficult than I imagined however, and there’s no doubt in my mind that the vast majority of Americans would not be able to pass it. They can sit in lawn chairs and wave flags, however. That’s exactly what most of Friendswood will be doing on Tuesday morning, when we have our annual 4th of July parade down 518. The parade actually has to slow down to avoid getting a ticket…I’ve heard that the Friendswood 4th of July parade is actually the longest running consecutive 4th of July parade in the country (or maybe it’s just Texas). I don’t know how we managed that, but I think we should be exploiting it more. After the Rockwellian slice of Americana in the morning, my parents are throwing a party at our house. It should start around 2 PM and everyone is welcome to come over. I probably won’t know that many people, so help save me from utter boredom. If the weather holds up there will be swimming, and my little cousin will be there to entertain us. Then at 10:30, Colbert should have an amazing 4th of July themed episode of the Report.

I think that Nick at Nite has gone way downhill since my childhood. That goes for Nickelodeon, too. Seriously, though, Nick at Nite is now filled with shows that are less than ten years old. This began with the Wonder Years, but at least that show was based in the 1960s, which was fitting for a network that showed Happy Days and I Love Lucy. They need to bring back those classic shows instead of lowering their standards to include crap like the Jeff Foxworthy Show (wtf!!) and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Now, I enjoy an occassional episode of Full House as much as the next guy, but I don’t exactly think it’s Nick at Nite material. Even Friends is going to be airing on Nick at Nite starting in 2011! It’ll still be in syndication on the major networks at that time! Similarly, Nickelodeon has become a cheaper version of Cartoon Network. Do they have any shows today that compare with Pete & Pete, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Salute Your Shorts, Doug, Hey Dude!, etc. I know everyone likes to wax nostalgic about their childhood, but I don’t think it’s a case of overexaggeration. The shows were just better then.

Anyone wanna buy Deadwood on DVD? I have the first season that I borrowed from a friend, but he’s too good to come visit me, so I thought I’d cut my losses and see what I could get for it. The bidding starts at $1.

I’ve seen 46 movies from the Criterion Collection. Only 300 to go!

I think I’m missing a codec that everyone seems to be using now…I have downloaded a bunch of files recently that VLC wont play. Anyone else having that problem? Oh well, I’m off to watch more It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.