The series finale of my LOST is starting, but I want to wait about 30 minutes to watch so I can do so without commercials, so in the meantime, I think I’ll blog a few thoughts about the past seven years of my favorite show:

As part of the marketing push for the DVD release and ... [ more ]]]> We loved watching Mad Men’s first season, but somehow missed season two.  Now, we have the DVD and are ready to begin catching up while the TiVo catches and holds season three for us which is just starting this weekend.

As part of the marketing push for the DVD release and the new season, amctv.com has provided an engine for you to Mad Men yourself.  Here are Selena and I:

Selena as a Mad Men

Greg as a Mad Men

And if you are thinking, that doesn’t look at all like you two, then I challenge you to go to madmenyourself.com and try making a better version of Selena or I. Or just make yourself, and send us a copy of the final result. We’d love to see.

Hello friends, are you on Netflix? If so, please friend Selena and I by using this address:

http://www.netflix.com/BeMyFriend/PB1XxNWogrGGgAP3MwgE

Thanks so much,

Greg

PS. I think it’s ridiculous that a major Internet competitor like Netflix does not have a friending system that would let you search for people you ... [ more ]]]>

Friend us on Netflix

Hello friends, are you on Netflix? If so, please friend Selena and I by using this address:

http://www.netflix.com/BeMyFriend/PB1XxNWogrGGgAP3MwgE

Thanks so much,

Greg

PS. I think it’s ridiculous that a major Internet competitor like Netflix does not have a friending system that would let you search for people you know by either importing your addressbook or just typing in their name. The fact that you have to take friending out of their site and into a separate media (like blogging or emailing) is a colossal misstep on Netflix part, and leaves a major hole for a new competitor to come in and offer a better experience. Okay, getting off the soapbox now. To conclude, it’s asinine that we have to request this via our blog instead of on the Netflix site, but please friend us on Netflix.

Our TiVo surprised us with a new episodes of Prison Break from Friday evening. The show had 16 episodes this season and then went off the air when 24 returned in January. Prison Break is in its final season with just five ... [ more ]]]>

Prison Break - Now on Fridays

Our TiVo surprised us with a new episodes of Prison Break from Friday evening. The show had 16 episodes this season and then went off the air when 24 returned in January. Prison Break is in its final season with just five episodes left in the series. Sadly, it looks like FOX is making the show finish it’s sentence in the graveyard of television, Friday night, with the series finale scheduled for Friday, May 15th.

Prison Break never recaptured the utter brilliance of its first season, (which is still for me the best single season of TV I ever saw). It has gone on too long, and slowly dropped from a “must see in real time” drama (like LOST for Greg or Gossip Girl for Selena) to a “we’ll find it on the TiVo later” show.

Still, with TiVo’s help finding whenever FOX airs these final five episodes, we will watch the series through to the end.

I am usually able to let most questionable elements about the world of GG pass, including why no one seems to actually attend class, why so many swank Manhattan clubs let teenagers drink ... [ more ]]]> Selena is upset, because I won’t stay quiet and let her enjoy her favorite indulgence – Gossip Girl.

I am usually able to let most questionable elements about the world of GG pass, including why no one seems to actually attend class, why so many swank Manhattan clubs let teenagers drink at the bar or that it’s convenient to just pop in at a gallery or cafe in Brooklyn Heights when you live in the Upper East Side. All of these I tolerate without vocal complaint.

But I am having trouble accepting a plotline from the past few weeks, the world of Gossip Girl has decided to give everyone’s favorite character Chuck FULL CONTROL over his father’s multi-million dollar business.

The heir apparent to Bass Industries

The 17-year-old son of the owner was granted in dad’s will 51% ownership of the company (With step-mom getting 29% and the board getting 20%).

Let’s examine this just a bit.

In order for this to be possible, the late Bart Bass would have had to have had completely and total 100% control of his business.

He did not; because 1) there is a Board and 2) they reference the shareholders.

This means that Bart could only own a portion of the company, like CEO/Founders of companies in the real world tend to do. So, let’s assume he had a major stake in the company still, say 20% ownership. What would that mean?

It would mean the 51% of his shares he gave Chuck, which would be roughly 10% of the company. That’s still a sizable amount that would make the Board sit up and take notice. That’s still a sizable enough amount that Uncle Jack would still want to connive to steal it (under the completely illegal bad behavior clause, but that’s worthy of it’s own rant). Chuck wouldn’t get to be CEO for a day, (which is a rabbit hole the writers didn’t really want to go down anyway), he’d probably get a Board seat, a huge dividend and plenty of opportunity to continue to cause trouble.

Would that be too complex for the show’s typical teenage girl audience to understand? Even if they don’t get all the details, isn’t it better than dumbing it down and teaching the next generation that business works like a monarchical succession?

I was ... [ more ]]]> Super Bowl Sunday provided as good a game as can be played without the Eagles, and that in-game excitement helped to bail out the very lackluster crop of ads.  Here I give out awards to the ones that were notable IMHO:

We’re Crashing the Party Award – Cash 4 Gold

I was thinking this was going to be a spoof, but no it was a legitimate ad to take your valuables, put them in an envelope and trust someone on the other side of the Postal Service will send you back a check.  That’s one shady outfit that should not have been there.

Why Are We Here? Award – GoDaddy

Different than the crashing the party award because they make sense having Super Bowl ad space, they just weren’t at all interesting in utilizing it, instead using lurid poses and choppy edits to get to you to their website. I didn’t bother.

WTF Award – Sobe

Ballerina football players, dancing lizards, 3D.  I have no idea WTF Sobe is trying to say.

USA! USA! Award – Budweiser

Budweiser may be the King of Beers but it appears to have even higher aspirations, as being the epitome of Americana with apple pie, baseball and Coca-Cola. That’s at least my interpretation of the goal behind these Norman Rockwell-esque Clydesdale series of ads, including this one that tackled immigration.

Funniest Ad Award – Doritos

This had some tough competition, but the Doritos fortune telling ad had a 30 Rock quality to the humor that did make me laugh out loud.

Artsiest Ad Award – Coca-Cola

We didn’t see much of Coke this year (and not until after halftime, cheapskates), but when we did one ad was a beautifully designed and animated ad of bugs heist a picnicke’rs bottle of soda that could easily be a submission for the next Fantasia, it was that well done.

Best Ad Award – Hulu

Their first big exposure (that I know of) was taking the most obvious criticism of their service, that people watch too much TV already, and turned it into a premise for their ad in a very out-of-the-box sort of way.  Brilliant.

Doc Brown taught me everything I know about time ... [ more ]]]> Am I the only one that is having a very hard time with the ground rule that LOST put in place that “time is like a string, you can move forward and backwards but you can never make a new string”?

Doc Brown taught me everything I know about time travel.

I attribute my frustration with this theory to Back to the Future, because sadly but realistically I learned the theory of time travel came from the teaching of Doc Brown. He continually instructed Marty to avoid interacting and stay out of sight, because even the slightest inadvertent action could change the course of history.

Doc Brown’s explanation of time travel was further supported by Bill and Ted’s Rufus, whale-loving Captain Kirk and finale episode Q and Picard. In all these cases, when you affect the past you change the future.

Having grown up with those beliefs, I am not yet able to shift my way of thinking to understand why Ethan and Locke wouldn’t have recognized each other when they met back in Season One, or why Desmond didn’t start to question whether the air was safe for the year or more after Faraday came a-knocking.

How are you doing with accepting the new ground rules?