Lost - Mysteries of the Universe

Check out this fake show, Mysteries of the Universe, that ABC has up on its site reviewing the history of the Dharma Initiative. Some probably meaningless filler to waste time during the show's hiatus.

Love Mad Men and sports...and have some time to waste?

Then check out the Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, new podcast featuring an in depth interview with Jon Hamm, Mr. Don Draper himself. Is there a manlier character on TV? Men want to be him and women want to be with him. Click here to waste some time.

The Return of Jon and Kate Plus 8 and Shark Week

The phenomenon is back. My wife was a fan of the show before the stars became embroiled in a tabloid divorce...when the stars were the kids. (My favorite is the one with glasses.) My wife loves the show in part because they are from Reading PA as is my wife. There are two episodes on tonight. Here is hoping that it isn't too awkward.

Meanwhile, I am into an Andrew Jackson documentary on History-I and a shark show on Discovery. It is shark week after all.

True Blood - Maryann is a what!?!

This episode was great. The story moved forward. It had great cliff hangers. The only down side was the really lame flashback scenes to Bill and his maker in the 1930s. The show is broken down to 4 converging stories in my mind. They are:

1. Sookie trapped in the basement ending in the near rape and rescue
2. Bill trapped in the hotel room ending in nothing interesting
3. Jason's ordeal with the preacher's wife ending in the gut shot
4. Maryann, Sam, and Daphne's crazy zombie devil drama ending Daphne dead(?)

Each of the stories progressed and all but Bill's left me wanting more.

So, what is Maryann? It happened kinda quick, but we were told that she is a Maenad. According to wikipedia, a Meanad is a worshiper of Dionysus. She is a wild creature that has the power to bring out all sorts of wild or even evil behavior in others. Oh and she turns into a minotaur.

Sucked into the Next Food Network Star

There has been a marathon on the Food Network today of the reality contest show, The Next Food Network Star. The winner gets his/her own cooking show. I have never really gotten into this show, mostly because it doesn't feature chefs on par with Top Chef or Iron Chef America, but on a random Sunday I can get sucked into a marathon of anything. It is funny to me that the top chefs, who are the judges on the show, are truly stars to me in the same vein as my favorite athletes.

After the finale is over, I am going to dig into the standard Sunday night HBO-a-thon.

The Hurt Locker

The idea of a great movie about the Iraq war seems to be a contradiction of terms...until I saw the Hurt Locker last night. It was tense, action-packed, drama filled, and just fantastic movie. The film featured a crew of three bomb techs. The idea is that the crew get called out to deal with IEDs, or improvised explosive devises...the homemade pipe bombs that seem to go off almost daily in Iraq. The tension comes from the fact that the bombs may go off at any time and there very well may be an insurgent waiting with a remote trigger or a sniper rifle. What makes this more difficult is that you can't tell who is the good guy and who is the bad guy...and they speak a different language.

It is a perfect movie...see the scene where the James goes off campus. But it is completely engrossing and delivers everything you want in a war movie. Jeremy Lee Renner stands out as James, the lead bomb tech. Cut out of the same cloth as Lt. Spears from Band of Brothers, James is a veteran who has disarmed over 800 bombs. I highly recommend this movie.

Best of Today's TV

Best of Michael Jackson videos - 1230 - 2 on MTV (some of these are pretty good)

X Games - 12 - 3 on ESPN (crazy bastards)

Phillies at Giants 1-4 on CSN or MLB package (Lincecum is the best in the game)

Goonies 1-3 on G4 (All-timer)

Back to the Future 1:10 - 3:10 on Encore (All-timer)

Bourne Ultimatum 130 - 330 on HBO (Great flick)

Rocky I, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky V 130 - 130 on Spike (A-yo-Adrien)

Gordon Ramsey's F Word 2-3 on BBC (Funny $*%&#er)

Flight of the Navigator 3-5 on Hallmark (Great flick)

Buick Open 3 -6 on CBS (Tiger in the hunt)

Yanks at Whit Sox 4-7 on Fox (Yanks need a win)

Living w Ed - 7 -8 on Green (Ed Bagley Jr. is crazy for the environment)