Jeopardy - part II

So last week we heard about Devin getting final Jeopardy right based only on the category. Well on Friday I did something equally impressive, and yet completely pitiful.

Friday's final jeopardy category was "US Population Geography". I said "North Dakota" on the assumption that the question would be "Which state has the smallest per capita population."

Well apparently I am too smart by half. I correctly guessed question (or in Jeopardy terms, the answer), but my question (or answer) was incorrect. Final Jeopardy was in fact "Which of the lower 48 states has the smallest population per square mile" or something like that. To which Devin immediately got the right answer. The right answer which was not North Dakota.

In fact, on our recent road trip, Devin and I had discussed this very question, and he had told me the right answer. If only I had listened more closely I would have remembered. And then my story would be that I got final jeopardy right based only on the category, and not that I guessed the clue, only to come up with the wrong answer.

And for you trivia buffs out there, I have revealed the correct answer in the comments section.

Jeopardy

Tonight Devin got final jeopardy right.

That is not what is impressive. What is impressive is that he got the right answer from the Category. Not the clue. The category.

The Category was "Great Chefs of Europe" or something like that.

And from the category alone, Devin knew the answer was "Escoffier".

I mean seriously. 1) I never would have known the answer in 100 years. 2) I have never got a right answer from the category alone. I am beyond impressed.

law & order

Today I don't have to go to work because I worked so much this week (right...) that today I have "compensatory time off".

So it's 10am and I am watching Law and Order.

Season One.

And guest starring....

Phillip Seymour Hoffman!

In, according to imdb.com, his first credited role.

How cool is that??

I realize that this is not at all cool in some abstract definition of the word cool.

But it is super cool to me.

Law and Order Season One PLUS Phillip Seymour Hoffman = Cool!!

Me = Cool, not so much

Extreme TV!

Things I Think About:

1) I watch more TV than I probably should. I am aware of this and so sometimes go out of my way not to watch TV after work and to go out or read a book or try to be an interesting, healthy person. Which is why I don't understand people who always seem to ONLY talk about TV. People who never tell stories about their own life - but start their stories with "this one time on Friends...." I definetely do this on occasion - but I try to intersperse my TV-world-life with an actual life.

That being said....

1) Extreme Make-over versus the Biggest Loser. I have never seen Extreme Makeover but I have seen The Biggest Loser - and though both end with the contestants going through extreme physical transformations - I think that the emotional/spiritual transformation that the contestants go through on the biggest loser must be way more intense because the people on that show are actually causing the change in their lives. And I think that they go through an equally intense change on the inside - which I don't think happens on Extreme Makeover. Which is why I would much prefer to be on the biggest loser (not that I think I should/need to go on either) because I believe it creates a more meaningful and sustainable life change.

2) Extreme Make-over: Home Edition. So they build these brand new mansions for families that are not especially well-off from a financial position and then at the end the family has a big house that reflects the size of the that family's heart. awww.... But what happens the next year when the property tax guys comes around, re-assesses the property value, and suddenly your acre of land with a shack is an acre of land with a mansion and you owe thousands in property tax that you cannot afford. Does the show help you with that? Do they get the municipality to wave the property taxes for a certain length of time? Do they pay the property taxes for the first year? First ten years? I wonder....

so apparently I am ignorant

Monday is my day off (in addition to Saturday and Sunday) and so I usually go out in the morning to do schoolwork and then come home around lunchtime to have lunch. Well today, at 1pm, as I was having lunch, I was watching "Engaged and Underaged" on MTV. The first time I saw this show was last Monday at 1pm, and I am now hooked. (Go ahead, judge me, i am already judging myself).

In any case - the 19 year old fiancee was upset that her fiance's mother did not like her. So when the guy says "you and my mom just have different personalities" his finacee says "well that's just ignorant. If you don't like someone because of their personality than you're just ignorant".

Now - I obviously can't speak for everyone - but for me, I actually find the primary reason that I like or dislike someone is because of their personality. Now - if I meet someone new I might try to focus aspects of their personality that I like rather than aspects of their personality that I don't - but in the end, it does come down to personality.

There could be a highly moral and good person who just happens to have a caustic or annoying or boring personality. And I might respect that person and hold them in high esteem, but if I don't like their personality, I probably don't like them.

So I'm not exactly sure what criteria this particular young woman was using to decide when and why one should be liked. And if it's not personality, I'm not exactly what it is. And so apparently, I must be ignorant.

T minus three days

I am currently on hold with telus and there is no music, no automated voice thanking me for waiting, nothing. It's a little disconcerting.

Last night I watched the Gilmore Girls. I don't watch it regularly, but I have a pretty good idea of what is going on. Anyways - last night's episode really spoke to me. On three levels in fact. On the Rory level, the Paris level and the Lorelei (sp?) level - which is pretty close to be all the levels.

Today is more packing. pack pack pack. This morning I had coffee with my friend Steph. She is leaving today for Vancouver. I gave her all the liquour I had in my house. Which was a lot - a lot because I rarely drink and people have given me liquour as gifts - not because I drink a lot so I have a lot :)

still on hold. still silent. still disconcerted.

also.

I just saw the last 30 seconds of degrassi the next generation. I have not watched it since before christmas. And wow. Alex and Paige? for real? love? what is going on? why did I stop watching what might be the greatest show ever on canadian tv?! (street legal excluded).

TV's longest running emmy award winning drama

I know I'd vote for him!

except for the fact he's not officially running, I am not registered to vote in America and he's a Republican... but aside from that!

Things involving Ovens

Last night I made an apple pie! I have never made an apple pie before. It turned out except that it was super sweet. This is because I used a recipe which called for a custard to be poured over the apples - and I chose this recipe because I was looking for one which did not require me to make my own crust for the top. So in conclusion - I was super pleased and yet still disappointed. Although I learned a new word: streusel!

And sometime this week Devin is going to make me dinner. We bet if Meredith was actually dead and I won! Now he claims that she was technically dead, but the spirit of the bet was will she stay dead or come back to life - I bet come to life so I win! Now to convince him of it....

GREY'S GOSSIP

A baby story

There is a woman on TLC's "A baby story" who is having a home birth - and there will be 20 people (family and friends) present for the home birth (excluding the camera crew). 20 people is the number of people I want at my wedding!* And about 19 more than I want at the birth of my child. The woman (whose husband is in Iraq) is going to let her 3 year old daughter cut the cord (if the daughter wants). I've got to say, this seems pretty intense to me. But maybe I am just old fashioned. Now I am going to go get some work done and not spend my time anaylizing the birthing rituals of strangers.

*Note: the number I want is probably significantly less than the number I will actually have...

Freaks and Geeks

This weekend when I went to the video store to rent the next installment of Arrested Development and it was not there - so instead I rented the first disc of Freaks and Geeks. I have never seen this show before, but I remember that it was critically acclaimed and it seemed like something I might like, so I brought it home and watched.

I immediately fell in love with the main character, Lindsay, who was super pretty, a really good actor and instantly invoked so much emphathy in me, the viewer. So after I finished watching the first episode, I went to look the actress up on imdb.com. Her name was Linda Cardellini - and I know her better as nurse Samantha (Sam) Taggert on ER. I occasionaly watch ER and I have to say that I find Sam super annoying, a bad actor, and not at all attractive. Anyways - I just thought that seemed quite strange how I would react so differently to the same actress in two different roles.

Okay - so not the world's most exciting weekend - but whatever :)

early morning: reflections on waking up before 7am

1) I am blogging a lot lately.
2) The best thing about finishing my shower before 7am is that I get to watch the last 10 minutes of Dawson's while I have my breakfast. Oh Katie Holmes, you used to be normal.
3) Lloyd Eisner has been suspended from coaching for sending inappropriate emails to a student. Seriously, if you want to harass someone don't do it online, there will always be evidence!! Or try not to be completely inappropriate and abuse your position of power. Either way.
4) Reason #57 why I don't like the government of Stephen Harper: Kicking Garth Turner out of caucus? He is such a nice, funny little man, who I used to watch (okay see) on t.v. It's called technology, and Turner is using it how it was meant to be used, you should SUPPORT this, not condemn him. On the plus side, there are rumours that Turner will sit as a member of the Green Party - how cool would that be??!?!

Fields of Gold

This weeks Studio Sixty featured a live performance by Sting. I have no idea if it was the song, or the storyline, or the dialogue, or my horomones, but I was really affected by it. It stirred all these emotions within me, and yet made me feel so calm and safe. Which is why I have decided to post the lyrics.

You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we walk in fields of gold
So she took her love for to gaze awhile
Upon the fields of barley
In his arms she fell as her hair came down
Among the fields of gold

Will you stay with me, will you be my love
Among the fields of barley?
We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we lie in fields of gold
See the west wind move like a lover so
Upon the fields of barley
Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth
Among the fields of gold

I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I've broken
But I swear in the days still left
We'll walk in fields of gold
We'll walk in fields of gold

Many years have passed since those summer days
Among the fields of barley
See the children run as the sun goes down
Among the fields of gold
You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold

television part II

Do you know who else is brilliant? John Doyle.

Making the counter-argument [why television is good] against this attitude [why television is bad] tends to give me a headache, so I'll keep it brief here. You want to know why many, many Canadians are uneasy about our current fighting role in Afghanistan? Try watching the most popular Canadian-made TV series of the moment. That would be Corner Gas. Nothing happens on it. There's no fighting, no gung-ho stuff about heroes and guns and mayhem, and similar themes. A bunch of people in a tiny town swap low-key jokes and get excited about what's on the menu at the local diner. The cops are a bit incompetent and crime is non-existent. The harshest word heard is a coot hissing "jackass!" Canadian viewers love it. They lap it up. It's how we see ourselves, that's why.

for the record, I also love corner gas.

television

well folks, it's that time of year again.

the new television season.

my plans for this viewing season are Grey's Anatomy and Studio Sixty on the Sunset Strip.

seeing as the former hasn't aired yet, let me say why I am planning on watching the latter.

two words: aaron sorkin.

for those of you who do not know who aaron sorkin is - he is a genius. He was the creator of Sports Night, which (for those of you who do not know), was a very funny, ABC, half-hour, laugh-track-less comedy show, which first brought the beautiful and talented Feclicity Huffman into homes across America. He is also the creator of the West Wing (brilliant!) and wrote the screenplay (and possibly the play-play) for a Few Good Men - which is, without a doubt, one of my favourite moives of all time. He has fabulous ideas, dialougue, employs brilliant actors and I will jump on any aaron sorkin television bandwagon until such time that I have reason to jump off.

secondary viewing: House, Smith, Ugly Betty (i'm hearing good things people), and of course the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Of course, for the most part I will be spending my life NOT watching t.v., but that is all the more reason to take time to chose wisely with what I will watch.

little miss sunshine

On Friday evening we went out for sushi and to see little miss sunshine - both of which were excellent. the sushi was fabulous and is reason alone to live on the west coast and the movie was really good and very fun. yesterday was excellent - and involved lying on the beach, coming home and accidently lying on my bed and getting sand in my clean sheets, cooking, ice cream, and flightplan. this week will involve schoolwork, getting a new desk, maybe more cooking, and preparing for sarah's arrival.

often during the week I will hear or see something funny which I think "that would make a great blog entry" and then I never get around to writing about it or I forget and then I am disappointed. At the same time - it's not like I post so infrequently that I should really be making an effort to do it more often.

Final thought - Seth won Kept and is now offically jerry hall's kept man. Had I been in Jerry's shoes I would have made the same choice.

violet

I think that if I could look like anyone (besides me) I would want to look like the girl who plays Violet on Coronation Street. I realize that no one who reads this probably knows who that is - but I think that she is super pretty.

House Quote

courtesy of John Doyle's column. Potential new life philosophy.

"Dying people lie too. Wish they'd worked less, been nicer, opened orphanages for kittens. If you really want to do something, you do it. You don't save it for a sound bite."

Hank?!

Okay.

I just watched the last 1/2 hour of the CTV made-for-tv-movie stolen innocence.

now - it was not particularly good for a number of reasons.

not the least of which was Hank from Corner Gas as an evil sex-serial killer villian.

Hank?! He's the least evil, sexual, menacing character on TV. I realize that he is an actor and is allowed to play multiple roles - but really - once I realized that he was Hank that was it - it was over for me - Hank!?

Grey's Quotes

Callie - He makes my world stop. He's kind and sweet and smart and strong. He makes my world stop.
Izzy - Oh my God. George is her McDreamy.

Meredith voiceover - Life is not a spectator sport - win, lose, or draw - the game is in progress - whether we want it to be or now...... Play hard, play fast, play loose and free, play as if there is no tomorrow...... okay - so it's not whether you win or lose - it's how you play the game, right?

Best. Show. Ever.

I am just going to keep putting myself out there. Because I would rather fail or get hurt then look back with regrets.