M.A.W.B. Squad

Women Are Sneaky E-V-I-L!

We're about 7 hours into season 4 of 24 and I've noticed a theme with the writers.  Women are Sneaky E-V-I-L.  First we had Nina, the CTU agent we all loved to hate. Then there was Sherry Palmer, who hung around for multiple seasons to mess up things for the President.  In season 4 we have Marianne Taylor. (Granted I have to give Marianne an "evil so far" disclaimer, 'cause you never know where 24 is going when you're mid-season.)

What about the men of 24 you ask? There's plenty of E-V-I-L men running around every season.  You'd be right.  But, it's the women of 24 that are Sneaky Evil.

Guys can pull off full blown in your face evil, but it takes a special talent to be sweet on the outside and evil behind everyone's back.

I even left out the terrorist sister, but I'm too lazy to go look up her name, so these examples will have to suffice.

We've added peanut butter stuffed Oreo crack to the 24 crack.  We may never leave the crack house again.

Back on the Crack

I'm back on 24 crack.  We started season 4 during lunch today.  I hate them already.  Only one hour into it and you don't want to stop.  Gimme more! More!

We're saving season 5 on the DVR.  I hate to think of the day we catch up to Jack Bauer.

FIREFLY: Season 2????

Please someone.  Tell me this isn't a joke!

We are an independent production company and core group of Browncoats. We are not affiliated with 20th Century Fox or Universal Pictures.

We are currently pursuing the rights to continue the series from Fox and make it available to the fans, either directly or via another broadcaster.

Yes! I'll buy it!  Just tell me where to sign!  The movie, Serenity, was great, but lacked the warmth of the series.  The best format to tell the story of the Firefly crew is episodic.  Check out the website.  There's a survey you can take anonymously if you choose.  With so much crap on TV, I hate to see a really good show die a premature death.

Martha, Martha, Martha

(I know it was Marcia, Marcia, Marcia, that Jan Brady lamented, but whenever I think of the new Apprentice, this rings in my head.)

We've caught a couple episodes of the Martha version of the Apprentice now, and I think I'd have to describe it as The Apprentice Light.

To be fair, I've always been at odds with She Of Domestic Blisshood, as is, I contend, most of modern working womanhood. With our kids, our jobs, our men, our homes barely suitable for visiting relatives, the last thing we need is a model of womanhood urging us to shop all over town for that spice we've never heard of.  After all, I've lived all my life without it.  Why would I need it now?  Should I put it in front of needing to get the kids to the dentist, buying food for the new chinchillas, helping with homework, feeding the kids something more nutritious than popcorn for dinner? 

How does this woman make a living with her guilt inducing perfection seeking?  I remember watching an Oprah, I think, (rarer than streak tartare that I do that), with a rabid Martha fan, who sent her husband on quests to find the latest Martha "thing."  My theory?  She had something really evil on that hubby.  At least I've never met the man that I could send on "Martha" errands.  (C'mon, it's a crapshoot to ask them to pick up milk.) Which leads me to think the evidence she had on him must have been worth 5-10 in Sing Sing.

Anyway, back to Apprentice Light.  There are so many little things that bug me, it's hard to know where to start.  "The Conference Room" just doesn't have the authority that the 'Board Room" does.  You meet in the conference room to have the once a month birthday cake for all the employees.  Apparently, Martha decides who comes back to the "Conference Room", whereas the Donald has the project manager make that decision.  This has proven to be a key test for project managers.  They can blow it by choosing the wrong people to bring with them or to not bring with them. But, Mothering Martha takes the decision out of their hands.

Then there's no firing, just a good-bye and a polite little kiss off letter, filled with platitudes no one means.  Miss Manners does the Apprentice.  Lets just say I miss what edge the original has.

I can give the girl props for doing her time so she can get on with her life, but she's no Donald.

Toral! Toral! Toral!

In case you haven't watched last night's episode of The Apprentice, the rest of this post will be after the jump.

Apprentice Blogging

Looking around the MOB, I see we're not the only ones who follow The Apprentice.  We DVR the show, so I haven't seen this week's episode yet.

Over at Our House, Margaret informs us that Rebecca is a local gal.  Local or not, I thought she totally blew it by not bringing Toral into the boardroom last week.  If Toral is so All That then she should be more than capable of defending herself when her part of the task isn't up to snuff.  Rebecca let her friendship with Toral and her respect for her, cloud her business judgement.  Also the two have formed a little "holier than thou" club which doesn't bode well for future team dynamics. (I did agree though, that Jennifer W. deserved to be the one fired.  There was no comparison between her paltry effort at event planning compared to the guy's team.)

Katie's monitoring the boardroom too, (scroll down, no permalinks).  I agree Melissa was a train wreck, playing the race card with her "MY people" ideas and the enormus ego of, "They're all just all jealous of me".  I swear they pick some of these people for entertainment value alone.  What kind of idiot says she doesn't work well with women when she's on an all female team? Hel-lo?  That's sure to get you hired. Mmm-Hmmm.

Like MOBster, Zatera,  I think half the reason to watch the show is to see Carolyn roll her eyes, crack up, or express horror in reaction to a team's ideas or work. Remember the stupid commercial one team did last year with the chef and the cucumber? It's the barely concealed disdain that keeps us tuning in.

ALERT! Firefly! ALERT

Tonight at 10 EST, 9 Central time, the SciFi channel is showing Inside Serenity.  I just discovered it, but the wonderful PiC already has the DVR set to record it.  No wonder I love that guy!

Speaking of Serenity, here's a Time interview with Joss Wedon, (of Buffy, Angel, and writer and director of Serenity).  Also short pieces with Summer Glau (River), Alan Tudyk (Wash), and everybody's favorite Captain Nathan Fillion.

Remember, the movie premieres on Friday, Sept. 30.  They've written the script so you don't have to have seen the Firefly series as an introduction.  Everyone is signed for a three movie deal if the first one is successful.  One can never have enough good SciFi, so give this one a chance.

The real goal, in my mind, is to bring the series back to TV.  You just can't develop characters and storylines in movies the way you can in weekly series.  (Imagine 24 made as feature films.  They'd be just another action flick.)

Meanwhile, Rew  Jeff and I and going to join the Browncoats and go all fan-boy/girl on you.  You can stop the madness by supporting Serenity.

Listen to the Firefly theme here.

Update:  Couldn't resist adding this:

Mythbusters: Busted or Confirmed?

So how can you find out if your stomach will really explode if you eat large quantities of Pop Rocks and drink cola?  Where do you turn to learn if a falling icicle can really kill someone?  Fans of the Discovery show MythBusters turn to Adam, (the dorky one), and Jamie, (the smart one.)

The official site in that link will give you episode synopsis, but not the results. If you want to know which myths were busted and which ones were confirmed, go to Encyclopedia for the list.

I'm not sure I buy into their testing which busted the idea that toast does not prefers to land buttered side down.  I am however grateful that they have proven that a duck's quack does echo.  You have to learn to appreciate the simple things in life. (Word to the wise, don't pee on the electric fence.)

Update:  Corrected the toast thing.  Language burp.  Too early in the AM.

Iron Chef getting stale to you?

While I consider myself a fan of Iron Chef, I must admit it is getting old. I needed something new and the Travel Channel has come through for me with Anthony Bourdain’s  - No Reservations.

My love for Bourdain started when I picked up a copy of his Kitchen Confidential (which a new sitcom coming out this fall is loosely based upon). He tells his story of how he got into the food biz and all of the craziness that comes with what is really is sub-culture.

Bourdain followed that book with Cooks Tour which is a romp through the world in search of the “perfect meal.” While he was writing of these escapades the Food Network was filming all of this and made it into the show that was Cooks Tour no less.

I loved the show, but I must have been the only one as they only ran a few of the episodes.

The Travel Channel (a sister network to the Food Channel) must have seen something worth dumping some money into as they are now running the show No Reservations with the same idea as Cooks Tour.

Bourdain is globe-trotting again and each time I watch it, I catch myself grinning the whole time.

Now, if you are not familiar with Bourdain he is best summed up this way…picture PJ O’Rourke if he had gone down the road of being a chef instead.

If Bourdain is not eating on screen, he has a smoke hanging from his lips. In this day and age with all of the anemic, vegan freaks walking the earth, I find it quite refreshing. Take a drag, breathe deep and blow it in their faces Tony!

One of my favorite spots was when he was in Iceland.The Icelanders munch on rotten shark like the Americans do potato chips. Thank God when I was there no one made me eat that crap but Bourdain gets paid to do this show, so bottoms up for him on the smelly beast. They prepare this shark much in the same way Kim-Chee is made. They bury it deep in the ground and let it rot. Num.

The look on his face after he ate that was priceless. I suppose it’s easy to do multiple vodka shots after chewing on putrid shark bits. Hell, hand me the whole bottle of vodka.

Monday night was the episode where he visits his friend in Vietnam.

Nothing like pan fried porcupine and bird carcass whiskey to wake you up in the morning.

Now this is not to say that every meal this poor guy eats is as repulsive as what I have recounted. He does this with wit and sarcasm and that is what is funny to watch.

A recent journey took him to his hometown in New Jersey where he commented on all of the new Sopranos references. Hell, he even stopped in and had some munchies at the Bada Bing – or in reality the Satin Dolls club.

That show finishes with him hooking up with Mario Batali and some cannolis Godfather style.

Most people don’t need to add more tv shows to their must view list but Tony does not disapoint.

"Captain, I'm giving it all I've got."

Actor James Doohan, bettter known as Chief Engineer of the starship Enterprise, Montgomery Scott, passed away this morning in Redmond Washington. I didn't know he'd fought at Juno Beach on D-Day in the Canadian Army.

He was among the Canadian forces that landed on Juno Beach on D-Day. "The sea was rough," he recalled. "We were more afraid of drowning than the Germans.

"The Canadians crossed a minefield laid for tanks; the soldiers weren't heavy enough to detonate the bombs. At 11:30 that night, he was machine-gunned, taking six hits: one that took off his middle right finger (he managed to hide the missing finger on screen), four in his leg and one in the chest. The chest bullet was stopped by his silver cigarette case.

James Doohan biography here.  (He also wrote a book, "Beam Me Up, Scotty")

Scotty biography here.

Scotty quotes here.