"Smug Alert!"

So, apparently, I was not the only one who thought George Clooney's Oscar speech was smug. Right now I'm watching the most recent episode of Comedy Central's South Park. I haven't seen an episode in years. But it's still really funny. Basic plot summary: Kyle's dad buys a hybrid. He pisses off the town and moves to San Francisco. Stan writes a song and gets most of the town to buy hybrids in an attempt to get Kyle's family to move back. The large number of hybrid car owners creates a smug cloud over South Park. This cloud is joining with the smug cloud over San Francisco and the one created by George Clooney's Oscar speech. Cartman dons an isolation suit to save Kyle. South Park destroys all the hybrids in town. Totally funny. Its being rerun on Sunday at 11pm. I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it already.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone are libertarian geniuses.

Debunking Myths

I love a good conspiracy theory , especially when it deals with aliens. It's even more fun to see the myths "Busted" . Especially the funny ones. But some conspiracy theories and myths are stupid and/or appalling.

Scrolling through my favorite blogs this morning, I came across this . Apparently, the people at Popular Mechanics have been as bothered by all the conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11 as I have. I have no problem with debates about our response to the horrible events that occurred that day. But it sickens me (especially having a friend who lost family that day) to realize that people believe that our government purposely staged/allowed the events of that day. So thank you Popular Mechanics for doing something that I couldn't.

Hat tip to John Noonan at The Officers' Club .

"Abyssinia, Henry"

It still amazes me the way movies and television shows can trigger such deep emotions. There are still certain movies and TV shows that can make me cry, no matter how many times I see them. Return to Me is one movie. The Patriot is another. When I watch those movies, I know to have tissues nearby because I know I'm going to need them.

I just saw one of those TV episodes. It's an episode of M*A*S*H . The title is the same as my post's title. This episode is the final appearance of McLean Stevenson, who played Col. Henry Blake. Since this episode aired over 30 years ago and is periodically shown on TV I have no problem with a spoiler. Henry was to be discharged and the episode is one long goodbye to him. It is the last scene that gets me every time. Radar walks into the OR and announces that Henry's plan was shot down and there were no survivors. There is just something about the way it was filmed, the looks on the actors' faces. I still cry every time. I think one of the things that makes this so touching is a bit of trivia. With the exception of Alan Alda, no one in the cast knew that Stevenson's character was going to die - the idea being to capture actual shock and surprise. It worked, even if they did have to film the scene a second time.

Calling all comic book fans

If you dreamed of being Superman, Spiderman or maybe The Flash (hi Jim). Then the Sci-Fi channel has a new reality show for you. If you've got an idea for a new superhero, you can try out for their new reality show. The winner will have his superhero drawn by Stan Lee in a new comic and get a movie made out of it. I know for a fact that there are a few comic book aficionados reading this blog. Let your imagination work (and if you win remember who showed you the way).

Baking is truly an art

So today started with a simple goal. Spend part of my day off baking a cake to bring to work tomorrow. I had the recipe out, the pans out, the butter was softened. I even pre-chopped all the chocolate I needed for the batter and the frosting. I started actually making the cake at about 9:30 am. I finished frosting at 1:30. What took so long? Well, the first cake baked over the side of the pan and onto the bottom of my oven. So after going through had mixing the batter, whipping egg whites, melting chocolate over a double boiler, I had to empty the pans, clean them off and try again. This time I used a mix. I couldn't go through that again. Frosting went well though. The lesson of all this: either don't tell people when you're planning to bake so if it doesn't work you can just chuck it or have a backup plan.

Bars in Buffalo

So my husband and I finally downloaded from iTunes the latest album from Big & Rich . One of their songs featured the following line "Oh and Chippewa's where we go when we're up in Buffalo Don't you know those Yankees drink enough to drown."

I got to thinking about it. Chippewa, for those who don't know, is a street in downtown Buffalo filled with bars. Bars that due to Erie County laws are allowed to be open until 4am. Yes 4am. I always wondered how NYC could be the city that never sleeps and have it's bars close at 2am. There are no shortage of bars in Buffalo. And (for the time being) it's an easy trip over the border into Fort Erie for those of the 19 and 20 year old variety. I'm always surprised more of our colleges don't end up on the party school list. Besides Chippewa there are two more bar strips - Main St and Elmwood. Each caters to a slightly different crowd. There were many times I closed out the bars on Chippewa. So how come I can't seem to stay up past 11pm now?

Music From Commercials

First off, my husband's post from yesterday is due to a blogger-related outage. That and his slightly twisted sense of humor. Sorry.

Now onto my actual post. I guess I have a musical ear. Stuff sticks in my head. But sometimes that's a dangerous thing. I listen to a talk radio station on my way into work every morning (mainly because it's my only time to hear local news). But as I was listening to the commercials I made a frightening discovery. We have cancer treatment center here that is very well known. But I realized that the background music in their ad is the same as a local funeral home. That creeps me out to no end. Are local advertising companies that starved for music to put in their ads? I mean, both ads are still running. Anyway I just had to vent that. I'd been stewing over that for weeks.

Is this thing on?

Teqnikal Diphikulteez. Plieze stand buy

Feeling a little guilty

Technically, I should be at rehearsal right now. I didn't have the greatest of days at work today and I've been feeling really tired for the last few weeks. I just couldn't get off my couch to leave. So instead, I'm eating toasted bread with nutella and watching the Food Network (what else?). I also did get some reading done for work. I feel less guilty about that. Stupid Catholic education.

Oh yeah! Go Sabres!!!! My friend Jim has a series of posts about the Sabres and other things lately. Check him out.

The fun that is a high school musical

Last night, my husband and I went to see a local HS production of "The Music Man." In my effort to re-connect with friends we had my friend and his wife over for dinner. They teach at said HS and asked us if we wanted to join them at the Music Man that night. Overall, it was a lively production. The male lead was a juinor and the female lead was a very talented freshman. There is just something about going to a HS production. The combination of really talented leads wtih a decent supporting cast, an all student pit, handmade sets/costumes, squeaky pulley systems and a sound system that doesn't quite work right. In many ways, superior to the professional shows. You can see on their faces, the dreams of theater, Tony awards, Broadway. Most will never make it, but the dream is there. How do I know? I had it once myself.

So how did I name this blog, anyway?

When I sent a link to this blog to my friends, I told them I would give bonus points to anyone who could get the reference. My husband, in such a subtle way that even he wasn't aware of doing it, gave the answer in his post below. I took my blog name from the title of an episode of Sports Night

So why exactly do I like this show? Let me count the ways.

1. The Cast: Robert Guillaume, Felicity Huffman, Josh Charles, Joshual Malina, Peter Krause, Sabrina Lloyd and the rest meshed so well together.

2. The Dialogue: It is an Aaron Sorkin show after all. In what is probably my favorite episode (titled, as you might guess, "Shoe Money Tonight"), much of the dialogue takes place during a poker game. First there's a discussion on poker itself (is it or horse racing the sport of kings). Dana (Felicity Huffman) drives everyone crazy by saying "shoe money tonight." Then of course there is the fight going on between Jeremy and Natalie (who are dating and having their first real fight). Which gives us this speech: "You don't have a house of any sort, you don't even have a pup tent. You've got trip sevens, and I have a straight. I want you to trust me right now. I want you to say to yourself, yeah, I've dated a string of jerks in my life, they were stupid, they were mean to me, but maybe this one's different. Maybe I should take a chance and not adopt the break-up-with-him-before-he-breaks-my-heart strategy. I want you to remember that when I started liking you, I didn't stop liking tennis. And I want you to know that I don' t think there's a woman in the world that you need to be threatened by, no matter how glamorous you think she is. But mostly, I want you to trust me, just once, when I tell you, you have three sevens, and I have a straight."

3. It's about sports (sort of) and often talked about the less popular sports.

4. The preaching on social issues was kept to a pleasant minimum allowing Sorkin to do what he does best (great ensemble casts with good dialogue).

5. It was about a sports show, but didn't just focus on the anchors. A good portion of the scenes took place in the production booth with the writers, sound guys, video guys, producers, etc.

I would recommend everyone check out the show on DVD. There are only 45 episodes and without commercials they run about 20 min long.

So that's where my blog got it's name. A small homage to a wonderful, but short-lived television show.

Soon... Soon...

Some of my all-time favorite TV shows have been on Fox. Many of them all too briefly.

Call it a conspiracy, call it ineptitude, call it whatever. Many good shows on that network end up in lousy time slots, or getting shuffled around, or sometimes, through no fault of the network, simply never get a following. I'm sometimes still amazed that the X-Files was able to last as long as it did.

DVD has allowed some of these shows new life. It's possible for an entire short lived show to end up in a cheap DVD box set, whatever the original network. My wife introduced me to Sports Night this way. She then bought me the entire series of Firefly. A quick browsing on Amazon indicated that Space: Above & Beyond has gotten the same treatment. There has been one notable show, however, that has, up until recently, been forgotten.

When I first heard, more than 10 years ago, that Bruce Campbell was being given his own television series, I was overjoyed. The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. did not dissapoint. The show just seemed to have one great character after another. I enjoyed every episode more and more.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. The show was cancelled after only 27 episodes. This show seemed a perfect candidate for DVD release. I have long wondered how long it would take.

Finally, it is at hand. Bruce Campbell announced on his website that Warner Bros. is planning on releasing it on DVD. No official announcement has yet been made. TVShowsonDVD.com, however, has posted a poll. Warner Bros. has given them 2 possible DVD covers, and they're asking people to vote. If you haven't checked out this show yet - do so.

Why I know I made the right career choice

So this morning, when the alarm went off at 5:25am (as usual) all I really wanted to do was curl up under the covers, snuggle with the husband, and skip work because I still felt tired (as usual). But, obviously, I went to work. I spent 12 hours at the hospital today. What surprised me the most today was that as I was bringing my last patient of the day to the PACU, I realized that I wasn't tired. In fact, I felt completely refreshed. I certainly didn't feel like I worked a 12 hour day. So, since I started my anesthesia residency I have had several things to confirm that I made the choice: 1. I don't mind working 12 hour days, 2. I can feel energized after working a long day, 3. call can be really cool. Plus I love being the "epidural fairy". Seriously, giving a woman in labor an epidural is remarkably rewarding. They love you when your done. And I will admit, I get all tingly inside when someone tells me that they never even felt the iv going in. It just feels cool. I guess it's positive reinforcement.

OK, I admit it ...

I started watching the Oscars. After watching George Clooney win (and calling him a smug, egotistical, self-serving %$^&$ @##$$@). I was ready to turn them off. But then I would have missed Reese's beautiful dress, the Wallace and Grommit guys' ties, and a clip from Narnia. I'm a little bored by Jon Stewart, but the Ben Stiller greensuit gag was funny. But I am still committed to turning it off for Iron Chef America. I promise.

I love the Food Network!!!

So I'm sitting here wondering what I'm going to do with myself instead of watching the Oscars. My television is on its default setting aka the Food Network. Right now they've got this show called Ham on the Street on. He just did guess the MRE with a bunch of veterans and it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. So I realized, Iron Chef America is on tonight - duh, I'll just watch that.

Here goes nothing.

I have been toying wtih the idea of starting my own blog for a while and finally decided to do it. But, what to talk about in my first post. I know.

It's Oscar night. I have always been a movie and tv fan. For many years I had an annual Oscar's party. It's a tradition I have not done in recent times. In previous years, I didn't throw the party because my schedule didn't allow it. This year is a different story. I could have had the party. There was only one problem, neither I nor any of my friends had actually seen any of the nominated films. They might be great movies, but I never had the desire to see any of them. Well, I did want to see Walk the Line (but that only got a best actress nod). Half the fun of the party was seeing who could get the most winners right, but it's hard to make any choices when you haven't seen the movie. Another tradition gone, I guess. Sigh.