- TV
- It's not that I'm antisocial, it's just that I'm easily
addicted to serial presentations. TV shows happen to fall
into that category. Add to that the fact that I'm easily
amused, and yup, I'm just a big ole couch potato. These
days, though, the quality of televsion is going right
down the tube (er, sorry about that). I mainly watch four
channels: HGTV, The Food Network, the WB and the SciFi
Channel. Sad, huh? My current favorites include:
The WB (after compiling
this list, I can't believe I watch this much television. No
wonder I can never get anything done at home.):
- Roswell What
can I say. They paired it up with something else and I
got hooked. The supporting characters are the most fun --
I especially love Maria.
- Charmed Very
entertaining fantasy. The interaction between the three
main characters gets more real every show; I could just
watch them have a girls night out and be fascinated.
- Popular This
show is hysterically funny. The wild storylines and
effects make a good teen "Ally McBeal". That,
and the storywriters MUST be on crack.
- Buffy, the Vampire Slayer
It's Buffy. It's superior television. If you don't know
that, you must watch it.
- Angel
I recently saw a magazine picture of David Boreanz that
literally took my breath away. SO...VERY...HOT. And it's
a nice change to see Cordelia be a brunette version of a
dumb blonde.
- Dawson's Creek I'm
only going to tune in to see how Joey and Pacey spent
their summer. Yeah, right.
- Felicity So it was a
weak second season. I'm sticking this one out.
SciFi Channel:
- Fantasy Island
Malcolm McDowall has always been the Master of Malcontent
and Malevolent. Yummy Cheez…
Thank you, SciFi Channel, for indulging me and
rebroadcasting the show in power blocks on Tuesdays. Yay!
- Farscape
Enthralling. Fascinating. This is great Sci-Fi television.
Amazing effects, costumes, and characterizations. Wow.
- Forever
Knight Hot Hot Vampire Action.
HGTV:
- Decorating
Cents This show could be subtitled "Fun
with Paint", but hey, it's got some great ideas.
- Homefront
An imported Brit home-remodel-redecorate show
that puts "This Old House" to shame. Some of
the homes they highlist are hundreds of years old. That,
and I love the accents.
- Designing
for the Sexes The host is SO not Canadian. It's
fun to watch the married couples totally diss on the
other's tastes, and have the host try to negotiate truces.
Food Network:
- Good
Eats If Alton wasn't married, I would totally
have to lust after him. He's an absolute smartass, he can
cook, and he's got those glasses. Yum.
- Iron
Chef What do you mean you've never heard of it?
You poor, poor person.
-
- Other Random Favorites
-
- La Femme Nikita (Not
as good as the movie, mind you, but the people are so
pretty. And cheezy.)
- Highlander (Those
muscles, that sword...Get
me a bib and carve me off a slice of that. Yum!)
- The X-Files It's _The_X-Files_.
Don't make me paint you a picture.
- Hercules
- Xena, Warrior Princess
(Yes, I've succumbed. These offerings are directly
from the High Temple of Cheez.)
- Sabrina
So shoot me. It's one of those "I've watched it from
the beginning" things. Besides, it's supposedly
moving the WB next season. That validates it, right?
Right?
- The
West Wing I'm about the last person to be
interested in politics (yawn) but this show truly makes
it entertaining. The snappy character interaction, the
solid acting, and the sheer wistful thinking that the
people running our country could be this intelligent and
selfless make for wonderful viewing.
- The
Sopranos Every episode is like watching a train
wreck. You just can't turn away. Nancy Marchand will be
sorely missed.
- Sex and the City
They're not really sluts. They're normal (if more-than-averagely
attractive) woman with healthy sex drives. And funny...
-
- Books
- Both serial and entertaining, as well as being portable.
I mainly read sci-fi and fantasy, though I've been
spotted devouring Agatha
Christie and smutty
romance novels. Interested in an in-depth look? Click
here.
-
- Comic Books
- I started reading them at an impressionable age. Then I
started earning money before I had sufficiently built up
defenses, and bam! I got addicted. Due to lack of space,
money, and time, as well as a dry spell in the "Decorating
with Longboxes" idea generator, I stopped collecting.
-
- As to specific titles, I collected almost anything both
Marvel and X, as well as a couple from the Vertigo
offshoot of DC: Sandman, Hellblazer, The Dreaming and
sundry Neil Gaiman clones.
-
- Music
- My musical tastes run the gamut, from classical to
classic rock, from musicals to industrial. Some of that
is pernicious childhood brainwashing; my parents
constantly played showtunes and folky stuff on the
turntable. (I bet I'm the only under-25-year-old who can
sing along with all of Barbra Streisand's earlier work.)
Some tastes I developed on my own. Beethoven is great
mood music, and there's no stress relief like banging out
10-fingered chords on the piano (8
years of lessons ending 8 years ago, and I can still play
a couple of songs!). I'm also a slave to a bouncy bass
and backbeat: None of this New Age jazz schlock, give me
Big Band and "In the Mood", "Shiny
Stockings" and the true jazz, legacy of my days
tootling the alto sax in band after jazz band after
concert band after marching band. Additionally, thanks to
my IMSA experience, I picked up culture of the industrial
sort. After a hard day of work (and often during), I like
to thrash a bit to Ministry, NIN, L7, and KMFDM (thanks, Joe.) Then there's
my "chick" music side: Cyndi Lauper, Sarah
McLachlan, Sinead Lohan, Sinead O'Connor, etc. I'm just
glad my CDs can't pick fights with each other.
-
- 'Bout the only kinds of music that make me want to smash
in the radio are country (and western), most rap, and R&B
slush. Granted, there are a couple of exceptions in my
dislike of those categories, like Salt & Peppa, En
Vogue, Beastie Boys and such, but my personal idea of
hell is an elevator where they play nothing but Mariah
Carey, Michael Bolton, Travis Tritt and any group with a
Snoop, Puff, or Dogg in the title. *shudder*
-
- Et cetera
- The above I know well enough to babble on about for hours.
I'm a general whiz at entertainment trivia. The so-called
creators of the Six
Degrees to Kevin Bacon movie game owe me for
copyright infringement; I've been playing that for years,
though not just with the Big Pig.
-
- I also know something of Karate; I have a couple of
trophies from my days with the Michigan State Karate Club
(Pu Kang Tang Soo Do, for those to whom that means
anything). Alas, in my aging slacker years, I have let my
talents slide. Someday, though...
-
- Occasionally, I like to sketch, doodle, and otherwise
pretend I have some artistic abilities. Harder to do on
the computer, but what the hey.
-
- I had a brief flirtation with gaming, Shadowrun and
Vampire. If I could find another GM I liked, I'd leap
right back in.
last altered: July 25, 2000