Tonight was just a series of television tragedies. Arranged to watch the finales of House and Gossip Girl with one of my sisters, but by the time we'd finished dinner and sat down to watch the episode, it was just past 9:00. And it turns out that for the first time in the history of ever, my cable cut out and my TiVo only caught about 32 minutes of Gossip Girl. ANY OTHER SHOW, YOU GUYS. Any other episode, for that matter! So we watched until the wedding, and then the cable helpfully resurrected itself just in time for the TiVo to catch the last minute and a half, ensuring that I was totally and completely confused. So now I am sitting here waiting for the torrent to download at a hilarious 2.5 kB/s.

( And then I watched House. )

( And then I watched Wildfire. )

OH, TELEVISION. Gossip Girl is now at 0 kb/s, awesome. I think I'll just go to bed and watch it tomorrow.

Maybe it's because tonight is a full moon. Did you guys look outside? The moon is INSANE where I am. It's not that big, but it's possibly the brightest I've ever seen it. Have a look.

1. I have officially been declared a casualty of the flu. This weekend was awful. I was so sick that I actually had trouble sleeping; I barely slept for more than an hour or two at a time on Friday and Saturday. Now I've got this prescription antihistamine that's helping me sleep, but it is also giving me weird, scary dreams that I can remember in detail. (I rarely if ever remember my dreams.) But I do feel better today, so I guess it is working.

2. I couldn't sleep and I couldn't seem to focus on reading, so I spent a lot of time fooling around on Photoshop and fiddling with LJ customizations. My new layout is all thanks to minty_peach, although I did modify the CSS quite a bit. I like it so much that -- apologizes in advance -- I've turned off simple comment pages for the time being. I know some consider that bad manners when you have a custom layout, but I think it is clean and should not take long to load. ( But I noticed some funny business! )

3. I discovered a Tiny LJ Icon Generator! If you've ever wanted to change the default tiny icon next to usernames or communities (i.e. caitiedidit hates ohnotheydidnt), this makes it really simple. All you have to do is plug in the URLs and size of the tiny icons you want to replace the default ones with. It generates code that you simply paste into your custom CSS box. It is literally as easy as 1 2 3! (The only catch is that there is a fix you have to do for certain layouts, but it's still really easy.) You can get custom icons from a lot of places, but I recommend FamFamFam.

4. I'd say that Johnny Weir should shoot whoever costumes him if I wasn't 100% certain that he designs every inch of his horrendous outfits, meaning he'd have to shoot himself. (Which, actually, I don't have a problem with! I KID YOU, JOHNNY WEIR. NEVER CHANGE.) But even I have to admit that he was pretty great at nationals and was totally robbed of the title. I bet he would have won if his outfit wasn't so HIDEOUS and embarrassingly literal.

5. TV Guide got a great letter about last week's stupid cover story in which the "women of House House" were profiled based on their relationships with House, all of which were approached in romantic terms. And this has been my problem with House for awhile. House is supposed to be a misanthropic jackass, but most of the women who cross his path are attracted to him, often inexplicably so. His superiors and his underlings react to him in generally ridiculous ways. It drives me up the wall when characters' flaws cost them nothing. I recently had the same problem with Beka Cooper and her so-called shyness in Terrier.

6. I know Pitchfork is... Pitchfork, but the score they gave In Rainbows was much with the lulz.

7. I think the Scientology protests were ridiculous. I understand that the event was organized to protest censorship by the church, but that's not how it came off, and I'm sure that's not why most of the protesters showed up. I get that people think Scientology is really weird and creepy, but the fact of the matter is that all three major religions also believe some pretty crazy stuff and have branches that are also pretty freaking creepy. It is all very people-living-in-glass-houses-throwing-the-first-stone to me. Most annoying of all is that if such an event was organized to protest Christianity I'm pretty sure we never would have heard the end of it. Bill O'Reilly would totally have gotten off on it.

8. This is iiiinteresting! A while ago, Obama pledged to abide by public financing in the general election if the Republican candidate would also agree to do so. Well, John McCain has agreed. And since Obama's nomination is looking more and more likely, McCain is already demanding that Obama honor his pledge. I am very nervous about us losing our huge financial advantage, and it's totally the opposite of pragmatic, but I still think this would be a really cool thing. It would also go a long way towards proving to me that Obama is the kind of candidate he claims to be.

9. I saw the most depressing Valentine's Day documentary on Current this weekend, all about roses, chocolate, and diamonds. I already knew the bad stuff about chocolate and diamonds, but apparently most of the roses we buy are grown in South America. And since South America's safety laws are much more lax than ours, the growers use awful chemicals and insecticides and herbicides. Since the roses are grown in greenhouses, the chemicals are even more dangerous. There were even a few cases of greenhouses asking women to submit proof that their tubes had been tied before they could be hired. They claim it's a productivity issue (which should not even be legal; can you imagine if pregnancy was allowed to be considered a liability against hiring women over here?), but it's a flat out lie. They just don't want to have to pay out the ass when their workers' children are born with mental and physical problems because they exposed them to chemicals on a daily basis that no living thing should ever be exposed to. Just so our flowers look pretty! So there's another thing I won't be buying anymore.

10. Attn: Avatar fans! Since Nick has remained silent on the issue of when we'll finally be seeing episode 3.14, boosette is hosting a very clever Pi Day (3/14) ficathon. Be there or be square, etc.

P.S. Barack Obama held my hand when I was frightened! (by way of carrielh)

I was supposed to go see the Hannah Montana concert (at the movies; I'm pretty sure you have to kill someone to get tickets to the real deal) last night with two of my sisters, but I gave up my ticket so one of Kierra's little friends could tag along instead. I was real broken up about it, obviously.

Instead, I went to see 27 Dresses with my mom. I thought it was pretty lame. I mean, you expect romantic comedies to be lame, but it had very few redeeming qualities. Katie Heigl and James Marsden are both cute and talented, and they did what they could, but it was not enough to make this memorable. At least it wasn't totally offensive? It was even vaguely empowering in a half-assed kind of way. So that's something.

And all I have to say about the Super Bowl is El Oh El. (I am sorry for theblackrainbow, though.) But, hey, wasn't Paula Abdul supposed to perform? Did I make that up in my head? OH, and didn't it totally look like Jordin Sparks lip-synced her way through the national anthem? That is so wrong!

( House )

Remember the What If Your Fandoms Were Boyfriends meme? If I had done that meme, the lame guy who inexplicably scored a bunch of cool girls would totally be Heroes. Because, seriously, it is dreadful. Whatever. The reason I am watching happens next week, finally, thank god.

Caught up on House. I still like the competitive blonde chick the best. It's too bad you can tell who wins by the relative knownness and NBC-contractedness of the actors. Caught up on L&O:SVU, which was awful to watch considering how much these links depressed and enraged me earlier this evening. I do not understand how two juries could fail to convict someone who is quite obviously a serial rapist.

And I also caught up with Big Shots, and I revoke my... revocal? revokation? Whatever. Nia Long is not Michael Vartan's assistant, although I can see how Laura and Kelly thought otherwise, what with her handing him files and calling him "Boss." I actually liked her better in the premiere, because they were hitting more complex notes. She was competitive. She wanted the CEO job and was visibly disappointed when she didn't get it. Now she is just his smiley friend with whom he shares lunch, random Sorkin-style hallway exposition scenes, and a Love So Pure that it will not be consummated until the fifth season.

Actually, this show isn't terrible or anything, it's just kind of canned. It is a medley of conventional storylines that have been well-trod on other shows, and it is pretty predictable. Most annoying to me is Michael Vartan's character, who is meant to be the moral compass and is so painfully perfect that I do not believe for one second that his wife would ever step out on him. He's one of those characters that Things Happen To, snore. Will Forte's character is ridiculous, but I enjoy his storyline because every cheating husband's mistress should go so crazy. Christopher Titus is my favorite. He needs to get himself some new friends.

You guys, Jennifer Morrison and Jesse Spencer broke up!

WOE.

Now I will not be able to enjoy Chase/Cameron because they'll have this whole Chad Michael Murray/Sophia Bush thing going on. SIGH. This is why celebrities should not date each other. Won't someone think of the fans?!

American Idol was sooo terrible tonight. Everyone was awful, except for Melinda. And she wasn't all that great either. Worst. Theme. Ever.

House was so, so boring. The five seconds of Gilmore Girls I actually slowed down my TiVo to watch were also boring.

( Veronica Mars )

That new Georgia Rule movie looks terrible. And completely offensive. Please to be stepping into a small town or a Red State before you try making a movie about it, Hollywood. The new Hot Pockets commercials? RACIST. What is wrong with people?

I stole Hilary Duff's new album from my little sister, and not only is it much better than the last (full) album, it's also kind of ambitious for something out of Buena Vista. It's dancey and almost electronic. She must have been listening to her Goldfrapp! I love it! I just wish she had enough credibility to attract the kind of producers that could help her make an album with some staying power. I am pleased she dumped that Good Charlotte dude, though. You can do better, Hilary! Like at least an All-American Reject or something.

( I hate American Idol. )

( House )

I wish the actor who plays Brad Carlton on Y&R would stop playing his character like Brad is actually a nice guy. BECAUSE HE IS SUCH A MANIPULATIVE, GOLDDIGGING JACKASS. I think maybe the actor just doesn't get this or something? WTF. Also, if Dru and Sharon went over a cliff, you cannot even tell me that Sharon would be the one to live. Dru is a fighter! I know that no one ever dies on soap operas, but still. Dru > Sharon.

Threadless is having one of their $10 sales until March 12. Speaking of March 12th, the Thing that happens on that day is not happening. Savvy?

The CW has ordered a pilot about "crime-solving college students." Veronica Mars is so dead in the water, you guys.

Anyway. ( House. )

( Wildfire has better continuity than GA and BSG and VM put together. )

Also, this is kind of funny. After submitting many, many questions over the past three years, Kristin of E! Online finally chose one of them for her spoiler chat. The funny thing is I submitted it three weeks ago, and by now I already know the answer myself. So I find myself simultaneously giggly and annoyed that I wasted a spoiler question.

Everyone has such nice, substantial livejournal entries up tonight. So of course I am going to buck the trend by posting about television spoilers!

Note: These are mostly vagueish TV Guide spoilers about what's up next on both shows, combined with my speculation.

( Grey's Anatomy spoilers )

( House spoilers )

It was eerily easy to get through on the American Idol lines tonight. Usually I'm lucky to get through once or twice. Weirdness!

And you know how they retire jersey numbers in sports? Well, I totally think that Idol should retire songs. No more Edwin McCain. No more "I Don't Want to Be." No more "Back At One." Stop abusing them! For the love of all that is good and holy, let them rest in peace!

( Veronica Mars )

I got a little behind on TV last week, so I didn't write about a lot of things I meant to, but I just want to say that I love the return of Chase/Cameron even though I'm convinced Cameron is going to break Chase's wee heart. Also, Cameron is totally a BSG fan! All that stuff about developing faster-than-light travel in order to find True Love in a galaxy far, far away? Total closet geek! I almost want to write crackfic about Cameron making Chase watch Battlestar Galactica with her.

Speaking of which, I totally deleted BSG from my TiVo without watching it again. Last week's was on purpose because I knew it would piss me off. This week was sort of on purpose, because I'm really not interested in hearing anymore Adama(s) back story, especially since BSG gives bad back story. Also, way to be narratively lazy, BSG. When all of your Very Special Character Episodes rely on flashbacks, there is possibly something wrong with your show.

So I was all psyched to do tonight's Veronica Mars epsiode commentary from an LoVe shipper's POV, kind of like how I blogged their last breakup. Only (and this brings me so much woe, you have no idea) I am kind of on Logan's side.

( GODDAMMIT. )

( Gilmore Girls )

( House )

I cannot even believe that there were more American Idol auditions on tonight. There aren't usually so many, are there?

( House )

( Wildfire )

( L&O SVU  )

The sheer volume of press and mania surrounding the iPhone is crazy. It's almost the inverse of the iPod's introduction. The iPod debuted to no fanfare whatsoever. The tech writers liked it, but it was only for Apple computers during a time when Apple had just barely managed to claw itself out of bankruptcy. And it was only a few weeks after September 11th, so they couldn't host the introduction in NYC, and most people couldn't/wouldn't fly out to Cupertino, California at that time. In contrast, the iPhone has been talked about exhaustively, and it debuted yesterday to a packed arena. Lots of people are already predicting that it will change the marketplace forever, etc. It's funny what a difference five years makes.

MacWorld Linkage!
+ Time got the exclusive interview with Jobs and Apple about the iPhone.
+ ATTN! If you have an Intel-core Mac computer (iMacs, MacBooks, MacBook Pro), Mac has already built 802.11n wireless capability into your computer. Sneaky, but totally awesome.
+ TUAW has the shortest and sweetest demo of the new Apple TV. Pretty cool, although the Apple Remote seems a little small for using with a TV (try finding that in your couch cushions), and I'm still more comfortable buying hard copies of media than I am keeping them on a computer harddrive.
+ Toast may fix TiVo To Go for Mac. (YAY!)
+ Apple has the MacWorld Keynote available for streaming online. I always like the keynote, but this was the best ever. And not just because John Mayer performed! The whole thing is 2 hours long, but the iPhone intro starts out around the 26 minute mark. The iPod, Phone, and Web Apps demos begin at the 41:00, 49:00 and 1:01 marks, respectively. At 1:23, there's a demo of how easily it all works together.

Wedding Wars was not completely terrible, which was HIGHLY DISAPPOINTING. They used every gay stereotype in the history of the world, so that was bad. And there was really uncomfortable mankissing, which was also bad. And Eric Dane looked funny without his Clooney-do and his facial hair, so that was bad, too. But it was not awesomely bad, and therein is the secret to made-for-TV goodness.

( Friday Night Lights )

( House )

( Nip/Tuck Season Finale )

I am thinking about making my own Top 10 albums list for 2006. Not that I've listened to near enough music this year for it to be authoritative, but it might be interesting to have my favorite 2006 albums in a list for posterity. I don't really have the time right now, but that's never stopped me before.

So apparently ALL OF YOU are watching Studio 60! Okay, weird. Anyway. Wrong night.

( Gilmore Girls )

( Veronica Mars )

( House )

( Nip/Tuck )

I'll talk about Friday Night Lights tomorrow when I'm not so exhausted and brain dead. I thought it was awesome -- such a breath of fresh air.

And I had a chance to flip through L&O. It was a pretty shippy episode for Elliott/Olivia. I hope this means they're back working together again for good because I hate it when they're apart.

So you know how in fandom and RL you generally have to resort to passive agressive measures to convey your frustration to your friends about how you totally freaking hate the things they like? You don't have to do that with your siblings. That makes me happy.

Oh, TV. I am so uninspired to talk about you.

( Briefly on just about everything, spoilers minimal. )

P.S. Also, here's Rob Thomas revealing who exactly "Sally" was. I sort of kind of completely hate him now. (I have no problem with the identity of last season's killer. I just thought it was sloppy and didn't make a whole lot of sense, the way they did it. And I really do resent the way they played it. But whatever. Bygones.) I can't believe I'm saying this, but I kind of wish he'd just kept it to himself. *afterthought* xfunkydoryx should DEFINITELY not click on the link. Use that iron willpower.

P.P.S. Oh, how I have missed Omar G's TWoP recaps. He is the only recapper they have who never fails to make me laugh out loud, even when I'm in the library not-studying. I will be so sad if they don't give him another show when Smallville finally bites it.

I slept through my TV last night, and TiVo didn't record me Nip/Tuck. Quelle horror! We are totally breaking up. (Actually, it's my fault. For some reason Nip/Tuck and Project Runway go apeshit with extra recording. Also, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. So I have to record them manually, and I guess I forgot.)

( Weeds )

( House )

I have been driving recklessly lately. Very fast, weavy, in a rush-rush-rush driving, even when I have nowhere in particular to be. I can't decide if I'm finally just driving as aggressively as I used to, before my big wreck (which was completely not my fault, for the benefit of my newer friends), or if I'm just being stupid for reasons that escape me. Anyway. I will try to slow down.

Justice

No cut necessary for me to say that I enjoyed the first episode of Justice a lot. Victor Garber plays a media-hound type of lawyer, and Kerr Smith (Gay Jack from Dawson's Creek) plays his idealistic, straight-shooter partner. They're a nationally famous defense team. It's very CSI, With Lawyers! Not enough character work. But it's different from any other lawyer show on TV, and Renita really likes it, so I think we'll stay with it for awhile, at least.

( Y&R )

( House )

( Nip/Tuck )

( BSG - The Farm )

( Project Runway )

( Veronica Mars S3 Casting Spoilers )

( Smallville Casting Spoilers )

( House Season Premiere Spoilers )

I am so ready for Fall TV. Bring it on!

I could not get through to vote even ONCE tonight. So annoying. Renita texted for Taylor three times, so I claim one of those votes as my own. But it bugs me that I didn't get to cancel out more of my family's votes, sigh.

( Question about House... )

And the preview I saw for Casino Royale made more of an impression on me than The DaVinci Code did seeing as how I had a dream about it last night. I'm reserving judgement on Daniel Craig until I see the movie, but my initial reaction to the trailer is that he's rather too short to be James Bond. And much older than I'd expected, as I thought the whole point was to go rather a bit younger so they wouldn't have to switch so soon. Brosnan would have started earlier, I believe, if it hadn't been for his contract with Remington Steele.

Poll #735082
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Best. Bond. Ever.

Poll #712726
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Who is the worst boss?

( Team Cameron )

( Gilmore Girls )

( Big Love )

I'll update with VM thoughts later once I've seen it. Tomorrow. My roommate is asleep on the couch. Annoying, but understandable.