Whine & Cheese

Viva Las Vegas

Sin City Awaits! In 24 hours, we should be on the road to Las Vegas. Pretty much ready to go...well, with the exception of minor details like packing. But why pack early when things are just going to change (i.e. temps have shifted from the highs in the 100s just 2 weeks ago to the highs in the mid 60s predicted this weekend).

Hopefully air conditions will improve. The news is showing Vegas under a pretty thick layer of smoke from the California wildfires...and here I was thinking I was glad we were not making a trip to the West Coast!

Definitely have a full plate and I am just not talking about those buffets. On the schedule: NY-NY's new Cirque show Zumanity, Celine Dion's A New Day, the gospel brunch at Mandalay Bay's House of Blues -- and maybe checking out Madame Tussaud's and the new free show at Treasure Island (...err I mean TI), The Sirens of TI...and of course, a dose of gambling and eating somewhere in between!

As the King sings "How I wish that there were more than the twenty-four hours in the day"... Viva, Viva Las Vegas!

No, Not the Smith House!

Entertainment Tonight is at it again...for a second day, they are airing "teaser" ads of how the stars are being affected by the California wildfires. Will Smith's house is just over that hill!! Jane Seymour's Malibu estate endangered by flames (again)!! Cuba Gooding Jr's mother evacuated!!

While the loss of a home is an unfathomable tragedy for anyone, I am just having a wee bit trouble mustering up any serious worry/pity for the multi-millionaire sect. I have seen news report after news report of people who have literally lost everything -- people who do not have a second home in Aspen and somehow have to start to try and rebuild their lives with a $10,000 starter check from an insurance agent.

I know ET is not hard-hitting news, but I think it is just pretty insensitive to promote a celebrity angle on a story that is largely affecting "real" people. Now, if the stars donating money or volunteering at evacuation shelters THAT would be a story worth reporting!

Vegas Awaits

I am not sure how much I will be blogging this week.  The big Las Vegas trip is Friday and I am in deep preparation mode!  You see, I come from a family of "Nervous Harrys" (as Mom would say) so for even for just a long weekend away...this is about the time panic mode ensues.  For someone who is not particularly tidy, I have this sudden compulsion to get everything in order.  This usually manifests itself in list-making: things that *have* to get done before, things to bring, things not to bring, etc.

This time, car stuff (oil change, wash, burn CDs) was added to the list.  After a dozen trips to Vegas, for the first time we are making the 300-mile trip by car.  With air-hotel packages always pretty reasonable, the 45-minute flight always seemed the way to go (during non-daylight savings it is even better -- you arrive BEFORE you left Phoenix!). But with extending our stay by an extra day, we figured to try out the drive.  It will be the first time we see this part of the Arizona and, one of the modern wonders of the world, Hoover Dam.

Next, there are the pets - sending the dogs off to the "PetsHotel" and prepping the cats to manage on their own.  Now I *know* that they will all be fine, but I always feel bad leaving them.

Then, of course, work always gets crazy.  No matter how slow it is in the weeks leading up to a trip  -- out of the blue everyone seems to want everything in the day or so right before you leave.

But I guess what this all proves is how serious I take my vacations and, probably more so, how seriously I need them!

No "Right" Turn

Just some conservative itchiness today:

In an interview on The Today Show, Barbara Bush Calls Democrat Line-Up a 'Sorry Group'. Ah, momma protecting the baby cub. BTW Barb, I really hate name-calling too. If Mom's outburst was not embarrassing enough, Dad chimed in accusing the Democrats of "vicious rhetoric" (hmmm... would that be over WMD, the economy, White House leaks, Iraq body counts) and adding that the "all the media is against George (W), Republicans, any Republican." Guess they don't get basic cable up in Kennebunkport.

Speaking of that darn liberal media, stumbled across this story in another blog... hope there is/was no rhetoric or Bush-bashing at The Northeast Georgia Council Boy Scouts of America's "Learning for Life" Event. I think not with the guest speaker list consisting of: Oliver North, Ann Coulter, conservative "pundit" Martha Zoller, and two radio DJs named Rick & Bubba (aka "The Two Sexiest Fat Men Alive!"). Now, I have had some issues with the Boy Scouts' "policies" - but I seriously do not believe it is the place of a CHILDREN's organization to promote/align itself with a political group (or religion for that matter). Is there GOP merit badge I just do not know about?

BBC

Just added the "Variety Tier" to our cable line-up (like we really needed MORE channels!) - one of the reasons was to get BBC America. It was fun to see Changing Rooms, the "original" Trading Spaces. The Brits appear no less safe from goofy paint colors than their American counterparts -- loved it when the homeowner moaned that the color was "horrid" during the unveil.

Far more fascinating though was comparing the BBC World News with ABC's World News Tonight. The first thing I noticed was the pacing. The BBC spends a whole lot more time on their top stories. Apparently, the major US networks are under the impression that their average viewer's attention span is something like 1 minute 47 seconds. That time span alone was what the BBC allowed for an individual "sound bite" during a press conference about a Northern Ireland/IRA "peace" agreement (a story, by the way, unmentioned here in the States). In the US, a person is lucky to get out half a sentence if allowed a quote on the nightly news.

And who'd of thought that world news does not revolve completely around the United States?! The only US mentions during the newscast were the new steroid controversy (though no mention of high profile US athletes, Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds) and one video clip of President Dubya looking uncomfortable in his silk high-collared jacket at the APEC summit in Bangkok.

Even after just one viewing, it was evident that adding the BBC World News will give an American viewer a far different and broader perspective on the world (a rampant gun control problem in Brazil - 16 people killed by guns EVERY day in just Rio de Janeiro alone?!). While it may not be a daily viewing habit, I will certainly try to check in every now and then.

Happy Belated B-Day To Me

Celebrated a birthday on Saturday. Numerically speaking, it was not an exciting one... 36... quite ensconced in my 30s, no longer in my "early" 30s and not one of those milestone birthdays that end in 5 or 0. But the good things are that at least I am happily "settled in," fairly financially stable, and probably in the best physical shape of my life.

I always find it odd that people born around the same time of the year magically share personality traits. Though I am sure I could pull out traits that fit me just as well from other astrological signs, I am certainly a "textbook" Libra in many ways (both positive and negative): a desire/need to achieve balance, idealistic, easygoing, indecisive, impatience of criticism, and greed for approval.

But if I share these attributes with other Libras, should I have an even deeper "connection" with those who I share a birthday with!? Every time my birthday rolls around, I always find it interesting to see who I share the special day with... what a mixed bag it is!

B-list TV stars (Mork's Mindy Pam Dawber, Chachi's Joanie Erin Moran, and Gilligan's Mary-Ann Dawn Wells)
African-American Musicians (Chuck Berry and Wynton Marsalis)
Wimbledon Champions (Martina Navratilova and Michael Stich)
Not exactly members of the Democratic party (Jessie Helms and Lee Harvey Oswald)
...and Jean Claude Van Damme.

Perhaps we DO have similarities...but let's hope, in some of the above instances, we show it very different ways.

Paying for Downloaded Music... What a Concept!

Yesterday I purchased my first music from the Windows version of iTunes. Although the download of the 19 meg installation file was pretty slow (even with my broadband connection), I have a feeling I was not the only doing so on the debut day. I had planned on it all being an exploratory session, but I could not resist downloading and (gasp!) paying for a couple of songs (all discussions of past, we'll just leave in the past okay?!).

Overall, it was a good experience. Registration was easy, my handful of searches were all items within their 400,000+ library, and the $1.98 spent (conveniently charged to my credit card) is not going to break my wallet. Also nice - no subscription fees (just a la carte) and no limits on downloads/burns.

I could not help but think if the music industry had been well ahead of the curve on this years ago, they could have kept the filing "sharing" Pandora's box considerable more contained. Sure the Napsters and Gnutellas would have still been out there (and in some form or another probably always will be) -- but if a legal / convenient / inexpensive alternative was already in place I think (perhaps over-optimistically) many people would have thought twice about doing it for free.

The only issue I had with iTunes was the file format. No big surprise that Apple was not going to make it terribly easy for Windows or non-Ipod users. The file format is an AAC audio file and not the more readily accepted MP3 (and certainly not a Windows WMA audio file). The problem is my relatively new MP3 player only accepts MP3s and WMAs. So in order to get around this (in a hopefully "legal" manner) I did the following: burned the songs onto a CD (using the integrated burn function within iTunes) and then using the Windows Media Player copied the songs off the CD and onto my hard drive as WMAs. So a minor hoop to jump through, but not horrible.

So what were my first two purchases? Pavement Cracks (MacQuayle Extended Mix) by Annie Lennox... I am usually not into the "extended mix" but I made an exception since I heard good things from Entertainment Weekly about this one. I was lucky enough to have 3rd row seats to Annie's Bare tour over the summer. She simply has one of the finest voices ever... when I hear one of her best songs "Why" sometimes get goosebumps even BEFORE she starts singing.

Okay, totally guilty pleasure on purchase #2... Bridge Over Troubled Water by Clay Aiken, the Al Gore of the last season's American Idol. I always liked the song, but readily admit to having become quite taken with Clay's gospel choir-backed rendition.

October B-Ball

It has certainly been a thrilling couple of League Championship series, huh?! The dream World Series match-up between the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox faded last night as the Marlins broke the hearts of a city (and perhaps a nation) with yet another comeback win over the Cubbies. I not-so-boldly predict a Yankees win tonight for a totally anticlimactic WS showdown.

Regarding the unfortunate Game 6 fly/foul ball guy, I really hope he does not turn into this century's version of Mrs. O'Leary's cow. You do not have to attend too many baseball games to realize that people will do just about ANYTHING to get their hands on a baseball. Heck, I have seen many a middle-age guy turn into a 7-year old in order to catch a free Blimpie sandwich coupon dropped from the mini-blimp before a game!

The "incident" made me think back to one of my own ballpark experiences. I was fortunate enough to attend four games of the 2001 World Series (Diamondbacks vs. Yankees). In Game 1, the Diamondbacks' Craig Counsell hit a homer to our section in right field (about 5 rows away -- I think, like a fishing tale that ball gets closer and closer to me as time goes on). It was literally a "sea of humanity" -- everyone stood up, a quiet rumble swelled into a roar, and you could literally feel hundreds of people (ourselves, uncontrollably included) sway towards the direction of the ball. Beer splashed, popcorn flew, the guy next to us was covered it mustard. It was a thrilling and terrifying all at once. So hopefully everyone will just chill out about Mr. Chicago Left Field Guy -- catching a baseball is a natural instinct -- falling just slightly below the need for food, clothing and shelter.

Brenda Deja Vu

Talk about your subconscious working overtime. What are the chances of seeing the same (and, in my opinion, obscure) actress on two different TV shows (airing 4 years apart) on the same night? Pretty good, I guess. This very thing occurred last night while watching the latest episode of The Lyon's Den and following it up with one of my TiVo backlogged episodes of Sports Night (an episode from 1999).

This morning, I had a gnawing urge to make a connection between the female executive accused of sexually harassing another woman (oooo... how titillating!) on Den and the sexually confident Sally from Sports Night? My Internet detective work paid off -- actress Brenda Strong (a name I definitely would never have come up with on my own) played both roles. All pretty strange since last night I did not even have one hint of recognition in the approximately 15 minutes she was on one show and then the other.

BTW, good sources for entertainment related searches: The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and Television Without Pity

Bad source: NBC.com (undeserving of a link...since it had absolutely no cast/show information for the episode that had aired just 2 days ago).

New Shows: My Ratings

With at least 2 shows under my belt, I figure it is about time to rank the six new TV shows I decided to take out for a spin. In general, it has been an unimpressive new season. I will not lose much sleep if most (any?!) of these shows get the boot. That said, the network buzzards are already circling, most notably NBC -- already re-working Friday night and threatening to put many of its new shows on hiatus for the November sweeps. Here is the list:

(1) Miss Match - I am still really liking this Darren Star dramedy. It is a breezy and fun hour. Alicia Silverstone really lights up the screen (a rare thing these days with "star" driven shows). Unfortunately, the ratings news is not good -- pummeled by Joan of Arcadia (had no interest in this show after enduring 1,543 "coming this fall" commercials -- and Amber Tamblyn annoyed me when she was on General Hospital). NBC pushed MM back an hour this past week but to no avail.

(2) Karen Sisco - This one just has a "cool" vibe all around -- from the music to the Miami locale... the show is all summed up in the tightly wrapped tank top of the tough talking, gun toting and very cool Carla Cugino. But again, Sisco is not setting the ratings afire (blame the competition, the veteran Law & Order).

(3) Las Vegas - Sure I have a lot of problems with this show (too many "main" characters, marginal acting, overall lack of believability) - but I don't think LV ever has or will aspire to be a high-caliber show. Not unlike its namesake, it is flashy and fun -- the equivalent of reading a trashy novel.

(4) The Lyon's Den - Now this one is trying to be "high quality" and "serious," but not accomplishing it. Unlike Silverstone, I do not think Rob Lowe is carrying this show -- blame it on the writing, his acting or both. The good vs. evil arc within the firm is heavy-handed and will probably take way too long to resolve -- while the cases wrapped up within the hour have not been terribly compelling. Nothing really bad about this show, but nothing really great about it either.

(5 TIED) Coupling, Hope & Faith - I have pretty much given up on both of these shows. Having watched 2 Couplings, I could not even get through 5 minutes of the 3rd episode. The show is a shot-by-shot re-creation of the BBC version. While I realize the majority of people probably have not seen the BBC version, to me the US version is like watching a high-school cast perform a play I saw on Broadway last week. Regarding H&F, "The TiVo has spoken." With the Miss Match time change, the Friday night sitcom was voted off via our Season Pass priority list. No big loss, as mentioned in the past, I'll quench my Kelly Ripa fix in the morning. To be honest, I was more ticked that the MM shift conflicted with The McLaughlin Group.