New Fall Season

Since it's September, with all the new shows starting their seasons I'm back on the downloading train (aka. Canadian Tivo).

Number 1 is HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher". Maher can wipe the floor with John Stewart's smug Liberal ass any day.

One thing I've learned from Real Time though is that it is really really hard for a guy who's fifty or so to not be a huge blowhard. Supposed East Coast elites like Tom Wolfe and P.J O'Rourke (who Bill's had on at least twice now) are among the worst (though the worst of all is Bill O'Reilly). But Real Time also has on "positive" non-blowhard rolemodels, like Bill himself, or Elvis Costello.

I dig mysteries. Or at least I get sucked in my them. The last four books I've read have been mysteries (except Canseco's "book"), so I really got caught up in the first season of Veronica Mars, girl detective.

I have incredible restraint in some matters, and I never skip ahead when I watch a movie or read a book. I always want to experience it exactly how the creator intended. So when I got this whole series I spent a few months watching it at a controlled pace, not binging on three episodes or skipping ahead. It was worth it. Some people compare it to Buffy, but I think it's a lot better -- at least it doesn't have the male characters that you want to throw under a bus.

The second season wasn't as good, but now Veronica goes to college.

The "US" Office. I'm on the fence with this show. When Pam and Jim got together that in my mind ruined the whole show. The beauty of the British Office was the discomfort and lack of fulfilment. Candy and chips is okay for the kids, but more sophisticated tastes like bitter and sour too. Plus whenever two characters on a show evantually hook up it makes the transition to soap opera.

Two shows I might try to make space in my life for are The Wire, and Life on Mars, a BBC cop show set in the 70s.