Work’s been keeping me otherwise occupied, I’m really tired of hearing about Michael Phelps, and the broadcast wing of NBC needs to start treating non-Easterners with just a bit of respect, but I caught my third water polo game of the Olympics last night, watching USA squeak out a win in a nail-biter with Italy, and loved it.  Even with the less than ideal video quality, live streaming video so beats tape-delayed and edit-butchered network feeds.

The opposite extreme was last night’s broadcast of select clips of the men’s 10m sychronized diving.  Some of the competing pairs were never shown at all, and while the winner was a surprise (kinda) I’d been texted the news on how the USA placed hours before the broadcast.

Maybe for 2012 we’ll finally be ready for an all sport, all live, internet-based Olympic coverage, with some network (or YouTube) doing a nightly recap.  But then how would bloody dictatorships get their social fluff broadcast to the world under the guise of ‘news’?

The second telling of Battlestar is coming to an end, and the tenth Doctor might be taking 2009 off, but The Prisoner’s coming back!  Creepy sci fi spy stuff as only the Brits can do it!   Yea for quality television!

Loved the matinee of Kung Fu Panda this morning almost as much as my lunchtime devotional reading from the local House of Wontonism.

There is excitement to be found wherever you go [in bed]

 Been a big fan of pandas for years, even though I think the whole ‘endangered on the brink of extinction’ schtick is getting a little old.  No, no brer zookeeper, no more forced breeding…and peel the next batch of bamboo shoots a little more carefully, please.  Roughage is important to species recovery.

Jack Black and the folks at Dreamworks took it to the next level though.  As a Samurai Jack fan I got all excited during the initial dream sequence, but that was nothing compared what I felt from the artistry of the main movie.  NSFW at all.  Even if there hadn’t been a good story and cool characters, I could’ve just drifted through the landscape panoramas for a few hours and still walked out of the theater satisfied.  Life is about the snacks, with or without a secret ingredient.

New, to me at least, Doctor Who on SciFi.  I know this was the Christmas special in the UK a few months back (over the holidays, duh) but I didn’t catch it until last night.  Wasn’t that impressed after all the hype of the Doctor’s holiday specials over the years, but I did like the bit with the Queen and her puppies evacuating London.

 New Battlestar (awesome episode) on Friday.  Loved the airlock scene.

Caught Forgetting Sarah Marshall at a matinee Saturday.  Great movie.  Loved that they didn’t try and rehabilitate the Kristen Bell characater and instead just kept bringing out more and more reasons to detest her, and really loved the puppets.  I’m not sure I would have appreciated that part as much if I hadn’t seen Avenue Q last summer, but it worked for me yesterday and that’s what counts.

Season finale of Torchwood last night.  This season kind of meandered a bit, and without spoiling things too much, the ending will hopefully lead to an opportunity to get it back on track.  Also, JACK’S EVIL BROTHER!!  I think that’s all I’ll say about him here.

Still letting the mind digest last night’s return of Battlestar, and trying to sort out some thoughts from attending this morning’s taping of KPBS’ Envision San Diego.  Both are taking a back seat though to catching some quality naptime with Diego and being psyched for tomorrow’s Crew Classic. 

If any part of your effort is exposed, the Secretary will leak an acknowledgment of your assistance and publicly grant you immunity for any crimes or other wrongdoings you may have commited.

I know plenty of people who blame Tom Cruise for the trashing of the Mission: Impossible franchise, but it took the Bush Administration to make an over-the-top 1960s spy drama actually look serious and credible. 

Feeling quite satiated after a dinner of grilled sausage didn’t stop me from drooling during the (time-shifted) season premiere of Top Chef.  Leading off the season with deep dish pizzas was a great concept, even if it was just to patronize their chain restaurant sponsor.  Personally though, I prefer to bake an old thin crust recipe from an old Alice Waters cookbook.  The crust stays light, and with a good white sauce (no acidy tomatos) the ingredients on the top make or break the meal.  Pizza is about the toppings (or the atmosphere) and while a bad crust can ruin a pizza, the experience shouldn’t be all about the crust.

Innovative.  Bordering on the avant garde.

I really do hope someone’s described me like that sometime.

Been all over the place the last few days, including being passenger and excess baggage on a little trip up to Delano (deLAYno).  There are farms there.  The culinary highlights were actually named Perko’s and Zingo’s – and actually Zingo’s breakfasts rock.  That’s all I have to say on the subject.  Spinner said more. 

Fun sightings in the non-real world category:

• Turning 301 pennies into ten million dollars.
• The difficulties of sterotyping – different churches react differently to same-sex marriage case.

One last thing as CSI reruns play in the background.  Yesterday I went into a local pizza place that uses blacklight to help with the ambiance.  Unfortunately I was wearing an old sweatshirt that’s spent the last couple weeks floating around the truck.  Let’s just leave you with that image, and a big, ol’ ewwwww.  It killed even my appetite.

Enjoying a long Friday lunch decompressing from the realities of the Business of Law.  Monthly invoices went out.  Someone who’s about to be sued called me ‘mean.’  The skies are grey.  Sounds like it’s time to boot up Civ and conquer the world.  Nothing makes a grey day brighter like Global Thermonuclear War.

On a slightly more inspirational note I caught the debut of Eli Stone last night.  I normally avoid lawyer shows because they leave me melancholy for the days of Perry Mason law: huge offices, efficient and ever-cheerful staff and no adminstrative responsibilities whatsoever.  Not only did Perry always have money (even the mobile car radio phone!), but his contractors like PI Paul Drake never seemed to worry about getting paid either.

So, yes, Eli Stone was a bit like that.  Fictional law with fictional ethics requirements and fictional finances.  But it kept me entertained.  Jonny Lee Miller is a great actor, and the ‘is he a prophet or is it a brain aneurism’ spin the the visions/hallucinations kept it from getting preachy.  I certainly never would have picked George Michael’s music as the possible voice of God, but even that was explained with all the logic that was necessary for a late Thursday night. 

Hopefully ABC can keep up some quality, unlike a couple of others I thought had promise that seem to have drifted off this season *cough* Bionic Woman *cough* Reaper *cough*.