Central Arkansas Confidential

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Monday, September 22, 2008 - 11:05:24

Mad Men and 30 Rock, all up in some Emmys

Mad Men wins!  Mad Men wins the Emmy for best drama! YAY! I didn't predict this on here, but I could have told you this show was going to win.  There is so much going on and it is so beautiful to watch.  It really does take you to another time and place where the smallest details are looked after and you start to feel a little uncomfortable being inside these characters' lives.  I will say that the new season isn't as fast and furious as the first, but in many ways it's getting more interesting with an expansion into other characters' lives in and out of the office, especially with a new thread of changing attitudes of women and their role in the home and the workplace.  With a strong collection of female characters and actresses, this may become the prevailing theme of Season Two. 

If you aren't watching Mad Men, you are mad.  Go get Season 1 and start catching up on Season 2.  Probably online on AMC or when they do encores, which is like all the time.

 

30 Rock wins!  30 Rock won for best comedy at the Emmy's and I think this was a shoe-in.  With the relative dillution of the Office as the best show on television (mind you I think we all know they're winding down over there, not to say it's not hysterical still, there's just too much going on outside of the show with all the, now, stars that its inevitable the show is going to get a little less sharp); I think it was no surprise Tina Fey's 30 Rock has risen to the top as the best comedy on television this year and one of the best of the decade. 

I don't know how she does it, but she does, she is one of the funniest people in this country and probably the world.  She has it dialed up and on conference call.  Here is a prediction you can hold me to, when and if Lauren Michaels ever decides to retire (and/or die, because frankly I think he may be able to cheat death, he's that smart) I predict that Tina Fey will be given the reins to Saturday Night Live and thus become (if she isn't already) the most powerful woman in comedy and quite possibly the most powerful person in comedy.

The only thing I haven't seen her do and I'm sure will be in the works, is some sort of internet venture of her own, be it a series on funnyordie.com or whatever.  I expect great things of her, terribly funny, yes! but great.

Other yeeehas! for me on the Emmy's:

Of course Tinay Fey as best actress and best writer awards for 30 Rock! Do your thing girl!

Alec Baldwin - Supporting Actor on 30 Rock.  A pleasure to watch, he slays me every episode.

Jean Smart as Regina Newly on Samantha Who?  She's great, good show, but with Christina Appelgate's cancer diagnosis, no word on it's return... I'll have to google that.

Don Rickles - Mr. Warmth - Oustanding Individual Performance in a Variety Program - good Don Rickles, still laying it down well into his 70's, and that kid did some hard living back in the day, holla.

Glenn Close - Damages - Lead Actress - ummm, yeah, I think we all saw that coming.  She's the best, what are you gonna do ladies?

Bryan Cranston - Breaking Bad - (AMC oh look at that another one on that channel, might want to start turning over to AMC huh?) - he's great, just great, i want to give him a big hug for all the enjoyment I've gotten from his work.

Things I wish were never on air let alone give Emmys: Dancing with the Stars.  Stop the maddness.

Well, another year, another Emmy's missed, I'm just too busy these days, but my shows did well, save LOST, maybe that will be a wake up call for JJ to stop ignoring what got him to the big kid table.  Just like with ALIAS, he's letting the end of the show slip away because of new projects, sad really, LOST could go down as one of the greastest shows in the history of television if he'll make sure to keep a tight ship and not pour all the focus into the movies and FRINGE, which I enjoy as well, I just hope there is still good work going on with LOST, which LOST a little something last season with some muddled episodes.

m.r.

 

 

 

Posted by Mr. Ricky at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Monday, September 15, 2008 - 13:18:05

Hurricane in Arkansas? Wait, what?

Global Warming Exists.  Period.

Unless you are a complete psychotic-nutcase homeschooling you children to believe that God intended the polar bear to die and it's the Lord's divine will to melt the ice caps, you have got to start paying attention to global warming.  Why? Hurricanes in Arkansas.

When the hell did we have to start worrying about hurricanes in Arkansas?  I don't remember when I was  a kid it raining three straight days because of a "tropical depression" coming through?  What the F?  And this past weekend, what the hell was that?  Suddenly we're on the dirty side of the storm?  What?  There's no beaches here?  Wait, this isn't fair.

I mean if we're going to have the ill effects of hurricanes, I want the perks, I want an ocean, I want a beach, I want sunny, 80 degree days with decent humidity.  It's not fair to be landlocked and have to deal with ice storms and have to deal with stupid remnants of hurricanes that knock down trees, flood everything and take out power for three days.  Screw that noise.  So start thinking green people, because global warming is coming fo yas.

And furthermore, why, oh why are we talking about drilling for more and more oil to refine in more and more refineries that are shutdown or destroyed by more and more storms?  Maybe we should think about finding a renewable energy source that won't shoot up in price everytime there's hurricane in the Gulf or the Mid-East decides to squeeze us... hmmm, where's that platform Obamma? 

 

 

 

Posted by Mr. Ricky at 01:18 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]

"Oh, my gosh!" girls

Ladies, ladies, ladies, please, will you stop with the fake, "oh my gosh" girl personality?  If I have to listen to another introduction between two perfectly intelligent, perfectly business oriented women that goes like this:

"HAAAAAAAAAY! I'm XXXXXX, SO! Good to meet you..."

"HAAAAAAAAAAAY Girl! I'm XXXXXX, SO GOOD! to put a face to a name...."

"Oh my gosh, those are the cutest shoes!"

"Thanks, I've had them for like forever, cute bag!"

"Thanks."

Where the end of every sentence trails off in a question inflection.  It's like they're rushing each other for a sorority neither one of them wants to be in.  I mean come on, I'm all for women in the workforce, break the glass ceiling, do your thing, but is part of your thing an annoying valley girl voice that sounds like your going to go back to the conference room and braid each other's hair and talk about boys?

Whatevs, so over it, oh my gosh! M.R.

Posted by Mr. Ricky at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]

Tuesday, September 09, 2008 - 14:43:25

Harvard Employing God?

So, if you'll read this entry about a Harvard Med. School scientist who is creating a new form of life, (from Wired.com) you will understand the title of this post.

I find it rather interesting that someone, well a lot of someones, have embarked on what could technically be called one of surest ways to start a philosophical, religious, scientific debate over the very nature of our existence and it's being met with rather little fanfare, though it has popped up on the front of Yahoo!  That's where I saw it.

Anywho, I mean, it reads as if this team of scientists will, in the near future, create a completely new single celled organism that will replicate on it's own and I guess begin to evolve.  I mean, will there be a "Protocell Project" that will be on going monitoring and experimenting on the evolution of this new life form.

And let me re-iterate that, NEW LIFE FORM.  Not some genectically altered stem cell or some amoeba they split and put back together.  This thing was made from chemicals and stuff in a lab, engineered from scratch, i.e. "created"... someone else created a life once...

So here are my questions, and let me first say I don't condemn this research, though I'm interested in the ethical questions it will bring up, I mean they plan to experiment on it's evolution, there just seems to be something inherently wrong with that idea.

1.  Once it begins to replicate on it's own and "do useful things", I mean, maybe not today, or tomorrow, or a thousand years from now, but eventually, this thing will become a more complex thing, just like all life on Earth.  How will growing up in a lab effect it?

2.  What are these sceientists views on this "creation's" future.  I mean, is it technically alive, are we going to re-define "life" so this thing isn't alive and therefore it can be mucked around with?  I know, I know, it's a single cell organism, not even that yet, but still, what would have become of us if someone was poking around the petry dish we crawled out of?

3.  Is this how we were created?  Are we just a little organism in someone's galactic petry dish?

I don't know, I don't, it's just very interesting to me that someone out there is creating a new form of life that we've never seen.  Darwin would love this!

Hmmmm, how will creationists attack this?  Sorta takes some of the wind out of your sails when your neighbor is making life in a lab... who knows, I'm sure the Huckster will come up with something... M.R.

 

Posted by Mr. Ricky at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments [1]

Wednesday, September 03, 2008 - 15:46:08

Chrome, anyone?

So, Google, the company that is slowly but surely taking over the world, has released the beta version of their own web browser, called Chrome.  Check it out by going here:

However, what I think is surprising is that when one searches for "Chrome" on the old googler, the first result is Chrome Bags, a highish end messenger bag company out of San Francisco:

Imagine everyone who will search for Chrome and see their intriguing little site come up first and then go check it out, and start thinking, hmmmm, $150 for a backpack isn't that much when it's waterproof... I bet their September sales are way up, just you watch.

I guess you're going to see me with some chrome on my back too.

Both Chromes look great, though Google has been catching some flack on this latest creation, but like all things Google, it's in Beta and will be until your kid's kids are off to college, so don't worry, they'll get them fixed, meanwhile Microsoft and Firefox roll their eyes and wait for that market share to start slipping.

Beware, there has been some talk about Chrome having some security flaws, so you may not want to go anywhere you don't really know on it.  On a curious note, Chrome and the Yahoo! front page didn't seem to get along real well last night when I tried there, after a few pages into Yahoo! sports things got better, but it is interesting as other sites I went to look the same or better.  I'll be keeping it around as a toy for now, but all my biz is still gonna have to be on Firefox for now.

   If only Google would make a phone... oh wait, they are...

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee, the internet is fun, it's not just for porn anymore, though porn is still widely available. (Sorry, no link, this is a family blog)

Posted by Mr. Ricky at 03:46 PM | Permalink | Comments [0]