Television

I should be writing about our Christmas, etc. but before I get to it, I wanted to put out some links to some television related sites of interest.

Probably the best show produced these days is Battlestar Galactica. Slate has an article about the show's writers with links to four hours of writer's room conversations -- not commentaries, pre-production discussions -- of the episode "Scar." And then the official Battlestar Galactica site had that episode available online for a while.

Also on the Universal/NBC ticket is Friday Night Lights. Don't know why I like it so much, but it's pretty absorbing. The characters are pretty interesting and while occasional flipping through made the show seem somewhat trashy, by watching complete episodes online, I'm realizing that the characters do lash out wildly, but never without motivation that suits them. All the episodes are currently viewable online (with six 30-second commercials interspersed throughout).

Of interest to writers is Jane Espenson's site. She was a staff writer on Buffy and has written for Battlestar and various sitcoms. Her blog focuses on giving advice to aspiring television writers but is fascinating in just suggesting ways to write jokes, or telegraph character that transcends the genre. Plus, now I'm always curious about what she's eating for lunch.

Not a recommendation yet, but one of the writers of 24 has a blog on TVWeek.com. Might be more interesting as the season comes on.

Finally, set your TiVos! February 5th, PBS is airing "The Living Weapon," a terribly titled one hour documentary on the American biological weapons program. It's fascinating. Plants were churning out botulism (one ounce of botulinum toxin could kill everyone on earth) and other diseases and Secret Ops were testing distribution systems. In the New York subways. And off the coast of San Francisco. And in the neighborhoods of Savannah. And the Pentagon. (The trains in the tunnels quickly pushed the test bacteria all through the system, everyone in S.F. was exposed, thousands of the species of mosquitoes that carry Yellow Fever were spread throughout Savannah, and the Pentagon HVAC distributed the bacteria throughout the building.) The program ended when Nixon banned the test and production of bioweapons.

Really worth seeing. Soon, the website will be up at this URL, with previously classified DOD films, a map that shows where tests were done, and lots more. Eventually, the film itself will stream on the site, but not until a while after the airdate.

PBS Interactive

This is cool.

Nova is producing a documentary about the next generation of cars and YOU can help them develop the show. You can suggest who to interview, what to ask, and read the current script.

I never watch Nova but this makes me interested to catch this episode.

Canadiana

So Edie introduced me to this show "How I Met Your Mother," a sitcom about dating, etc. in New York. It's funny, but I often forget to watch it (like all this season).

But then I was flipping through TV Week and found a reference to a viral video marketing tactic that the show used which increased viewership by a million viewers -- more than 10 percent.

Here's a link to the video.

It's hilarious. I guess the premise is that one of the characters on the show is a Canadian who is trying to make it as a TV news reporter in New York. Well, this video is from her teeny bopper days in Canada and is called "Let's Go to the Mall."

If you, like me, went to a Canadian mall in the 1980s, you will enjoy it. My favorite part may just be the rhyme they make with "Tori."

Mari's cute

I should probably have something more insightful to say, but Mari's been really cute lately. She's very expressive, moving her eyes around a lot without moving her head (like Susannah Hoffs of the Bangles in the Walk Like an Egyptian video -- you know). And she does the slow nod (in script format):

PARENT
Do you want a piece of fruit?

Child tilts head up. Hold a beat. Another. Slowly, she
touches chin to chest. Beat. She looks up expectantly.

Also, she's got more hair now, and she's big enough that she's not always automatically crushed by Austin. In fact, she gives him these "hugs" that are essentially headlocks that drive him crazy.

Yep, Mari's cute.

Going vegetarian?

One thing I worry about with kids is that someone in the family is going to be a vegetarian. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course, but I don't want to have to conceive and prepare more than one meal for any one meal time. Call me lazy.

But it might happen. Because of Austin.

And not because he's squeamish -- it's because he's grossing me out. He asked Julie the other day if people ate cats. She told him no. He nodded and agreed that the fur would be awful in your mouth.

And then I roasted a chicken and he ate both drumsticks. And then gloated -- gloated! -- about it afterward: "I ate two chicken legs! The chicken has no legs! He has to bounce around on his belly! Bok bok bok!"

I felt a little ill.

100th post! More funny kids!

Okay, Austin gets a lot of attention here because of the funny things he says.

Today we made a big deal about getting out of the house earlier so we could go vote. He got really excited and changed his clothes and put on his shoes and jacket much faster than usual. I told Austin that voting was secret so he was whispering, and then I showed him how I filled out the ballot and he helped me put it in the reader. As we left the building, he started to get mad. "We didn't go! We didn't go!"

What?

"You said we were going to a boat and we didn't go!"



And this is classic: while putting on his shoes, Austin turned to me and said: "Daddy, is this a dream?"

What do you mean?

"If this was a dream, we'd still be sleeping, right?"

Right. No, Austin, this is not a dream.

More Mari

It's been pointed out that Mari gets short shrift on this blog. She needs to talk more!

But she's still pretty funny to watch. She definitely knows what she wants and can be stubborn about putting her shoes or jacket on by herself. She also knows when she's tired.

Sometimes when we're reading to her, she'll just walk away. Once, I called out, where are you going? and she shouted back "I go to bed, Daddy!" Sure enough, she climbed upstairs, went into her room, climbed into the crib and lay down. Just had to throw a blanket on her.

Themed Halloween

Can you guess the theme?

"I am your father!"

"You're our only hope!"

Eyes design: Mari; Mouth: Austin; Carving: Jack

"I want my breakfast!"

Batman

I got Austin a Batman reader a while back. It tells the story of Bruce Wayne becoming orphaned, vowing to fight crime and then traveling the world learning crimefighting techniques.

The other day we were reading about Bruce going to Asia to study martial arts with Master Kirigi. For a month, Kirigi ignores Bruce. Then, realizing Bruce isn't going away, Kirigi teaches him the proper way to sweep a floor. A month later, Kirigi teaches Bruce the proper way to make rice. Bruce learns patience and earns the right to learn martial arts.

Austin interrupted me. "Can Bruce cook eggs?"

Um, yeah, he probably can. Why do you ask?

"Because if he can cook rice and cook eggs, he can make fried rice."

Pictures

Julia request more pictures. Here's some from apple picking a couple of weeks ago: