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11:52 am - Mon 10/12/02 (Offline) Sunday 10/13/02 1:40 pm Cary was here earlier today, to see if he could get my "new" computer working again (Last time he was here, he'd taken it with him, to see what he could do). The modem had crapped out, basically, so he switched it with a new one. But that didn't work either, most likely because the computer's too old to know how to deal with it. So he wanted to try a couple things here, then if they didn't work--which they didn't--see about taking the modem out of my old computer--The Aptiva--and sticking it in the Vaio. Unfortunately, when he opened the Aptiva and had a look, he saw that the modem was more integrated, with the motherboard and what-have-you, than was the case with the Vaio. It was hard for him to tell if they were even compatible or not, and he was getting into what for him was somewhat unchartered territory (He also was operating under some time constraints, not to mention not wanting to mess around and leave me without a computer at all). So basically, I've now got the Aptiva CPU hooked up to the Vaio monitor. I'm disappointed with the way things turned out, but appreciate all the time and effort Cary put into trying to help me (My main concern at this point is that the Aptiva is basically dying, but we'll deal with that eventuality when the time comes. And since I'm going to get a new computer when the time comes whether I can afford it or not, I guess this computer dying doesn't rank as that big a problem, does it? ). In addition to the computer help, Cary came bearing gifts, which was very nice, all the more so for being totally unexpected; In addition to the tape of Angel he made last Sunday, which I was anxiously awaiting, he had a small bookcase and a fax machine from Jonathan (Who's divesting himself of as many worldly goods as possible, since he lives on a boat smaller than the apartment he was in before). (END) (I have a genuinely hard time writing in here when I have all the time in the world to do so. I find that...interesting. But anyway...) Was watching Boomtown this morning (I taped that show and Alias last night). As I watched it, I thought, "This show might be too good..."; With its lack of big names (Donnie Wahlberg is the biggest) and multiple points-of-view, it seems too "story driven" and too smart to attract the same mass audience that's making hits out of crap like Fear Factor and The Bachelor. So I'm afraid this might end up being something I haven't experienced in awhile--A show I get invested in, only to watch it get cancelled because it's too good for tv (Other shows I watched and liked before they got cancelled--My So-Called Life, Murder One, EZ Streets, Relativity, and Cupid). So far, that's the only new show I've tried out this season that's "made the rotation" (And I consciously "tried out" more shows this season than I have in years, the rationalization being that, as an actor, I should be aware of what's out there). I watched the first episode of CSI Miami, primarily on the strength of David Caruso and Kim Delaney, but it didn't grab me (Interestingly enough, I haven't bothered to watch the original so far this season). I watched the first two episodes of Firefly, the sci-fi series by Buffy creator Joss Whedon, but the second episode left me just as uninterested as the first one, and I jumped ship (It only got two viewings because of the Buffy connection). Cary is still watching it though, so if it starts not to suck at some point he can let me know. I tried Robbery Homicide Division, but while it looks really good--more like a movie than a tv show--and has an interesting lead with Tom Sizemore (Probably best known for Saving Private Ryan and Natural Born Killers), I came away from that first episode without any real feeling for any of the characters. But I might give that another shot at some point. The only new sitcoms I've watched at this point happened by accident--I taped the wrong channel--and from what I saw, I don't feel like I ever need to watch Hidden Hills or Good Morning Miami again. Painfully un-funny "comedies". It's not a new show, but I have started watching Smallville on a regular basis, now that it's not competing with NYPD Blue (Which has sensibly been moved back to it's normal 10 pm spot this season). I like this take on the Superman mythos more than the romantic-comedy of Lois and Clark a couple years back (That show started out all right, then got progressively dumber and dumber--Just like the Superman movies with Christopher Reeve--until I could not in good conscience continue to watch it). And I like Scrubs, and think it was about time NBC put a sitcom on after Friends that was actually funny. But that said, I seem to have a "take it or leave it" attitude to actually watching the show, and I don't know why really; Maybe it's got something to do with the show being kind of broad and sometimes surreal in its comedy (I don't feel like I'm being asked to get invested in these characters as people). And at least so far that I've seen, there aren't any continuing storylines to come back for, so if I skip a week, I don't feel like I'm going to miss anything. I'm considering a major shift in my tv habits, and dropping ER (The show on CBS in that time slot, Without A Trace, with Anthony LaPaglia, is supposed to be very good. Though of course, being opposite ER likely means it won't last more than a season). I've always thought ER lost a step when George Clooney left. Then I worried they'd lose another step when Julianna Marguiles left, but ended up really liking Maura Tierney a lot. But the one person I always thought they couldn't lose was Anthony Edwards. He was the heart and moral center of the show (In a way, we got a little preview of what his departure would be like a couple years back; When "Mark Greene" was assaulted in the bathroom at the hospital, and responded to the event by becoming an unlikeable jerk, that was the first time, to me, that the show went off the rails, because there was no longer one character that essentially held the show together. Interestingly enough, now they've got "Elizabeth" responding to the tragedy of her husband's death in the same way). Now they're trying--In a ham-handed way, in my opinion--to put Noah Wylie in that position of "moral authority", but it's just not working for me. Whether it's because he's too good-looking, lacks the necessary gravitas, or because I have too strong a memory of the wide-eyed med student he started out as, I just don't believe him as an authority figure. And in my mind, they've so far botched a plot point I thought had huge potential--"Romano" getting his arm cut off, having to deal with a long, painful recovery, and the likely possibility of never being able to perform surgury again; When it happened, it was shocking (I yelled out loud), but in the time since, it seems like they've given short shrift to the character. Maybe they're planning to do more with it, but so far this season, it's been the only plot development I've found interesting at all (In fact, I can't tell you another continuing plot point off the top of my head right now), so to essentially drop it for the past two weeks seems like a mistake to me. Well...this isn't really what I set out to do when I sat down to write, but sometimes that's just the way it goes. I have enough stuff going on in my head for a couple more entries--And some of it's a lot more interesting than what I'm watching on tv these days--but I'm afraid it's going to have to wait; I think part of the reason I had a pretty sucky day at work yesterday is that I didn't get my naptime in, so I'm going to try to give myself a fighting chance by getting those extra zzzzz's. Nitey-nite my friends...
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