Coworker Karaoke
I have two coworkers who chose to celebrate their birthdays by going to karaoke night at Scotty's on Friday. I'd never been to karaoke. I'd never been to Scotty's. It was actually pretty fun. Karaoke takes place on the funky outdoor deck. One half of the deck is set up with nice, small tables where groups of people had dinner in the light of the tiki torches. The other half feels like a boat deck and has picnic tables and a pool table that appeared to have only one cue. The karaoke stage is right in the middle of the two halves.
I didn't sing, but several of my coworkers did, as did a group of kids who were with our group. You haven't lived until you've seen a trio of thirteen-year-old boys sing "Baby Got Back" as their mothers shake their booties in front of the stage.
Just Like Heaven
I saw Just Like Heaven on Saturday and loved it. It's romantic and funny and sad all at once. Reese Witherspoon is good in it, and Mark Ruffalo is even better. Reviewers keep saying Jon Heder steals the show, and while he's good, it's Donal Logue who gets the absolute funniest line in the whole movie.
One Tree Hill
Season two of One Tree Hill is out on DVD, and I was lucky enough to have Netflix promptly send me disc one. One Tree Hill is perfect comfort TV because it's extremely fluffy. Most evening soap operas these days attempt to tackle real issues. On the last season of The O.C. alone we had drugs, gun violence, sexual identity experimentation, alcoholism, infidelity, and sexual assault. One Tree Hill stays away from all of that sort of thing, which makes it very restful.
Threshold
I went to karaoke on Friday night, so I had to tape Threshold. I clearly did not check the reception carefully enough because about half an hour to forty-five minutes of it was completely unwatchable. However, I did like what I could see.
It's an interesting story, and I like the repeating fractal pattern as the alien influence symbol. Peter Dinklage is still incredibly hot, and I'm glad to see him working. There are a couple of nice moments between Molly and Cavennaugh that seem to be hinting at a romance down the line, and a sweet one at that. The final shot of the two-hour premiere is awesome to the extent that I actually commented on it out loud in my empty apartment. The most disappointing thing about it is Brent Spiner, who seems to play only one character now that he's no longer Data full-time. If you've seen Independence Day, you'll recognize his scientist in this one.
A Taping Dilemma
The new TV season officially starts tomorrow. There are two different times where there are two different shows I want to watch. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem; I'd just tape one and watch the other. However, I will be out of town tomorrow night, and I will most likely be having dinner with coworkers, so there is a good chance that I won't get back to my hotel room by 8:30. Which leaves me with a dilemma: Do I tape Kitchen Confidential or How I Met Your Mother?
I loved the book Kitchen Confidential. I think I like Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother) slightly more than I like Nicholas Brendon (Kitchen Confidential). Rick Kushman rated How I Met Your Mother slightly higher on the Rickster scale, which would seem to tip the balance that way, but he also loved Bones, which makes me question his taste.
Any ideas on how to figure this out or suggestions on which one I should choose to tape would be appreciated.
For the curious: The other time with two things on is 9:00, but I've decided to tape Prison Break and be okay with it if I miss Two and a Half Men.
Of course, the real problem this fall will be Tuesday at 10:00, when there are three things I want to watch on at once. I'll probably watch SVU because I love crime shows and it's the only Law & Order worth watching anymore. But then there's both Boston Legal, which I like but am not in love with, and Close to Home, which is a Jerry Bruckheimer produced show that has both the blonde girl from Crossing Jordan and Christian Kane.