GREEDY LITTLE PIGGY: THE STIMULUS REBATE; BATTLESTAR GALACTICA; I Want MY DTV: Part 2

GREEDY LITTLE PIGGY: THE STIMULUS REBATE

I thought we were getting $1200 dollars as MFJ tax filers, but it turns out we’re getting $600 due to our low tax liability in 2007 (thank you, tuition tax benefits and underemployment).

Wow! Six hundred semolians! What to spend it on? Here’s my wish list:

1. HD Radio

2. Big screen TV

3. Giant turtle tank

4. New bed

5. Travel

6. Retire some credit card debt.

Six it is.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

The hilarious appearance of the cast of BSG in costume earlier this year, doing the usually tiresome Top Ten List on Letterman: "Top Ten Reasons to Watch the New Season of 'Battlestar Galactica,'" made me realize I was missing something. I then started watching the last few episodes of season 3 and the beginning of the fourth and final season. Simultaneously I have been catching up via Netflix and Blockbuster from the beginning of the series, creating my own mega-flashback. One sign that it’s a great show--I know what’s going to happen in most cases but it doesn’t ruin anything, just like seeing Romeo and Juliet.

What makes BSG different from other SF shows is that good characters do terrible things, not because they are under the sway of an alien life form, but because humans and human-aspiring cybernetic beings (Cylons) who look just like us sometimes do terrible things. Some of the plots look like they were ripped from the headlines Law and Order style per the mid-years of this decade, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Some self-examination of torture, rigged elections, abortion, the use of military force, religion, and the wisdom of listening to voices in your head without physical evidence is a good thing. “All will be revealed” the commercials tell us and I can’t wait. The idea of doing a prequel series after this one ends sounds like the worst idea since AfterMASH, but so did a reimagining of the original Battlestar Galactica.

I Want MY DTV: Part 2

I took my digital-to-analog converter box to my mother in Gravesend and my sister in Sheepshead Bay and while the report is better that the results in my building (see http://1onthetown.blogspot.com/2008/04/free-ebook-beautiful-children-by.html)

the reception was not perfect, even with roof antennas in Gravesend and Sheepshead. For example, while were able to get channels 11.1 and 11.2 in Gravesend, we could not receive either in Sheepshead. Gravesend received a blocky channel 2.1 but Sheepshead received 2.1 without incident.

They can make announcements and advertise and send notices in the mail but one thing is for sure: there will be a lot of people in February 2009 who will think their TVs are broken.

Reader Mail

Q: Do you write about everything thing you see?

A: No I don't. For instance, I recently saw my niece in a middle school production of ANNIE. She played Molly, the lead orphan after Annie. She was great and will make a great Annie in the future if she chooses. This was an authorized production edited for school kids and they actually call the show ANNIE, Jr. The TV production of ANNIE (not the movie) was one of the best things ever on TV.

Q: What about movies?

A: Mrs. 1Ott and I recently saw BABY MAMA starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. It’s a piece of fluff with flashes of humor, not as funny as Tina’s 30 ROCK but better than SNL. The last episode of of 30 ROCK was very funny, with Jack (Alec Baldwin) trying to get himself fired from his government job. When I see Tina with a sole writing credit on a 30 ROCK ep, I’m amazed. She was hired to act in BABY MAMA, and some interviewers are confused by that, thinking she wrote it also (it was written and directed by former SNL scribe Michael McCullers). Tina humbly claims to have only four moves as an actress but that’s 2-3 more than most.

Q: What are you reading?

A: I’m reading but having a hard time finishing BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN by Charles Bock. There’s not much of a connected story among the multiple lead characters, but the descriptive language gives you a good feel for the losers in Las Vegas. I’m only half way through it so I’m hoping it will pick up.

Q: Do you still root for the Mets?

A: Ha! Yes, I had flirted with going to the Phils for a year after the existential meltdown of the 2007 Mets (losing a 7 game lead with 17 games to go), like a Catholic trying out the Lutheran Church, but the Mets are like that cowboy buddy movie--I can’t quit you.

Q: What’s on your iPod?

A: I don’t have an iPod but as I’ve written about before, I have an old Rio, the grandfather of the iPod. Lately I’ve been debating myself whether it’s legal to record a stream (not a downloaded file per se, but a stream of data that you would need to record off your system mixer) and whether that is covered in the same way as the courts ruled on VHS taping. We used to tape off the air back in the day with tape decks and FM radios and it seems like the same thing to me. I've been listening to George Jones, Glen Campbell, Charlie Pride.

Q: You still listen to the radio. Why?

A: I like radio. I miss deejays like Ted Brown and William B. Williams. I’m hoping that someone takes an FM HD channel and runs standards like the old WNEW. That would make me run to buy an HD radio. Although, if they continue to offer Internet streamng, HD may be moot. In the meantime, I listen to High Standards on XM73 and hope that the upcoming merger doesn’t affect XM73.

Q: Still running?

A: Yup. The other day I felt something in my left hip that I never felt before. Each new ache makes you feel more alive I tell myself.

Q. How are the kids?

A: Two are coming home from college this week so I guess it's my favorite time of the year.