All Hallows' Eve... Eve

Well, we are once again in the midst of a big Halloween season. It's not really one day anymore; the parties start long before the big day and people tend to stagger them across the weekends so they can not only hold their own party but be able to attend everyone else's. While for me, it's not QUITE as crazy as last year (3 parties is much easier to handle than having to dress up for SIX), there is always guaranteed to be some sort of unexpected madness that goes perfectly with a mad holiday like Halloween.

Of course, the first thing you have to do when preparing for Halloween is to get your costume. I have never been good at this sort of thing. Truth be told, there is not one costume I wore when I was a kid that I really remember all that well. My best attempt to make a costume myself was the year that I wanted to be Mr. Met, and since I had no skill at creating something bearing a resemblance to a giant oversized baseball head, I wound up looking like I had a cardboard oil drum on my head with baseball stitches and a face on it.

In later years, my costume ideas depended on being as creative as possible while being as cheap as possible. You can't really do both, but I tried. One year in college, I wore my old baseball pants, my Mets jersey and baseball cap, and borrowed a bat from female radio co-worker (don't ask). Instant baseball player. The bonus came when my date for the evening dressed as a cat... when people asked who we were supposed to be, I just told them, "Batman and Catwoman." (insert rimshot here) I would say my low-water mark came a few years later when, absolutely flummoxed by the prospect of choosing a costume for myself, I went to work (as a disc jockey) dressed for Halloween as... a disc jockey. Except in my case, I exaggerated some things, wore sunglasses indoors to look like I had a huge "Johnny Fever" from WKRP-sized ego, but still... I spent no money and made no effort.

The last few years have been a different story. I've been invited to many a party since I moved back to the 'Cuse and now I actually have to try in order to fit in at these shindigs. I got away with being a monk two years in a row because I went to different parties with different people both years. Back in '06, I came up with my infamous "Kim Jong Ill" combo dictator/gangsta rapper bit (again, don't ask). Last year, I went back to buying a costume and went as a knight. This year, once again, I had no clue. I saw an ad for a place that sold "Captain Jack Sparrow" costumes, so I figured maybe they were at other places too. No. The "officially-licensed" (read: Disney gets all the $$$$) kind was only at this one place, and my two best options were a BAD knock-off or an overpriced knock-off. Well, if you're gonna get a knock-off, get a good one... but then I needed a wig. The only one I could find was a BAD one... for $25! TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS FOR A BAD WIG???

This is when I discovered that much like with anything else, you can always get a better deal on the Internet. Two days later, I had a wig, and even with the shipping charges, I still saved $5. And it was an actual GOOD wig.

Once you have costume in hand, it's off to the party. Some people go all out for these things. One of my former co-workers is just such an example. He's meticulous with details, right down to the self-made invitations; you've gotta appreciate someone who sends you a party invite that reads, "See back of blood for directions." He and his wife do up their entire house for the occasion, and he was happy to play "bartender" Igor in the "lab" complete with vials of syrups for your drinks. Unfortunately, it is possible to go over the line with these things, and in some cases, you need to be prepared for when that happens. When I showed up to the party, I was informed by my kindly host, "You just missed the fire." Apparently, he'd set up one of these "Jacob's Ladder" things with the electric current flowing through it and it overheated and caught the wall on fire. Oops.

After safety issues have been alleviated, it's now time to enjoy yourself. Putting out a big spread of food is always good, allowing your guests to bring a bigger spread of drinks is even better. Hilarity ensues. Just make sure you do the right thing and take a cab home or have a designated driver if you're going to be partaking in such "hilarity." Having the actual Halloween night on a Friday night guarantees parties everywhere... but the upshot of this is that you have two whole days to recover before you have to go back to work on Monday. Unless you work weekends like I do, but I'm just crazy like that, and what better time of year to embrace one's craziness than now...

State of the Tube 2008

My fellow Americans, it is time once again for me to assess the state of television as the new fall season rolls out. Most of the new shows have debuted; shockingly, none of the shows that I like have been canceled already. So now it is time for me to give you my observations on the TV landscape as it stands today. Happy to say, I have a lot of good to talk about. Unfortunately, the abundance of good television makes it tough for me to watch them all and still be an effective grad student, so let's just say my DVR has gotten a workout lately. Greatest invention ever.

Here's how I do this... I tell you what I watch, night by night. If I don't like it, I don't watch it. Pretty easy way to figure out what I think are good shows, right?

So let's start with Sunday... because today is Sunday (my logic is awesome). I have to admit that I no longer get excited about new episodes of "The Simpsons". It's not that I don't like the show, but after a while, I just tired of it. The movie really was the end of the road for me. I'll watch the occasional rerun but when I can only watch so much in a week, "Simpsons" doesn't make the list for me. I do, however, still LOVE "Family Guy". This show just keeps finding ways to be hilarious. Already this season, the show has sparked a renewed interest in "Surfin' Bird" (or at least everyone making reference to it) and made "And boom goes the dynamite" a catch-phrase. Hopefully, they keep it up. At 10:00 on AMC, I would be watching "Mad Men"... if I wasn't still 3 weeks behind. This is yet another case of me jumping into a show late, but not surprising; I jumped into "The Sopranos" in season 3 and "Scrubs" in season 7. So I haven't seen the first season but I still enjoy "Mad Men." Don Draper and the gang at Sterling Cooper are much like Tony Soprano and co.; you know these guys are scumbags, but they're likable scumbags and you can't help but watch them. This show won a fistful of Emmys for good reason.

CBS chose to move "How I Met Your Mother" to 8:30 on Mondays and put the pathetic "Big Bang Theory" at 8:00, which hurts because a bad lead-in is never good. That being said, "How I Met Your Mother" is still one of the best shows on television. Take the most recent episode for example... the plot revolves around the gang's idea that staging interventions are a good way to break people of their bad habits, so next thing you know they are staging interventions to stop Lily from speaking with a British accent, stop Barney from doing fiery magic tricks, stop Marshall from wearing Dr. Seuss hats... eventually it gets so bad that they have an "intervention intervention." Meanwhile in the SAME episode, you have Barney trying to prove that he can pick up a woman while in old man makeup and a hilarious flashback where a drunk (and "hyper-Canadian") Robin is playing hockey in the apartment and causes Lily to drop the gloves (or oven mitts in this case) and start a cat-fight.

I am happy to report that "Heroes" is back and back to being GOOD. A lot of people were upset with the way last season went and the writers strike hurt as well, but they've come back strong. A show like this is good when at the end of each episode, you have so many questions and you can't wait until next week to see if they are answered... then you go into work the next day and ask them what they think. A true water cooler show. And believe me, I wanted to scratch my head and say, "Wait, Ali Larter is back as a completely different character?" But the explanation of a doctor creating these people with abilities actually made me say, "Oh, okay, that's cool."

Speaking of shows that leave you wanting more, there's "Fringe", Tuesday nights on Fox. I've already written here that this is the best new show of the season, and a friend of mine made a great point as to the reason: Any show that has a likeable eccentric for its main character works (exhibit A: this show's lead-in, "House"). In this case, it's Dr. Bishop, who spent 17 years in the crazy house before being released so he could help solve all these cases that deal in some way or another with research he once conducted. And they still work the cow into every episode...

I was a casual fan of ABC's "Pushing Daisies" on Wednesday nights when the show debuted last season, but I made a real effort to get into the show this season. I have to say it is a truly unique and compelling show. It's escapist fantasy and it's obviously made to be that way. When you get down to it, the show is pretty much another detective show, only it's goofy and plays like a bedtime story, complete with narrator. At 9:00 on Fox, "Til Death" is still a sharp sitcom and Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher have tremendous chemistry; however, it appears that they are phasing out the next-door neighbor newlywed characters and I think the show is missing something without them.

Speaking of sitcoms making changes, "My Name Is Earl" has thankfully reverted back to its original premise: Earl checking off things on his list, trying to atone for bad things he's done. Last season's diversion of Earl in prison completely lost me, but I'm back now. In that 8:00 Thursday slot, I also watch "Smallville." Okay, stop laughing. I'm not a huge comic book person so unlike many who were into this show at the start, I'm not picking at every little way that this show diverts from the Superman story. This season, they have transitioned into the actual Superman story, with Clark Kent working at the Daily Planet and Lois Lane discovering she's in love with him. Rumor has it that this is the last season for the show, and this really would be a good place to end things, since the original premise was the whole backstory of Superman. "30 Rock" comes back after the election, and I'll add that to my must-see list when it does.

Also on Thursday nights, you have ABC's new cop drama, "Life on Mars." I'm a little behind on this show too, but I did see the pilot and I think that the premise of this show could have legs but you have to wonder for how long. The main character finds himself in 1973 after getting hit by a car. It turns out he's in a coma and this is some way that the brain can operate when someone's unconscious. That being said, the cast is fantastic so we'll just have to see where this goes. Hopefully, there will be more Michael Imperioli and Harvey Keitel and less Lisa Bonet (hey, there was a reason Don Geronimo once called her "super f---ing boring" on the air).

The CW made a great move by shifting "Everybody Hates Chris" to Friday nights. First of all, it means that this first-rate sitcom is no longer on opposite something else I want to see (of course, DVR solves this problem too, but still). Secondly, it's a small step toward the networks actually making an effort on Friday and Saturday nights again. Since the demise of ABC's "TGIF" lineup a decade ago, the networks have pretty much given up on these two nights because people go out on Friday and Saturday nights so why bother running anything worth watching? Ya know, you can watch a good sitcom or two at 8pm and then hit the bars. Anyway, kudos to the CW for sticking their neck out there with a solid show on Fridays.

Lastly, I have to say that "Saturday Night Live" has actually been halfway decent so far this season, but I'll bet that has a lot to do with the election coverage, and they are milking it right now, especially with the live "Weekend Updates" on Thursday nights. Once the election passes and Amy Poehler leaves the show, it's probably going back in the crapper.

So those are the shows I like. There are plenty of other shows that are probably good but they just aren't my kinda thing. Then there is the complete waste of time known as "Hole in the Wall." I single this one out as perhaps THE DUMBEST IDEA IN THE HISTORY OF TELEVISION. Here's the premise: two teams of contestants compete against each other by standing next to a pool of water and trying to fit through a hole in a moving wall to avoid getting knocked into said pool of water. That's it. That's the show. At least "Wipeout" has ACTUAL PHYSICAL EFFORT involved. Thank you Fox for further dumbing down the country.

What's coming on the horizon? The "24" movie in November sweeps, followed by the long-awaited return of the series in January. "Scrubs" moves to ABC in the spring, "Reaper" comes back for a second season, and we'll start to see more new shows whose development were halted by last year's strike. It's looking pretty good out there right now, and I can honestly say the state of the tube is strong. Happy viewing!

Another Case of the Random Thoughts

It's not everyday that you get to attend a Q&A session with Bob Costas, but such things happen when you are attending the university that I am attending. I found out about it about 2 hours before it started and after a brief discussion with one of my fellow teaching assistants about the ethics of blowing off your assigned duties to see a major effing star, we decided to go.

I got there just in time to grab a "standing room only" spot at the back of the auditorium. I have to say I was really impressed both by Costas' views on everything from China to Barry Bonds, and also his enthusiasm for being there. I didn't ask a question; for one thing, I wasn't required to do so for class credit and also I think I was so impressed by Costas that I couldn't think of a question befitting of his lofty status. So I just listened, and again I thought he was brilliant. That oughta show the assembled students the holy grail, where you want to end up, who you want to be when you make it someday out in the world of media. That is one fantastic role model for the future reporters and sportscasters of America.

Moving on to other stuff on my mind...

The baseball playoffs have completely lacked drama. The Cubs disappeared and completely embarrassed themselves, this in the year that they were supposed to finally end the 100-year hex on this sorry franchise. Unfortunately, the franchise got even sorrier, if that was at all possible. Meanwhile, the Angels also have been discovered to have a playoff mental block; it's called the Boston Red Sox. Angels fans have got to be beside themselves right now, thinking that no matter how well they do in the regular season, they're gonna wind up playing the Red Sox in the playoffs and they won't win a game. At least the Cubs are equal opportunity... Marlins, D-Backs, Dodgers... Tampa is making short work of the ChiSox and until last night, most assumed the Phillies would do the same of the Brewers. At least we won't have four sweeps now, but for the love of god, give me something compelling!

I want to believe things will be better for the Buffalo Sabres this season. They return pretty much everyone from last year (everyone who mattered anyway... sorry, Steve Bernier) and they can only get better. I looked over their roster last night; this is still a young team on offense. They only have one front line player over the age of 30. They have a pretty veteran defense but one that needs improvement from last season. I'm a little dismayed at the fact that we were told Marc-Andre Gragnani and Nathan Gerbe would play roles as rookies this season, but neither made the Opening Day roster. It all gets started Friday and it's a long season so only time will tell...

Looking at my two favorite sports teams, I see a lot of disturbing parallels. Let's look back, shall we?

2005-06 Sabres: Came out of nowhere to become a top-flight team in the NHL, blew Game 7 of the semifinal round, probably would have won it all if they win that game.
2006 Mets: Came out of nowhere to become a top-flight team in baseball, blew Game 7 of the semifinal round, probably would have won it all if they win that game.

2006-07 Sabres: Favored by many experts and expected by their fans to win it all. They live up to the expectations until the last 5 games before going splat.
2007 Mets: Favored by many experts and expected by their fans to win it all. They live up to the expectations until the last 17 games before going splat (and they don't even make the playoffs... at least the Sabres got back to the Conference Finals).

2007-08 Sabres: Let two top players go, defense breaks down late in games, top defender traded for virtually nothing (sorry again, Steve Bernier), team fails to make the playoffs.
2008 Mets: Let manager go, bullpen breaks down late in games, closer gets hurt leaving virtually nothing to replace him, team fails to make the playoffs.

So basically this year's Sabres should know that not only do they carry the weighty hopes and expectations of their fans into the new season, but also how they do may well dictate how my Mets will do next season. No pressure...

And finally... a little State of the Tube 2008 preview for ya: I think "Fringe" is the best new show on television, hands down. J.J. Abrams has done it again, and even though I couldn't follow "Lost" after the first few episodes and gave up, I find it easier to figure this show up, plus the things that are happening are believable to a point. Also, there's the right amount of comic relief, even in the simple nuances of the show. Great example: if you just jumped into the show last week and you saw the cow in the background during the lab scenes, you probably laughed at how random that was. If you've seen the show since the beginning, you probably laughed at the fact that the cow is still there (hint for newcomers: the cow figured in the plot of the first episode). That's how good this show is...