I spent the whole day today thinking about the “Time Travel” episode of Pete & Pete, most of all about one of the songs in the episode. Of course I don’t know the name of the band or the song. I could probably just go out to the living room and fire up our DVD player and see, but I prefer to sit here typing and believe that it’s a Drop Nineteens song.

Alternatively (who’s been writing a scholarly paper!), you could watch it for me and let me know whether that’s the song I’m thinking of. Here you go:

* BTW have I told you yet how weird I still find it that we are watching teevee shows streamed over the internet and brought to us via our videogame system (the Wii) hooked up to the actual telemavision? Mmm, futurey!

The whole package is really sensationalistic. The narrator and music are tense and dramatic, Many of the scientists (almost always male, sigh, and often Australian, which is kind of funny) are stoked to tell us how badass all of these creatures were. It’s all about the biggest, fastest, meanest, etc. In one show the scientists even crafted a dinosaur head out of metal to test the jaw-crushing powers of the megabeast. (Okay, it was kind of cool when they put a huge thick block of jello-like stuff in the mouth to simulate flesh.)

I’m not sure how to feel about all of these shows. Better than Pokemon cartoons, hells yeah. But I kind of hate that “we need to make science into a crazy dramatic movie in order to get people interested!” tendency. I’m sure it’s partly due to technology — when I was little they just couldn’t do those kinds of computer graphics on nature shows, so it was all about fossils and still art, which can’t be nearly as sensationalistic as “recreating the entire life and death struggle from beginning to end” — an actual quote from an actual show we are watching right now.

Plus I just find it jarring and discordant to have the computer-generated dinosaurs (or whatever) layered onto a real landscape background. You got your future in my past! The whole thing makes me wrinkle my nose like an old lady.

A: Oh, you know, the usual: work, research, chores, weekend bike rides + park visits, fencing (now with mask + glove!), homework, last-minute costume prep, etc.

A: Also, the unusual:

- The bathroom renovation, which has really been much less stressful than it could be (and also mad props to J for acquiring most of the needfuls, including tile, which is very heavy). I haven’t been in there in a while, but I hear things are progressing swimmingly. Right now there’s a hi-tech plastic sheet spanning the hallway in front of the bathroom door from floor to ceiling, with a long red zipper for entry and exit. So CDC!

- Gus’s prehistoric technology studies at school are in full effect. Yesterday was one of the wigwam field trips, and Jonathan helped the kids make fire. (Fire! Fire!) Also I got a slate pendant necklace that Gus had drilled a hole in with a stick, bringing this month’s homemade necklace haul up to 2 — yay!

- So I am on a team that got a very very big grant at work which is very very exciting. My responsibilities have shifted somewhat, though, and I am still getting my bearings time-wise. Which is a complicated way to say that I am very very busy.

Q: Are the cats freaked out by the bathroom renovation?

A: The big one kind of is, and spends lots of time sitting on Jonathan’s lap during the day. The little one could care less.

Q: Have you quit Twitter and/or Facebook?

A: No! See above about the busy. Mostly succeeding in keeping up w/Twitter these days, but can’t really seem to find time to look at Facebook more than a couple of times a week. But our library has a Facebook now so you should be our fan!

Q: What is Gus planning to be for Halloween?

A: Well originally he wanted to be a bat. And we looked all over the internets for a costume only to find that it’s apparently pretty easy to make one with an old black umbrella. So I brought my spare umbrella home from work to sacrifice it, but then in true Gus fashion he changed his mind, and now he’s going as the grim reaper. Which I think is kind of spooky for him these days, but what do I know? Maybe he just wants the scythe. He’s going to a Halloween party before the trick or treating on Sunday afternoon, so maybe we’ll go have a grownup halloweenniversary lunch or somesuch.

Q: Is minute 2:13 in “Leaders of Men” still your favorite part of any Joy Division song ever?

A: Yes.

Q: Are you sad now that Mad Men is over?

A: Sort of. I do miss it, but it’s nice to be caught up on the other TV. House has been decent this season, though Fringe is disappointing. It’s just so *flimsy* with the dual universe storylines. Jonathan keeps saying that they are spreading their story butter too thin across the toast of the show. Also we got a new toaster oven, which performs well enough but has an annoying digital readout (power vampire!) and makes a beeping noise when it’s finished toasting that is much too close to the standard smoke detector noise around these parts. Which is sort of funny given that excessive toasting could in theory set off the smoke detector.

Q: Are you tired? Right now? Because you’re getting a little loopy with that progression from TV to toast, is all I’m saying.

A: Right again! Gold star for you! But you’ll have to wait for it, I’ve got some work to do right now.

It’s definitely making me feel kind of weird. I mean, it’s a great show, but I feel conflicted about it. It’s kind of depressing (Jonathan: “it’s a drama!”) — I guess I hadn’t realized that so much of our other TV viewing is comedy. Except Fringe, which doesn’t count because it’s scifi. And House, which is much too funny to be a real drama.

I have a antagonistic mental relationship with the 1950s. Yes, I know the show’s set in the early ’60s, and that all of the in-your-face sexism and racism is pretty much the whole point. But watching it makes me annoyed that the whole myth of the perfect postwar 1950s even existed in the first place. And still does today: I read a great book on the subject a few years ago by family studies professor Stephanie Coontz called The Way We Never Were.

Even with eyes wide open, though, the myth of the 50s is powerful stuff. Because who doesn’t want things to be that way, at least on some level? The (theoretical) good parts: the dream of the middle class. A nice backyard and a Girl to come clean up the dishes. Jonathan made us a Delmonico steak for dinner the other night while drinking an Old Fashioned, and it was tasty.

It would be easier for me to ignore the myth if I weren’t so madly in love with the style. The mid-century modern furniture, the awesome skirts + blouses, even the mustard-yellow appliances: it all makes me swoon. Jonathan remarked that the set and costume designers must be having a ball. How can an era that invented brown plaid wallpaper be all bad?

So that’s what I’m going to do. Bye!

I get that it’s hard to adapt a 20-episode TV show into a 2 hour movie, really I do. There’s lots of character development that needs to get shortened, and some stuff needs to be left out. But as someone said (can’t remember who) it was like M. Night Shyamalan had never actually *seen* the show. There didn’t seem to be any attempt at all to distinguish between the important and unimportant bits, and the movie felt kind of slapped together willy nilly. I can’t imagine how it would feel to someone who’d never watched the show before, but my guess is that they’d be completely lost.

That was the biggie. Two minor, nitpicky points:

1. For an expensive movie, the effects were just not all that special.

2. And for heavens sake, WHY did they change the pronunciation of several of the main characters’ names?! This isn’t like when you see a movie based on a book and think, “oh, I didn’t realize his name was pronounced like that.” This film is based on a TV show! With audio! So very annoying, and seemed like it was especially designed to get under the skin of hardcore fans.

That’s about all I have to say, but these funny/sad fan reviews are pretty hilarious, if you’re interested.

And in *good* movie news, last night Jonathan and I watched the Swedish version of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” Which was a GREAT example of how to take something very very long (600+ pages) and make it into a 2 hour(-ish) movie. I’ve read all 3 of the books so of course my brain filled in the missing bits and added story around the characters, so it was difficult for me to tell if the movie was hard to follow. The whole way through I kept asking Jonathan, who’s read none of the books, whether there was stuff that he didn’t understand or jumpiness or things that didn’t connect, but there wasn’t. Maybe M. Night should contact the screenwriter for some tips?

I don’t think I’ll want to see the American version of the movie, the Swedish version did a great job. But that doesn’t prevent me from having a pretty strong opinion about who should play Lisbeth: Natalie Portman (obvs!).

(P.S. Spoilers ahead! Duh. And anyway these were all aired over a week ago so they really shouldn’t be news to anyone.)

House:
Man, this finale was intense, with a capital TENSE. Nothing tweaks me like watching the aftermath of a building collapse. I’m not claustrophobic, but there’s just something primal fear-ish about being trapped in a small space; I was literally squirming during the entire show. Add to that a commando, disaster-scene IV in the tibia — yowza! (Also: OUCH! The tibia is no trivial bone, I tell ya.) This episode was pretty near perfect, really. My only complaint is that there wasn’t enough Wilson. But the ending was nice, esp. the way they pulled a hallucination fakeout on us. Have a good summer, Hugh!

Fringe:
Ah, the two-part finale. It often starts out so well, and then…

Fringe has been much better since they’ve gotten back to the main storyline in the second half of this season, and the pre-finale episode made great strides in pushing that plot forward. I love the alternate universe: zeppelins docking at the Empire State Building (so fun!), random buildings + people encased in that weird temporal solidifying amber goo, Walternate is creepy, and Charlie’s alive (yay!) Badass tattooed alternate Olivia is a bit precious, but what can you do?

So things were moving along just fine, and then they had to go mess it all up by sending the badass Olivia back instead of the real one. I guess we should have expected it: really where can anything go once there’s been a scene in which you’ve punched your own self out? Fighting with your alternate universe double is such a cliche. Let’s hope they wrap this up quickly at the beginning of next season. Does anyone actually believe that the real Olivia would sit in the dark blubbering about her fate?

The Office:
Meh. I mean, kind of funny, but not laugh riot funny. Except for Woof, Ryan the Temp’s social media service. That was awesome.

30 Rock:
Also a two-parter. Overall, much more consistent than Fringe. I’ll miss Julianne Moore’s stupid Boston accent. Matt Damon was pretty funny, too.

I know the finale-est finale last week was for Lost, but I abandoned that show years ago so don’t ask me! Jonathan watched, though, and reports: “I liked it.” So there you have it.

As a cat-related aside, here is Gus + my most favorite kitten video on YouTube: kittens on a roomba! Guaranteed to cheer you up whenever you’re crabby.

2. Only 2 episodes of Dollhouse left until the bitter end, and it’s making me sad. (We haven’t watched last night’s ep yet, will tonight.) It’s intense and even kind of exhausting to watch a show that’s been canceled. There’s no filler at all, just episode after episode featuring hard-charging mythology plots.

(Not that the occasional monster of the week episode is at all bad; one of the best Buffy episodes ever was a one-off [The Body, when her mom died -- so amazing]).

I’m still pretty bummed out that Dollhouse was canceled. The episodes since the cancellation have been a little whiplashy as they try and get things wrapped up before the end of the series. But they’ve also been great, relying much more on the ensemble cast than just Echo, and bringing back teh awesome guest stars (Amy Acker! Summer Glau!).

Sigh.

Last night I forgot to complain about House. Strong start this season with House in the institution (yay for creepy gothic buildings) and we loved his awesome spazzy rapping bipolar roommate. Who apparently rapped the life story of Alexander Hamilton at a White House shindig recently (see video at Tenured Radical, one of my favorite faculty blogs).

But then, just like everything, apparently, the season’s gone downhill. Why were 13 and Taub taken off, exactly? And the whole Chase/Cameron tension is Not Very Tense At All, since we all know that Jennifer Morrison’s leaving the show. Meh. There have been some good scenes with Wilson this season, so that’s a plus. Maybe I am still mad at them for not taking the fullest advantage of Kal Penn leaving last year. The suicide was a great plot point, but they totally dropped the ball afterwards.

Is there anything good on TV these days? 30 Rock is still awesome, thankfully. Get Tina Fey on the horn — maybe it should be on every night.

So, what do we watch? You may remember that over the summer we watched all of last season (the first) of Fringe, that JJ Abrams X-Files kind of show. It ended up being pretty good, and I was really excited for the new season.

This season has been really eh. Too many monster-of-the-week eps, not enough story arc. And what happened to Dunham’s sister (played by the drunk friend from Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist)? Just whisked right off the show without so much as a how do you do. But what really got to me was when they killed off Charlie, the average-guy FBI partner. I don’t know, I really liked him — he was a nice balance to all the pretty folk on the show. And it was totally implausible the way they made him get taken over by that weird future guy and his partner didn’t even notice (?!). Lame.

Next up: Dollhouse. Okay, I had a bit of doubt when we watched last season over the summer, but I persevered and it got much, much better. So much better, in fact, that this season has paled in comparison. Part of it is over-reliance on Echo, I think. Some actors are strong enough to be a show’s lead and some aren’t. This show would really benefit from becoming more of an ensemble piece, like the last ep with Sierra’s breakdown.

The other issue is that the show kind of wrapped itself up last season, at least if you watched the extra, unaired episode “Epitaph One” (which we had to watch because Felicia Day is in it and we <3 her). I mean, okay, it’s set in the future, but it pretty much ties all of the loose ends of the plot up in a neat little bow. And even though I try to convince myself that there’s more good stuff in between the time of this season and Epitaph One, I’m having trouble believing it.

I will give it this: great guest stars this season from the Buffyverse and BSG. But I miss Amy Acker.

I could say more about TV but now it’s time to watch House from the other night, so you’ll have to wait til tomorrow.