Remote control to change the station. But that won't change your situation.

Quick Hitters and Random Thoughts


“I ain’t building no bookcase.”
Welcome to the game Mr. Chalky White.

--One more Mad Men left and I fully expect Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce to go under and everyone to jump off the building’s ledges and land on small schoolchildren holding newborn puppies. I’m just not sure how this season can manage to out-depress what’s already happened.
Ha ha Pete Campbell was “forbidden” by Trudy.
Loved the “RFK” call, but Teddy is gonna get his.


--Also one more Rubicon left. Those that stuck around after the first few episodes have been greatly rewarded the last two weeks in particular. I assume after last Sunday that our government has strengthened security around Galveston Bay ten-fold because Rubicon painted a scary picture. I guess we have one more hour for fun and games between Will, Kale and Truxton. Such a strong trio of actors and characters I’m going to miss hearing their multi-layered conversations. I’m not sure what the odds are that AMC picks up another season, but even if not this season was some high-quality television that doesn’t take a backseat to the other AMC shows.

--Strong Dexter this week and if it’s The Cousins from Breaking Bad doing these ritual killings then all the better.

--31 times Brett Favre has thrown a pass that’s been picked and returned for a TD. The crazy part is it still gets funnier every time.

--Best news I’ve heard all week…next week Netflix Watch Instantly on PS3 will be disc-free with faster loads and 1080i on select video. Hell to the yes!

--Yeah, Ming Tsai you’re the first person ever to think of a burger using doughnuts for buns. Congratulations. You used to be cool, man.

--The League crushed it with El Notario as anytime you give Taco a two-minute solo he’ll kill it.
“Don’t euthanize. Notarize. Don't authorize. Notarize.” – El Notario
Andre did as well with his cardiotennis, polercising, stairmastering, sauna suit montage at the beginning. I almost didn’t miss El Cuñado. Almost.


--For the first time in a long while I actually enjoyed a storyline on The Office. Not surprisingly it dealt with Michael and his exes. I’m glad Jan/Melora Hardin got a chance to show off her singing. I knew she had albums out and was always curious how she sounded. Pretty damn good. Just because everyone expects The Office to let Michael ride off into the sunset with Holly doesn’t mean they shouldn’t do it.
As for the storyline with Andy, just awful. Nard-Dog used to be such a solid character.

--Don’t you hate it when you wake up with a big gash on your hand and you don’t know how it got there and then you resume your search for your iPhone and you stick your hand under your car’s seat and pull it out only to notice another gash on your hand directly below the first one. Yeah, I’m good at solving mysteries.

--Nice thought 30 Rock, but it just wasn’t all that good of an episode recorded or live. And that was probably the worst Tracy Jordan stuff ever. I think what also took away from it for the viewer was that the audience likes the characters and so everything was getting big laughs that threw off timing and sometimes made nuances difficult to get unlike SNL where the audience stopped laughing years ago.

--Top Gun 2 sure as hell better have Iceman back if Maverick is coming back. I assume Riggins will have some smart ass remark as he passes by guys playing volleyball.


--Kimbo Slice on Survivor?! I’d be more interested in Jimmy Johnson vs. Kimbo in the cage.

--Wexler tweeted this uplifting note the other day: The only teams remaining on the Texans schedule that are under .500 are San Diego and Denver. They are the top two passing teams in the league.
Thanks Wex!

--I can’t imagine a worse place to get a DUI than in your driveway. Congratulations to George Maloof for pulling that off. He said he only had four beers at a friend’s wedding. Either way he was charged with DUI, making an illegal turn, driving without a valid license and not having proof of insurance. My lone visit to jail was for driving with an expired license (that’s how hardcore I am), but how does a millionaire not have an assistant take two minutes to renew it online?

--30 for 30 continues to churn out fantastic films. The latest was “Once Brothers” dealing with the relationship between Vlade Divac who was Serbian, Drazen Petrovic who was Croatian and their home country of Yugoslavia. It was an enlightening look at the development of key members of the first wave of European players to hit the NBA. The game and how it’s scouted has changed so much, so quickly.

The whole flag incident with Vlade and civil unrest that led to the disbanding of the national team was something I hadn’t known about. The only minor negative for me in this film was Vlade played it a little too much in the self-pity department and trying to paint himself in a white light. I’m not saying it wasn’t like that, but it was just a little too much at times, but that was just a minor quibble.
Everyone knows Vlade because he played with the Lakers and was such an outgoing, fun personality. But hearing Croatians Toni Kukoc and Dino Radja was really interesting as you got a sense of the helplessness they felt because they couldn’t really talk to guys like Vlade who not only were teammates, but mentors and friends at one time. That helplessness wasn’t conveyed more than when Kukoc talked about Drazen’s death in bewilderment that it could all end like that because of something so stupid and accidental as a car accident.

I didn’t see Drazen play a lot before his death, but those highlights against MJ, Reggie and others painted a promising portrait of what could have been. Kenny Anderson was my favorite college basketball player when he was at Georgia Tech so I liked hearing him talk about this boy. It’s weird how Rick Adelman coached both Vlade and Drazen with the latter not taking a liking to Adelman and Portland.
“The Two Escobars” and “Once Brothers” are where 30 for 30 has really excelled for me because those stories along with Terry Fox’s, those are the stories most Americans know very little about, but those stories are every bit as fascinating, insightful, entertaining, tragic, and inspirational as “The U” or “Run Ricky Run” and the like.
There will be a lot of people on my Christmas list getting this DVD set.

--How did the Jaguars manage to get a Monday Night Football home game?!

--Am I supposed to be surprised that Carrie Fisher was doing coke during The Empire Strikes Back? Because uhhh, it was the 80’s and if you weren’t doing blow you probably just weren’t born yet.

--Tom Hardy as the next Batman villain? Yes please. Hell, he could just play Bronson again and it’d be Batman’s toughest opponent yet.


--David Arquette was cheating on Courteney Cox and that’s why they’re getting divorced?! I just assumed Courteney realized she was married to David Arquette. Wow. Atrocious behavior for a former WCW Heavyweight Champion of the World. Thanks Vince Russo.


--I thought Kim K. had a problem or regretted those Playboy pics she did? Guess not, since she had no problem stripping down for W. WWTDD with the nudies.

--I have a feeling this new scoreboard is the most exciting move the Astros are going to make all offseason. Alyson Footer’s blog with a nice pic to put in perspective how crappy the old video board was.

--A McDonald’s Happy Meal didn’t decompose over a six-month period. I better sit down from the shock.

--Weeds’ tried-and-true formula since season two: When in doubt let’s get Mary Louise-Parker nude.


--“We’re 40 light years away from the Buttermilk Nebula. Although…yep, it’s a sticker.” – Troy
I guess this Community was supposed to be this season’s “Modern Warfare,” but it wasn’t even close. More so because MW is a f’n all-time classic than anything else. Although, as a whole, the episode just felt a little off or forced or something. It just didn’t move the needle to “delicious” for me.

--Wait, there’s going to be a Men in Black 3?! How, as a nation, did we let that happen?

Questions, comments or if your fiancée got a flu shot thereby ensuring she would get the flu the next day thereby ensuring you would get it the day after that…