People How You Doing There's A New Day Dawning. For The Earth Mother It's A Brand New Morning.

Quick Hitters and Random Thoughts

--Thanks Drayton. It was fun for a while. Well until you thought you were smarter than Gerry Hunsicker. The Astros are my go-to when whatever I’m watching goes to commercial. So I’m checking in on games every 15-20 minutes and I swear 70% of the time the score has changed for better or for worse. After the 6th inning that jumps to 90%. This team has been comical in the bullpen and on the base paths, but it’s a special kind of hilarity watching these guys attempt to play defense. Wow.

Astros 2011 – If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.

--Through the first four episodes I’ve enjoyed Game of Thrones. I am about 200 pages into the book which reinforces characters and storylines that are hard to go in depth with on the show because of time limitations. It’s helping me enjoy the show even more as kind of a supplement. Regardless after the fifth episode I feel comfortable telling some of my less patient friends to STFU and watch it because after this one I can’t imagine a lot of people not liking Thrones. Well unless you get uncomfortable watching a 6 or 7-year-old boy breastfeeding. That was one weird scene in yet another visually cool location. I loved the accommodating open air prison at Eyrie although if winter ever does come you might want to request a blanky.

Trust me, you do not want to see what they are looking at.

The violence in this episode was on par with Spartacus what with a horse head chopping here and a knife in the eye there. We needed some action in this saga and we got it in spades this week. I think what also made this episode so effective was the lack of screen time to Dany/Dothrakis and The Wall. I like those characters and angles, but sometimes this show can jump around too much in its crazy, vast world.

--Last season NBC moved Parks and Recreation to midseason status for no good reason (Outsourced, see I told ya). We’ll have to wait until next midseason to get 30 Rock back because Tina Fey is preggers.
I am loving Community and Parks and Recreation back to back in the 7 o’clock hour as God intended.

--I really think The Killing would gain a lot if it employed flashbacks for the characters. Or maybe it wouldn’t because I don’t know how you expect a scene to be believable and effective when it’s written such as the whole FBI guy leave the meddlesome local cop alone with important evidence or the local television station running murder images of anyone ,much less, a teenage girl. This show has been a huge disappointment for me and I wouldn’t bet on my mind changing after watching the second half of its run. At this point I would let Mitch put me in the backseat of her idling car while she runs back inside the house.

--This Straw Dogs remake trailer really makes me want to watch the original from Sam Peckinpah.


--Okay, I take it back. I want to see Chuck for another season. It was a good season finale with the wedding and all and of course Sarah wasn’t going to die. Although I did immediately check the clock when the camera slowly zoomed out while everyone was around her hospital bed. I mean the episode was titled “Chuck vs. The Cliffhanger” so for a second I thought well, there’s the cliffhanger. Nope. There were still 10 minutes left to set up next season. A season where Chuck is no longer the intersect, but instead Buy More’s owner along with Sarah. While the intersect is none other than Morgan Grimes. Love it.
But how can you have a Chuck finale with a wedding, but no Jeffster?!

--At least The Chicago Code looks like it’s going to close strong during its uneven and only season. The guy that plays Liam just kills that angle for me. I think when doing an undercover angle all in one season there has to be much more invested in that particular storyline and I just didn't see it throughout the season. Or it could be spread out over two seasons to make it dramatic when the undercover cop's identity is revealed. Either way, like I wrote, looks like a strong close to it. Go Alderman!

--Ever since the French King came on the scene The Borgias has picked up. I could watch those chained cannonballs cut through flesh all day.

--Seth MacFarlane remaking The Flintstones is just pointless. Seriously, what’s next? An animated series with Napoleon Dynamite?! Yeah, right.

I know people who willingly paid money to watch this. I can't remember my home address, but I'll never forget the day my friend told me he not only went and watched this, but "it was good."

--Since Lost went to heaven the only ABC show I watch is Modern Family. I don’t see anything on ABC’s fall lineup that’ll change that although I might have to watch this Tim Allen show, Last Man Standing, just to laugh at how terrible it is.

--Courtesy of Grubstreet.com here is Padma Lakshmi’s advice on what to do about all that drinking you just did:
“I can tell you the best hangover cure ever ... You take 1,000 milligrams of Vitamin C, with two Advil and one liter of water. Consume that in entirety before you go to bed. And ... a falafel. Or, an egg in a hole, with hot sauce ... and preferably cheese. If you can follow those instructions, you might feel good enough to go to the gym the next day, which you should do. But don't take a spin class. It's too hard with all the music and those screaming women.”
Sounds good to me.

--Must be cool to be Leonardo DiCaprio and trade your Bar Rafaeli model in for a Blake Lively. Although that does seem like a downgrade.

--Planking. Really?

--Michael J. Fox and Michael Gross in on the upcoming season of Curb? Nice.

--The player with the best +/- ration out of the two NBA games on Sunday? Nick Collison of course with a +26 in his 33 minutes.

--I’m down with Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. There just aren’t a lot of attractive options for Manny especially after such a yawner against Sugar Shane. At least we know JMM will throw down in the ring and not just try to survive. It’s been a strong year for Mexican boxers and that’s one of the few things Marquez has going for him which tells you what I think about his chances.

--Whew, CBS said no thanks to the sitcom based on Colin Cowherd’s life. How anyone can listen to five minutes of Cowherd is beyond me. At least on SportsNation you have Michelle Beadle to distract you.

--These are the kinds of debates that interest me. Pro-noodling vs. Anti-noodling. Seventeen states currently allow noodling which if you didn’t know is basically hand-fishing. Texas is not one of the noodling states, but there is a bill in the state Senate to make it legal. Anti-noodlers says noodling doesn’t give fish a sporting chance to swim away so it should remain illegal. Put me down for pro-noodling although there is zero chance I will ever stick my bare hands into a muddy hole in a lake bottom in the hopes of sticking said hands into a catfish's mouth so he'll bite down and I can drag his ass out. But if you want to do it I'll bring the 12-pack.

--Quick how many seasons of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives has there been? Wrong, well unless you said 12. But apparently there might not be anymore because of a dispute between the production company for Triple D (did I just type that?), The Food Network and Guy Fieri. As much as I can’t stand Guy Fieri I do enjoy seeing some of the creative, gut-busting meals on the show.

--Remember when Mike Miller was supposed to be the perfect fit for the Heat because he could just snipe away while everyone worried about the big three?

Questions, comments or if it’s not turning water into wine, but you can consistently turn paella into risotto…