It's Friday...

And that means GREEK BUFFET! I don't know why this still excites me so much, four months after we discovered it. I guess I just dig a buffet in a kinda down home place. Especially one that serves pita bread in mass quantities.

Oh, and we're going to "Dodging Ducks" (if I find their website, I'll link it, but so far, I don't think they have one) on Sunday. It's a microbrewery in Boerne. My mother recently discovered it while meeting with a client. Sounds kinda cool. The prospect of a pubbish setting in the countryside appeals to me. I still seek, though, a "Green Dragon". Where I can eat fresh bread, cheese and beer. Much crockery must be involved. No one serves flagons of beer in crockery anymore. Which, alas, is very distressing to me.

I've a screening call at 1100 this morning. I'm thirty years old, now, and this still gives me the heebie jeebies. It freaks me out. But, thinking about it in excrutiating detail has given me an excuse to desperately cling to my youth. If, at thirty, I still freak out like I'm twenty, then I must still be young at heart. Right? Well, that's what I'm telling myself, anyway.

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New on my list of cool things to observe every week...
"My name is Earl"
"Everybody Hates Chris"

Jason Lee seems very capable of "Earl". There's something believeable about him with that really screwed up hair, unshaven face, El Camino and, well, slower than molasses brother. The premise is, at least, refreshing and somewhat positive, given all the trend toward rehashing the same show over and over and over again (I like CSI, but, how many versions of it do we really need?).

I'm pretty sure this show was on NBC. But, I could be wrong. I don't pay attention to which network broadcasts which show. Hopefully, I'm correct. And hopefully that's the same network which airs "Scrubs". And, hopefully, they'll pair "Scrubs" up with "Earl". Because...

Alas, as "Earl" leaves the air, the abomination that is "The Office" is foisted upon the unobservant. How did this show manage to complete its first season?! Someone has seen fit to bring it back? Just because Mister Forty Year Old Virgin Man had a successful, albeit probably predictably unentertaining, movie this summer? Wake up, folks, this show sucks on an order of magnitude that can only be measured using scientific notation! It's not funny. It's insulting. The comic timing is dreadful. The setting lacks character (half of this week's episode was set in a Chili's, thank you for that product placement). And with the exception of the receptionist and the dude that has a crush on her, none of the cast or characters are appealing. These two characters manage to suffer through the show delivering the one (that's UNO, EIN, SINGLE, SOLITARY, ALONE, THERE ARE NO MORE) entertaining and/or humorous moment the writers managed to fart into each script.

Thank you, but no thanks. This show needs to be put out of my misery. Now. Before it airs again. Dilbert is funny. The BBC's "The Office" is terrific. But, just like that "Friends meets the highly successful UK version of itself and is translated (poorly) back into American", this show needed to die after the first episode was rammed down our throats!

Oh, and, for the record, "Friends" sucked on an order of magnitude only slightly lower than "The Office". I cringe in a way I cannot describe, every time I think of that retard who found a way to get himself cast in "Band of Brothers". Sir, you a horrible, whiny, turd of a performer. Please find some lackwit off-Broadway show to shackle yourself to, so I no longer have to endure your "performances".

Now that I've spewed venom for a few moments...

"Everybody Hates Chris" was just freakin' hilarious. I kept wanting to call my friends to remind them to watch, but just as I'd reach for the phone, it got too funny to dial.

This dude playing young master Rock's father is freakin' great. His delivery is perfect (though a little over used once or twice in the pilot) and there's something squirrely about his face. Honestly, is his eye naturally screwed up, or has he found a way to simply twist it out of place like that to make the character seem more ominous?!

I also found the woman playing his mother to be the perfect counter to him. There was something very charming about the way she was very stern with young Chris, yet still a mom who cared very much for her children. Likewise, the role reversal between the parents was terrific. It felt very much like home, to me.

In an era where everyone is making excuses for their behavior, blaming their upbringing, it's refreshing to see a comic as harsh as Chris Rock admit that he really had a great childhood.

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On tap for films, right now...

This week: "A History of Violence". I admire Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen. The story seems intriguing, has gotten good reviews. I'm intrigued by the character Harris has taken on. Gonna try to catch it tonight or tomorrow.

Next week, of course: "Serenity". Thank god Joss Whedon found a way to bring Firefly back to us. "Joss Whedon is my master, now"!!! George Lucas, behold your undoing!

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Ok. Geek time.

Battlestar Galactica's second season ends tonight. The producer and writer told us, at Comic Con, that the Pegasus and Commander Caine would appear this season. Unfortunately, they're doing so right at the end of the season. Much cliffhanger action is predicted. I certainly hope I don't have to wait until NEXT JUNE for the conclusion of this story line.

hmmm

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