ditriech's blog

I spend a lot of time alone.

Ok. This is one of those instances in which I think that I am not odd. That I am, in fact, like a lot of other people. But my problem is that I also spend a lot of time observing that I am alone. That’s key. Most people don’t think about it^sd But I do.

Anyhoo, while alone, I spend a lot of time doing things to occupy my time so that I don’t feel so alone. One of those things is writing^sd2. But the major one is watch TV.  Well TV shows. Or shows, that at one point, aired on the television channels that you know and love.

Let me backtrack for a minute. Because this post is, in fact, an example of an evolution. Or something. 

About two years ago The Dutchman introduced me to the brilliance of Firefly. Though he didn't know it at the time, this did three things. 1) Made me rewatch Buffy. 2) Turned me into a Joss fanboy 3) Gave me the idea to name my first daughter Inara.

...

Ok. He probably could have guessed #3. But that’s not the point. I became a Joss fanboy. Which heightened to a fever pitch around the time before Dollhouse started. Notice that I said before. Because when the series started I watched ever episode with antici

pation.

But it really wasn’t a good show. At least for a while. I mean, I recently rewatched the entirety of Dollhouse (during the hiatus) and most of the first season is comically bad.  I mean, its great to watch while you’re drinking^sd3. But other than that…the episodes don't work. Especially w/r/t the greatness that the show has become^sd4.

I know what your thinking right now. Well, you’re probably thinking two(ish) things. 1) wtf is ditriech doing writing?^sd5 and 2) what does this have to do with anything. This is the Beirut song of the weekend. Not the Beirut ditriech rambles on about tv shows of the weekend.

I assure you I’m getting to the latter point.

The reason why I^sd6 was excited about the new Whedon venture is the premise. The same as Firefly^sd7.  A western. But in space. Fucking awesome idea. Dollhouse’s is _even better_

Dollhouse premise: “Ok. So there are people who get their mind wiped. And can be whatever you need them to be. For a price.”

That’s a great premise. because when you hear it you think two major 1) if you can afford to pay for this what do you really need? 2) Is this nothing more than a really great brothel? because most guys just generally want sex.

Then you want to see what Joss does with it. Ok. That’s not technically true. I think that you’d want to see how any great show runner would deal with this^sd8. Because if you had this premise, you’d want to see how they’d reconcile these things.

Whatever the reason you’d first tune into this show as a casual fan, you’dve stopped watching quickly. The first 5 or 6 episodes were pretty bad. Ok, that’s an overstatement. The first 4 were bad, 5 is where it started to be a decent show. But, where it got great was 01x08.

The title of 01x08 is “Needs”. And it is, by far, my favorite episode of Dollhouse. In fact, it may be one of my favorite hour 42ish minutes of TV ever. And I’m going to tell you why^sd9.

Needs completes a mini arch in which the Dolls are glitching. Meaning, that something in their former lives, generally, was messing up them being a doll. Like it was infiltrating the “imprints” or personalities that they were assigned to do for a particular, uh, shift.

It’s really hard doing this show without spoilers. Especially this ep. And I'm going to spoiler something after this here jump. But it’s worth it.

Anyhoo, theses glitches convince the dollhouse upper management to allow certain dolls to fulfill their needs.

To be honest, when I first watched this episode, it didn’t really register. But when I watched it a second time^sd10 I noticed what this episode was doing. Ok, well, to be honest, I guess that all the episodes were kinda doing this. But this one was the most overt.

“Needs” is showing us that even if you completely, and I mean completely, wipe someone’s mind, there are some things we don't lose. Ever. These are the things that make us human^sd11. Well, not just human. These needs make us who we are. Not us as in a group of people. But us as individuals.

What I mean is that even if my mind was wiped, my doll version would probably still show a predilection toward the internet and drinking. It’s part of who I am at my core. And that’s what this show was about. It is about who we are as people individually. And what, if anything, can take that away from us.

The song that plays during the climax of this episode is “Lonely Ghosts” by “O+S”. And, is hauntingly beautiful. Also: this week’s BSOW. I mean, I would go on about how this song is pretty much perfect and all. But I’ve gone on enough about Dollhouse. So just listen and draw your own conclusions.

O+S
Lonely Ghosts
O+S

----

sd: but I bet you do now!

sd2: Something that will become more evident over the next moth or so. Probably.

sd3: Not that I do much without drinking. Well work. Most of the time. I think. I don’t know. I’m pretty drunk most of the time.

sd4: Seriously, one of the best TV shows I’ve watched in very long time the last 5 or so eps. Which is why I now think all sci fi shows need an end date

sd5: And why can’t he do more? Ok, fine. You twisted my arm. I’ll write about TV now too. Happy?

sd6: Seriously one of the best show’s I’ve ever watched. And if you’ve never seen it we probably shouldn’t be friends. Or we should, so I can show you how awesome it is. Something.

sd7: see sd4

sd8: To be honest, I didn’t know what a show runner was/did until Dutch introduced me to Firefly. But I really want to see what someone like JJ Abrams or Shawn Ryan could have done with this premise. Not that I think it would be better. But because I enjoy other things they’ve done and it would make me happy.

sd9: what? you thought I wasn't?

sd10: I’ve noticed that I typically watch everything twice. At least. Which is totally new and different for me, because I rarely watch things more than once.

sd11: Which, honestly, is what the show is about. What is human? How are we humans alike? And what makes us different? It, actually, should probably been seen as a counterpart to BSG.
 

Yeah, so. I know I haven’t been writing for a while. Sorry about that. I totally meant to start the first, but you know how that goes. Other stuff got in the way. But I’m back. Sorta. In a way. I guess.

I have a friend who plays guitar. Well, actually, I have a lot of friends^sd who play guitar. But! He's the only one that I know that actually like plays in front of people. Normally, that is. Last week, he had a show and only three people showed up. Including me and his girlfriend. Luckily, it was on a day I absolutely needed to drink. But that's not the point^sd2. There were only three people there. So, he got to basically do whatever songs he wanted. So, of course, he chose some originals. One of the songs was a breakup song. But, what he said was "Hey [ditriech] you'll like this, it's a breakup song".

Now, I did like the song. But the greater question is why do I like breakup songs. Because I honestly do. And it's weird. I mean I've never had a bad breakup for me^sd3 so there's no way that I can Identify with these songs. Though, to be honest, some of the crushes that I've had might have completely skewed my views on what a relationship can and should be^sd4. This is all possible. But I don't think it is the cause of my love for breakup songs.

Whatever the cause is, breakup songs resonate with me and, if you put me in a corner, with a gun to my head, I'd probably say that its for pretty much the same reason why I love Grunge music. There are few instances in which you (or, you know, the artist) are emoting so much. I mean, it's definitely more evident in breakup songs than love songs to me. Partially, because breaking up is the most public private thing that most people do.^sd5. Actually, that's mostly the reason. Because after you break up, you are really able to let all of your feelings about the relationship go. Or something.

Anyhoo, this week's BSOW is "Think Twice" by Eve 6. Which, is probably a breakup song. I don't know. I'm just a blogger. Taking about relationships I don't have.

Nevertheless!

"Think Twice" is frakking awesome. It is, at any given time, one of my top 5 favorite songs. Because it is so good. And, actually, it's not about the lyrics. It is about (mainly) the guitar play. And the music. Because, woo-oo, I will listen to it. Especially if it is this song. So you should. So that I can not be alone in my love for this song.

Think Twice
Eve 6
It's All in Your Head

Dearest cofabgians.

I know what you're thinking. That we've been slacking off with the posts. I mean, its our time over here at cofabg. We got college football. We got hockey. We got NASA blowing up the Moon. We got Pres. Rocks winning the Nobel. We got Limbaugh pledging allegiance to the Taliban^sd. This is when we should be writing the most. But, as per usually, we haven't and I blame me.

That changes now. We think.

Anyhoo, onto this weeks picks. Presented without comment

A little known fact is that Dutch, Bizzo and I (me?) send a lot of emails to each other. And by "we send a lot of emails to each other" I mean "I send a lot of emails to Dutch and Bizzo and Dutch responds."

....

Ok, that's not totally true. Dutch sends emails sometimes too. And Biz responds to 1/10^sd of them. But still. A lot of emails. Some of them turn into posts, some of them are us just pretty much saying things like "Jesus", "That's Awesome" and "Holy Shit."

This, my friends, fits into both categories.

I mean, I know I'm prone to hyperbole, but this is the Greatest YouTube Video ever. No. Seriously, It deserves the caps. It really is that good. I mean, we all agree about how awesome this one video is. And we never agree on anything. Except maybe drinking. And Zombies. And the Nortonic cause.

I digress Here:

I know it features "Sirius" by The Alan Parsons Project, which was first^sd2 featured prominently in the 90s Bulls campaigns^sd3. But still. It is the greatest thing you will ever watch on youtube ever.

You're Welcome.

Like BHGP^sd4 says:

Let's recap what just happened. The mascot did all of the following in rapid succession:

1. Appeared from a constellation (Ursa Major, to be precise, and folks, this is one major fucking Ursa)
2. Exploded in a blue nuclear shockwave that destroyed an entire planet that was probably full of nonbelievers
3. Flew around space to Kenny Loggins' classic "Highway to the Danger Zone," even though you're not supposed to be able to hear things in space
4. Acquired a cosmic hockey stick from who the fuck knows where
5. Made its own fucking wormhole for intergalactic travel
6. Growled at everybody and bared its teeth
7. Used said cosmic hockey stick to knock a satellite into another dimension for no discernable reason
8. Made our moon completely explode by flying very close to it and growling again extra hard
9. Came to Earth in order to flatten the entire city of Anchorage with its atomic bomb powers
10. Ran over 300 miles to Fairbanks in about 5 seconds instead of showing remorse over the genocide it just committed
11. Found the one building in the entire city with electricity and tore its roof off
12. Jumped into said arena and wrecked the playing surface the teams were hoping to use
13. Made Metallica's music play sheerly by force of will, and the good Metallica, none of this Whiskey in the Jaro[sic] shit
14. Went back into his own logo, which is now covered in exploding blue flames

Seriously, this video needs to be watch by everyone in America. It might even be able to solve the Health Care crisis^sd5. I know that I was sick before I watched it like 50 times, and now I feel better. Of course, that could be the vodka. You never know with me!

Watch it now. It made me like Alaska again.^sd6

Quick and dirty because I am tired. And have been for the past week or so

When I first moved where I live now I didn't have internet. Now, this would hurt most people but it just about crippled me. Mostly because i read like somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 blogs^sd. But, luckily, I have 3 library cards. So I got to use the internet for a total of like 5 hours a day!

Whatever, I was excited. Anyhoo, I spent most of my time on the computer on gReader reading sites. And the hardest part was that I didn't really have the time to read all. So what I did was emailed them to myself. Among the many, many things that I emailed to myself were videos that I didn't have time to watch. The other day, I was trying to get through some of the youtube videos and came upon this.

Nyle "Let The Beat Build" from Nyle on Vimeo.

I'm not saying that Beyonce's video wasn't good. But how can it be one of the best videos of all time if it isn't even better than this one? It was done in one take! I mean, yeah, the girl at the end is probably a bit unnecessary. But still, it is one of the best video I've ever seen. One take! Seriously!

via here and here

This Week: 13-12-1 (.500)
Last Week: 23-5-1 (.793)
Rolling 3 Week: 53-30-2 (.623)
YTD: 57-28-2 (.655)

Regressing to the mean^sd. I sorta knew that after last week's absolutely wonderful week last week that I would suck this week. Though it is kind of weird that the week RN takes off, I have a week where I go .500. So, I'll take whatever rabbits I'm supposed to get.

Seriously? Sado Bunny? Was it that bad?

It was? Ok. Fine.

I am not an excitable person by nature. I'm just not. When I was in school I never got excited about good grades^sd1. I wasn't excited when I was named a starter for the first time. Nor, actually, about sex in general. This is more ore less because I figured these things were more or less inevitabilities. They were going to happen sometime or another. To me, it was like getting excited that you fell asleep or something. Not a big deal. So when I get excited about something, you can pretty much bet that it's important. Or, you know, at least important to me.

What may or may not shock you is the fact that I am familiar with the inside of many bars. In fact, one could go so far as to say that I "love" bars and the "drinking atmosphere that is created within a bar as to make one seem like he isn't such a big alcoholic". Theoretically. That being said, I've become accustomed to the typical music that is played in these establishments. And, in general I don't like it. This is probably due to the fact that I stopped listening to the radio a while. So I really don't understand the music the kids are listening to nowadays. However, every once in a the jukebox or the DJ or whatever will play a song that interest me. But, the only song that actually gets me excited in a bar is "Smells Like Teen Spirit"^sd2.

I know that this might seem like a bit of a cop out as a BSOW pick. Mostly because I'm pretty sure that I've used it as a BSOW or S!O!TW! at some point in time before. Also, because it seems to be too easy. It's probably Nirvana's most mainstream and popular song^sd3. And, this is true. With a gun to my head, it probably not even my favorite Nirvana song. Though, if you do have a gun to my head, you should hope that I don't have one as well. I mean, uh, my favorite song would probably be "About a Girl". But, seeing as it is their most mainstream song, it is also the song that is most likely to be played in bars. So there you go. Also, I meant to write this BSOW for the first week of the season. But then, then I thought that I should save this for the beginning of the Big Ten season. Or something^sd4.

^{Nirvana
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Nevermind}

Last Week: 23-5-1 (.793)
Previous Week: 17-13 (.567)
Rolling 3 Week: 57-28-1 (.663)
YTD: 57-28-1 (.663)

Picks below the fold. I mean, I know I'm normally more verbose, but I have nothing really to say.