ditriech has issues

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.
 

Previous Week: 17-10 (.629)
The Week before that: 11-5-1 (.647)
Rolling 3 Week: 40-22-1 (.634)
YTD: 17-10

Last week was a decent week for me if I do say so myself. I went 17-10, didn't get too many rabbits. Drank a lot at the Rhino and at the Dutchman's. Life is good. I mean, I was upset about the way the game ended an all. But a win's a win. Or something. Picks after the fold.

Sometimes you get the bear and sometime the bear gets you.

Ok, I have no idea what that means. But sometimes, so-ometimes you find the YouTube of the week by accident. You are just reading along and it hits you. You see, this week (if I get this post up first), the YouTube of the Week is about hope. And triumph. And the perseverance of the human spirit. Or, its a trailer from an awesome documentary, you decide.

You see American Movie could probably be made about me. In like 5 years. This is mostly because one of my life goals is to have a documentary made about me. Because my life is awesome. But the difference between myself and Mark Borchardt is that I have many obsessions. I mean I have Ohio State Football^sd, I have cofabg, I have the Republic of Nortonia. Borchardt has a singular focus. Coven. Coven is the thing that consumes his life. I mean, I could go on about what American Movie means to me and the American dream and all of that. But I advise you go watch it. Its free on YouTube until the end of the month. Also, it is Rated R, so you need to have a Google or YouTube account to view it. But I know that Bizzo and Dutch have both of them.

Raised Glass to the Mental Floss Blog, one of my favorite blogs on the tubes.

Oh, there they are

Dutch golfer Tiger Woods captured his 67th victory this Sunday at the Memorial in Muirfield Village this Sunday*

Of note: This sentence by itself simultaneously fulfills the Ohio, Dutch, and sports monthly requirements of cofabg. So at least we got that going for us

While in a 4-way tie, the Dutch golfer birdied back to back holes (17th and 18th on a way to a one shot victory at the Memorial, his fourth. Jack Nicklaus^sd1, the former Ohio State golfer and host of the Memorial tournament said that the Dutch golfer will more than likely surpass his record of 18 major tournament victories. This statement, no doubt was well received in Holland, as they've been looking for a champion of their own for quite a while now.

The Dutch golfer had a 7 (seven) under par day on Sunday, coming up with back to back clutch birdies on the 17th and 18th holes to win by one stroke. This finish gave golfers around the world a momentary pause, as we are only two weeks away from a return to the US Open at Bethpage Black, which was the site of the Dutch golfer's notable win in 2002. Notable, mostly, because Tiger was the only golfer to shoot under par for the entire tournament. Also notable because of the....excitable New Yorkish sports^sd2 fans that showed up to support, heckle, and otherwise yell at the golfers attempting to play at the extremely difficult "Black" portion of the Bethpage State Park golf course. This tournament was also personally notable to cofabger ditriech, as it was the tournament that "solidified" his love for the sport of golf, becoming only the third time in his life that he could remember with accuracy what caused, or made him realize his love of a sport or team^sd3.

written by the cofabg staff (for primarily the enjoyment of Dutch) with help from these two fine intertube publications.

I am different. This should come as a surprise to absolutely no one, because by definition everyone is different. But the best way to describe me is different^sd1. The littlest things make me happy. Case in point: everything I've ever become a fan of on facebook. Also: my facebook profile itself. But I saw something that everyone^sd2 can enjoy.

I went to a bar yesterday.

This was mostly because one of my coworkers had come in and we had this conversation:

Him: "It's such a nice day outside
Me: It really is.
Him: You want to go to Clyde's and have a drink?
Me: Yes.

So, we walk over to Clyde's.

Sadly, the outdoor bar at Clyde's doesn't seem to have beer. Only liquor. So, I order my liquor standby, a seven and seven (7 & 7? Biz can I get a ruling on this?).

After the first couple of sips of my drink, I espied^sd3 something behind the bartender.

That's right. Muthafuckin' Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka. The font is even reminiscent of the tv show's font^sd4

So, after talking some to the bartender, we ask for taste. And it is amazing. Quite possibly the best Sweet Tea Vodka in all the Verse.

Now I just need to find out where I can buy it (which is, honestly, as easy as going here, calling the distributor in DC and asking. But I'm lazy) so that I can create a true "John Daly".

While the Caples Bears look on in admiration

(AKA: Songs that [presumptive] Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama should use as his campaign song.)

 

Recently, I  was given a grand notion. I should help my boy Rocks pick a campaign song. But, I first had to do extensive research to be sure that he already didn’t have one.

(16:02:47) ditriech do you have any idea what rocks' campaign song is?
(16:04:26) WhamBangThud: Not offhand
(16:04:30) WhamBangThud: He has to have just one?
(16:04:33) ditriech ....
(16:04:37) ditriech no
(16:04:46) WhamBangThud: I'm sayin'

(16:05:42) ditriech do you have any idea what rocks' campaign song is?
(16:05:54) WoodnShoePimp: nope
(16:10:58) ditriech okay
(16:11:03) WoodnShoePimp: why?
(16:11:07) WoodnShoePimp: need a new theme song?
(16:11:15) ditriech ...
(16:11:16) ditriech noo
(16:11:41) WoodnShoePimp: I don't think the campaign has an official theme song

Armed with this information, I searched my mental database (and the ‘my favorites’ playlist on my iTunes.) for song that I thought either exemplified Rocks or his campaign or that I thought would be awesome for him to play after he won.

Why am I doing this you ask? Well, partially because, as you well know, Sen. Obama has a gAlert set up with his name and/or already subscribes to cofabg and takes heed to our advice.

Also, because he has (had?) been using “Beautiful Day” at some of his campaign functions.

This is one of my bigger political pet peeve. PEOPLE EVERYWHERE PLANNING ANYTHING EVER: “Beautiful Day” is not about how awesome a day is. It’s a man who has lost everything, yet finds joy in what he has. In most cases, it is the exact opposite of the message you are trying to get across.

Playing "Beautiful Day" at a rally is like playing "Whoop that Trick" as the father/daughter wedding dance.

...

Ok, not quite. But still. Wrong

Anyhoo, I’ve come up with a couple of songs that I think will work as his campaign song.

After a long, hard, and massive study, I have come to a conclusion. I have a gift. Not just any gift, mind you, but the gift of fertility. Not, you know, me having kids. Not that I don't want it mind you, I actually want lots of kids. But I keep running into problems somehow.

(21:46:51) LookABrownGirl: you'll have an entire football team
(21:48:43) ditriech: why does everyone say that?
(21:48:56) LookABrownGirl: that you'll have an entire football team
(21:49:04) ditriech: I can't find a girlfriend, how will I have these numerous kids?
(21:49:06) ditriech: yes
(21:49:06) LookABrownGirl: I mean I could have said 'beirut team' but that's negligible
(21:49:48) LookABrownGirl: why does everyone who is single right now act like they're going to be single for the rest of their lives?
(21:49:49) LookABrownGirl: and btw
(21:49:54) LookABrownGirl: your problem isn't finding a girlfriend
(21:50:05) LookABrownGirl: your problem is that you fall for girls that you can't be with
(21:50:15) LookABrownGirl: I don't know what's up with that,
(21:50:32) LookABrownGirl: but you've got "crazies" and "unattainables" on lock.
(21:52:39) ditriech: es la verdad

 

 

(source: XKCD)

Anyhoo, this gift of fertility (thankfully) hasn't bestowed itself upon me. No. What I have is the gift to make you (Ladies. As I previously stated) have kids.

You see, back home (216 REPRESENT!) I had (arguably) two female friends that I called 'best friend' (I don't believe that there is one all-purpose best friend. There are better friends for each situation. And such.). Neither knew each other, and when I left Cleveland (as far as I know) neither was technically dating anyone. Through the grapevine (and, of course by 'grapevine' I mean 'them telling me directly') I found out that they were having a child. One had a boy, the other will have a girl. There is a good chance that I will be Godfather to both (I'm only Godfather to one as of yet. People think that I have good qualities that will help their child became a better person. That's probably because they don't really know about my crippling addiction to alcohol. But that's ok. I didn't know about my father's until I was like 14.) But I digress (RG Bunnicula!)

If you, as a female, want to have a child you need to follow this simple five step process.

1. Befriend me.
2. Stop talking to me for a while (which will assuredly be my fault because I am a horrible friend which makes #1 that much harder)
3. ???? (And seriously. Don't tell me.)
4. Start talking to me again.
5. Baby!

That's it. It's really that simple.

Applications for friendship being taken at ditriech.at.gmail.com.

See you soon "Best Friend/Mother-to-Be"!

Seeing as I didn't write a real post today, I decided to share with you some of the pictures that have been on my phone for about the past week. In order to, you know, make amends. And to have this day count in blog thirty. Or something. Who cares besides me, honestly? Anyhoo:

I took this picture mainly because the price was $1888.

...

Ok, solely because this price was $1888. Can't let a Fight Club reference past if I can help it. Would have been better if I could also get a $2160 price tag though.

PCity!

Mainly took this because I needed a new picture for April (The 1888 one was the March picture)

GradaKiss and I found this when we bought the baby grill. Neither of us have any idea what this is, nor is supposed to be. Though I'm of the opinion that it should die. Not quite sure what he thinks.

This is supposed to say something about "Buffalo Bill" and his tribute to Black Cowboys or something. But it's a bad picture because I was pretty drunk at the time I took this picture. Which was about 3 hours ago.

The bottom track at Rosslyn is dripping water. And by "dripping" I of course mean "there is shitloads of water running from the top track down to the track in which I spend most of my time getting to and from work because of the weirdness of leaving my particular neighborhood of Arlington and going into Fairfax County" Or something.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

!