Redbox

I rented a movie for the first time in a long time this weekend, and decided to use Redbox, a kiosk at my local grocery store. I've never used one of these things before. It was stupidly easy. I reserved the movie online in less than 2 minutes (including registration), went to the store and picked it up in about two touch-screen presses and a credit card swipe. All movies are $1/day (only new releases though), and you can just keep it as long as you need to, though if you start going more than 4-5 days you'd have been better off getting it at Blockbuster or such. Returning it involved one touch-screen press and slide the case into the kiosk. Done.

Just thought I'd share. I usually totally ignore all that kind of crap in grocery stores (well except for the coin counting machines, those are pretty cool, especially now that you can use them with Amazon for no fee). In fact I didn't even know it was there until a few weeks ago, and I've been going to that store for a year now.

The movie I rented was Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It was...meh. Funny in spots. It dragged on in others. Important to note that Apatow did not write this one, only produced it. It was written by Jason Segel (of How I Met Your Mother), which probably explains all the gratuitous dong.

The Annual "Whatcha Watchin'?" Post

In response to Dung, here are my top five currently-running shows (i.e. still airing new stuff), in order:

1. The Office
2. Big Bang Theory
3. Psych
4. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
5. Heroes

The Office continues to be my favorite show, hands-down. I also really liked the British version, and you can't go wrong with either one. This is one show that I require that Ash pay attention to, because I love all the subtle looks and innuendos and such, and I get sick of her asking "what'd I miss?" all the time when I just burst out laughing for no audible reason. She's been cooperating quite well this year; it's been a struggle to make her put down the DS.

Big Bang Theory is one show where I find myself LOL'ing more than any other show. The Office is great, but a lot of its charm isn't in pure, raw humor. I can see how BBT is a niche show, being more for the nerd crowd or people who can at least appreciate nerd humor. But for me it's great and I hope the networks continue this trend (which also includes Chuck).

Psych was one of my favorite shows before, but this year they must have brought on some new writer(s) or something, because it was significantly and noticably more funnier than the first couple seasons. Yeah, that's right, that just happened. More funnier. And I have added Maggie Lawson, who plays Juliet, to my top five "Adultery-Pardon" watch-list.

Sunny is just as hilariously wrong as ever. I find myself not exactly craving to watch each week's new episode(s), but when I do watch them I laugh my politically-incorrect ass off.

Heroes has been getting some bad geezer press this year, what with all the schizophrenic plot lines and new characters and time travel and... While I do feel like they are missing the boat from a general plot perspective (what TV was really lacking at the time Heroes came out was just a great sci-fi show where genetically supercharged heroes kick ass, a la Buffy or Angel or Dark Angel, or even a TV-version of X-Men or Fantastic Four), instead of focusing more on great characters with great powers, they are turning more into Alias/X-Files with these season+ long story archs that never go anywhere and rarely answer questions. It's a mess. But I love it. Ash hates Sylar, but every time he comes on screen I'm like a kid at Christmas. He's the best...villain...EVAR! I love his scenes. But don't worry, Sylar's not taking Maggie Lawson's place on The List.

Honorable mentions go to Eureka (sweet show), Biggest Loser (though they need to drop this whole couples format, I think it's stupid and unfair...if you're going to start a competition as a couple, you should finish it as a couple), and the 2008 WSOP (shuffle up and deal!). We watched the first episode of Fringe and haven't seen another one yet. And if Reaper ever comes back (did it get canceled?), that show definitely deserves honorable mention if not in the top 5 somewhere.

It's My Birthday, My Birthday...

It was my birthday this past Sunday, and it was nice. Got to just hang out with Ash and Emmett, and we went to Outback for dinner and I finally satisfied my irrational, yet surprisingly consistent, semi-annual craving for a bloomin' onion. Unfortunately they make those things for like 4 people, so after about a third I start to get nauseous. Why do they always ask you if you want a box for it? Sorry, but no one is taking home a bloomin' onion. That's gross. Try warming that up tomorrow and let me know how that works out for ya.

I also splurged and got a glass of sweat tea. A glass and a half in, and I take a sip and my mouth feels like when I dive into Crystal Lake and graze the bottom with my mouth open. I look at the glass, and there's a quarter-inch of sugar at the bottom. I have never seen that before. Oddly enough, it wasn't even good sweat tea.

All day I couldn't get this out of my head: