Dishing Out About Cable

The other day, it dawned on me. My telephone is digital service provided by the cableco, as is my internet access. Yet, I have a satellite dish. Surely, the cableco could offer something to make it worth my time to switch to cable tv, too, right?

Now, Dish Network has been good to work with. They have good technical support and they were offering a “free” DVR before anyone else. On the other hand, the Weather Channel lacks local forecasts, I can't get any of the local public service channels (occasionally, for instance, the City of St. Peters might have something interesting on, as does Lindenwood U.), and the DVR is not a dual tuner, so if it is recording, you can only watch what you are recording (that doesn't make much sense, now does it?). Dish, these days, gives you a dual-tuner recorder, but they want fifty bucks to replace the old one that I now own, since I was under contract. The one $50 will get me will be a no-charge leased unit instead of one that is mine to keep (although what you do with a satellite tuner/DVR if you cancel service is beyond me anyway…).

So, I called the cable company, Charter Communications. After talking to several people and getting multiple different answers, I finally got the bottom line: they offer about $13 in discounts for getting the “triple play” package (phone, internet and TV), but they are more expensive than Dish, so I'll end up at the same price point as before. Their DVR is also only a 40 hour one versus the 100 hour one that Dish gives out. On the other hand, they offer the aforementioned channels and some others, a GNU/Linux based DVR (a Moxi box) that can be expanded with an external hard disk, photo card readers, etc., and you can even transfer non-flagged material over Firewire to a computer or burner. Moreover, it consolidates all communication and media services onto one bill.

The question is whether it is a wise choice. Charter is ranked lowest for technical support of major providers. In my experience with their internet service, it is pretty good actually, although presently I need to get a technician out because I cannot download anything of substantial size (100 MB or more) without losing the connection). On the bright side, they have a new CEO who is promising to focus the company's resources on improving support and since I live in Charter's home city, we'll probably see any improvements first…

Second Hand Lions

Last night, I watched a movie I had never heard of previously: Second Hand Lions (New Line Cinema 2003). I was not sure what to expect, and to an extent, maybe that was good because it is hard to imagine how the exact combination of elements in this movie was pulled off so exquisitely. It had, to refer back to Sunday's brunch, scenes that made you laugh until you cried, it also had scenes that brought a tear to the eye just for its beautiful poignancy. I didn't know what to expect, but in the end, it became a lesson in faith itself. But before I talk about that, let me tell you to quit reading this and go rent the movie — you deserve to experience the movie without reading a spoiler first.

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Sunday Brunch: Sitcoms

Christopher just had some Sunday Brunch, so I thought I'd have some too. Join me in the comment, if you'd like.

1) What sitcom have you seen every episode of?
None. I have come quite close with I Love Lucy and I Dream of Jeannie, but despite constant reruns, a few episodes elude me.

2) What sitcom makes you laugh until you cry?
Most any one I'll waste my time watching must, at least on occasion, cause me to laugh hard enough that I cry. Let's see, that would include the two aforementioned ones with episodes such as the Vitametavegimin episode and most of the Hollywood episodes of I Love Lucy, just to name a few. Likewise, for example the Tony sounds like Caruso episode on I Dream of Jeannie. I'd also point out the Beverly Hillbillies on this point, with classic episodes such as the one where Jed, Jethro and Elly May think they are buying a piece of land for Granny and they are really buying a cemetery plot — you have to see it to understand it.

3) What sitcom do you wish had not been canceled?
I Dream of Jeannie could have gone longer, as could have Gilligan's Island. Those two are the only ones coming to me right now as shows that died before they really deserved to.

4) What sitcom do you wish they WOULD cancel?
Given that none of the modern ones intrigue me, I rather wish they'd cancel them all so perhaps the writers would go back to the drawing board and come up with something a bit better.

5) Who is your favorite sitcom character, either past or present?
Tough! Probably Lucy Ricardo. But Dr. Bellows, Granny from the Beverly Hillbillies, Mr. Bean and numerous others also are worth mentioning. Lucy gets the nod because Lucille Ball had a knack for comedy that I have not seen from anyone else. Her perfect timing on facial expressions, proficiency at slapstick and her character's general “likability” all play into this.

Johnny English

I watched Johnny English tonight (with Rowan Atkinson of “Mr. Bean”). It was quite a bit like I expected — completely ridiculous. Sometimes that's exactly the kind of film you need to see, ya know? Don't expect a long blog post on this — there isn't all that much significance to it. But, if you like Atkinson's brand of humor, you'll enjoy this film. I know Christopher posted on this film in 2003, but I cannot seem to locate that post. At any rate, it was a good movie for ninety-nine cents at the drug store. I made my throat hurt from laughing.

The Italian Job

I found out I could see HBO and Showtime for free this weekend. My cousin had given a good review to “the Italian Job” back when it was in theaters, so I decided to watch it tonight. It was action packed, exciting and fairly clean fun. A good gold heist always makes for a good story.

It wasn't exactly what I should have been doing with my time tonight (see my note from yesterday), but hey, it was a nice break.

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Slam-a-lama-ding-don't

The Last Sports Announcement of the Year? OK. So we lost. I'll concede the guys in Boston deserved a win; while the Cards have won numerous times in the last few decades, the Soxs have not won since right after World War I. At least it wasn't the Yankees that beat us, that would have hurt. Next year, however, we'll be back. And win. So be prepared Boston.

Taking Up Arms Like the better part of 400 tons that are missing and have been missing since before the war. I am glad to see since the last time I talked about this that the President has hit back at Very Scary Kerry who has been trying to use this to his political advantage while his strategists admit they do not have the facts to do so in an informed manner. If we had found 380 tons of this stuff since arriving, would we not have hailed it as weapons of mass destruction? Trust me, we would have.

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Slam-a-lama-ding-dong

Well, let's just say it isn't going so well, and leave it at that, eh? I'm hoping the Cards were just trying to be good hosts tonight by letting the Red Sox win, but I'm not so sure about that. St. Louis is the baseball town, so we must win. The Cardinals have never lost a World Series to the Red Sox, I'd hate to see it happen now.

If you are wondering, yes, your assumption was true if you thought I was not a sports fan, but I am loyal to the home teams — and I've always been partial to the Cardinals. I like the see the Rams win just like the next guy, but baseball and the Cardinals are just special. It is, after all, the all-American sport.

Anyone else following the series? It started somewhat humorously, at least, with a bunch of fans holding “Cardinals: Slam-a-lama-ding-dong” signs. If you didn't get it, you really need to see Joe Buck's new commercial for Anheuser-Busch (which, if you didn't know it, is a St. Louis company, hence Busch Stadium).

I'll probably slaughter it, but here's the “plot” of the commercial: Joe Buck, Fox's MLB and NFL broadcaster and son of late great KMOX sports broadcaster Jack Buck, is sitting in the baseball broadcasting booth when his agent comes in. The agent tells him he needs a catch phrase to say, when someone makes a good play, like other broadcasters have. Buck asks why he would lower the quality of the broadcasts for his audience just to have a catch phrase. The agent responds “licensing opportunities.” Camera cuts away to someone hitting a home run, then cuts back to Joe Buck's head. He starts off sounding normally, but then (as the camera zooms out and shows him in a bright yellow t-shirt) says slam-a-lama (hits a gong) ding-dong. He reaches back to give the agent “five” while the camera shows everyone in the room is wearing yellow slam-a-lama-ding-dong t-shirts.

That's rather humorous, I think, but the real humor is in the fact that people are actually now using the phrase. Intentionally or not, perhaps Joe Buck will end up with the slam-a-lama-ding-dong catch phrase in real life.

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Princess Bride

A friend at church lent me a DVD of the Princess Bride (1987) to watch. It is hard to describe it, but it had a lot of really good laughs in it. Billy Crystal made a great magician in it and everyone did a good job of fitting into their often ridiculous roles. If you haven't managed to see it in the seventeen years it has been out, you should rent a copy. Not the best movie I've seen, but it was quite enjoyable and offered an interesting mix of genres.

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Trouble in River City

As I said before, The Music Man at the Muny was really quite a show. The performances given by the actors and actresses were superb and, I would say, flawless. From Harold's singing, conniving and tap dancing to the Board of Education's excellent barbershop quartet — everything was delightful. The sets were also great. I especially liked the neighborhood set with the Paroos' house. It was all painted on, but when the play got to the part where Marion is giving Amaryllis a piano lesson, the set folded open and revealed the living room of the Paroos' house.

Since the Muny is all outdoors (being the largest [big enough for broadway plays] and oldest outdoor theater in the U.S.), it has a unique feature: large trees growing behind the stage. In the outdoor scenes, the bottoms of the trees were allowed to be visible behind the sets, providing the look of a woods behind the town. A nice added touch to the set.

It's a very touching plot, for those who haven't seen any version of the Music Man. I've included a summary below, but realize the summary is a “spoiler,” so if it happens to be coming to your town ignore the rest of this post and go see the real thing.

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I've Actually Seen Some of Them!

Jared at Mysterium Tremendum picked out which movies from the top 100 (by gross profits) he had seen and made them bold. I did the same below, although I also italicized the few that I had seen the in theater (most recent being Shrek 2, preceded by The Passion). Feel free to post the ones you've seen in the comments (keep in mind HTML doesn't work in the comments, so you will need to denote the ones you've seen in some other fashion).

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