Cliches

Can we please declare a moratorium on the tired trope of inexperienced parents and poopy diapers? I saw these within a few hours of each other. Honestly, people, let's try a bit harder, OK?

OMFGG

I am addicted to Gossip Girl. I resisted the show for two years, aware of its existence due to TV promos, Gawker recaps and The Soup. I had no interest in watching a show about rich, spoiled high school kids from the Upper East Side and their endless drinking and bed-hopping. Or so I told myself.

Then one day in late November I happened to be bored and watched a season 3 episode. I made fun of it, but kept watching whatever s3 reruns they were showing over the holidays. I ended up buying season 1 through iTunes and spent endless hours last weekend watching it. Paula rolls her eyes at me and does not buy my argument that I am watching it ironically, kind of the way I watched 90210/Melrose Place when I was younger. Gabe made fun of me for several days, but now he is Chuck Bass' biggest fan. He even came home last night with the DVD set of season 2!

It is hard to explain why I like this show. At one point during my season 1 marathon, Gabe looked at me and said: Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't these people the embodiment of everything you hate about American society?

Yes, they are. If I met these people in real life I would be bored by their vapid lives and I would resent their entitled ways. I would hate to live in such a female passive-aggressive, queen bee social environment. Yet I love the show. I just do.

I lost two hours of my life last night watching Heroes

Heroes premiered last night. Two episodes. Two hours. Can you say L-A-M-E?

All the hype. All the promises that this new season was going to be different. All a bunch of b.s.

They are still doing the exact same crap they have always done. The story makes no sense because they continue to be excessively mysterious. It is a series of purposely vague vignettes. You have no sense that the story is moving forward at all, you just get mystery after mystery thrown at you. It's like a bad comic book series that resorts to nonsensical flashy tricks to extend its run for as long as they can, as opposed to having an actual story arc. One thing is to keep people guessing as a way to entice them to come back. Another is to have a story so murky that your audience gets bored and gives up. I do not want shock value and ratings-grabbing tricks. I would like to see a well crafted story, thank you.

The cast continues to grow. They are stretched too thin. I am not really interested in all these people. It would have been better if they had less characters that were more developed and were given something better to do than show up on screen for a few seconds.

And what is up with the Battlestar Galactica ripoff? A character that is dead suddenly comes back, but can only be seen by one character? Really? Could you be any less original?

I am not sure I will be watching anymore. The Terminator show is on at the same time, and it is much better than Heroes.

Reality shows

Last night I was watching American Idol for Dancers when Gabe came into our bedroom. He took one look at the TV and asked: "is that the dancing show?" I nodded yes. He groaned, said "tell me when it's over," and left the room.

The only reason I was watching this show is because Step it Up and Dance is over, and I really enjoyed that show. So I was looking for something similar to watch. But American Idol for Dancers is not a good substitute. I hate the show's format. I know that the three-judges (one quirky, one bitchy, one normal), two-days, public voting formula is the key to the success of these franchises. Still, I think the show is incredibly lame.

To me, there is a big difference between the dancing show I watched on Bravo and the dancing show on Fox. Yes, the Fox show came first and has more viewers. That does not make it better. Maybe I am a snob, liking the Bravo show because it's on the alterna-network?

To my husband, there was no difference whatsoever between the two shows. Both are merged in his mind as the dancing show. And he was having none of it.

Gabe is sick and tired of reality shows. He used to be able to sit in the same room while I was getting my Bravo reality show fix. Sometimes he would even ask a question or two, or laugh at something on screen. But after enduring several seasons of Project Runway, Top Chef and Work Out, plus first seasons of Shear Genius, Top Design and Step it Up and Dance, he just can't take it anymore. They are all the same to him and he hates them all. He no longer wishes to sit with me and laugh at the monumental vapidness of Millionaire Matchmaker. Not even the mildly amusing bromance on Make me a Supermodel made him watch a whole episode. He hates both the OC and NYC housewives equally and is not at all interested in watching them ironically. He hopes I stop watching when Project Runway (the one he hates the most) moves to Lifetime.

The only show he would still watch with me is Flipping Out, because he truly wants to see how the collapse of the real estate market is going to affect Jeff Lewis' life. Plus, Jeff's anal-retentive, control freak, OCD antics make him laugh. And I get it. Jeff knows how to be a great reality show character. Also, Gabo is a much neater person than I am, and living in the chaotic mess that is our house, he can identify with Jeff's obsession with symmetry and order.

TV

Is it funny that these days I get my mental and emotional kicks from TV shows?

I go through periods where I read avidly. And then I go through periods where I watch TV very intently. I know reading and viewing television are two very different activities, but I do not agree with the people who equate watching TV with a passive dumbing down. There is intelligently written, well acted, compelling stuff out there.

These days I spend my free time watching new episodes of the last season of Battlestar Galactica, and catching reruns of the second season of Dexter on Showtime. I love both shows. My only gripes are that last week's Galactica episode stepped dangerously close to soap opera territory, and that Dexter's female characters are, to be honest, quite lame.

BSG S4

Last night was the 4th season premiere of Battlestar Galactica. The Sci-Fi Channel had been running past seasons reruns for days, but I only watched yesterday. I caught the two-part season 3 finale earlier that afternoon. It was good to watch again, because I had everything fresh on my mind coming into the new season. Of course, after watching the reruns, I got obsessed with the trigger song, a remake of "All Along the Watchtower" done by Bear McCreary. When I originally watched the season finale a year ago, the song did not make a lsting impression, but yesterday I got obsessed with it. I can't find it anywhere to purchase, so I will have to make do with a little video someone posted on YouTube (see below).



Anyway, the season 4 opening episode was alright. I guess I had been waiting for so long that I wanted to get more than what the show's producers were willing to give. There were some memorable scenes, though. Watching the show again this morning (of course I DVR'd it), it became clear to me that free will and choice will be central themes to the storyline this season.

The question on many watchers' minds is "who is that darn final Cylon and when will it be revealed?" I sure hope it is not Starbuck, or Adama for that matter. I think either of those choices will be lame. I am hoping that as the season progresses, things will become clearer, although I do not expect a "loose ends tied" kind of closure. BSG's creators love to revel in ambiguity, and frankly it is one of the shows strongest qualities, so I don't expect them to go all Cliff Notes on us.

Last, I found this clip of the BSG cast doing Letterman's Top 10 List. I don't watch Letterman, so I had not seen this before. Some of the lines were lame, but others made me chuckle.

Why I love working for a computer company

Overheard in the hallway first thing in the morning:

Geeky guy #1, in his thirties, dressed in casual Friday shorts and t-shirt: "... and, of course, we are only days away from Galactica!"

Geeky guy #2, close in age and also attired in shorts, wearing glasses: "That's next Friday?"

Geeky guy #1: "Yeah."

Geeky guy #2: "Cool!!!"

Before you think I am bashing them, you should know I am anxiously awaiting the return of Battlestar Galactica myself.

If I see one more seared scallop, I am going to scream

I am starting to get sick of Top Chef. When this show first came out I loved it. The show is in its third season and the novelty has faded. Whatever twists the producers are coming up with feel old and uninspired. I am tired of seeing the contestants scramble to create sophisticated dishes for a stampede of beautiful people on a $50 budget, blindfolded and cooking over a sterno can with a hand tied behind their back. I am tired of Meyer Lemon, gastriques and snarky judges. I am tired of people being chosen to compete because of the personality type they represent, rather than their cooking skills. I am tired of the product placements and sponsors, which are more blatant than ever this season.

Maybe Bravo has finally gone too far. I used to think differently, but now I realize their shows are no different from the reality television drivel the networks throw at us. They want us to think their programming is more sophisticated, but the truth is every Bravo reality show is an exercise in snobbish futility.

Those crazy truckers

In true Ingrid form, I recently discovered and become obsessed with something that is not brand new. It happens all the time, I am always hopelessly behind on things. I discover bands that have been around for years, or fall in love with books from a few years ago.

My newest fancy is the show Ice Road Truckers. I saw it for the first time last weekend, and now I am addicted. Of course, I discover the show when it's almost over. The season finale is next Sunday. At least I'll have a chance to watch more episodes. On Sundy they are running all the episodes back to back, leading up to the finale.

Now you may wonder what the hell is the appeal of this show to me. I know it sounds weird for a Caribbean woman to be so into a show about truckers using a frozen lake as a shortcut and hoping the ice doesn't crack and take them under. Basically, this is a show about a world that could not be further from mine. Yet, it is so appealing to me. And maybe this is because it gives me a chance to get a glimpse of what I would never be able to experience otherwise.

Then again, as I have stated before, I am fascinated by stories that highlight man's fight against nature, and nature's ultimate supremacy over our illusions of control. I am also partial to stories about the Artic. This show hits both spots.