blessingx

In case anyone was waiting/considering... looks like the Rega RP40 40th Anniversary table is showing up for pre-order at the normal sites. http://www.musicdirect.com/p-141185-rega-rp40-limited-edition-turntable.aspx

Brian Eno: Taking Manhattan (By Strategy)

Anyone else going? http://caaudioshow.com/

What if you were Batman?

Don't see much coverage around since it was released a few days ago, but the price is right for a lot of uses. Anyone heard anything pro/con? http://www.emotivapro.com/products/stealth-dc-1-a

He's an ex-Neo-Nazi who prefers the name The Buddha? I'm confused again.

Fun. Who's the blond dude? He really did that thing great.

Like a virus it's growing.

Maybe not classic TV, but the best of American TV? Maybe. Probably. Best writing versus best show are of course a different thing (listen to a raging cinephile argument over Kurosawa v. Ozu to show that clearly), but I suspect both those shows have legs. Breaking's main narrative path is unique in American television, no? All while being popular. There are already shows that seem impossible without it (The Americans?). I place it way, way up on the list as a managed project (something American serial series rarely are). As a whole it's an amazing story and as episodes name a bad one? The Fly? It seems you think it's overrated. Care to explain? Barring shifting cultural norms where Modern Family would age quickly (say the gay parents and immigrant jokes), signs point it to already bumping others off top slots (watch the 30 Rock and Parks and Rec Emmys plummet once MF showed up). The writers have a pedigree and it's wrestled comedy back from total snark/sarcasm while its jokes come as fast as Seinfeld. I'm less sure on this one, but I think it would be a mistake to write MF off as another Home Improvement, Three's Company, Will & Grace, etc. Then again if you told me while The Sopranos was still on the air it was already being overthrown, I'd not have believed it. All the talk of The Wire in the other thread has me thinking about my favorite shows. I try to be cautious about recent/contemporary shows, and to be fair I haven't steadily had a television for years so somewhat blind. That said here's my list (sorry comedies). 1. The Twilight Zone - No one handled the episode format better. 2. The Wire - No one handled the season format better. 3. Breaking Bad - We'll know for sure shortly, but likely no one has handled the series format better.

At least it didn't make the top ten British comedies list.

http://feedly.com/k/11p8iD4

This. Only one episode in, but funny how much its introduction is reminding me of boot camp. Making bunks night before and sleeping on top/floor, invisibility techniques, etc. Less yelling and more sleep though.

It really hasn't aged so well from the modern comedy perspective, but it pretty much changed everything. From what Wayne said to a real 3D female perspective, to independent minded MTM production company (responsible for many other titles on the list - Bob Newhart, St. Elsewhere, Hill Street Blues, etc.), to the writers power to experiment that flows up modern series. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpE7ZiBCyd8 EDIT: Thought of this while walking with the daughter - maybe the most telling importance of the Mary Tyler Moore show is when reviewing Lena Dunham’s Girls (a show which deserves already to be on the list) last year, everyone needed to go back forty years to find a reference (though I never want to forget the importance of Murphy Brown and Roseanne). Nearly every review made the same connection. I think this is the best one. This discord between how vehemently we’re told to believe in ourselves as young girls and how dismissively we’re treated as young women — captured so heartbreakingly in “Girls” — is part of what fuels the shudder brought on by that word, “girl.” As vivid as our culture’s fantasy of this magical juncture between childhood and adulthood might be, it’s hardly a carefree time occupied by effusive pixies, let alone a period to which most of us would happily return. Because one day, we wake up ready — not to wag our fingers in someone’s face (which is just another way of twirling when you get right down to it) but to present our true selves without apology. This is the trajectory that Lena Dunham and her collaborators have set out to portray, with humor and subtlety and realism. You can turn the world on with your smile for only so long before it gets a little dull. Or as Hannah tells her parents, trying to remain calm despite the fact that her extended childhood is suddenly in peril: “I have work, and then I have a dinner thing, and then I am busy, trying to become who I am.” Eventually, we learn to explain, calmly, who we are and what we will and won’t accept. That’s how you make it on your own, as Mary Richards often demonstrated, though her voice sometimes trembled and her hands sometimes shook. That’s the reason that scene of Mary throwing her hat in the air still feels exhilarating, 42 years later. No, that girl didn’t break. But she was never all that fragile to begin with.

Reasons #213 & #214 Josh Whedon is overrated: Buffy the third greatest television drama of all time (over Breaking Bad, etc.) and above The Twilight Zone for greatest sci-fi series. Can anyone justify those positions?

Interesting how it differs from Entertainment Weeklys. The Wire (HBO) The Simpsons (FOX) Seinfeld (NBC) The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS) The Sopranos (HBO) All in the Family (CBS) The Andy Griffith Show (CBS) Buffy The Vampire Slayer (The WB/UPN) Mad Men (AMC) Your Show of Shows (NBC) I Love Lucy (CBS) Saturday Night Live (NBC) The Twilight Zone (CBS) The Office (UK) (BBC) Cheers (NBC) The Cosby Show (NBC) Roseanne (ABC) Breaking Bad (AMC) Arrested Development (FOX/Netflix) The Honeymooners (CBS) Friends (NBC) My So-Called Life (ABC) Law & Order (NBC) Lost (ABC) Alfred Hitchcock Presents (CBS/NBC) Prime Suspect (UK) (ITV) Monty Python’s Flying Circus (BBC) The Abbott and Costello Show (Syndicated) The X-Files (FOX) ER (NBC) M*A*S*H (CBS) The Golden Girls (NBC) The Carol Burnett Show (CBS) The Larry Sanders Show (HBO) Hill Street Blues (NBC) Maude (CBS) Columbo (NBC/ABC) The Bob Newhart Show (CBS) The Fugitive (ABC) The Real World (MTV) Twin Peaks (ABC) Taxi (ABC/NBC) St. Elsewhere (NBC) Frasier (NBC) Gilmore Girls (WB/CW) The Rifleman (ABC) The Rockford Files (NBC) Friday Night Lights (NBC) The Muppet Show (CBS) Survivor (CBS) The West Wing (NBC) Soap (ABC) American Idol (FOX) NYPD Blue (ABC) thirtysomething (ABC) 30 Rock (NBC) The Shield (FX) Sex and the City (HBO) Freaks and Geeks (NBC) Deadwood (HBO) Dallas (CBS) Homicide: Life on the Street (NBC) Absolutely Fabulous (BBC) Modern Family (ABC) Doctor Who (BBC) Chappelle’s Show (Comedy Central) The Prisoner (ITV) Family (ABC) Star Trek: The Next Generation (Syndicated) Will & Grace (NBC) Beavis and Butt-Head (MTV) Battlestar Galactica (SyFy) Six Feet Under (HBO) Homeland (SHO) Beverly Hills, 90210 (FOX) Game of Thrones (HBO) Ally McBeal (FOX) Dawson’s Creek (WB) Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS) The Office (US) (NBC) In Living Color (FOX) Good Times (CBS) Oz (HBO) Family Ties (NBC) Little House on the Prairie (NBC) 24 (FOX) South Park (Comedy Central) Perry Mason (CBS) Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (various channels) Felicity (WB) Star Trek (NBC) Sanford and Son (NBC) The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (CBS) Project Runway (Bravo/Lifetime) Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) Malcolm in the Middle (FOX) The Comeback (HBO) Bewitched (ABC) Alias (ABC) The Brady Bunch (ABC)

So who ended up being your favorite character(s)? http://blogcritics.org/top-25-characters-from-the-wire/ Considering not a ton of screen time, surprised Snoop has been on my mind as much as she has since seeing. Then again shes been in the news a bunch since the show for arrests. Suppose she's the inverse Omar (including writers going opposite with "How's my hair?").

Bill

I've picked up the 18-55. Only shot a few, but contrary to rumor, believe the focus speed and hunting is worse on the zoom. Will likely keep around, but suspect the 22 is going to be on most of the time. Love the 22.

Do not disagree with any of that Wayne. And Shelly probably the perfect writers unromantic choice for the series main romantic character, no?

20% off the 50% off select Classical SACDs at Elusive.

Greatest Lake Evar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=popi3-_RBPI