Far-Seeing Gods…

I’ve recently become a TV junkie. Not to say that I wasn’t before, just that I was taking an… extended break. Perhaps this was due to being at college, with no easily-accesible television. But in the past few weeks, I’ve discovered my long-lost friend. From a variety of sources. Hulu is a project (unfortunately only in invitation-only beta at the moment, although you can easily request an invite) which is taking the streaming media (legally!) from all of the major networks’ individual sites, and compiling it all in one place and one player for easy access. This was the first stage of my descent into darkness. I have always been a big fan of Joss Whedon; I loved Firefly and liked Serenity a lot, but I had not really seen much of his first masterwork— Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Hulu, thankfully, had the first season, which called to me when I should have been studying. So I watched it. And then the second season, out on loan from my college library’s astounding collection of DVDs. And the third is on call. Needless to say, I grew very fond of this show very quickly. It was moving at times, clever and funny always, and had demons. I mean, what more can you ask for? So Whedon has not let me down.

But what, you might ask (please do, or else this paragraph makes no sense), are you doing while waiting for the next season to arrive on DVD? Well, I’m glad you asked that (See? That would be weird, if you hadn’t asked), because what an answer I have for you. First of all, this disease of mine seems to be catching. Also to postpone studying, (this is a common trend at college) my roommate took out the first available season of the X-Files from the library. This is something I used to watch a lot. It was always on just after I got home from school, and the added tingle of it being something my parents had once forbade me from watching just pushed it into a daily tradition. Week-daily, that is.

But that’s not all. Partially in preparation for seeing Cloverfield (which I saw tonight and will review sometime soon), and partially just because I was interested, I started watching J.J. Abrams’ Lost online, linked from the wonderful (but much much less legal) compilation site Alluc (that’s pronounced All-you-see. Get it?) And I’m hooked. Although, I don’t know how long that will last. I’ve heard that it gets disappointing after a while, as nothing is ever really revealed, and new mysteries keep showing up. I’ve also read that even the producers and writers don’t really know where it’s going, which is not an endorsement. But it’s fun, for the time being. It’s also interesting, because there are huge amounts of main characters. Something like 9 or 10, but you know their names, some of their stories, and you care about them. It’s hard for a show to make you feel for more than one or two, but Lost succeeds.

And so a final point: It’s interesting that so many shows these days are known for their producers: Joss Whedon’s Buffy and Firefly, J.J. Abrams’ Lost, and… well that’s all I can think of right now. But I guess it’s a good thing. Now we can say that we know who is responsible for the shows we know and love.

So that’s been my life recently. But don’t worry, I’m still working my way through Dickens’ Great Expectations at a rapid pace. Culture isn’t completely lost on me. Although I do like it less than I have his other works that I have read and loved (namely Bleak House and Hard Times). Is that normal? Also, I just voted. So that little internal conflict is over. Obama it is! Er, was. (Or was it? I guess I shouldn’t say these things in the open. Does it matter?)

And the title of the post is stolen from the literal meaning of television. Why? Because I couldn’t think of anything more clever. Sorry guys.

EDIT: ABC.com has almost all of their shows in HD streaming, with no ads. So, that’s awesome. I’ve switched to watching Lost there. Check it out!

You Know How I Said…

That I was an independent, just so I would have a possibility of voting for a bad candidate in the Republican primary? Well, apparently I’m not the only one with that idea…

Progressive Blogmeister To His Troops: Vote For Mitt! 

Not sure if this will work, or even whether it’s a good idea, but it’s interesting to see that I’m not alone in my sneaky, Democratic ways.

The Coming Election…

Well, the Iowa caucus is only a day away. Man, that’s early. But that’s the trend these days—the earlier a state’s primary or caucus is, the more important it is. I unfortunately can’t remember which state this is for (I think New Hampshire?) but it is illegal for it not to be the first primary (if it is NH; one of the first if it isn’t). That’s just so strange. I mean who goes to jail if it isn’t? Oh well.

But as for the candidates, I really don’t know. I’m registered as an Independent, but that’s only so I have the option of voting for a Republican in the primary if I really want to. The reason I would want to? If I vote for a bad candidate, he (note the masculine pronoun) has a chance of getting the nomination, and screwing over the Republicans. Yay! Um, I’m a Democrat. Regardless, I am going to vote Democrat in this primary. If I get a ballot (mine for the local election last fall somehow disappeared…)

And that brings up the question of who to vote for. At least in the opinion of most everyone I’ve talked to, it’s really down to just Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. So, who’s it going to be? I’m very unclear, but there are two sites that have tried to help me (they’ve really just ended up confusing me more, but that’s me, not the sites). They are Glassbooth and SelectSmart. They both use a slightly different method of rating the importance of issues and also your opinions on them to give the candidate with whom you would agree most.

My results? For both sites, Dennis Kucinich was the closest match by far. But he has no chance (sadly), so my runner-up for SelectSmart was Obama, and according to Glassbooth, I’m a Clinton man. She wasn’t actually second, but she was the first high-profile candidate. So this basically means nothing. I’m a college student, so I feel like I should go with Obama, but then again, I didn’t really think he was ready when he first announced his candidacy. Well, I’ve got a month to decide.

What are your thoughts? Who are you voting for? And did these sites agree with what you thought, or give you someone totally different than who you thought you wanted? Comment, as always.